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Rain - (Isabel Elena Cortez)
Apr. 3rd, 2018 09:11 pmCharacter: Rain
Physical description: Rain is about 5'3 and rather slight of build. She has long black hair and dark eyes.
History: Rain's mother was sexually assaulted and killed in front of her when she was four years old. She was saved only because the attacker hadn't seen her and because when she'd finally stepped out of the shadows, her mother had screamed to her to run - to go hide out in the woods and not let anyone find her. She'd done that, finding safety out in the dark of night, hiding even from the calling of familiar voices for almost two days before a neighbor had stumbled over her in the woods. Everyone had thought she had been killed or abducted by whoever had killed her mother. Her father, she knew, was a bit disappointed that she had not been.
She'd already begun to manifest her ability. Her father hated that she would sometimes answer questions before they were voiced, know about a surprise before it happened, or see things that were going to happen; and also irrationally hated her for what had happened to her mother - for not somehow being able to stop it. He hadn't wanted a child, hadn't wanted to share his wife with anyone else, especially not one so… different. He'd tolerated her when his wife was alive, but afterwards he'd barely been able to even look at her. Her abilities made it impossible for her not to know how he felt. He spent most of his time lost in a bottle, eventually losing his job and the house and bouncing them both from shelter to shelter in the Miami area.
Rain, though she wasn't called that yet (she named herself after her vision quest and will occasionally change it to another nature related word for short periods of time), was mostly left to fend for herself, wandering the streets with the other homeless children, learning their myths - stories about how God had fled, about angels hiding in abandoned buildings as they planned battles against demons. Stories about La Llorona and Bloody Mary and about the Blue Lady who protected the homeless children. One of the older boys took her under his wing, protecting her, and discovering how her abilities could be used to help the children. With her along they knew when an area of a store would be un-watched, when the best times were to steal food or clothes or other things they needed, when bad adults were looking for them. She wasn't always liked, but at least she was respected for her usefulness. As she grew older, she became the one to take 'the little ones' under her wing, trying to keep them safe and help them as best she could.
Her father managed to pull himself together enough from time to time to try and get a job, but mostly, they stayed in shelters or on the streets of whatever city they ended up in as he went from place to place doing odd jobs, never staying in any one place very long. She always sought out the elders of whatever place they were in, wanting to hear their stories and myths, mixing them in with the ones she'd already learned. It was from them that she learned to read and write.
She preferred to be outside at night, even on the streets, but she felt most safe when they were in a small place where she could spend the night in the woods under the stars and the moon. Inside left her feeling trapped and scared unless there were lots of doors and windows she could leave open. She often carried talismans with her, things to protect her, even if they didn't make sense even to her. For months she carried two screwdrivers with her everywhere she went - a regular and a Phillips head - so she'd be prepared for anything. Another time she kept a figure of a superhero in her pocket so he could keep her safe. She knew these things didn't make sense, knew they were irrational, knew they made other people think she was crazy, but couldn't make herself stop. And she knew that there was indeed something wrong and broken about her.
When she was a young teen her father caught her fooling around with a boy willing to overlook the fact that she was crazy, and shipped her off to her mother's grandmother up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for almost two years. There she listened to all the stories the elders had to tell and eventually went off on her own Vision Quest. When she returned from it her father was waiting and dragged her off again. At 16 she ran away, scared by the increase in his frightening, outbursts directed at her, and drifted from town to town herself, taking care of the little ones she found on the streets, and trying to find a way to deal with her own brokenness.
Abilities: Rain has some ability to see the outcome of events and a limited ability to hear people's thoughts. For example, she will often absently answer questions before they're asked, thinking the person spoke out loud. She can not go into someone's mind and pull out information and secrets, but she is often able to hear what they are thinking about or feeling in the moment, particularly if the thoughts or emotions are particularly strong or loud. She is also able to look at a situation and somehow 'know' how it can turn out. When she was living on the streets she would know when a shopkeeper was about to turn their back or leave something unattended that she and the other children could take.
She has spent a great deal of her time learning about myths and beliefs from anyone who would sit with her long enough to tell her stories. Her reality testing isn't always the best, so she's not always entirely sure what is myth and what is reality. She relates very strongly to many of the Native American ideas - particularly those of the Lakota.
Somewhere along the way she learned how to do origami and will sometimes create little creatures and give them to people. They're often related to whatever animal she believes they are most like.
Flaws/weaknesses: Rain suffered severe emotional trauma when she was a very young child and never received any help or assistance in dealing with the horror she experienced. She is, quite frankly, not entirely sane and she knows it. Or rather she knows that there is something 'broken' about her mind and she doesn't know how to fix it. In a lot of ways she's much like a young child.
Since she's not always entirely certain whether some of the myths and stories she has read about are true or only legends she sometimes behaves as if it's possible that she might meet the Trickster, The Blue Lady, Grandmother Spider or any of the others she's learned about, right around the next corner. Sometimes she even talks about them as if they are friends she knows and talks with regularly. Other times she's quite aware of what is real and what is not.
Personality: In many ways, Rain's personality is rather childlike. She is kind, generous, open, and naive. She is incredibly curious about everything. She is a generally content person and tries hard to make the best of what she has.
She can be shockingly blunt at times, a combination of being partially stuck back with the social skills of the four year old she was before she was damaged, the time she spent living on the streets, and dealing with a drunken and verbally abusive father. While she has good manners and is generally polite, she can at times behave with both the innocence and lack of social awareness that a very young child has. She often has no filter between what she thinks and what she says - unless she is scared or trying very hard.
She can be very introspective as it is important to her that she try and understand how her mind works - or doesn't work in many cases. And because she knows she's different, she's not easily bothered by what other people say about her. She is who she is and she accepts that. Being told she is crazy or a freak doesn't really phase her unless someone becomes cruel about it. That said, there are times when she can become very sad or pensive about how different and damaged she is. She can also become edgy and upset if kept somewhere she doesn't want to be.
She's very protective of people she sees as younger, littler, or weaker, than she is and won't tolerate others picking on them.
Physical description: Rain is about 5'3 and rather slight of build. She has long black hair and dark eyes.
History: Rain's mother was sexually assaulted and killed in front of her when she was four years old. She was saved only because the attacker hadn't seen her and because when she'd finally stepped out of the shadows, her mother had screamed to her to run - to go hide out in the woods and not let anyone find her. She'd done that, finding safety out in the dark of night, hiding even from the calling of familiar voices for almost two days before a neighbor had stumbled over her in the woods. Everyone had thought she had been killed or abducted by whoever had killed her mother. Her father, she knew, was a bit disappointed that she had not been.
She'd already begun to manifest her ability. Her father hated that she would sometimes answer questions before they were voiced, know about a surprise before it happened, or see things that were going to happen; and also irrationally hated her for what had happened to her mother - for not somehow being able to stop it. He hadn't wanted a child, hadn't wanted to share his wife with anyone else, especially not one so… different. He'd tolerated her when his wife was alive, but afterwards he'd barely been able to even look at her. Her abilities made it impossible for her not to know how he felt. He spent most of his time lost in a bottle, eventually losing his job and the house and bouncing them both from shelter to shelter in the Miami area.
Rain, though she wasn't called that yet (she named herself after her vision quest and will occasionally change it to another nature related word for short periods of time), was mostly left to fend for herself, wandering the streets with the other homeless children, learning their myths - stories about how God had fled, about angels hiding in abandoned buildings as they planned battles against demons. Stories about La Llorona and Bloody Mary and about the Blue Lady who protected the homeless children. One of the older boys took her under his wing, protecting her, and discovering how her abilities could be used to help the children. With her along they knew when an area of a store would be un-watched, when the best times were to steal food or clothes or other things they needed, when bad adults were looking for them. She wasn't always liked, but at least she was respected for her usefulness. As she grew older, she became the one to take 'the little ones' under her wing, trying to keep them safe and help them as best she could.
Her father managed to pull himself together enough from time to time to try and get a job, but mostly, they stayed in shelters or on the streets of whatever city they ended up in as he went from place to place doing odd jobs, never staying in any one place very long. She always sought out the elders of whatever place they were in, wanting to hear their stories and myths, mixing them in with the ones she'd already learned. It was from them that she learned to read and write.
She preferred to be outside at night, even on the streets, but she felt most safe when they were in a small place where she could spend the night in the woods under the stars and the moon. Inside left her feeling trapped and scared unless there were lots of doors and windows she could leave open. She often carried talismans with her, things to protect her, even if they didn't make sense even to her. For months she carried two screwdrivers with her everywhere she went - a regular and a Phillips head - so she'd be prepared for anything. Another time she kept a figure of a superhero in her pocket so he could keep her safe. She knew these things didn't make sense, knew they were irrational, knew they made other people think she was crazy, but couldn't make herself stop. And she knew that there was indeed something wrong and broken about her.
When she was a young teen her father caught her fooling around with a boy willing to overlook the fact that she was crazy, and shipped her off to her mother's grandmother up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for almost two years. There she listened to all the stories the elders had to tell and eventually went off on her own Vision Quest. When she returned from it her father was waiting and dragged her off again. At 16 she ran away, scared by the increase in his frightening, outbursts directed at her, and drifted from town to town herself, taking care of the little ones she found on the streets, and trying to find a way to deal with her own brokenness.
Abilities: Rain has some ability to see the outcome of events and a limited ability to hear people's thoughts. For example, she will often absently answer questions before they're asked, thinking the person spoke out loud. She can not go into someone's mind and pull out information and secrets, but she is often able to hear what they are thinking about or feeling in the moment, particularly if the thoughts or emotions are particularly strong or loud. She is also able to look at a situation and somehow 'know' how it can turn out. When she was living on the streets she would know when a shopkeeper was about to turn their back or leave something unattended that she and the other children could take.
She has spent a great deal of her time learning about myths and beliefs from anyone who would sit with her long enough to tell her stories. Her reality testing isn't always the best, so she's not always entirely sure what is myth and what is reality. She relates very strongly to many of the Native American ideas - particularly those of the Lakota.
Somewhere along the way she learned how to do origami and will sometimes create little creatures and give them to people. They're often related to whatever animal she believes they are most like.
Flaws/weaknesses: Rain suffered severe emotional trauma when she was a very young child and never received any help or assistance in dealing with the horror she experienced. She is, quite frankly, not entirely sane and she knows it. Or rather she knows that there is something 'broken' about her mind and she doesn't know how to fix it. In a lot of ways she's much like a young child.
Since she's not always entirely certain whether some of the myths and stories she has read about are true or only legends she sometimes behaves as if it's possible that she might meet the Trickster, The Blue Lady, Grandmother Spider or any of the others she's learned about, right around the next corner. Sometimes she even talks about them as if they are friends she knows and talks with regularly. Other times she's quite aware of what is real and what is not.
Personality: In many ways, Rain's personality is rather childlike. She is kind, generous, open, and naive. She is incredibly curious about everything. She is a generally content person and tries hard to make the best of what she has.
She can be shockingly blunt at times, a combination of being partially stuck back with the social skills of the four year old she was before she was damaged, the time she spent living on the streets, and dealing with a drunken and verbally abusive father. While she has good manners and is generally polite, she can at times behave with both the innocence and lack of social awareness that a very young child has. She often has no filter between what she thinks and what she says - unless she is scared or trying very hard.
She can be very introspective as it is important to her that she try and understand how her mind works - or doesn't work in many cases. And because she knows she's different, she's not easily bothered by what other people say about her. She is who she is and she accepts that. Being told she is crazy or a freak doesn't really phase her unless someone becomes cruel about it. That said, there are times when she can become very sad or pensive about how different and damaged she is. She can also become edgy and upset if kept somewhere she doesn't want to be.
She's very protective of people she sees as younger, littler, or weaker, than she is and won't tolerate others picking on them.
