▼ PERSONAL DETAILS
► Age - Twenty-Five ► Gender - Cis-Female ► Sexuality - Unsure (female leaning) ► Nickname - Mel, Engineer (parents) ► Occupation - Research & Development Engineer ► Qualifications - Ritman High graduate summa cum laude MIT graduate summa cum laude Master in Mechanical Engineering ► Residence - Manchester, New Hempshire ▼ PHYSICALITY
► Scars - Small scar on her left thumb from roughhousing with a dog (it was an accident, he didn't mean to hurt her); a scar on the inner side of her left foot from when she dropped a powertool ► Tattoos - 09.05.2005 on her left wrist, her sister's death date ► Piercings - Ears, though she doesn't ususally wear any ► Style - Melanie prefers comfortable clothes. Tank-tops, hoodies, and her jeans jacket are her go-to items. She will usually wear jeans and sneakers. In terms of colors, Melanie is rather bland: black, gray, white, blue, anything that is more muted. For her, clothes are for keeping your body safe and warm, she does not need to be fashionable. Though she can dress up whe she goes out, she won't dress up often. ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ | LIFE AT RITMAN Melanie Cavill was an exceptional student, focusing mainly on science and mathmatics. Though she was far from the worst off student in the food chain of Ritman High, Melanie had her fair share of bullies. As some students would get bored with their usual targets, they'd turn to her instead. This resulted in a seasonal bullying cycle that would last for 3-or-so months before she would mainly be left alone again. Then rinse, and repeat.
Melanie spent most of her time at Ritman in content solitude in one of two places. When she wasn't doing her homework early in a corner of the school's library or reading up on something, she could mostly be found playing Dungeons & Dragons with the school's D&D club. And while that surely made her more of a target, Melanie was never the bullies' main subject. Perhaps that had to do with the fact that she would be a favorite pick for anyone's team in PE class and on occasion could be found playing ball with some of the boys. Far from the nerdy stereotype, Melanie was exceptionally fast, enduring and really good at a lot of sports they'd put students through. Thus Melanie fell on a weird enough place on the "nerd -- jock" scale that she was mostly left alone. However, it also meant that she didn't really belong to either group. Since solitude was her go-to anyway, Melanie didn't try to change or fit in. She was content with her place in High School. PSYCHE Melanie has always been a person enjoying her solitude. She was fine with the few friends she had, enjoyed the activities she invested time in and found that her ideal work-life balance usually consisted of more work than "life". Especially if that work was self-proclaimed. Melanie always loved to tinker. She would spend many hours taking apart all sort of household items as a child, driving her parents mad. Growing up on a small farm, Melanie was used to taking care of their equipment and animals, finding the work with horses especially rewarding.
Melanie is a kind soul, someone who will take your secret to the grave, who can sit for hours and let you talk without interjecting and who will come to your house at three a.m. without any questions asked. But she is also someone who is extremely determined in the pursuit of her career, often making it hard to keep in touch with friends and family. She thoroughly enjoys her work and hobbies to the point where she sometimes isn't sure how much she really needs other people. Though whenever she disappears into one of her solitude-holes for some months, she always notices that she is indeed still human with human needs, one of those being human connection.
Having been fine with being by herself most her life, Melanie has grown accostumed to not needing to deal with other people's opinions. At times, it can be challenging to get Melanie to cooperate or consider another point of view if she has already made her decision or is fixated on one path. Melanie also tends to rather shake her head and leave a situation than deal with misunderstandings as she has a rather low tolerance for social interactions. Being as smart as she is, Melanie is definitely not a teacher. She will often refuse to explain what she is doing or how she is doing it unless she considers you in her league about the subject at hand. This is not out of a feeling of arrogance but rather out of intolerance for needing to explain herself or to guide someone's mind through her thoughts. She does not like being slowed down and thus is not the person you wanna ask for help if you need it explained rather than just done.
The darkest hour Melanie has ever faced started on the 5th of September 2005, when her 10-year-old sister died. Mel was eight at the time. Though her sister had been diagnosed with cancer two years before, it still came as a shock when she finally went. The girl had appeared to have been doing better but a sudden attack on her immune system left her to a fatal end. Her parents, naturally devasted, tried their best to still be there for their other daughter. Melanie was taken care of as best as possible. Though she received therapy alone and together with her parents, some rough years followed in which the family struggled extremely, especially financially, seeing as the loss of their daughter hindered their capabilities to provide a stable income, but the community helped them out on the farm, helped with Melanie and assisted them financially until they caught their footing again.
The sister in question, Alaina Cavill, was the sweetest girl you ever did meet. Though she was undoubtedly a cheeky person, she had her charm turned up to a million. There was never a person who met her and did not instantly like her, at least that was true for the adults. Alaina did get along with other children pretty well, too, but she seemed to always prefer the attention of grown-ups, with the exception of Melanie. Though they fought like any other siblings, the two had a strong bond. With Alaina having been born deaf, communicating with other children outside of the deaf community was a hassle. Though she had hearing aids, they usually gave Alaina mad headaches and migraines, so she would rarely use them. As they grew older, Melanie was quick to step up as an interpreter for her sister whenever needed; that being especially when they were outside playing with hearing children. And though Alaina died at the age of 10, Melanie and her parents still use ASL to communicate at times, keeping Alaina's influence on them alive.
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