Character Exercise: The "Misfits" Storm.

Misfits starts when a freak lightning storm blows through town; anyone caught outside is given a superpower based on their personality. It usually has something to do with what they want the most or how they feel about their lives, or and is almost always a statement about who they really are. For Example

Note that not all of the powers are useful. Kelly started out with telepathy, but at first could only hear what people were thinking about her. Simon could turn invisible, but only when nobody was looking. One guy could control dairy products. That last guy turned into a milk-based serial killer, but the point still stands that that's a sucky power.

So the question is: imagine your characters (stripped of all magic/super-technology/what have you) getting caught out in the storm, with as close to the same backstory as you can muster. What would this storm have done to them? Why?

For example, my character Raymond had his father abandon him when he was young. He does his best to be there for his friends, but deep down, he's afraid that others will leave him. So he'd get the power to inspire extreme loyalty in people, with no real control over it. They'd probably have to touch him or be within a certain distance or something like that, but anyone affected would do what he wants or needs, to the point of death.

edited 22nd Feb '12 8:14:30 AM by SalFishFin

The Misfits concept of powers based on personality is actually present in one of my stories, so I'll describe what I'm doing with it:

Zaid, The Hero, was born with inhuman birth defects and Bizarre Alien Biology all over his right side of his body, and in-story, he is feared and hated because people think that he has the ability to bring about The End of the World as We Know It, so his power involves transforming into a giant, Cthulhu-like beast similar to the other resident Eldritch Abomination that most other characters are deathly afraid of.

Malik Akkad has somewhat of a messiah complex(and a bit of A God Am I going on), so his powers involve heavenly/divine things like sprouting wings of light, summoning meteors or beam attacks from the heavens, and wielding a Laser Blade. Furthermore, as a fervent believer in the power of the people, he actually gets stronger through others wearing or worshipping his symbols, and his followers develop some of their own powers through this belief.