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cararossi · 6 years ago

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basic information.

Name: Cara Donna Rossi ↪ Pronunciation: K-AIR-ah — d-AA- n-uh — r-ah-see Nickname(s) or Alias: Cara is short and sweet, and so she’s never needed to go by a nickname. In childhood, her father would dotingly play on her name and call her Cara mia. Gender: Female FC: Crystal Reed (*Jodelle Ferland for childhood/flashback purposes.) Age: 31 Birthday: April 10th. ↪ Zodiac: Aries Sexual and Romantic Orientation(s): Heterosexual Heteromantic. Marital Status: Never Married Religion: Raised Roman Catholic. Identifies with Agnostic atheism. Ethnicity: Caucasian; of Italian descent. City or town of birth: Boston, Massachusetts. Grew up in Roxbury. Currently lives: Maine Socioeconomic status: She is not living in poverty, but she’s not quite middle class. Occupation: ↪ Full-Time Doctoral Student – Fully-funded program, a small stipend is provided. ↪ Research/Course Assistant – Unpaid, Qualifies for tuition remission. ↪ Waitress – Enough hours to cover the rent. Native language: English ↪ Accent / Dialect: A childhood in Boston granted her the quintessential accent, including the dropped “R,” intrusive “R,” and the broad “A.” She has worked to beat this accent out of herself, though it rears itself on certain words. When yelling, it’s undeniable. ↪ Alt. Languages: Bits and pieces of the Italian language rattle around in her head, though most of it is lost to time. She speaks poor, conversational Spanish.

physical appearance.

Height: 5′7″ Weight: 126 lbs Hair color: Dark brown Hairstyle: Straight and parted in the middle. She lets it grow long most of the year, and then chops it just above her shoulders in the summer months. Eye color: Light brown Skin color: White Distinctive features: Strong jawline, “Shirley Temple” dimples. Tattoos: A small crescent moon sits on her upper left thigh, and a small sun sits on her upper right. They’re stick-and-poke tattoos; regrettable gifts from a regrettable boyfriend. Piercings: Two lobe piercings in each ear. Her nose was once pierced, though she hasn’t worn a stud in it since she was a teenager. Preferred style of clothing: She tends to live in a state of constant business casual.

personality.

Positive Traits: Alert, logical, meticulous, compassionate, hardworking, dedicated, focused. Negative Traits: Obsessive, envious, insecure, escapist, opportunistic, self-indulgent, strong-willed. Strengths: Passion, bravery, determination. Weaknesses: Reckless, overthinking, impulsive. Habits: Quitting smoking every two months, asking too many questions, laughing while lying, leaving sticky notes around the house, not sleeping through the night, talking in her sleep, humming under her breath, organizing and then reorganizing. Likes: Rain, exploration, true crime podcasts, long car rides, collecting books, keeping old movie tickets, incense, the moon. Dislikes: Being late, unmade beds, alcohol, cemeteries, meditation, the cold, inactivity, repetition/routine. Fears/phobias: Hospitals, bees, irrelevancy. Favorite color: Green. Bonus personality traits: ↪ Myers-Briggs Type: INTP: “Logician” ↪ Temperament: Choleric ↪ Enneagram: Type 8: “The Challenger”

relatives & relationships.

What They Look For In Others: A challenge. Someone who makes her think outside of her comfort zone. Someone who makes her excited. Someone who doesn’t demand.

FAMILY:

Angelo Rossi:

A first generation American, and the only one of his family to have made the trip across the pond from Italy. Earnest, hard-working, rule-follower, straight-shooter, big dreamer. Spoke with a thick Italian accent, which helped him with his romantic life. Was prone to falling in love. Dedicated himself to fatherhood when he learned that a girl who he’d been seeing was pregnant. He proposed to her the same night, and Gianna accepted, though they’d never be married. When they ended things two years after Cara was born, it was on Gianna’s terms – but Angelo had been relieved. He had a jovial attitude and tended to sing under his breath when working on something. He always seemed tired but rarely slept.

Gianna Esposito:

A lifelong Roxbury girl, and already a divorced single mother by the time that she met Angelo. There was a thirteen year age gap between the two, and Gianna had an eleven year old boy on her hands. It had been easy to fall for the sweet younger man with the endearing accent. The pregnancy was by accident, and a reluctant dedication to Roman Catholicism prevented her from aborting it. A love exists between mother and daughter, but raising another baby had not been the plan. She didn’t argue when Angelo offered to take on Cara full-time. She didn’t argue when, after Cara came to live with her, the younger girl stayed out of the house. She didn’t argue when she quickly moved away, either. The two have never seemed to really get each other. Now in her late 60s, Gianna is still a Roxbury girl – and has resigned herself to life as a grandmother to her son’s children. Gianna and Cara seem to have an unspoken agreement of a necessary bi-weekly phone call, but visits are few and far between.

Mason Hamilton:

As he was already 12 by the time Cara was born, the brother and sister never had much of a sibling dynamic. He was a babysitter to her for most of Gianna’s weekends, and was long-since out of the house by the time that Angelo died. He’s tried in the past to take a fatherly role with his sister, without much success. As adults, the two bonded over their shared interest in criminal justice. Not unlike their mother, Mason has remained close to home – he continues to reside in Boston, albeit with his wife and two children. He is a third grade detective with the Boston Police Department. In exchange for access to the find my iPhone feature, he pays Cara’s cellphone bill.

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS:

Liam Coleman:

A fellow employee of Riker’s Island, Liam was a social worker who asked Cara out shortly after she began working there. The two dated, moved in together, and became engaged for a time. There was nothing particularly wrong about Liam, but his utter satisfaction with things as they were irritated Cara. His image of a future for the two of them – a house out on Long Island, kids, and a dog – unsettled her. She broke off the engagement without much warning, and moved out almost immediately. The only thing of theirs she retains is the cat they’d once shared. If he hates her, Cara thinks she deserves it.

William Morris:

A local sheriff in town who took an interest in Cara not long after her arrival. When she was initially looking for employment, she went to the town’s precinct to see if they had any positions for a person with her qualifications. They didn’t – but Sheriff Morris offered to talk shop with her over lunch. He claimed he helped her with a job, though the truth is she went on to pick up shifts waiting tables at the diner where they’d had coffee. They went on two dates, and slept together once – she’s ignored his text messages ever since.

OTHER:

Church:

By far the most committed relationship she’s ever been in – Church the cat is the only piece of New York she has with her. The fat tabby is named after the feline from Pet Semetary, which was a favorite book of her childhood.

personal history.

CHILDHOOD:

born in boston, and raised in the neighborhood of roxbury. she was the only child born to her parents as a couple, though her mother had a child from a previous marriage. her parents were never married, and were no longer together by the time she was a toddler. gianna’s accidental pregnancy had been the primary motivating factor for their relationship, and after cara was born it became clear they did not mesh well as a couple. cara was raised primarily by her father, angelo.

she did have regular contact with her mother while growing up, and would spend weekends with her and her older brother, mason. her older brother was already a teenager when she was born, and so had little interest in her. in hindsight, it also seemed to cara that gianna had been disinterested in having a young child around. her mother was not unaffectionate, but seemed to just be tired. their lifestyle of living just above the poverty line did little to help the situation.

conversely, the younger angelo was an engaged and active father, despite a draining work schedule which entailed overnight work in hvac. he did an admirable job of shielding his daughter from the crime-filled community they resided in, and encouraged her to use her burgeoning intellect to climb up the socioeconomic hierarchy.

ADOLESCENCE:

when cara was sixteen years old, her father was accidentally caught in the crosshairs of gunfire, and subsequently died of his wounds. cara was devastated by the loss, and was ceaselessly frustrated by the absence of justice – the individuals involved in the shooting were never caught.

she spent two years living full-time with her mother, which was trying for both mother and daughter. cara stayed away from home as often as she could, and was quick to get into romantic relationships if it meant she had a place to sleep out. she went through a rebellious phase that didn’t seem to rouse gianna’s interest.

with a renewed determination to take her father’s advice and flee roxbury, cara was diligent in her education and obtained a scholarship to attend nearby emmanuel college, where she insisted on dorming. her mother seemed relieved by the choice.

YOUNG ADULTHOOD:

cara was unsure of what direction she wanted to take her education in, however felt that lingering sense of injustice and wanted to channel it into something productive. she briefly considered becoming a police officer, but just as quickly dismissed the idea. on the advice of a counselor, she began to study psychology.

by the time that she’d finished her four years at school, she’d warmed up to the idea of counseling. given her naturally analytic mind and capability for empathy, she thought that it seemed to be a good fit. she transitioned into graduate school after a year-long break following undergrad, though she’d made the move to new york to do so – it had the comfort of city life without the memories of boston.

she spent one year in a traditional counseling program before her program director and advisor turned her on to the idea of working within a forensic population. initially, she was put off by the idea of working with criminals – but the longer she thought about it, the more fitting it seemed. in a way, it was a way of finding the answers to the questions she thought she’d always have: why do people become criminals? how do people commit murder? what motivates them? what would make them stop? can they stop? she imagined herself being utilized as an expert in court cases, and the thought of helping bring justice to others was appealing.

cara applied to and was accepted into the forensic psychology graduate program at john jay university. the program would take another two years, and when she finished she found herself able to break into a professional field at 26 – and began working as a case manager and clinician on rikers island.

after the first year or so, it became clear to cara that the work she was able to do with her level of education was not consistent with the level of work she wanted to do. most of her efforts with her assigned patients seemed to be focused on working through immediate issues such as squabbles with other inmates or ongoing addiction issues. her supervisors frequently cautioned her against diving too deep, warning her that she was doing acute treatment, and that she shouldn’t open pandora’s box.

despite feeling discouraged with her career, she endeavored to make it work. she tried to make a life for herself, and at one point found herself engaged and prepared to move on to the rest of her life. the deep feeling of dissatisfaction nonetheless persisted.

when it came onto her radar that elliot danes – whose books she had voraciously consumed – was on staff for a doctoral program in nearby maine, she was unable to get the idea out of her head. he was who she wanted to be – and the longer she stayed on at her job, the more apparent it became that she’d be unable to gain that level of notoriety without a doctorate attached to her name. she’d barely lasted two years on rikers before she applied secretly and impulsively to the university. when her acceptance came through, she was just as impulsive in imploding the life she’d built in new york: she quit the job and quit the fiancé without a second thought, and moved her life to start up the three year program.

she worked harder on the doctoral program than anything she’d worked on before – she was determined to take in any and every bit of knowledge she could along the way. when the opportunity presented itself to take up an assistantship role with elliot in her third year, she she jumped at it.

#bio

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