Mikela Danvers

Mikela Danvers is a central figure in several events in The Game.

Early Life
She is a native of Chezra, Karlingsaw, Palissan. When she was ten years old, she moved with her parents, her four year old sister, and her seven year old brother Pete to Hartlin City, Dorland. Her father was an outspoken Karlingsene separatist, and he feared danger if he did not flee the country.

Mikela disliked Hartlin City and had difficulty adjusting; although the city was larger than Chezra, it was isolated from anything else and there was not a huge Karlingsene community. While her father found work in construction and her mother did freelance sewing projects from home, Mikela started high school at West Hartlin High School at the age of fourteeen. A year later, she came out as a lesbian - partly to ward off the attraction of the boys in her school, who she saw as interested not in her as a person, but as an "exotic" foreigner. She would begin a relationship with another student named Marcy Howard that would last until graduation, when they broke up as Marcy hoped to stay in Hartlin City and Mikela wanted to leave.

Shortly around the time that she came out, the "Stockton Incident" occured - a group of Stockton-based syndicate leaders made an attempt to corner the opal trade and intimidate the authorities of Hartlin City into allowing them to do so. They were countered by both the OSI and the Stockton League (the superhero council out of Stockton). Mikela followed the story in the news and ended up witnessing a battle between the various factions. She determined to make it a goal to join the NIA and eventually the OSI; she worked towards this goal for the rest of her high school career. This meant getting higher grades and being in better shape - she joined the cross country and track teams, never placing very high in competitions but getting in better shape.

Education and Entry in the NIA
She enrolled at South Coast University and majored in criminal justice, graduating after four years (the particular program she was in was usually for five years). Starting her sophomore year, she was in a relationship with Corey Drake, a theater and drama student. They lived together for two years, but in the end Corey left her for another woman. Mikela was devastated over this (even though she and Corey had grown apart somewhat towards the end), but ultimately decided that she would rather focus on her career than on relationships.

Upon graduation, she applied to the NIA Academy and, despite having no previous law enforcement experience, and being younger than most applicants, she was accepted on her first attempt. One of the individuals contacted for her background check was Robin Hillard, an OSI agent to whom she had spoken after the Stockton Incident. She also suspected that Marcy Howard and Corey Drake had told the investigators how focused and dedicated she was to the NIA, to the detriment of both relationships. (Marcy would confirm this, on her part, when Mikela visited Hartlin City; however, she never spoke with Corey again.)

She started out in the field office in Hallerton, dealing with the typical cases that NIA agents worked. After several years, she was given a commendation for saving the life of a supervisory agent and several civilians. She was invited to a ceremony for decorated law enforcement agents and charities that served the families of police officers. At this ceremony, a young woman named Stacey Ann Weber introduced herself to Mikela, and the two began a relationship.

They dated for a year; Mikela made a greater effort to maintain the relationship, rather than sacrificing it to her studies or career, than she had previously. She was deeply in love with Stacey and began hoping that the two would marry; however, Stacey was not as eager to commit as she was. She made it clear that if she ever were to commit, it would be to Mikela, but that she didn't feel that she was at a point in her life where that was possible.

Manifestation and Entry into the OSI
Following an incident of some sort, Mikela had a Manifestation and suddenly gained the ability to read minds. To her horror, she found that Stacey's issues stemmed not from her romantic past, as she had suspected, but from the fact that she was actually supercriminal Gizmo Girl. Mikela angrily confronted Stacey over this fact, and they broke up. However, Mikela did not report Stacey's identity to the OSI.

Random Characterization:
She has a one bedroom apartment in a reasonably nice part of town; it's still nothing too fancy, on a federal agent's salary. As she has embraced her Karlingsene heritage more and more, she has added more little touches from her homeland. I have yet to figure out what these are, though.

Of course, this ethnic rebirth came after she broke up with Stacey Weber. She had wanted Stacey to move in with her, which never happened even though they spent far more time at Mikela's place - despite Stacey having a huge house (coming as she did from money). This was because Stacey was hiding the fact that she was a supercriminal - a fact that, once brought to light, spelled the end of the relationship. Since then, Mikela has stuffed all the evidence of their relationship into the closet, and hasn't had any love life at all. So, as with Samuel, she rarely has other people over at her place.

Her faith teaches her to look for the connections in all things. Maybe sometimes two events aren't related, but looking beyond the possibility of coincidences will often shows her something important.

She is a devout Quintessentialist, which surprises a lot of people since there are not a lot of Karlingsene Quintessentialists. But she attends meetings fairly regularly and tries to follow the rules, even the ones she doesn't like.

Mikela Danvers only sings if she's drunk enough.

She has a ferret, because if she is going to play up the "lonely, bitter career woman" angle she has to really SELL it.

She never puts ice in her beverages.

She gets along well with her parents, although she is a touch resentful that her father's activism forced them to flee their native country, and that he was only able to settle in a town she hates.

She has long black hair.

No scars as a teenager; she gets a few when she becomes an adult and a cop.

She likes to think of herself as pretty, but thinks some of that is because she is a foreigner.

Her favorite memory is of the last autumn festival she and her family celebrated in Karlingsaw before they were forced to flee to Dorland. She remembers it every time she is trying to "get in touch with her roots".

She would really rather that her father hadn't been forced to flee Karlingsaw. She will change her mind a little as she gets older, joins the Dorlese federal police agency (the NIA), and falls in love with a Dorlese girl.

Favorite: Ice cream: cinnamon swirl. Color: light blue. Flower: Lily.

She trusts: As a teenager: her family. As an adult: her law enforcement partner, Samuel Markuns (insofar as he can be trusted, which is a tricky question), her boss Craig Singleton, and eventually her partner Stacey Weber. But it takes some drama to get there.

Her ability to read minds DOES help her there.

Important life events: As a teenager: the Stockton Incident, in which she witnesses some superheroics and decides to dedicate her life to joining the branch of the NIA that deals with superpowers. As an adult: when she gains the ability to read minds. Then, when she participates in the imprisonment of Sheldon Grey - which involves hosting a battle between a Slender Man-equivalent and his less evil counterpart inside her own mind.

As an adult, she lives in a time where widespread use of email is new, and fairly cutting edge. She tries to stay current on basic computer usage, but not much beyond that.

She tosses and turns as she sleeps. As a result her sheets and pillows are all over the place when she wakes up. She can handle cold better than heat - one more reason to hate Hartlin City, where she spends her youth.

She is definitely more of a night/evening person than a morning person. Not that she parties or anything, but she is more productive then.

Outside her parents and siblings, her entire extended family is back in Karlingsaw, and she can't visit them until she is old enough to go back on her own - her father would be arrested if he tried.

Compared to Agent Markuns, anyone is messy. But she is roughly in the middle - at work she keeps things organized; at home, everything is scattered.

She does all right cooking. She prefers traditional Karlingsene recipes.

She rides her bike in Hartlin City, and usually takes the bus/subway in Hallerton as an adult.

She is terrified of myriapods (centipedes and millipedes). Insects, spiders, rodents, no problem. But she thinks it's unsettling for something to have so many legs.

Well, she's religious, but that's not the same thing as superstitious. She is a little bit superstitious though.

She wants someone who can handle how devoted she is to her career; but also someone who wants to settle down and have a family.

Her hands are small; they start out smooth, but years of working in law enforcement do harden them up.

Comfort food: anything easy to make and warm. Vice: trashy romance novels. Outfit: the business suits she wears at work. Hot drink: tea with lots of milk. Time of year: spring. Holiday: the Karlingsene Summer festival.

None of the songs that exist in our reality exist in hers, and although I have matched up lots of characters with specific songs, none with her. Maybe "Phantom Limb" by The Shins for her teenage years (it is apparently about a couple of teenage lesbians who hate their small town), and I guess "Lights" by Interpol applies to her as much as to Agent Markuns. Actually, the song (and moreso the video) applies to EVERYONE who participates in the "Night of Nights", but she plays a bigger role than most.

She wears a touch of flowery perfume.

Mikela glares daggers into her schoolwork as if that will clear the clouds of frustration and give her enlightment.

First kiss: end of sophomore year (Marcy Howard).

She would prefer, when given the choice, not to miss her bus and have to wait for the next one, since the pickup times tend to be so unreliable.

That [taking a random survery] depends on how random it is. And how personal or awkward the questions are.

"Anyways, my GREATEST fear depends on circumstances. So, I am afraid of being shoved into pools, or centipedes, but I fear career failure most. Until Stacey and I adopt a couple of kids with a dangerous past, and I fear that past catching up to them (either the evil people who are chasing them, catching up to us; or even the kids finding out their real origin)."

As a teenager, Mikela Danvers swam across the Shell River. At midnight. As part of a bet. Fortunately, the Shell River isn't too wide. "Mikela stood at the edge of the river and stripped down to her bathing suit. She could hear the chants of those on either side of the river, egging her on. She knew she wasn't as strong a swimmer as most of those who had already made it across, and she didn't really know if she could do it. But she had said she was in, and backing down now would make her look like a coward in the eyes of her classmates (and one in particular, who had made it to the opposite shore already). She decided against dipping her toe in. Better to just jump in and get it over with. As soon as she did, however, she immediately regretted it. It was midnight, and although it was summer, the water had lost too much heat already. She started with slow, easy breast strokes. It was only a couple hundred meters across, but she couldn't wear herself out too soon. At about the middle of the river, she could feel the fatigue and the cramps coming on. She couldn't see to either bank very well, and she suddenly started to worry. If something did go wrong, here, she could be in a lot of trouble. But she remembered, she was no quitter. Not when she had spent the last couple of months dedicating herself to a goal that would take years and lots of hard work to achieve. Not when she had a - well, a friend, for now - to impress with her bravery. So she dug deep, and kept going. At last she found herself on the far bank. A hand reached down to pull her up. "All right, let's hear it for Danvers!" exclaimed Brad Parson. "Yeah, pretty awesome!' agreed Marcy Howard. There were general murmers of agreement from the others, and for once Mikela felt proud to be where she was. That is, until they heard the sirens . . ."

Favorite book: "I know I SHOULD say "The Collected Writings of the Ancient Masters", since it is the main scripture my church uses, and all that; and yes, I do read and reread it more than most other books, but it's probably not my 'favorite'."

Worst movie: "Depends what you mean by worst. I mean, "The Keys to Her Heart" was cheesy, cliched, badly written and badly acted, and just like the romance novels it's based on, I loved every guilty minute of it. On the other hand, I found "Strike Team Hawk" offensive in addition to badly made, for the way it portrayed my people as a bunch of terrorists."

Mikela sat slumped over at her seat, trying desperately to stay awake. Not that she saw the need to pay attention. Language Arts had never been the most fascinating of subjects. Okay, so she wasn't a native speaker, but she had picked up the language pretty quickly when she moved here with her family when she was 10. That was only five years ago, but other than her accent, and the occasional mangling of idioms, she spoke just as well as anyone. Besides, grammar was pointless. But she knew that if she fell asleep, the teacher, Mr. Davidson would be on her in a second, like a fly on a corpse. (Wait, how did the expression go? And was she the corpse here? It didn't matter, they weren't teaching her slang.) And he was prone to humiliating his students. So she pried her eyelids open, tried to keep the headbobbing to a minimum, and sailored on. "So, as you recall, the subjunctive tense is used in the following circumstances . . . blah, blah, blah . . . " droned Mr. Davidson. She snapped awake and glared at the textbook and her notes. She noticed that she had stopped writing down what he was actually saying, and had started scribbling, without even remembering doing it. She glanced around the room. Two rows up and a few seats over, Marcy Howard looked to be in the same situation. She saw Marcy glance over at her and they shared a smirk. It was always nice to know that she wasn't alone. Granted, few students were actually paying attention, but the majority of the class had abandoned all pretense and were doodling, or reading other things under the desk, or chatting. Finally, she could hold off no longer. The moments where she zoned out seemed to get longer and longer, and she found it harder and harder to stay focused. Still, it was as bit of a surprise when Mr. Davidson slammed his hand on the empty desk next to her, and said, "perhaps Ms. Danvers would like to provide an example of the types of exceptions I was talking about?" Before she could stop herself, Mikela rattled off a perfectly formed, grammatically accurate phrase. . . in Karlingsene. Ten minutes later, sitting outside the Discipline Officer's office, she was surprised to see Marcy come down the hall, a piece of bright yellow paper in her hand that matched the one Mikela was holding. "They got you too, huh?" "Oh yeah," replied Marcy, "after you got kicked out the whole class was in an uproar. I probably didn't help my case when I started arguing with Mr. Davidson. But after all, HE couldn't prove that what you said wasn't an example of what he wanted. I mean, just because it was in another language. They call the class LANGUAGE arts, they don't specify the language." "Let me guess," answered Mikela, "he wrote you up for being smarter than him. And standing up to someone who had also made him look stupid. Thanks for that, by the way." Marcy blushed, every so briefly. "Well, it was a boring class anyways. I am not missing anything. And a few write ups here and there won't hurt me."

She does "alright" with computers.

"I like that sort of thing. I might not be as GOOD at puzzles and riddles as some people - it sometimes takes me a little while to figure them out - but I enjoy them and I can usually get them. My favorite pastimes (as an adult) are reading, especially trashy romance novels (but also more quality literature/nonfiction) and target practice."

"I am a Quintessentialist, and I worship the Four Powers and the One Power. As Quintessentialists do."

"I am not a complete loner, but I would rather be with a very few people I like than a large group of complete strangers."

"I like kids. I hope to have a couple of my own (through adoption, which I think is better than artificial insemination for someone in my situation) someday, assuming I find someone to settle down with."