.♛Chantilly♛.

Chantilly has the power to manipulate cloth, sharpening and hardening it for various purposes. She can create almost anything from her cloth, including but not limited to blades, drills, shields, armor, hands/heels, and tendrils. These cloth creations typically resemble ripped fabric and coiled ribbons (almost a mummy-esque appearance.) She can use this power to set traps and bind others, or to actively attack and defend.

Chantilly can manipulate any kind of cloth, fabric, and/or thread, so long as she is in contact with it (like wearing or holding it.) She cannot control or manipulate non-fabric elements, such as plastic buttons or metal accents. However, she can manipulate the cloth and thread around them, allowing her to fire them off like projectiles or otherwise enhance her creations with them if she so chooses. Any cloth creations she makes are connected to the source fabric she's manipulating from. For instance, a tendril she forms from her coat will still be attached to her coat. This causes her clothing to take on a sort of tattered look when her powers are in use, as it looks like her creations "unravel" from their source fabric. Larger/longer-range creations will require more cloth. Her maximum range is dependent on what she's wearing at any given moment, hence why she tends to prefer wearing as many layers as possible. Theoretically she could unravel all of her clothing into creations, but then she'd be naked so it's not ideal.

While her powers enhance the durability of her creations (as they'd be useless if they were just soft cloth), they are still cloth. They're susceptible to being cut or ripped by a strong enough force (albeit stronger than conventional scissors/blades, and they can even withstand certain types of bullets), and they're flammable. However, she has some variability to the durability and flammability depending on the cloth she's manipulating. She has to strategize her wardrobe around maximizing her power's effectiveness, given this.

EARLY LIFE

BIG TW: Chantilly's backstory has themes of physical and mental abuse, manipulation, death, violence, trafficking, and brief mentions of addiction and sexism. Reader discretion is advised.

Chantilly Kingsley was originally born under the name Annalise Carlisle. She was the result of an accidental pregnancy, one neither of her parents were ready for as they were already struggling to make ends meet. They still wanted to try to form a happy family together at first, though this was a short-lived desire. She was born prematurely with rather serious heart problems and needed extra medical care, causing a higher hospital bill than her parents had anticipated. The stress of the new debt, coupled with their existing struggles, caused them to turn to vices to cope, particularly smoking and drugs. They became addicted, only worsening their issues. Less and less money started going toward their debts, and more started funneling into their addictions. Their home and quality of life began to deteriorate. As Annalise grew, they began to neglect and eventually resent her. They falsely blamed her for causing their lives to worsen. This was the environment she had early memories of.

Annalise was brought up in a very financially poor and abusive household. She lived in a tiny, filthy home, and many of her needs weren't met. She often went cold, dirty, and hungry. She was forced to wear ragged clothes, and didn't have a bedroom of her own, instead often sleeping on the floor or in the bathtub. She was subjected to neglect from her parents, and when they did give her the time of day, it was usually just to subject her to verbal and physical abuse. She had to learn to fend for herself at an early age. Luckily, this was made easier thanks to her power. She had her power since birth, but struggled to control it to the same extent. As a child, she could only control little things like a ribbon or fabric scrap in her hand. Using this, she would manipulate a ribbon to swipe little necessities for herself from people's pockets, mainly food or spare change that she would save up.

Her parents, however, eventually found this stash of change. While they didn't know how she had gotten it, they wanted more of it. They began using her to make money for the household, sending her out to get extra cash for them. They used her status as a girl against her for this, saying that she'd be able to "swindle men with her charm," among other statements. They threatened to sell her off instead if she disappointed them with poor hauls, once again using her status as a girl against her in many of these threats. She was terrified of this possibility, and put too much stress on herself to avoid it. She kept her powers a secret from them, for fear that it would give her "more worth" in their eyes, thus giving them more reason to sell her. She would avoid interaction entirely as much as she could whenever she was sent out, using her power to pickpocket much like she had before. Due to their comments, she began resenting her femininity. She would cut her hair (albeit choppily) and try to look and act as masculinely as possible.

MEETING LUCENA

One day, Annalise was sent out to get money when she was particularly starved and weak. She was struggling to think right, distracted by her condition, but tried to power through to avoid disappointing her parents. She found who she thought would be an easy target, a rather wealthy-looking woman. However, when trying to steal from the woman, she made a critical mistake. She was careless, and ended up getting caught. Annalise panicked, thinking she would be turned into the police, and tried to run. However, before she could, she ended up collapsing from exhaustion. In her fleeting moments of consciousness, she felt nothing but fear. Little did she know, the woman had no ill will toward her. Instead, she was fascinated by Annalise's power. She saw potential in it, something she wanted to capitalize on. Alongside this, she pitied Annalise's position. The girl was a wreck, reduced to stealing to get by. Instead of turning her in, she instead took Annalise into her home to rest.

Annalise awoke to the smell of a homecooked meal. She was tucked under a cozy blanket on the woman's couch, and felt utterly confused. The woman eventually entered the room with a plate of food. She introduced herself as Lucena Kingsley, and explained what had happened and that they were in her home. She told Annalise that she wanted to give her a good meal and a place to rest for the night. Annalise was still scared and skeptical, but did take the food that was offered to her. It was the first good meal she had ever eaten. In that moment, Annalise realized what she could have had all along in her childhood: a warm home, good food, and a truly loving figure to take care of her. The combination of feelings, and of discovering what she had been missing, caused her to break down crying. Lucena comforted her through it, and kept her safe throughout the night.

The next morning, Annalise woke up to hear Lucena on the phone with someone. While she didn't know who it was, she did hear them talking about her. She mistakenly believed that Lucena had, in fact, called the authorities about her. In a panic to avoid getting in trouble, she ran away, leaving behind a thank you note for the meal and the rest—much to Lucena's dismay upon discovering it. She went back home to her parents, but trouble quickly struck. They were furious with her for staying out all night, and even moreso when they discovered she had brought home nothing to show for it. They lashed out at her verbally and physically. However, after the kindness she had been shown the night before, Annalise grew enraged at the treatment. She lashed out, questioning them on why they had never shown her that sort of kindness, and why they treated her in such cruel ways. In her rage, she accidentally revealed her powers to them. Immediately after seeing it, her parents' anger with her subsided. Instead, the look in their eyes was replaced with one of greed. They knew exactly how Annalise could make it up to them.

Her parents, seeing the worth that such a power could have, set up a black market auction to sell Annalise off. They collaborated with the group supplying them drugs in order to use their connections, planning to split the profits with them. They left her in the group's building until the day of the auction. She was kept drugged with sedatives to prevent her from retaliating or escaping, and was chained up in a tiny, filthy bathroom for "safekeeping" until the day of. The days blurred together for Annalise. She has little to no memories of exactly what happened, only knowing that she was terrified the whole time. Eventually, the auction rolled around. Plenty of people attended, and her parents were sure their plan was going off without a hitch. However, there was one variable they hadn't accounted for. Lucena had learned about the auction, and made an appearance, alongside a firing squad. In truth, Lucena was actually the leader of a large crime syndicate known as Kingslayer. She and her group killed Annalise's parents, the entire group who had helped run the auction, and everyone in attendance to participate. She found Annalise in the bathroom, and gave her her coat for comfort. She took her in once more, cleaning her up. She renamed Annalise to Chantilly Kingsley, and started raising her as her daughter.

Unfortunately, however, Lucena's intentions were not entirely pure. While she did care for Chantilly, she was more interested in her power. She had a plan: she was going to turn Chantilly into her "knight."

LIFE IN KINGSLAYER

At first, Chantilly's life with Lucena started out normally. She was given the sort of parental love she had been missing all her life until that moment. Lucena was a kind, gentle, and understanding woman with her. She helped Chantilly reclaim a good portion of her comfort in her femininity, taught her a variety of different skills to allow her to fit into her new position in life, and showered her with all the attention and praise she could ever need. She was finally in a good home where her needs were being met, and she loved it. Alongside helping her get used to life in a better home, Lucena also trained Chantilly in how to master her powers. She brought out the untapped potential of Chantilly's powers, giving her the sort of range and versatility she prides herself on to this day.

However, this would gradually change as time went on. While not outwardly abusive, Lucena was subtly manipulative and controlling to Chantilly. She wanted to make sure she had Chantilly's absolute trust, loyalty, and obedience. If Lucena asked her to jump, she wanted Chantilly to jump, not needing to stop and ask how high. To gain this, she employed various tactics against Chantilly. She would use Chantilly's fear of disappointing others against her. She often used various forms of veiled threats to get her way. She would make examples out of her subordinates' punishments as a subtle way to keep Chantilly in line, showing her what the price for disappointment was. She would also vaguely mention possible dangers Chantilly could end up in if she didn't follow the orders given to her, once again scaring her into behaving. She instilled Chantilly with deep-seated anxiety about being attacked, and how she needed to be combat-ready at all times so she'd be more willing to fight for her. She taught Chantilly how to fight and kill, both with and without her powers. While it was harrowing, she was always careful not to yell at or outright hurt Chantilly. She knew what that sort of blatant abuse looked like, after all. She couldn't break Chantilly's trust in her. Instead, Lucena would turn anything painful around into a "good" thing. If she had to be hurt, it was always done for her own good. She would coax Chantilly into believing it needed to be done, and would make her feel better. One of the worst uses of this practice was when she forced Chantilly into getting her corset piercings.

Lucena's biggest source of reinforcement was the very love she had once shown to Chantilly unconditionally. She began using her praise and attention as a reward for Chantilly. She would gradually give Chantilly less and less attention, only praising her when she followed orders or surpassed expectations. She began to almost entirely ignore Chantilly, only treating her as a true daughter when she pleased her. Otherwise, she forced them to uphold a strictly professional relationship. More akin to a boss and their underling. This shift in their dynamic did exactly what Lucena had anticipated. Chantilly, instilled with lessons she had picked up from years of manipulation, grew desperate for Lucena's approval. She worried that she had done something wrong to disappoint Lucena, and she didn't know how to fix it. She wanted nothing more than to be acknowledged by her father once again. She would push herself to achieve further and further, just at an attempt to chase that praise again. At that point, Lucena knew she was ready.

After years of training in how to use her power and be the perfect knight, Lucena made Chantilly an official member of Kingslayer. She's served as Lucena's knight there ever since. She's still unaware of exactly what Lucena has done to her mental health, and the manipulation she suffered at her hands. However, one day, there's a chance she could figure it out and break out from under her control. She could learn how to believe in herself again, and truly become unstoppable that way. Even if the process of getting there would entirely shatter the world she thought she knew beforehand.