Character Profile: Z.J.

Zephyr Jason Sol (Birth Surname: Aston)

Nicknames: Z.J., Z

Powers: Power over air, Healing ability, Mind reading

Weapon: Bow and Arrow

Special Skills: Musical Prodigy

Physical Appearance: If he hadn’t automatically been thrust into the ‘friend zone’ Marissa, Lily and Penny would all agree that Z.J. is the perfect guy inside and out. He is the tallest person in the group, at six foot one, with dirty blonde hair that curls when he doesn’t try to take care of it. Z.J. is the cute type of guy that everyone loves, he has a great smile with deep blue eyes and pale skin and an average build makes him the type of boy that girls want but not unapproachable. Being trained in music from the time he was a toddler Z.J. isn’t the biggest or the strongest, in fact Lily isn’t sure he has any tone or muscle at all. Still Z.J. is handsome, sweet, and everything anyone could want in a guy.

Personality: Z.J. is the textbook Libra of the group and it is good that he is because with all the emotion the girls bring to the party they need a diplomatic kind of person in the mix. Much like his sign he is charming, easygoing, and peaceable; he is able to look impartially at issues but one of his faults is an impatience of criticism and a greed for approval. This wasn’t helped by the approval and attention he got being a musical prodigy, or the only child of parents who wanted nothing more than to have a child. If Marissa is the smart one than Z.J. is the artsy one, more artistic than intelligent but smart enough to get into Hopkins as an Art History major. His parents instilled him with a love of all beauty but especially beauty in the arts which he has a deep love of.

  While being a Libra makes him more sensible and levelheaded than the girls it also makes him indecisive, sometimes timid and an impatience of routine. Z.J. likes to be as free as the wind that he has control over, doing what he pleases when he pleases so the schedule of school, work and training sometimes can really get him down. Still he is very personable until you get him angry; it takes quite a lot but when Z.J. is angry he can be a storm of rage, and he will not let you get away until he has let you know just how displeased he is. He also has a tendency to be a bit extravagant and impulsive, spending money on things he enjoys or simply wants.

   Z.J. has been traveling all over the United States since he was around ten, giving concerts, and sitting in with orchestras all over the country. He was homeschooled until his parents settled down in Michigan so he could go to Interlochen where he studied music and every instrument he could get his hands on. When it came time for college he shocked his parents when he told them he wanted to go to Johns Hopkins University to major in History of Art and minor in Music so he could be more well rounded. Z.J. wants to be a champion of the arts and save them in a world that thinks art, music, drama, and other programs like that don’t benefit children. Yet if he can’t do something like that he would be a musician or even and art dealer.  

  Relationships:

Marissa: Z.J. always gets along well with Marissa, and he is always thankful that she is willing to defend him against the other two girls who sometimes like to pick on him, or don’t understand him but even they can disagree. They can be two totally different people especially in regards to routines, schedules, and school. Marissa likes structure, and rules, and order and Z.J. is happy to go where the moment, or the wind, or the fates take him. Most of the time the two see each other as good balance but sometimes Marissa wishes Z.J. wasn’t so naive and unwilling to take things more seriously and Z.J. wishes Marissa would loosen up and let the control go a little. Still they are very close, Z.J. is able to tell Marissa things he can’t tell anyone else, and they understand each other very well nine times out of ten, but that last time…take cover.

Lily: Z.J. wants to get close to Lily but most of the time she won’t let him, and because he knows that she teases him to cover up her own uncertainty he does his best to laugh it off. Z.J. is able to laugh at himself better than anyone else so Lily’s ribbing can easily roll of his back, most of the time. It takes a lot to get Z.J. mad but once he is, he isn’t afraid to tell Lily or anyone else exactly what he thinks. He trusts Lily just as she trusts him, and they are both similar in the way they handle their emotions. However Lily is puzzled by Z.J. and he isn’t exactly in a hurry to explain everything to her. He likes leaving everyone in the dark a little when it comes to all his secrets, and because he knows how much it frustrates Lily he always keeps her questioning things. Still the two are good friends and become best friends.

Penny: Z.J. and Penny make a funny pair; he makes her laugh and she thinks of him as the only guy in her life she can have a totally platonic relationship with. At first Penny finds Z.J. attractive enough but he is too shy and quiet for her nature, and Z.J. automatically knew that Penny was going to be just a friend. They get along well, Z.J. loves that Penny doesn’t like to be tied down but at the same time sometimes she is even to wild for his taste. Z.J. also is smart enough to stay out of Penny’s issues with Lily, and leaves that to Marissa mostly because he doesn’t want anyone to think he is taking sides. Z.J. just wants everyone to be as happy as possible at all times and that is something Penny admires him for. Much like with the rest of the group Penny and Z.J. grow very close and each bring their own brand of crazy energy to the Demi-Angel family.

 

 

Can I just say how much of a pain it is to realize that I have to switch POV's on a story I've already written half of.

  My Archangel story is about half way written and now I realize that it will be better if it is written in 3rd person not 1st person from Marissa's POV. So I was looking at something I had written recently and trying to switch over the POV and just pulling my hair out trying to make sure I got it switched and it didn't sound weird or stupid.

  There are times where I'm going "Why do I need to switch POV at all?" and the answer is quite simple. I have four central characters who each have a different personality and way of looking at things that happen to them. Marissa can't know what everyone else is thinking. I could switch her power of telekentics with Z.J.'s power to read minds but I dont want to do that because I thought out each character's powers and matched them with their personality so Marissa needs to keep her power.

  So a part of my editing process that I am not looking forward to is switching POV for my story. I tried on this little blip and if anyone reads this they can tell me what they think.

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Once things settled back into a routine again Penny got better day by day. Everyone could all still see the sadness behind the smile more often then not but she was taking everything one day at a time. The most welcome change, in Marissa’s eyes at least, was the new attitude Penny had toward Lily, and vise versa. Marissa found it very nice to be able to watch them talk, or share a story without having to be the buffer between the two.
　
So things settled down a little. The group had their schedules that they stuck to during the week, while they treasured their weekends that were mostly spent at the club and Marissa’s house. Eli and Rico got closer to Penny and Z.J. by the day until the boys considered them as dear as family, just the way they did with Lily. Z.J. and Penny were invited to the wedding over the summer as was Lily, and they were all looking forward to it. One day Rissa realized that her brother and Rico hadn’t even met M.T. and if the group was going to avoid questions down the line it would be better to introduce him now. Eli had heard them talk about him so often that he finally wanted to meet the mysterious teacher who his sister and her friends spent so much time with. So, true to character, Marissa decided to throw a little dinner party at their house on campus and invited her brother, Rico and Mr. Voix. At first the four Demi-Angels were all nervous to see what would transpire between our guests, but M.T. charmed the two younger men quickly and the night went off without a hitch.
Rissa smiled to herself thinking about that night as she absentmindedly gazed at the clock, only a half hour till she was off of work, which meant that Penny was due to arrive any second. The groups work schedules fit together almost too perfectly. Penny was the first to get off work at the student union then she would come to the library and wait for Marissa to get off, then the two of them would head to the gym and get Lily who would come with us to the music and arts building where they would pick up Z.J. and then they would all walk across campus to the house together. Once home the group would eat dinner together, train, work on their homework and then go to bed so they could repeat the next day.
"Excuse me, could you tell me where I could find a book on heaven and hell?" a voice addressed Marissa.
As she looked up, Rissa opened her mouth to direct the person toward the books they were in search of but when she locked onto the prettiest pair of gray eyes she had ever seen, she stopped. The boy in front of her was one of the most attractive ones Marissa had encountered in a long time, and the girl hung around gay men on a daily basis. He was maybe a few inches shy of six feet, with very light brown hair, and a crooked but sweet smile that was being directed toward her as she stared at him. Marissa tore her eyes away and tried to recover.
"Fiction or Non-Fiction?" she asked.
"Non," he replied. "I’m writing a paper for my religion class and my teacher bases his grades only on tests and papers so this needs to be good."
"Mr. Voix?" Marissa asked, recognizing his standards.
"Yea, how did you know?" he smiled at her again.
"I have him for my religion 101 class and he teaches all his classes the same way. My friends and I have gotten pretty close to him this year."
The young man nodded. "I did my freshman year too, which is why I’m taking one of his more advanced classes as a junior. I understand, I liked having him as a teacher too Marissa."
She was about to ask how he knew her name when she remembered that she was wearing a name tag so Marissa stopped before she made herself look any more ridiculous then she already did.
"It’s nice to meet another student who likes M.T. as much as we do." the young women laughed a little, trying to recover.
"M.T.?" he looked a little confused.
As soon as he asked that Marissa realized her mistake.
"Mr. Toulouse," She smiled, poker face firmly in place. "Like I said we’ve gotten very close to him."
He just nodded and Rissa decided to cut her losses now or risk further putting her foot into her mouth.
"All of the books on Heaven and Hell are shelved together in the Religion section. Straight back against the far right-hand wall."
"Thanks Marissa," he smiled one last time and walked away, passing Penny as he went to find what he was looking for.
"Oh, he was hot," Penny whispered as she came right up to the desk. "Who was he?"
"I have no idea," Marissa was still staring longingly after him. "But he’s a junior in one of M.T.’s more advanced classes so I’ll have to ask him."
Penny smiled at her friend a little. "Rissa, you are so cute. Going all the way to M.T. to try and get what you want. I’ll find out his name and, if my record is any indication, maybe a little more then that."
As she walked away Marissa thought about protesting; claiming she had dibs, that she saw him first, or for her to ‘back all up off my man’....but even in the fantasy world Marissa lived in, up in her head, that sounded stupid. So Marissa just watched Penny closely trying to study her technique, how she made heads turn, how it was easy to tell that every guy wanted her. Riss watched her briefly chat with the mysterious man but he didn’t seem interested and before long Penny came stomping back to where the older girl was in a huff.
"Well clearly he’s gay," she threw her hands up a little.
"I don’t know Pen," Marissa tried not to be delighted at her best friends failure. "We hang around an awful lot of gay men and he seemed straight to me."
She gave Rissa a death glare and they both knew the subject was closed. "Come on Marissa, I just want to go home."
The two left the library quickly picking up Lily and Z.J. both in turn before making their way to the house which was clear across campus from where they were all working. As they walked Marissa had to hold her tongue as Penny recounted, a very blown out of proportion and slightly untrue, account of her mishap in the library.
"Well I guess that’s how we know Penny’s better," Lily rolled her eyes. "She’s back onto the first hot guy she sees again."
"Hey," she turned to Lily, her eyes starting to turn red in anger. "Just because I know what I want and go after it doesn’t mean a thing!"

"Both of you stop," Marissa insisted. "I thought we were past all this!"
"Oh come on Marissa," Z.J. looked at me. "The day these two fully give up going after each other is the day that nothing is wrong with the world."
The group passed into silence and continued to walk towards home. Knowing that the subject of men, flirting, and romance had soured any good mood the four of them had been in. Each of them knew how the other Demi-Angels felt about falling in love, and it was a subject none of them would ever agree on. Lily refused to even get close to liking someone enough to justify a relationship, or feelings. She knew the complications that existed in our lives were because our mothers fell in love, and our fathers had a human moment while on earth. The few times she had sex were one night stands with no strings, or sometimes even hook ups with guy friends she knew didn’t want anything else from her. Lily had never seen anything good come of falling in love, and in fact she didn’t think the Demi-Angels should be allowed to love at all, at least romantically.
Penny was just a gigantic flirt when it came to men. She dangled just enough of her feelings out there for them and when things got too close she broke it off. She toyed with men almost as a game to avoid getting hurt, or hurting someone. Most of the men she enticed fit into her plan well, they were college boys usually sophomores, but sometimes the occasional freshmen, or even a junior when she was feeling daring. She stayed away from any and all seniors for fear that one of them would be looking for a more substantial relationship and her aloof approach would do her no good. At least if she did leave a scar on a man it was shallow and easily healed and that was the way Penny liked it.
Z.J. was a source of constant frustration for Lily and Penny because neither of them could figure him out. Despite almost daily hounding from at least one of the two Z.J. refused to tell us if he even liked women...or men for that matter. Marissa knew that when he wanted to, he would tell them, but even she was rather curious to find out why he hid his preference so well. Penny was sure he was gay, Lily thought he might be asexual, and Rissa just tried to keep the two of them at bay when it came to bugging the only male member of their group. Marissa often silenced the girls with "If he wasn’t gay before, hanging out with this much estrogen has probably turned him." She knew that wasn’t a possibility but it kept them quiet nonetheless. Z.J. was just very glad he was the one with the power to read someone else’s mind otherwise none of his secrets would be safe.
Then there was Marissa...she was the hopeless romantic of the group. She had actually seen a functioning relationship growing up between Eli and Rico and Marissa envied that. Even the childhood sweetheart love she had felt for Nathan had only made her want to really fall in love. Rissa had spent most of her life believing that it would never happen to her; she wasn’t the type of girl boys wanted. One of Eli’s employees at the club, a straight man among gay ones trying to prove he was a macho, had even gone so far as to call her Un-datable, for which he was promptly fired by my brother as the rest of the staff jumped to her defense. Marissa had received some bad genes that Trista West claimed came from Marissa’s grandfather and had skipped her generation. Rissa’s grandfather had passed away when she was still young and she didn’t remember much about him except he was a fat, not very tall man who was none the less imposing and scared the crap out of the little girl.
Marissa had always been a girl with curves, too many for her own liking or, so it seemed, anyone else’s, but she had never wanted to be as twig thin as Penny was. Rissa liked having tits and an ass but she did wish both were smaller, along with almost ever other part of her body. In the few months since our trainers had begun to show up however she had started to slim down. Instead of putting on the freshmen fifteen like most of the people around them, the Demi-Angels were toning up or in Marissa’s case shrinking little by little. She had begun to fit into clothes that hadn’t fit for a few years and it made her happier than she would express to anyone except maybe Z.J. Penny wouldn’t understand and Lily always looked at her like she was crazy for caring what everyone else thought of her looks. Marissa’s confidence was only going up which meant that maybe one day soon she could be the women she had always appeared to be; strong from the inside out.

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Leave me a comment to let me know how it was.

Character Profile: Penny

Not my best but at least I finished it. One more main character to go as far as Profiles...then I will either start posting more in depth information about my book or Character profiles about lesser characters.

Enjoy...whoever you are...if you are even out there.

Enya Penelope Teman: Daughter of Archangel Michael

 Nicknames: only goes by her nickname of Penny

Powers: Power over fire, ability to always see the truth and tell when someone is lying, power of transformation

Weapon: Whip

Special Skills: “Freak like” talents such as contortionism

Physical Appearance: If anyone asked her fellow Demi-Angels about Penny’s appearance they would automatically call her ‘The Pretty One’. Penny has always been conventionally pretty, with dark blonde hair and brown eyes. Still Penny always tries to find a way to make herself stand out a little more. On her first day of college her blonde hair was colored with a few candy apple red streaks. Once she found out that she had the power to transform her appearance and got her powers under control she would change her appearance every few days just for the hell of it. Penny is about 5’7’’ with a size 4 body type, but a larger than average bust and model good looks. Penny is very secure in her good looks but sometimes they stand in her way because people have always treated her as if her looks were all that mattered. She also does have a feature that she cannot stand: her nose. Penny thinks she has a very large nose but everyone else insists that she is crazy. Her favorite feature is probably her legs, she is very proud of them because she has worked hard to make them look as good as they do.

Personality: Penny is a Sagittarius and like the rest of the Demi-Angels Penny is a perfect example of her sign. She is the most carefree out of the four being very optimistic and good-humored. She is a loyal, reliable, and trustworthy friend but can be prone to be impulsively angry she knows how to be outspoken and exactly what expressions will hurt most. On the darker side of Penny’s personality she can be tactless, superficial and restless as the element she can control. In general Penny is the kind of person that everyone wants at their party and not just because she is so pretty.

  Penny has such an attractive, and alluring personality that men flock to her, but much like her sign she doesn’t like to stay tied down especially if the sex is bad. Penny is often searching for love but at the same time because of what her mother went through for love Penny is very hesitant and insists that she will never fall in love but will have fun looking for it. Penny is often the center of attention especially male attention which she quite enjoys. At first glance Penny may seem shallow but there are many layers under her pretty face. She is smart when it comes to school, not quite the student Marissa is but likes school and gets good grades none the less, and she also enjoys all of her odd hobbies.

  Penny has been living with her mother in New York since a little while after she was born. When she got accepted into college she moved back to Maryland and her mother moved as well having just ended a relationship. Much like her mother Penny has her guard up always, not necessarily to keep people out but to make sure they can’t see the cracks in the otherwise perfect veneer. Penny is very protective of her family and once the other Demi-Angels had proved to her that they were her family she would go to the ends of the earth to defend them. Penny has also always known the path she was on and is able to help others find their path. Penny is going to school for a business degree mostly because she figured that would be the most helpful and the most likely to make her mother cringe.

 

 Relationships:

Deirdre Teman: Penny’s relationship with her mother is not the best. One of the subjects Marissa and Penny knew they were both in similar boats was when it came to their mother’s. Deirdre has spent most of her life trying to hide how hurt she was from her daughter, and the whole outside world. Deirdre entered into a lot of short term relationships with women to try and fill the void left by Michael and in doing so she set a bad example for Penny as far as love and relationships. Deirdre also made the mistake of treating Penny like a friend instead of like her child and so their relationship while it’s good isn’t the maternal one that Penny craves. She loves her mother but sometimes you realize who you love too late.

Marissa: Penny and Marissa got along almost immediately; they both have very similar extroverted personalities that make them stand out but not feel the need to outshine each other. Penny does know however that sometimes she does outshine Marissa without even trying just because of the way she looks. Penny is forever trying to get Marissa to look at herself in a more positive light because she honestly thinks that Marissa is wonderful and sometimes she gets frustrated with Marissa when she can’t see what is so obvious to Penny. The youngest member of the group really looks up to the oldest because Marissa has something Penny does not and has always wanted, confidence in who she is not just how she looks. Still the two become close friends and confidents although Penny does feel bad that Marissa is usually stuck in the middle of her issues with Lily.

Lily: It isn’t that Penny doesn’t like Lily…Penny doesn’t like that Lily is so stuck on judgment by looks and who she thinks people is not who they really are. Penny is also aware that without Marissa and Z.J. she and Lily would have never spoken to each other because they really have nothing in common or so they think. Lily is there for Penny when her world is rocked to its foundation in a way that not even the other Demi-Angels she feels closer to can be. The two become close but even once the trust is earned they have their issues and arguments that Marissa, being the leader, usually mediates.  

Z.J.: Penny has a unique relationship with Z.J. She loves Z.J. but at the same time he is hard for her to read and that frustrates her. Penny is usually able to read any man like a book and the fact that she can’t do that to Z.J. is a little frustrating. Then there is also the fact that Z.J. has never seemed sexually attracted to Penny, it almost blows her mind that she can have a male friend who has no interest in her sexually. Then as she gets to know Z.J. better she really cherishes the way he treats her and finds that Z.J. is really a one in a million friend. Sometimes she still doesn’t understand him and can lose her patient and get frustrated but all he has to do is say something silly or make a joke and Penny remembers why she is glad to have one totally platonic male friend.

Character Profile: Lily

Lillian Gia Norris: Daughter of Archangel Gabriel

Nicknames:  Lily, Lil

Powers: Power over earth, psychic and empathic powers

Weapon: Ax

Special Skills: Her sports background makes her stronger, more agile, and faster than even her other Demi-Angel friends.

Physical Appearance: Lily is the tallest girl of the group and just under six feet, with an average build that consists of a lot of muscle because of her sport background. Lily loves her height because it gives her a greater advantage in many of the sports she plays, but she takes care not to make Marissa feel bad because she is so much taller. Lily has long dark hair that is usually up in a ponytail so it stays out of her way while she is playing sports. She has penetrating bright blue eyes that really pop, and gives her face a very gentle look. She, like Marissa, has never been a thin person but because of her background in sports it never bothered her like it bothered her best friend. Lily is a bit of a tomboy, and has always been “one of the guys” in her appearance as well as attitude. Her favorite feature is her hair which she takes great pride in and has never even considered cutting excessive amounts of her hair off.

Personality: Lily’s Zodiac sign is Scorpio and she lives up to most of the traits associated with her sign. Scorpio’s are often called the “old souls” of the Zodiac and Lily is definitely one, she is often considered the mother of the group. Intense is probably the best way to describe Lily, who brings passion to everything she does. On the dark side she can also be very resentful and jealous as is seen in her relationship with Penny. Lily has a strong desire to triumph which really helps her in competitions. She has a strong desire to win, and when she doesn’t she can really explode. Lily usually has the appearance of being the most in control of all her friends, but an unruly sea hides underneath just waiting to break free. When Lily does lose her temper she makes even Marissa look nice and sweet.  

   Lily has lived with her grandparents since her mother died when she was little. Her mother’s death definitely hardened Lily to those around her and it takes Lily a long time to like people, and even longer to consider them friends. When she is afraid or worried about something, she often cuts herself off from those around her to protect herself from getting hurt, and so others can’t see her weakness. Lily is the most stubborn member of the group liking to make her own decisions in her own sweet time and Lily’s mind is made up however the chances of changing it are slim to none. Another flaw that can affect her opinion of others is that she has a hard time forgiving the faults that she sees in others. Unlike her best friend she has a hard time forgiving people in general, Lily’s good opinion once lost is lost forever. The main reason for this is so that Lily can avoid looking at her own shortcomings, and can avoid working on fixing her own problems. Lily would rather fix everyone else then look at her own issues.

  Sports and physical activity have always come very naturally to Lily, which is how she affords college. She is there on a volleyball scholarship and she takes her training very seriously. She excels at almost every sport but finds the more physically demanding ones to be her favorite sports. Often during high school Lily would play sports with the boys because the girls didn’t play hard enough for her. Having mother like qualities and intensity that gives her amazing self control Lily is the Psychology major of the group. She is fascinated by people and doing meaningful things to help make their lives better.

Relationships

Marissa: Lily did not have any friends before she met Marissa West and even after she and Marissa became close Lily found it difficult to befriend any of Marissa’s other friends. Lily wouldn’t lose Marissa for the world, and Marissa is the only person Lily truly trusts other than her grandparents. Lily finds Marissa’s school abilities helpful to her because bookwork is something that she has never been the best at. On the flip side Lily acts like a trainer to Marissa who sometimes needs a kick in the ass to do things physically like working out and trying to at least be a little active. Lily is the quieter one of the two because she likes to be comfortable around people before she really opens up to them. Yet even while she is seemingly quiet her mind is always turning and her brain is always working which make her and Marissa very similar. Lily is also close to Eli West, Marissa’s older brother, being an only child living with grandparents Lily missed having any kind of sibling figure so when she and Marissa got close Eli sort of adopted Lily as his sister as well.

Penny: The person Lily has the hardest time getting along with is definitely Penny. From the moment she first saw Penny Lily judged her a little too harshly referring to her as “Boho Barbie” Lily’s main issue with Penny is her shallowness; Lily thinks that the youngest member of their group only cares about boys, and clothes, and her looks. When she and Penny actually do get along it seems as if the whole world could be perfectly at peace but those moments are rare. Throughout their first year in college it is a struggle for Lily to even like Penny let alone trust them at all. Yet when something happens that changes Penny’s whole world Lily is the one who helps her deal with it the best while their other friends are at a slight loss as to what to do. Eventually Lily and Penny form a close, albeit unconventional bond that also consists of lots of disagreements but is rooted in love…but don’t tell anyone.

Z.J.: Lily and Z.J. get along very well even if Lily does like to tease the only male member of their group. Lily teases Z.J. because being a tomboy and playing sports with boys she got used to their joking and noticed it as a form of communication. Lily doesn’t quite understand that Z.J. isn’t the same kind of guy she is used to hanging around with and so he doesn’t understand the reasons Lily makes fun of him. Z.J. was the first person after Marissa and Eli to gain Lily’s trust, Lily likes the fact that even if she makes fun of him Z.J. will just go with it and play along. She admires the fact that Z.J. can laugh at himself because that is something she cannot do. She likes that Z.J. takes things as they come, and is so open to letting life happen to him. They are both very similar when it comes to their emotions as well; both Lily and Z.J. like to keep their emotions in check and under lock and key, not because they are trying to keep anyone out, but because they found they are less likely to get hurt when they do so.

Character Profile: Marissa

I am trying to get a decent amount of writing done for my story, my post on Ashely's blog has got me working a little extra hard to try and make some progress. So as a treat here is the first of my character profiles on the characters from my Archangel book. Marissa is the first main character I created for this story and yes she is based a little on me. This is her character profile for book 1 because I can't give everything away yet. Enjoy!

Marissa Emera West: Daughter of Archangel Uriel

Nicknames: Riss, Rissy (Eli)

Title: The Leader of the group

Powers: Power over water, ability to see the best in people and forgive them, telekinetic

Weapon: Knives

Special Skills: Her power over water combined with her father’s dominion over thunder have given Marissa the ability to cause it to rain when she is upset.

Physical Appearance: Five foot two inches tall with a curvy body type, and pale skin. Marissa wears glasses for reading and writing after spending years straining her eyes looking at the pages of books. She has dark brown hair that has a red tint to it in the sunlight, and usually keeps her hair cut shorter. Had long hair as a child but after high school she chopped it off and it only got shorter and shorter; her first semester of college it was in a very edgy cut that only reached her jawbones. She has always been a full-figured girl and hasn’t gotten very much romantic attention because of it. Her height and weight are her biggest insecurities but she has learned how to have confidence in her looks anyway. Her favorite features are her deep, multifaceted green eyes; everyone has always told her they are her best attribute after her bright smile and contagious laugh.

Personality: Marissa’s Zodiac sign is Aquarius, and she is a textbook example of one; weird, quirky, with a deep want to change the world. She is friendly and humanitarian, honest and loyal, original and inventive, independent and intellectual. But on the darker side Marissa is also very emotional, easily hurt, and when angered, she can be seriously rude; alternating between deafening silence and sudden outbursts of temper...and boy does she have a temper when pushed Marissa is very headstrong, stubborn and sure of herself, but not in a cocky way. She has always taken the lead in anything she does so when she was called upon to be the group’s leader she didn’t think twice about it.

   When she was younger, before her mother left, Marissa was very quiet and hid behind her mother and her brother a lot. Then after Trista left her children, Marissa learned how to speak up and hasn’t stopped since. She is very loud, opinionated, and not afraid to speak her mind even if it might make her some enemies. She has a very quick wit but always tries to think at least a little before she speaks. Another flaw of Marissa is that she trusts a little too easily and will forgive anyone no matter their offenses against her. Even if someone has deeply hurt her she would forgive them again and let them back into her life. Marissa takes most people and situations at face value and sometimes that can cause her a little trouble.

    Marissa is the bookworm of the group and an English Literature Major; very content to sit in a bookstore or a library all day and read, write or even research. She is a straight A student who schoolwork has always come very easily too. When she was in high school she had a few of her essays, short stories and even poems published which is where she got some money for school from, along with scholarships from writing. Marissa has a wonderful singing voice, and stage presence but found out when she was thirteen that she has crippling stage fright, and can only perform in front of people she is comfortable with which limits her to performing at her brother’s club where everyone loves her.

 Relationships

 Eli West: When asked who the most important person in her life is Marissa wouldn’t even have to think twice before answering. Her older brother Eli has been the parent figure in Marissa’s life since she was 11 and Trista Norris left her children to jet around the world as a fashion photographer. Since then Marissa and Eli have been living together in their childhood home while Eli continues to run his successful gay club. Eli is only Marissa’s half-brother but the two were never raised that way, in fact Marissa didn’t find out until she was 18 that she and Eli were only half siblings. Eli is the person Marissa trusts the most mostly because for awhile it was the two siblings against the world. Eli and Marissa are very similar when it comes to personality, both loud, outspoken extroverts but Eli doesn’t have the ability to trust as easily as his sister does. He is very overprotective of Marissa to the point that he can be a bit clingy but Marissa would do anything for him as he would do for her.

Lily: Lily and Marissa have been best friends since middle school where they met not long after Lily moved to Maryland. They first bonded over their lack of parents; neither had known their fathers and Lily’s mother died when she was very young. Lily is very close to Marissa and her whole family. Eli considers Lily to be his younger sister as well and when Trista is home Lily is like a daughter to her. Lily and Marissa are quite opposite of each other, Lily is more quiet and withdrawn than her best friend, until she is surrounded by people she knows or is in a situation she is comfortable with. Marissa has always been the tutor to Lily as her best friend is not the student Marissa is. The girls act to each other like the mother that they both crave so much. Like any other friends they fight but it is rare and when they do they make up almost immediately because within a few hours they already have something new that they need to tell the other.

Penny: Marissa liked Penny from the moment the two met but at the same time sometimes the girls butt heads. Penny is everything that Marissa always wanted to be; thin, pretty, the center of attention, every man’s fantasy and as much as Marissa wants to say it doesn’t bother her it does. Over all she and Penny become very close friends but a lot of the time Marissa plays referee between Penny and Lily who go through stages of liking and hating each other. Penny looks up to Marissa because while she might have the looks Marissa has the confidence that Penny still lacks. Penny and Marissa are similar when it comes to their emotional personalities simply because both of them are very self aware people and willing to acknowledge their emotions unlike Lily and Z.J. who try to deny there’s more often than not.

Z.J.: After Lily, Marissa is probably closest to Z.J. She was the first person ever to get Z.J. to open up about his past and some of his fears or short comings. Marissa saw Z.J. as a shy young man who needed some friends so she decides to take him under her wing. Marissa is also the one who shields Z.J. from most of the good natured ribbing that he gets from Penny and Lily she admires his innocence and naiveté because it means he is less jaded then the rest of them. Marissa also finds it very easy to talk to Z.J. and can tell him things that she isn’t comfortable telling Penny or even Lily. Z.J. is also the least judgmental of the four so when Marissa does something that Lily or Penny might not like it is usually the only male of the four who will back Marissa up.  

Trista West: To say Marissa’s relationship with her mother is strained would be the understatement of the century. Before Trista left her children to further her career Marissa was her mother’s little girl but being abandoned turned Marissa cold to her mother. Trista never intended to hurt either of her children but she felt that they both would do better without her. Trista also left because the pain of seeing her daughter became too much for her. After Marissa’s difficult birth Trista was left with a cesarean scar that pained her whenever she set eyes on her daughter so she left mostly for her own comfort. When Marissa found that out she was torn in two not knowing whether to feel guilty that the simple sight of her caused her mother pain or anger that her own mother couldn’t put up with it for her children. Marissa hasn’t actually seen her mother for over a year but they keep in touch via email and telephone. Most of the time it isn’t enough for Marissa and all of her mother’s pretty words and broken promises fall on deaf ears. Marissa’s greatest wish is that one day her relationship with her mother will be what it should be.