— spotted in the streets of brooklyn, it’s MATILDA MASON. they have lived in the city for THIRTY YEARS, working as a SURGICAL RESIDENT. the 30 year old will probably be seen around PARK SLOPE a lot, seeing as that’s where they live. people say they can be a bit SKITTISH and SELF CRITICAL, but friends know them to be ARTICULATE and AMBITIOUS. you know for sure you’ve found them when you’ve come across PENCILS WITH CHEWED ENDS, LOUDLY SUNG SHOW TUNES, AND SELF TRIMMED BANGS. welcome to brooklyn, it’s been waiting for you!
Anxiety tw, panic attack tw
Matilda was born in New York City as the third child in the Mason family. A loving family but she watched her older siblings excel in the medical field when she was younger and it didn’t take long for her to decide she wanted to explore the same career path. Only problem was Matilda was your classic case of a perfectionist and thus weighed herself down with an immense level of expectation to excel to the top of everything she did. Grades ruled her life long before they should have been important, after all no one expects a third grader to burst into tears over one B. Still it was okay because she was a naturally curious child so reading everything and anything she could get her hands on was what she wanted to be doing anyway, it allowed her to escape into fantasy worlds and fill her brain with facts, she almost found it addictive.
Graduating top of her class in high school she left New York in order to attend Yale University. So she didn’t go far, only to Connecticut, a two hour drive is hardly groundbreaking. Still while she was there Matilda applied herself so intently to her schoolwork she would only really come home a couple of times a year. Christmas, maybe in the summer where she’d spend her time practicing sutures with her older brother on lemons, but mostly she was there with her head in a book with ambitions to become Valedictorian, something she succeeded in. Her speech at the graduation ceremony full of hope and optimism for where her future was going to go, large brown eyes bright with excitement. Ready to go off an begin her residency program in general surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital with the aim of eventually specialising in Neurological Surgery.
With an apartment not far from her family in Brooklyn and being able to reconnect with them after her stint at medical school, Matilda was in a good place. Thriving at work enjoying being in her element. At least that’s how it was at the beginning, until those self applied expectations got heavier on her shoulders, weighing her down to an almost impossible level. Nights where she stayed up late turned into not going to bed at all, being diligent about her patients became an obsessive need to be across every element of their care, an impossible task in itself, but still she pushed forward determined that it was just a blip and soon she would return to herself.
That wasn’t to be the case.
November 11th 2024 she was in the operating room assisting on a routine Anterior cervical discectomy when everything started to crash down around her. Not literally, but it did literally cause her to crash down onto the floor in a heap. Her blood pressure soaring she was taken into a patient room to be checked over, all the while begging her colleagues not to tell her family about anything that was happening. And from there is just got worse. Panic attacks, her hands shaking uncontrollably, burning into tears for no apparent reason, becoming physically sick under the stress she’d put her body under for so long. Matilda was signed off on sick leave until she was cleared by the board - something she still hasn’t told her family. As far as they know she’s still working her shifts at Mount Sinai and everything is going according to plan. They know nothing of the mandatory psychology examinations she’s had to take or the therapy sessions she’s attending. The way her blood boils because she’s literally trained to fix the human brain, and yet hasn’t got the tools to do it for herself, no matter how many books she’s reading about it.
Overall Matilda is a sweet, if slightly intense, young woman. Scrappy in that she cuts her own hair, has a love for musical theatre you wouldn’t see coming, and prides herself on focusing on the care of her friends over herself at all times. She loves to bake, often known for bringing treats into the hospital for her coworkers or bringing cakes to family events, it’s calming for her. The process of putting together a recipe with its precise measurements. She finds comfort in knowing what’s coming. From her bright smile and kind disposition you'd never know on first glance that she's trapped inside her own internal prison. She'd rather snap again than have it impact those she loves, that's for sure.
Wanted Connections: Best friend(s) - Therapist - Ex/Exs - Coworkers - School Friends - Unexpected friends - School Bullies - Enemies -
