Evangeline Cruz

> "*Experimental? The best ones usually are...*"
> ― Evangeline Cruz
>
>

Eldest daughter and second eldest of Lucia and Monica Cruz, Eva comes from a long line of military from both foster and genetic sides of her family pool. A dedicated actress, Evageline is larger than life when the moment calls for it, a trait that has from time to time put her at odds with her more disciplined and militantly strict mother Lucia. It was a drive to reconnect with her, treading the same steps she had done before, that Evangeline enlisted after her romantic fallout, pursuing her medical career along with a military enlistment. Family focused at heart, she treads the line of "mom friend" just as far as she's allowed to, having her friends and, ultimately, her comrade's best interests at heart.

## Appearance

Eva has a toned and sculpted frame, the product of a very diligent and focused work regiment and refusal to succumb to the Freshman Fifteen of Med School. Due to a balanced diet and focused exercises Meta keeps her body lean and ready for deployment, helped by a morning schedule that’s almost like clockwork. In stark contrast to her build is the wild, asymmetrical, yet well maintained, mane she’s found to style in a bob, dyed pink despite what most general professional conduct would demand with a faded red, now almost salmon itself, streak tucked alongside her ear. When off duty she adorns her lip piercing, knowing all too well of the allure it gives her. Various tattoos are scattered across her body, hidden by her uniform, each with numerous stories behind their inclusion onto her person. Eva herself is a social chameleon, preferring business casual, flowing, and femme outfits when in the center of attention during periods of necessary social graces, flipping into a complete 180 when on her own time/free company. There she dresses casually, almost daringly challenging, as if she’s asking to push the envelope to its breaking point. Despite this, she always presents herself in a welcoming tone, pose, and mindset, to the point of being far too forward.

## Personality & Interests

Eva presents herself with professionalism, positivity, with a welcoming and charming pull about her. The girl can hardly get enough of talking whenever she’s in the mood, with a flair for the dramatic whenever she’s on her own personal time and away from the shackles of a professional front. She’s the type to internalize her own personal stress and insecurities, always wanting to promote a strong outward appearance with a disguise of coolness and charm. She’s more than friendly enough and has a strong sense of compassion and empathy for others, something that’s tested daily in her chosen profession, but she has a very shaky sense of personal attachment to others already not within her circle. She skips from person to person as far as relationships go, satisfied for “One Good Night” before she gets too attached, leaving her in an emotional vacuum of constantly unsatisfied emotional urges. Still, the actress plays her part well, with a nearly cracking smile plastered up in the worst of times. All being said, she has a large and fragile heart for the people she’s welcomed there. As bogged down in internalizing her issues as she is, Eva is a creature of sentiment, the sappier the stronger the emotional resonance, having hoarded old letters, photos, knickknacks, and assorted mementos from friends and a lover long since removed from her life.

Eva is the type of person that will take people into her care, nurture them with care and understanding, build them up with words of praise and confidence, yet close down her walls completely the moment that they try and peel back the layers of her own facade. Internalizing her own negative feelings is the name of the game when it comes to her relationships, as she will suffer in silence before admitting the feelings attempting to burst from her being. Fun natured and approachable, Eva is a shallow entity, only allowing a skim on the surface of her waters in fear of being pushed underneath or drowning someone with her. Further, she has moments of pure ice, compartmentalizing her emotions for moments of detached analysis, refusing to acknowledge the moments that her emotions crack from the pressure.

### Interests

Meta’s interests run in two streams of raw powerful emotion and her incessant burning desire to break down problems into approachable digestible elements. She’s well read in her chosen field, having collected a stockpile of medical resources from an early age, ever since she could manage to skim through the material with glasses far too big for her own good, hand me downs she still keeps tucked away in a drawer in her room. Case studies and documents shared from colleges take up most of her attention when she’s not pouring it into the people around her, leading to many a night spent reading during those rare twilight-zone shifts of slow paced boredom, in between the hours of 2 and 5, the feeling adjacent to locking eyes with the mothwoman in the darkness of the night, fleeting yet an overwhelming sense of beauty.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Eva is a child of the theater, pouring her heart and soul into theatrics and media analysis. She finds comfort and meaning in the structure of her plays, able to release her pent up emotional stress under the blanket of losing herself into a role. She was a state recognized actor during her schooling, leaving it behind as far as a career goes in favor of her pursuit of the military though she still scratches her itch for the dramatic and analysis by uploading film/theater analysis videos, leading her to have a rather successful online celebrity status. (A position she was more than happy to indulge with when she was a power couple Lana, the two having far too much enjoyment out of being celebrities that nobody cared about.) In fact, “Meta” comes directly from her online handle, a nickname that Lana will never let be pried away from her. She also indulges in a music channel on the side, having learned from and collaborated with her elder brother Emmerich, preferring a slow, smooth Ambient indie tone. (An example of which can be heard here.)

## Skills & Abilities

* **Thespian:** Charismatic and a gung-ho people person, Eva has a very persuasive method of getting the results she desires, has an aptitude for blending into roles and the memory necessary to fully adapt to another life. Her improv skills lead her able to adapt quickly once she understands the hints thrown her way, able to mold herself into any unexpected situation. She's picked up a few tips and tricks from her mother's role as a detective leaving her with a practiced hand at subterfuge. She may not be the hard boiled noir detective she always wanted to be, but at least she knows how to catch her mark!
* **CQC:** Trained by her father at an early age for her own protection and spurred on her sparing with Lana during her younger years, Meta is a dedicated practitioner of Sambo, mixing elements of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu into her style, preferring to use her weight and height to her advantage to deliver overwhelming barrages of throws and takedowns. Years of sparring with Lana has accommodated her body to faster targets, making her quite the threat in close combat.
* **Trust me, I’m a Doctor, sorta:** Meta has years of combat experience as a medic, with a vast knowledge of field medicine. While still not on the level of a licensed physician, Eva still has a capable level of medical and surgical know-how due to her combat support training and self-study.

## History

### The Loved Foster Child

August 18th, 0360 PC Eva was born on Earth, in California, Sacramento to Lara Conners, not even embraced before being given up to family friends Lucia and Monica Cruz and moved to Mississippi. Lara was taken out of the public's eye soon after. Even her confidants, the family that had agreed to raise her now abandoned progeny, remained in the dark about where she vanished to. Even once the truth of her adoption was known to her, Lara was still a stranger in Evangeline’s eyes and she would remain forgotten to her as the years went by. To Eva, her family was more than enough. As far as the family was concerned, Evangeline was their own flesh and blood even if she was given her mother’s name as a memento.

Her family cultivated and supported the talents that would shape the individual that Eva would become. Lucia’s military days long were behind her due to an old war injury, though she still used his training and experience to good use. She made her living as a detective alongside her wife, who had willingly stepped away from her career as a nurse to raise their newly adopted daughter and their other child, Emmerich, alongside their other 5 children later on down the line. Lucia made it a point to teach her children self protection techniques, something that Eva quickly took to and pursued with a hunger unlike most of her siblings. Lucia’s teaching expanded into full martial training, as well as many tagalongs with her mother during her work ventures where she’d happily play her role as the world’s biggest momma’s girl. There were moments where she’d become distant, as if she stuck where Eva couldn’t follow, lost in a moment’s haze as Lucia surrendered to old memories. There was an urge to understand the moments her mother slipped into the Quiet Place, as Eva had come to call it, but it was a place she could never understand, never relate to.

### From Friends to Lovers

At least, that is, not as a civilian. Evangeline took to her physical training and school work with an almost unshakable drive, supported by her wonderfully loving family and challenged by her best friend Alaina Zaephord. The two had met in elementary, bonding over their shared love of the dramatic and martial arts. They were kindred spirits, both military brats in a way, and both willing to push themselves for the sake of their parents. There was nobody she felt closer to, nobody she ever wanted in her life more, from being there for her during the mourning of her mother, being her first and biggest fan of her athletic pursuits, the two challenged and supported each other as best friends. Then, during a night with one drink too many, Evangeline let her feelings slip from her grasp, a deep regret that was answered in turn by Lana. It was… sloppy, experimental, and a frantic unsure tenure as lovers, but to Evangeline it was a dream come true.

At least, till the glass ceiling broke.

### The Mask of Professionalism

After graduation, Evangeline had sought deployment in China, wanting some sense of closeness to focus on her budding relationship. She was there for her supporting her during her first Olympic run, more than proud of her results. Still, they were both the type to never settle for anything other than their best, leading the two to lose themselves in their work, the strain being too much to bear for their relationship. With tearful goodbyes, Evangeline let Lana slip from her life, wanting to focus on understanding who she was as a person, to understand Eva was divorced from Lana. She drifted from person to person, exploring every aspect of freedom during the off hours of her deployment, indulging in debauchery when she didn’t have to wear a mask of professionalism. Evangeline transferred into the Para-rescue Special Operations, conducting field operations to rescue downed combatants from behind enemy lines, providing medical treatment as needed, proving herself both a capable field operative and pilot whenever the mission called for such measures.

### The Christmas War

Eventually, due to a clean record and her ability to juggle her own...personal endeavors with her workload, she was scouted by York Zaephord, Lana’s father, who brought her on board for his own personal agenda and soon found herself seeking transfer onto the Menaulion.