Smokin' Mira's appearance was obviously inspired by stage magic characters, but that's where the similarities end. When Beast Mastery came out in City of Heroes, there were many semi-feral people running around with pets. I searched for something different- first concept was a circus ringmaster, then morphed into a stage magician. When Mira Jean Sherrard stepped off the train in Paragon City, she was confident that her farm days were over. No more getting up at 5am to tend livestock and clean pens. She was going to make it big in show biz- theatre, vaudville, whatever.
Five years later, her only steady gig was eyecand.. err "Magician's assistant" to the "Amazing Marcus Morrigan" and even then her stage duties were too trivial to need rehearsal. Instead, she woke at 5am to groom and feed the aging lions, tigers, and wolves that spent more time under the spotlight than she did.
That was until the fire. She'd been with the animals, desperately trying to keep them calm, hoping that the firefighters would get there before it was too late. Her last memory was Marcus running to them, his walking cane stretched out toward them, glowing.
He didn't make it. Somehow she did- trapped in the stone. for decades. Sometimes she and the beasts would be retrieved for some stage magic. Sometimes some mobster would get his hands on the stone and use it for heists. It wasn't until recently that some supergroup managed to "free" her more permanently into a world she barely recognizes.
Powers
Five years later, her only steady gig was eyecand.. err "Magician's assistant" to the "Amazing Marcus Morrigan" and even then her stage duties were too trivial to need rehearsal. Instead, she woke at 5am to groom and feed the aging lions, tigers, and wolves that spent more time under the spotlight than she did.
That was until the fire. She'd been with the animals, desperately trying to keep them calm, hoping that the firefighters would get there before it was too late. Her last memory was Marcus running to them, his walking cane stretched out toward them, glowing.
He didn't make it. Somehow she did- trapped in the stone. for decades. Sometimes she and the beasts would be retrieved for some stage magic. Sometimes some mobster would get his hands on the stone and use it for heists. It wasn't until recently that some supergroup managed to "free" her more permanently into a world she barely recognizes.
Powers
In the City of Heroes game, Mira Sherrard is a beast mastery / dark mastermind of the "magic" origin.
Outside of the game mechanics, her powers are drawn from a magical red gemstone which she keeps close to her person (currently chained tight to her person). She's both victim of and empowered by a magical gem that she keeps very close to her- bound to it, but able to influence and control the creatures that are bound to it with her.
Along with summoning any critter trapped in the gem with her, she can swap places with them. This allows her more focused control on the more aggressive critters as well as a form of travel power (switch to a dove to fly, for example). She can also draw people into the gem for short periods with no harm to them. The longer the exposure, the more difficult it is to break free from the gem. This is used rarely, as its possible that a strong-willed person may exert control of the gem from her.
Personality
Mira would have been a rebel back in the vaudville/burlesque heyday, and she's been somewhat jaded by what she's seen and done under the influence of the "Stone of Solomon" but she is, overall, still a very good-natured person... just one prone to trust issues. She's learned the hard way that most people AREN'T like her.
She IS very much a person-out-of-time. Although she experienced snapshots of the past 80 years, she was never out more than needed to meet the stone-possessors' needs, so she saw a rapidly-evolving world, technology, and society that she just couldn't keep up with. It can be a bit overwhelming, and it's made her something of a luddite.
She gets a bit confused by modern lingo, tech, and norms, but tends to hide it behind self-deprecating humor, stage act behavior, and an occasional risque reference, anything to get attention away from the fact that she's totally lost.
Appearance:
Mira's look is obviously stage magic with a good deal of skin showing. One of the stone's "owners" developed the look in 70's, along with her moniker, hoping to make her a standalone act after he retired, so the style is very influenced by a showman with a love of eyecandy. Although the act didn't last long before a mobster took possession of the stone, it was Mira's closest touch with fame, so she's embraced it.
In the late 60's, her "magician's assistant" role was much more of a "Genie harem girl" rip-off and used her middle name (yes, her parents must have been precogs to give their daughter who would be trapped in a magic artifact forced to do the bidding of the possessor a middle name of Jeannie). She doesn't wear that very often- ever since she realized that the filmy material goes translucent in certain light filters.
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