Character Info

[titilating]

Canon Series: Misfits
Character Name: Alisha Bailey
Age: Assumed young twenties, though definitely no older.
Height: 5'1" (taken from Antonia Thomas' official height)

Personality: To be perfectly honest, Alisha is not the sort of person anyone would actively seek out as a friend or be proud to have as a daughter, niece, or sibling. For that matter, she’s certainly not a valued member of society, either. Though she can be a loyal friend, there is much to get past and accept first before such a bond can ever be made.

To start, Alisha is incredibly self-centered. As far as she’s concerned, the world revolves around her. Regardless of how much changes or how much she sticks her neck out for her friends, there is always that layer of “numero uno” underneath. Many times, she “helps” her friends with less-than-legal activities (such as assisting in murders or helping to bury those who have been murdered due to their intertwining circumstances with the ASBO Five) simply because it benefits her as well (in this case, she won’t go to prison because there’s no evidence of the deaths). Other times, it’s as simple as walking off or toning people out to avoid a fight or unwanted annoyances. Vanity certainly plays a large part into her narcissism too, though. Throughout canon, it’s shown that she puts a great deal of effort into her appearance (from applying makeup several times a day, to never wearing the same outfit twice, to sporting as many hairstyles as possible despite her mass of curly hair). In fact, there’s even a scene where Curtis (who would become her beau) exclaims that because she’s beautiful, she thinks she can treat people any way she wants. Her reply? "Yeah, that's pretty much how it works; haven't you figured that out yet?" Though she is more conscious now (in her canon point) of how she treats people (thanks to that wake-up call), it never completely changes her vanity or her sense of self-importance.

Of course, that doesn’t mean she’s a nice person; in fact, unless someone is close or of interest to her, she’s typically incredibly tactless, manipulative, rude, and insulting. She doesn’t mind being called a “bitch,” and is quick to throw the insults right back (pardon the language). More often than not, she won’t take crap from anybody, and whatever she can’t argue away she’ll ignore. Those low on the totem poll in her social circle often are subjugated to her purposefully indifference, aren’t treated well at all, and aren’t worth the effort it takes to speak to them (unless she absolutely needs their input). She actually does this with Simon in canon (for over a season), disregarding almost everything he says, even when he’s right. It’s not until the mysterious and inexplicable Superhoodie (the only person who could touch her and not be affected by her power) shows up that she actually addresses Simon on her own, but only in an attempt to find out more about the masked vigilante following her around. However, if the person in question is a loudmouth and she can’t simply ignore them, she’ll usually throw insults their way or tell them to “piss off,” as the case usually is with Nathan.

Along those lines, Alisha has quite the mouth herself. The roughest, toughest sailor would be proud of her vocabulary. To put it bluntly, Alisha has no qualms with being vulgar, using curse words as freely and frequently as a normal person uses pronouns. Just as well, sarcasm is her middle name, and she flaunts it with ease and sass. She has absolutely no problem with speaking about the subject of sex or using it to mock someone else for that matter (in which case, it’s usually in the forms of pantomimes and insults). She’s comfortable being open about her sexuality and experiences (and the experiences of others she either saw or heard about), readily gossiping about it. There’s little shame in her speech when it comes to sex; to be more precise, there isn’t any shame she wants people to know about, and thus keeps it to herself. Thus far, any shame or guilt towards her sexual habits has been completely derived from the use (purposeful or accidental) of her power (see the permissions post for more details).

As we can imagine, her smart mouth has gotten her into trouble several times; it even assisted in getting her an ASBO in the first place (granted, she tried to seduce the cop that pulled her over by performing a blowjob on the breathalyzer). It certainly doesn’t help that she has very little, if any, respect for authority figures. Be it probation workers or police officers, she treats them all with the same lack of respect. She has text and talked on her cell while her probation workers were trying to speak to her and/or the rest of the ASBO five; she also out-rightly refused their help when she was nearly raped, mostly out of spite and contempt for their positions. In addition, and going up the chain of command, she has also shown serious attitude, disdain, and overconfidence in dealing with police officers. There, of course, was the one who pulled her over and initially protested for an ASBO. The other attempted to arrest her for breaking curfew too many times. She showed absolutely no remorse for her actions and didn't believe him about an arrest, instead insisting, “It was my friend’s birthday; what was I supposed to do?” She also stated that he wouldn’t go through with the arrest (he tried, though he made skin-to-skin contact with her as he went to cuff her wrists and fell under her power, causing him to break a serious police code of conduct; though it scared the daylights out of her, the confrontation allowed Alisha to walk away without being arrested). Further along the miscreant lines, she has admitted that she used to jump from party to party and go out constantly, which means it wouldn’t be farfetched to assume that she doesn’t respect any boundaries her parents had put up, if they put up any (it’s never revealed if they have).

Even if it’s difficult for “good people” to get along with her, Alisha is very much a social butterfly. She thrives off of having a social (party) life. It’s not uncommon to see her in a bar or club, and she’s more than happy to drink, dance, flirt, smoke, and do a little recreational drug use (however, after she found out that the preferred designer drug, ecstasy, affected her power, she never used it again). She finds solace in being a reckless, wild young adult, living life to its fullest… and it’s shallowest. For her, there’s no fear in approaching someone new (usually someone good looking; that’s who she feels most assured talking to), no concerns over flirting with fellows in order to get free drinks, and there’s certainly no issue with keeping a conversation up as long as it keeps her positive interest. The second it doesn’t, there’s a good chance she might up and walk away (if she’s able to).

Perhaps most noted (especially for the aesthetically-pleasing specimens of the male sex) is her flirtatiousness. Again, she has little shame in this area, if she’s not in a relationship. Alisha will play coy, using all her lovely features to seduce and entice, from the way she walks, to what she wears, to where and when her gaze lands, to how she smiles. She knows she’s capable of seduction, and she flaunts that knowledge with pride. If she is in a relationship, though, she usually keeps her flirting down to a minimum and it’s usually only towards her partner.

Sadly, on the romantic side of things, she has issues with serious relationships; not because she finds it difficult to stay monogamous (nowadays, at least), but because she honestly doesn’t know how to handle the intense bumps along the road. "I can't do these big relationship moments,” she states in episode five, series one. Her current-most boyfriend was Curtis, and those bumps really got quite rocky when he changed the past in a way that kept his old girlfriend out of prison… meaning they were still together in the present while he was with Alisha. Though she, herself, only had a few relations in the past that weren’t “one nighters,” and though she admitted (albeit on accident) that she was the one to cheat on them in the past, times changed. Any sort of cheating on her behalf was before her power changed her life and before she got together with Curtis; she definitely needed and still needs someone who’s understanding of her situation and who doesn’t mind the lack of physical intimacy. She makes it very clear to Curtis, the one person who is actually able to comprehend her situation, "You're the first person I've been faithful to, and you’re cheating on me?… Don't shag anyone else, and I won't either. And if I do, I'll tell you.” Ironically enough, for someone with a promiscuous record, she doesn’t like sneaking around; she knows she wants to be honest, and expects that if anything does happen on the other side, that her partner would have the common sense to inform her of it, even if she would upset her. She’d rather have a cheating boyfriend who’s honest than one who isn’t and dishonest; ideally, he would hvea the better qualities of both.

Moving along, Alisha has a very cynical, sexual, and almost dark sense of humor. When surprise misfortunes fall onto others, she can’t help but laugh. For instance, every time that Nathan hurt himself in the process of showing off or trying to figure out his power, she let out a chuckle, even if the rest of the group was stone-faced; conversely, when Kelly went bald because of another girl’s power, Alisha couldn’t help but laugh at the scene, even though she felt horrible for Kelly and hushed Nathan when he said she “looked like a bald alien.” In addition, she’s poked fun and pantomimed various sexual acts in order to tease and illustrate her gossipy stories: blow jobs, eating someone out, getting off on the gear stick of a car, how Curtis masturbates… nothing is off-limits.

Ironically, that’s exactly why she got away with everything in the past; nothing was off-limits. She’s very spoiled, parents presumably on the wealthier side. Because of her overly comfortable upbringing, she is able to speak in a blunt manner, rarely filtering her thoughts or words unless she knows it will get her into a serious fight (feelings are a different kit and kaboodle, though). Physically, she’s not very strong; she’s far better at using her feminine wiles to manipulate the people around her. Because of this, she tends to avoid any sort of physical confrontation; she will put a stop to her tongue, roll her eyes, and walk away if things get too heated, regardless of who she‘s talking to, even if it‘s a companion.

That’s not to say she can’t be a good friend; in fact, she can be, even if she has to ignore, leave early, or walk out on something to keep her own levels in balance. Yet when push comes to shove and her fellow misfits need her, she’s there. For instance, even though she had her driving privileges revoked, she borrowed her dad’s car to help move the bodies of the first probation worker (killed by Kelly when he tried to murder the ASBO Five) and Gary (killed by the first probation worker), when their secret grave site under the flyaway was being dug up for the construction of an environmental monitoring station (try saying that five times fast). In addition, she did do her part to help dig up and rebury the bodies, even if the boys did the majority of the grunt work. When the second probation worker (the fiancée of the first one who was using Simon to try and steal evidence to get the ASBO Five arrested) was killed and her body rediscovered, Alisha went out with the rest of the group out in the boat to sink it to the bottom of the lake, even though she didn’t physically help. She was there emotionally for her “friends,” as the agreement was that when it comes to any storm-related shenanigans, they’re all in it together; it falls on all of them.

Alisha truly has many different barriers surrounding her heart, which is why she comes off as such a careless, stuck up, and “bitchy” person. Needless to say, each of the other misfits have made it past the initial barriers (but to be fair, some passed more than others). However, deep down, one way or another, they’re all important to her in some fashion, even if she doesn’t recognize it entirely and/or won’t admit it. Only one person in canon has ever reached beyond that final barrier, and he’s a bit off from her canon point; needless to say, it is indeed possible to get to the center of the tootsie pop that is her heart. It’s just incredibly difficult, and it took nearly everything she knew being flipped upside down for her to accept it.

Deep inside, she has a rather fragile heart, which is why she puts up so many fronts and confronts instead of communicating her true feelings, especially those of shame and self-disappointment. It’s easier for her to push the blame instead of admitting her faults and shortcomings. It’s easier to assume that things aren’t going her way because of someone else, not herself. Though she knows she’s imperfect, it’s hard for her to admit it; in fact, the first time she actually readily said that “the problem is her” was after she’s almost raped, an encounter brought on by her power, the same power that she had previously been abusing. There is one emotion that shakes her heart more than the others. Many times throughout canon, her power has her feeling untouchable, and it brings her mood down; who can blame her, either: it ruined moments and relationships that had previously been or had the potential to be very intimate, easy to deal with, or important. Beneath all those layers of confidence and social expertise is a torrent of loneliness brought on by her inability to be “touchable“; though it’s not always strong, it is always present. However, this loneliness only seems to further her loyalty and dependability to her fellow misfits.

All the facets of her personality play off of one another, pulling each others’ strings, though it’s probably safe to say no one aspect causes or is the source of any other. There are intricate connections to all her traits, both subtle and blatant, each one tied to every other in a complex web of emotion, fronts, and reckless, wild abandon.

Other Noteworthy Attributes or quirks:
-She doesn't typically smoke cigarettes; what she's usually seen smoking throughout canon are marijuana joints.
-She seems to prefer soft lighting, even when tediously applying makeup while getting ready for a party; instead of using normal lamps around her room, she uses strands of lights around her vanity mirror and headboard of the bed to softly light her room.
-It seems her car was either sold, put in storage, or her keys locked up after she was given her ASBO; she recounts a story about her car in episode one, but a few episodes later, she has to use her dad's car to move the bodies. This means she doesn't have access to her own vehicle.
-Her room is never a disaster zone, but there does seem to be a bit of laziness when it comes to making sure everything's been put away.
-It's unknown if she has any siblings; however, between her relatively young age and the fact that gas prices are so high, most young folk don't own cars and use public transportation (not to mention that the rest of the ASBO kids, even a famous runner like Curtis, don't have cars but she does); the fact that even though her driving has been suspended, she still gets away with party hopping with what we can assume is little to no consequence at home (as she keeps doing it); the fact that she has an expansive wardrobe and countless accessories; and all the nice features of her room, it's clear she's been spoiled. This could be the mark of an only child, a favorite child (or perhaps the only girl), well-to-do parents, or any combination of them.