Post by Tobey on May 30, 2007 17:05:07 GMT -5
Name: Irene Payne
Age: 65
Birthday: January 17, 1942
Gender: Female
Place of origin: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Lab: Smart Pet, Inc.
Relationship status: Widowed
Physical description: Irene has thick, bushy, light blond hair that reaches down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Her eyes are a sharp, intelligent green, and her entire visage reeks of upper-class snobbishness, from her high cheekbones to her slightly pointed nose. She is much taller than average, and somewhat thin.
Personality: Irene has a leader mentality; she likes being in charge, and she likes to be in control. What she likes to control is people; as long as people are doing what she wants them to, she's happy, but if they don't, she has learned to find the right strings to pull to get people to do what she wants. She isn't really evil, at least not most of the time; she's just used to getting her way.
History: Irene came from a family that was made rich by the genetic engineering business, which partially explains why she's so used to getting her way all the time. Her family believed that they were somehow 'above' the rest of the world (particularly the poor), a belief that Irene quickly picked up on. Irene soon became a natural leader, with her own clique of followers as early as middle school. Soon, she began to almost subconsciously say things to get those below her to do whatever she wanted them to; and she was good at it. She was able to read people extremely well; she knew exactly what lies she would spin to get her way, and what to say when her lies were revealed.
Later in life, she graduated from college with a PhD in genetics (genetic engineering was the source of her parents fortune, after all), and got a job at Smart Pet. There she met Arthur, and the two of them were married. Irene was the one to give her family name, Payne, to her new family; she considered her lineage superior to Arthur's, and so would not have it any other way. Not much later, Irene gave birth to identical twins, Matt and Mark. The two boys were everything a parent could ever hope for; smart, successful, fairly popular, and best of all, they had a natural knack for genetics. Irene could not have been more proud of them.
Then, about five years later, Christina entered the family. As the first girl in the family, Irene spoiled Christina in her very early years; gave her the best baby food, the best toys, everything. But, after a few years, Irene noticed that something was wrong. Christina was developing much more slowly than her older brothers did. She didn't learn to read until she was five; Matt and Mark had learned to read by three. Christina got much worse grades than her older brothers did. And, worst of all, she never quite got the hang of genetic manipulation; instead, she took a position as an experiment discipline specialist.
When Irene first noticed that Christina was developmentally behind her brothers, she believed that she had done something wrong. And she was pretty sure what it was; she had been far too nice to Christina as a baby, and had spoiled her until she had become a problem child. So, in trying to compensate for her earlier bad parenting, she reversed her strategy. She would be as hard on Christina as she could, in hopes that punishing her daughter's failings would undo her own. But she went too far. She fell into a pattern of punishing Christina, verbally abusing her, manipulating her with words. Over the years, the reason for the abuse was forgotten; Christina became simply the 'problem child', the one who must be punished for every failing, the 'stain on the family name.'
Age: 65
Birthday: January 17, 1942
Gender: Female
Place of origin: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Lab: Smart Pet, Inc.
Relationship status: Widowed
Physical description: Irene has thick, bushy, light blond hair that reaches down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Her eyes are a sharp, intelligent green, and her entire visage reeks of upper-class snobbishness, from her high cheekbones to her slightly pointed nose. She is much taller than average, and somewhat thin.
Personality: Irene has a leader mentality; she likes being in charge, and she likes to be in control. What she likes to control is people; as long as people are doing what she wants them to, she's happy, but if they don't, she has learned to find the right strings to pull to get people to do what she wants. She isn't really evil, at least not most of the time; she's just used to getting her way.
History: Irene came from a family that was made rich by the genetic engineering business, which partially explains why she's so used to getting her way all the time. Her family believed that they were somehow 'above' the rest of the world (particularly the poor), a belief that Irene quickly picked up on. Irene soon became a natural leader, with her own clique of followers as early as middle school. Soon, she began to almost subconsciously say things to get those below her to do whatever she wanted them to; and she was good at it. She was able to read people extremely well; she knew exactly what lies she would spin to get her way, and what to say when her lies were revealed.
Later in life, she graduated from college with a PhD in genetics (genetic engineering was the source of her parents fortune, after all), and got a job at Smart Pet. There she met Arthur, and the two of them were married. Irene was the one to give her family name, Payne, to her new family; she considered her lineage superior to Arthur's, and so would not have it any other way. Not much later, Irene gave birth to identical twins, Matt and Mark. The two boys were everything a parent could ever hope for; smart, successful, fairly popular, and best of all, they had a natural knack for genetics. Irene could not have been more proud of them.
Then, about five years later, Christina entered the family. As the first girl in the family, Irene spoiled Christina in her very early years; gave her the best baby food, the best toys, everything. But, after a few years, Irene noticed that something was wrong. Christina was developing much more slowly than her older brothers did. She didn't learn to read until she was five; Matt and Mark had learned to read by three. Christina got much worse grades than her older brothers did. And, worst of all, she never quite got the hang of genetic manipulation; instead, she took a position as an experiment discipline specialist.
When Irene first noticed that Christina was developmentally behind her brothers, she believed that she had done something wrong. And she was pretty sure what it was; she had been far too nice to Christina as a baby, and had spoiled her until she had become a problem child. So, in trying to compensate for her earlier bad parenting, she reversed her strategy. She would be as hard on Christina as she could, in hopes that punishing her daughter's failings would undo her own. But she went too far. She fell into a pattern of punishing Christina, verbally abusing her, manipulating her with words. Over the years, the reason for the abuse was forgotten; Christina became simply the 'problem child', the one who must be punished for every failing, the 'stain on the family name.'