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BASICS

NAME Paige Elisabeth Guthrie

CODENAME Husk

NICKNAMES Hayseed, Country Mouse (she ignores both)

AGE & DOB 19 20 / May 15, 2005 (♉️)

PRONOUNS She/her/hers

AFFILIATION X-Men

HOMETOWN Cumberland County, KY

MARK Tongue

POWERS

TRANSITIONAL OMNI-MORPH Paige can shed her outer skin to reveal a different state or shape that she's formed underneath. She can take on the properties of most materials with study, and some materials lend her additional abilities like increased speed, strength, durability, and resistance to extreme temperatures.

There's some indication that she can shift into energy-like states, but so far she has never successfully done this.
Typically keeps her same shape, but has some flexibility when it comes to her appearance. In general she can't go much bigger or smaller than she actually is.
Can shed more surface level wounds, along with anything simply on her form like sweat and grime.
Deeper wounds remain, though she can temporarily offset their affects by shedding into a different form. (This is currently unknown to her).
Can only remain in transitioned forms for approximately one to two hours before needing to shed back to herself.
Can shed repeatedly, though too many changes too quickly are extremely painful and leave her fatigued and lead to imperfect results. When she's particularly addled or tired, she may shed into a patchwork form of different materials.

SKILLS

DRIVING/PILOTING Paige grew up on a farm, so she's spent her life operating various pieces of farm equipment. She feels comfortable manning pretty much anything (even if it's new to her - she'll figure it out!!), and will drive anything and everything. Since joining the X-Men, she's learned how to pilot the jet as well.

FIREARMS While she was a good, confident shot with a rifle when she arrived at the Institute, her skill has been honed and expanded because why not? She's not fond of guns, but she's not afraid of them in the least and knows how to handle them, clean them, and shoot with ease.

HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT Learned at the school and has honed the skill. She doesn't have to be particularly fancy because she can make herself metal, but even so she can throw a mean right hook. Generally she prefers to subdue people in less violent ways, though.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY Practiced in soothing animals, identifying dangerous ones, reading dangerous cues, and generally taking care of them. She can perform basic first aid on most common animals, and can assist in births.

SIGN LANGUAGE After befriending Jono, Paige made it her mission to learn American Sign Language, and then British Sign Language, to enable easier communication with him and to support him! Plus, it seems like a useful skill?? Maybe??

BEGINNER GUITARIST Took a music class her senior year in an attempt to look more well-rounded to colleges, and guitar seemed like the natural choice. Even after graduating she still spends a little bit of time every week trying to improve (but not enough time to really get that much better). She's not bad, but she's definitely nothing impressive.

APPEARANCE

HAIR blonde EYES blue HEIGHT 5'6"

Paige's appearance isn't fussy - she doesn't really wear make-up, her hair is almost never styled, and her clothes are plain, practical, comfortable, and look like hand-me-downs most of the time, given how some of them fit too large. Her things are terribly well-cared for, but there's a clear emphasis on drawing out the life of possessions as long as she can, so a few holes in a shirt hem aren't reason to toss it out, and stained jeans work just as fine as new ones. The only thing she has that look brand new are her running shoes, which she is religious about using only for running, and replacing as needed.

Much like Sam, she owns one article of nice clothing - a flowery dress "for weddings, funerals, formals, ~~dates~~, interviews, and big apologies." Lucinda tailored it so it fits her well, but she hates wearing it. It's one part bad associations with getting dressed up, and one part feeling like she needs to be careful when she's in it.

Her hair, up until recently, fell nearly to her waist, but at the end of last summer she cut it off to her shoulders and has been keeping it that length. Otherwise, though, not much has changed since she arrived except that she's aged and put on more muscle and a little more meat on her bones, and the fact that generally she's traded her large, dorky glasses for contacts except in the evenings. Despite being an X-Man now, there are no clear scars except for a long one on her left forearm. Freckles are splashed across her shoulders and nose, and she definitely picks up more color during the summer since she'll take any excuse to be outside.

Much to her chagrin, her uniform tends to be relatively limited in coverage to allow her to shed without fussing with her clothes too much. She has a jacket over her uniform that she will take off when she needs to, and some tear off pants for when it's cold, but fuller coverage uniforms are just problematic for her.

Paige speaks with a thick rural Kentucky accent she's constantly trying to suppress with middling success.

REFS: X, X, X

PERSONALITY Paige is honest, caring, and generally optimistic about the world. She wants to be good and do good, and thinks that most people, at their core, also want to. Giving people a chance (or, like, maybe two or three) is in her nature, and she tries very hard to never judge a book by its cover.

Even with this optimism, though, she's always striving for more. More knowledge, more skills, more anything she can get her hands on. She wants to be the best, and while this is often simply in competition with herself, it would be wrong to say that she doesn't have a competitive streak too. It comes with the territory, honestly. She asks for more out of others, too. Not to say, of course, that she doesn't cut others slack, but she still pushes. She wants more for them than they maybe want for themselves. It can be annoying, but at least it comes from a good place, right?

Paige's desire to excel at all things leans her prone to overly critical self-judgement of her abilities, and an over-eagerness to prove herself, both of which can lead to fumbles that only seem to perpetuate the feelings. She's good at picking herself up and dusting herself off, though, after a little bit of moping and maybe some crying. Because she's got work to do, and she can't do that if she's feeling bad for herself.

Her drive also often gets in the way of caring for herself, which logically she knows is dumb, but she's been able to get away with for long enough that it doesn't feel that pressing to change. She can be reckless in trying to both prove herself and improve herself, and she's chronically sleep-deprived and often forgets to eat. Others she can care for, but her own physical needs are often an afterthought. She'll sleep when she's dead and all that.

Likes: Studying, running, listening to music, making playlists, old movies (B-horror in particular), organizing, sitting in the sun, flowers (sunflowers in particular)

Dislikes: Unnecessary clutter, the winter, not being able to help (either because she can't or she's not allowed to), feeling homesick, wearing dresses, bullies, not being taken seriously, making mistakes, spending money

HISTORY

FAMILY Thomas "Ty" Guthrie. father. - Deceased - Paige misses her father, who she remembers as kind, hard-working, and dedicated to his family. He always came to their games even when he was exhausted from working as a miner. She wants to be like him. They used to listen to old country music together all the time, leaving her a little more sentimental about music than she would be otherwise.

Lucinda Guthrie. mother. - Lucinda is tough and resilient, traits Paige also wants to live up to. There is occasionally some friction there because Paige can be hard-headed, but she knows she loves her.

Ray Holder. step-father. - Ray and Lucinda got married last year after years of dating. Paige likes him - he's nice, thoughtful, and a little quiet, and balances out some of her mother's intensity. He fits right into the family.

Samuel Guthrie (Cannonball). older brother. - Paige's idol. When his powers manifested and he left for Xavier's, Paige was heartbroken for a million different reasons. She wants to be him. She wants to be better than him, but not in a way that's competitive - she thinks he's wonderful, and it would be amazing to be better than wonderful.

Joshua, Melody, Jebediah, Ray Holder Jr., Joelle, Elizabeth, Lewis, Cissie, & Mae. younger siblings. - The Guthrie brood is sprawling (and heavily populated by mutants). Their numbers were added to by the adoption of Ray Holder Jr. when Lucinda married his father. Paige loves all of her younger siblings but feels responsible for them, leading her to occasionally put a wall up between her and them. She can also be pretty bossy.

NOTABLE RELATIONSHIPS Joey Lombardi (Brawn). ex-boyfriend. - A mutant with super strength. Joey is somewhat cocky but ultimately a good person, though that's marred a bit by being teenaged boy and all the immaturity that entails. He' very sensitive to his friends' opinions about him, and can err a little on the side of macho, which means Paige's independence ended up causing friction.

Paige dated Joey from January through August of 2024 before they broke up in a bit of a blow up, their fight caused by Joey putting Paige down in front of his friends one too many times. They have a relatively cordial relationship now, if only because they have to work together since he's still on the X-Men too. There are no lingering feelings left for either of them. Paige actually maybe kind of hates him, though some of this is embarrassment at how their relationship went and how it ended.

Fluppy. childhood toy. - Well, technically, it's Dr. Fluppy. He has a PhD in Biomechanical Engineering, with pioneering work in artificial lungs. Yes he is at the Institute and lives in her room.

cw: parental death, poverty From a large, poor family in rural Kentucky, Paige grew up loved by her parents and responsible for her younger siblings. Though she struggled some to make friends at school, she excelled in her studies and had dreams of getting out of Kentucky and making a difference in the world. The death of her father somewhat dampened those dreams, though they were reignited by the realization that her older brother, Sam, was a mutant. And she could maybe be one too. Paige had spent her whole life striving to be better, and now a new goal was presented to her. After her powers manifested she went to attend Xavier's with Sam, and remains there post graduation as a member of the X-Men.

TIMELINE

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2016 - AGE 10/11 Ty Guthrie dies due to black lung disease, leaving Lucinda to raise their ten children on her own.

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2018 - AGE 12/13 Paige's older brother, Sam, manifests his powers and leaves home in pursuit of help with his new abilities. Despite the complications of being a mutant, which are becoming more and more apparent, Paige immediately becomes obsessed with manifesting powers herself. She does everything she can imagine to draw them up in her. Before long Sam returns home, which is both a relief and, Paige thinks, a little depressing.

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2019 - AGE 13/14 Paige, still attempting to manifest powers, jumps off the roof of the barn into a pile of hay. The plan is ill-conceived, though, and she lands wrong, resulting in a compound fracture to her arm. This doesn't deter her at all.

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2021 - AGE 15/16 Paige's powers manifest (finally). She's welcomed to Xavier's, and Sam follows her, not wanting to let her go to New York by herself. This is both annoying to her and wonderful.

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2022 - AGE 16/17 Paige dutifully registers under the Mutant Registration Act, but attends protests against it regularly.

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2023 - AGE 17/18 X-Tinction Agenda takes place. Paige returns to Xavier's after being home for Christmas earlier than Sam, wanting to catch up on her studies. On his way back Sam disappears, leaving Paige distraught and guilty. Still a student and thus not allowed to participate in the rescue mission, she nonetheless sneaks onto the Blackbird and is discovered when it's too late to return her to the school. She assists in the rescue mission on Genosha.

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2024 - AGE 18/19 Paige starts to attend college remotely to get a degree in chemical ecology. It's incredibly demanding, but she claims it's all fine!! She's totally got this. Paige cuts off her long hair during the summer to her shoulders, wanting to feel a little more grown up.

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2025 - AGE 19/20 With Xavier out of commission and the original X-Men focused on this task, Paige focuses on missions as a part of Gold Team.

PLAYER Rin (she/her) TIMEZONE Central PB Daisy Edgar-Jones CONTACT dropbox 🌻

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