Name: Marienrode de Virolai Sierra-Preto
Nickname: Prefers Mari, Ms. Sierra-Preto to her students.
Age: 26
Birthday: July 15
Sign: Cancer
Gemstone: Moonstone
Blood Type: B-
Fav. Food: Turnovers and pastries, particularly ones with apple or strawberry filling. She has a weak spot for wildberry poptarts.
Hated Food: Fizzy drinks.
Occupation: Creative Writing instructor. She teaches morning classes at Hillworth, afternoon classes at Azure, and evening classes at Sovereign.
Hobbies: Etymology - The study of the history of words, their origins, and how their meaning and use has changed over time. Mari majored in English, but this was her minor; she loves words, and for this reason tends to use them very precisely. Her philosophy is: Never use the easy one-syllable word when she can use the more precise four-syllable word! For this reason, a casual conversation with her--or even her lectures in school!!--can end up almost indecipherable with her additions of lacunas--words that don't have an easy word-to-word translation from one language to the other. She keeps a notebook, in which she makes note of interesting words, or interesting ways to use words. For instance, she finds the phenomenon of teenaged boys referring to disliked things as "gay" very puzzling, and generally uses the word to indicate its original meaning: She's very happy!
Gardening - Mari lives in a first-floor apartment in a Historic Destiny City townhouse, but she has a small deck on which she keeps planters to grow roses. It's something her mom used to do, and with both of her parents moved back to Canada, she does it to remind her of her childhood home. She particularly loves roses, because they have so many meanings and can be so many different colors and sizes and shapes. Her favorite rose is the Peace Rose, a white hybrid tea rose. She finds the concept of "flower language" highly interesting, and is vaguely familiar with the meanings of flowers, but has never really had time to study it.
Virtues: Maternal - Mari is a bit of a mother hen. To everyone. She came to Hillworth at the beginning of the last school year, and since then she's made a bit of a reputation for herself as the sweet teacher that will help with anything as long as it's legal. First-time students knew they could go to her with concerns and homesickness. She tries not to judge anyone's feelings and is patient with trying to draw others out of their shells. She mothers just about everyone, and tries to help them live to their fullest potential as much as she can!
Communicative - If you need a listening ear, Mari is the one to go to. She likes to listen to people, and enjoys making sure that no one ever goes to bed angry at someone else. She certainly tries to solve things before they can escalate, and uses her strong grasp of vocabulary to communicate exactly why she is feeling the way she does. As a student, she often served as a peer mediator, and she was a very good one. She patches up relationships like nobody's business, or at least gives it her very best effort. Mari feels that no one can really be irredeemable, and will sink a lot of effort into learning the ~reason~ behind a person's actions. Life is far too short for misery, so Mari simply does not allow it.
Social - Mari is very much a people person. She likes to be around people, and defines herself by the way others look at her. Being the kind of teacher who memorizes her students' birthdays, she tries to do something nice for them; her coworkers especially often find themselves the recipient of a new mug or some small thing on their birthdays. She is pleasant and carries conversations well, and enjoys going to parties.
Flaws: Yes-person - Mari doesn't know when she's overstepped her bounds, desiring to be helpful and useful to others so badly that she disregards her own scheduling conflicts. She can and will make so many promises to so many people that she runs herself ragged trying to keep every single one. She doesn't want to hurt anyone by breaking a promise she made to them in favor of a promise she made to someone else. Because of that she sometimes completely fails in her attempts to fix up someone else's relationships, which makes her more than a little annoyed.
Social - She needs to be needed. She gets worried and anxious when she doesn't get to spend much time with people, or when her friendly overtures are rejected. Mari also can get incredibly pushy, thinking that people who don't socialize often need her assistance to ensure their happiness. She doesn't really understand asocial people or anyone who likes to be alone, and can be incredibly annoying with her insistence that they should come hang out with her.
Homebody - Mari doesn't like to travel very far from home. She doesn't like new experiences. Examples include: She will not try a new dish at a restaurant, she will not try to find a shorter route home if the old one can still be used. Now that she's a teacher will a full-time job, Mari is quite content with her life and has no real ambitions beyond doing well by her students. It can make for very frustrating discussions.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Eyes: Pale gold, somewhat narrow, with heavy lashes.
Hair: Ivory-blonde, very straight with no bangs and parted over her left eye. It ends at her shoulders.
Face: She wears glasses and is usually smiling.
Clothes: Polyvore'n it up in hereee
