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Bio
BASICS
nameMaria Claudia Flores
alias
MC
Note: She will not respond to 'Maria'. Her given name, if you must use it, is Maria Claudia.
division
Operations, and supplementary Security
occupation
Operates The Hall, performance venue and art gallery
She also moonlights with security if there are ever power- or electricity-related incidents, and sometimes with crowd control.
age & dob
30, Nov 05 1992, Scorpio
pronouns
she/her
family
Carolina Flores, grandmother (Artist)
Mateo Flores, father (History Professor)
Angela Flores, mother (Paralegal)
Many aunts, uncles, cousins, etc; but herself an only child
CONCEPT
Shock me, shock me, shock me with thatPOWERS
electrical conductivity;Technically, all humans are electrical conductors, but MC can handle a lot more than "technically, all humans" without getting hurt or dead. This can happen at low levels without her activating any sort of power; in fact, she frequently passes a small shock when she shakes someone's hand or if they bump into her when she isn't expecting it. She cannot create her own fields of electricity; she merely pulls it from the ground, the air, and the power sources around her. She can hold electricity in herself for a few minutes, but she has to find a place to put it or it will pass through her on its own and find a new home. This can be dangerous, and she's actively working toward better control.
electrical infusion;
Passing electricity through her own body would be annoying but more manageable if she didn't also have the ability to infuse items with electricity. At this point, she mostly uses this skill to recharge batteries or use items that are supposed to be plugged in, but in theory, if she got enough control over it, she could infuse weaponry or other, more powerful objects. At this point, she does not have consistent control over this power and she's zapped SO many smart phones...
PERSONALITY
+ Adaptable+ Creative
+ Supportive
/ Sentimental
/ Whimsical
/ High-Spirited
- Unpredictable
- Disorganized
- Impatient
APPEARANCE
MC is 5'2". She keeps her hair short for static-electricity reasons, but the first thing people notice about her is her over-expressive eyes. Do some people see them as """crazy eyes"""? Yes, of course they do, but that doesn't mean they're right.She often looks just a little disheveled and rushed, like she's constantly five minutes behind and trying to make up the difference.
It's unusual to see her without her rubber-soled combat boots (or at least some equivalent) and she regularly has a pair of rubber gloves around as well. This cuts down on the electricity she accidentally absorbs and conducts.
HISTORY
Maria Claudia Flores was born to older parents who thought they'd missed their window for having children; she was both spoiled and held to the highest standards throughout her childhood. She loved being the center of attention, and constantly put on one-person talent shows and wanted to try everything all the time. She took (and got bored with) every dance and gymnastics class she could; music fared a little better, and she still plays piano, guitar, and even clarinet. Her singing talent never developed, but she managed well in high school plays. She was going to be a Performer.And while her 'hobbies' were widely encouraged by her parents, they were just that -- hobbies. She would have to make a living, after all, and it took more talent than she possessed to 'make it'. MC (rarely 'Maria Claudia', never 'Maria') carried that practical, doubtful energy with her to college. She quickly decided that though she wouldn't be creating art herself, she DID have a talent for connecting artists and audiences.
She styled herself as an agent for her then-girlfriend's band, The Raggedy Annes, booking them gigs and managing (despite her own disorganized lifestyle) to keep their finances and scheduling in relative order even as she took a full load of courses. It ended as messily as the relationship, but it gave MC a taste of what she wanted.
After college, she got a job as a promoter at a club in Detroit. It was a bit sketchier than the Ann Arbor of her youth, and she loved it. She would work for several venues, always finding another side-hustle. She thrived, and while her parents didn't quite understand it, they appreciated that she was able to make a career out of her passion. Eventually, she became a booker with a major concert venue in the city, where among her many duties was keeping the shows themselves running smoothly from behind the scenes. She met a number of famous musicians, comics, and other performers; if one were to try and stalk her on Instagram, one would find that photographic proof and very little else. She got big, starry eyes for any kind of celebrity.
Her goal became to save up and open her own space; she wanted something small and intimate, a place where young singers got their start, or established performers came back to do an intimate, secret show. She figured she was about five years out from this dream (which is WAY too far away).
(Somewhere in the background of her life, rifts opened and Liminals appeared, but it was never more than a passing curiosity to MC, a hypothetical 'if you got powers, what would you want?' party question or an addictive Vine or TikTok.)
Until May 20, 2023. She woke up, grabbed her phone, and infused it with enough electricity she swears it exploded. (This, like many things MC swears, might be hyperbole.) What seemed like an odd moment she would have to take up with Apple quickly proved to be something more. She blew breakers turning on light switches. Her t-shirt clung with aggressive static. When she startled and bit her lip too hard, her blood was purple.
Pikachu powers had never been on her hypothetical party list.
Registering seemed like a hassle, and she felt some vague 'don't trust the government' way about it all, but maybe that was more laziness than an actual political stance. She would probably get around to it eventually, but the longer she put it off, the harder it became to do. She found small workarounds—she chopped her hair short and used more product to hide the static, she began wearing exclusively rubber-soled shoes (no more heels? Fine by her!)
Unfortunately, her job left her in contact with a whole lot of electronic instruments, and it was not an entirely smooth transition. Oh no, this club must have faulty wiring!
It all came to a head at a Delphine de Silva concert. MC was backstage and thrilled to be in attendance with possibly the biggest Liminal pop star in the world on her biggest tour in years. Every night on the tour was a new experience, so there were phones and cameras everywhere trying to catch next viral moment.
And many, many of them did. MC had a few moments free and hoisted herself up for a better view, inadvertently making contact with one of the venue's generators. She'd never absorbed this much electricity this quickly, and in a panic, she tried to put it all back—blacking out the entire arena in a cacophony of exploding lights and overcharged amps. The panic led to injuries; she's lucky she didn't kill anyone.
Official news stories of the event do not include her name, but Reddit and TikTok were quickly circulating the name Maria Flores (Technically incorrect, but correct enough...). IRIS found her and she registered. She was Strongly Encouraged to find her way to an IRIS station until she could get her powers under control—and until the uproar all dies down.
She was technically hired for Security at Enodia, but in the hiring process, she asked about cultural opportunities at the station. Someone mentioned something about a plan for a music stage somewhere in the Rec center, and MC's entire worldview shifted from annoyance and dread to a glass-half-full enthusiasm. She's going to Fix this place.
NOTES
She usually has a couple of nearly-dead batteries on her. In an emergency, she can pass some excess current into them safely. (And in a different kind of emergency, she can drain what's left out of them and zap a threat. She's her own taser.)You might see her, in dull moments, passing a small spark of lightning between two fingertips. She's not gotten sick of this yet, and probably never will.
She feels 800 years old when she uses voice to text or asks Siri to do something, but the less she touches her devices, the less she'll accidentally destroy them. And rudely, they don't work when she's wearing gloves!
Yes, she Emcees Karaoke and Open Mic nights. Emcee MC. She's leaning in.
no subject
WRITING: I'm usually a gdocs girl but I can be flexible
BACKTAGGING: Sure
THREADHOPPING: No problem
PRIVATE FILTERS: All good but when you can, please also separately interact with me -- I'm happy to share but it's a bummer not to be able to interact on my own post too
SENSITIVE TOPICS: My biggest personal trigger is cars as weapons and/or sudden/'random' acts of mass violence. Sexual assault. Not interested in playing the various isms (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.) I know my shit and I'll step away when I need to.
SMUT: Fade to black :)
CONFLICT: Absolutely.
VIOLENCE: Probably, just let's plot it out first.
BADMOUTHING: Just link me!