Carmen Mendoza

Carmen Mendoza is a young monster hunter under the tutelage of Henry Travers. Initially a fanatic of the supernatural through TV and books, she had a real encounter at the Aberdeer House near her home, solidifying her conviction to become a true hunter and set out for adventure.

Appearance
Carmen is a rather ordinary looking young lady of average height. A shiny collection of black hair is normally tied with a red hairband at the end and hung over her shoulder to drape down her body, usually to chest level. A heart shaped face contains a small nose and pale pink lips. The eyes, however, are about average size and of a piercing ice blue color. The ears, however, return to being small with attached lobes. In addition, her skin is an ashen gray color due to chronic anemia.

Her hands and arms are somewhat slender, connecting on one end to surprisingly stubby fingers (nails painted alternating purple and black) and an average sized bust on the other. Her waist is about the same width as her torso. Her hips, however, are a bit larger than average, something which she pays no mind to and happily flaunts and/or jokes about. Her legs taper down to average sized feet.

In general, her outfits have a bit of dedication to comfort and informality. Shorts are usually a staple, due to “pride in the thighs” and for being comfy and easy to wear (quoted directly from Pokemon). Her normal footwear tends towards Converse sneakers in black with socks of some strange color. More often than not, she prefers to wear male sized t-shirts, due to the improbable design and uncomfortable nature of most female clothing. From time to time and depending on the weather, she may add a jacket or sweater of some kind. Aside from a silver anklet on her left leg, she avoids most jewelry.

Personality
“Stubborn to a fault” would be an accurate description for this young woman, which she would argue over until you're forced to give up and admit she isn't. Since most of her life was spent as a doormat for other people, she decided to never let anyone take advantage of her again and staunchly refuses to let anyone force her to do anything she doesn't want to. While she easily becomes legitimately bossy because of this, she sees it as fine so long as no one gets hurt (babies' feelings don't count). She's also not afraid to defend herself if need be, becoming known in some circles for her large bottle of mace.

Cheez-Its are her favorite food, keeping the plastic bag component to a box with her at all times. Salt and cheese, in general fall high on her list of preferred consumption, stemming from her South American heritage. She is a fan of the TV series Supernatural, often posting videos of the implied relationship between Dean Winchester and Castiel. She is similarly angry at the show's massive hatred of its female fanbase, queer baiting, and Castiel's current absence from the anniversary episode. She also likes dogs.

She suffers from aplastic anemia, a hereditary condition caused by damage to bone marrow. This causes a shortage of all forms of blood cells and gives her skin her usual pale color. In addition to increased susceptibility to injuries and infection, she also becomes fatigued and thirsty much easier than most people, in addition to the various other symptoms of anemia. From a young age, she has taken various drugs to help deal with it and is currently on a waiting list for a marrow transplant. While she finds it incredibly annoying to have to constantly watch for even the slightest injuries and damages (flu season being a horrible mess every year), she's learned to live with it and is still hopeful of eventually overcoming it fully if a donor is ever available.

She has a strong belief in the paranormal (or, rather, supernatural) and hopes to document it in some form. This usually means uneventful YouTube videos of her walking around various “haunted” locations and talking to her viewers. She is a fairly good cinematographer, though, and her equipment is high quality, so her view count is consistently in the hundreds. She very rarely responds to trolls or critics, being mature enough to just ignore it all. After the events of the Aberdeer House, she was more than ecstatic to find out everything she'd believed in up until now was completely true. She has since adjusted quite well to the change of pace in her life, taking most strange happenings in stride.

Despite her confidence in most other areas of life, relationships are not one of them. In fact, she completely shuts down around woman she finds attractive, devolving into some stuttering, mumbling, rambling lunatic who should probably not be out in public at that time. The fact she'd grown up in a small town where, despite being north enough to border Canada, most women are shy to admit they're into other women wasn't a big help in feeling okay about her sexuality. She's trying to make progress in becoming more secure, though. In fact, she managed to actually say, “Hello,” to the person she sat next to on the bus ride to the mansion. It was followed by, “Did you know flies vomit on their food before they eat it?” but she still gets points for trying.

Her addiction to Twitter and other forms of social media is quite obvious to most. When not doing something requiring full attention or alertness, she is usually updating her followers on her latest ghost hunting expedition or what she just ate. While rather inane, she has managed to find several spooky (though not haunted) locations to record in. Her first real lead was, strangely enough, the Aberdeer House, despite having lived within an hour of it for most of her life.

History
Carmen was born to a fairly well-off middle class family living in New York. They quickly moved to Maine not long after she was born, though, since her parents felt a small town would be better for her to grow up in than a large city. It was also much cheaper, meaning they had more money to spend and could afford comparatively nicer living conditions than in Manhattan. Due to her father's anemia, she was tested early on for it as well, her bone marrow showing positive for the large amounts of fat necessary to diagnose the disease.

Because of this, she was coddled for most of her life. While most would think she'd grow up to be a brat, it was quite the opposite. Constantly being told she was too weak or too fragile to play games or activities left her feeling pathetic and lonely. In addition, not many of the other children wanted to be around her to begin with, the knowledge she had a disease and her unwillingness to disobey her parents and play at recess making her rather unpopular. She eventually stopped trying to be make friends at all, and was bullied and taken advantage of by several people, too afraid to try and stand up to them or report them.

It only became worse as she got older, genetics seemingly wanting to assault her again by causing her to develop her prominent hips. She was mocked for being fat to no end, seen as an easy target due to already being an outcast. It was, certainly, one of the most miserable times in her life. After graduation, she decided to go to college to pursue a psychology degree.

While at college, she began to give in to her repressed teenage rebellion, experimenting with physical activities and low-intensity sports. She slowly began to make meaningful relationships with other people, figuring out who she was and things she enjoyed (meaning, she learned what Supernatural was, and that girls are kind of really soft and nice to look at). She joined the local AV club at one point, having a nice time editing and filming for various school-related events and promotional advertisements.

For a long time, she'd been interested in ghost stories and other scary things. It was really Supernatural that inspired her to go out looking for them. Though she never really thought she'd be able to find anything, having the intelligence to know that TV ghost hunters were full of shit, she figured it would be a fun activity to do with a few friends every now and then. They'd find nothing, of course, but it did a lot to enhance her confidence by plunging head first into terrifying situations with no real danger. It was no coincidence she'd be appointed leader after a few nights out.

She graduated not too long ago, returning to her home town with a new sense of confidence and purpose. She had no real idea as to what career she'd want, but had recently began working as a stocker in a bookstore. It paid well enough and was close to home. Her life took a much more dramatic tone after that, however, when she met Henry Travers at the old Aberdeer Mansion. She was swiftly faced with the reality of the supernatural and nearly killed as fodder for a mad magician's attempts to resurrect his dead family.

Treated at a local hospital for her blood loss, she awoke the questioning by police and denial by Travers of the truth of what happened. Angry and determined to find out more about the supernatural, she ran away from home to do just that. Tracking down Travers at a diner, she demanded to be taken along with him. After much arguing, he relented, and the two have become partners in hunting the paranormal forces in the world.

Cute Girls and Magic
During her first visit to The World's End, Carmen met Molly Jonker. Finding her cute, she was dumbfounded and unsure of what to say or how to react. She was eventually able to calm her nerves and begin conversation with the other woman, but was forced to leave before they could get to know each other. She ran into a door before leaving.

Christmas with the Krampus
Transported through The World's End, the duo found themselves in Germany on Christmas Day. There, they encountered the Krampus beating a child's bottom. Henry, ramming it with his car, ordered her to retrieve the child and find the branches of a Christmas tree. Following orders, she did just that, delivering it to the alchemist. She grabbed a shovel from the trunk of his car, but before she could use it, the monster had already been dispatched.

Powers and Abilities
Cinematography: Despite her lack of experience outside of college AV club, she is a surprisingly good cinematographer. Her equipment is high-quality and her videos well-shot. She also avoids the urge to violently swing her body while recording like so many people do.

Cooking: Carmen is an accomplished chef for college food. She has a talent for making the most out of small amounts of things, including money. She prepares instant ramen with the best of them.

Video Editing: After years of editing her own movies, she has gained considerable skill in using video editing programs, so much so that others have asked for her services in the past.

Hand to Hand Combat: Carmen cannot fight, though she does have a basic knowledge of weak points on the human to exploit if she is ever attacked by a common assailant. She is a good shot with her mace, however.

Occult Knowledge: Because of her contact with Henry, she has learned a great deal of knowledge on the supernatural within the last few months. Even before then, she had read many books on the occult with varying levels of accuracy, as well as the surprisingly correct information contained within Supernatural.

Equipment
Mace: Carmen carries a bottle of mace for use in defending herself. It is good for 250 sprays up to 100 feet away, and has three more years worth of use before it expires.

Purse: A simple red purse carries most of her things she can't fit or keep in her pockets. These would include a reusable plastic bottle of water, her Cheez-Its bag, various feminine products, a few random hard candies taken from indiscriminate glass bowls, some sunglasses in a silky, purple case, a pack of tissues, her medication (iron pills and immunosuppressents), and keys.

iPhone 5: She possesses an iPhone 5 with a teddybear case. It has a number of apps and music for the young lady on the go, especially Twitter.

Computer: Carmen uses an iMac for computing purposes. It has Adobe Aftereffects and Audacity for editing purposes.

Backpack: After leaving home to follow her dreams of being a paranormal investigator, Carmen packed a number of important belongings to take on her journey into a tattered, black backpack. These include several sets of clothes, a pink wallet (credit card, debit card, driver's license, library card, and around $20 of cash), various charging cables for her devices, three cans of beans, two bottles of water, an extra pair of shoes, a few books on the occult (from less than reputable sources), and a dime bag full of marijuana with rolling paper (a casual user, she swears).

Trivia

 * Her approved character sheet can be found here.
 * She has a crush on Molly, as confirmed in Cute Girls and Magic.
 * Carmen is one fourth Chilean, one fourth Irish, and one half Mexican.