Player Name: Dora

AIM Contact: WsdmsPryde

Character Name: Michelle Elizabeth Sattler

Date & Place of Birth: 12 February 1979, Portland, Maine

Character Type: Psychic Human

Character Occupation & Skills: New Orleans police officer assigned to the Regional Preternatural Investigation Taskforce (RPIT). Michelle is a detective-level officer and works as plainclothes, with no patrol duties to speak of. She was hired in the post-Katrina environment partially due to the shortage of police officers, and partly due to her own innate abilities.

Because of her job she's licensed to carry a concealed weapon, and is a fair shot -- she hits the range at least three times a week, what with her picture being next to the words "obsessive" and "perfectionist" in the dictionary. The academy taught her the best methods of restraining a thrashing suspect, and she enjoys bodyslamming people perhaps a little bit too much. Although not approved of at work, Michelle is good to have at your back in a fight. She's the type to break a beer bottle over someone's head and then threaten to shove the broken remains somewhere unpleasant.

Growing up in New England taught her how to shell a lobster in record time, although finding a practical life application for this skill hasn't worked out so well. She can shovel snow with the best of 'em as well as do some standard auto repair and paint houses like a fiend, the latter two being fairly normal summer work during her childhood. Although perhaps not the most eloquent woman in person, hand Michelle a stack of reports and she will wow you with her paperwork skills.

While Michelle did not go to school for preternatural studies, it's something of a hobby of hers. She is by no means a top-tier expert on vampires, lycanthropes and the like, but she knows more than the average officer thanks to hours upon hours or study. This was something closer to a passing interest during her former career back east, but has become much more involved since she was assigned to RPIT.

Abilities: Michelle is a very low-level psychic. More powerful preternaturals can recognize her for what she is, but as a general rule she's just a blip on the radar. She cannot read minds, tell the future or determine who drank straight from the milk carton. Instead, her specialties lie more in intuitive detective work than anything.

Instead of turning all Carrie or Firestarter, Michelle is a bit more subtle (probably the only thing about her which is). She can almost unfailingly tell who is a preternatural and who is just a run-of-the-mill guy on the street. There has been a learning curve for her, though, so originally her reactions tended to be along the lines of "Okay. You're a, er, shapeshifter. Um. That's all I've got." Experience now lends her enough insight to tell the difference between a rat and a cat, although alpha vampires or shapeshifters who are very good at masking what they are may either present something of a challenge for Michelle, or just cruise right by her, unnoticed. She's pretty good at what she does, though, so it's more the former than the latter. Her ability seems to stem from some New Age-y reading of auras and energy, although physical cues have been added to her mental Rolodex. Keep in mind that just because she call tell what someone is does not mean she is immune to them. She cannot, for example, make eye contact with a vampire -- she can be rolled just as easily as some rube off the street.

RPIT regularly calls Michelle in on their crime scenes. After a lengthy walk about, she can typically refine their search down to a specific kind of preternatural. Needless to say, though, nothing she brings to the table can ever be submitted as evidence on a case. This is a source of great frustration for herself in particular, but a goodly number of her comrades as well.

Appearance: Michelle is about average in height at 5'6", and is, courtesy a lot of walking, running and self-defense classes, on the slender side. Regular weight training has given her some muscle to back up her almost complete lack of tact, and you'd be surprised by the force behind the woman's punches.

She manages pretty on her own (provided that she has washed her hair recently), but needs assistance to make it to beautiful, usually in the form of a makeup counter and associated clerk. Naturally her eyes and hair alike are a deep shade of brown, although the New Orleans sun regularly bleaches her hair into some weird mess. A heart-shaped face makes her look more friendly-innocent than she actually is, and this is handy for work.

Her voice is on the low end of the register, and by nature Michelle's primary expression is one of wry amusement. She's smirky more often than not, though when she smiles it's quite the pleasant sight. Business casual was designed with Detective Sattler in mind. She's a big advocate of slip-on shoes, jeans, and any top that does not involve frills or ruffles. Calling her a tomboy is a tiny bit of a stretch -- she willingly wears heels and can be found in a skirt for some functions -- but by and large... well, she's a tomboy.

Personality & History: A New Englander at heart. This is to say that Michelle is stubborn, prideful, unafraid to voice her opinion, and will always side with the underdog (see: Red Sox). Michelle was born and raised an only child in Maine to a couple who would inevitably ride the divorce train. She was largely unaware of her psychic abilities since there was no real wealth of preternatural beings present in her home state (vampires + Maine = not the most glamorous combination). It wasn't until she moved to Boston for school and independence that what she assumed was a gut instinct kicked in, and she found it startlingly easy to establish a mental who's-who.

Boston was a large enough city where it was not unheard of to find vampires, shapeshifters, fae or witches, particularly with Salem only an hour away. The city was actually one of the best possible places for the young woman to be. By the time she moved to Boston for college, Addison v. Clarke had hit the court circuit as well as the media. Vampires reveled in their new legal status, and took to the streets to celebrate. Michelle quickly discovered her knack for identifying nearly all members of the undead lifestyle. Over numerous day trips to Salem and the surrounding areas, she soon discovered how easy it was to suss out other preternaturals as well.

As a skill, it was interesting enough to warrant exploring. But Michelle's passion was the police force, and most of her attention was focused on Boston's police academy. She made her own little personal guessing game a quiet hobby, as she had not-unjustified concerns about being "outed". Psychics -- she figured out what she was thanks to the assistance of a flaky coven in Salem as well as a hell of a lot of trips to the library -- were becoming more readily accepted within society, but one could just as easily be labeled as a witch. If that were the case, she'd be up a creek sans method of locomotion as well as very likely dead. And so the rowdy Mainer (Maniac? Take your pick.) kept to what she knew. She worked ceaselessly, joined the force, and grumbled about how stupid she felt in a uniform even as she secretly loved it.

She spent three years as a beat cop where she, to quote Michelle, "busted her ass" at every given opportunity. Although fond of Boston, she'd always looked at it as less of a home and more of a place to pick up the skills she needed. It was a practical outlook, considering that as a woman on the force she faced the usual trials. If she'd come out as a psychic, that'd just be one more grievance to throw on top the pile. So when yet another request for a promotion was, if not outright ignored, then treated with less attention than Michelle would've liked, she made a decision.

It was this: Fuck Boston.

At her core Michelle thrives on her own independence. Her self-sufficiency always astonished her parents, two also-only children who had never left New England. But Michelle has always been convinced that greater things were in the works for her, a belief which has made her unwaveringly nonchalant about picking up and leaving, severing attachments and cutting ties. In this case, always something of an opportunist, she developed an interest New Orleans shortly after Katrina had hit the city. Personality-wise she'd never had a problem with uprooting herself in favor of greener pastures. She figured that there'd be ample room for a cop as well as someone interested in recovering property.

And she just happened to be both, so what the hell, right? It was difficult to not exchange words when she approached her superiors with a transfer request. Tactful conversation was something she could do, but not necessarily something she liked. As a cop, Michelle knew a dead end when she saw one. Boston was -- for her -- just that. Ultimately, while it happened with less grace than she would have preferred, the woman did receive permission to leave the city in favor of heading down south. She was accepted into New Orleans with fairly open arms, as law enforcement was desperately needed.

In the mindset of new beginnings, new opportunity, Michelle made another decision. She knew the Big Easy had a reputation for the supernatural (who didn't?), one that she recognized from almost the moment she stepped foot onto city limits. When she approached her new supervisors with an explanation of what she could do as well as a request to join the spook squad, the reaction was mixed between them being impressed and dismayed. It wasn't the most prestigious job, but here, at least, she could attain some upward movement on the job ladder. She walked into the station as Detective Sattler and never looked back.

As a person, Michelle could afford to work on social graces. It's not that she's unable to recognize tact and good manners, it's just that she'd rather get straight to the point and avoid any unnecessary details. Michelle is that woman checking out at at the grocery store who tells you to put away the damn coupons and checkbook and get out of the express line. She has a temper (surprise!), but reins it in shockingly well (surprise again!). Her rants and raves are usually in private. The outside world just gets to see her shut down and shut everyone out while she plots how to best take revenge.

But when she's good, she's very good indeed. It's difficult for her to form lasting relationships -- of any kind, not just the romantic sort -- and this is something the woman is fully aware of. As a result, her few friends are treated like treasure... when she can get around to seeing them. That said, she's a much larger fan of acquaintances than BFFs, and is that cop who knows the local homeless guy, street artists, etc. Her time is precious, her job is demanding, and so the likelihood of her heading out with friends when the weekend rolls around Thursday night is pretty damn small. A touch of the obsessive-compulsive, she'll probably be working instead.

But when she does get the chance to head out and unwind, she goes all out. Michelle is either all, or nothing. You never get anything in between.