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[ahhmahlawd]

Character Name: Paige Guthrie || Husk

Canon source: Towards the end of Generation X when teammate Synch was killed while trying to defuse a bomb at school. (approx. Gen X #72)

Preferred drop-in point: Seattle

History:

Born in Cumberland, Kentucky to coal miners, Paige is the younger sister of Sam Guthrie, the mutant known as Cannonball and the older sister of Jay Guthire, the mutant known as Icarus. Second oldest in the line of ten Guthrie kids, after Sam left to attend Xavier's school, Paige tried valiantly for months to obtain mutant powers that she was sure she had. Short of throwing herself into toxic waste, she tried flying off of a roof, sitting in a vat of ice, and all other kinds of life threatening circumstances until she screamed that if she didn't get mutant powers soon she would tear right out of her skin. And tear out of her skin she did. Quite literally. It was then she discovered her mutant powers to "husk" into different materials, although it would be quite sometime before she would see any action concerning the X-Men.

Although Sam was involved with both the X-Men and X-Force, he didn't want his younger sister to lead such a dangerous life. However, when he brought his girlfriend Tabitha home they were attacked by the Upstart Sienna Blaze during “Younghunt,” where the members of the Upstarts wanted to capture the ex-members of the New Mutants and the Hellions. Paige attempted to use her powers to save them but she was too scared to husk into anything even remotely helpful. Soon after this, X-Force went after the missing mutants and while Paige volunteered to go along with them Cable forbade her to go since she was still new at using her powers. Needless to say, eager to prove that she belonged and could use her powers, Paige followed X-Force through Cable’s portal. Using both her brains and her husking abilities, she was able to save the day. Even after the traumatic experience and finding out that Sam was immortal, Paige was not dissuaded from wanting to learn more about her powers. Although Cable said he didn't have the resources to teach her, Paige wasn't disheartened-- she truly wanted to study under Charles Xavier in order to "become the X-Man Sam could have been."

After an incident with the techno-organic creatures called the Phalanx (who kidnapped mutants to study them as way to figure out how to assimilate their powers) where her friend and teammate Blink was killed, the people who had saved her -- Banshee and the White Queen -- became her headmasters at the new “Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters" in Massachusetts. Their team name became known as Generation X. Paige studied hard and tried to lose her Southern accent in hopes of surpassing her brother in skill and in intelligence. She had an on and off romance with teammate Jono, known as Chamber, who couldn't quite get over the fact that he had no face and chest. Their romance was explosive to say the least-- when she drunkenly tried to kiss him, depressed from learning about a virus that was killing mutants, he accidentally lit the girls' dorm on fire. Another incident that happened shortly after involved one of her non-mutant siblings, Joelle. She and Sam had to go save their sister who was lured into an anti-mutant organization that threatened to wipe out all mutant kind.

During her time with Generation X Paige faced a plethora of bad guys and dealt with a number of crises that helped shape her as a person and as a member of Gen X: Omega Red, minions of Emplate (teammate Monet's brother and on again, off again villain for Gen X), the Onslaught crisis (Professor X seemingly lost control of his powers and created an entity that was responsible for the apparent deaths of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four which spurred a lot of mutant hate), Black Tom Cassidy, Prime Sentinels of Bastion‘s Operation: Zero Tolerance, her diary being stolen (this was very serious business, seeing as she wrote a few racy things about teammate Chamber), Asgardian Trolls, various boy problems (Jono and her could never quite get their act together and after spurning her one too many times, Paige decided to date one of the "normal" kids who started attending their school), and finally Adrienne Frost's bombs that killed teammate Synch.

Through each of their trials, Paige honed her skills at husking and being a competent team leader. To date, she has turned into many materials such as diamond, gold, glass, stone, rubber and more. She also became the team's resident techie and hacker, obsessed with security, checking the internet for mutant activity, and keeping the school safe from any more attacks.


Personality:

At the beginning of Generation X-- and even in the beginning of her life as a mutant-- Paige was a perfectionist striving to be as good as, if not better, than her brother Sam. Although she was close with her family and loved her home, she always felt there was something more out there. Her destiny as a mutant was calling and she was not about to miss her chance to help mankind with her power. Because of this, when she first was enrolled as a student of the White Queen and Banshee, she spent most of her time with her nose in the books and trying to kill off her thick Southern drawl in an attempt to not sound like a "hick". She has an obsessive personality with most things (except cleaning her room) and need to be right and in charge. When her authority is questioned, you can bet there will be a fight. Paige likes to be taken seriously, though it can often be hard when her attempts to better herself can come off comical.

As much as Paige enjoys her life as a member of Gen X, she is still very much a homebody who enjoys going home for the holidays and misses her family. Although her relationship with her older brother Sam can be tumultuous at times due to their seemingly different personalities, she clearly loves and respects him, looking towards him as a role model. In fact, a lot of times she finds that they are very similar. Paige just feels the need to be better than him, that's all. Overeager to prove herself (and that she is tougher/better/smarter/more awesome in general than Sam), Paige often acts first and thinks later which ends badly for her, usually in serious injury.

Friendship is very important to Paige. She truly cares about and respects each member of Gen X, often being called motherly (although rather mockingly) by teammate Jubilee. She is very respectful of her elders-- she is only of the only students who actually use "Ms." and "Mr." to address Emma and Sean. At the beginning of the series she was staunch about titles but as it progressed she grew more lax about authority figures and their titles. She can be shy about her feelings, especially towards Jono, and hesitant to express how she truly feels. Rejection does not sit well with her and she can be vindictive when pushed too hard.

Like any other teenager, Paige has her phases, one of the most noticeable being that after Jono started avoiding her (after telling her they would be together and then getting cold feet), she started shirking her studies and spending more time on her looks and other boys in an attempt to get him jealous. Before Synch's death, Paige had stopped studying as much, dressed nicer, and in the wake of having a new boyfriend, ignored Jono entirely out of pure spite. After Ev died, however, Paige reverted back to her old ways of studying and being serious about her work. However, those who know her know that her mature act is just that-- an act. Deep down, Paige is still very much immature and naive, though she tries to get others to think otherwise.

At the beginning of Gen X, Paige is somewhat of an idealist when it comes to mutants and mutant life. By that time, she hasn't been fully exposed to mutant hate or the problems they have to face and so was disheartened to learn about hate groups and the Legacy Virus which threatened to wipe them all out. By the end, after experience the deaths of friends and facing the reality that being different was not always easy and glamorous, she has become a little more jaded, questioning Gen X's status as heroes and whether or not any of them would actually become X-Men. However, through all of this, Paige still retains hope for a better future.


Strengths:

- The ability to shed-- or "husk"-- her outer layer of skin to reveal a new layer underneath such as: adamantium, diamond, granite, wood, rubber, brick, and glass. As long as she has studied the texture of an object, she can husk away her own skin and take on the properties of the object.

-She can hold her new form for about an hour before reverting back to her usual skin. Too many transformations in a short period of times is very painful for her, though she has the ability to husk many times in a small amount of time. Paige sheds without control when she is hurt, upset, or otherwise mentally compromised, revealing patchwork forms that need to be peeled off or else can lead to shock. The downside? Paige tends to husk right out of her clothing, leaving her naked when she transforms back. Bummer.

Third Person Sample:

Paige ran on the treadmill not only for her health, but because it helped her to think.

When she was running, hyped up on whatever energy drink she could get her hands on, she simultaneously thought-- and didn't think-- about nothing and everything. She got her best ideas when her adrenaline was pumping but it also helped her to stop thinking about things that upset her. When she was running, she could think about her to make a security system that would knock Emma's socks off and give Sean a heart attack but then she also wouldn't have to think about dead teammates and people who would never come back. She didn't have to think about the serious responsibility that came with being a mutant. She didn't have to think about her poor mother with her mutant babies.

It was a little bit of an escapism but Paige while simultaneously impressing (and annoying) people with her overachieving personality. Jubilee once joked that even Paige's colds were overachievers. What was she even trying to prove these days? Her naive views of the world had been crushed under the weight of Ev's death. All the stories her brother told her seemed like they had been sugarcoated with a brother's love and worry for his little sister.

But real life was tough. And disappointing.

And she finally learned that the hard way.