About

Appearance

Petunia appears as a regular alligator, her scales colored deep and dark green, her belly a lighter grey-green, her back ridge and darker green and her claws a light green. Her eyes are brilliant yellow-green.

Her spider-suit is a grey-green with a muted lavender webbing pattern. Her logo is a dark green alligator head with mirrored spider legs. Her eyes are brilliant yellow-green with a dark green rim. She wears a muted lavender scarf with tattered ends and a fake wild petunia pinned to it.

Casually, she wears oversized tank tops (often tourist trap ones) and baggy shorts, that have sometimes been crudely cut into shorts from pants.

Personality

Despite her sapience, Petunia still is very much an alligator: mellow and lazy until moved to action. Though when she is moved to action, she is doggedly determined. Around others, she struggles to socialize properly due to inexperience. She can’t read or perform social cues very well and have opted to “learn” them rather than intuitively use them. She can come off as speaking straightforwardly or stilted but is generally well-meaning. She’s very naive and it’s not difficult at all to rope her into shenanigans.

History

Petunia was once a completely normal alligator, living in the swamps outside the port city of New Miami. Everything she knew changed when she was bitten by a spider, that had been mutated by runoff from a nearby chemical research facility. She grew ill for a time but when she awoke from her fever she found that suddenly she was no longer herself—she was sapient. Not only that but she was endowed with all sorts of abilities that weren’t very gator-like. Confused and scared, she bolted.

In her panic she came upon a researcher from a conservation center closer to the city. The researcher, her universe’s version of Peter Parker, realized something odd was happening here when he realized she could speak—albeit not very well. He was able to calm her down and help her come to terms with her new world. This was the budding of a new friendship and Peter would visit her often, teaching her about humans, how to behave with her new sapience and help her figure out her new powers. It was him who suggested she become a hero and help fight those that would do both the human residents and the nature of New Miami harm. Petunia, as she had named herself, reacted with skepticism. Even when he kept bringing up the idea, even making a fancy suit for her, she didn’t take him too seriously.

At least, until Peter was attacked by a hitman sent by the chemical facility, as him and his conservation peers long protested their pollution of the swamps and ocean. Petunia found him but too late to save him. In his dying words, Peter bestowed her some final wisdom—with great power came great responsibility. Spurred by his words, Petunia decided to honor his wishes and become what he wanted her to be: a hero. Starting with the people who called for her friend’s death.

Skills

Petunia has the typical spider-person powerset: super strength, speed and stamina, the ability to climb walls (though hers is through gecko-like pads on her feet), web-shooting abilities, precognitive spider-sense and mild regeneration. Because she’s a gator, she also has her bulk and natural jaw strength to back her up.

While not as agile as her fellow spider-people, Petunia tends to fight by using her weight, opting to either tackle or headbutt foes after a running gallop or using her webs to fling herself at her opponent. She will use her claws in a pinch if she’s close enough. Her extraordinary bite is used sparingly, as she’s well aware of its power. She either uses it to hold others in place or in “gentler” bites, that will maim but not fatally.

Trivia

• Petunia gave herself her name with the help of her friend Peter; Petunia for the wild petunias in the swamp and Parker after his death to honor him.
• While she can walk on two legs, she prefers walking on all fours. She only walks on two legs when she needs to or to fit in with others.