Chanto Valerin

The only child to her father, a meteorologist, and her mother, a biologist, Chanto lived a very happy life when she was a child. She was incredibly close with both her parents, taking a natural interest in biology, horticulture, and gardening that her family helped her cultivate ever since she was young. Every summer, they would always travel out to their family farm, where Chanto would help tend to their fruits and vegetables while playing in the dirt and roaming the countryside. She'd always preferred outdoor life to her life in the city, and dreaded coming back home to her classes -- none of which interested her when she was a kid, given that she'd always learned better when given the chance to explore and play in a hands-on setting.

While her parents never quite pressured Chanto academically, Chanto knew that they expected her to grow up into a good person, above all else. She loved making friends, never being afraid to talk and joke with older kids and always making rounds in her neighborhood to play with anybody who was willing to goof off with her. At the same time, however, it took her a long time to realize that being friendly didn't mean that she always had to be a pushover. It was easy for people to drag her around and play mean jokes on her, particularly when she was younger. Wanting to keep her friends, no matter what the cost, Chanto blindly trusted almost everybody that she met. She would even cry whenever people told her that they didn't want to be friends with her anymore -- often leading to embarrassing phone calls being made to her parents.

By the time she entered college, Chanto had grown up a bit -- certainly being less gullible and innocent than she was as a kid. On her first day, she was incredibly optimistic about everything she would do and everybody she would finally meet as an undergraduate student. Her perspective immediately changed, of course, when she literally ran into her two future best friends: Aaron Vesre and Duncan Ferelle. After ruining Duncan's expensive textbooks by splashing food and water all over them, Chanto was worried that she was going to go to prison on her first day of orientation -- only for college junior Aaron, her future tutor, to come in and offer to pay for the damages.

The three of them have been inseparable since... even though Aaron was constantly breaking up fights between Chanto and Duncan the first few months that they knew each other. Chanto would constantly wingman Duncan, embarrassing him and encouraging him (and pushing him) into acting on his obvious feelings for Aaron; nobody cheered louder than Chanto did when she heard that they'd finally gotten together in Aaron's senior year. Convinced by Aaron's stories about the success that he'd found at the Virion Project, Chanto would apply for the Forensics Division as an intern the year after, wanting to make her family proud by pursuing a career in forensic biology after she'd so diligently studied the subject during university.

Even though Chanto was intimidated by the other, far-more-adult (and far-more-serious) members of her Division, she quickly grew accustomed to her work -- working as hard as she could to pick up as much information and knowledge as she could during her first few months as an intern. She would spend most of her time hanging out outside of her own Division, however, finding Aaron and Duncan's work as Investigators to be just as fascinating as her own. To Duncan's despair, Chanto would become quick friends with Kay Mironov and Clarence Rheuma, the other two members of the Investigation Division. She and Kay quickly became Duncan's worst nightmare -- often to Aaron and Clarence's amusement.

The first few years Chanto spent as a member of the Forensics Division taught her that she had a far stronger stomach than she ever thought she did when she was in school... and that she was far more capable than she ever thought herself to be, given the lowered expectations that she'd always had for herself. Her slow growth into maturity would be kickstarted by the Outbreak Incident, however. She had intended on going out on the doomed mission with them earlier that day, but the Investigators had insisted that she stay safe at the company building. By the time they came back, it was too late for Chanto to do anything. Her friends had been severely hurt, and she hadn't been there to help.

The all-encompassing sense of guilt and regret that Chanto felt would only be compounded by the aftermath of the Incident: with Aaron and Duncan breaking up while Clarence and Kay disappeared into thin air, for the first time in her life, Chanto felt truly and completely alone. It took her a long time to slowly build herself out of the pit that she'd been trapped in. Determined to never let something like the Incident happen again, Chanto became more sociable than ever, surrounding herself with people and constantly trying to expand her support systems. At the same time, even knowing that Aaron and Duncan would've wanted her to stay safe, Chanto couldn't help but start secretly training with her essence. She started joining Set after-hours just to practice how to fight, while constantly thinking of ways to improve her workflow and efficiency in day-to-day life.

At times, Chanto genuinely feels exhausted having to act as a mediator between Aaron and Duncan. The two of them refuse to talk to each other -- while insisting on talking and maintaining their friendships with her. She hopes that, with enough time and with enough patience, she'll be able to mend the rifts in her friend group that she misses so much. As long as she keeps her head high, tries not to worry about things, and looks towards the future, things have no choice but to get better.