[hider=Carmen "Lily" Santos][CENTER][img]https://i.imgur.com/7Zopqau.png[/img]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogo1sN7UiPM[/youtube][/CENTER]
[i]"Look papi... what do the white people say? "If life hands you lemons, make lemonade"? If a problem comes your way you better fuckin' solve it quick."[/i]
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[sub][color=Mediumorchid]Carmen Brianna Santos-Romano
Or just "Lily"[/color]

[color=Mediumorchid]She/Her[/color]   [b]|[/b]   [color=Mediumorchid]32[/color]   [b]|[/b]   [color=Mediumorchid]Puerto-Rican[/color]   [b]|[/b]   [color=Mediumorchid]5'2ft[/color]  [b]|[/b]   [color=Mediumorchid]142[/color]      
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[color=Mediumorchid]Acceptance[/color]     
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[color=Mediumorchid]Skills & Talents[/color][/sub]
[i]"No free tatts, papi."[/i]
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[color=Mediumorchid][b]First Aid  ⫻[/b][/color] Lily’s parents were both first responders and taught her everything they knew about First Aid. Lily can’t pull a miracle but she cay save someone from dying and carries around a fully equipped First-Aid kit.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]Art  ⫻[/b][/color]  As stress relief Lily got into art, she’s incredibly talented at drawing from references and even without. She doesn’t draw nowadays just to draw.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]Tattoo-Artistry  ⫻[/b][/color] A hidden talent of Lily’s, she’s uniquely skilled at drawing tattoos on people and has yet to make a mistake (even tired).

[color=Mediumorchid][b]Cooking  ⫻[/b][/color] Lily grew up cooking dinner for her little sisters every day.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]Spanish  ⫻[/b][/color] Due to her upbringing in the Spanish communities of New York, speaking Spanish comes to her as good as speaking English would.[/sub][/hider]

[/cell][cell][sub][b][color=Mediumorchid] Appearance[/color][/b][/sub]
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[i]"And my hair is real."[/i]

[indent]Lily is somebody that sticks out just a little bit. It was by her own devices, as she has some intense body modifications. To go from top to bottom; Lily has thick dreadlocks that she dyes a blue color. Her dreads range from back length to shoulder length - she has to get them retwisted constantly because her hair grows [i]fast[/i]. She has cyan, blue, and tan rubber bands tied into them for style purposes.

Lily has a nose ring, her earlobes stretched (with silver earrings) and the middle of her upper lip pierced - and since I have nowhere else to note this: yes, her nipples are pierced. Lily is heavily tattooed but she’s basic and has flowers tattooed on her. Her right arm is a fully colored rose garden with green vines and red roses that goes from her chest down to her hand. Her left forearm is a tattoo of her home city; New York with a skyline and various landmarks wrapping around her arm. It stops at her bicep. Her legs are a floral wreath with various flowers and vibrant colors and she has the night sky tattooed on her back. You’re unlikely to see that tattoo, however.

In terms of vibe; Lily is a very lowkey person. She looks just a bit trashy, usually wearing sweatpants and tattered jeans, and a t-shirt of her choice. Only bust out the dresses and skirts on special occasions. She has the vibe that someone doesn’t give a damn and just rolls her way out of bed and walks to the function. Otherwise, Lily is composed and keeps a neutral expression - but when she’s around friends she has an iconic and catty smile.

As for Lily’s appearance: she’s a full-blooded Puerto Rican and there’s no doubt about it. She’s from the Bronx so she speaks with a Bronx Puerto Rican accent. Lily is kinda short at five-two and is of average build - skinny under baggy clothes but she has a bit of baby fat she can’t get rid of. She has a little flappy stomach she has from the most minimal amount of exercise. Lily has a couple of scars but nothing major, just some childhood scars from some boo-boos.

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[/cell][/row][/table][sub][b] [color=Mediumorchid]Psychology[/color][/b][/sub]
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[i]"This is my life, papi, nothing can change the past, so nothing can change me."[/i]

[INDENT][color=Mediumorchid][b]MAIN GOAL  ⫻[/b][/color] Lily isn’t fully sure… she’s not the type of gal to have some grand goal. She just wants to get the chaotic mess that is her life together but when she starts to get a grasp something else happens. You can probably say that she’s trying to eliminate that mountainous credit card debt and trying to fix things between herself and her sisters.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]PHILOSOPHY  ⫻[/b][/color] Everything happens for a reason. There’s no point in sitting around crying about everything going wrong in your life when it serves some type of purpose. Lily believes that everything that has gone wrong in her life happened because a higher power has a plan for her. Whether preparing her for the next challenge or as a good sign that the good times are coming soon.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]SECRETS  ⫻[/b][/color] Lily isn’t going to talk to anyone about what happened with her ex-boyfriend. Mostly because she feels crazy and it [i]is[/i] kinda crazy now that she thinks about it. The more reason to keep it to herself.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]SEXUALITY  ⫻[/b][/color] Straight but the last thing on Lily’s mind is doing anything romantic. She’s thoroughly turned off from the prospect until she does some healing.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]FEARS  ⫻[/b][/color]  Spiders and Reptiles. it all roots from a cruel prank her cousin played on her involving his pet snake and tarantula… she’ll freak out if she sees something serpentine or spider-like. 

[color=Mediumorchid][b]WHO IS ELEANOR BLACK TO YOU  ⫻[/b][/color] Eleanor Black was a prison friend to Lily that protected her and showed her the ropes when she was in Rosies. Lily vowed to be there and give Eleanor a place to stay when she got out of Prison. Lily was surprised a different person took Eleanor’s place.

[color=Mediumorchid][b]FLAWS  ⫻[/b][/color] Lily’s had a very long and hard life… and she refuses to get help. She’s the type to bottle all of her emotions and problems up and keep pushing forward. However Lily is reaching the point where she’s about to explode. Lily hates to see things go wrong and people getting hurt (especially due to her own decisions) which is why she tries to always take charge and lead but has a hard time not being the one in charge. Lily lived a lifetime of putting others first and isn’t fully sure of how to put [i]herself[/i] first.
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[sub][b][color=Mediumorchid] Backstory[/color][/b][/sub]
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[i]"My family hates me, my boyfriend tried to kill me, and now I'm starting to remember things differently."[/i]

[indent]Lily started as the eldest of three sisters (Yara and Clarita Santos-Romano)  in New York, New York! Her parents got married shortly after Lily was born and life in NY was simple. Her parents worked their asses (Her father being NYPD and an armed guard on the side and her mother being a nurse) off so they can have a house and while they were struggling here and there Lily was given all the love they could provide. Maybe they couldn’t get her every toy but they sure as hell did what they could. The issue was that Lily was older than her sisters by five years and when her siblings were old enough to be left alone. Her parents both picked up a lot more hours and… Lily was pretty much the second parent.

Now Lily loved her sisters with all of her heart but after school, she had to make sure they got home, make sure they ate, make sure they got their homework done while taking care of herself. It was stressful and all Lily could do was live for the weekend and dread the weekday. Other than that Lily’s early life was uneventful; she partied, tried drugs, made friends, and got in trouble (sometimes the NYPD brought her back home). She didn’t do anything crazy because she was raised to be responsible while her siblings were more… wild. 

Her safe space was art… Lily was a very creative and artistic soul. She put her vents and frustrations into different art pieces that ended up being thrown into the garbage. She couldn’t risk anyone seeing how she [i]really[/i] felt.

The big change in her life was the revelation that her father was cheating with a fellow police officer and her parents were getting a divorce. It was a hard and stressful time for Lily because her father took a step back from childcare. Which meant Lily had to step up, whether she wanted to or not. The sweet release came when she finally graduated and went off to college to become a doctor.

For once in her life, Lily had [i]freedom[/i]. Now this isn’t a story of the repressed child going crazy in college but the story of expanding to new horizons. Lily’s dream was to become a doctor and she had fun in college… until she realized that being an adult wasn’t all fun and games and the stress of college started bearing down on her. Her release was [i]shopping[/i] - to make a long story short Lily developed a bit of a shopping addiction and opened quite a few credit cards.

When she couldn’t open any more credit cards she did something a little bit shady (and by her admission shitty): she opened some credit cards in her little sister's name. Because she had a lot of free reign in her youth, Lily was able to snoop around and find her little sister's social security cards. She thought the time they wouldn’t find out and she felt like she was owed [i]something[/i] because she threw away so much of her youth helping take care of her little sisters.

As a side hustle to keep her from being flat broke 24/7, she took up a side hustle or two. They ended up working part time at the local cafe but that didn’t cut it for her. One thing that Lily didn’t drop was art and she had a growing interest in tattoos. Not just getting them… she knew how much bread the various tattoo artists around NY were making so she decided to experiment. Using the credit cards she put in her sister's name; she bought a tattoo gun.She started small with some tattoos on herself and her friends as practice but then she realized that she was a natural. She made a bit of money putting cheap tattoos on people and quit that stupid barista gig.

It was the final year of college and Lily knew her hard work was about to pay off… then she got a phone call from her mother telling her to be honest about what she did. Lily confessed and [i]promised[/i] that she would pay them off when she became a doctor. Of course, this didn’t happen. The cops came looking for Lily and she was arrested in front of the whole campus in one of the worst moments of Lily’s life. Why?

You see at the urging of their new stepfather, Clarita and Yara pressed charges against Lily. Neither of them wanted to do it but they were pressured into it by him. So that meant Lily had to spend a bit of time in jail before she got convicted of identity theft. The judge ordered her to spend two years in prison and Lily got very familiar with Rikers Island’s female unit: Rosies.

Rikers was not fun, and Lily spent her time regretting throwing her life away to show off for some bitches that didn’t even realize she was gone. She was beaten, bullied, and more by the more vicious inmates but then she came: Eleanor Black. She was a woman that was doing a bid for illegally possessing a firearm and assault that was around the same age as Lily. Eleanor took a liking to Lily and the two got along… being Lily’s only friend in prison.

You see Eleanor was in prison for a little while before Lily even got there; and would be there for a while after. She knew the ropes and had respect due to being a bad motherfucker that she passed down to Lily. Lily was able to make it through Rosies thanks to her and started a small business of giving people tattoos in jail (and accidentally causing an outbreak of HIV - oops!). She promised to be there for Eleanor when she got out of prison.

Two years passed by and Lily was let out of prison and ended up staying with an aunt up in Brooklyn. Her sisters had forgiven her and Liliy had no ill will towards them - except she wanted nothing to do with her mother or stepfather. It was Lily’s fault that it happened but couldn’t help but feel some type of way about it all. 

Going back to college wasn’t going to work and those credit cards stacked up a lot of interest and other fees while she was away. She was scraping by to get back on her feet and her only idea was to become a tattoo artist. She did everything she could to spread the word and get her license and eventually, she managed to get a little bit ahead of the curb. She became part of a tattoo shop and life was going pretty good. She remained in constant contact with Eleanor Black through letters and Lily reaffirmed her promise to her friend behind bars. Every month Lily made a letter to Eleanor and got one back.

Things changed when she was introduced to Rafael Cruz, a friend of a fellow tattoo artist in her shop. To make a long story short the two fell in love after hours upon hours of hanging out, texting, and other lovey-doey things. They became boyfriend and girlfriend and moved in together a year later. Rafael wanted to move back to his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Texas was a hike away from New York… but Lily loved Rafael and she thought that maybe New York was a bit too cold. So a few months later Lily was in San Antonio, away from her family and friends. It was one hell of a culture shock and she had to get used to being called a “Yankee”. She found herself a new tattoo shop and life was good.

However, a few months later Rafael changed… he started being a lot more controlling and abusive - he was acting all loko! Lily tried to endure it and try to figure out how to fix him but it became more and more apparent that this was the “real” Rafael. She had no choice but to grab everything she could fit in her car and stay with a friend. Blocking Rafael on everything she thought things were okay while she got herself back on her feet and tried to find a way back to New York…

… Then one night, things got weird. Lily’s friend called her to the front door in the middle of the night. When she got to the front door; Rafael was there, holding an old toy he told her about. Then she was frozen in place, she couldn’t move - it was not shock but it felt like there was some outside force keeping her in place. Then he gestured for her to come forward… and she moved forward towards him unable to stop himself. Rafael caressed her face and she felt chills down her spine as he kissed her against her will. That’s when he pulled out a knife and… dropped the toy. The second he dropped his toy; Lily was able to move on her own free will again. She quickly ran out of the room and went into her friend's room.

Locking the door behind her, Lily rummaged through her friend's things until she found her friend’s pistol. Rafael opened the door but Lily had already squeezed the trigger twice. Rafael was shot in the arm and abdomen and collapsed… as he fell, she noticed a pink light around the toy that faded moments later. The police and the EMTs were on the scene soon after and took Rafael to the hospital. Lily didn’t know what happened to him after, but she ghosted after that and lived in her car until she found a new roommate and an apartment in a different part of San Antonio. She figured that she’ll stay in SA for now… she didn’t want to move ever again, bad memories or not.

Life resumed as usual until it was time for the big day: Eleanor Black’s release from prison! She saved money just for this occasion! She flew out to New York and waited outside of Rosies for Eleanor… only for a completely different woman to come out. The woman hugged Lily but Lily damn near had a panic attack - Lily didn’t know this woman but she knew Lily. She told her that she did everything that Eleanor did - but she wasn’t Eleanor! Lily just went with it and went back to San Antonio and did [i]research[/i]. Every letter to Eleanor had a different name on it and no matter how deep Lily searched she couldn’t find anything on Eleanor Black. Did she just get names mixed up or was she finally crazy? 

After searching online she found out that others knew of Eleanor Black but… different versions of her? Things were weird but Lily needed closure. They agreed to meet in Quintin, Louisiana, and Lily packed her things and drove there.
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[sub][b] [color=Mediumorchid]Paranormal-Abilities[/color][/b][/sub]
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[i]"This coochie's magic."[/i]

[indent]Lily is unaware of this, but she is One-Eye-Open.
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[sup][b] [color=Mediumorchid]Other[/color][/b][/sup]
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[i]"See you on the flip side, papi."[/i]

[indent]Lily carries around a [url=https://mynonika.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Huggable-Plush-Backpack-Blue-Angel-Love-Kitty.jpg]Hello Kitty Backpack[/url] that she keeps her first-aid supplies in (bandages, tourniquet, etc, etc)

Lily is one of my oldest characters - In fact, I don't think I wrote as her in over a decade. lol[/INDENT][/hider]