Marcy Valerio

[Fiori]

Name: Marcia "Marcy" Valerio
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: Senior
School: Southwest Red Rock High School
Hobbies and Interests: Dancing, Gymnastics, Cheerleading, Delinquency, Socialising

Appearance: Marcy stands at 5'4" and weighs approximately 125 lbs, possessing a lean and athletic build thanks to her active lifestyle, with broad shoulders and toned muscles in her arms and legs. Her light olive skin is smooth and free of blemishes, belying her Italian-American ancestry. Her face is heart-shaped, framed by a pair of dark brown eyes with striking eyebrows, a slender nose and expressive lips. She has lately been experimenting with a variety of hairstyles, most recently dying her black hair bright pink and styling it into an asymmetric bob cut. She usually wears make-up, including black eyeliner, pink lip gloss and pink nail polish. She's often found chewing bubblegum, which frequently gets her into trouble at school.

Her choice of attire varies from day to day, though one consistent factor is her strong preference towards bright vibrant clothing, particularly involving the color pink. She prefers to wear shorts when able, given Nevada's high temperature throughout the year, and owns a variety of colorful outfits. She's had her ears pierced since she was 16, frequently wearing heart-shaped silver studs in both lobes, and for her 18th birthday she got her tongue pierced. On the day of the trip, she was wearing a black tank-top with pink trim underneath a pink off-shoulder crop top, denim shorts and pink trainers. She additionally has a pink zip-up hoodie and pink bardot jumper packed away in her backpack.

Biography: Marcy was born on the 12th of January 2007 to Bianca and Joey Carrozza, a young Italian-American couple who met whilst studying at UNLV and married shortly after graduating. Her mother Bianca - the youngest daughter of a wealthy Las Vegas retiree by the name of Rocco Valerio - went on to become an air hostess after giving up her dream of becoming a professional dancer, whilst her father Joey was an aspiring stock broker. Four years after Marcy was born, Joey and Bianca had a second daughter named Gabriela.

Marcy's childhood was a tumultuous one. It wasn't long after Bianca and Joey's marriage that it quickly became apparent that their relationship was not one destined to last, despite the initial intensity of their passion for one another. Her father's charm eventually turned out to be superficial, revealing himself to be a sleazy narcissist and reckless spender, whilst her mother's short-tempered nature began to exacerbate as the stress of family life started taking its toll on her. Making matters worse was Joey's growing obsession with cryptocurrency, leading to several risky investments that frequently led to heated arguments with his partner. Whilst Marcy and Gabby were mostly spared the brunt of their parents' frustrations, they both grew up with very few positive memories of their parents' volatile marriage.

Marcy and Gabby have always been on relatively good terms, despite how radically different they were in terms of personality. Marcy is an extrovert by nature, never afraid to speak her mind and quick to make friends. Gabby by comparison was very much an introvert, preferring to read books and pursue academic interests, in stark contrast with Marcy's leanings towards the arts and athletic pursuits. Overall Marcy gets along with her sister far more than her parents, her father in particular being a figure whom she started viewing with contempt as she grew older.

It wasn't until 2019 that their parents' relationship soured beyond reconciliation, when it came to light that Joey had on multiple occasions been unfaithful to Bianca. This proved to be the final straw, not only for their parents' relationship but for how Marcy perceived her father after he had spent years whittling away what little respect she had for him. After an ugly divorce that led to Bianca and her two daughters moving in with her father Rocco, Marcy has gone at great length to distance herself from Joey, blocking him on all forms of social media and refusing any opportunities to see him. The last time she and her father met was in 2021, when an inebriated Joey arrived unannounced at their Las Vegas home in an ill-conceived attempt to bury the hatchet, only to be soundly rejected and issued a restraining order. Joey has since moved back to his hometown in California.

Since then, Marcy and her sister have lived with Bianca and her father, spending their teenage years in relative luxury at their grandfather's modest Las Vegas estate. Whilst not exactly living a life of high society, Marcy has forever questioned how her grandfather was able to retire with such a fortune at his disposal, her mother remaining tight-lipped on the subject. Whenever asked, her grandfather claims that he simply worked security for a number of casinos during the 1970s, always doing so in a manner that led Marcy to suspect there may be more to his past than he's willing to divulge. In reality her grandfather was involved in the Chicago Outfit during the 70’s and early 80’s, but has long since retired and taken significant effort to distance himself from his past.

In the years since her parents' separation, Marcy's father has remained a sore subject, even going through the trouble of legally adopting her mother's maiden name in an attempt to distance herself further. Despite this, her relationship with her mother has not been without its hiccups. Like Bianca, Marcy has always been stubborn and hot-headed, something that only became more apparent as she grew older and loud arguments with her mother became more frequent. Nevertheless, whilst she would never admit it outright Marcy deeply respects her mother for always standing up for herself, and it was her mother's passion for dancing that eventually led to Marcy pursuing the hobby as she grew older.

Even at an early age, when she got involved in various sporting activities at elementary school, it quickly became apparent that Marcy had great athletic potential. Physically fit, quick on her feet and possessing an impeccable sense of balance and coordination, it wasn't long before Marcy was recommended to take gymnastics sessions. Over the years she quickly proved to be an exceptional gymnast, capable of performing at a high level by the time she entered her teenage years. It was because of her experience as a gymnast that she found herself drawn to cheerleading, with many suspecting that had she not decided to focus on the latter she likely would've ended up pursuing gymnastics on a competitive level. Nevertheless, wanting her daughter to make the most of her athletic talent, Bianca saw fit to enrol her at Southwest Red Rock High School after learning of their stellar reputation for sports.

Ever the socialite, Marcy was quick to entrench herself within Red Rock's sports crowd as a prominent flyer on the cheer squad, making a name for herself as someone willing and capable of performing high spots with seemingly little concern for her own safety. Her confident nature and exuberant personality meant she was never short of friends, even if most tended to be on the shallow side, firmly establishing herself as a member of the popular crowd early on. That said, she hasn't been without her detractors, with many off-put by her bossy attitude, fragile attention span and short-temper. Her recklessness also frequently gets her in trouble with Mrs Harper, constantly warning her to stop taking needless risks for the sake of putting on a good performance. Said advice was often ignored, eventually with disastrous results.

Despite the unquestionable pride she has for her position on the cheer squad, it was far from her greatest passion at school. That would be her love of dancing, one she's hesitant to admit stems from her mother's passion for the subject. Not to mention the numerous 1980's dancing movies her mother introduced her to when she was growing up, with Flashdance and Dirty Dancing being particular favourites. From childhood to early adulthood, she has continued to pursue dance as a hobby. Honing her craft, training in a variety of styles over the years, ranging from jazz and ballet to hip hop and aerobics. In recent years she's skilled enough that she's able to blend styles effortlessly, garnering attention from others involved in the school's performing arts scene. This has led to her performing in a number of school productions, along with stints as a backing dancer for some of her more musically inclined classmates. Nevertheless her role on the cheer squad limits the extent of her involvement, though she's made little secret of her desire to pursue dancing on a professional level after finishing high school.

Her budding career however would meet a significant stumbling block when she was 16, when her luck finally ran out during an ill-fated cheer practice session where she performed a dangerous stunt that resulted in a torn ACL. Whilst fortunately she has since healed from the injury, and can perform close to the same level that she could before, the experience left her benched for the majority of her junior year and had a significant effect on her emotional wellbeing.

In the months following the injury she began to mellow out considerably, growing more distant from the various friendship circles that had defined her early years at Red Rock. It didn’t help that she’s always struggled when it came to more academic subjects, showing little desire to put in more effort than necessary to get passing grades. Her inability to perform left her feeling severely depressed during this period, her mood spiralling despite her friends and family’s attempts at encouragement.

It wasn't until winter that year that she found her spark again, when a chance encounter led to her falling in with a small crew of like-minded delinquents amongst her classmates. She found herself drawn to them out of her own frustrations with the authority figures in her life, and growing resentment towards the establishment as a whole. This was further exacerbated as she grew closer to the group, drawn in particular to one of its more notable figures: Finn Cooper.

Marcy has had her fair share of romantic engagements during her time at Red Rock, most being brief affairs that amounted to little. Her relationship with Finn however was different. She found herself drawn to his quiet intensity, what started as a simple crush growing into something much more intense, the two becoming deeply infatuated with one another over the coming months. A year on, Finn and Marcy are a firmly established power couple, going so far as making plans beyond Red Rock together.

Her association with Finn and his friendship circle has had a number of knock-on effects, both in terms of how she presented herself and how others started viewing her. She began to experiment with a variety of styles, blending her love of everything and anything pink with her newfound friends' more counterculture fashion choices. This eventually culminated in her current look, her mother taking issue with her decision to dye her hair pink and get several piercings. More concerningly, she's found herself joining her boyfriend and his gang on their various escapades, often going out of her way to prove her dedication by any means necessary.

Whilst she's started reigning in her behaviour somewhat once it became clear that she was at risk of losing her spot on the cheer squad, for many of her former friends the damage to her reputation is already done. Nevertheless she's still close to a fair few of her classmates amongst the popular crowd, even as she finds herself stuck between them and the delinquent crowd that's fallen in with.

With regards to her future, she has never been one for long-term planning, with little desire to pursue further education despite her mother's insistence on her going to college. Outside of becoming a professional dancer, the one thing she knows for certain is that she wants to remain with Finn, potentially even starting a family with him somewhere down the line.

Advantages: She's a highly talented athlete, possessing a considerable sense of balance and coordination, along with being quick on her feet. She is on good terms with a number of her classmates, with a guaranteed ally in the form of Finn Cooper.
Disadvantages: She is reckless to a fault, her short-temper and impulsivity putting a damper on her long-term survival odds. Her attachment to Finn will eventually cause issues given SOTF's rigid win conditions.