Born in Constanta, Romania, Mischa immigrated to New York City with her family shortly after the fall of the Ceausescu regime in 1989. Being only nine years old at the time, the youngest of three daughters had difficulty adjusting to American culture and fitting in with the other children at school due to the language barrier that existed between them. It took Mischa and her older siblings two years to become fluent in English, but by that time their allegiances lay with the other Romanian transplants that populated the Brooklyn neighborhood in which they lived with their parents, aunt, uncle and two adult cousins.
When Mischa was thirteen, her father and uncle — both of who were employed as welders for the same construction company — were killed in an onsite accident. Because the family was uninsured and the company refused to compensate Mischa’s mother and aunt for their losses, Mischa and her older sisters dropped out of high school and found work to support the household. It didn’t take long for the girls’ situation to attract the attention of Child Protective Services, and despite numerous attempts to lie about their ages, education and financial situation, they were eventually removed from their mother’s custody and placed into the state’s foster care system.
Although their case worker attempted to keep them together, very few group homes were willing to take all four girls at once and it was decided that the best thing to do was pair them off and send two to one family and two to another. Mischa and her sister Noemi soon found themselves living with half a dozen other teenagers their age, all from different families and backgrounds, and though they all shared the similar fears and anxieties about their situation, they seldom got along. Noemi coped by engaging in promiscuous behavior, believing that sex was a sure way to get other people to like her while Mischa, fearful of being separated from the only family she had left, emulated her older sister’s example in the hope that it would bring them even closer together.
Sensing that he had perhaps made a mistake, Mischa’s case worker changed his mind about keeping Mischa and Noemi in the same home, citing Noemi’s behavior as a bad influence on the younger girl. But rather than getting better, things only got worse when Noemi was removed from the house; Mischa began to act out even more, engaging in inappropriately seductive behavior while at school and excessive dramatics with exaggerated displays of emotion while at home. On numerous occasions, she the threatened suicide to get attention from her caregivers whose reassurance and approval became her number one priority.
When Mischa was sixteen, she ran away from the group home with the intention of giving her caretakers and case worker a good scare. What was meant to be a few hours out on the streets of New York City turned into a few days, a few weeks, and then a few months as she found herself caught up in a wild world of drugs and prostitution: the perfect environment in which her histrionic personality could thrive. Mischa probably would have lived the rest of her short life being passed around in a half-sick, half-euphoric state by men who she falsely believed would care for her if it hadn't been for Daniel Linderman.
Linderman, responding to rumours about a young woman who could induce intense physical pleasure without touching her partner, arrived at the residence where she was staying at the time and offered her john several hundred dollars if he would part with the girl. The john not only agreed, but helped a partially-dressed Mischa pack her things into a suitcase before shooing her out of his apartment — and into the hall with Linderman. Linderman explained to Mischa that she was special, that the feelings of euphoria that she induced in other people wasn't just the result of a good trip they were having. More importantly, she could do more than cause pleasure; she could also cause pain, and that made her a valuable asset to him and his organization. Over the next few years, Linderman taught Mischa how to control her gift under the condition that she remain in his employ as a private escort and occasional prostitute.
That was ten years ago. Now, at twenty-eight, Mischa works as one of Linderman's negotiators, using her ability to induce feelings of bliss in his followers and feelings or horror in his enemies. She has an six-year-old son, August, the result of one of many on-again-off-again relationships.
