Catseye

This page is about the Phase 2 incarnation of the character. For other uses, see Catseye (disambiguation). For other uses of Sharon, see Sharon (disambiguation).

PHASE 2

Sharon Smith
Portrayed by Kiernan Shipka
Codename:	Catseye
Affiliations:	Generation X
Birthdate:	March 3, 2003

Journal:	xp_catseye
Player:	Tapestry

I want that.

Homeless after the death of her mother, Sharon Smith sought to make a new home at the mansion -- whether it wanted her or not.

Details

Character Journal: xp_catseye

Real Name: Sharon Smith

Codename: Catseye

Aliases:

First Appearance: August 8th, 2023

Date of Birth: March 3, 2003

Place of Birth: Manhattan, NY

Citizenship: American

Relatives: Janet Smith (mother, deceased), Ronald Smith (father, estranged)

Education: GED, a smattering of online college courses based on interest rather than a mind for a degree

Relationship Status: Single

Occupation: Stray

Team Affiliation: Generation X

Biography

Childhood

Sharon Smith was born with a prehensile tail and the power of ailuranthropy, enabling her to shift forms between girl and cat since birth. Her father abandoned the family soon after she was born, and her mother quickly became stressed and paranoid by the demands of caring for such a difficult child. Regardless, her mother did her best, and homeschooled her daughter to the best of her ability while the two family cats served as her playmates.

As the girl grew, Sharon's mother felt it was too dangerous to allow her daughter to interact with others; the child did not understand why the shapeshifting she'd possessed all her life might put her in danger, and would do so at will. She forbade Sharon from leaving the house, and Sharon, largely, obliged -- save for a few instances of sneaking outside of the apartment when her mother slept, always in feline form. Her first human encounter during this time was with a group of kids who threw cans at her because of the odd color of her fur. After that, she socialized only with the city's feral cats.

Despite these restrictions Sharon's mother provided her daughter with access to the internet and other educational materials, enabling Sharon to earn her GED and dabble in whatever online college courses piqued her interest. She proved to be a clever girl, with a photographic memory and keen intelligence. Though her interests are scattered, what she invests in she invests in completely -- for instance, teaching herself Latin as it enabled her access to certain classics.

Like so many of us, Sharon learned the bulk of her social skills on the internet. There she adopted the username Catseye.

For Sharon, M-Day came and went largely as something observed through screens: her isolation protected her from the direct impact of worsening public sentiment, but it did increase her wariness of the world outside. When Sharon was 20 years old her mother suddenly died of an undiagnosed heart condition. Sharon found the woman dead in her bed, already cool to the touch. Not knowing what else to do, Sharon called 911 and hid from the paramedics when they arrived and removed her mother. She hid in their apartment for days until the landlord came to clear their unit, chasing her out in the process. There was no life insurance from her mother, and while she did have access to their bank accounts there was very little in the way of savings from her mother's job as a medical coder. With no practical life skills or experience in the real world, Sharon made her way to District X: the only mutant community she knew of. Wary of strangers, she spent the majority of her time in cat form scavenging food from dumpsters and observing the goings-on before making her way to the community center. This hand-to-mouth existence and a housecat's lesser capacity for food resulted in malnourishment, making it difficult to shapeshift.

Living At The X-Mansion

Sharon approached Sooraya Qadir and Alani Ryan after days of observation to appeal first for their food, then for their assistance. Unable to turn away a literal fleabag, the girl was granted temporary shelter at the mansion. There she displayed not only a marked interest in meeting other visible mutants, but a total disregard for personal space.

After several months living in her hybrid form, Sharon physically recovered enough from her time on the streets to re-engage her shapeshifting and assume human form. She admitted to Sooraya her hesitance had been in part that she considers her hybrid shape her true shape, and feared people would judge her lack of social skills more harshly if she appeared human. She then announced she was moving in with Ben Hammil, as was proper now that they had shared a bed (although not at the same time).

Physical Characteristics

Height: 6'0"

General Build: As a human: lean and athletic, without noticeable secondary sexual characteristics. In her baseline hybrid form: a long, lean feline body similar to that of a leopard.

Eyes: Yellow

Hair: Purple

Other Features: In her human form Sharon retains her prehensile tail, slitted yellow eyes, and retractable claws on her fingers and toes. Her ears are those of a baseline human. Like a snow leopard, her ankles can rotate to allow her to climb headfirst down sheer surfaces.

Powers

Sharon's standard form is that of a human/feline hybrid that maintains the approximate mass of her human form. While quadrupedal, her chest, shoulders, neck and jaws are more human in appearance, including a pair of human hands and arms. While these adaptations enable her to speak and avail herself of thumbs she cannot run at top speed or fit her shoulders into the same spaces she might be able to as a cat. She is able to walk on two legs with some difficulty.

In terms of strength, Sharon's physical capabilities do not exceed those of standard big cats. Her bite force is around 1050 PSI, or roughly six times greater than that of a human. She tops out around 75 mph, or slightly slower than an African lion, but only in short bursts. She has a horizontal jump of six meters and a vertical leap of three meters. Her build is most similar to that of a cougar, with longer hind legs and large paws. Her hybrid form is slower and weaker, especially in terms of bite force as she sacrifices jaw strength for the ability to speak. Her human form is no stronger than that of a baseline human.

Sharon is a highly dexterous climber, able to scale almost sheer walls with the aid of her claws. Even in human form her sense of smell, sight, and hearing are all above average, and she is quite flexible. Her innate sense of balance and ability to use her tail as a counterweight would make her well-suited to gymnastics. Of note, her vision is slightly different from a normal human's: she has excellent night vision, but her vision blurs in brighter light. She is also unable to perceive the full spectrum of colors. While she can see purples, blues, greys and yellows, reds and most greens are outside her color range. However, the greater number of rods in her retinas make her more sensitive to catching small movements.

Equipment

Sharon was given an unstable molecule collar that becomes a charcoal jumpsuit when she assumes human form. It comes with a GPS chip and ID tags.

Trivia

Although Sharon has been a shapeshifter since birth, she considers her hybrid form her default shape.

Sharon taught herself Latin and has adequate footing in some Romance languages, including Spanish. However, her proficiency is weighted towards the written word. Off the page her listening comprehension is poor and her accent can come off like a minor hate crime.

Sharon arrived at the mansion on August 8th, International Cat Day. It was definitely on purpose.