Cliffhanger Cleo

Basic Information

• Name: Cliffhanger Cleo
• Team: New York Climbers
• Position/Role: Lead Distraction Specialist, "Wing-It Navigator"
• Nickname(s): Seltzer Queen, That One on the Ledge (again)

Impression

Cleo exudes the kind of energy that could be best described as "enthusiastically unhinged." She seems constantly in the middle of some whimsical, gravity-defying endeavor—like someone who just realized life is far too short to avoid the roofs of skyscrapers. Her presence is both exhilarating and mildly unsettling, as if she’s daring everyone around her to do something irrationally brilliant. She is an agent of chaos wrapped in cargo pants, ready to leap from ledge to ledge, leaving the sensible folks on the ground to reconsider their life choices. To be in Cleo’s orbit is to be reminded that there’s a whole lot of sky up there, and the ground is really rather dull.

Physical Description

• Height: 5'6"
• Weight: Just light enough to be lifted by hope, but heavy enough to withstand disappointment.
• Distinctive Features & Attire: Cleo's features are as restless as her spirit: her wide eyes seem constantly to ask, "What could possibly go wrong next?" Her wiry frame is made up of elbows and knees, seemingly designed for awkwardly latching onto whatever surface happens to be nearby. Her skin is perpetually dusted in chalk, and her left knee boasts a scar shaped like a fire escape, a testament to her unpredictable hobbies. Her wardrobe appears to have been assembled by someone who lost a bet with gravity. Cleo’s jacket is a patchwork collection of stitched-together mottos like "Property of the Sky" and "Climb for Cake!" The sleeves seem to belong to different jackets altogether, creating an ensemble that hints at every ill-advised decision Cleo has ever made. On her feet are an incongruously oversized pair of shiny boots, inexplicably equipped with retractable wheels—though she's yet to successfully deploy them for anything other than spectacular near-disasters. Her pockets contain more mysteries than her outfit—and she will gladly claim her half-crushed can of seltzer is the source of all momentum in her life, though physics remains stubbornly skeptical.

Personality

• Motivation: Cleo climbs not because she wants to reach the top, but because she can't bear to stay at the bottom. Life on the ground, with its sensible sidewalks and dull horizon, is far too ordinary for her tastes. She climbs to escape, to be free, and to remind herself that the best view is always from just beyond the sensible boundary of safety. Every ledge is a promise of adventure, every rooftop a place where her feet can flirt with the edge of sanity.
• Quirks: Cleo believes firmly that snacks should only be eaten mid-ascent—"The crunchier, the better!" she declares, nibbling while balanced precariously between two window ledges. She’s developed an odd habit of waving to passing helicopters, convinced that one day, one of them will wave back. Her fascination with scaffolding borders on the poetic—she’s often caught serenading it, reciting verses about the beauty of transience and the comfort of an unfinished building. Cleo also believes in the philosophy of "finders, climbers—keepers" and has decorated her jacket with an assortment of things she’s "found" (no one’s quite sure what that includes).
• Likes/Dislikes: Cleo is an unrepentant fan of unfinished things—scaffolding, half-built towers, the type of ambitious architecture that’s still a work-in-progress. She loves the feeling of wind threatening to blow her off her perch (as though the city itself were daring her to try harder). There’s nothing she adores more than making a spectacle of herself—especially reacting to the worried stares of onlookers who think they’re witnessing either a disaster or a miracle. On the other hand, Cleo dislikes anything flat, predictable, or lacking the possibility of elevation. Endless plains and flatlands fill her with unease, and she finds such landscapes intolerably uninspiring, as if they’re daring her to find a way to scale the unscalable.

Backstory

Cliffhanger Cleo’s story began in an unremarkable place—the ground. It wasn’t that she disliked the ground per se; it’s just that she always felt there was simply too much of it. It was while balancing on a rickety ladder in a shoe store (wearing a pair of heels that someone of her practical persuasion should never have touched) that she realized her true calling. The shoes proved hilariously unsuitable, the ladder wobbled, and Cleo found herself clinging to a ceiling fixture, pondering the meaning of "safe footwear." It was in that ridiculous, airborne moment that she knew—the higher, the better.

From that moment on, Cleo treated New York like her personal jungle gym. She conquered fire escapes, scaffolding, and even found herself scaling buildings with a determination fueled by pure whimsicality. It was one such particularly foolish climbing escapade that led her to the New York Climbers. They weren’t looking for the fastest climber or the most graceful—no, they were looking for someone willing to grab the city by the metaphorical collar and dangle from it. Cleo was precisely that kind of person.

Abilities & Skills

• Signature Moves: Cleo’s signature move is the "Midair Flail", a masterclass in almost-not-quite-falling. She kicks, flails, and spins as if she's fighting off an invisible swarm of bees. It looks entirely accidental, and yet, somehow, it ends with her comfortably gripping the next handhold. Her other notable maneuver is the "Ledge Leap of Faith", a grandiose leap between rooftops, executed with all the elegance of someone who forgot how gravity works. She leaps, she lands—mostly in one piece.

• Special Abilities: Cleo’s true special ability is her "Gravity Confusion". She’s rarely upright, yet never quite falling. It’s as if gravity itself is too perplexed by her erratic style to catch her properly. Additionally, she has "Feline Reflexes", always managing to twist just enough to avoid catastrophe, turning a near-disaster into an oddly graceful recovery. Tourists and bystanders frequently assume they're witnessing either a disaster in progress or a circus act—and Cleo's fine with either.

• Weaknesses: Despite her talents, Cleo’s inability to stay still often works against her. Put her in a meeting, and five minutes in she’s already perched on a windowsill, ready to leave. She struggles with flat landscapes and finds herself completely disoriented if there’s nothing to scale—something the team tries to avoid by always ensuring there’s some kind of vertical object nearby, even if it's just a hastily assembled step ladder.

Equipment

Cleo travels with "The Persuader"—a grappling hook that looks like it was assembled by someone with only a vague idea of what grappling hooks are for. Its sparkly stickers and feathers somehow make it both less practical and infinitely more effective. She also carries her "Pocket of Unnecessary Tools"—a pouch stuffed with items that range from the ridiculous to the downright baffling. There's a toothbrush, a rubber chicken (purpose unknown), and a tiny, somewhat broken compass that seems only to point to the nearest bakery. To Cleo, each item is not just gear—it’s part of her peculiar arsenal, every bit as useful as a sensible person’s equipment, if not more so.