CEO Quovis week, day 7

“I’m afraid you know too much…”

Name: Michaela “Mike” Quovis

Alias: none

Birthday/Age: June 1, 29

Height/Weight: 5’6”, 127 lbs.

Relatives: none known

Occupation: CEO of Quovis Insurance Industries, Inc.

Interests: getting what she wants, mind games, entrepreneurship

Powers/Equipment: emotional manipulation, particularly that of trust and fear

Weaknesses: dogs, being outsmarted, the law

Bio: Michaela Quovis was always one of unmet expectations.  Growing up as an only child of successful parents, she was faced with a great pressure to perform the best she could.  This caused constant disappointment in both Mike and her parents, however, when she only did things half-heartedly.  On top of family stress, she was regularly bullied at school, and with no one to turn to, her feelings became pent-up, and she wallowed in her own frustration.

This seems like a typical scenario, and largely, it was.  It wasn’t until Mike got out of high school that she finally took hold of her life’s reins.  Her frustration became ambition with the freedoms of college, and her low self-esteem became hidden.  She reached for the stars and then some, so to speak, and for the first time in her life, she succeeded with flying colors, going on to start her own insurance company.

She didn’t stop there, however, and her twisted views of people caused her to be a friend to the dregs of society.  But in order to throw people off her slight criminal streak, she needed to be better at manipulating them.  Through some shady deals, she procured a gem that was purported to give her the ability to control how people feel.  She managed to activate it, but the results weren’t what she expected: she was left with obvious, two-toned skin, and could only manipulate fear or trust.  On the plus side, it was all she really needed.  If everyone trusted her, they wouldn’t be suspicious of her, would they?

Her change caught the attention of others, too, and soon she was offered a deal with one Dr. Rae Arleigh, who went by Toxin at that point.  After acquiring and renovating a run-down hotel called the Blackwind, Michaela found herself managing a group of supervillains.  She’s constantly on the lookout for new members, and the police haven’t caught onto her trail yet—they don’t even know where the Blackwind is!

The fact that she’s currently so elusive causes stress in her from time to time.  Her old problems with sensitivity and self-esteem come around again, and she becomes paranoid, thinking if she was ever found out, her comfortable kingdom will come crashing down upon her.  And after all, controlling the fear in others can have its downsides, as there’s always that “fight” side to the “fight or flight” response…

Character History: Mike originated in a Blackout spinoff roleplay with a friend, where we made many more robots than just the original ten.  Hence her masculine name, as she was a reporter and had to do with sound, and Blackout robot names were all puns.  She was a con woman even then, and she was later reincarnated to another roleplay ‘verse with the same friend, centered around a criminal-rich city named Laverna.  This was where Mike got her businesswoman persona.

It would be wrong to say she wasn’t inspired by Batman’s Two-Face somehow, but the similarities only go so far as “they have different faces split down the middle.”  The “fear” aspect of her was actually inspired by a friend’s character, one I roleplayed with long before Blackout.

Originally, Scope (from Don the Fly) was going to be the Big Bad of II (which is also funny because Scope originated from Blackout as well), but I felt she had been too exhausted from other roleplays, and should be a cameo as a policewoman instead, as she originally started that way.  Scope had borrowed Mike’s two-faced look for one RP, and so Mike was a shoe-in for her replacement.  So far, I’d say, it’s working out well!

Next week: an angry arsonist!  Alliteration!