holland bright is an alpha mutant with the ability of power mimicry. they’ve been in new york for twenty years where they spend most of their time as an intern at essex corporation/roller rink employee. when i think of them, i think of cassette tapes, stacks of old video games, & brightly colored clothing. they are affiliated with no one (neutral).
character inspo — adam hayes (the bright sessions), alyce (malice), vivian greywick (wicked academia), grace foster (crave)
Content Warning: child neglect, child abuse, gaslighting
@c23intros
BASICS
Name: Holland May Bright
Nickname(s): Holly
DOB: 15 June 1978
Age: 20
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Sexuality: Unknown
Traits: ( + ) Quiet, Curious, Accepting, Youthful ( - ) Sarcastic, Guarded, Jaded, Sheltered
Occupation: Intern at Essex/Roller Rink Employee
Family: Daniel Bright (Father) — Living, Morgan Bright (Mother) — Living, Cassidy Bright (Older Sister) — Living, Daniel Junior Bright (Older Brother) — Living
APPEARANCE
Height: 5′3
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Red
Ethnicity: White
Nationality: American
Aesthetic: https://www.pinterest.com/vexishere/character-holland/
Tattoos: None
Piercings: None, she wears clip on earrings
BIOGRAPHY
Daniel Bright and Morgan Lee met in college where Daniel was studying to be a geneticist and Morgan was studying biology. The two only met because they both had a work ethic that was better than most of the other students at the college. They quickly found that they both liked to be in the labs at the same time and started hanging out outside of working on their own projects. Though they had few friends, it was no surprise to anyone that the two of them started dating and got married. Both of them landed jobs in their field after graduating with PhDs from Columbia. Not long after Cassidy was born and the family moved to a comfortable brownstone in Manhattan. Three years after Cassidy came their son, Daniel. Holland was a bit of an accident, but none the less an excitement to the family. By the time Holland was born, both Daniel and Morgan knew about the existence of mutants, given their respective scientific fields and they were both terrified of anything different. So they sheltered their children.
While Holland’s childhood was particularly boring and not very interesting. At least until 1983. Although the Brights did their best to shelter their children from the news, the two older children were able to pick up on what was going on around them. Holland, being too young to understand, had no idea what was going on though, which was fine enough for her parents. Holland’s life mostly didn’t change, but she noticed her parents pulling away from society. She and her siblings weren’t given the freedom they once had been. When the Essex House opened, Daniel and Morgan both secured jobs there. From then Holland’s life changed even more.
Instead of going to school like a normal child, the Bright family decided to hire vetted teachers and tutors to teach their kids. The staff at the Bright house were all closely watched through bodyguards and other staff members spying on each other. Anything stranger or unusual was reported on by other staffers and then the guilty party was fired. So from a young age the only constant in Holland’s life was that her parents were always gone and she wasn’t allowed to do anything. Most media was banned from their house, so she learned to draw, learned to entertain herself with whatever her parents did allow in the house. Holland grew up hearing arguments between her older siblings and her parents about how they were prisoners in their own home, yet they still had more freedoms to leave than Holland ever had. But it was the only thing she’d ever known, so how could she complain?
Holland always felt like a bit of an outsider among her family members, though she never knew why, nor would she get an explanation for years. Her life was a constant state of not feeling like she could trust or talk to anyone. She grew into a kid surrounded by money, surrounded by people, but isolated and lonely to a point that she was sure other people didn’t live like this. Years and years of asking her parents why they weren’t allowed to leave the house without body guards or why they had to learn from tutors rather than school like some people, or why they even had a television if it wasn’t allowed to be turned on and she got no answers.
At least not until she was fifteen. Her siblings had moved out by then, it was only Holland and her parents. They told her there were monsters in the world. People capable of harming her without touching her. Some of them looked like regular humans while others were monstrous beings. Holland was told she was safe at home, safe behind closed doors and away from the general public. “We’re doing everything we can to protect you from them,” her mom said, misty eyed. And who was Holland to distrust anything her mom said? “We want to stop these monsters from hurting people,” her dad told her. Holland believed her. Her parents gave her more freedoms then, more books to read and information about the world around her, even if it was all a lie.
At seventeen, Holland was finished with school and her parents allowed her to go off to college. The world was different than Holland expected though. Open and positive. She quickly found out she liked music and video games, brightly colored clothing in comparison to all the drab stuff her parents made her wear. She made friends. If there were monsters, Holland couldn’t find them. Her parents wouldn’t have lied to her, she was sure of it. All they’d ever done was protect her and her siblings. Even Cassidy and Daniel told her the world was a dangerous place. Still, Holland didn’t see any of that, she only saw the wide wonderful world. She moved in with some people from college later that year, though her parents were not happy about it, they made her a deal: when she was eighteen, she’d work as an intern with Essex. Holland agreed. To earn her own keep though, she got a job at the roller rink.
Two years of working for Essex hadn’t changed much of Holland. In fact, she’s almost certain that her parents lied to her. What monsters were there in the world? Who had they been talking about? Nineteen is when it changed for her. Holland met one of the “monsters” her parents had spoken about, but the real kick to the teeth? Holland was one of them too. As the other mutant got close to her, Holland was able to mimic their power. Scared of her own self, she ran off without even talking to the other mutant. Had her parents known? Was that why they’d kept her sheltered for all those years while her brother and sister were allowed to leave? It opened up a whole bunch of questions.
Now twenty with Essex House publicly being destroyed, Holland is more confused than ever about who to trust. She’s one of the monsters too and her power can be dangerous. Holland also has no idea how to control it. What the limitations of it are or anything of that nature. She puts a brave face on though, goes through her day pretending like nothing is wrong when her own reality is crumbling before her.
this is def tldr;
Holland Bright is a mutant who’s parents are anti mutant scientists, going as far to tell her that they’re monsters. She’s been sheltered by her parents her whole life and at the age of nineteen is when she discovered her ability. Very few people know about her ability since she doesn’t know who she can trust.