CK07: LUCIA CUEVAS VALDEZ [DECEASED]

#1

DECEASED

Name: Lucia Cuevas Valdez
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Grade: 12
Hobbies and Interests: Watching and reviewing movies, weightlifting, martial arts, collecting vinyl records, and participating in the Gay Straight Alliance at Mangrove Garden High School

Appearance: Lucia stands at 5’6 and 155 lbs, an average build, if on the heavier side. This is owed to a slight muscle tone concentrated mainly in her upper arms and thighs, a result of her preference for lifting weights to other forms of exercise. She has a boxy frame with wide shoulders, and her skin is a tan color with olive undertones. She carries herself strongly when she walks.

Lucia’s face is diamond-shaped; although it appears fairly circular overall, her jaw and chin are prominent. Her lips are thin, which she does not particularly mind, and her almond-shaped hazel eyes are often adorned with simple black eyeliner. Her eyebrows are thick and average-sized. Her ash brown hair is cut short in a style that would be best described as gender non-conforming—the length of a pixie cut, but much messier, and sticking out in all directions save for the soft, short bangs that frame her forehead. Lucia’s nose is fairly short. Her teeth are straight and mostly white, though her two upper front teeth have a very slight gap between them that she likes to joke about.

Lucia rarely wears makeup aside from her eyeliner. Her only piercings are those in her lower ears, received in early childhood. She wears circular silver studs in them, in part because she likes how the earrings look and in part so the piercings don’t close up. Lucia also bears a messy stick and poke tattoo on her outer left thigh, of the word “e-girl”. The tattoo was given to her by Vasily Ivanov.

Lucia’s style is generally sporty and rugged. She wears exclusively earthy colors, which go better with her appearance than bright ones. She can usually be found wearing shorts or cargo pants, and she does not feel comfortable in dresses. However, she is not opposed to wearing skirts occasionally, though she still prefers suits for formal wear.

On the day Lucia was cast, she was wearing an olive spaghetti strap tank top and faded brown cargo pants, a shade similar to her hair but darker. She also had on a pair of black combat boots.

Biography: Lucia was born in Miami, Florida, to Mariana Valdez Rosario and Cristóbal Cuevas Mejía. She has one sister, Reyna, who is two years older than her. Her parents both emigrated from the Dominican Republic and met at Las Rosas, a bar in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami. Not long after meeting, they began a romantic relationship. They married shortly after Mariana discovered she was pregnant with Reyna, about a year and a half into their relationship. Mariana works as a nurse and Cristóbal works as a dental hygienist. They also raised their children speaking both Spanish and English at home.

Life was strained for the Cuevas Valdez family. Mariana and Cristóbal struggled with paying off their debts, and as soon as Lucia and Reyna were old enough to not need their attention at all times, they started working overtime. Because of this, the Cuevas Valdez daughters spent many of their childhood hours shipped off to daycare. Though Reyna struggled to make friends because of her already introverted and abrasive personality, Lucia had no trouble striking up a conversation with anyone who passed… which, given their age, was most likely to be about cartoons or toy cars.

Around this time was the advent of SOTF-TV. Mariana was never in support of SOTF, but rather than acting out against it she was willing to hope the plug would be pulled on it within a few years. As she was gradually proved wrong, however, the family’s relationships got worse. Mariana was fiercely protective of her children and feared their possible future casting, so from a young age she prioritized her children learning self-defense and other means of protection. Cristóbal, however, was worried she may traumatize the children with knowledge of SOTF from an early age, or that she may instill the fear in their children that they would inevitably be cast. Their conflicting opinions on the matter of their childrens’ safety resulted in many fights, and Reyna and Lucia being pushed into certain extracurricular activities without explanation. Lucia, being adaptable and easygoing, easily accepted this, but Reyna did not.

Both girls were enrolled in karate classes at the same time that Lucia entered kindergarten. Lucia excelled in these, but, predictably, Reyna struggled and preferred to retreat to the bathroom during classes. Mariana was angry at Reyna for “wasting her money”, but both parents were becoming concerned about her asocial behavior. Misguided as they were, they focused more on what could have possibly caused Reyna to act this way, leaving Lucia overlooked a lot of the time. Not that Lucia minded this, however. She loved the freedom that being younger gave her, and this carried her all throughout elementary school, where her carefree and friendly attitude brought her many friends.

The most notable of these friends, and in fact the only one to last more than a year or so, was a young man named Vasily Ivanov whom Lucia befriended in the third grade. Her parents, more concerned with Reyna’s mental health, did not vet Vasily to see whether he could be a negative influence. Their friendship began after the two watched a movie in class. Following the movie, which had a number of cliffhangers, Lucia wished to know what happened next, while demonstrating a sharp eye for plot holes. Vasily offered to have his parents find the movie’s sequel, and their first playdate consisted of watching the full trilogy.

From then on, Lucia was enamored of the film industry, not least because it gave her an excuse to hang out with Vasily. She internalized this, however. This was because her interest was quickly brushed off by her parents whenever she brought it up for fear it would lead to discussion of SOTF. So, as a creative outlet, Lucia would create miniature movies by filming with a tablet she and Reyna shared and editing with a free program. Occasionally, she was also able to get Reyna to participate in her movies. She experimented quite frequently with (shaky) camera movement and started to bring a little notepad with her to meetings with Vasily, with the intent to write down what about the movie they watched inspired her. More often than not, however, she would forget.

At the start of fifth grade, Lucia’s mother Mariana sat her down and gave a quick explanation of what had made Reyna so moody—bullies. Though Lucia had occasionally interacted with bullying situations once or twice thanks to Vasily, she greatly underestimated the gravity of the situation until that point. Her mother explained that Reyna had Asperger syndrome, which made communication difficult for her. This made her a target of a number of students. Frustrated by this, Lucia swore to beat up anyone who may have hurt Reyna, but her mother warned her against this course of action.

Lucia’s mother appeared very drained, and her father became more stoic in the passing month. Each time she asked, they would smile and tell her that nothing was wrong. Lucia was not convinced, though. She eventually managed to elicit some information from her father, most importantly that the difference in attitude had something to do with Reyna.

Lucia, while concerned, was becoming tired of being overshadowed by her sister. She began working on a new project, ironically themed around cheering Reyna up, figuring that she could receive some of her parents’ attention if it had to do with her sister. As Lucia was an emotional preteen, the difference in time spent with each of them was exaggerated in her mind—but it was certainly there. It also did not help that Lucia did not actively seek out her parents in other contexts. She took out her anger while with Vasily, each encouraging the other to do more disorderly and reckless things, often in the context of dares. This trend would persist throughout their relationship.

The creation of Lucia’s most ambitious movie yet spanned five months, a period of time in which both her parents had recovered from their sudden moodiness and Reyna was becoming a bit less standoffish. Still, she was not about to let it go to waste, and went to extreme lengths to keep it a secret from everyone in her life—even Vasily. The plot of the movie followed a young knight girl (subtly named Reyna) clad in cardboard who, after being heckled for years on end, rose above her tormentors in a jousting competition and was crowned Head Knight by a princess. There was also an alternate ending where she punched all of her bullies and was thrown in jail, but she later decided not to show it as it conflicted with the objective of the movie.

Lucia was not too thrilled with the outcome of the movie, and found herself overly critical of it. Following a “test screening” with Vasily, though, he expressed approval of the film, which alleviated a few of her concerns. She later showed it to her parents, who loved the film and encouraged her, and then showed it to Reyna. Reyna enjoyed the film, greatly appreciating Lucia’s efforts, but Lucia could still sense that something was wrong and she did not know how to fix it. It was hard for her to let it go, but she did eventually. Lucia never learned what caused her and her family to act in such a secretive and solemn way.

In the following year, sixth grade, Lucia was introduced to SOTF by Vasily. Though she had heard about it in passing, she was not fully aware of the concept, only knowing that it had to do with fighting and teenagers. Vasily framed the show as something dark and mysterious, so Lucia pretended not to know what it was when her parents broke the information to her shortly after. They forbade her from watching the show due to its cruel nature, but Lucia was already fascinated with it and would watch it most of the time she spent with Vasily. Additionally, as they watched, Lucia would occasionally teach Vasily self-defense moves, as she still participated in karate and was among the karate school’s star pupils.

Because of their close friendship, the challenges Vasily faced in seventh grade were also felt by Lucia. When he lost his eye, her attention slipped from school, and she instead began to focus on what was happening in the lives of not just Vasily but others around her. It was a disheartening time for Lucia, who was beginning to develop a more pessimistic view of the world. Discovering that Vasily was going to be held back devastated her, and she faced a period of denial over the matter, though she eventually accepted it. Their friendship did not waver, although more of Vasily’s time was dedicated to newfound hobbies and friends, and they continued to watch SOTF together.

Lucia’s exposure to SOTF marked a shift in her passion for filmmaking. Rather than creating mini-movies, she reviewed SOTF seasons and later individual movies with Vasily. She uploaded these reviews to the internet for the first time in eighth grade, not expecting much of a following. Their channel would become moderately popular over the next few years, with their most popular review surpassing 50,000 views. Their videos were praised for Vasily’s deadpan humor and Lucia’s thorough understanding of the material, as well as the editing.

During this period of time, Lucia developed her first crush. In eighth grade she developed feelings for Nia Allen, a ninth-grader she took karate classes with. Lucia had never felt attracted to men, not even compulsory attraction, so this did not come as much of a surprise to her; however, there were challenges beyond recognizing her identity. She never confessed to Nia, afraid that she would treat her rudely because of her sexuality, and she did not yet feel comfortable coming out to her parents. Naturally, she told Vasily, which went over more than easily. Vasily had his own struggles with gender and sexuality and could guess that Lucia liked women based on all the female actresses she idolized. As the school year drew to a close, her feelings for Nia faded, and she pushed the internal conflict behind her.

Lucia was able to enter Mangrove Garden through paying tuition. Her parents had saved up enough money to send her to a nice high school, much to Reyna’s quiet jealousy. Lucia did not have fears about attending a new school beyond that of leaving Vasily behind, but he would join her there within the next year.

In ninth grade, Lucia picked up weightlifting as a hobby due to her parents encouraging her to try something new. It was difficult for her at first, and she nearly quit a few times, but the clear-cut nature of weightlifting improvement inspired her to continue. She can currently consistently deadlift about 185 pounds.

Upon Reyna’s high school graduation and just before her leave for college, she confronted Lucia. Though it was not the smoothest conversation, Reyna told her that she wanted to leave something with her and that she could find it underneath her bed. When Lucia checked, she found a stash of vinyl records. None were particularly rare, but she took this as a sign of appreciation from Reyna. She started a small project of collecting vinyl records to surprise Reyna with when she returned from college for good, and now has a reputation for hanging around at thrift shops.

By the time she was in eleventh grade Lucia was seen as a big sister to a number of young LGBTQ+ students, offering support and protection to anyone who felt vulnerable within the school. She also came out to her parents that year, to their support. It was a bit intimidating for her, but her parents had already sensed that she did not identify as straight, so it went over easily. She is occasionally considered obnoxious or annoying by more conservative-minded students for being so open about her sexuality, which bugs her, but she does her best to ignore it. However, most of the school sees Lucia as chill and laid-back, which is an image she much prefers to cultivate. She does not have a particular group of friends aside from the students in the Gay Straight Alliance, preferring to drift among social groups. She is generally viewed favorably.

Lucia has had a number of fleeting crushes throughout her high school years, most of which she has never admitted. In tenth grade she became romantically involved with a twelfth grader named Isabelle that she wasn’t very close with, mainly because she felt a level of pressure to have a date by then. She was quickly advised by Reyna to break up the relationship as she had assumed it was inherently manipulative and Isabelle had something to gain from her. Though she never found out whether this was true or not, Lucia broke up with Isabelle after two weeks. The breakup was amicable as it was acknowledged neither truly had feelings for the other, and though they still have each other’s contact, they do not regularly communicate. She has had no other relationships.

Beyond that, she has been intimate with other students on rare occasions as a result of loose friendships she had in which there was a level of tension or boredom present. These encounters usually end awkwardly. Despite this, Lucia has learned how to brush it off and continue as normal with the friendship. She is still cautious when it comes to dating because of what Reyna has told her, and is reluctant to date unless she has strong feelings for someone.

Her friendship with Vasily remains strong. The two still produce reviews and hang out together, though their schedules conflict more often now. Lucia’s relationships with her parents are consistently positive, though Lucia does not openly talk about her life with them. They are currently trying to break the news to her about just what happened with Reyna that made them act distant for a period of time, but they have not found a proper opportunity. Lucia calls Reyna once a week on a scheduled basis.

Lucia has consistently earned Bs and occasionally Cs since middle school, which leads to her negative opinion of Mangrove Garden’s ranking system. She believes it to be detrimental to the mental health of most students, however she does not pay attention to her own placement and does not believe it to be important to her own growth as a student (though she is not particularly studious). Even though she has not spoken out against it before, she would not hesitate if asked to.

Lucia does not have an extreme stance on drug usage. She doesn't mind when others choose to use drugs, but simply has no interest in doing so herself. The only drug that she would have no inhibitions about using is marijuana, though she has never done so before. She enjoys going to parties, but usually finds herself at the snack table or hauling a drunk acquaintance out of a predicament.

Fights are incredibly uncommon for Lucia, especially of the physical sort, as her weightlifting hobby as well as black belt status are well known within the school and intimidate potential aggressors. She would also prefer not to physically fight anyone unless necessary. However, she is not immune to verbal spats, generally about trivial topics. She always feels upset after she does so, first at the other party, and then herself. Though she does not instigate, she has a tendency to be petty every once in a while.

Lucia no longer takes regular classes at her karate school. Instead, she works there assisting a main instructor with a class of students ages five through eight. She is content with this job, and every once in a while takes a private lesson in order to brush up on her skills. Lucia is incredibly well-liked within the school for how encouraging she is to the students, and their approval is a main source of pride for her.

Against her parents’ hopes that she would go into a more stable career, Lucia’s ideal future would be one where she goes into filmmaking. However, she recognizes that it’s possible this may not work out. She has decided to wait until her first year of college to make a concrete course choice. She doesn’t want to trap herself in a job tedious to her, but she also doesn’t want to lose money or be regarded as a failed director. Though she tries not to worry about it, she is not always able to push those fears down, especially as her graduation approaches.

Advantages: Lucia is experienced in martial arts, giving her a physical advantage both offensively and defensively. She is also able to lift more than the usual person, with a consistent deadlift of 185 pounds, though the maximum weight she can carry for at least a short distance is about 120 pounds. Due to her extensive coverage of SOTF through her channel, she is familiar with strategies used by past winners and risky actions to avoid. Because of her interest in SOTF and her sparring history, she is not hesitant to fight anyone she needs to to survive.
Disadvantages: While Lucia is a skilled fighter, she is also capable of being overconfident in her fighting ability, and may easily find herself in a situation where she is outmatched by another student with a weapon. Though she is average at sensing lies, Lucia lacks the ability to deceive or betray others effectively. She rarely plans ahead and often acts on impulse. She also does not have many close allies within her age group, and thus could easily be targeted or betrayed.

Designated Number: Claudia's Krakens 07 (CK07)

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Designated Weapon: Meat Cleaver

Mentor Comment: "Decapitataz means we aim for your neck, axes and machetes used to hack when we attack, crack goes your collarbone, crack goes your spine, head will roll like a bowling ball and your body'll fall behind.

Hope that doesn't get hit for copyright anyway, this girl has martial arts experience and a meat cleaver. That's a match made in heaven."

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