❀ *◦ megan pete. cis woman. she/her. lesbian. ⇝ hey, isn’t that alexandria henry? i think that the thirty year old from memphis, tennessee, works as a cosmetic chemist at blood for beauty and twitch streamer, but outside of that people describe them as impeccably applied lipliner and gloss; glitter gel pens sticking out of the pocket of a lab coat; a collection of beanie babies carefully placed in a display cabinet; always having hand sanitizer at the ready; the rattle of a bottle of antacids to help with the guilt-induced nausea; constantly texting your friends silly memes that made you think of them; and full-body laughs because you were born without a tail to wag. i hear they are submissive & clumsy, but they are also known to be cheerful & humble. consider giving them a visit at their home in the marionette and get to know why they’re called the lab diva.
➙ the character's sexuality is inclusive of femme-presenting enbies, as long as they are comfortable with a lesbian being attracted to them!
full name: alexandria nichelle henry
nicknames: lex, lexi, diva, lady (extension of the initials of her streamer screen name, lab diva/l.d.)
dob: 23 december 1993
place of birth: memphis, tennessee
languages: english (native); latin american spanish (advanced)
education: master's degree in chemistry; bachelor's degree in chemistry (biochemistry concentration); both from university of memphis
strengths: creative; funny; playful; kind; charming; conscientious; cheerful; humble
weaknesses: cowardly; manipulable; clumsy; submissive; superstitious; wishful
hobbies: roller derby (she's on the team!); roller skating in general; kickboxing; collecting beanie babies; doodling; coloring; trying new arts and crafts; makeup; bullet journaling; baking; ultimate frisbee
likes: red wine; strawberry-flavored candy; anything chocolate; very sweet coffee-based drinks;
dislikes: black coffee; beer; cold weather; baggy clothes; cigarettes
disabilities & health: clean bill of health!
a normal girl from a normal family. the third child and the only girl, the baby of the family, lexi nichelle was never particularly shy, but always a bit socially awkward. she wanted so badly to make friends but she never knew exactly what to say or do. she was taken advantage of by her peers pretty early on in school, some of the worst kids recognizing her desperation for inclusion. she often did others' bidding, or took the fall for bad behavior. and it always came down to the same thing from her teachers and her parents: you're such a smart kid, why would you do this?
she didn't ever really understand why herself, other than just wanting friends and acceptance. being treated as a nerd could be pretty isolating sometimes, and she always felt kind of awkward with so much attention on herself.
joining the school band in middle school was fun. lexi became pretty good at playing the trombone; and the organization was like a guaranteed social group, forced to spend time together due to proximity. she carried on the activity all the way through her undergraduate years of college as it became part of her identity. she liked to act silly and goof off with her bandmates, and she was in a section that was especially known for being fun-loving troublemakers. she was never as daring as some of the others in their pranks, but it felt good belonging to something.
(several boys were kissed along the way, as a confused teen sought the feeling of being wanted—even if she always felt pretty gross afterwards.)
being close with her family, lexi didn't want to go far away for college, plus the u of m offered some competitive scholarship money. eventually landing herself in the chemistry department, lexi began to stick out as a black woman surrounded by men, mostly white ones. it was awkward and frustrating, but she grew a little more confidence and stuck it out so she could be an example for little girls like she once was.
the pressure of college was also when lexi fell into hacking as a hobby, the rush of danger giving some much-needed dopamine to the student. a classmate put her on to the mmorpg wonderland online, which sucked her in quickly. it was always so much easier to make friends online, where you could connect to people whose interests aligned more with yours, and you could present yourself a certain way. being a member of a guild made her feel so useful, and she felt so connected to the members of what would become the bad luck club. they were friends, they were family, and she belonged.
a creative interest in makeup soon guided alexandria to what she wanted to do with her eventual degree. she'd always loved playing with makeup, painting her face with pretty looks that got her compliments from other girls; and her chemistry studies combined well with her curiosity over why some products worked differently than others. a bachelor's degree was soon followed by a master's degree, and a more direct pursuit of cosmetic chemistry.
fresh out of grad school, lexi did some office work for a logistics company for a couple of years, since finding a job in her field turned out to be kind of difficult. she was persistent about checking job postings, though, and eventually was able to send her resumé to blood for beauty cosmetics, realizing belatedly that they were located all the way up in alaska, far away from her family and home.
the phone interviews went startlingly well, though. they seemed to really like her in spite of her obvious nerves and word vomiting. they gave her an extremely lucrative offer, one that made lexi's eyes nearly pop out of her skull. it was impossible to turn down; it came less from personal selfishness for money, and more of a personal responsibility, wanting to help pay for her grandparents' increasing medical costs, making sure her ageing parents were comfortable, and paying off student loans—although the salary also appealed to a little materialistic streak inside lexi, which would help her indulge in some of her sillier hobbies like collecting beanie babies, including the expensive limited edition ones.
the work at the logistics company had been mind-numbingly boring and was nowhere near the field she wanted to be in; so lexi began streaming herself playing video games to an audience of mostly other hackers, under the handle labdiva, named after her chemistry background. playing mostly rpgs, lexi grew a little more confident as a person, infusing her streams with her fun and caring personality and her silly and funny commentary on games and chat messages. she kept up the streaming once she moved to alaska, inspired even more when she was actually able to meet the other members of her group in person for the first time...and the new salary helped her upgrade equipment.
working at blood for beauty initially felt like a dream come true as she was finally in a career in the field she'd studied for. the feeling didn't last, though. the owners of the business, the villanelles, soon were pushing chemicals into the lab that didn't quite belong in there, strongly suggesting what lexi should do with them. they'd recognized her manipulable nature, hearing her submissiveness all the way back during her phone interviews, identifying her need to feel needed. and wouldn't it be a shame if she lost her job after moving all the way here, disappointing her whole family? wouldn't it be terrible if her grandparents died because they couldn't afford care that would have prevented it? what kind of child would she be if she couldn't pay back everything her parents had ever done for her?
lexi knows she's hurting people with the product she's creating. she knows what she's doing is wrong. but what else is she supposed to do, besides live with the guilt of her wrongdoings so others can be happy and comfortable?
