MARY MAGDALENA SUTTON

the basics

full name ♦ Mary Magdalena Sutton
nicknames ♦ Mary or Mary Mag
age ♦ Twenty
birthday ♦ 24 December 1998
occupation ♦ Recruiter for Phalanx House and intern at Monroe Hospital
school ♦ Phalanx
species ♦ Human
ability/power ♦ Empathetic healing
how the ability works ♦

From a fairly young age, Mary has always felt drawn to emotionally troubled individuals suffering from great sadness, grief, guilt, anxiety, and depression. Beginning in her adolescence however, her sensitivity to melancholy increased dramatically, and she began to notice the positive effect it had on herself and others. It was as if her mere presence could temporarily heal whatever emotional pain a person was feeling, and that their negative emotions satiated a hunger within her that could not be fulfilled by any other means.

Mary's empathetic healing radiates in all directions, following the inverse-square law: its intensity diminishes the further away an individual is, with little to no effect past roughly fifty feet. Her ability is unencumbered by physical barriers, and the effect will linger in an area she's been in for a short time after she leaves. Individuals have described her presence as 'angelic,' and those more religiously-inclined have even felt as though she radiates 'Divine Grace.' Mary's ability to heal emotional pain is only temporary; whatever pain an individual suffers from will gradually return upon leaving her presence. The same is true for Mary, with the satiation of her "hunger" (which she would describe as the feeding of her soul) diminishing over time, leaving her with a feeling of guilt and frustration. This creates an addictive situation for Mary, and casts doubts on the genuineness of her relationships with others.

At present Mary has little to no control over her ability, but its healing effect is greatly diminished when she herself is angry or upset. Despite the downsides, and owing to her Catholic upbringing, Mary personally recognizes her healing ability as a gift from God, and believes it is her mission to continue to explore it and one day, hopefully, learn to control it. She does not let her ability to go to waste, and despite the guilt she feels after using it, finds comfort in the fact she can relieve people's emotional pain, albeit temporary, and seeks to learn how to combine her therapeutic ability with actual solutions to heal their underlying problems.

gender♦ Female (she/her)
sexuality♦ Heterosexual

the appearance

face claim ♦ Emily Rudd
height and weight ♦ 5'5''& 115 lbs
identifying features ♦ Mary has no tattoos but she does have her ears pierced
overall appearance ♦

Standing at just five feet five inches and weighing no more than one hundred fifteen pounds, Mary is a petite young woman with a slender build and feminine figure. She keeps her thick, naturally dark brown hair at medium length and no lower than the nape of her neck. Her brilliant light blue doe-eyes are her most striking feature, and easily stand out against her pale complexion. Owing to her conservative upbringing, Mary chooses to dress modestly, even in the heat of Louisiana Summers. While volunteering at Monroe Hospital she wears a set of plain grey or light-blue scrubs. She wears a golden cross pendant around her neck and keeps rosary beads on her person. As a side effect of her power, Mary has been said to have a faint golden aura about her, which becomes more noticeable when she feels joyous or during times of prayer. While in deep prayer, glistening golden pedals appear to fall about her from an unknown source, before vanishing as mysteriously as they appeared.

Her aesthetic tastes extend to her room, which is rather spartan in comparison to the rooms of other students in Phalanx House. She has a simple bed, desk, and bookshelf. The walls are adorned with several paintings; of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and two of the Italian countryside which she picked up during a school trip to Italy. A crucifix also hangs above her desk. A bulletin board hangs on her door, and has over time been filled with sentimental items from her time at Phalanx House.

the personality

likes ♦
    ♦ Music: she loves to sing, especially in her church choir, and knows how to play the guitar. She       has a fondness for old hymns and Christmas carols, as well as musicals
    ♦ Being in nature: she loves feeling enveloped by the beauty of the natural world
    ♦ Rainy days: the ambiance of rain and thunder calms her and clears her mind
    ♦ Reading: especially on rainy days; Tolkien is her favorite but she also loves mystery novels
    ♦ Helping others: her volunteer work at Monroe Hospital gives her a sense of fulfillment
    ♦ Cooking: when she has the time and money, she loves to experiment. Italian food is her favorite
    ♦ Soccer: she was an avid player at her old high school but doesn't find much time these days
   ♦ Italy: she has had a fascination with Italian history and culture ever since visiting Rome and     the Vatican in her early teens on a school trip. She would love nothing more than to visit again
dislikes ♦
    ♦ Rudeness: while she knows some people have it rough, being nice costs nothing
    ♦ Social media: while she has a presence, using it makes her feel alienated from her peers
    ♦ Parties: She feels fine in small gatherings, but large (loud) parties make her uncomfortable, and     have a tendency to overwhelm her ability
   ♦ Cities: she would much rather prefer to live in the country surrounded by nature, but accepts     her current living arrangements
strengths ♦
    ♦ Faith: her Catholic faith is the bedrock that grounds her, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally
    ♦ Compassion: she believes people are innately good, and that they merely need to be shown love
    ♦ Patience: her compassion gives her a high level of patience for others
    ♦ Conflict resolution: the above strengths allows her to mediate conflicts and find solutions
    ♦ Foreign language: not necessarily a strength but Mary is fluent in both Latin and Italian
weaknesses ♦
    ♦ Hopeless optimism: she views the world through rose-colored glasses, which sometimes blinds     her to life's harsher realities
   ♦ Naiveté: due to her sheltered upbringing, there is still much she doesn't fully understand about     the secular world, leaving her open to manipulation
   ♦ Passivity: she finds it difficult to conjure a strong voice in certain situations that require it, and     can be too accepting of outcomes, even when resistance would benefit her more
   ♦ Alienation: due to her upbringing and personality, she finds it difficult to fit in with her peers at    Phalanx House
dreams ♦
    ♦ Learning more about her ability in hopes of having control over it
    ♦ Having a family of her own
    ♦ Finding her parents and asking them why they abandoned her
    ♦ Helping people find genuine faith in themselves
    ♦ Spending several weeks touring around Italy, and someone to do so with
fears ♦
    ♦ That none of her friendships are genuine, that they exist merely because of her ability
    ♦ Never having a family of her own
    ♦ The death of her adoptive mother, Sister Catherine
    ♦ Losing her faith in God
overall personality ♦

Mary's personality has been shaped by her Catholic upbringing and unusual empathetic healing ability. Deeply compassionate and generally upbeat, Marry may be more reserved and conservative than her peers, but that doesn't stop her from trying to fit in and make friends. While uncompromising on certain values, she has found that the world may not be as black and white as she was raised to believe. Mary is deeply loyal to her friends, and is always a voice to talk to or a shoulder to lean on. What she fears however, is that those friendships aren't genuine, and are shaped by her power. The fact that her soul benefits from the negative emotions of others leaves her with a profound sense of guilt. Nevertheless, her ability to heal people emotionally (albeit temporarily), has served her well in her current career path, especially at Monroe Hospital where she interns.

Mary isn't afraid to stand up for her beliefs, and will approach challenges to herself or her faith with calm. While she doesn't necessarily avoid conflict, she will always seek to mediate and diffuse them. When such is not possible, she will simply withdraw. Mary has very little in the way of an ego to bruise, which can be detrimental in situations that call for her to have a stronger voice. While she is a people-person at heart, Mary can become overwhelmed in large gatherings, or when exposed to too much negative emotion. After a long shift at Monroe Hospital, Mary loves nothing more than to read alone in her room by the windowsill, or trying a new recipe in the common area.

the history

father ♦ Unknown
mother ♦ Unknown; Sister Catherine Sutton (adoptive mother), 50, Roman Catholic Nun and school teacher
siblings ♦ None that she knows of
important people ♦ N/A
hometown ♦ Lafayette, Louisiana
overall history ♦

On Christmas Eve of 1996, Sister Catherine Sutton stepped out into the cold to find a baby girl crying on her doorstep, seemingly abandoned but well-swaddled. Along with the child was a note which read: "Please find it in your heart to take care of my daughter, Mary Magdalena. As far as Sister Catherine was concerned, there was no choice to make. On the most holiest of nights, she took the child in from the cold and into the warmth of her home, and raised her as a daughter.

Mary spent her childhood raised by Nuns at an all-girl's K-12 Catholic school. Despite the severity of most of her teachers, Mary's adoptive mother Sister Catherine was something of a free spirit among the staff. Younger than most of her peers, Sister Catherine would host impromptu soccer matches in the courtyard, sneak treats to students in detention, and play pranks on the more severe and universally despised Nuns. While she faced disciplinary action for her behavior, as far as the school's administrator was concerned, she was irreplaceable. Mary herself became very much a product of her adoptive mother, pushing the envelope wherever she could.

By the time Mary was thirteen, she began to notice that there was something very different about her that set her apart from her classmates. From an early age she had befriended the more melancholic students, many of whom were orphans like herself, but didn't have the privilege of being raised by Sister Catherine. As she entered her teens, she noticed their moods would shift dramatically in her presence, as if something about her was temporarily healing them. For her part, it was as if a great hunger was being satiated: as if her soul was filled. Her teachers began to notice as well, and brought her healing abilities to the attention of the local Bishop, who launched an investigation into Mary's abilities. They deemed that it was indeed, a divine gift. While in school, Mary volunteered at a local Catholic hospital, where she further developed and explored her ability. While she initially found solace in the fact she was able to brighten the lives of the terminally ill, the school had increasingly isolated her from her peers. She was beginning to feel more and more like an experiment, and greatly resented it. Fortunately for Mary, she would soon receive a visit that would change her life.

Astor Perona had heard about Mary's ability (he always had an ear in the local religious communities) and sought to recruit her for Phalanx House, a boarding school in New Orleans for people like Mary with special abilities. He bypassed the school and reached out to Sister Catherine herself, who had become fed-up with the way the school administration and local Dioces was treating Mary. After a lengthy discussion, she agreed that sending Mary to Phalanx would be in her best interest. While initially reluctant, and outright fearful of the idea, Mary relented. After an emotional farewell, she accompanied Astor to begin her new life.

It was as if she stepped into another world; from the way people dressed to the way they spoke, and being around members of the opposite sex was certainly a new experience. Mary knew it would be a tough adjustment. Shape sifters and exotic powers were near the bottom of the list of things she'd need to get used to. Everything was familiar, but at the same time, altogether alien. Still, Mary had her faith to keep her grounded, and joined the congregation of a local Catholic church. In time, Mary become more comfortable by her surroundings, and made a number of close friends. She was able to explore her abilities without restriction, and with all the help and resources the school had to offer. Upon graduating, she stayed on with Phalanx as a recruiter, a position Astor believed Mary was well suited for. At present, Mary is enrolled in a social work program at the local community college, and interns at Monroe Hospital, where her abilities are truly put to the test.