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(no subject)
BASICS
name(Ashley) Poet Knightstep
alias
Poet, GOODBYEKitty
division
Security (IT & cybersecurity)
Research
occupation
IT/cybersecurity
occasional research assistant
age & dob
25, NOV 13 (Scorpio)
pronouns
any; default is they/them
family
Nora Knightstep (grandmother)
Edwin Knightstep (grandfather, presumed deceased; disappeared into rifts 20 years ago)
Jovana Knightstep (mother, estranged)
Anderson Knightstep (father, estranged)
Abigail Knightstep (younger sister, 7)
CONCEPT
The ghost in the machine is obsessed with cat videos.POWERS
matter-energy transmutation; (inaccessible/unharnessed)When Poet's powers manifested, they did so explosively, transforming their physical form into pure energy. In the process, they scattered, and it took a great deal of time to reassemble themself, again, and if they're honest, they're still a little bit of tired from the effort.
While they can certainly feel some untapped potential in their form, they are reluctant to explore it further for fear of the harm it could cause. If they do possess the capacity to transmute matter into energy and back again, they do not know it, and aren't presently ready to try.
electrokinetic physiology;
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Poet is effectively a lightning elemental, a being of pure energy. When not occupying an electronic device, they are able to manifest as a large, dimly visible haze, a bit like a nebula or fog.
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If not concentrating and not contained within an electronic device, Poet will start to "drift" and dissipate. It takes real effort to (literally) keep it together. It's exhausting.
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Poet is able to shimmer, sparkle -- blinking in binary is typically how they communicate in this form -- and sort of artlessly change their shape and color.
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With considerable effort, Poet can gather up their particles into a vaguely humanoid silhouette within a greater cloud. This is the closest they can get to a distinguishable form, but it's a difficult shape to hold for long and very taxing.
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When condensing themself, Poet starts to make an electrical humming noise. This is quiet at first, but can grow extremely loud, like the sound of a transformer about to overcharge on a power line.
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Coming in contact with Poet or passing through them (please don't) is generally harmless, but is not comfortable, and the discomfort ramps up the more condensed Poet is -- from light static prickles to near-stunning shocks.
electronic integration;
Poet is able to take possession of any electronic device, from small battery-powered children's toys to whole room servers. Once occupying said electronic devices, they are able to fully control them, taking advantage of any potential function they may have.
more details...
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Poet can integrate with any software on any device they are occupying, making them a particularly potent cybersecurity expert. They are still subject to getting by any security measures, like passwords and firewalls, but that's generally not terribly hard for someone who was breaking into government servers at sixteen.
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Theoretically Poet could write new programs to accomplish things, and they have in the past, but that's a lot of work and they are le tired.
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The devices Poet occupies are only able to do what they were physically capable of doing to begin with. Unfortunately for everyone, Poet is a velociraptor who enjoys testing the proverbial fences for weak points. So, for example, they aren't going to be firing laserbeams from a home computer, but they could go for an incredibly noisy "walk" as a washing machine.
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Poet is able to speak easily through any device that has speakers, even if that device is supposed to only make beeps. They've also gotten pretty good at synthesizing something approaching English by moving mechanical parts.
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Generally, Poet's presence will not damage any devices they occupy. They can, however, willfully cause surges in electrical systems, potentially shorting things out.
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There are several telltale signs that Poet is occupying a device -- first, the device will "hum" faintly, louder than it might normally. Second, screens and speakers will glitch more frequently. Third, Poet is just annoying, loves attention, and can't resist being a little bastard.
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Poet's presence is enough to power most small toys and low-wattage electronics. However, larger devices or devices that demand more power are difficult or even impossible for Poet to power on their own.
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If a device is unpowered and too big/draining for Poet to power on their own, there will still be signs that the device is receiving some power. Much like something plugged into an outlet that is not supplying enough power, however, the device will not work properly for anyone, Poet included.
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Occupying an electronic device, especially a powered one, is a relaxing sensation for Poet. So, they prefer to live their life hopping between powered devices.
PERSONALITY
If Poet had a shoulder, there'd be an Atlas-sized chip on it, but seeing as they're fresh out of meat and bones, they've had to adopt a more "like water on duck feathers" approach. You know, when life gives you lemons, use those lemons to create a battery and power a small hobby radio to annoy your friends. All this is to say, Poet is a deeply angry person -- you would be, too, if your formative years were spent as an amorphous cloud of plasma -- but has found little point in expressing that anger. Instead, they've tried to bury those feelings: the fear they feel about their powers, the frustration at their current form and fragmented memories, and the desire to experiment more to return to their original form.Unsurprisingly, they come off as pretty moody. Perfectly pleasant one moment, and (sometimes literally) stormy the next. Their anger runs hot, but it also burns out fast. Poet throws tantrums, but forgives just as quickly, provided forgiveness has been earned. They don't forget when they've been wronged, but they are plenty willing to give someone a second chance after an apology (or a bit of revenge).
Poet isn't a full time blob of fury, though. They are shy, but like the company of living things -- people and animals both, especially cats. As a friend, they're unbeatably reliable -- not just the one you call to bury a dead body, but the one you call to help do the job. They're clever and curious, and they've found an outlet for their troubled emotions in various creative pursuits, from digital music to managing to make a refrigerator do something it probably shouldn't. They've also got a bit of a mischievous streak that's balanced by a strong (admittedly sometimes skewed) personal sense of right and wrong. Poet enjoys teasing and banter and loves a good prank, but sometimes that "fun" behavior can spill over into overly intense, foolhardy actions (like bullying a bully, or, y'know, stealing confidential documents) when their sense of justice gets in the way of things.
Poet wrestles with their current state, and worries that they're forgetting, or have already forgotten, what it's like to be human. It doesn't help that they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge these feelings, rejecting human-like robotics for looking too uncanny or lacking proper sensory connections in favor of more unconventional electronic vehicles.
😊: Clever, tech savvy, cunning, creative, loyal, quick study, strong sense of justice
🤷: Daring, fearless, oblique, opinionated, playful & unserious, good favor easily bought with gifts
🔥: Bearish & angry, moody, pouty, chaotic & capricious, incautious, vengeful, sensitive about gaps in memory
APPEARANCE
Poet manifests as a large cloud of faintly glowing static. They are able to sort of control their shape and color, even condensing down into a vaguely humanoid, brightly glowing form, but this takes effort. Instead, Poet prefers the relative safety of their electronic devices. Computers, robots, toys, home appliances -- whatever.IRIS has supplied Poet with a variety of robotic bodies ranging from robot dog to almost but not quite indistinguishable from human. Poet takes issue with these more human options, disliking how "uncanny" they seem, and how "not Poet" they are.
Poet genuinely does not remember what they used to look like, and are, in all likelihood, responsible for the corruption of all the photos and videos that had previously existed on the web. There are a few physical photos scattered around Poet's grandmother's house -- polaroids of a messy toddler, a laughing baby.
HISTORY
Search the name Ashley Poet Knightstep online and you will find a considerable digital footprint, long and storied for someone so young. Still, it's strange. From age 0 to 7, Poet was their parents' cash cow -- every new experience, every precocious comment and hilarious reaction, every horribly embarrassing and uncomfortable moment of growing up in northern Virginia was painstakingly documented on social media for the world to see. But, pictures and videos are glitched and damaged. No clear picture or video of Ashley Knightstep exists on the web.All those videos and blog posts dry up pretty abruptly, anyway. That precocious kid, viral video star, barely out of second grade, managed to spearhead an online effort to anonymously shame their parents out of monetizing their child. It goes quiet for a bit from there. Poet can't quite remember those years, now, but it was hectic. There was time spent living with Grandma. A whole lot of hubbub about being gifted. An earnest dive into computer sciences, programming, not-so-white-hat cybersecurity, and hacktivism.
Ashley Poet Knightstep was seventeen when the FBI raided their home and confiscated all electronic devices. It'd taken the Bureau an entire year to track down the true identity of GOODBYEKitty, a hacker responsible for publishing a large volume of confidential government documents regarding the identities of those lost in initial forays into the rifts.
It took them less than a month to lose Ashley all over again. The kid, locked in a windowless holding room awaiting yet another interview, disappeared quite suddenly and without a trace. Camera footage of the event shows them sitting at a metal table, head down. The footage shakes and glitches, image tearing until, in a great flash of light, the teenager known as Ashley Knightstep is gone.
Mr. and Mrs. Knightstep didn't waste the opportunity. Publicizing their child's disappearance, putting their grief on display, and launching multiple Gofundmes, ostensibly in the hope of finding them. Poet turned up eventually. In little ways at first -- a power hiccup in Maryland, a strange sparkling fog sighted in North Carolina, package deliveries going to the wrong locations, talking toys saying way more than advertised. Still, it was two years before Poet manifested in any meaningful way, finally announcing themself by interrupting one of their parents' live streams.
To everyone's great surprise, ordinarily ornery Poet -- who was still very much wanted for their role in the dissemination of classified information -- didn't put up much of a fight when IRIS tried to bring them in. On the contrary, they were tired, weak, and lonely. Going into IRIS custody, where they could at least interact with experts, was something of a relief. And anyway, it wasn't like IRIS had the means to contain them if they decided they wanted to take a powder, as far as they knew. Not that Poet has made a habit of testing the limits of their incorporeality enough to know anything for sure.
Over the next five years, Poet cooperated with IRIS officials (the absolute bare minimum amount, to be clear) in an effort to create a somewhat more calm, if not normal, life. While they have never consented to being outright tested on, they have begrudgingly agreed to assist IRIS with cybersecurity efforts in exchange for not being charged for their previous crimes.
Enodia Station is one such mandatory assignment. It's not Poet's choice to be here, but there is a cat cafe, and officials are hoping that they may be able to review systems records and offer some insight into The Blip. Whether they will or not depends on how they're feeling.
NOTES
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Poet loves cats and spends a lot of time at the cat cafe.
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Currently collaborating with at least one IRIS-backed scientist to develop a human body that better fits their specifications. It's a lot of pioneering work in tactile feedback and sensory technology.
no subject
WRITING: Whatever works for you, bub. I default to 3rd person, present tense and enjoy gdocs or threading, but can switch it up.
BACKTAGGING: Yes please. I am catastrophically slow at comment RP and get overwhelmed quick. Feel free to tap me about dropped stuff.
THREADHOPPING: Go for it, but I do not do it, myself. If you want me to show up to something I'm not already in, please link me directly OOC. I am a vampire and will not interrupt a conversation that my character is not already a part of unless specifically invited ooc or the vibe is very obviously a large group chat, even if my character is name dropped. I am not exaggerating lmao it's a wonder I ever make activity.
PRIVATE FILTERS: If a post is bumping, I totally don't mind at all (I love when a post I make becomes a massive shitpost). Once the post has died down though, please move extremely long private messages (like 40+ replies) to IC spam/another post. Just for my mailbox, mostly. I appreciate it!
SENSITIVE TOPICS: I will curate my own experience and will not engage with or will dip from things that make me uncomfortable. Appreciate standard TWs, though. If it comes up, please put pictures of spiders under a cut/as a hyperlink and not an embed, and add a warning in a post if there are pictures in comments. I appreciate it so much thank you. ;A;
IC SENSITIVE TOPICS: Not really. Poet can get heated about bad parents and talk of whether or not people who have ventured into rifts are dead. They also will not openly discuss their nature for more than a few moments, and will dip if someone presses.
SMUT: I max out at PG-13 in prose. Fade 2 Black for hornie scenes. Totally fine with discussing what happened/the nature of a relationship OOC, though.
CONFLICT: Poet is, like, as close to a literal goblin as a plasma cloud can be. Just a being of pure id. Their M.O. is doing or saying something incredibly rude, aggressive, weird, or controversial, and then dipping and not engaging the conversation anymore. They are a gremlin on the wing of the airplane that is Enodia station, and everyone else is William Shatner.
OOC note: I will allow my characters to ride to complete and irreversible emotional ruin in an It's A Small World boat if that's where their arc is going, but I never, ever want to disrupt someone else's plot or make someone else uncomfortable. I will do my best to reach out to you OOC before doing anything brash. Please just hit me up if a plot is not going in a direction you're comfortable with!!
VIOLENCE: Poet has neither the desire nor the capacity to commit real violence.
BADMOUTHING: Do it. They need to get back some of what they're dishing. lmao
SHIPPING, CRUSHES, ROMANCE: At the moment, Poet is too divorced from their humanity to experience attraction or romantic feelings. Flirting generally goes over their head unless it's extremely obvious. This character is basically early seasons Star Trek Data but From Hell. I'm open to this changing as I get more comfortable with the character and see where development takes them, but for now, Poet is not on the market.
OOC note: I like to play flirtatious characters and characters who sleep around. Sometimes my characters will get crushes that are meant to evaporate, but I tend to go pt pt pt pt pt MEEP MEEP pew when I sense actual romo lmfao I'm sorry. I'm unable to be normal. That said, I'm open to shipping, but the vibes have to be just right, and I am not ready to ship until I'm comfortable with my character and feel that they've got an established social circle first.