Name: Norah Coleridge
Nickname: During her high school years, Norah went by her middle name Katherine and picked up the nickname 'Kat'. She still answers to it on occasion, although she no longer spends time with many people who were around when she was in high school.
Age: 25 years
Faceclaim: Hailey Baldwin

Ability: Animal Shapeshifting - Norah is able to shift into a variety of animals, namingly cats, birds, small dogs and household pets most often. The most impressive shift she's done so far is of a Bengal tiger, and she has been actively practicing her abilities to shift into bigger animals like rhinos and bears which are all possible, but require a bit of practice to perfect.

Interestingly enough, Norah is in fact, able to shift with all of her clothes as well as maintain what she wore prior to her shift when she shifts back into human form. (Think: Professor McGonagall and her animagus cat-form) Her go-to shift is a grey tabby cat, the first animal she ever shifted into.

Empath - Norah is also very keen and in-tune with the emotions of the people around her. When she is in her human form, this ability is very dull and more of a well-calculated assumption than anything else, but in various animal forms, Norah is able to sense when someone nearby feels sad, frightened, happy, angry; any general emotion usually best associated with the animal form she is in. For instance: in dog form, she can easily sense happiness and sadness, loss being a fairly common emotion much like dogs often can when associated with other humans.

Weakness: The shift associates itself with a combination of her emotions and mental capacity in that certain emotions may evoke certain animals based on instinct, and this often meaning some of her shifts are outside of her control. To shift into a particular animal, a certain level of concentration is required from Norah and increases depending on the size of the animal. Larger animals in general tend to take up more mind space meaning she needs to concentrate much harder to produce a hippo compared to a poodle.

As a general rule, Norah is unable to shift into the form of any other human being other than herself, while still able to shift into different types of dogs or cats, for example.

Her Empath abilities are very minor, and generally do not have much weakness besides coinciding with terrible bouts of depression, and occasionally as mentioned above, odd animal shifts when her own emotions are therefore affected by emotions around her. Regardless, Norah is a good study, and is very careful about who she shares what emotions with because of this.

Other Special Abilities: Prior to contracting the virus, Norah was an art student who loved to paint and sculpt, draw and color. Every aspect of art evokes a different kind of fire within her, and while Norah doesn't try to pretend like she understands art the way an art critic might, she certainly enjoys the creative aspect of it and tends to fill a sketchbook every month or so.

Norah also likes to sing, but she is a bit shy about sharing her voice outside of the shower. She's quite good but has never sung in public, not even in front of her own family.

Theme song: Pineapple Skies

Is your character a League member or a recruit?: League member
How many years with The League: 3-4 years
Occupation on the Campbell Compound: Tracker and Emotional Support. She often attends important meetings with Theodore and Sullivan where she utilizes her Empath abilities as well.

Physical Description: Norah is a tall, graceful looking young woman with bright honey-colored eyes and a heart shaped face, her high cheekbones and a cupid's bow set of lips draw conversation towards her like a horse to water. Her soft blonde hair falls just barely past her shoulders, delicate beachy waves that she doesn't often try to tame. Her hips curve and long, lithe runner's legs stretch out from underneath her like a giraffe. Not particularly pale nor is she extremely tanned, Norah flutters between a happy middle, her porcelain skin unmarked save for a small birthmark on the side of her right hip and a thumb-sized tattoo of a heart on the nape of her neck in loving memory of her mother.

Norah's usual casual attire often consists of the comfortable jeans and tee combo on a pair of low sneakers, or when she's feeling particularly in a good mood, a cute dress or skirt and crop top option may or may not make an appearance.

Distinguishing Features: Norah has a small birthmark on her right hip that translates through to all of her shifts, an easy way to single her out from a crowd of animals if one knows where to look.

Personality Description: Norah is generally a pretty laid back, down-to-earth individual who loves a good laugh paired with great friends. She tries her best not to take things too seriously and finds happiness in anything artistic and art-related. She loves to delve deep into a good conversation and always has something to say, whether it's about politics and religion, or what flavor of tea she should have in the morning and with which cookies. She doesn't let the little things bother her much, and is an easy person to console or confide in. Her ideal night free of responsibilities would probably include late night pizza, pillows and blankets and a cheesy romantic drama or a good book in a comfy chair under the warm glow of a low lamp. Yet despite this, Norah is a well-intentioned social butterfly: she loves to be around people and can be rather flirty when meeting others for the first time.


History: Growing up was never something easy for Norah. As the only child to a single father who had lost his wife to childbirth complications, young Norah never grew up with a mother figure or any blood siblings, only ever connecting as a daughter with the beautiful Belinda Coleridge through photographs and memories that her father would often tell her about the pretty waitress he fell head over heels for one sunny summer afternoon so many years ago.

His wife's death had been a troubling one for Trevor Coleridge, who had long since pressured his wife for children of their own well before the pair ever even got married, and much of her death was something Trevor often held himself accountable for. He felt guilty that while he finally got everything he had ever wanted in little Norah, (who, in her right, was just as good of a cuddle-r as her mother had been) he had forfeited something he loved just as much to have her in his life. This sent her father into a bout of depression for a number of years, where some nights Norah would spend the night at her neighbors house, or be sent to her grandparents' cottage for a few days while her father worked through some of his issues at the bottom of a bottle, or a night or two at the nearby casino.

Trevor Coleridge mourned for his wife for many years and well into Norah's early school years, refusing every blind date that came his way and just barely managing his responsibilities for Norah until his family finally had enough and set up the intervention that ultimately pushed Trevor into rehab where he met Jasmine Marks, a single mother who had lost her husband to cancer. She had a son only 3 years older than Norah, and the two of them clicked almost immediately.

Two short years later almost to the date, the pair were married and their families moved in with one another into a three bedroom home in a suburban neighborhood. Six months following, Trevor Coleridge was discovered infected by the virus, just as the first real signs of the infection was beginning to spread throughout America. He survived for a few short months before finally succumbing to his human flaws and passing on to the other side, the virus quick to overtake his feeble human body.

At that time, Norah was only 15 years old and just barely struggling with her own adolescence, unable to appropriately understand why the only parent she had ever truly known had been taken from her so early in her young life. Jasmine was as much of a mother to her as she could possibly be but the woman actively kept a distance from her step daughter, feeding her and caring for her as only a caregiver appropriately could. Norah did her best to appeal to her step mother every chance she had, but it was no use. Jasmine had never truly managed to find common ground with Norah, and their relationship remained strained over years of trying.

For what it was worth, Norah did get a long well with Jasmine's son, Kellan, but the death of her father had been hard on the young teenager from that day forward, and Norah had a hard time focusing in school, let alone on healthy friends. When she was not locked in her room trying to expel her frustration through her art, Norah Coleridge was out on the town, spending her teenage years trying to forget about the pain and insufferable hand she'd been dealt. These were the nights that Kellan would pick up Norah from a rowdy house party at 3am, or offer to help her study for her upcoming art history exam. Unlike Jasmine, Norah felt comfort in having something of a big brother, and she even relied on him during her moments of weakness, when she couldn't imagine anyone truly understanding just how much she had lost in her short life.

Things didn't seem to get better when Kellan was finally claimed by the virus a few months later, although it was this particular turning point in young Norah's life when the pretty blonde suddenly had her first shift. She had come home from school one evening to find Jasmine sobbing in the living room, having learned about Kellan's untimely death. Norah, unable to capture her own emotions, fell into sadness alongside her stepmother, the feeling of loss heavy on her heart as she released her knapsack onto the floor in a state of shock. The moment she began to cry, Norah curled into a ball on the floor, her long tabby cat tail curling around herself protectively as she cried into the carpeted floor of their suburban home.

Jasmine, so consumed with her son's death, had not even noticed Norah had in fact, been infected by the virus as well and a few days later Norah's stepmother took her own life, unable to handle the emotional stress of losing both her husband and her son within months of one another.

Since that day, Norah has been struggling with short bouts of depression, although she did eventually reach out for help from an art teacher, who subsequently referred her to a good friend by the name of Theodore Collins when they learned about Norah's 'gift', realizing right away the best way to help a grieving student was to ensure she got the kind of help she truly needed. Norah has since been with the League, honing her skills and providing support wherever it is required.


Connections:

Trevor Coleridge, Father - deceased, died of the Virus
Kellan Mason, Stepbrother - deceased, died of the Virus
Jasmine Coleridge-Marks, Stepmother - deceased, committed suicide

Theodore Collins - Norah looks up to Theodore like a father figure, a man who resembles her own father in more ways than one. She may not be as close to Theodore as some of the others who have been around a lot longer than she has, but it is safe to say that Norah trusts him completely and knows that in many ways he trusts her too, especially when it comes to utilizing her Empath abilities to advance the ongoing purpose of the Campbell Compound.

Sullivan Hart - There is a lot to say about Sullivan Hart that Norah probably will never tell you, but what most people do know is that not a day goes by that the two are not seen walking through the Compound together, or having lunch together, or huddled together helping Theodore with a new assignment of sorts. She's relied on him a lot ever since she arrived at the Campbell Compound, and he has been a major contributing factor towards strengthening her gift as well as their growing friendship. Rumor has it that there is something much more personal brewing between them, but neither of them has openly admitted to such a thing out loud. NEW DEVELOPMENT: Sullivan and Norah have since made their relationship formal and are publically dating one another.

Alexis Adaire - Norah considers Alexis her closest female friend at the Campbell Compound, and whenever she feels as though she needs to step away from the focus of survival and the future of the Compound, Norah knows that she can find solace in the company of the Compound's resident tech expert. The two girls regularly have movie nights together, sneaking popcorn and rationed candies from Alexis' ever-flowing hidden stash.