nuke,
here's my character idea:
Name: Eleyna Robertson (aka "Pressure")
Background: Eleyna Robertson was a junior in high school, majoring in psychology and working hard to continue her education at a good college. A straight-A student, she studied a great deal, but still made time for extra-curricular activities. Eleyna's voice was second to none in Smalltown, where she involved herself in the high school chrous. She loved to run, which resulted in her impressive cross-country and track records. Volunteering at local hospitals and homeless shelters enriched her life and made her feel as though she was giving back to her community. In addition, Eleyna cherished her family and friends. She would bend over backwards for any of them, most of the time ignoring her own needs to meet the needs of others. All in all, Elena was a very happy young woman.
Inside, however, Eleyna had some deep-rooted problems. As the years went by, Eleyna worked harder and harder at school, struggling to keep up with all of her homework, extra-curricular activities and friends. She began to build up expectations for herself in her head. Expectations that were impossible to attain, and yet she still felt as though everyone wanted the best of her. In her junior year, Eleyna began to experience severe headaches, and pain in her chest and abdomen. As if the pain weren't enough, she also began to suffer from the embarrasment of regular nosebleeds. Finally, on the day of her PSAT, Eleyna blacked out. She awoke to find herself in the hospital, having suffered from major internal hemmorrhaging. The doctors could tell her family nothing of what caused the problems except that they believed it to be stress-related. Eleyna was ordered to reduce her load of extra-curricular activities, and to get plenty of rest.
This changed her life drastically. The medical bills from her hospital visit had taken a toll on her family's finances, for which she blamed herself. Becoming less involved with the activities she loved also depressed her. Her depression began to show in her performance in school. Her grades dropped and she started becoming reclusive. Her family physician recommended that she see a psychiatrist. She longs for her life of only one year ago, to be active in her school and involved in her community, however she fears for her health and the financial toll it has on her family.
What Eleyna doesn't know is that her mutant powers are beginning to manifest themselves. She does not realize that she has the mutant ability to manipulate pressures to alter the physical world around her as well as inside her body. Her low self esteem, high expectations of herself and inability to deal with stress ultimately caused her powers to manifest, increasing her blood pressure and causing several major veins and arteries to pop. She does not know that if continues living without learning to control her powers, she presents a major threat to herself and the world around her. She does not see the irony that while she has the ability to control physical pressure and stress, she has a deeply rooted problem with controlling her own emotional stress. Eleyna Robertson is in a great amount of danger.
Powers: Eleyna has the ability to alter pressure in the physical world. This allows her to increase the internal and external pressure of her body, giving her a super-human strength. She can also alter air-pressure, allowing her to "fly" for short periods of time. In addition, she can alter the pressure or stress of any person or object, but only through physical contact.