Maria Nightingale

Maria is a Vampire agent in the Department of Floaters. She joined early 2004, and bears no relation to Nyx Nightingale.

Backstory
Maria originates from a badifc in the Metal Gear Solid continuum. She was part of a 'beastman' unit made up entirely of half human Sues and Stus, who were 'the best in the world' in their fields of expertise, with the exception of Maria, who was only given a physical description, and that she was skilled at stealth and infiltration. She was absent for the rest of the fic (probably forgotten) and was recruited cue to lack of charges against her.

She was bitten by a Vampire!Sue during the 2008 Sue Invasion and became a vampire herself, she refuses to use her vampiric powers during missions, though will sometimes use them in HQ (the whole losing her clothes thing might have something to do with it).

Being a Discworld vampire has allowed her to sublimate her addiction to physical contact,and it is not unusual for her to glomp, or give out friendly hugs/punches. Given that she also wears a cat suit all the time to protect herself from the sun and bright flashes, many believe her to be Luxury in disguise. She has neither denied or supported these claims, finding them amusing. She has a low tolerance for badslash,and will sometimes react violently from too much (or just really badly written) slash. During an undocumented mission into the Redwall continuum and attempted to kill Cluny and Mathias during a vry poorly written slash scene. She later admitted to reading the Cluny fic from That Series prior to the mission on a dare. She has since been banned from entering the continuum.

Appearance
Maria's physical description is a mystery to almost all at the PPC, with the exclusion of the flowers, the agents who recruited her (who are hitherto unknown) and quite possibly Luxury. She stands at five foot nine, and appears to be in good shape. She has yellow slitted eyes (red when extremely hungry), and of course, fangs. Her eyes and teeth are the only visible parts of her face, the rest being shrouded in darkness(how she manages this is anyone's guess). She has confirmed she has cat ears as well as human ears, a long tail, and claws.

Her own secrecy is actually the chief reason for the mystery of how she looks-- she is meticulous and keeps all photos of herself safely in her possession. She has also used the neuralyzer before to alter the memories of those who knew her before the invasion, so even they can only remember her current secretive appearance. Some even believe that due to the many differing theories on her looks, and being of a Discworld species, she might no longer have an actual solid look, and she is just eyes, teeth and darkness held together in a suit.

Personality
She is generally in a good mood, and is quite approachable at most times, though her mood can change at the drop of a hat. She also has a mischievous side to her, due in large to her affliction of Cat Girl stereotypes. She is also impulsive and curious (the whole Cat Girl thing really got her good) though she also has anger issues, stemming back to her abandonment in her home fic. She has had problems keeping a partner due to losing control of her anger and injuring them in the process, almost killing one. She fears actually killing or permanently damaging some one.

She is the experience and combat expert of the trio, being able to fight and protect Mark and Cadmar, who have little actual combat experience themselves. She prefers this duty to having to read out charges or exorcise canons. She has strong protective instincts (some would say possessive issues) over both of her new partners, thinking of them as her fledglings due to them not being scared of by her often alarming nature. She is Not Amused in the slightest when someone (Sue or other) threatens them in some way. Though this is not to be mixed up with maternal instincts, as she will not hesitate to mess with her allies herself.

She has taken a great liking to shinies (or rather taking plunder from missions) and has quite literally stuffed her Responce Center full of them. She appears to take things indidcrimately (Read; not both on fire and nailed down), and has quite a collection of useful, not so useful, and awkward stare inducing things. One of the most questionable is a full sizeed battleship anchor,which takes up a corner in her RC. She has offered no explanation as to how she got it, and no one asks for fear of becoming guilty by association. Due to her theiving collecting nature, she has expanded her RC into two unoccupied ones through use of stress relief on walls, and these too are full of junk. Of course, having three consoles BEEP!ing at the same time is quite disorienting.

Powers & Abilities
As a Discworld vampire, she has access to a wide variety of powers, as well as weaknesses-- and unlike a Sue or Stu follows 'all' of her plusses and pitfalls. Though she has refused to use any of her vampiric powers during a mission unless for a dire reason, she will sometimes use them sparingly inside HQ. She prefers to simply use her increased strength, speed, and senses to aid her natural talents.

As from the little description she received from her author, she is an expert at stealth and infiltration, and has used these to her advantage against sues who would pose a problem in a straight up fight. She mostly uses her stealth to help her glomp unsuspecting people.