Basic Information
Name: Vera Dubnin
Nickname/Alias/Etc: Vee,
Gender: Androgynous, prefers female pronouns
Age: 20
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 115 lbs
Status: Returning Student/Assistant Nurse
Appearance
Hair Color: Dusty blue with some odd streaks of white and purple.
Eye Color: Brown
Ethnicity: Caucasian (Russian)
Physical Appearance: Vera is naturally redheaded, but recent bleaching and a dye job gone wrong has her stuck with dusky blue hair with a few random streaks of blonde and purple off her hairline. Her hair is about chin length in an uneven chop job she cut herself. Her eyes are dark brown, like melted dark chocolate. She’s about average height, 5’7”, and thin, but not unfit from infrequent, but weekly jogs. She’s pale, but what she lacks in color, she makes up in tattoos.
Her entire back is a mural of watercolor images of a cherry blossom tree on a lake with koi. Down her arm, an empty pill bottle, the skyline of New Jersey, then the words “We read to know we’re not alone.” On her other arm is a peacock feather. On her wrist is a tiny heart in black. Most of the pictures are of flowers and trees, birds and feathers and other nature things like that in watercolor style. A short sleeved shirt would cover it up, but since her wardrobe consists mostly of tanktops, croptops and the like, it’s usually at least partially visible. She has several holes in her ears and her bellybutton pierced.
Vera has one of those symmetrical faces and silhouettes that doesn’t lend itself to either gender. Depending on the context of her clothing and what she’s doing people might assume she’s more one gender than the other.
Attire: Vera dresses like a punk with dark, solid colors rather than patterns or anything vivid.
Personality
Outward & Innate Personality: In group situations, Vee tends to keep to herself and goes into wallflower mode, but one-on-one she’s very personable and friendly. She can come off as stand-offish or indifferent because of her resting expression and choice of attire. Really, she’s a great listener and her advice is pretty sound as well, but she can get so caught up in other people’s problems and helping out in what ways she can that she neglects herself a lot.
It’s very easy for her to take the blame for others and feeling guilty over something she didn’t do. She has high expectations of herself and she doesn’t realize it. A lot of the time, she doesn’t think about what she wants or likes. Still, she loves having fun and hanging out with friends, whatever that may be. She’ll try anything once. She’s also an adamant pacifist. Not only does she suck at fighting, she hates seeing other people fight in earnest. Sparring and training is different, but she still doesn’t care for it.
Hobbies/Interests: She likes to read, fiction more than nonfiction and poetry over literature. She’s dabbled in poetry herself, but it’s pretty awful. She loves giving makeovers to people, so long as there’s someone else to do the hair. True to style, she loves rock music and going to rock concerts and getting caught up in mosh pits.
Skills/Talents: Vee is a tattoo artist by trade, but she’s pretty handy in terms of a lot of body art like piercings, henna, nail painting, body and face painting and make-up. She sucks at hair, though.
Because of her ability, she’s studied psychology and medicine extensively on her own. At this point, she could probably be at the level of someone in their third semester of nursing school.
She knows how to dress wounds and use actual medicine as well. She even has her certification in CPR.
She’s fluent in Russian.
Prized Possession: She has a photo of her and her younger sister on her nightstand with a message written to her from her sister on the back of it.
Quote(s): “Yeah, you can call me a girl, actually. Female pronouns, if you don’t mind. Thanks.”
“This tat? Um, it’s a funny story, actually. Started out as one of your typical Tuesday nights, you know? And then…”
History/Bio: Vera was the middle child between two more attractive, more outgoing, more talented sisters and was subsequently overlooked for a lot of her adolescence, even when she started showing her meta-human powers, starting with empathy. She kept to herself whenever she was around them and became the black sheep of the family with her own style and circle of friends. Her parents didn’t approve of her new identity, especially her powers, but her siblings were always supportive of her, in their own nonchalant way. So long as she didn't interfere with their social lives, they didn't care what she did.
It wasn’t until her younger sister was diagnosed with manic-depression that Vera discovered the healing aspect of her abilities. All she had to do was touch her when she was having an episode and she got better immediately. She would be fine for days, then months, then a whole year without having any problems. Vera spread her ability around a bit, visiting dementia patients in hospice homes and volunteering at hospitals and homeless shelters. But then Vera started going full-time at school and saw her sister less and less. Gradually, her sister’s condition worsened and their parents eventually committed her to an institution in hopes that she would get better. Her sister was seventeen when she committed suicide and there was nothing anyone could have done to stop it from happening, but Vera still blames herself.
Since then, she’s gone back to being a part-time, returning student and made medicine and psychology her focus for a career. A lot of what she knows is self-taught, but she's taking classes in those fields to improve her abilities. She became an assistant nurse at school when she was eighteen, but she's always been an unofficial helping hand around campus.
Family:
Mother - Georgia Dubnin
Father - Petyr Dubnin
Older sister - Natasha Dubnin
Younger sister - Sofia Dubnin (deceased)
Cat - Milo
Relationships
Relationships:
Ethan Parker Jr. | Great | Low-key Dating
“I think he’s very sweet and I guess I just want the best for him, you know?
Dana Alcott | Good | Close Friends
"Dana is amazing and it bugs me that not enough people realize that. My hope is that she'll open up a bit more this year."
Christopher Fox | Positive | Old Friends
"It's really, really great to seem him again. He's a little roughed up, but I'm hoping some treatment and companionship will put him on the upswing."
Deborah Termellio | Good | Good Friends
"Deb is pretty hot. Not in the I-want-to-get-in-her-pants kind of way, but more like 'Damn, that girl is on fire!', you know? Anyway, I've got her back 100%."
Theresa Obott | Good | Friends
"I think she's funny and sweet. She reminds me a bit of my younger sister, actually."
Karlie Davis | Good | Friends
"Yeah, we hang out sometimes and she does my hair while I do her nails. I trust her enough to ignore the feelings she gives Ethan."
Samuel Clarke | Okay | Friendly
"He seems cool, but also a bit of a troublemaker."
Amanda Blackmore | Eeehh | Roommate
"I dunno. She's a bit of a loose cannon, but I don't hate her."
Shannon Bafore | Um? | One-sided friendliness
"I'm not sure what her beef is with me, but I admire her passion. Still, I try to give her some space."
Vespera Spindel | Somewhat Disliked | Acquaintances
"She can be very insensitive sometimes and I don't like having to deal with her in general."
Valjean Vaseal | Despised | Adversary
"....fucking prick."
Abilities
Power Class: Extra-sensory and Chemical
Power: Empathy and Diagnosis - Vera is an empath. She can feel other people’s feelings as if they were her own such as powerful emotions like hate, fear or lust and including more mild emotions like discomfort, melancholy or boredom. If someone is under the influence of a drug or medication, she can distinguish what it is they’re using.
Along those lines, she can tell if someone has a mental or physical illness.
Healing - She can alleviate pain, be it mental or physical if she isn’t sure what the problem is. She can remove the symptoms of mental illness over a period of time that can last up to a year without relapse. Vee can mend bones, close wounds, reattach lost limbs if they’re given to her quick enough, and restore lost senses if it’s not a genetic disease.
Emotionally, she can make people feel happy or sleepy, angry or depressed, high as a kite- anything along the whole spectrum of emotions, really.
Weaknesses/Limitations/Drawbacks: Her ability to diagnose ailments both physical and mental is limited to her own knowledge. For instance, she might be able to find a mass in someone’s brain, but would be unable to distinguish the difference between a clot, a tumor or cancer. Or if someone is hallucinating, she might not be able to tell if it’s schizophrenia or sleep deprivation.
Using just words can calm someone down, but in order for any part of her ability to work properly, she has to touch them, especially if she can’t identify the problem.
She is constantly taking in other people’s emotions. She can turn it down, but not all the way off.
If Vee doesn’t continuously visit someone she’s “cured” of mental illness, they will eventually revert back into their illness.
She can’t bring people back from the dead or regenerate lost limbs.
Other: She's been going to the Academy for twelve years.