[CENTER][h1][color=00ff7f][b]R Y A N[/b][/color][/h1][hr][h3][sup][sup][color=silver]RYAN MENDOZA    [color=slategray]◼[/color]   01 / 02 / 2002   ( 16 )   [color=slategray]◼[/color]   FEMALE   [color=slategray]◼[/color]   HETEROSEXUAL(?)[/color][/sup][/sup][/h3][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/2b5503f939d37793068491c7da15bcd4/tumblr_inline_o3dqhybsxu1rifr4k_540.gif[/img]

[sup][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzefj2lkLlE][color=00ff7f]"Heroes are great and all, but... I'd rather just stay out of trouble."[/color][/url][/sup][/CENTER]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ A P P E A R A N C E:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][CENTER][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/3fd6a66dc489847b0c11c8865f413a65/tumblr_mgx2g9phKy1raphrwo1_250.gif[/img]

[sup]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2JQxgffxKg][color=00ff7f]"I've never really changed much."[/color][/url][/sup][/CENTER][INDENT][INDENT][center][/center][/INDENT][/INDENT][indent][b][color=CADETBLUE]//STATS:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Height |[/COLOR][/B] [i]5'6"/168cm[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Weight |[/COLOR][/B] [i]123lbs/55.8kg[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Build |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Slim, but not particularly athletic[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Ethnicity |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Hispanic[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Hair Color |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Brown[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Eye Color |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Brown, slightly lighter in the outer iris[/i][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//DESCRIPTION:[/color][/b]
[indent][i]Ryan is best described as being an average sort of pretty. She certainly takes care of her appearance to an extent, but it appears calculated so as not to be particularly striking; and indeed, she tries not to draw attention to herself. She wears makeup, but lightly applied and nothing dramatic, her hair is well taken care of, but she doesn't style it, and her clothes seem chosen for comfort instead of appearance. She does wear a crucifix around her neck almost all the time, but it's generally hidden underneath her clothes with only the cord being directly visible.

In her own time, she usually doesn't carry herself with much confidence, preferring to stay towards the edges of a room and read, or simply watch other people from afar. There's usually something odd about her expression in those moments, a sort of sad jealousy that she doesn't even realise she's displaying. It's difficult to notice, though, as she tends to avoid eye contact wherever she can, worried of the consequences that come with being distracted. She never quite seems comfortable when talking to people; she tends to withdraw somewhat around them, appearing almost intimidated by any display of friendliness. Physical contact is also definitely a no-go.

[/i][/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ B I O G R A P H Y:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][CENTER]
[img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/7e840d30d374e91d65a3ff345de13cbf/tumblr_mqbuvobFuh1raphrwo3_250.gif[/img]

[sup][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo3CCaPm87s][color=00ff7f]"We've all got someone we're supposed to be, right?"[/color][/url][/sup][/CENTER][indent][indent][i]Born to a highly traditional and religious family, Ryan's upbringing was strict to say the least. Her parents were more overbearing than protective, utterly determined that their daughter would grow up to be a shining example for others to follow. Provided she did it in a way that didn't offend anyone's delicate sensibilities, of course; as seeing her go against the grain at all was something they could not and would not abide.

And so, Ryan was doomed from the start to be the sort of child whose parents are determined to live vicariously through them. Her activities were carefully chosen for her. Curated, in fact, to ensure that she wouldn't participate in anything they might find unseemly. Team sports were out of the question, but track and running were permitted. Spending time with friends, going out to enjoy the sun? A waste of time that could be better spent studying or exercising.

For what it was worth, Ryan did indeed begin to excel, though she'd often find herself sitting alone, with most people considering her stuck-up or self-absorbed rather than being slowly buried under a mountain of pressure. It was a key part of the whole thing, pretending it was all effortless, though the stress made her a little more severe than a child so young should have been.

Often she'd find herself jealous of others, whose third-places and B-minus grades would be celebrated and congratulated, though it seemed to be the arrogant sort of complaint she could hardly share with anyone, even if she did have anyone to share it with. The fact was, those sorts of things were never really treated as an achievement for her; they were simply a reasonable expectation, with anything less than the best seen as a failing of her intelligence and her character.

Whether such an upbringing was good for her or not, she could never be entirely sure.

Either way, by the time she reached high school the girl was deathly afraid of failure. So she decided to keep her head down, stay focused, and work towards the carefully-chosen ambition of being a well-behaved daughter with a nice house, a doctoring career, and an equally successful yet doting husband.

And yet somehow keeping it all together kept seeming harder and harder to do.

Of course, being unable to cope after spending her whole life working was a problem she couldn't stand, so she dealt with it. "Dealt with it" meaning developing a level of denial that could only be described as impressive. After all, it didn't fit, she knew it was wrong to accept that sort of failure, and ultimately it wasn't the person she had to grow up and be. Besides, it was normal to be a little distracted, to be just slightly off-target.

Even the most successful people had their setbacks, after all. 

So she told herself she'd get over it eventually, because she was supposed to be perfect. Well-groomed but not enough to go drawing attention, always listening to the rules, intelligent and ladylike. Still, the whole thing was distressing and distracting, so upon receiving the opportunity of a place in what - in her mind - appeared to be an exclusive study group the girl leapt at the chance to refocus. 

Finally, she thought, she could start getting things back to normal.[/i][/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ A B I L I T I E S / S K I L L S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][CENTER][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/1abbaa7d6cb07f024ebd4514c4f4082d/tumblr_inline_n79vk5x3e11s72420.gif[/img]

[sup][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0i4QRGDTbc&pbjreload=10][color=00ff7f]"There's still so much I need to build."[/color][/url][/sup][/CENTER]
[indent][b][color=CADETBLUE]//ABILITIES:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ HIDDEN |[/COLOR][/B][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//SKILLS:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Sharp Memory |[/COLOR][/B] [i]While not outright exceptional, Ryan's memory is certainly sharper than average, and the girl has an eye for detail as well as a gift for remembering seemingly pointless information that others might fail to keep in mind. It's the type of gift that's sometimes important, sometimes utterly insufferable to deal with. However people might feel about her know-it-all tendencies, there's no denying it makes her a useful person to have around should anything need investigation.

Her knack for memorisation also helps her a great deal academically, though she has a slightly unfortunate tendency to fall back on just remembering how to do things rather than actually trying to understand how they work. It's enough to pass a class, but very much leaves her on the side of book-smarts rather than practicality.[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Med School Ambitions|[/COLOR][/B] [i]Ryan took a first-aid course in her spare time, so knows how to administer basic medical assistance and deal with injuries until a real doctor can be reached. When it comes to major injuries, of course, there's only so much she can do; and while she can have a try at diagnosing illnesses she can't exactly do anything about them except tell you to find a real doctor. She's also CPR certified as a 'just in case' emergency measure.

The amount of time she's spent researching serious injuries and illnesses has also had the side effect of giving her a surprisingly strong stomach (despite her otherwise meek nature), and grisly scenes don't seem to affect her all that much. If anything, she treats them with a composed sort of morbid curiosity, trying to figure out what's happened and how to try and fix it. It's a useful skill once fighting's been done, if also just a tiny bit unnerving.[/i][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//LIMITATIONS:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ HIDDEN |[/COLOR][/B][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//WEAKNESSES:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Too Straight-laced |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Ryan is the kind of person that doesn't seem to have had an independent thought in her life. As such, she's utterly terrible at taking the initiative, and tends to shut down in high-stress situations that don't have a clean-cut textbook solution. For the most part, she needs someone to tell her what to do, or she'll default to letting it be someone else's problem. When faced with a fight-or-flight situation, she takes the third option and freezes up like a rabbit in the headlights. She's also never thrown a punch in her life.[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Weak-willed |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Mostly due to the perfectionism forced upon her throughout her upbringing, and her own deep-seeded insecurities, Ryan is an easy person to manipulate. Terrified of judgement or being seen as a disappointment, she clings desperately on to the image of the person she thinks she's expected to be and is terrified of having it ruined. These issues also mean she struggles to confront her problems, tending to avoid people when uncomfortable rather than seek out discussions that need to be had.

Trusting her to keep a secret is also a fairly bad idea; not because she's malicious or manipulative, but because getting information from her is hardly something anyone with a few brain cells or a decent workout routine would struggle to accomplish. In short, she's somewhat of a coward, or at the very least non-confrontational to the point of it being a serious detriment to everyone involved.[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Naive |[/COLOR][/B] [i]To say she's had a sheltered upbringing would be a bit of an understatement. While she's got plenty of knowledge in theory, she's got a severe deficit in real life experiences, with almost everything she does having been done in controlled, protected environments. She's far too trusting, oblivious to things other people could find obvious, and can get in over her head without even realising it.

Of course that lack of life experience is something she's more than a little embarrassed by, so outright admitting to it is out of the question for her, insecure teenager that she is. Generally she pretends she knows about everything and simply chooses not to partake in any of it, but pressing her for any details will quickly reveal how utterly transparent that particular facade is.[/i][/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ N O T E S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][indent][b][color=CADETBLUE]//SUPPORTING CAST:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]▼ ALLIES[/COLOR][/B]
[hider][img]https://s.iw.ro/gateway/g/ZmlsZVNvdXJjZT1odHRwJTNBJTJGJTJG/c3RvcmFnZTA3dHJhbnNjb2Rlci5yY3Mt/cmRzLnJvJTJGc3RvcmFnZSUyRjIwMTcl/MkYwOSUyRjI2JTJGODI1MjQ2XzgyNTI0/Nl9wZWRyby5wbmcmdz04MDAmaGFzaD0w/OGJkY2JmMmJhMWE3ZjAwNDA5MThmNDg0YzNjYmQxMQ==.thumb.jpg[/img]
[indent][B][COLOR=WHITESMOKE]◼ [I]Matías Mendoza|[/I][/COLOR][/B] [i]Ryan's father, a plumber. Heavily religious. Their relationship is amicable, but as parent-child bonds go, formal and not particularly close.[/i]
[img]http://ufcwunitedlatinos.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Esther-Lopez-670x415.jpg[/img]
[B][COLOR=WHITESMOKE]◼ [I]Carla Mendoza |[/I][/COLOR][/B] [i]Ryan's mother, she stays at home most days. She's caring, but overbearing, and very much pins her hopes on her daughter. Ryan dreads letting her down in any way.[/i][/indent][/hider]
[B][COLOR=SILVER]▼ FRIENDS[/COLOR][/B]
[hider][indent][B][COLOR=WHITESMOKE]◼ [I]TBD |[/I][/COLOR][/B] [i]Test[/i][/indent][/hider]
[B][COLOR=SILVER]▼ ENEMIES[/COLOR][/B]
[hider][indent][B][COLOR=WHITESMOKE]◼ [I]TBD |[/I][/COLOR][/B] [i]Test[/i][/indent][/hider][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//STOMPING GROUNDS[/color][/b]
[hider][indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Fellowship Community Church |[/COLOR][/B] [i]The church Ryan's family attend. They're a very traditional institution, firmly set in their beliefs; very much working with a fire-and-brimstone type of philosophy. While they certainly don't go far enough to be considered outright extreme, they direct a fair amount of vitriol towards those deemed worthy of disapproval.[/i]
[B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Harborview Library |[/COLOR][/B] [i]A moderately-sized library found not too far away from the school, they have a fair selection of books and genres. Their fiction selection is a lot more comprehensive than their available academic and non-fiction texts. It's generally not too busy, though there are almost always a couple of people looking through the shelves, or finishing essays in the quiet. When she's stressed out or doesn't want to deal with her parents, Ryan tends to go here instead of heading home. Lately, she's been spending a lot more time there.[/i][/indent][/hider]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//PARAPHERNALIA[/color][/b]
[hider][indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Notebook/diary (locked) |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Taken with her just about everywhere, the pocket-sized diary she carries around is used more as a notebook. She maintains that she only bought the diary because it came with a lock, but there are just as many personal musings in there as actual practical notes, and judging by her panicked reactions to snooping she certainly doesn't want anyone reading it. She keeps the keys in the pocket of her jacket at all times.[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Smartphone |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Ryan's phone is relatively new, although she seems to consider it a distraction and mostly seems to use it for calls, texts, note-taking and a variety of other incredibly boring things. That, and she plays a lot of scrabble, though she'd argue that it's just to help with her vocabulary.[/i][/indent][/hider][/indent]