So share my glory; so share my coffin…

Name: Manuela Hidalgo

Pinboard: here.

Nickname (s): Mani (by her mother and by any ships), Manuelita (by her family and by Jill)

FC: Inde Navarrette*

*Mun note: Manuela’s hair is lightened by the virus, and she starts dyeing her hair its natural color once she turns 19. She wears dark brown contacts. She also always keeps her arm wrapped, for she doesn’t want to expose the infection.

VC: Amy Correa Bell.

Gender: cisgender female (she/her)

Sexuality: biromantic bisexual

Race: Latina

Ethnicity: Colombian

Disorder (s): generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Abilit(y/ies): Manuela’s powers primarily are in her blood, for she doesn’t want to be a monster. Her T-Veronica infected blood bursts into flame upon contact with the air, and she can use it as a weapon, but she only uses this sparingly so she doesn’t die of blood loss. Manuela’s singing voice can calm others who are infected, though this can occasionally cause pain or fainting since the virus and her body reject each other. Manuela has a genetic predisposition to the T-Veronica virus which keeps her alive. She also has accelerated healing as a result of the virus.

Noted connections: Javier Hidalgo (father), Hilda Hidalgo (mother), Jill Valentine (as played by @forgotten-retrouvaille), Jack Krauser (as played by @seekschaos), Leon Kennedy.

Age: Verse dependent. Age 18 at the time of Operation Javier.

Birthday: June 27th, 1986

Height: 5’8”

Occupation: college student (verse dependent), botanist (current)

Species: mutant

Personality: reserved; sheltered; gullible; caring; optimistic; loyal

Background:

Manuela Hidalgo was raised to two loving, if overprotective, parents in a village not far off from Leticia, Colombia. Hilda passed along her love for nature to her daughter, and any free time Manuela was granted was spent exploring the local forests. She didn’t go to public school, for her parents preferred to homeschool her, and she had no friends her own age. The one person she loved best was her mother, but when she fell ill with a rare illness, Manuela knew their time together would be short.

At the ripe age of five years old, Hilda ‘died’, and Manuela became incredibly distraught. Her father never wanted her to want for anything, though he began to create distance between them. Every little move Manuela made was heavily monitored by her father, and each time they met, he seemed cold. Distant. He’d never been known for his kindness, but paranoia led her father to curate an incredibly sheltered existence for Manuela.

Manuela’s love for nature and insects continued to grow alongside her, though she drew into herself. With no one around her age to speak with, Manuela became an incredibly quiet girl. The Sacred Snakes cartel protected her under the caveat that she couldn’t leave the estate. As a result, she became an avid reader, and her father would often purchase thorough tomes on insects and plants. Manuela never understood the true reason why, but the gifts brought a light to her world, and she appreciated them nonetheless. Botany had always been a particular interest of hers, and she loved to learn, so she’d take any opportunity she got to study anything.

Her life continued on as normal until 2001 when Manuela was diagnosed with the same degenerative disease her mother had. The doctors had always warned Javier about it being genetic, but Manuela had been too young to understand or care, and Javier swept it under the rug. Now, though? They couldn’t ignore it any longer. Manuela was promptly infected with samples of the t-Veronica virus he’d obtained from the black market, and the strict surveillance she’d lived under her entire life only increased.

Manuela was given around seventeen organ transplants in one year. Her father didn’t have access to cyrogenics, so he kidnapped and harvested organs from girls around her age in Mixcóatl, the village she’d been born and raised in. Hospitalized for most of this year, the virus was the only thing keeping Manuela alive. Physically, the mutation spread to her arm. It internally mutated her cells far more. Her deep brown hair and eyes lightened, but other than that, her blood’s compatibility with the virus kept her alive. Her determination to stay human prevented her from completely mutating.

In 2002, Manuela turned eighteen. The organ transplants continued, and she would’ve continued to allow them to had a young woman on the medical staff not told her the truth. Horrified, Manuela ran as far away as she could. Her father flooded the entire village, causing more chaos and bloodshed in her name and releasing those infected with the T-virus. She took shelter in a church, and she hid out there until — and this is my main canon divergence aside from her age — agents Jill Valentine and Jack Krauser discovered her.

Verses

V: adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience (lab) — this verse encompasses Manuela while she is in the lab. She’s kept under careful watch, and she spends her time in and out of the hospital. She receives organ transplants rather frequently, and she’s infected with the T-Veronica virus during this time.

V: man’s war against nature is inevitably a war against himself (Darkside Chronicles) — anything that happens in Darkside Chronicles is set in this verse! My muse is canon divergent, as outlined above, in that she primarily will be interacting with Jill — she does not meet Leon until after she is brought to the U.S. — and Krauser. This verse is still being developed / plotted out.

AUV: because the birdsong might be pretty but it’s not for you they sing — an AU based on this concept art of Manuela! Her mutations accelerate and grow out of control, and she turns into a full B.O.W. that Leon and Krauser have to fight. Her skin turns a grayish green, her hair resembles leaves, and her arm becomes entirely mutated.

AUV: we’d lay here for years or for hours so long we’d become the flowers — compliant with the bad ending of Operation Javier. Manuela dies, and she takes on the form of a ghost. To meet her in this verse, your muse would likely have to be connected to the supernatural in some way or know a muse that can speak to ghosts, such as my OC Ailani.

AUV: teach your heart to accept disappointments — a verse more in line with RE4R! Manuela never meets Jill or Leon, for Krauser and his men come alone. The squadron is slaughtered, so Manuela only gets to meet Krauser. She survives, and her survival encourages him to seek power via the viruses.

V: for a time I rest in the grace of the world and am free (post canon) — Manuela after Operation Javier! She’s taken in by the U.S. government and put into cryostasis. Though they’re unable to fully stop the mutations, the mutations are slowed significantly. She’s studied by the government during this time to attempt to create a vaccine or suppressant, though they are unsuccessful in this attempt. Simmons got his samples for the C virus from her during this verse.

AUV: and they were roommates!—verse open to any Ashley Gr.aham writers! Instead of being placed into cryostasis at age 18 / immediately upon her arrival to the U.S., Manuela is encouraged to live a normal life. At 18, she enrolls in college to study botany, though her mutation starts flaring up, and she undergoes on and off treatment of cryostasis while in university. Because Ashley Graham is already under high scrutiny and has a lot of protection, the university — with a little nudge from Leon — places the girls in a room together. The pair hits it off from there, and the rest, as they say, is history.

V: tell me what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life (main) — Manuela’s main verse! The mutation progresses, eventually taking the entirety of her arm, but a suppressant has been discovered. Manuela takes it, and every six months she visits the doctor, but her pre-existing mutations are irreversible. She attends college and gets her degree in botany, going on to pursue that as a career path. She’s permanently offered a ‘normal’ life and taken out of cryostasis in 2004.

V: you belong among the wildflowers (crossover)— any crossovers are in this verse!

V: I want auroras and sad prose (movie) — a verse for the Anderson films! Doctor Ashford experiments on Manuela alongside his daughter. Javier sends her to the U.S., and she’s infected there.

AUV: won’t you take me as I’m meant to be: wild? — a Marvel verse for Manuela! Javier acquires the virus from HYDRA instead of Wesker, and as a result, she’s a noted subject of theirs. Two SHIELD agents are sent to eliminate her father and bring her into custody, and it’s there that her mutation is discovered. She’s in and out of cryostasis until the events of the Winter Soldier, and everything after that is compliant with her main verse!