Miss Mitochondria

Evolution : Origins

Tessa Wagner never wanted to be anything but an actress. Although soft-spoken and shy, she was determined to get over her own shortcomings and find success out in the world. Unfortunately, her genetic make-up had other plans.

She lived a relatively mundane life throughout her childhood and teenage years. When she disembarked for college to pursue a degree in the performing arts, she fell ill. Blaming it on nerves and the general stress one goes through when adjusting to a new home, she loaded up on vitamin C and carried on with her life. Things would continue as planned until her Freshman midterms. Jittery with stage fright before the performance she had to give for her drama class, Tessa first became light-headed...then passed out. While unconscious, she had a strange dream of talking to an inner voice, urging her to evolve an take her rightful place in the world.

When she finally awoke, she was informed that the building her class was in had burnt down, leaving her as the sole survivor. The investigating team discovered that the point of origin for the flame was Tessa herself. This revelation left the woman flabbergasted--she would never harm another person, let alone thirty! Not really understanding what was going on, she agreed to stay at the hospital until they could get a handle on what caused the tragedy.

After noticing unusual cellular activity in skin and blood samples, the investigation decided to call in Dr. Kaufman. Well-versed in cell biology, the scientist scrutinized the samples only to find something amazing. Tessa's mitochondria had evolved to put out energy with enough magnitude to cause combustion.

Not wanting to let another tragedy happen again, the law force sent Tessa off to train with GIFT in effort to control her powers. Yet each time she used her abilities, she fell victim to strange dreams and that odd voice that urged her to evolve...

Presently, Tessa struggles to control her abilities and ignore the sway of her cells' siren call to descend into savagery.

Fusion : Symbiont

Mitochondria. Everyone has them; small organelles within our bodies' cells that produce energy for us to use. Tessa's mitochondria have evolved to the point where they have gained sentience, essentially equaling to a separate organism residing within Tessa's body. The symbiont primarily manifests itself in the ability to produce flame, and induce flame in other creatures. How this occurs is still a bit of a mystery, but it is theorized that Tessa's mitochondria can somehow communicate with those in other organisms triggering them to produce unsafe amounts of energy.

However, the symbiont's abilities extend beyond thermal manipulation. When placed under high levels of stress, fear, or pain, the symbiont has been shown to modify Tessa's physiology and take over temporarily. Tessa has likened the experience as to being in the passenger seat of a car...she still sees everything and has some control, but knows that something else is driving. When this occurs it seems that the sentience of the symbiont isn't fully surfaced, just forces the host body into autopilot due to survival instincts.

Tessa's Medical File

Resonance : Personality

The girl;
"Sometimes...It's hard to understand what's even going on."
Tessa is a rather layered young lady. On the surface, she does her best to be an extrovert, always happy and content to chat away at people. She holds herself well, and is confident in stance as well as speech. She's very determined, and she will stop at nothing to accomplish something once she's put her mind to it...she once wrote in her diary that she'd sell her soul if she had to, to get the lead part in a show. This is all quite a contrast to the concerned thoughts that often run around in her head. Despite all her outward confidence, she still worries about falling short. Her unwillingness to fail has lead to her passing out in the middle of work more than once. When it comes to interaction with other people, Tessa is a sweetheart. She is polite, and concerned about the well being of others...However, this doesn't mean she'll let people walk all over her. She has limits, and is not afraid to let someone know when they've passed them -- politely, of course.

All of that puts her at odds' with the parasite inside of her.

The symbiont;
"Nucleic domination has finally come to an end once and for all. Once again...the day for the mitochondria to be free has finally arrived!" -- Eve (Parasite Eve)
To put it simply, the symbiont views the world with a set of blinders on. That is to say, things that are not part of its grand scheme of world domination are not deemed important enough to gain its attention or concerns. It has no interest in materialistic objects or money, and a lot of the time, no interest in people either. It is very self-absorbed and haughty, megalomania is a normal character trait for it. It can exhibit maternal tendencies and even possessiveness over people every now and again. Generally, it does not actually feel anything for these people – it is more of a show or mask, really – it just sees them as useful pawns to further its goal. Being so egotistical, sometimes it is easily offended…but for the most part, it maintains a cool, logical exterior. It knows what it wants and how to get it, it will just take time…It can show varying degrees of patience, depending on how close it perceives itself to be to a goal.

Due to the medication Tessa is on, the symbiont does not usually manifest itself. It is more of an annoying voice in the back of Tessa's head. While under stress, she sometimes responds out loud to its quips, but that's rare.

Selection : Relationships
(WIP)