S005 - Blanco Osuna, Tristana "Tana" [DECEASED]

#1

DECEASED

Name: Tristana “Tana” Rosario Blanco Osuna
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12th Grade
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Ghosts, the supernatural, the horror genre, cryptozoology, making video games, dating simulators

Appearance: Tana is a girl of Hispanic descent, standing at 5’ 3” and weighing 145 lbs. She is a bit on the overweight side, and so has noticeably wide hips, a thicker midsection, and has a generally pear shaped body. Her head is round in shape, with a slight bit of chubbiness in her cheeks adding to it, and her almond shaped hazel eyes are paired with a small, slightly upturned nose, and thin, curved eyebrows. She is slightly pale, and her black hair is naturally curly, reaching the small of her back when she leaves it down, though she has made the recent decision to dye a streak of it white on the left side.

Tana doesn’t have much interest in fashion, let alone a general style of clothing. When she gets dressed in the morning, or when she’s out to buy clothes, she chooses what’s reasonable and what’s comfortable, with only occasional deviations if she thinks something looks cool. On the day of her abduction, Tristana wore a plain white long sleeved shirt, a black polyester hooded poncho, dark blue jeans, and black high top sneakers with white stars on the ankles. Out of a slight bit of paranoia, she also wore a homemade black face mask with a pattern of small light green ghosts on it.

Biography: Born the night of November 1st, 2003, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, Tristana Rosario Blanco Osuna was the only child of Juan Blanco Hernandez and Ximena Osuna Valdez, a pair of first generation immigrants that fit both meanings of the word; Juan had been born in the country to a mother that had migrated from Argentina, and Ximena had migrated to America with her older brother from Spain. The two met in Ximena’s final year of college, hit it off, and married within a year. Another year after that, Tristana was born.

The Blanco family was not large, but a close one. Juan lived with his only present relative, his grandfather Diego, after his father walked out on his mother, who passed away from cardiovascular disease. Ximena, meanwhile, was orphaned with her brother Pedro after a stroke killed their single father, and hoped to have better luck in America. With both sides knowing just how fragile families could be, Juan and Ximena actively had Tana interact with her uncle and great grandfather. They wanted her relationships with those two to be as close as possible, so that Tana would properly appreciate them in case anything happened.

Such a task was not difficult. With Diego being retired and Pedro working at a daycare, Tana spent many a day with one relative or the other. While she still saw her father when he wasn’t working his job as a bartender, or her mother when she wasn’t teaching middle school science, more often than not Tana’s time was spent with Diego or Pedro, becoming very close with the both of them, more than making up for the lower-middle class life Tristana was living.

Her favorite activities with her family were ones that involved ghosts. Tana had an unending fascination with them, curious about what a life after death would hold. While her parents were hesitant to introduce the subject of death to her, Diego reasoned that he would be dead sooner rather than later, believing that his habit of smoking cigarettes would not end well, and he didn’t want his death to affect his granddaughter too greatly, so it would be best to have her understand the issue as soon as possible. Pedro agreed, not only finding such arguments reasonable, but also because he enjoyed watching shows such as Ghost Hunters, and had a general fondness for ghost stories as well, from the Santa Compaña ancient procession of candle-lit ghosts and the variety of ghost stories from Sevilla in Spain, to stories newer to him like La Llorona and La Pascualita from Mexican culture, to even American stories such as the Amityville Horror and the story of the Bell Witch. Figuring it would be for the best, Juan and Ximena allowed it, and at age five Tana’s head was filled with stories of the dead while also being prepared for Diego’s inevitable death.

Preparations did little to help when the time actually came, however. When he began having even more intense coughing fits, including coughing up blood, the family took Diego to a doctor to find out what was wrong with him. Diego's predictions came true, as he was diagnosed with lung cancer when Tana was six, and he died shortly before her ninth birthday. This hit the entire family hard, most notably Pedro, who went out and drank heavily the same night. Unfortunately, his decision to drive home on his own would prove to be a fatal one, as he got into a car crash that killed both himself and the expecting married couple he’d crashed into, the only survivors being the baby and their nine-year-old son.

Tana was devastated to lose two family members in one day, canceling her birthday party and spending several days to mourn. Ximena and Juan did their best to comfort her, but it did little to help. What finally got her to snap out of her depression was a reminder from her mother about an episode of Ghost Hunters they had recorded. Remembering about the many ghost stories she had heard, Tana came up with a theory that both Diego and Pedro had potentially become ghosts, the latter especially due to the suddenness and great violence of his death. While not entirely sure of its validity, Tana embraced it as the truth, which helped her feel much better. While her parents were concerned about her coping methods, both of them reasoned that it would be fine as long as their daughter was able to feel better and didn’t do anything too drastic.

This interest and others would only grow as, only a couple months after the deaths, Tana would discover a website called Poptropica. An online browser game made for children, she became fascinated by a number of things from the game. Already existing among the game’s attractions were ghosts, which automatically intrigued Tana, but she quickly became interested in the game itself, finding it simple but incredibly entertaining. Other features also held Tana’s attention, such as featuring cryptids, vampires, and ancient mythology among others. While she would eventually lose interest in the game, the memories of joy she gained from it would never be forgotten. As time would grow on, Tana would take more and more part in these passions.

By age eleven, she convinced both her parents to buy her a spirit board for her birthday, promising to be careful every time she used it. She had read many stories on the internet about ghosts and spirit boards, to the point of having memorized rules for using a board safely, whether those rules were from reality or fiction, as she believed there was no such thing as being too safe when contacting the dead. While tempted to use it on her own, she always used it with at least one other person, usually one of her parents, but occasionally one of her classmates if she was able to convince them to join.

At age twelve, Tana would take her first coding class, wanting to learn the basics of coding before taking it up to creating a game of her own, developing a great deal of patience in the trial and error that comes with coding. Her first attempts were rather tame, as she mostly made text-based games with multiple endings. The praise she got from each finished work only spurred her forward, however, as her parents were impressed by what she had accomplished and, finding the hobby one of her least concerning activities, encouraged her to continue her work. Said work would improve over time, as the games went from merely text to gaining actual graphics and intriguing storylines.

Age thirteen was when Ximena and Juan allowed Tana to watch her first horror movie, The Cabin in the Woods, and she loved it with all her heart. She would look for all kinds of horror media, from more kid focused horror like Goosebumps books and the Are You Afraid of the Dark? show, to more graphic pieces such as Nightmare on Elm Street and the Saw movies, and even psychological horror, playing games like Silent Hill 2 and I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream later in life. If it was considered horror, Tana would try to get her hands on it, enjoying the rush of adrenaline that came with every scare.

And throughout all of this time, Tana would research cryptids and cryptozoology during occasional bouts of free time, learning everything she can about the many beings that fell into that area of study. She had no one favorite among the many existing legends, though did have a deep interest in those she had first learned of on Poptropica. More than once has she dreamed of leaving her home town to search for the Jersey Devil, traveling to Europe to see the Loch Ness Monster, or even seeing Puerto Rico to get evidence of a Chupacabra. She has acknowledged that cryptozoology is a hobby that should simply stay a hobby, however, knowing that it is unlikely she could turn it into a paying job.

When Tana entered high school, her parents wanted her to prepare for the workforce, and so decided to have her start applying for local jobs. While multiple stores were willing to employ her, Tana chose to work at a tourist trap of a museum on Essex Street, partially to indulge in her fascination with the supernatural, and partially because the uniform was a witch costume that she found cute. While she has had to deal with a problematic customer every now and then, she enjoys her job completely for the chance to be actively encouraging more paranormal lines of thinking whenever she can, and also appreciates her boss for teaching her how to spin a lie that can grab peoples’ interest.

Time went on, and very little change happened until the pandemic hit. While the sudden lack in tourism meant Tana’s place of work had to be closed to avoid wasting money, among other things, her employer promised her that she would get her job back as soon as they were able to open up again due to being one of their best workers. Since her parents did not want to force her into going out when it was unnecessary, Tana was left to spend most of her time at home, working on her various hobbies, but also finding another interest to focus on. While she still enjoyed many grim and macabre things, Tana couldn’t help but desire something a bit more bright and cheerful, wanting something a bit different from her usual interests. This is the time that she played her first dating simulator, Monster Prom. Finding the game entertaining, and the format of a visual novel easy to replicate, she decided to have this become a secret past-time of hers, even after she regained her job, as she believes the game genre heavily clashes with her pre-existing interests and wants to keep people from thinking she has changed. When alone, she would find entertainment in romancing the fictional characters in many games, or work on creating a visual novel of her own. She has had some trouble occasionally due to her own insistence on using two dimensional art, as she believes it looks best with the style of dating simulators and wants try it herself. While she has not yet made anything that reaches her own standards, she still tries her best when making 2D art for the visual novel.

Academically, Tana is an above average student. While she has trouble with more physical classes, her skill with computers pulls up her grade point average into the upper middle ground. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she favors classes that involves computers, currently taking a computer repair class, and dislikes physical education, finding it unneeded for her future plans. She also has a fondness for English class, attending AP classes in the subject. In other classes, she tends to get either A’s or B’s. Tana herself is fine with this, as her main goal is to take online classes to try and become a professional video game developer, with hopes of going independent, but also preparing to be a part of a team due to fears of failure when working on her own.

Tana’s relationship with her parents is generally positive, but they have some measure of worry about her. They trust their daughter to be responsible, but still fear for her due to most of her hobbies not being things most would consider normal. While they themselves don’t mind such things, it concerns them that she may alienate herself from society. Still, they let her be, as she regularly assures them that does not go too far with her beliefs, never forcing ghosts or cryptids into a conversation unless someone else brings it up, and being rather casual in school.

Indeed, at school Tana is more of a follower than a leader in conversations. Not exactly incredibly popular and also not an aggressive outcast, she is firmly in the middle of the high school food chain. She has a number of casual friends and a few close friends, and while occasionally she will bring up ghosts and other supernatural things unprompted, more often than not she will be the open ear for others to speak to, willing to listen to a lot so long as what’s said is not overtly hateful for no good reason. She has a tendency to be overtly cautious when hanging out with some classmates, avoiding those who have a negative opinion on masks during the pandemic and steering clear of physical activities that could be dangerous, such as drinking and drug usage. While she does believe in an afterlife, Tana wants to wait as long as possible before entering it herself.

After graduation, Tana plans to take college courses online, focusing on video game design and creation, hoping to perfect her skill as much as possible. She hopes to become an independent video game developer, but is also willing to join a team if she sees it necessary.

Advantages: Tana is a friendly girl, willing to hear others out for a variety of circumstances, and will likely make allies easily. She is smart, with a great deal of patience for others as well as herself. Thanks to her job at a tourist trap, she also is used to telling a lie or two, which could help her defend herself in any verbal arguments.
Disadvantages: Tana is not in good physical shape, living a rather sedentary lifestyle. Her friendly nature could harm as well as it helps, as it could lead her into trusting someone that will try to kill her. Additionally, her already existing coping methods for death will not help her in an environment such as SOTF, and could lead her down a dark path mentally, potentially leading her to a self-destructive mindset, so long as she doesn't see death as the end for herself.

Designated Number: Student No. 005

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Designated Weapon: Ulu knife

Conclusion: I have fifty bucks on her hallucinating and thinking she sees the wendigo or some shit. - Josie Knight