Mercedes Tamine

Connections

Mallon Marburg

Michael Cowden (Needs to be actually be written)

Robin Banks

Alice 

Medea Reuter (NEEDS A REWRITE)

Simone Argo (Complete)

Backstory

Mercedes grew up in a small town with a working-class family. Mercedes had a fairly good relationship with her parents as a child, especially her dad who instilled a curiosity in the field of science.

Her father was a chemist and often let Mercedes be involved in his work within reason of course, Though he often encouraged Mercedes to choose her own path in life and he was very supportive of her interest in video games and streaming.

Mercedes was a bit of a social outcast as a child due to her nerdy hobbies and quiet demeanor. This also made her a target for bullying, but it was never serious besides the occasional verbal tease that was until she entered high school where her tormenters kicked it up a notch with constant verbal harassment which soon escalated to tripping and knocking stuff out of her hands to shoving and even a couple of fights.

She never opened up to anyone about the torment she faced at school because she was ashamed and scared of what a mess could unfold if she did speak out so she quietly took it though her emotions did shine through her thinly veiled words of “I’m fine.”. Her father Noticed Mercedes’s down demeanor and saved up some money and for her birthday bought her some equipment to stream some games.

Since she wouldn’t open up to anyone about what she was struggling with, he thought that maybe getting more involved in what she liked would help her get out of her head and make some friends with similar interests. Thus began her career in streaming at first it was nice she didn’t have many viewers, but that's not what her goal was she just wanted to talk to others with similar interests, but it wasn’t long till her tormenters found out about her streams and started to hate-watch her. Now her only escape had been compromised too.

Starting to spiral she began to seek out other avenues to escape to. She went out for a walk and stumbled into a house party. She decided to go in despite being very nervous in social settings she was desperate and she always heard people talk about how fun they were plus she recognized people from her school there.

Once inside she just awkwardly stood there with a solo cup she had tried to drink the alcohol there but she couldn’t stand the flavor of it. It wasn’t until she was approached by a woman there that she found the escape she was looking for. She was initially frightened by her approach but began to settle when she spoke about how they had something there that could loosen her up for a fee of course.

Mercedes without hesitation agreed and followed the lady out the back door. She had brought money with her to get food while she was out, but this escape from the pain sounded much more tempting than food.

once outside the lady handed her a little baggy filled with white powder. It was obviously cocaine Mercedes had seen it before in countless PSAs and crime shows, but if it took the pain away and made her feel better then she’d do whatever it took. After taking it she didn’t really notice a difference then after a couple of minutes she could feel her heart rate pick up and finally she felt the happiness she was after. She became chattier with party members and more animated. overall much different from the quiet somber demeanor she usually had.

After the party was winding down and people were starting to head out Mercedes was coming off her high and heading home. All she could think about was how good she felt while she was high and now that she was sobering up she was starting to feel worse and worse and more anxious. All she could think about was how she had to have more because, for the first time, people liked her and talked to her.

The next day she sought out another dealer just looking for her next fix. when she did find one and got what she wanted she waited till she got home to do it again. She wanted to stream again without the fear of being tormented and she figured it’d enhance her experience playing games as well thus making her feel even better than she felt at the party.

Her hypothesis was right that was the best she’s ever felt in her life and it had the added benefit of racking her in more viewers with her enhanced personality. Eventually, after months and months of using and streaming her popularity skyrocketed and her streaming career took off.

Though she was still being bullied often she felt like she was able to get through it better with her new habit. When graduation came around her father was pretty stern with her that she needed to go to college even if her career was doing well right now he wanted her to have a stable career because streaming is a fickle business. She obliged his demand because she knew he was wanting her to go because he thought it’d be best for her.

After deciding she was going to go into the stem field more specifically chemistry just like her father. She wanted to make him proud and she had been around the subject ever since she was little. After getting a dorm and settling she only got worse with her addiction given her drug was more available around her and she didn’t have to hide it as much as she did when she lived at home.

Her career was at its peak when she began to fall. It all started when her roommate found her unresponsive at her streaming desk. she had a massive heart attack before a stream and almost died. when she woke up in the hospital her dad was there and angrier than ever with her for doing something so harmful and reckless and gave her an ultimatum she either got help for her addiction or she never see or hear from him again. Mercedes didn’t know what to say she just sat there dumbfounded at the proposal. She went on to argue how much of a scandal it’d be if someone took a picture of her at an addiction center. He didn’t hear her out and just left

The disownment by her father devastated her and she sunk further into her addiction. Fearing she’d have another heart attack she moved out of her dorm to an apartment she didn’t want her dad to be called about it again she couldn’t bare that thought she’d rather die than that happen. She almost got that desire when she finally overdosed on cocaine alone in her apartment feeling her heart rate rise so high and feeling the heightened panic from the high made her give in and call an ambulance for herself.

After that overdose the damage that was done to her heart caused her to get a pacemaker/ ICD to help manage her heart’s arrhythmia. She still tried to use but the intensity of the shocks caused by the ICD made it unbearable to use and with the inability to use she had major withdrawal symptoms forcing her to take a break from streaming for a week, but when she came back she wasn’t the same Mercedes the audience was used to it was the real rock bottom version of herself. This caused a mass viewership loss and a huge loss of revenue.

With this major loss she felt she had no choice but to sell her body online seeing how much it made and desperate for money to pay rent and her tuition she became a cam girl. This led to a massive media scandal and led to mass amounts of her cam videos being leaked and talked about by commentators.

It seemed the harassment for her had started all over her again, especially at college it seemed looked down upon by all her peers and even her professors. It even ruined her relationship she had with her short-lived crush whose name was Alice. Alice was so disgusted by her scandalous career online and fiercely rejected and cut ties with her. she was devastated by her rejection, but she understood what her reputation could’ve done to Alice and accepted it despite a couple more attempts to mend things.

Now at rock bottom, the only thing that comforts her is the sci-fi movies she and her father used to watch together It helps her remember the better days before she got into all of this mess. Though that mess was about to be a lot bigger really soon when she was on the phone with one of the streaming platform executives begging for some ads because she was down on her luck in the money department at the moment. When a familiar character overheard her desperate pleas and stepped in after all she couldn’t stand to see such a pretty lady sad. Of course, the stranger was robin banks. Robin banks offered to pay for her things, but in return, she’d need something valuable she could provide in exchange for the money.

Mercedes thought the deal over and offered her skills as a chemist to make drugs which would prove an extremely valuable investment for Robin, so Robin upheld her end of the deal and paid a portion of her tuition and her rent. Mercedes started to form a dependence on Robin’s money leading her to make more drugs to pay for her living expenses and due to her recognizability she changed up her looks completely by dying her hair, having fangs caps placed on her teeth and she even got breast implants due to her poor relationship with her appearance and body, after all, that’s what got attacked the most while she was streaming and running her cam business.

She now works as a drug-manufacturing duo with Robin selling their products to other dealers. She does feel guilty for doing such things with her knowledge as a chemist, but she desperately needs the money for her survival. She pushes past her thoughts of guilt by justifying it with it’s either me or them.

Once their supply started to thin due to the pharmacy enacting stricter policies for their medications. They had to come up with a solution fast. Then they recognized a certain someone who was currently under fire in the medical community, Ms. Marburg Once they contacted and threatened her with leaking her location; she caved and now provides them with valuable prescription drugs. While she is neutral toward Mallon she knows of Mallon’s disliking of her due to how close she is to Robin.

She met Simone on a dealing job though Simone was not the buyer she was the hired help if things went south on the job. Mercedes isn’t quite sure what to make of her she doesn’t hate or dislike her she just finds her behavior confusing due to how she jokes around and shows affection or at least that’s what she thinks Simone is trying to show.

She met Michael on a similar job since it seems Robin uses them interchangeably though she finds Michael more fun to mess with given how fast his stoic demeanor can change in a second when she mimics his accent and questions his love life, the two get along fine enough they have a relationship akin to a brother and sister who bicker non-stop.

Medea was the last to be introduced to the crew given she is the newest member of this little organization. She met Medea on a scouting job. Basically, Medea was there to scope out and take pictures of Robin’s rival dealer’s location and Mercedes had to be the Simone/Michael in this situation. She thinks Medea is really funny with her eccentric nature and how dramatic she is and often likes working with her because of her antics.

Mercedes held underneath Robin’s thumb. Robin keeps her just poor enough to make her dependent on drug making and dealing to keep her own steady source of cash flowing. She takes 75% of what Mercedes makes from her deals and is threatened with death if she flakes out and tries to leave the drug dealing business, she knows robin is serious given she has put hits out on people before and she has seen Robin kill someone once. She lives in constant fear of Robin and the police. She mainly fears going to jail the most because of her associations with Robin and her frail condition and does anything robin says to stay out of it.

Personality

Mercedes is a bit of a keep-to-herself type of person despite her eccentric goofy appearance saying otherwise. she avoids most crowds of people and is a bit unsociable in loud crowded environments. it's only if you catch her alone or with a small group of people that don't recognize her, she won't slink away. once she sort of warms up, she is quite the smug goofy nerd who never shuts up she will make playful teasing remarks or go on a massive ramble about a nerd topic. she doesn't intend to come off as mean with her teasing but sometimes it can seem like she is.