The Knowitall
You think being a single working mom is easy? No, of course you don’t. You know that no matter what culture you’re looking at, be it neolithic tribes in the jungles of New Zealand or the heights of the jet-set glitterati scene, the sub-category that’s working harder than the average and getting less satisfaction from it is the woman raising kids without a man.
Misty Leighton dropped out of eleventh grade and started waiting tables after getting pregnant and married (in that order). Her husband Montel skipped town when their daughter Monique was fourteen months old. This cowardly retreat was timed to take maximum advantage of Misty’s father’s funeral. (Her dad had been an MP in the Marines and the wedding was, in many ways, more his doing than anyone else’s.)
Let’s flash forward a few years. Misty’s daughter was five, she was in kindergarten and struggling, not because she was having trouble with the work but because it was too easy and the teacher had to help the kids who couldn’t grasp basic math. Monique’s grandmother tried, God bless her, but her own health was starting to fade and keeping up with a fiercely intelligent young girl was more than she could handle.
It was coming up on the anniversary of Misty’s father’s death (and Montel’s abandonment) which always left Misty sad, and she was stressed over waiting for the results of her mom’s biopsy, plus Monique had been sent to the principal for fighting again. That sort of strain can tax your immune system, so Misty was battling a cold.
Before you judge her harshly for continuing to toil at food service with the sniffles, consider that a busy Saturday shift was, for her, often more relaxing than being at home with her daughter. In any event, it was lucky for her. A man who looked uncomfortable in a nice new suit was sitting down with his whining wife, gaudily overdressed.
“Why here?” the woman asked. “We’ve got money now. We should be somewhere classy, not this shit-hole diner.”
“I really like their reubens,” the man said mildly, just as Misty walked by, unable to stifle a cough.
“Here,” the man said. “Let me help.”
Even as the wife said, “What? Don’t do her, she can’t pay!” he touched Misty’s arm and her life changed.
Her sickness was gone, of course, but it was more than that. For so long she’d been unsure what to do, how to act, how to help her family. After that touch, she’d never be unsure again.
The first thing she did after her shift was burgle a liquor store. She knew just how to disable the alarm and open the lock. Two days later, it was a jewelry store. A week after that spontaneous healing she quit her job and hired her daughter a tutor.
Lineage: Amanda Sykes - Andrew Colt - Mark May - Misette May - Gloria May - Zahur Hossain - Mina Kefer - Melanie Dreyer - Bruce Konieck
Personality: Before empowerment, she’s harried, sad and a little bit martyred. Afterwards she’s confident, assertive, a bit smug and, if you get in her way, bitchy.
Values: Family, Revenge
Known Powers
- Misty has an ability called Perfect Form which calls forward glowing patches of light that guide her to exactly the right action in a given situation.
- Her powers are particularly suited to physical actions, so Misty also has Hyperathletics.