Monica Murasaki - Umbra

❛❛ Umbra ❜❜

Monica Maria Moreno da Fonseca Murasaki

21 || Pansexual || Female || Pro-Hero

PERSONALITY

POSITIVE
✔ Ballsy, Assertive, Energetic, Passionate, Ambitious, Friendly, Compassionate, Warm, Loyal, Tolerant

NEGATIVE
✖ Restless, Impetuous, Impatient, Impulsive, Emotional, Sassy, Stubborn, Cocky, Flamboyant, Competitive, Mischievous, Shameless

LIKES
✔ Sweet Eyewear, Wit, High Places, The Beach, Soccer, Carnival Girls, Dancing, Nightclubs, Body Art, Salons, Cops, Children, Purple, Black, Bling, Glowing Lights

DISLIKES
✖ Cloudy Days, Bossy People, Criminals, Corruption, Spoiled Brats, Winter, Stuffy Clothing, Being Ignored

PERSONALITY

A feisty female who is rather full of herself, Monica Murasaki is the type who can be social and friendly but also absolutely must have the last word in an argument, which she can be prone to creating. An outgoing and down to earth if a little cynical person, coming from a life where she grew up as a poor girl living in what was close to slums it can be fair to say that this young woman is lacking for naiveté and can appear quite pragmatic.

Taking the world as it is rather than as she would like it to be, this fiery femme would be the first to admit that life isn’t sunshine and rainbows and in a way this makes her more determined to do something about that. Carrying a strong sense of morality and justice despite some of her more rebellious and hot headed traits, Monica tends to prefer to focus on the problems in front of her rather than playing long games or acting out grand plans, being too impatient and impulsive to ignore what goes on around her.

This her biggest motivation to fight crime, having come from a place where people had and were treated like they were nothing, she hates to see people struggle because of the actions of others and will seek to correct any unfairness she sees. Recognising the actions and intentions of people as the most important thing, even if a person is weak she will respect them more for sticking to their guns in a straight forward fashion and hates sneaky underhandedness. Miss Murasaki also hates those who take what they have for granted and the privileged sort especially, she cares little for snootiness and putting on airs and despite her own rather sizeable ego would be quick to call out others on their arrogance.

Not all about belly fire and boldness however, Monica has a fun loving side that seems to line up well with her homeland, loving to be in the sun or dancing, and is generally an energetic girl with plenty of peppiness. The Rio carnival her favourite time of year back home, this flamboyant and fashionable female tends to seek out parties and festivals and seems to enjoy the attention of others, even being quite competitive in the right circumstances and hating to see someone outshining her.

Confident and assertive, Miss Murasaki finds plainness a bit of a sin and would rather experience new things than repeat routines over and over. This perhaps part of why she chooses to style herself in a fashion that feels unique and a little edgy, the girl can show certain degrees of vanity and to a small extent actually enjoys being objectified a bit, which is why she can be quite showy with her clothing. Perhaps all of this a reflection of some insecurity or feeling she might be ignored if she isn’t loud in terms of looks and sound, being overlooked can lead to Monica becoming irritable and feisty.

Also rather mischievous, while this can mean she will make wisecracks and even pull pranks on people for amusement, usually she does it in good humour, and can be a lot sharper with her tongue if she really wants to go for the jugular. A compassionate and loyal girl despite the fact that she might be fond of engaging in banter, she can be especially vicious toward anyone who might hurt someone she has accepted as ‘fam’, tending to go a bit overboard and behave even wilder than ever when she feels threatened.

APPEARANCE

HEIGHT: 165cm
WEIGHT: 55 KG
HAIR/STYLE: Wearing her hair in an asymmetrical shoulder length style, Monica has black hair but often applies pastel shades of dye to the tips in a variety of colours, though she favours shades of purple for the most part. She sports a close crop on the left side of her head and parts the length of her locks to the right, often shaving lines into it reminiscent of those on a circuit board.
SKIN/SCARS: Mocha-skinned from her mixed heritage, Miss Murasaki has a mole just on the upper part of her cheekbone below the outer corner of her left eye.
EYES: Long lashed naturally, Monica has sultry looking eyes with indigo coloured irises, with a slight sharpness to their shape which lends a mischievous and fox-like characteristic.
NOTABLES: Unusual Hairstyle, Mole Beneath Left Eye

A young woman who is a little below average height, in many ways Monica is the type of girl who makes no effort to fit in. The dark, mocha-coloured skin she possessed and the mutation that afflicts the tips of her digits something that have set her apart from her peers ever since she started school, as she has grown older this exotic-looking beauty has embraced the fact that she stands out and sought to define her own unique sense of style.

The face of the femme round but with slightly sharp features, she has an impish look and prefers to style herself in a manner that looks heterodox and punkish. Shaving her head in close crop on the left side whilst keeping her dark locks long enough on her right to hand around her shoulder, Miss Murasaki frequently applies bright temporary dyes to her wavy ended tresses and also is fond of shaving patterns into the shorn side of her skull as well as nicking little cuts in each eyebrow, the brunette uses this distinct manner to define herself and enjoys the fact that for good or bad she tends to turn heads.

Shades of indigo and violet the favourite tones of this free thinking woman, she tends to choose these for the colours that she puts in her hair as well as her lipstick and eye makeup, giving her features a sort of ‘neon’ glow about them when she glams herself up. Fond of revealing clothing perhaps because she comes from a very hot country where that is considered the 'norm', casually Monica prefers crop tops, revealing shirts or even something as simple as a bikini to ‘cover’ her upper body while wearing miniskirts, short shorts or maybe figure hugging jeans. Often wearing knee high boots with high heels, Miss Murasaki usually also carries sunglasses and also enjoys pieces of gold jewellery.

Hero Costume

Hero Costume
The hero costume of Miss Murasaki rather simple and a little on the skimpy side, she sports a sleeveless leotard with a black base and tribal tattoo patterns running over it in a bright shade of lilac along with a set of bicep deep gloves that lack fingers and palms in order to allow her to produce ink from her hands freely, which have the same theme as her base garment but with the colour scheme inverted. Wearing along with this a set of boots which built in knee and shin guards, these are lilac at the top but from about the mid-calf down are black and feature stylized flame patterns where the two colours mingle. The final piece of her apparel lilac coloured and reflective visor, she wears this to stop in splattering in her eyes and can ‘dock’ it to a respirator mask if she needs to operate in environments with breathing hazards.

Sometimes covering herself in her ink in order to protect herself or as an improvised hero costume if she isn’t dressed for the occasion, this tends to be a glossy black colour and hugs her figure much like her clothing, resembling latex visually but also on occasion tending to ooze off her as she uses her abilities.

HISTORY

A girl that didn’t come from a terribly high station, Monica hails from the Favela’s in Rio de Janeiro and is the daughter of a waitress and a policeman. Her father of mixed Japanese and Brazillian heritage, he is the source of her unusual surname and the quarter of Tokyo heritage, with half of his family apparently coming from the Osaka region. Unfortunately, Miss Murasaki has learned none of this direct from the source since she doesn’t remember her dad due to him being gunned down not long after she was born, making her mother Catarina and uncle on her side Gilberto, better known as Uncle Gil, her parents growing up.

The mother of Miss Murasaki a waitress, while she had dreamed of a big family the news of her husband’s death cut that idea short, since she refused to remarry. Introduced to her husband by Gilberto when they were assigned together as patrol partners, following this either out of guilt or responsibility the man moved his sister and niece to move in with him and acted like a father to her and his own children of whom he had three. Monica stood out from her cousins due to being more impetuous, and ended up developing a kind of mixed relationship with her uncle really, loving him but also finding him annoying because of how he would tend to catch her in acts of mischief and tan her hide.

This propensity for attention only growing when it was discovered that the little girl was a so called ‘Quirker’, one day she summoned a tentacle of ink from her hand to grab for a piece of fruit without realizing, and while it took some tests and research to confirm her power was regarded as a ‘miracle child’ by her mother. None in the family seeming to demonstrate much hostility toward her due to what she was, or even at school really, in a place where it wasn’t uncommon to walk past a crime scene on the way to school, the ability to make lights was impressive but hardly monstrous.

In fact while she has in future met people who might knock her for her abilities, Monica has always been proud of what she can do and eager to demonstrate her skills either for awed onlookers or to rub it in the faces of those who seem unfriendly or envious toward it. Quirk laws in Brazil always seemed to have more lax enforcement unless they were involved in violent crimes and even then success rates seeming about the same as normal laws, so consequently as the girl grew older she became more comfortable using her quirk than a Japanese child would have.

Growing up as something of a naughty child who seemed more interested in doing her own thing than that of an adult, to an extent Monica tended to be something of a lone wolf even from a young age, though not a severe case. Reasonably popular with the girls and boys in her school and socially able, she tended not to join groups and cliques and instead preferred to do her own thing really, though the combination of lacking money for entertainment and an active father figure made her something of sporty, outdoor hobbyist.

This perhaps one of the things that helped her bond with Uncle Gil the most, since her cousins were all girls the more tomboyish Monica found ways to connect with him through more boyish hobbies. As a beat cop the man naturally keeping himself in good shape, with a lack of a father Miss Murasaki quietly seemed to want to impress her mothers brother instead and began to join her uncle for jogs and hikes and even the occasional kick about. In this way, despite the loss of a father and a brother it seemed they each offered the other a little solace and while at times Gilberto could still be strict, he was also someone that his niece felt like she could ask for help with things.

Unfortunately, given their living situation, times were not always so sweet for the Moreno family. The family of a policeman offered a certain level of protection from the more criminal element but perhaps hindered by the fact that Gil tended to be one of the more upstanding and frankly less corrupt members of the force meant that muggings and getting caught up in violence could happen on occasion. Sometimes Catarina known to come home shaking after a shift when the café she worked at was robbed and even Monica herself the victim of a couple of muggings, the brassy child was no stranger to a black eye growing up after being robbed by young hoodlums but making sure she gave as good as she got, she realized that her quirk could be useful in this regard because it could help to scare away all but the most ardent criminals my making 'black mamba' out of ink extending from her arms.

Life not all bad however especially in the early part of spring, one of young Miss Murasaki’s favourite things was the annual Rio Carnival and it was something she actually looked forward to even more than Christmas really. From a young age loving to see the girls all dressed up and dancing in the parades looking so flamboyant and glamorous alongside the majestic floats, Monica would feel fired up by the party atmosphere and try to join in, usually getting dragged back to the crowd by her mother on most occasions but determined to take part.

Copying the movements she saw and wishing she could join those magnificent and popular women, she even went as far as to pester her mother to let her join a Samba school in the hopes of being a part of things one day, even going as far as to dream when she was a girl of becoming Samba Queen. Unfortunately, by the time she was eighteen and old enough to participate in the event, her focus had moved onto other concerns really. Criminal matters largely dominated her lifestyle by this point, though thankfully this was trying to curb them rather than engage in them.

This interest in crime fighting beginning for Monica when she was fourteen years old with a lot of pain, while she was out for a jog one day the girl got caught in the crossfire of a turf war between gangs, being hit through her right shoulder and lung by a stray bullet and left bleeding in the street. Rescued, luckily, by the efforts of a shopkeeper who pulled her to safety and called an ambulance, the young woman had never forgotten how helpless she felt in those moments. A confident young woman who despite her stature was very physically able, in many ways the feeling of weakness was worse than the injuries she suffered, and even after making a full physical recovery she harboured quite a few psychological scars.

In one way so used to the crime and violence that would crop up around her that some naïve part of Miss Murasaki actually believing that she would remain untouched by it, after being shot the girl found the world a whole lot more frightening a place and she hated that, she wanted to do something about it. So one day she did. Unsure of what caused her to rush to the aid of a girl her age being held up at knifepoint one evening when she was fifteen only a block or two from her home, the impulsive action offered a little bit of catharsis as she used her quirk to batter the crook responsible and for good measure fashioned a massive black blade with her powers, cutting the cheek of man and telling him if he ever came back to this neighbourhood she would hack him into dog food.

This deed earning her the thanks of the girl who was being accosted but moreso offering Monica a feeling of power and control that she felt like she had been robbed of during her shooting, as well as kind of an adrenaline high that was hard to ignore. Sinking into the life of a vigilante when she felt that itch or suspected danger might be near her home, while her methods were a little sloppy, using a balaclava and clothing to hide her identity Miss Murasaki began to slip out of the house at night and attack criminals. Often going on little patrols and finding that few people tended to look twice at a petite teenage girl or at least not in a way that wasn’t checking out her ass, she ventured around her homestead roughing up people and leaving them for the cops to arrest, being reckless enough that she didn’t even recognise the fact that she was putting herself in the crosshairs of the police as well by doing so.

Not left to performing acts of vigilantism for more than a few months before naturally her uncle put the pieces of the puzzle together and realized that Monica was responsible, while she was evasive on the issue when confronted about the matter, the girl was surprised by the attitude he showed and the manner in which he handled things. Perhaps on some level understanding that her uncle, her protector would be unlikely to turn her in but bowled over when he showed he actually supported her and felt proud that she was trying to do the right thing, it was a moment where Miss Murasaki never felt closer to the man who raised her.

Never questioning exactly what the reasoning was behind the attitude of Uncle Gil but assuming it was a result of experience and probably a healthy dose of cynicism, not only did he help to cover for Monica both at work and at home where he could but he also offered her skills beyond the use of her quirk. Reasoning that she and innocents might be safer if she received proper training in combat and battle tactics, under the guise of further outdoor hobbies they would head out to isolated areas and train together. Admitting the fact to her mother that he was teaching Miss Murasaki how to defend herself but never revealing the degree he went to, over the course of months Gilberto would drill her in hand to hand and also used paint guns and things to simulate more serious combat situations.

In many ways going through a similar level of training as a recruit in boot camp would for the police force, Monica would run improvised obstacle courses that her uncle had set up in order to improve her fitness and awareness, with some of them taking place in scrambling scrawls over the Favela rooftops which is where the passion that the girl still possesses for parkour was born. Furthermore, the teen gaining a new respect for her lawman uncle when she realized even with the advantage of a quirk she couldn’t take him in a straight fight, gradually the gap between them closed and by the time she was about seventeen finally the feisty femme was at a level where she could beat him more often than lose.

Reasoning this meant she was ready, while Gilberto gave her a radio to check in with him on her patrols and stuff he mostly left her to her own devices, and the young woman became a force to be reckoned with on the streets. Focusing more on this life than school really, while she managed to leave with a few decent exam results the combination of inattentiveness and a lacking college fund meant that further education wasn’t much of an option for the girl.

Gilberto suggesting she might make a decent policewoman and follow in her father’s footsteps, the idea intrigued her and she tried out for the role but found she struggled with authority figures that she had no respect for, tending to eagerly backchat and argue with her instructors and on occasion get into fights with her fellow cadets. Furthermore feeling a bit like she had to constrain herself in the role as well given quirk use tended to be prohibited by police officers, given its legal status, and so Monica gave up on a role with Rio’s finest and took up a job in her mother’s diner instead to help provide for herself.

Still working the streets as a vigilante of course on a night time, while this aspect of her life seemed to offer some satisfaction to Miss Murasaki, in a way she also felt lost and like she was lacking direction in life. Waitressing not something she felt like she could do for the rest of her life, as she reached the age of twenty Monica found herself stuck somewhat in a dead end job and lacking any real goals or big career prospects really. It felt a little like her life had finished before she had even started, but something happened that changed that.

News of the Japanese Hero Association something that was reported worldwide for how ground-breaking and controversial the idea was, to an extent Uncle Gil pushed his niece into considering the role for herself, reasoning that it was a good way to put her talents to good use and moreover a chance to break out of the Favela’s. Likening the opportunity to how those rare boys from the slums would get scouted for soccer teams and go on to make successes of themselves, if those who could knock a ball around could do that, he asked what could someone with her superhuman gifts could do?

Naturally the prospect of moving to another country with no guarantee of success a daunting one, despite her brazen styling and cheeky mouth when all was said and done the girl felt rather reluctant to leave her homeland even with the support of her family for the idea. The cost of such a trip also a concern, Monica wasn’t great with money and tended to fritter her wages away on alcohol and entertainment, so she felt like there was no way she could afford to even take a short trip to somewhere like Japan, which was on the other side of the world.

Offered something of a lifeline in this regard, as her family mentioned to friends and neighbours that Monica was considering taking this crazy path, her financial situation was eased by the donations from the people in the area she lived in. Perhaps some having figured out that the mysterious figure who drove crime away from the doorstep was the girl and did what they could to contribute to her future success, with others it was a case of simply wanting to see a girl succeed or an act of good nature. Bowled over to discover that the poor little district had given up hard won money in order to help her, while her pride and stubbornness made accepting this charity a tricky thing to do, it also offered her the nudge she needed to follow this dream as well. Boosted by the belief that apparently the people around her had in her, though it was with a somewhat heavy heart Miss Murasaki bought a plane ticket and travelled to stay with the distant relatives she had on her father’s side of the family in Osaka, which was lucky because they helped her polish up her non-existent skills in Japanese to a conversational level quite quickly.

Next heading to take control of her future and participating in exams to obtain her hero license, while her skills in rescue situations were limited due to having a more combat orientated skillset, through a mix of training she had received from her uncle and during basic police training, courage and no small share of luck the girl who would be known as ‘Umbra’ managed to pass her exam and obtain a license to use her quirk. Heading back to Osaka with this and practicing her new profession in this town for a few months to get used to the lifestyle, while she did some good in the region it quickly became apparent that her talents might be put to better use in the Tokyo region, so she decided to head there.

Unfortunately this ambition stifled a little by the fact that living in the nation’s capital was exorbitantly expensive in terms of the cost of living, even on the salary that a pro hero was assigned. Opting to instead move to the city of Musutafu which was close to Tokyo because of the cheaper prices of pretty much everything, she now considers the big city something like her back yard and is keen on making an impact on it, especially when certain other heroes are making a bit deal on the news about their own achievements…