OC: Merril O'Brien sketches

This sort of came about as an Avengers OC, but I liked her design/character enough to sketch her up some more. She can stand on her own, too. I've always been attracted to superheroes for some reason, so really Merril comes from a long line of other superhero-esque OC's I've created through the years.

Her story's still a bit vague, but here's a really really quick run-through. Very basically, Merril grew up in a religious group that worshiped elemental spirits. One day, one of the initiates, Vera, took control, stating that she had been chosen by the dark elemental spirits to lead an uprising. The dark elemental spirits, so the tales went, had been defeated by the other elementals because of their corrupted and poisonous nature to the spirit and human realm.

The girl proceeded to murder almost the entire clan--some got away--after they refused to accept this. She cornered Merril, but then something extraordinary happened. The air elemental spirits blessed Merril with powers as well, and she was able to escape.

The killings, of course, caught the attention of the government branch dealing with such incidents. Merril was recruited as a magic advisor and leader of the team looking for Vera, who had disappeared. Her alias is Grimoire, in reference to all the magical research she heads when needed.

As to her powers, I don't want Merril to just seem like another air elementalist. When scientifically observed, her powers seem to have more to do with air pressure, increasing or decreasing it with certain fluxes in areas as needed. This lends itself to some interesting abilities. For example, Merril can--though she would never want to--collapse a person's lungs and suck the oxygen out of a person's body.

Merril's other markings--the ones on her shoulders with lines that lead down to the magic circles on her hands--are from the air spirits' blessing. She also always sports a nose stud, eyebrow piercing, and two piercings on her upper right ear. She is currently 28 years old.

One of her unspoken doubts is her fighting ability. Merril would never consider herself any sort of superhero because she knows she is not physically able to keep up with other heroes. Her air manipulation powers are intimidating, but her physical body simply can't keep up with the demands for very long, making her shy away from some people and initiatives and favor working behind the scenes with her research on magic incidents and Vera's whereabouts and plans.

Merril O'Brien/art (c) me
Pencil brush THAT IS AWESOME: [link]