| July Lanford | |
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| Portrayed By | Hailey Marie Packer |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Date of Birth | May 7th, 1992 |
| Age | 17 |
| Zodiac Sign | Taurus |
| Aliases | Elastica |
| Place of Birth | Washington D.C. |
| Current Location | New York City |
| Occupation | Student at Xavier's School |
| Known Relatives | Mark Lanford (father) and Lyan Lanford (mother) |
| Significant Other | None yet. |
| Identity | Secret |
| Known Abilities | Body Malleability |
| First Appearance | ??? |
I spent most of my puberty period locked in my home because of my powers. Now that I'm out, I'm going to live life to its fullest!
History
The Lanford family is well known in Washington D.C. for being a rich, but not a spoiled family. The Lanford spend most of their money on cheritable events and organizations, funding them, keeping just a bit more than necessary for a comfortable living with them. And a comfortable life they do lead. Mark Lanford inherited the position of owner and president of Lanford Industries, a famous group of industries that work on processing toxic and radioactive waste into something more ecological-friendly.
Before even taking the seat of president, taking his father's place once the man has retired, Mark has married with her long-time girlfriend, Lyan, a teacher for the local high school. Seven years after the marriage, they had a daughter, which they named July. Despite having a rich family, July didn't grew spoiled. Both her parents did their best to give her a proper education, and teaching her to work hard for her own gain, without affecting her childhood. She never had anything handed to her. She had to deserve gifts and presents.
July grew up in quite an open environment. The area of her house and yards were huge, as it is to expect from rich people, but she also had a lot of freedom too, to be able to be taken to the park, befriend other little kids. Time passes, and it's time to get to school. July was enrolled in a private school, the same school his father has gone to, and July couldn't be happier.
In school, July, with her extroverted and friendly behavior, quickly made a lot of friends in there, but as for the teachers, they had mixed feelings about her. Because, on one hand, she was an excellent student, taking notes, asking questions, getting good grades. But on the other hand, she could be quite the troublemaker, sometimes skipping classes, others causing a bit of commotion in the classroom by engaging in conversation with her colleagues.
The infamous age of thirteen arrived and July found herself on a date with an old friend of hers, Anthony. She only accepted the invite from Anthony because of peer pressure from her girl friends. During that date, July finally came to a realization, finally admitting to herself that… guys do not interest her. She always found herself better in company of girls, she always admired the girls, and guys too, but then she realized that she never felt any attraction to the guys, guys that her girl friends would swoon toward.
The next day July told her parents about her, 'outting' herself to them, who were very understanding, supported her in her choice. July decided to keep her sexuality a secret, at least until she is older, because kids can be quick to marginalize anyone they deem 'different', like the mutants.
By the age of thirteen, as well, July's parents started taking her with them to visit the charitable events they hosted throughout the US, the girl enjoying every moment of it, being able to see new places, meet new people, and help with her parents too.
After her fifteenth's birthday, July started to feel a bit weird. Not ill, not bad, but not overly good. She could still go through her day normally, but she felt strange. She couldn't describe the feeling to her parents, and the doctor who ran a general check-up on her didn't come up with anything out of the norm, but gave the Lanford family a speech blaming hormones. She was at the age, too.
And then, weeks later, the feeling subsided, and she was feeling great again. Helping her father with his luggage, she accidentally trips and falls back, one of the heavy cases her father's luggage falls on top of her leg, crushing it flat. July lets out a scream out of shock, and her mother promptly calls for the ambulance, while her father helps her. But then they notice her leg is fine. Crushed flat, but no pain, no wound, no marks. After the case was removed, the leg slowly 'inflated' back to normal.
The ambulance call canceled, Mark and Lyan and July sat on the living room of their home, thinking about what just happened. The answer was obvious, but also dreading: their daughter is a mutant. They talked about it for hours, and, much to July's dislike, that she'll have to remain at home at all times, being even pulled from school, her mother also quitting her job to be able to dedicate herself fully to her daughter, assuming the role of tutor for her, teaching her what school would teach her.
At home, July slowly accepted her powers, and started to find them fun. While still saddened she couldn't leave the limits of the house, nor recieve any visits, she found fun wherever she could, even breaking some rules within the house, just for a bit of spite, and fun. She loves her parents, but she needs to leave. She needs, she wants to go out again, and make friends.
Powers
Power description: July body seems to be made of taffy-like flesh. Every inch of her form is completely malleable and pliable, meaning she can stretch her limbs, or even her body, longer, or even flattening herself against an object to very thin width. She can also change the shape of her body, able to take the form of simple shapes, and even 'melt' to flow through small cracks or tubes. She can make herself become as soft as taffy, but she can't make herself harder or stronger than a normal human. She scan stretch herself quite a good deal, depending on how well fed and rested she is. If stretching into a straight line, the girl can elongate up to fifteen meters, but when trying to take a flat, wide shape, her best is six meters square.
Power strengths: Crushing effects don't do much to her aside from flattening her, though they still can stun her and make her dizzy if the hit is hard and sudden enough. Her malleability also gives her great agility and reflexes. Being what she is also allows her to become stuff akin to safety nets to help falling people from hitting the ground, or becoming parachutes for friends.
Power weaknesses: Extreme hot temperatures, like being inside a building on fire, or being out in the desert, prevent July from remaining 'solid', and she becomes soft, and sometimes can even give the impression of 'melting' if it's too hot, like standing next to big fires. Extreme cold temperatures, like almost zero degrees Celsius, makes it hard, sometimes even preventing, her body to stretch, and making it a bit hard for her to move, hampering her reflexes. Piercing and slashing attacks, like bullets, spears and swords, deal normal damage to her, like any normal girl. Also, she's still mostly un-familiar with her powers, and keeping a solid form actually requires concentration.
Timeline
- On the very second day at the school, July and her friend Vladimir are attacked, while they're walking through town, by a strange costumed super-powered woman calling herself Blind Surgeon, claiming Vladimir was a drug dealer, and severely beat both July and Vlad to almost submission until help arrived.
- On April 6, her third day in school, she meets by pure chance Alison Blaire, her pop star idol, and Alison agrees to sign the three CDs July has, those CDs becoming now July's most precious treasure.
- On May 17, July, along with several students and teachers, had her powers removed by a green humanoid that landed from the sky at the Mansion's courtyard. Med Bay scans say her mutant X-Gene is gone, proving that she's a normal human now, not a mutant with a disabled X-Gene.
- A few weeks later, said green humanoid is defeated, and explodes, and all mutants depowered by him gain powers again. But… mis-matched powers. July got the power of flight and gaining the ability to create objects from sound.
- That state of shuffled powers persisted for a month, when July regained her original powers.
Quotes
- None yet
Trivia
- July's default state is soft and mushy like clay. She has to maintain focus 24/7 to keep herself solid like a normal person.
- July's body is sensitive to temperature extremes. Too hot makes it hard for her to keep solid. Too cold makes it harder for her to move.
- Outdoors. July loves them. Spending years locked within her own home and not being able to live made the girl long for the sun.
- Two distinct habits July has is to tilt her head slightly to the sides whenever she's curious or confused, and to rub the back of her head whenever she's thinking, or embarrassed.
Gallery
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