Rose Carrigan
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Rose is a gifted medium, capable of seeing the spirits of people who have passed away. She is not a psychic, nor is she a registered hero.
Rose Amelia Wexler was born on September 10, 1991, and raised in a small suburban neighborhood just outside of Paragon City, where she lived with her parents and older sister, Mary. From the moment Rose was born, Mary, who was seven at the time, took her younger sister under her wing, becoming Rose's role model and confidante. Despite the age gap between them, Rose's relationship with Mary defined most of Rose's personality; the girls seemed to be two sides of the same coin. Where Mary was always tomboyish, interested in football and motorcycles and playing war games with the neighborhood boys, Rose was quieter and more feminine, and preferred playing dress-up or having tea parties with her dolls.
Almost every child, at some point during his or her early years, has an imaginary friend. Rose had seven. All seven lived in her neighborhood; one of them never left her bedroom, but the others would often drift in and out of her backyard when she was playing outside. They'd tell her wonderful stories--stories about their lives, about the people they knew and the things that had happened to them. Sometimes, though rarely, they would play with her, too, scratching marks in the dirt of her yard or playing hide and seek. Most of Rose's imaginary friends were adults, but one was a little girl Rose's age named Julie. Julie was Rose's best friend, and went nearly everywhere with Rose.
Growing up, Rose never found it odd that her imaginary friends were so involved in her life, or that she had so many. Her parents and older sister Mary also took it all in stride; Mary could even see most of Rose's imaginary friends. Rose's parents would often see Rose playing outside, laughing and talking seemingly to thin air, and give each other significant looks, but they never spoke to Rose about her imaginary friends.
As Rose got older, her friends in school eventually outgrew their own imaginary friends as they became more interested in boys and makeup and less interested in playing pretend. But Rose never outgrew the "imaginary friends" stage. Even as she grew older, her imaginary friends were always around; especially Julie, who didn't age as Rose did, but still stayed at Rose's side. When Rose's schoolmates found out that she still spoke to thin air and believed ardently in the existence of her imaginary friends, Rose became the butt of endless teasing, and as Rose got older the teasing grew worse and turned into bullying. Rose, being a gentle girl and never very confrontational, took the bullying quietly, but began to pull away from her friends at school. Mary did her best to put a stop to the bullying by beating up the chief offenders on a few occasions, but this only caused the bullies to become more cunning, changing their tactics from pushes and shoves to whispered insults and cruel laughter, and Mary could no longer protect her. Rose withdrew even further, taking refuge in her schoolwork and in books.
One day, when Rose was ten, Julie told her a story that Rose had never heard before: the story of how Julie died. Julie had been five years old. The story was fragmented, as Julie still didn't have a complete idea of what had happened to her, but she was able to tell enough of it for Rose to put the story together. Julie remembered playing on the side of the street, in the river of water running down the gutter during a storm; she remembered how a car had driven past, roaring with speed and the sound of the water under the tires, and how it had swerved, spinning around and striking Julie where she sat on the curb. Julie had died instantly, and so painlessly that she hadn't even realized she was dead.
It was then that Rose realized that her imaginary friends were more real than she had believed. Once, they had all been alive. Now, as ghosts, they gravitated to her because she was one of the few who could see them. From that day on, Rose dedicated herself to the task of helping each of her ghostly friends find peace and cross over into the afterlife.
As she grew out of childhood, Rose's studies became a significant part of her life, a refuge from the teasing and bullying she often faced at school. As she grew older, and eventually lost her ghostly friends as one by one she helped them cross over, she retreated further and further into school work and the novels she read. Though she became an excellent student, she was often ostracized at school for being too bookish, and though she remained a cheerful and friendly girl, she had few friends among the living. As Rose progressed through middle school and into high school, she became especially interested in history, as her abilities as a medium often brought her into contact with the spirits of people who had been dead for decades, if not centuries. Rose graduated as the salutatorian of her high school class, and went on to become a history major at Paragon University in Steel Canyon.
Deciding to make a fresh start of things, Rose moved away from home, renting an apartment in Steel Canyon near the university campus. Shortly after she moved in she discovered that one of the apartment's previous residents was still living there: an angry poltergeist whom she affectionately named The Hurler, for his tendency to throw objects and generally make a mess of her apartment.
While in Paragon City, Rose also became involved with the Paragon Police Department. She began doing consulting work with a detective named Jonathan Thorpe, who specialized in the use of darker magic to solve and fight crime. During her work, Rose would do her best to communicate with the spirits of the recently dead, gleaning as much information as she could from them regarding their deaths before helping them to cross into the afterlife; Detective Thorpe would then use the information she gave him to solve the crime and stop the perpetrators.
It was during her first year at the university that Rose noticed a young man in one of her classes by the name of William Carrigan. Or, more accurately, she first noticed his disappearance; Will was generally quiet in class, drawing little attention to himself, but when he suddenly disappeared from class and was gone for weeks, the entire class speculated on his whereabouts. Rose finally discovered him by accident in Pocket D, where she had gone on a whim to take an unaccustomed break from schoolwork. Shy but friendly, she began to speak to him.
Over the course of the next week or so, she learned that he was a hero registered under the name MX-2000, and that he had spent the previous weeks traveling to other countries after the death of his father, Joseph Carrigan, an inventor who had been killed by an assassin with orders from Arachnos. In order to help Will cope with the loss of his father, Rose went with him to Joseph's old apartment, guessing correctly that the spirit of Will's father might still be lingering in the place where he had died. There, Rose helped Will to communicate with Joseph, which soothed some of Will's grief and gave Joseph the peace he needed to cross over.
From that point on, Will became a huge part of Rose's life. They began dating, and fell very much in love. In Will, Rose had found a friend who loved and respected her for her ability to see spirits, and who was willing to be the protector that she had never had during her school years; in return, Rose gave him all of the love and quiet emotional support she could, helping him through the grief of his father's death and eventually also helping him to get in touch with his mother's spirit, who had remained behind to keep an eye on Will as his guardian spirit.
After nearly a year of dating, Rose discovered that she was pregnant. After a week or so of thinking and talking it over with Will (and doing her very best to keep Will's brother, Andrew, and sidekick, Emily, from beating up the father-to-be), Rose decided to keep the baby. With the help of Emily and Andrew, Rose began to prepare for the imminent arrival of her child.
While becoming pregnant hasn't interfered with Rose's schoolwork and pursuit of a college degree, she did take maternity leave from PPD in the interests of keeping her unborn daughter safe.
Not long after Rose discovered that she was pregnant, Will took her on a date to Cimerora, keeping it a surprise from Rose until their arrival. The fact that she was in ancient Rome thrilled Rose to no end because of her interest in history, and Rose and Will spent hours exploring the streets and nearby hills of Cimerora.
Finally, Will and Rose paused for a rest, perching on a rooftop and staring out at the sea. There, surrounded by the beautiful view and the bustle of ancient life, Will proposed. Rose, moved almost to tears by the beauty of the moment and her love for Will, accepted.
Rose and Will were married on August 8th, 2010. The wedding was held by a picturesque waterfall near Talos Island, and was attended by a group of their friends and family, many of whom are heroes...which turned out to be a good thing, when Talos Island came under attack by Rikti forces just after Rose and Will had exchanged their rings! Everyone survived with few injuries, thanks to the presence of their hero friends. The reception which followed the wedding seemed to be quite a hit, though both Rose and Will proved that neither of them were meant for sports when they completely missed the guests gathered to catch the bouquet and the garter (both of which, incidentally, struck their friend Brian, who is already married).
After the wedding, the newlyweds departed for their honeymoon, a beach house which had been designed (with the help of Ouroboros) as a getaway for Rose for the remainder of her pregnancy. Caught out of time, the house would keep Rose safe from any attackers until the baby could be born, at which point she would emerge from the house and be taken to a hospital in realtime to give birth.
After her wedding to Will, Rose spent the next week in stasis with her new husband, living in their prearranged beach house and whiling away the months until Rose was ready to give birth. Every few weeks--only a matter of hours or a day in real time--they would take "vacations" from their extended honeymoon, returning to Pocket D and Paragon City to visit with their friends and run necessary errands.
On one such occasion, they made the acquaintance of Dr. Althaea MacKenzie, a former military surgeon who had some experience with midwifery, and who was happy to give Rose the medical examinations that Rose wasn't able to have in her seclusion in stasis.
Finally, a week after her marriage to Will, Rose attended the wedding of Will's friend Rayne Rhapsodi. During the reception, Rose's water finally broke, and Will rushed her to the hospital in Talos Island. With the help of her friend Saki, who was able to alleviate most of the pain of birth, and the support of Will, whose hand was nearly crushed in the process, Rose gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
Grace Josephine Carrigan was born on August 15th, 2010.
(Under construction--check back later.)
William Carrigan: Will is Rose's husband, and is the one man that she loves more than anyone else on Earth. Rose adores Will, and gives him all the support she can, in her own quiet way. She has proven, and would willingly prove again, that she would sacrifice anything for him.
Mary Wexler: Rose's older sister and lifelong confidante. Rose and Mary are almost total opposites, but in a way this has made their sisterly bond stronger, and Rose would have had a much rougher time in elementary and high school if it hadn't been for the support and protection that Mary gave her. Rose and Mary are still very close.
Fennix McDough: Fenny is Will's best friend, and though Rose isn't particularly close to him, she is still very fond of the quirky hero. Fenny's social awkwardness always seems to make Rose feel better about her general shyness in public. She especially likes his goofy sense of humor, though he's much more outgoing than Rose will likely ever be.
Daisy Matthews: Daisy, or Miss Matthews, is invaluable to Rose both as a friend and as an employee. Her legal expertise and organization has kept things running smoothly since Rose became CEO of Carrigan Industries. She also seems to know exactly when Rose is frazzled, and how best to delegate the tasks that need to be done.
Meilin Hsiao: While Rose rarely ventures out of her comfort zone to find friends, she was introduced to Meilin by Will, and Rose was instantly attracted to Meilin's personality and sense of humor, and quickly warmed up to being friends with Meilin. Rose feels that she can be more down-to-earth around Meilin, and she now considers Meilin to be one of her closest friends.
Saki: Saki is another friend that Rose acquired through exploration outside of her normal comfort zones. When she was introduced by Will, Rose immediately felt comforted and welcomed by Saki's quieter personality, and as she came to know Saki better, she started to consider Saki another close friend.
Andrew Carrigan: Rose's brother-in-law. While she likes him, relations between Rose and Andrew are awkward, since Rose can never seem to forget the time she entered Will's apartment to discover Andrew standing stark naked in the living room.
Emily Adams: While Emily isn't technically Rose's sister-in-law, since Emily and Andrew are only dating, Rose views Emily much the same way she views Mary: as an older sister. Emily's position as a hero (as well as Emily's willingness to beat the shit out of just about anyone) makes Rose somewhat shy around her, but Rose is still very fond of Emily and looks up to her.
Barnabas LeVite: Rose used to find Web, the Son of Encouragement, to be actually rather alarming, which had less to do with his blue skin and more to do with his seemingly itchy trigger finger. However, as their relationship has developed, Rose has learned to relax around him and to trust him as a man who sticks up for his friends. She would trust Web with her life and--even more tellingly--her daughter's life. Rose and Will are currently taking care of Web's son Gunny while Gunny's parents bicker over custody rights.
Rowan O'Neil: At first, Rose didn't believe that Rowan wasn't at least several years older than her. But she quickly realized that this young woman, who might seem cold and intimidating on the outside, could be a very valuable friend and ally--and a great potential candidate for a babysitter.
Character in-game was formerly Rose Wexler.
All of Rose's attacks in-game are strictly out of character. She has a suit of powered armor, built by William Carrigan, which allows her flight and is equipped with medical nanites, which she can (kind of) use to heal others; however, unless she is in her suit, healing is also done out of character.
Rose is capable of seeing spirits, and on occasion can feel their emotions or relive memories of the deceased. Other players are welcome to take advantage of this for RP.