Nandini

There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.
Introduction xxxxxShe wasn't sure what to do with her life. Med school it is! Description xxxxxStanding at a slim 5'6", Nandini tends toward rangy athleticism, though of late she's become unhealthily skinny. She has dusky brown skin, dark brown eyes, and waist-length straight black hair that she usually wears in a single braid, either hanging down or coiled up into a bun. Reputation xxxxxKnown among NYC medical students as that perky but awkward girl who was gone for a whole semester on medical leave and still seemed really off when she came back. Doesn't have much of a reputation among Prometheans except that she helped Dawson break out of their lab and that her powers have something to do with sleep. History xxxxxThe youngest child of a Bengali immigrant family, Nandini grew up in relative comfort in Queens. As the baby of the family, her tomboy tendencies were to some extent tolerated by her parents, and she reveled in being adored by the whole family and getting away with far more in the way of teenaged hijinks than her older siblings. Of these, she was closest to Maya, the next nearest to her in age. xxxxxAs she aged and their two older siblings followed their parents footsteps into medicine, she witnessed with great discomfort the way that the family treated Maya's interest in music with first tolerant disdain, then concerned disappointment. This influenced, in part, her decision to study medicine, and though academics have never come easily to her she poured herself wholeheartedly into it. xxxxxNandini's dedication to her future medical career -- which started back in high school -- slowly caused her to drift apart from her family. Her social circle became largely restricted to her university friends when she went pre-med, and this tendency became even more pronounced when she entered NYU School of Medicine. It was only by Maya's tireless efforts that she maintained a relationship with her family at all. xxxxxAt the beginning of her second year of med school, she began experiencing progressively more severe insomnia. At first it was actually helpful to her, as she could stay up late to study without loading up on stimulants, but it continued even when she /didn't/ need to stay up. By the spring semester, she was averaging less than three hours of sleep a night even with extensive use of prescription (and non-prescription) sleep aids, and getting worse. Her grades suffered, and as she poured more time into her studies to compensate her already uncertain social life suffered. Even her ability to safely navigate daily life seemed in jeopardy. xxxxxShe saw a series of sleep specialists and suffered through dozens of sleep studies, with no answers forthcoming as to her condition. Finally, a doctor brought up to her the possibility that her disordered sleep may be related to an X-gene mutation, and recommended her to a specialist who might be able to help. When that specialist, a researcher for Prometheus, offered her a place in an experimental treatment program for free, she jumped at the opportunity. xxxxxThat's how she ended up imprisoned in a Prometheus lab, to be joined by her dreamwalking sister two months later. Powers xxxxxNandini has the ability to regulate sleep in herself and any living being capable of sleeping. This includes inducing/preventing sleep to varying depths and lengths of time (up to 5 sleep cycles at once, or approximately 10 hours in the average human) and manipulating sleep stages. She does not have much conscious control over this just yet, but she is learning rapidly. xxxxxHer powers automatically manage her own sleep cycle on an ongoing basis, but they're not 'smart' enough to know what her body actually needs, and without guidance they just attempt to reinforce existing sleep patterns (so since they manifested while she was trying to stay up and study a lot, she just ended up with terrible constant insomnia). With proper regulation, she is able to function on much less sleep than the average human by making her body sleep more 'efficiently' (she could also confer this on others, but only while she's in range of them). The only flaw in this is that she can't make herself /dream/ more efficiently, so if she continually operated on minimal sleep, over time her mental health would suffer from not dreaming enough. xxxxxThe normal range of her powers is about 20 meters, and she is capable of applying it at once to all of the beings in that radius who are susceptible, though the closer she is to a subject the easier it is. Direct physical contact (skin on skin) is best, and renders a subject as easy to affect as Nandini herself, including the ability's dubiously beneficial 'automatic' regulation. Though she does not yet realize it, her power interacts with her sister's. If she is within range of Maya or any person she is currently dream-walking/controlling, Nandini's range extends to all of the networked dreamers, and extends /from/ each of them for 20 meters no matter how far away they are. She is normally only able to use her powers while awake, except for the automatic maintenance of her power on herself and subjects she is physically touching, but if she can also use them consciously while lucid dreaming and networked by Maya. xxxxxHer power functions best on willing subjects, or at least unaware ones who are already primed for sleep in some way. A subject who is fully awake and engaged in activity will not instantly fall asleep just because she wills it, but they will experience a wave of intense drowsiness and probably wish to go to sleep. If she persists, the sleepiness will impair the subject more and more and may, depending on the situation, eventually wear them down and cause them to fall asleep. Her ability can bypass most other physical and psychological barriers to sleep, but if the stimulus in question is significant and ongoing, she may need to continue using her power to keep the subject asleep. xxxxxWith more knowledge of a subject's sleep pattern, though, she can 'tailor' a sleep cycle that is more resilient against the barriers in question, and over time with repeated application of her power even train their circadian rhythm to cope better with those barriers. So while she can't directly /cure/ sleep disorders, she can easily negate their effects in the short term (one sleep period at a time) and, with skill and patience, help a subject adjust to them in the long term. She can also, by the same token, give someone insomnia or cause their sleep patterns to become habitually disordered over time (with or without adjusting what sleep they do get to help them remain functional). Skills xxxxxNandini doesn't have much innate talent as a student, but she has been applying herself to it for a long time and accumulated considerable skills in critical reading, research, memorization, and technical writing. Her expertise in the various foundational medical science topics covered in the first two years of medical school is considerably more shaky and largely based in rote memorization. xxxxxShe's very athletic, and is in particular excellent at field hockey and a formidable soccer mid-fielder. In general, she picks up physical skills fairly quickly and enjoys moving. She is fluent in Bengali and speaks rusty but serviceable high school French. Connections Friends Coming soon. Foes Coming soon. And everything in between Coming soon. Trivia Random facts you think are worth knowing about your character. And more random facts! And more. Gallery [[Image:|x150px]] [[Image:|x150px]] [[Image:|x150px]]	Nandini Mukhopadhyay [[Image:|center]] Codename None Birthdate 07/23/1995 Birthplace Queens, NY Species Mutant Affiliation None Alignment Sleep-deprived Powers Sleep regulation Occupation Med student Registration Status (currently n/a) Played By None RP Hooks RP Hook - Explanation. RP Hook - Explanation. RP Hook - Explanation. RP Hook - Explanation.
Logs
Date Title Cast Mentions (2020-08-06) Midnight Snack Maya, Nandini (2019-08-17) For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Aubrey, Ansel, Jamie, Flicker, Polaris, Winona, Wendy, Rosalyn, Nandini, Maya, Leo, Hive (2019-08-06) The plans of the mind belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Flicker, Leo, Rosalyn, Nandini (2019-08-05) Small Dreams Aubrey, Nandini, Wendy (2019-07-21) Scared Together Maya, Nandini (2019-07-20) School Spirit Flicker, Nandini