Marielena Fuentes
Nov 30, 2014 23:48:37 GMT -5
Post by Marielena Fuentes on Nov 30, 2014 23:48:37 GMT -5
The BasicsName: Marielena del Corazón Fuentes Rodriguez
Nicknames: Mariela, Marie
Age: 33
Orientation: Heterosexual
Desired Rank/Job: Local, clinical psychologist with a private practice
Powers:Lie Detection: Mariela can expertly sense when a person is lying through a meta-human hyperawareness that is tailored for sniffing out the truth. She can read micro facial expressions that range from 1/15th to 1/25th of a second in duration, notice involuntary changes in patterns of blinking or muscle spasms, listen for an increased heart rate from up to fifteen feet away, and smell changes in pheromone secretion from up to twenty feet away. She is literally a living lie detector.
Her limitations are few, but existent; if someone believes the lie he or she is telling, her power will be rendered ineffective. If a person has some sort of meta-ability or medical device that controls his or her heart rate, pulse or hormone secretion, she will not be able to use those means to detect a lie. Her power does not indicate why a person lies, just that a lie has taken place. Additionally, Mariela’s ability to hone in and hyper focus her senses does not extend to any use outside of lie detection.
The side effects of this power, both the physical and the psychological, can be cruel; Mariela had a very difficult time as an adolescent coming to terms with the fact that everyone lies. Additionally, the excess sensory input would become nauseating and induce migraines. Sometimes she would become so hyper vigilant that she would get lost in the repetitive lull of her own heart pumping blood. As she aged and was trained in the proper use of her power, Mariela learned to control when she used it, dropping the ability around close friends and family. However, instead of solely experiencing symptoms of overuse, she also experiences nausea and migraines when she expends too much energy avoiding the utilization of her power.
Play By: Jessica AlbaThe DetailsHair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Any Piercings? Both of her earlobes are pierced twice, and sometimes she wears cuffed ear jewelry that creates the illusion of cartilage piercings.
Any Tattoos? Mariela has a small bow tattooed on her much lower-back; it’s barely visible, even in a bikini.
Any Scars? She has a tiny scar above her navel from when she had it pierced in high school; she took it out in her sophomore year of college, feeling that she was too mature for a belly-button ring.
General Appearance: The first thing people usually notice about Mariela is her size, or lack there of, considering that she is both thin and stands at an unimpressive 5’3”. She does not take kindly to any commentary regarding her diminutive stature. She is a rather lithe woman for her age, weighing in at less than 110 lbs before a brave little fertilized egg decided to implant itself in her uterus. During her first few months Mariela barely put on weight, her constant morning sickness disallowing any noticeable fluctuation in size. However, now that she is at 16 weeks, she is somewhere between noticeably pregnant or just looking like she swallowed a massive burrito.
Another feature that Mariela is known for is her highly contagious smile; she has full lips with a slight cupid’s bow that frame her straight (and a little oversized) white teeth. She’s at that age where the corners of her eyes crinkle when she laughs, although her olive skin has been very resilient against the passage of time. Her coloring is nearly monochromatic in the summertime with hair, skin, and eyes that are all light shades of brown. However, when winter rolls around she becomes pale and her hair darkens noticeably with the change of season.
As far as style goes, Mariela knows that she is young and works mostly with adolescents and young adults, so she tries fairly hard to dress professionally. She has been a devoted fan of sharp blazers and tailored trousers for years, and her collection of business casual is impressive. However, because she’s changing in size, Mariela has found it easier to stick with loose sweaters that can conceal a stealthily unbuttoned waistband. She resents that yoga pants are not considered “work appropriate,” but also refuses to buy maternity clothing—What’s the point of buying something I’m going to grow out of in a few weeks.
Personality: “Though she be but little, she is fierce!” Mariela has taken this Shakespearean phrase to heart, from the schoolyard scrapes as a little girl in the inner city to paying her own way through college and establishing herself as a financially independent professional. She is a woman who can be defined by her toughness, independence, and unyielding drive to succeed. Although, she can be a bit bull-headed from time to time…
She was a bright student throughout her scholastic career, thrusting her hand up eagerly at each question posed, asserting herself academically whenever possible; both her educators and peers often assumed she was unintelligent due to her pretty face and Spanish accent, and so it became Mariela’s mission to prove them otherwise. Although her accent has all but faded, the motivation to defend both her background and intellectual acumen remains.
Mariela’s traits that have aided her most professionally have also been most damaging to her personally; she is extremely skeptical, but also believes that everyone deserves a second chance. She can sense a patient attempting to deceive her session after session, but continues to be present, ready to guide him or her through the recovery process when he or she is ready. Mariela has never found a case too difficult, or a person she was unwilling to work with; she can be empathetic to fault.
However, in her personal and romantic life, constant awareness of attempts at deception has all but ruined her ability to trust others. Additionally, her “no one gets left behind” policy has left her with one too many unemployed ex-boyfriends, contacting her once more to “apologize” and “work things out.” With age she’s developed the ability to politely decline, but throughout her teens and twenties, Mariela was doling out second chances like Halloween candy.
Mariela is more than the trope of the “strong” woman. Despite her hardened exterior, she is sensitive and maternal, embodying numerous feminine traits without apology. She isn’t ashamed of these quieter parts of herself, but she knows as a single pregnant professional, she’s better off leading with assertiveness rather than emotional vulnerability.Your VicesLikes: The beach, oatmeal raisin cookies, summer time, working out (running in particular), helping her patients achieve mental health, keeping up with new developments in psychology, being her own boss, café con leche, shopping online, going to a matinee alone, relationships with no strings attached, curling up with a good book, old slasher movies, parties where people actually dance, classic rock from the 60s and 70s
Dislikes: E-readers, pilates and spin classes, Bono, the DSM V, mommy blogs, being referred to as a "spicy latina," rush hour traffic, early mornings, rude baristas, reality television, snow and cold weather, celebrity gossip, when her patients flirt with her, strangers touching her bump without asking, giving up caffeine, large crowds of teenagers
Strengths: Finding the good in people (and sifting through the bullshit), following through with plans, creating a comfortable therapeutic environment, baking from scratch, convincing people to do the things they are afraid of, expressing care and having sensitive conversatoins, staying in good health, keeping her spirits up
Weaknesses: Knowing when to throw in the towel, taking responsibility for the actions of others, pushing too hard to be the perfect therapist and mother, getting too emotionally invested in her patients, being a workaholic, completing household chores in a timely manner, feeling the pressure to impress her family, possessing an insatiable sweet tooth
Fears: Being a bad mother, raising her child without a partner (either romantic or platonic,) her family ostracizing her when they find out the nature of her pregnancy, failing as therapist, having a patient hurt him/herself
Secret: Now that Mariela is in her second trimester, her status as pregnant is no longer a secret. However, the identity of the fetus's father is under lock and key.Family TiesFather: Javier Andrés Fuentes
Mother: Catalina Manuela Fuentes Rodriguez
Siblings: Andrés Luis Fuentes Rodriguez, Isabel Constanza Fuentes Rodriguez
Any Other Important People: N/AHistory“Marielena del Corazón Fuentes Rodriguez!” When your mother is willing to howl out that bulging mouthful of a name, you know you’re in trouble… even if you’re thirty-three years old. Some things never change.
Growing up in one-bedroom apartment in Spanish Harlem, Mariela’s family was tight knit, but she always had a knack for getting under her mother’s skin. She would swing her feet beneath the pews at church, chew with her mouth wide open, get into scuffles with the local street boys, and speak English even when she was at home with the family. It was her greatest pleasure to needle her mother until the poor woman was red in the face, that one special vein between her brows throbbing as she’d scream, “¡Ay dios mio, tu me tienes loca!” Mariela may have been the middle child, but she was far from invisible.
To this day, her mother maintains the same exact response, especially when met with sentences that follow the trajectory of “Mama… I’m pregnant…” And despite being harassed at every holiday get-together about her perpetual singledom, this was not how Mrs. Fuentes wanted the next grandbaby to come into the world; having a child out of wedlock was unacceptable in their Catholic home.
The religious framework that Mariela’s family strictly abided by had always been a point of contention throughout her life. During early adolescence, she felt guilt and shame about her developing body and the effect she had on men, as if it was her sin that made her sexually desirable. Additionally, she was confused about her place in the world; her family emphasized masculine and feminine roles, but she did not fit into her “place” as a woman with the same ease that her mother and sister did. Mariela was always “too loud,” “too rough,” “too wild.”
These issues came to a head when her power manifested around age thirteen and she developed the ability to detect lies through a meta-human hypersensitivity. Mariela’s mother was scolding her after she had been caught attempting to sneak a boy up the fire escape the night before, and as their voices rose, Mariela shouted “What, like you never fooled around with a boy?“ As always, her mother responded on cue, “I made a promise with God to save myself for a righteous man, and that is what I did.”
She was lying.
Horrified by this realization, Mariela could not contain herself after learning that the foundation of her upbringing was a falsehood; she accused her mother of lying, claiming that she just “knew,” and was immediately was locked in her room for the remainder of the day. When she was allowed out, her mother and father sat her down for a long talk about being an unrighteous girl, and she followed their expressions as she sensed lie after lie after lie. She pointed out each one with total accuracy, terrifying her parents as their respective skeletons were ousted, forcing them each to confession to pray for forgiveness.
Due to this outburst, Mariela’s parents contacted the authorities and she was whisked away to Hammel in less than two days. They were too ashamed to bid her farewell.
During Mariela’s first few years at Hammel, her parents cut contact with her, claiming that because her powers had just manifested, they gave false readings and until she could agree with that sentiment, they would not be able to accept her in their lives. She knew they did not believe this, but rather that they chose their need to be good Christians over being good parents.
Fortunately, years passed, and through a few sessions of family counseling they managed to reconcile some of their differences and maintain a degree of closeness. As expected, Mariela was hurt and resentful, but as time passed she would begin to forgive her parents and begin to understand that they acted out of guilt rather than scorn.
There were some tough years to come in her late teens and early twenties; as a young woman of no financial means, Mariela had to bust her ass both academically and in the workforce in order to support herself through college and graduate school. She originally was studying neuroscience and pharmacology, but after a nervous breakdown incited by a combination of events (decades of repressed emotion, killing herself working forty hours a week while still in school, struggling to make rent and feed herself), Mariela ended up taking a semester off to seek psychiatric help.
She remembered the brief family counseling she had as a young teen and wondered what a difference would have been made if she had the same intensive one-on-one experience then as she did now. Her interest was now piqued, and she decided upon her return to school that she was going to study clinical psychology (She was only two years into school at this point, so the core classes she had taken for neuroscience and pharmacology carried over into her psychology requirements.) Also, it was a pretty thoughtful way to make use of being a human lie detector. She finished her bachelor’s only less than a year after her originally projected graduation date and immediately enrolled in a three-year Master’s program in clinical psychology.
After graduate school, Mariela resented living in Vermont as she had to complete a full 1000 hours of supervised practicum experience which took just over a year to complete. Then, she was finally given her certification as a Licensed Professional Counselor. Eventually she hopes to get her Psy.D, but her need to get into the workforce and continue paying off her loans outweighed her desire for more education.
She worked up the ladder in the clinical psych community the way most do, beginning in social services and institutions, ultimately establishing herself as the owner of her own private practice… Admittedly, it was a staff of one. She chose to settle down in Pilot Ridge out of a desire to work with metas like herself—she best understood the specific needs of those with abilities, and figured that her talent would be best served in a community with both the super powerful and incredibly vulnerable.
Mariela lives a comfortable life for the most part; her student loans are nowhere near paid for, but the monthly schedule of her payments is completely manageable. She rents a small two-bedroom home near her office, and she enjoys her career as much as her free time… The only hiccup in this set-up was a one-night stand that turned into a lifelong commitment. The only method to avoid pregnancy 100% of the time is abstinence, right?
Anyway, at this point in time Mariela is about four months along, but it hasn’t stopped her from kicking ass at her job or at the gym in her kickboxing classes… although she does realize she’s soon going to have to settle for something that’s a little lower impact. She already loves her baby and is as excited and nervous as any other expectant mother. At this phase in her life she feels prepared to bring a little life into the world… even if it’s sort of horrifying.Roleplay Example
See my posts for Audrey Vandergraaf c":What About You?Name: Thom
Age: 22
Experience: 12 years I think…
How Did You Find Us? Originally, RPG Directory, but I’ve been here awhile
Ready To Play? Alwaaays ~
