SS - Jalebi Mitra

OH SNAP 



Name

-- Arundhati “Jalebi” Mitra (juh-LEI-bee)

Gender

-- female

Species

-- Inkling

Color

-- warm pinkish orange

Occupation

--Mechanic

Birthday

--January 30th (22 y.o)

Personality

-- (+Friendly, +Hospitable, +Inventive, = Proud, =Independent, -Duplicitous, -Volatile)

Jalebi is a nice girl, the kind of girl whom your parents would love to see you with- on the surface of course. She's warm and welcoming, willing to drop everything to take care of a guest or willing to make sacrifices to avoid inconveniencing a host. She takes her behavior around those who mean well seriously. However, she doesn't usually live up to people’s expectations of her moral character. Jalebi is fairly concerned with self-preservation, willing to trick even people she dislikes or people who won’t ask questions into being close to her, so long as they are useful to her. Her favorite people are the ones that buy her coffee, stroke her ego, give her things she needs like rent and food. If she wants to befriend someone, she’ll tag around either they want her to or not- her pride in her own charm drives her persistence. Jalebi is reckless and driven; her word is law unless of course, someone manages to convince her that her word is misguided, rash, or outright ridiculous. Jalebi is very proud of her academic intelligence, and while that doesn't necessarily translate to practicality, she will defend her ridiculous ideas to the end. Unless, of course, you manage to talk her out of it. Jalebi appreciates honesty and fact, and will happily concede to the supreme will of science and objectivity. However, she is a tricky one to navigate - while she will listen to science and verifiable fact, she is quick to dismiss claims if the evidence is not presented right to her face. Changing her mind is a possible, but incredibly time-consuming task. 

That said, Jalebi is loyal to the people who stick around long enough. Call it a disease of compassion, but the longer she spends trying to keep someone around, the more she feels genuine concern for them. She may not necessarily have your back in a dangerous situation unless helping you will impact her own chance of ending up okay, but she wouldn't hesitate to consider you a friend. Unfortunately, good vibes won't prevent her from being unreliable…

History

-- Usually stories about families who have great expectations for their children are about people who disappoint their parents and follow their own heart. Arundhati, nicknames ‘Jalebi’ after the Indian dessert for her sweet golden coloring, was never one of those people- her parents wanted her to become and engineer, and she, at a young age, decided she wanted that as well. It was beautiful how complex machines were- trips to the museum were a delight for the family of three, and every passing report card was a cause for celebration, well into her acceptance to the prestigious Mt. Macchalee Academy for Scientifically Gifted Students.

However for most of her time until Jalebi was ten, she didn’t have much of a social circle. She was much too loud, or much too ambitious. She didn’t have anyone she could call a best friend until one day when a tall, awkward looking Octoling sat in her seat. She pushed him out to claim her seat back, and in response, he did the same to her.

Jalebi and Wesley were virtually inseparable after that.

It was a joy for the Mitras to hear that their daughter was socializing, especially with a smart boy like Wesley- he was interested in chemical reactions and spent a lot of time mixing up plant materials to run through the school’s mass spec. While Jalebi was much more fascinated with machinery and electricity, she found Wesley’s insatiable curiosity to explore the chemistry of living organisms engaging and fascinating. Wesley was an odd kid, loud and pushy despite his frail, awkward appearance, and loved to insert himself into conversations regardless of the topic. But Jalebi didn’t mind much. He was the first person she knew who didn’t seem to mind her garish personality. They could be alone and overwhelming together.

Eventually the time came for the two to graduate, and they both got large scholarships to the premier private school for research on Mt. Macchalee. They first few months of living together were fun- they had a good roommate dynamic and it was easy to allocate chores- plus Jalebi really enjoyed being able to live with her best friend. However it was shortly before the move that Wesley began to exhibit some signs of anxiety, and he brought some of his worries to the apartment. All webcams and remotes had to be faced away from him when not in use, and the doors and windows HAD to be locked, or he would get upset. They were minor things at first that didn’t bother Jal. She could handle these idiosyncrasies.

But as their undergraduate careers away from Home continued, Jal was made to spent less time at home. Wesley was doing things that made her uneasy, such as asking questions about her motives or locking doors so she couldn’t get in unless she called to confirm it was her at the door. It seemed like the longer things went, the more paranoid Wesley got. His good grades began to drift, and his paranoia became targeted at Jalebi herself - she had to be in on something, in on the conspiracy that planned to undermine his academics, that the latent hostility towards his species was driving Jalebi to sabotage him academically.

Eventually he changed the locks on the apartment without letting her know, pushing the Inkling to spend nights either at the University library or in her car. This unfortunate arrangement was stressful on the Inkling, whose grades also began to decline due to the constant fear that Wesley was heading down a bad path, one where he was a danger to himself and to her. She couldn’t afford a counselor on student insurance, and she didn’t have any other real friends. If her parents knew, they’d pull her out of the home immediately and she would be forced to leave Wesley be indefinitely. He was scaring her. This whole situation was physically and emotionally uncomfortable, but she couldn’t leave her best friend.

A decision had to be arrived to somehow, and it did one night during their first semester senior year. Wesley began screaming, throwing things, crying about the perceived betrayal- he was so sure that his best friend was out to get him, and perhaps she was, but not in the way he intended. The taller cephalopod was just weak enough for Jalebi to fight him into a closet to keep him from throwing anything else. Crying herself, she called the Mt. Macchalee emergency services, and had her best friend committed. Emergency medical responders broke down the door and calmed Wesley down enough to take him with them.

Life was lonely for the last semester. Jalebi’s GPA had suffered from the stress, but now free of the immediate physical threat, we was able to pull her grades back up just enough to convince the University to let her do a work-study program with them. But he journey to Inkopolis was long, and required either a good plane or a battle portal to get to. Mt. Macchalee didn’t have a battle economy of any sort, so focused were they on cultural exports and technology, which meant that she had to move out.

She didn’t tell her parents she was going alone.

Rip Tokiyaki seemed the ideal place to set up. She got a small apartment in University-affiliated complex and took up a job at a local cafe in the meantime to get extra money for rent. She refused to get a roommate. Her internship running diagnostic tests on the greenhouses and performing maintenance and troubleshooting at the Kelp Dome was just a trip through the battle plaza away- she just had to strap on her equipment and jump through the grating to be whisked over to the giant garden.

What she learned was fascinating- the city had started  up a fresh new battle economy to celebrate the construction of the Battle Plaza… and they were in need of fresh, competent mechanics.

Jalebi was competent, and she knew it. Plus making ink weapons sounded like fun! She felt her creative self, the little squid who would take apart clicks and then build robots out of them, had been neglected for far too long. So the Inkling made a resolution to abandon the circumstances that forced her here and to start fresh and to Stay Fresh, no matter how hard it would be...

Hobbies

-Taking things apart and building them back together!

-criticizing machines for being unintuitively designed

-shopping

-trying to shut down flame wars online, knowing she can and will only make it worse

-watching terrible sci-fi movies and shows

Weapon

-- Splatterscope

GEAR

--

Extras/Fun Facts

• Jal is now the junior manager of her coffee shop job which I will name someday I swear

• Jalebi is into girls. Her parents know this and instead of disapproving, they now attempt to set her up with their friends’ daughters. Preferable, but geez guys

• Jal is very invested in mental health activism. If you use any derogatory terms implying an unstable mental state she’ll tear you a new one. To the best of her ability of course, she’s really small

• Jalebi works cafe weekday mornings and Kelp Dome every evenings except Saturdays.

• Jalebi dumpster dives to get spare parts for her weapons… and she isn’t very discreet about it although she desperately tries to be.

• Jalebi will be nicer to you if you think she’s smart. Or cute. Or both. Ideally both.