Malika Patil

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Name: Malika Patil
Nicknames: Some people call her Mali (pronounced as Mah-lee), but Malika works just fine.
Age: 29
Orientation: Heterosexual
Desired Rank/Job: On-call Hammel Nurse
Powers: Empathy. Malika can feel a person's emotions, desires and fears through touch. This can
lead her to become very passive, and without training, can make her even susceptible to a person's thoughts if the person she is reading has a particularly dominant personality. Repeated use of her power, or encountering a highly strong emotion/desire/fear can cause her to have emotional breakdowns and light-headedness, sometimes fainting.

Play By: Freida Pinto

Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark brown
Any Piercings? Aside from the standard piercings on her ears, she has one on her nose.
Any Tattoos? None
Any Scars? Aside from small childhood scars on her knees, nothing significant.
General Appearance: Malika is olive-skinned, and has dark, deep-set eyes, a demure nose and slightly full lips. Her build is somewhere between slender and petite, at 5 feet and 4 inches. There is a kind expression on her face, and she prefers wearing her long dark hair in a ponytail, for convenience's sake.

Her job as an on-call nurse at the Hammel Institute allows her to wear a scrubsuit and sneakers, and the nature of the workplace, as well as the medical cases she encounters gives her the propensity to wear scrubs more often than anything else. She does not care much for fashion, often intimidated by those who possess an intensive beauty regimen and those who can incorporate haute couture into their everyday lives. On the occasional days that she does not have to wear her uniform, she dresses simply and for comfort. A sweater and jeans would do, throwing in that occasional scarf when it gets a little chilly.

Personality: Soft-spoken and reserved, Malika is the personification of Bambi. She is someone likely to be approached by a stranger for directions, as she does not come off as hostile or intimidating. Malika does not have strong opinions about anyone, always trying her best to get along with everyone. She will politely smile and giggle at someone's jokes, but nothing as loud as a guffaw. What is striking about her though is her genuinely altruistic character. Malika is ready to jump in as the Good Samaritan for whoever needs help. Seeing the plight of others tugs at her heartstrings, and she really does her best to help those in need, even at her own expense. She is easy to trust people as they are as likely to trust her, which can leave her very gullible. Given her amiable nature, most people find it easy to get along with her. Some people, however, may interpret her personality as lacking in character or fake, and can get annoyed because she's such a goody two-shoes. Also, those with not the best intentions may find it easy to take advantage of her kindness. She can also be very passive, as she struggles to speak up against an authority, or even against a person with a very dominant personality and shies away from confrontation. It's just mostly how she was raised, growing up in a more conservative environment in her native India. Going against the system is frowned upon, and anything sexually explicit sparks an outrage. Of course, there are more modern times, and so things have changed slightly. Still, you cannot take it away from her that she suddenly stays silent when an authoritative figure abuses his/her power, or that she blushes at the sight of anything remotely sexual.

In the workplace, she is a silent worker, doing her duties efficiently without complaint. She has a real passion for her job as a nurse, as it allows her to take care of people and provide the care and treatment that they need. Her power as an empath may have also contributed to her altruism, as it gives her extraordinary insight into people's thoughts. She does not think highly of her looks, despite other people telling her otherwise, as she is more of a girl-next-door than a supermodel. She (politely) rejects compliments on her beauty, or on anything else about her personality.

Malika is also quite the bookworm. She will curl up on the couch and read a good book, cup of coffee on the table, or when she feels like going out, she would go to a cafe and read there. Even at work, she will sneak in a few chapters when she is not doing anything. She is very much a wallflower and an introvert, though she does not lack in social graces in front of other people, just don't expect her to truly enjoy it as much. Despite her quiet and demure nature, the emotional breakdowns she gets from her power is a stark contrast, and can startle a room. She becomes hysterical, crying, kicking and screaming. For especially strong emotions, it can take a while before she calms down.

Likes: coffee, books, talking to her family, Doctor Who, little kids, the Discovery Channel, intelligent and/or philosophical conversations, nature
Dislikes: awkward situations, obnoxiously loud places, arguments, aggressive people, people who make her feel inferior, bigotry, bad coffee, casual sex
Strengths:
-Dependable. Her willingness to help makes her someone anyone can count on.
-Responsible and self-reliant, as she is efficient in her job.
-Easy to get along with, given her good-natured persona.
-Her love for literature can find her common ground with other people.
Weaknesses:
-menthol cigarettes (the health care professional, lighting up? She is aware of the hypocrisy. She's picked up the habit under recent high stress, and found out it's helped soothe her after experiencing the side effects of her power)
-she can sometimes be too good for her own benefit, impairing her own judgment in the name of helping someone.
-her passivity allows other people to take advantage of her and let her go along in circumstances unfavorable to her, even when she does not like it.
-she is non-confrontational, and would rather go with what the other person wants rather than get into an argument about it just because she wants something else.
-her go-with-the-flow, people-pleasing personality makes her seem like she is not being genuine enough to put her guard down and be herself, like she is too mindful of her actions.
Fears:
-confrontation
-not being there for her family enough or letting them down
-people may secretly think she's boring
-...she's afraid of sex.
Secret: If she weren't a nurse, she would have been a literature major in college. She also hides from her family the fact that she smokes. Again, she's also scared of having sexual relations with anyone.

Father: Aamir Patil, 51
Mother: Lakshmi Patil, 49
Siblings: Jaaved, 25, Neema, 23, Sanjay, 18 and Khalil, 16
Any Other Important People:A first love, Devan from 7 years ago.

Malika grew up in a middle-class family in New Delhi, India. Her father was a contractor, and his job required him to travel all over the country to oversee construction projects. Her mother worked as an English teacher in one of the private schools in the city. Being the eldest among five siblings, she has always been the most responsible, and was always tasked to look after them when her parents weren't around when she was younger. The Patils led a relatively comfortable life; they weren't rich, but they could afford the occasional leisurely activities.

Malika was exposed to books at an early age, her love for reading instilled by her mother who gave her different story books from the school library after work. Though she would go and play outdoors with her neighbors, after dark, she pored over the pages of different stories, from Western fairytales to local folklore. Her parents also highly valued education, so they sent Malika and her siblings to a private school, even if it meant being a little tighter on the budget. In school, Malika was an above average student. She did not participate in the student council or take up a sport; instead, she seemed to show a liking for the school's volunteer organization. At the end of every term, Malika and the rest of the volunteers would spearhead activities such as a donating books for less fortunate children, and visiting children in the hospital.

When Malika was 12, she was on a field trip with her classmates to the local Red Cross. One of the senior Red Cross volunteers, a man who seemed to be in his thirties, approached Malika, with a cryptic yet warm smile on his face.

Crouching over to meet her eyes, he whispered, "You, my dear, are a special one." The girl had simply looked up and narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Gingerly taking her hand, the man led her to a more private place, where he had placed her little hand on his back. Upon contact, a different kind of feeling had spread throughout her body, like a thin veil cascading over her. Suddenly, she felt a variety of emotions-- fear, excitement, happiness. After taking her hand off, she felt lightheaded, both from what just happened and from an overwhelm of the situation. In just a short time, Malika had known the life of this stranger, or at least a part of it, and she didn't understand how or why she did. The man then had gently explained to her what a meta was and that he too, was a meta. He could detect the powers of other metas and that was how he knew that she was one. Within a week, the same thing would happen to her, only at home, in the presence of her parents and siblings, with recruiters ready for her. Though startled by Malika's power, and the fact that this was not her parents had in mind for her in terms of education, her parents accepted that she was special. As Padhaai Guni would not be established for another 6 years, Malika had no choice but to attend Fasl in Jordan. With her family's tightening finances, she only saw them once a year throughout her stay, as she came home every summer to be with them, only to be apart from them again once the school year rolled around. She dutifully attended her classes while at Fasl, trained diligently and made a few friends, but didn't see the point in trying to stand out or in keeping her social calendar full. Every school year, she counted the days until she would be on a plane back to New Delhi.

On what was supposed to be her final year at Fasl, the meta school in India had finally been opened. Malika wasted no time applying for transfer, even if she only had one year left. She would not waste the opportunity of being able to be with her family again.

Upon her graduation from Padhaai Guni, Malika was torn. Throughout the years, her father's business had gone slow, leaving him to avail several loans, while her mother's income was not enough to put five kids through school. Tuition for Fasl and other expenses from Malika's overseas education had put a toll on the family savings. It was also around this time that several of their friends and neighbors had started applying for jobs abroad, particularly in the United States, for hopes of greener pastures. While she had always wanted to take up literature in college, the family's growing debt led her to take up Nursing instead. It was not too bad a choice for her, as she loved taking care of those in need, particularly the sick. Inspired by the growing demand of nurses abroad, she decided that she would go to the States to work as a nurse to help with the family's expenses.Upon entering university, she decided that she would not tell anyone about her being a meta, not because she was ashamed of it, only that she thought it was more convenient that way, and didn't want others looking at her differently.

She was totally set on her plan until her junior year, where she almost changed her mind. Malika had met Devan, a senior taking up Architecture while both were volunteering for the Red Cross. He was a dreamer, wanting to design the tallest skyscraper in New Delhi. Every day they talked about their dreams and desires, and Malika had never felt anything like it before. Devan was full of idealism and passion, not wanting to leave the country unlike most of their peers and instead dreamed of revolutionizing architecture in India. Malika did not hide from him her plans of going abroad, yet whenever she mentioned it, he kept silent. As far as dating went, they went out regularly. Malika was soon beginning to feel a lot more than just attraction, yet her desire of getting into a deeper commitment was hindered by the fact that they seemed to be headed in different directions. Until one night, Devan invited Malika over at his place for Chinese take-out and some wine.

"I love you", Devan replied when Malika asked if he wanted the orange chicken. They had been going out for almost a year now, yet this was the first time he told her this. Malika paused for a few seconds, before putting down the orange chicken, and broke into a smile.

"I love you too."

"I want you to stay, Malika." Malika knew he wasn't talking about staying for the night. It might have been the wine, but somehow, Malika managed to say yes. Still, they made love for the first time that night. Malika never really thought about sex, as far as she could remember she's never had any wild sexual urges but at the time, all she knew was that she loved him enough to give him everything. After that night, Malika thought of telling him about her being a meta. She thought that now she was finally staying to be with him, she owed him the truth. After all, having the new meta school in India meant that the concentration of metas in the country was growing, and it wouldn't seem as far-fetched if he knew she was different. Malika finally told him her secret over lunch. Devan's jaw tightened upon hearing the information.

"So what you're saying is, you can read my mind."

"Not exactly. My...power, it allows me to feel whatever you're feeling through touch." He didn't say anything, only staring down at his plate. Malika reached out and touched his back.

There is someone else. Malika felt it-- his attraction for the other woman, his sexual desires, his fear of Malika finding out. Malika staggered backward, hand to her mouth, and felt like she was going to faint. She ran away from him--that pig!-- and ran out of the restaurant, as far as her legs could take her before all she could see was black...

It had been 7 years since that incident. She has been in Pilot Ridge for 6 years now. After breaking up with Devan, Malika decided that the best way to forget and move on was to leave India, leave everything that reminded her of him. She still had her family who was depending on her, and she wasn't about to let them down now. Malika was no longer the scared teen girl who was afraid of being ripped apart from her family. She knew she had to get away, even if it meant leaving India forever. Being at Hammel, with people like her, made her feel she wasn't truly alone.

You can take a look at Gwen Peyton for reference. =)

Name: Sam!
Age: Old enough to go to jail =(
Experience: On and off since 2007
How Did You Find Us? Angels brought me here... or RPG-D
Ready To Play? YAY!