23 years old · Character in Book 1
Data Analyst · analysis and validation
Alicia Valcárcel
She analyses, coordinates and tries to hide when she is uncertain.
Mathematics degree and a master’s in Data Science.
Alicia is 23, with a background in Mathematics and a master’s in Data Science. At ATLAS she analyses, validates and coordinates: she turns vague questions into comparisons, checks what the results support, and prepares an explanation other people can follow.
Her confident delivery and presence make her seem comfortable in any room. That impression conceals work, expectations and constant attention to what she offers others. She wants her judgement to be needed and finds it hard to ask a question when she fears appearing less capable.
- What they want
- For her career to stand on what she can do.
- What is difficult
- Asking questions without feeling she is losing control or disappointing someone.
- What they contribute
- Mathematical judgement, analysis and coordinating a review.
BACKGROUND AND FAMILY
Growing up among expectations
She comes from a well-off professional family that valued results, a polished appearance and ease with other people. She earned good marks without always coming first. She became used to an achievement being followed by an observation about what she could still improve.
She has played volleyball and knows the mixture of competition, comparison and wanting recognition. She enjoys being noticed and feels uneasy about how much of that attention reflects what she has done. The question returns when she presents work: she wants to make a good impression and wants that impression to leave room for what she is explaining.
RESOURCES AND INDEPENDENCE
What money makes easier
She has a quiet room, can afford a journey and has some freedom to turn down commitments. Those advantages are real. Even so, she wants a career of her own that she does not have to justify through her background. Gratitude to her family and the need for independence can inhabit the same conversation.
Alicia does not always notice the price of asking someone for “just one more review”. She finds it difficult to recognise that something easy to fit into her own diary can displace an important part of Mara’s day. She can be generous while still taking for granted conditions the others do not share.
INTERESTS AND AFFECTION
Friends, leisure and relationships
She has friends outside university, dances, plays volleyball for pleasure and enjoys television contests she feels no need to defend as good taste. She likes having breakfast out without turning it into a post. There are times when she can laugh without measuring the impression she is making.
She has known relationships in which being admired did not mean being heard. Confidence and good looks can still catch her attention; she now pays more attention to what happens when she raises a concern or disagrees. She wants closeness, but does not always know how to separate what she desires from what she hopes will confirm her worth.
ABILITY AND FRICTION
Judgement has blind spots too
She notices differences between a number and the conclusion someone wants to draw from it. She works with Nadia on evaluation and asks the people running a test which version they used. She can challenge an unsupported claim, while Inés remains responsible for the laboratory. Her contribution combines analysis, questions and coordination: organising a presentation also means deciding what someone who was not at the computer needs to understand.
Under pressure, she can cling to an elegant comparison because it allows a discussion to end, or spend too long refining a presentation while an uncomfortable check remains. The fear of seeming ordinary makes her defensive. Sometimes she regains control through distance or irony and makes someone who was already looking for a place feel clumsy.
VOICE AND PRESENCE
Confidence changes its expression
She speaks in complete sentences and looks before replying. A slightly raised chin or a long pause can make a reasonable question sound cold. During a family call, that same person may smooth a sleeve and start justifying herself before being asked anything.
Her spontaneous laugh, professional smile and smile she offers someone for reassurance are different. Alicia wants to hold her boundaries and also fears spoiling someone’s favourable impression by doing so. That effort looks different from outside: Leo can see ease where she is working to hide insecurity.
CHARACTER AND EXPRESSION
How their expression changes.
Four expressions of Alicia. Read left to right, starting with the top row.
- Reserve
Her chin rises and her expression keeps a distance.
- Irritation
An eyebrow and a hand make her limit clear.
- Uncertainty
Her gaze falls and her hands come together as she searches for a response.
- Spontaneous laughter
Her eyes narrow and her shoulders relax as she laughs.
TWO SIDES OF A RELATIONSHIP
Who shares their world.
Alicia and Álvaro
From Alicia
She enjoys his humour, talking to someone who picks up a joke, and an attraction she does not need to justify. She also wants to bring a concern to the conversation without making it entertaining. She wants to choose which parts of her life she shares; Álvaro being able to tell a story well does not mean she always wants him to tell it.
From Álvaro
He appreciates her presence, conversation and the impression they make together. He enjoys feeling chosen and sharing social codes that make closeness easy. He can assume she wants to keep up the same pace. When Alicia needs attention without an audience or a good anecdote, listening calls for something different from him.
Alicia and Inés
From Alicia
Inés’s trust gives her visible responsibility and a chance to demonstrate independence. She wants her analysis to count in a discussion of results, including with more experienced colleagues. She needs room to coordinate and clarity about what she can decide; outward confidence can make it too easy to assign her a task without discussing those conditions.
From Inés
She values Alicia’s analysis and ability to make a presentation understandable. She relies on her to bring different parts of the work together on time and keep their claims consistent. She can assign responsibility faster than authority, or mistake a confident explanation for a lack of need for support. Trusting Alicia also means hearing the objections she brings.
Alicia and Jun
From Alicia
She needs to know the run behind a number: its version, conditions and what was checked. She appreciates Jun making it possible to repeat. She resents an objection about a result being treated as if she were only there to present the work. Her question can change a conclusion even when the program has finished successfully.
From Jun
He wants an implemented solution to be used and recognises the value of explaining it clearly. Giving Alicia what she needs for a review also takes time and records. He can hear the request as a dismissal of his effort, especially when he thought he had finished. Friction lies between making something work and knowing what it supports.
Alicia and Leo
From Alicia
She can recognise a precise contribution while feeling crowded by how it is presented. Leo’s attention does not always arrive when she wants it. She wants him to hear the argument she is making, even when it conflicts with his preferred solution. She uses distance to regain space, with a coldness that can also hurt.
From Leo
He admires Alicia’s presence and judgement and tends to imagine her confidence extends to the rest of her life. He wants to be noticed and may interrupt to impress her when she needs to finish an explanation. He struggles to hear a technical objection without also measuring whether her opinion of him has improved or worsened. Fascination does not tell him what she feels.
Alicia and Mara
From Alicia
She values Mara’s ability to trace a result and identify what changed during image preparation. That trust can make another review too easy to ask for. They have different resources, and Alicia does not always see what a task displaces in her colleague’s diary. Valuing her reliability does not mean the next afternoon is already agreed.
From Mara
She appreciates Alicia organising a difficult conversation and making a conclusion visible. She also wants preparation to count as a technical decision, including when it has failed. She can compare herself with Alicia’s financial freedom and confidence. They share help and trust, alongside things that are difficult to say when gratitude seems incompatible with setting a boundary.
Alicia and Nadia
From Alicia
In Nadia she finds methodological experience and someone who takes a question further. She wants to learn without being fixed in the role of pupil. Preparing an evaluation together means recognising what each proposed and what they still do not know. Her ease in presenting an idea can obscure who helped build it.
From Nadia
She values Alicia’s judgement and communication. Seeing one of her own questions delivered more effectively through Alicia can bring pride and comparison. She needs the exchange to allow room for her judgement and review time. Greater experience in one area does not make Alicia’s perspective on another dispensable.
Alicia and Nico
From Alicia
She values Nico following the whole process and thinking about the user. Examples of what one component accepts and another produces help her explain a result. Tension appears when a presentation calls for a cleaner version than the tool’s actual state. Hearing his objection may require changing something she had already prepared.
From Nico
He appreciates Alicia making difficult-to-show work understandable. He wants the audience to be able to use what is promised, and asks about the difference between a demonstration and a service that will keep working. A simplification can help or commit him to an unresolved task. His disagreement with Alicia has professional substance of its own.
The biographies and relationships include the characters’ backgrounds; not all have been depicted in the story.
The places in their life.
Teamwork
ATLAS laboratory ↗
Leo arrives at a desk slightly apart; everyone else already has work to do.
Results and questions
Evaluation room ↗
Before accepting a score, there are a few questions to answer.
University life
The campus between doors ↗
A conversation can start just as the other person needs to leave.