Snapshots
Loud, opinionated, and swimming in sarcasm, Miranda Garren shoots straight from the hip and doesn't mince words... unless it concerns how she herself feels. When it comes to her emotions, Miranda has an inability to adequately verbalize how she feels in a succinct manner. As such, she prefers to keep her emotions to herself, declaring that she's 'fine, nothing's wrong' before changing the subject. The young woman is decidedly uncomfortable when it comes to expressing her own more complex emotions, as they tend towards the extreme and she doubts her ability to control them in public. She laughs loudly, sobs dramatically, argues vehemently, and accompanies her conversation with animated hands. Without a doubt, Miranda is passionate about everything she does and believes in and will argue her stance relentlessly. She does her best to keep her volatile temper in check, biting back the more caustic of insults and observations out of respect for preferred acquaintances and a few close friends. If unable to win a verbal fight, she will stalk off in a huff to take some time to rethink the situation on her own time in an attempt to be objective. She is a classic workaholic, refusing sleep and food until satisfied with her current task or mission.
In her younger years, she lived by the 'look out for number one' philosophy as she struggled to survive in the Row on her own. As Miranda's latent mentalist abilities began to manifest, she developed a keen need to help and protect others who lived day to day. She will answer questions about her past when asked, with as little emotion as possible. She speaks fondly of her parents and their cafe, but gives away little else about her past and present situations.
Miranda makes few deep and lasting connections with people, as events in her life have forced her to keep even the most well-meaning of creatures at a distance. She is wary of new people, relatively polite but always withholding information to keep that personal circle of comfort intact. Once she trusts someone, she is that person's devoted friend for life. Secrets are kept to the grave, life and limb are risked to save them in a dire situation, and birthdays are never forgotten. Towards the people she knows and loves, Miranda is dedicated and ever concerned about their well-being... in her own rough and unpolished way. She lacks finesse in reading emotions, only able to really know and understand what is 'wrong' when it comes to close friends. Those looking for a shoulder to cry on might want someone else for sympathy; if it's truth and a comfy bosom upon which to rest a head, look for her. She's not above a bit of coddling, but she doesn't indulge it for too long when the cause seems illogical. She prefers people, as she likes a good intellectual conversation (or an intellectually bawdy one... she loves misconstruing the most innocent of sentences and ideas). Given the choice, she'd rather have to work in silence alongside someone than work by herself.
Towards enemies, she is cold and calculated. She can hold a grudge for decades and finds a dark delight in plotting revenge against those who have succeeded in provoking her wrath. She will research an enemy for an inordinate amount of time as she comes up with the appropriate retaliation. Once complete, Miranda can forge ahead without batting an eye... or feeling sympathy.
Miranda's worst fears lie not in being alone, but being unwanted or unneeded. While she possesses a limited confidence in her abilities, she is aware that she can contribute to the greater good. Her dedication often makes up for her deficiencies in actual combat, and her stubborn streak of independence results in her refusal to let others do her work for her. Miranda hates to be coddled or to have her abilities underestimated, and she often feels the need to prove herself based upon age, appearance, and temperment.
Miranda stands about five feet, six inches tall. Hourglass is an adequate description… she’s comfortable with her figure and enjoys wearing clothes that show off her ample upper body, along with the scars and burns that she has acquired in her years as a hero. Her hair is a rich brown streaked with natural red highlights, and she wears it in long layers about her face, the rest falling halfway down her back. Miranda’s eyes are brown as well and change color slightly depending upon her disposition, from dark hazel to chocolate. She has a very pale complexion, with freckles that show up in lieu of a tan. Needless to say, she’s a firm believer in sunscreen. By US clothing standards, she’s usually sporting jeans in a size 12 that hang on her hips. She prefers to wear denim and sleeveless shirts, and she prefers sandals or boots over sneakers. While she keeps a standard 'costume' for heroics, Miranda has chosen to wear 'street clothes' more and more due to the teasing incurred from several teammates in the past.
Miranda hails from a middle-class family in Kings Row, her parents once the proprietors of a coffee shop frequented by the day laborers of the Garment Works and the detectives working for the police department. From the time she was old enough to count supplies and dry dishes, she worked at the shop. School came and went, with Miranda going infrequently due to her parents' concerns about safety in other parts of the city. Her mother's tarot readings were a popular draw in the midmornings, and Maya began to tutor her teenage daughter in the more subtle arts when the shop wasn't too busy. For two years, Miranda honed her skills and complained about the noisiness of the shop, unaware that her latent mentalist abilities had begun to manifest as the low buzz of faithful patrons' thoughts and emotions.
One of Maya's readings had been done for a businessman with a shady reputation. Unwilling to lie about her cards, Maya watched as her husband and another cook forcibly removed the man from the shop. The next night at closing, a gang of Skulls riddled the front with bullets before sloshing gasoline on everything. A tossed lighter, and the family business went up in flames. Miranda was dragged from the burning shop by a well-meaning detective who had to keep her from rushing into the inferno after her parents. The autopsy would later reveal that they died from gunshot wounds rather than smoke inhalation, the diagnosis simply fueling Miranda's hate for the gangs that roamed Paragon City.
Too old to be placed in foster services, Miranda found herself the recipient of a modest donation from the Row's police force who had relied upon the Garrens for years of good coffee and honest conversation. Insurance money paid for a little flat high above the asphalt in clear view of the burntout shell of Miranda's childhood, with additional money tucked away for a rainy day. Voices in her head got worse and worse in the course of a year, and she finally confided to a friend on the force that she kept hearing people.
Luckily, he didn't call her crazy. Instead, he referred her to an office out in Atlas Park for a few tests. A few days shy of her eighteenth birthday, tests confirmed what Maya had probably known for years. Miranda had more than a touch of magic in her blood, and it needed training to be kept under control. Miranda dutifully went back to her mother's tarot cards, her only keepsake of her mother's after the fire. Slowly and methodically, the young mentalist spends her days checking in with the more trustworthy members of Paragon City's Finest and keeping her tiny corner of the Row in check.
Look for her on Pinnacle, and through the RPCongress globalchat. Backstory by Veronica Rose, aka V.