Willow Buddafuco

Willamina Sophia BuddafucoCode-Name: PrismNicknames: Willow, Willa, MinaEthnicity: Italian-AmericanSex: FemaleAge: 27Appearance:              Hair: Naturally Blonde, usually black or multi-colored              Eyes: Grey              Skin: Pale              Weight: 5’7”              Height: 120 lbs              Other: Willow uses clothes and colors to grab the attention of others. This can be in a slinky, sexy dress or something more outgoing - usually bright and bold colors like hot pinks, electric greens and anything neon. She is fond of 50's style dresses with high waist lines, big patterns from polka dots, stripes to strawberries. With her powers, her hair color changes daily, though normally her default choice is black - Willow will deny to her grave that she is actually a natural blonde.Date Of Birth: November 21st, 1992Place Of Birth: Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaEducation: Dropped out of school in Junior High, relatively well learned despite this thanks to her love of literature. Mother:        Name: Heather Buddafuco

        Age: 40

        Race: Human

Father:

        Name: Leo Spinazza

        Age: 39

        Race: Human

Other Relatives: Two younger sisters, Alexis and Kaymree Buddafuco, age 16 and 14, human or mutant unknown. She was very close to her grandmother, Elma.

Powers: Lumokinesis/Light Manipulation. She can bend, shift, focus, scatter and manipulate light. This is most commonly used to bend and absorb light around her, changing the coloring on her body or clothes to act as a camouflage and appear invisible. She can also focus light into beams, which burn white hot, enough to cause damage to people, or burn holes through wood, metal, ect. The most destructive of her ability is to create solar flares from her body reaching temperatures up to one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to inflict second degree burns in a matter of seconds.

Power Limitations: Willow is unable to generate her own light nor store light for later, and so must be in well lit areas to use the different aspects of her ability. A Solar Flare can only be executed in the direct light of the sun, only lasts a second, and greatly drains her. A dim room would not provide enough light to create powerful light beams. While these beams are harmful, it is still only light and will pass through something completely transparent or bounce back at her by a reflective surface. How quickly she is able to burn through a material depends on the thickness and resilience of the material. Her powers can also be overwhelmed by extreme darkness - so someone who can manipulate darkness would be affective against her, or even someone who manipulates gravity which can bend light.

Hobbies and Interests: Willow collects coins, gems, mineral stones... basically anything shiny or pretty, her favorite being glass crystals or prisms. She has trouble throwing anything away, and so her bedroom is a mess full of what others might consider junk but to her they are nothing short of treasures. She loves thrifting for vintage and secondhand clothes, costumes, accessories and jewelry, and often goes as far as dumpster diving to find them. Classical music is her favorite genre, and the violin her favorite instrument. Though she doesn't often volunteer, she is an excellent cook and baker. She is an avid reader, willing to read anything she gets her hands on, and writes in her own journal every day.

Background: Willamina was a surprise to both her parents and their parents, as Heather was only fourteen when she got pregnant. There was a feud between the families over the pregnancy, whose fault it was, and what should be done, and eventually the families stopped speaking entirely. This left Heather with only her mother Elma to take care of her and Willow with no father. After the birth, Heather continued going to school, and Elma did much of the care taking. At first she was happy to do this, wanting her daughter to finish school and have a chance at a good life, but Heather paid less and less attention to Willamina over the years - some party, her friends or a boy was more important than her daughter. When Heather turned eighteen she moved out of Elma's house and got a place with her friends across town. After that Willow barely saw her mother, but she was lucky to have the most affectionate and dutiful grandmother a child could ever hope for.  Willamina grew up in Bella Vista of South Philadelphia which is largely Italian. Her grandmother owned a bakery in the heart of the Italian market and they lived above the shop. The area was rich with culture and friendly faces, and everyday she would walk with her grandmother through the market, with its many cafes, grocery, cheese and butcher shops. The memory of the bright, colorful metal awnings that covered the sidewalks where vendors sold fruit and vegetables would become some of Willow's fondest memories. While their little family was never well off, they got by thanks to the bakery, with just enough to get what they needed. Elma showed Willow how to cook and bake at a young age, and she was always helping out around the shop.When Willow was ten years old, Heather moved back in with them, pregnant again. Heather seemed to want to be a part of Willow's life, but always fell short of trying just hard enough - Heather was inpatient and mean most the time, and the two didn't get along well. After the baby was born it was Elma and Willow who took care of Alexis the most, and Willow absolutely adored her little sister. As a year or so passed, her grandmother began to fall ill, and begged Heather to take care of the bakery and take more responsibility in her life. Heather would make promises but never quite keep them, and it was when she was three months pregnant with her third child that Elma died.

Willamina was devastated, she loved her grandmother more than anyone else in the world. It crushed her that she would never be able to talk to her again, never see that sweet smile every time she called her 'Willamina bambina.' Heather was upset too, but showed it mostly by drinking too much and putting herself and the baby at risk. While Heather wasn't completely absent, Willow took care of Alexis more than anyone else, and when Kaymree was born, did the same for her too. Heather ignored the bakery and let it close, and eventually the family was forced out of their home, losing it to the IRS. Willow knew no matter how long she lived she would never forgive her mother for losing the house and the bakery.

The family was forced to move into a tiny one bed motel room, unable to afford anything else. It was miserable there and Willow and her mother were constantly at each other's throats. One night they had a blow out fight, and Heather kicked her out, forbidding her to ever come back. At first, Willow made due staying over at her friend's houses, but could only stay for so long before the parents started asking questions. School being the last priority, Willow was forced to drop out and lost contact with most of her friends because of it.

Willow's first night sleeping in the streets was terrifying, but she survived it, and after that was convinced she could get by taking care of herself. She was resourceful, digging up most her clothes and food from dumpsters. As she spent more time on the streets she made friends with the other homeless, realizing there was a community of great people the rest of the world completely ignored and looked down upon. Many of them became like errant brothers and sisters to her, and they took care of her.

When Willow couldn't get into the nightly or emergency shelters, sleeping under a bridge was her last resort. Usually she got lucky tips on abandoned private homes or commercial property. One day Willow was tipped off to a place that allowed couch surfers on cold nights, and she met with a nice family who made her dinner and set her up in the spare bedroom. When the husband creeped into her bed, Willow was too scared to do anything other than let him. It was a terrible experience, and most haunting were his tears afterward and his insistence he pay her so she wouldn't tell his wife. Her first time molded her negative views of sex and relationships in her adult life. There was no love in sex, no faithfulness, only base desires and deceit, selfishness, lies, and shame.

That night changed her forever, and Willow became a prostitute not long after. By fifteen, Willow tried heroin for the first time. She had dabbled in drugs, cigarettes and booze before, but never let herself be overcome. Heroin was the exception, it made her feel like no other drug - no matter how bad things got, heroin was like a warm blanket, and it made everything seem all right. When she got the best stuff, sometimes her life even felt perfect. Even though there was always some fool who thought he was her pimp, WIllow usually operated on her own, making money for her family and of course, for drugs.

Willow still cared about Alexis and Kaymree the most, and so provided what little she could, even if her mother was never grateful. Heather never forgave her, never invited her to live with them, but never said no to her money. Willow put up with this, as long as she was still allowed to see her sisters when she could. This all ended, just like she knew it would, the day Heather found out she was a prostitute. The worst part was the cruel way she told Alexis and Kaymree. Willow would never forget the look on their faces, and was too ashamed to ever speak to them again.

She moved away from Philadelphia and settled in New York City. She wanted to make a new life for herself, forget who she had once been. She struggled for a long time to get sober, and while the need for heroin would come and go, she could never quite get out of the life she had created for herself. The streets were her home, the homeless her family, and prostitution her job. She had difficulty sleeping inside, and found herself feeling lonely whenever she was away too long. An apartment or house was cold and empty, isolated, and the streets were open and free, alive with action and she was accepted among the others. She had friends, a community, and for someone who had nothing else acceptance was everything. 

Willow was at an all time low the day she met Rayce Byrne, though he was such a mess he would've never known it anyway. She had always been an expert at holding herself together, so while Rayce may have thought she helped him that day, truly it was the opposite. For once she had something else to focus on other than her own misery, and it helped a lot to try and pull someone out of the same hole she'd fallen in so many times. While she was helping Rayce give up the needle, she was solidifying her own shaky recovery. When Rayce begged her to move in to help him, he was actually taking her off the streets. He probably wasn't even aware of most of it, and seemed to see her as some sort of fallen angel - ever since the day they met in that church.

The two were good friends though, and even better partners in crime. There were no dramatics the day she found out Rayce was a mutant, nor him for her. It was a relief to be accepted without question, and she was sure the same went for him. With Rayce, she finally had the muscle and the backup to give herself a promotion, so to speak. The two of them made most of their money as con artists and thieves, and she used her skills to nab big time johns, coning athletes, politicians and corporate heads out of their money. For those few years, Willow felt like they were on top of the world, untouchable. It was without a doubt the happiest time of her life.

All good things had an end though, and the two of them messed with the wrong guy and got in over their head fast. Around the same time Therizo took over the East, putting an end to the little fantasy Willow had built up around her. Willow and Rayce were forced to flee New York, avoiding not only the guys that wanted them dead, but the Sentinels now patrolling the streets. The world had become more of a wreck then Willow realized, and the two had no where to go, no plan and no money. She should've knocked on wood, because it only got worse when they were attacked by the Purifiers and Rayce was captured.

Willow was unable to do anything to help him and was forced to use her camouflage to escape. She did as much research on the Purifiers as possible, trying to pinpoint their location and where Rayce might be held. The more she learned the more hopeless she became. There was no way she would be able to fight against a group like that - if they had even bothered to keep Rayce alive. The world was going to hell all around her and she was back at square one - alone. That realization hit her hard, and Willow found herself using the last of her money to score some heroin.

She was content to let herself waste away in the comforting lull of the drug for weeks, not having the will or the desire to pull herself out of it. If she could change that now she would have never let Rayce find her like that. He'd been rescued, not by her, but by strangers - the X-Men. The name seemed foreign to her, even though she knew exactly who they were. Rayce didn't judge her for losing herself and vowed to help her like she had him so many years ago, and insisted he take her back to the X-Men's base. She was so happy he was alive she would've done with anything he said, and suddenly found herself joining a cause and making a difference. Or so they said. 

Willow lived among the X-Men for several months, making a few close friends and trying to make the most of her time there. She mostly stayed for Rayce, who was more useful on missions and actually had the drive and passion to try and make a difference in the war torn world they lived in. She trained hard to become a better fighter, but was rarely used on the field as her powers were not as effective as others. 

There was a happy yet bittersweet moment when Rayce was reunited with Serena and his little boy Cillian. Though Cillian was her darling and she loved him dearly, she had never thought Serena was good for Rayce. The two of them had never gotten along, and Willow thought Serena was mean spirited and manipulative. She always knew exactly how to hurt Rayce - and how to keep him wrapped around her finger. Willow, if nothing else, was apt at hiding her emotions, so she tried her best to play nice if only because Rayce seemed so happy. 

Over the months it became increasingly more difficult. She felt like an unwanted third wheel to both her friend and the team, and eventually Willow decided to leave the base and see what use she could make of herself elsewhere. It was difficult to say goodbye to the people she had become close to, but Rayce was definitely the hardest. She was almost surprised he let her go, but she had proved to him if nothing else that she could take care of herself. She left knowing she would always have a place to come back to, if she ever needed it. 

Personality: Emotionally speaking, Willow is as solid as a stone. She has a friendly, yet mysterious, and alluring nature, and is weary of showing any type of weakness to anyone. She is rather gun shy, distrustful of others and is by no means physically strong. Somewhat of an exhibitionist, she is used to using her physical appearance to get what she wants, all coy glances and fluttering eyelashes, and she's good at it. She can be theatrical in her emotions and dress, often changing her style or hair color to fit her mood, and takes pride in her appearance.

It is rare that she trusts anyone. She has only considered a couple people in her life real friends. To them, and only when she is truly relaxed, she reveals her goofy, playful side. The opinions and thoughts of those she really cares about are very important to her, and any criticism or disapproval hits home hard. Hurtful words from those she doesn't care about roll off her back like water. She can make rash snap judgments and decisions if pressured or stressed, and isn't afraid to turn on someone she doesn't trust. She has a mild case of claustrophobia and feels most at ease when there are no walls or locked doors surrounding her.

Special Notes: Model/Play By: Katy Perry. Willow also has some small tattoos. She has a cartoon strawberry on the inside of her left ankle, as well as a peppermint candy on the inside of her right ankle. These represent innocence lost to her, signifying her two abortions, choices made that she will never forget. On the inside of her right bicep is written “Anuugacchati Pravaha” which means “Go with the flow” in Sanskrit. This was her first tattoo.