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ESSENTIALS

• Name: Charlotte Marie Thatcher
  
• Nickname: Lottie by family; Thatch by everyone else.
  
• Age and Birth Date: 19, November 2nd
  
• Occupation: College Freshman - Folklore Major & Animal Rights Activist

APPEARANCE

In terms of her body type, Charlotte is rather average. She isn’t extremely short or really tall and ends up standing at around 5’5” in height. Charlotte weighs around 145 lbs. Due to a low iron deficiency from a lack red meat (and sunshine, much to her parent’s dismay), her skin complexion is rather pale as well.

Charlotte’s best feature would have to be her eyes. They are a mossy green in coloration with honey colored flecks around them. While her best feature is her eyes, Charlotte’s worst feature is associated with her eyes as well. Every day – no matter how much sleep she gets – Thatch has deep, dark circles under her eyes. These circles plague the girl all the time. Thatch has two distinct marks on her body. The first is a scar she has on the left side of her neck. Being born three and a half months or so ahead of schedule, Charlotte was unable to feed herself, and thus had to be fed through a tube; that is why she has her scar. The second distinctive mark is a tribal flower tattoo located in the middle of her lower back. She got this as a birthday gift from her father when she turned 18 years old.

Her personal style still isn’t definable into one set category, as she likes a variety of looks. The one thing that can be said about her wardrobe, though, is that her taste tends to be on the more feminine side. Charlotte loves to accessorize (without going crazy, mind you; less is more, after all), mix-and-match, and dress in layers. Makeup isn’t a big concern with Thatch. She doesn’t wear very much, nor does she wear it often. If she does, it’s usually foundation, lip-gloss and mascara at best.

Charlotte’s hair is a deep shade of black. Unlike many people she knows who have a thick head of hair, hers is rather fine. The length of her hair is quite long. It reaches to about her mid to lower back, and is usually styled gently curled with her bangs swooshing off to the left. Charlotte can also be seen from time to time wearing her hair up, depending on if she actually takes time to do it in the morning.

PERSONALITY

Within her life, Charlotte has two main things that likes: folklore and animals. Folklore was introduced to her by her father through American tall tales. It has interested her so much that she now hopes to pursue a career in the field. Animals are the second thing that Thatch loves. Frequent trips to the zoo and to a cousin’s farm helped harbor this love when she was a child. After some key events in her life, Charlotte became not only a vegetarian, but an animal rights activist as well. She currently works as an active member of IDA to help protect the rights of animals on a national and global level. On the other end of the spectrum, this young woman abhors animal cruelty. This, again, stems from events in her life. Seeing any form of cruelty to animals gets her really upset.

When everyday situations are concerned, Charlotte is very laid back. She deals with these easily, and is very flexible if an event of interest comes up. She’ll always find a way to work it into her calender somehow. Stress, however, is another story. Depending on the situation, Charlotte will either deal with it by talking to someone and letting her feelings out, or by just listening to music or retreating someplace quiet to relax herself.

Thatch goal in life is to become the top authority within the field of folklore and legend. The study of folklore has been a passion of hers for a long time, so this is something she’d be willing to put a lot of effort into in order to achieve her goal. Thatch’s biggest fears are being murdered or tortured to death. She has her father’s love of horror films to thank for that. Charlotte also is afraid of pain. She doesn't worry about things like surgeries or anything; what she worries about is that it will be painful in the process. The fact that she has a very low pain tolerance doesn’t exactly help matters, either.

The library or a place where Thatch can sit down with a bunch of books and read is where she feels most at home. Charlotte thrives best in places like this. These places of quiet contemplation allow her to just calm down and have some time to herself. Personal space and alone time are things that this young woman highly values, and secluded spaces are able to give her that. Being surrounded by a lot of books also helps. Charlotte can only take so much of hanging out with others, talking on the phone, or chatting on a computer, but she never gets tired of reading. Set her down with a book or two, and she’d be content for hours without fail. That is Charlotte’s comfort zone.

ABILITIES

When it comes down to athletics and being physically fit, Charlotte isn’t the best person to turn to. While she eats healthy vegetarian meals, working out isn’t a high priority of hers. Running is horrible for her. After a few minutes of vigorous running, she is usually out of breath. Chalk this up to staying inside and reading when her parents wanted her out in the fresh air. Sports were never really her thing. She is also not that flexible, either, but this is something she’s learning to work on.

Charlotte acts highly on her intuition and her feelings. She has a tendency to notice little things that other people would overlook or not put much thought into. She picks up on things intuitively without knowing why or without much knowledge of the subject at hand. Thatch is also known for getting “feelings” about people. All of this isn’t to say that she doesn’t have her issues as well. Charlotte has a tendency to worry a lot. Once she is worked up, she lets them bother her and gets frustrated and jittery.

If you’re looking for someone extremely outgoing and extroverted, Thatch probably isn’t the girl you are looking for. In large groups of people, she tends to be more on the reserved side. Small groups, perhaps with one or two people, are something she prefers more. Although she doesn’t talk as often as some people, Charlotte isn’t afraid to let her voice be heard if she has something to say. This woman is very set in her beliefs to the point where some would call her stubborn. She is also a very honest individual – sometimes brutally so.

Thatch’s love of stories and folklore has given her a wealth of knowledge on various mythical creatures. If one ever needs help with the name of a creature, what they are like or how they act, Charlotte is the girl to turn to. Thatch suffers from dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is a learning disability that makes it hard for people to learn or comprehend math. Charlotte gets numbers all mixed up, and often confuses the different mathematical signs. She always seems to be forgetting rules and formulas to various things, and frankly it frustrates her. Sometimes she even has trouble doing the simple things like balancing a checkbook.

HOBBIES

• Reading (mostly folklores and mythologies from various countries)
  
• Writing stories
  
• Volunteering at her local animal shelter
  
• Attending animal rights rallies
  
• Telling stories to children.
  
• Listening to music

HISTORY

Aside from being born three and a half months early, Charlotte had a regular, average childhood.

Growing up, Charlotte never really had any sort of pet. That all changed, however, when she turned 15 years old. For her 15th birthday, both of her parents decided that Lottie was responsible enough to care for her own animal. This is where Babe, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, entered the Thatcher’s lives. It didn’t take long for Lottie to adore her new pet. It was love at first sight, actually. From that moment on, Charlotte was determined to be the best dog owner that a girl could possibly be. She took such good care of Babe, and he loved her so much. The two of them would play every day, and walks in the park between the two of them were frequent.

Then a day came that Charlotte Thatcher will never forget.

A boy from Charlotte's school showed up at her house and killed her dog before she came home from school. He had been angry and rather hysterical over the fact that the girl had turned him down after being asked out. He was obsessive over Thatch, and felt by killing one of the things she loved the most, that he'd be getting back at her. The girl never looked at meat the same way again; it was just too hard for her. After that incident, Charlotte became a vegetarian and an advocate for animal rights. The boy was also found and taken away to spend some much needed time in a correctional facility where he is currently getting psychological help.

Time went on, and after a while the girl learned to put Babe’s death behind her. A key person in helping her to move on and get on with her life was a neighbor of hers, an elderly man by the name of Charles Briggs. Charles was an interesting man. He had seen a lot over the course of his life. She visited with him as much as she could for three years until a cold winter morning in her senior year of high school. That was the day that Mr. Briggs passed away. The girl was saddened by the death of the old man. Charles was someone who had been a positive influence to Charlotte. He had shown her that she didn’t have to be afraid of what was out there. To this day, Thatch carries a picture of Charles in a locket that she wears around her neck.

Currently, Charlotte is enrolled in her first year of college as a freshman at the local university. She is studying as a folklore major, and hopes someday once she is done with school to be one of the top authorities in her field. Her life has finally gone back to being average, and she is just trying to take everything that comes at her one step at a time.

SAMPLE

“Honestly, Thatch, you need to get out more.”

Such was the argument of Kellie, Charlotte’s roommate within the freshman dorms. Honestly, how many times did she have to keep telling her this? The girl was fully aware of how much her roommate wanted her to get out. Spending too much time in the room, she recalled Kellie saying. Too much time in the room, and too much time studying. Well, whatever. So what if she didn’t go out as much as her roommate did? That didn’t matter. Partying wasn’t her thing, and besides – she had other things to occupy her time. An essay for example, not to mention the upcoming Vegetarian Club meeting.

The Vegetarian Club. Huh. Now that Thatch thought about it, perhaps she did need to get out more?

Finding the flier happened quite by accident, to be perfectly honest. The sheet had been posted on one of the many boards near the college that got plastered with posters for a variety of different events and functions. Charlotte would have walked right past it on any other day, if it weren’t for something that the flier said that caught her attention.



Unusual characters? Interesting…

’My essay can wait,’ the college freshman told herself. It wasn’t due until next week, anyway, so she would have plenty of time to work on it.

Doors Nightclub had been rather easy to find. Charlotte was surprised just how easy, actually. Something felt off; almost as if she were being drawn in to the club. Oh, well. That didn’t matter. What mattered was the club itself, and by the looks of the door alone, it seemed like it would be a cool place. Definitely not the sort of thing her friends would enjoy, but then again, Charlotte’s taste always differed from them.

”Doors Nightclub, huh,” she murmured as she gazed up at the entrance to the club, ”cool.”

With that, Charlotte Thatcher found herself getting in line with the other people waiting outside, tab in hand. Now was finally time to let loose and have a little fun.

ESSENTIALS

• Name: Derrick Ace Avery
  
• Nickname: n/a
  
• Age and Birth Date: 21 --> November 1st
  
• Occupation: College Student (Aviation/Computer Major)

APPEARANCE
Derrick stands at the low end of average for a young man, 5'4" with the build of a young man not fully matured, still spindly in some areas. His perhaps too-thin, though somewhat solid build reflects his constant-motion, a high metabolism and a love for activity. He has a natural tan to his skin, light brown eyes and hair that he keeps dyed to a bright-blonde color, with the occasional added coloration just for the fun effect. Depending on his location and goals, his clothing ranges from clean-pressed and professional to the left-over, wannabe rebel styles of his teenage years.



PERSONALITY

Derrick is a rather black and white fellow for regular, every-day, 'the way things should be' routines. He goes to the university, gets through his classes with the utmost seriousness and demands of perfection in his work, earning a reputation of being quite the task master in class. He likes order, logic, and to see the results of Best Efforts. The young man is quite at home and rather relaxed in intellectual endeavors, but tunnel-minded without understanding of why anyone else wouldn't put 110% into a work project that needs doing.

The effects of this for a 21 year old young man with a natural, genetic tendency to high-energy could be compared to putting a too-tight spring on a toy, stuffing it in a boring looking jack-in-the-box, and then letting someone turn the handle and spring it even tighter. . .KA-BOOM! Derrick doesn't lose his logic-focused way of seeing things, but out of class and out enjoying the world, he does lose quite a bit of stuffiness the built up energy doesn't quite prevent the otherwise intelligent young man from doing foolish things. Labeled as an adrenaline and new experience junkie, Derrick is always up for some new challenge--the more interesting the better.

Endlessly interested in aviation, stunts, and the wandering wonderings of science fiction 'what-ifs,' one can be sure that if there's anything going on that even hints at these things, Derrick will be present.


ABILITIES

Physical Situations ::: Derrick is built more for endurance than being power-built. Sports are a big social event for him, his team, their team, whatever. In personal competitions, his over-the-top attitude and enthusiasm and determination occasionally lands him in a win when he otherwise wouldn't. Occasionally.

Mental Situations ::: Derrick is fairly intelligent, as long as the dilemma is logical and academic. He can stretch those skills to social and unpredictable situations, but these are skills he is still learning. He does have a less-logical gift of 'gab', understanding words and their nuances, but again often fails to be able to utilize that in a social situation---your average person does not use words the same way a literary master would.

Social Situations ::: Derrick is fun to pal around with when he has turned off his work-mode, but his strength is in being loud and seeing to that others are enjoying in the fun. He doesn't form deep relationships, often failing to understand others as he can not 'equate' people as he 'equates' most everything else.

HOBBIES
Derrick has a deep fascination with anything aviation related--- He has model planes, books, likes going to the museums involving them, enjoys air-shows, will head out to the airport just to head out to the airport... Is it man made and does it fly? He's interested!

Puzzles, any sort of logic puzzles especially.
Stunts and practical jokes--- Derrick's interest in film tends to rely on how cool the action is an how awesome the stunts are, or if it has decent air-time. He also enjoys real life stunts and could probably rattle of a few facts about some Guinness Book of World Records if asked. --- Naturally, he enjoys reenacting stunts, or convincing others to do so.


HISTORY
Derrick had an extremely normal childhood. His father has been married to his work since he can remember, both the reason for his extremely cushy position and the reason his mother divorced him when Derrick was 9 years old. Due to Derrick's very final decision on the matter--and the result of being a pure terror in his mother's home--he predominately lived with his father from the age of 10, while sister Lisa remained with Mom.

"Living with Dad" was predictable and stable, with Dad busy most the time except to announce his high standards for his son and his visits with Mom whirls of conflict. As a child, Derrick held no bitterness to Dad for being so single-minded on his work, contrarily, he practically worshiped the man.

As a teenager, Derrick tried to break away from his father, afraid of becoming a workaholic just like Dear Ol' Dad. He bought into unusual behaviors and clothings, tried to act the part of the fool, and generally did go out of his way to make a fool of himself. Dad brought the hammer down on him during his Sophomore year of high school, forcing Derrick to calm down considerably and putting Derrick on more shaky terms with his father than before. Perhaps oddly enough, it also forced him closer to his younger sister.

Graduating high school was a frightening idea for Derrick. He'd have to leave the world of freedom and fun forever! It made him a cantankerous Senior, and even more so cantankerous as parents insisted in his applications to various universities, and Dad insisted in his majoring in computers. Fear of change drove Derrick to attend the college in the city he lived in, but arguments with his father drove him to live on campus. Here, he has been working out ways to stabilize himself.



SAMPLE

There were moments of nostalgia for Derrick--- You know, those moments that the 21 year old, who is now far-too-cool for high school endeavors, just sort of wishes for high school all over again. True to human nature, he enjoyed tromping through old territories and meeting with those that were still friends of sorts, despite the fact that there was an added world of difference between them. Derrick had spent some time that day doing that, only to have it suddenly halted when his old friend's girlfriend showed up.

Harsh to be dumped by someone he didn't get to see very much for someone his friend so all the freakin' time. People didn't make _sense_! Didn't his friend understand the percentage of time here was off-kilter and totally unfair?

Whatever. He was in a part of town he hadn't been to in ages, and there was a huge comfort in seeing the upscale men and women bustling about him. Not thinking of how elitist it might of made him to be, there was just something _home_ about not having to listen to the garble of the University students and concerns he couldn't compute. Much nicer to here the twittering of ladies going on about how they'd bought so much because they couldn't just stick to _one_ thing....

Even permitting his mind to go on about enjoying the homeliness of the here and now, Derrick's footsteps took him to the edge of all of that. To speak of nostalgia! This was one of those places he didn't dare frequent now that he was in the university and supposed to be holding a good image. Derrick half-smirked at the 'international oddities' shop, gave a partial shrug, and wandered up to take a look around. Here to buy or not, it was an interesting place to poke into.

Derrick was a little surprised to take note of something he'd seen around campus just recently. A hand-made flyer for some place. He'd stopped at it there to snort over the idea, roll his eyes and wander off. Now he stopped, intrigued with the idea that the flyer had made its way from that way up to this way. The university setting had been a funny mixture of all sorts of individuals, more so than high school. Coming up this way had put a clear line between 'there' and 'here.' He wasn't supposed to find something to connect the two.

He wondered what sort of people he would meet that might further connect his own two worlds. With a shrug and a look that said he was trying to imagine the combination and what sort of place this... Doors Nightclub... must be to try to pull in both sorts, Derrick snatched off a few of the tabs. It would be a fun experience to try.

-~-~-~-

Having fussed with what appearance he should take with such an environment as he had ended up imagining, Derrick finally rested with old, black jeans from high school days that had threads of silver in them, a semi-casual blue shirt, and a long, brown coat that he fancied made him to look Very Cool and Ready for Anything.

Trying to _really_ look ready for anything, and not half-so-nervous as he really was in this part of town, down some unknown alley, Derrick made his way up to Doors Nightclub. He proceeded to stare dumbly at the door when it didn't open up, then sort of look around as if he expected someone to come out of hiding to open it for him. Ah... Perhaps it was closed?

Perhaps he needed that key. Derrick looked around nervously, reached up for the key, and tried his luck a second time in trying to get the door open.

ESSENTIALS

• Name: Anais Maurice Fields
  
• Nickname: Annie
  
• Age and Birth Date: 22, March 18
  
• Occupation: Bookstore clerk

APPEARANCE
The first thing an onlooker would notice about Anais is her freakish height. This girl stands at about 5'8" to 6', depending on if she has a book in tow. It's a sensitive subject for her, since she can't do anything useful with her height, except stick out like a sore thumb. Her nails are often painted a garden-green or sky-blue to try and match the shock of red hair on her head. Her hair is shoulder lenght and parted in the middle, and she sometimes will keep it up with barrettes or a head band. If you can see her eyes (if she's working or running errands), they are steel gray. Her skin is pale, partly from genetics and partly from lack of sunlight. She is has a few freckles, and a birthmark below her left collar bone that resembles a bird if the lighting is right. However, due to mishaps during "adventure games" she would play with her parents, her knees and hands have smatterings of small scars. She has three identical scars on her left forearm as the result of holding a cat that wasn't in the mood to be held. She's not terribly fond of cats at this point.

Sid is of average build. Her bones don't stick out, but she's not bulging out of her pants (she wears them too loose for that anyway). She eats healthy, but doesn't go outside or exercise much. Most of her strength comes from carrying stacks of books around the shop, and even that doesn't usually take much.

Generally, she wears loose brown or cream slacks with brown high-tops and a sweater to match. Her pants have to be specially ordered or she has too take them to a tailor. This is especially embarrassing, so don't mention it. On a warm day she'll wear a t-shirt or something lighter, but a sweater is always in reach. She keeps her pants up with an iron will a sash or strip of colored cloth, which is usually the only daring thing about her outfit. Sometimes she'll switch it up, but it's never that daring. She keeps to a general loose-fitting, neutral/brown color palette.

She hardly ever wears make-up, but she keeps her face clean and eyebrows trimmed (by way of no unibrow or auspicious hairs). If she does wear make-up, it's very subtle with just a little eye-shadow, and maybe lipstick. She does keep a handy-dandy tube of Dr. Pepper chap stick with her where ever she goes.

As a child of hippies, she has an aversion to body hair and keeps her body free of it at all times. Trust me, if you had seen your parents with that amount of body hair, you'd be scarred for life too.

PERSONALITY
Anais has loved reading ever since she learned how, and would love to teach it to children. The only problem is that she has no money for school, and she lacks the drive to stick with anything besides the bookstore. She is fairly laid-back, and doesn't get excited by much. Anais is a vegetarian. She thinks that things that are ostentatious are bad taste, and that subtlety is key. She doesn't think much of religion, again, her parents were hippies and believed only in the power of love and flowers. She doesn't like music that has words very much, unless they are in a language she doesn't understand. This is because she feels the words detract from the overall ambience and flavor of the music. She is a synesthete, a fact she keeps hidden, and she likes the taste of Beethoven best.

In her everyday life, most people describe her as a person who gets along with everyone. She helps out at shelters (of any kind) and has been known to accept a few homeless people into her house from time to time. She'll smile at people on the street and start up a conversation with the person next to her on the subway, or at the coffee shop. To put it succinctly, Anais has never met a stranger.

This may seem dangerous to a lot of people, even idiotic, but Anais doesn't care. She just hopes that through her kindness the person won't hurt her or take things. At any rate, Anais doesn't keep many nice things in her apartment.

Anais rarely gets stressed, seeing as how if anything starts to stress her out she'll run away (figuratively or literally). If she's stuck between a rock and a hard place, she'll put aside her feelings or emotions and mechanically get things done. Sometimes this works, but not always. She's generally happy where she's at, so she feels no need to work to get out of it, and therefore she has little stress.

Anais feels most comfortable on a cold evening by her radiator with a book and something hot to drink. Other than that, she loves to just walk around and watch people buzz around. If the electricity is out in her area, she is welcome to stay at a number of places to read (and sleep), but her favorite is staying at the book store with all of those books. Her favorite smell is that of old books, or newly printed ones.

She is quite sensitive about her height. The best her parents figure is that it skipped a generation, and she landed with her father's father's height. It wasn't really an issue during grade school, but when everyone reached high school, and she was the only one to keep growing...well, let's just say it wasn't pleasant. Since moving to the city, she is more accepted (apparently there is a wider gene pool here) and less people ridicule her for it. Excepting a few close friends who will call her the jolly-green giant if she wears anything remotely green.

ABILITIES
Anais isn't a very good fighter, as far as fighters go (or anyone, really). Anais is a very peaceful person, and is more likely to talk her way out of a situation rather than fight. If forced into a fight (which has never happened thus far) she would probably not fight back at all. This is some part of her parent's teachings breaking out. Anais would assume that the person has some pent up aggression or stress and needs a way to get it out, or something along those lines.

Socially Anais is quite gifted. She has a talent for small talk and of remembering little things about people to ask up on. This is a product of keeping up with her parent's hippie friends, who would change ideals and appearance with the wind.

With the opposite gender, however, she doesn't do so well. She can't always tell if someone is flirting with her, hitting on her, or just talking. She did have a relationship about a year after she moved to the city, and it lasted for about a year and a half. That is the only "real" romantic relationship she's had. Anais has had a couple of flings, and is known to do rash things (like take homeless people home, or some boy she meets at a bar).

Anais has a quick mind and an extraordinary vocabulary. If she applied herself, she could easily make it through school to become a teacher. She has an almost eidetic memory (probably due to the synesthesia) and it has impressed many people.

HOBBIES

• Reading! Particularly fantasy and classical romance books (hello, Mr. Darcy!), but she also loves the other classics and the occasional modern book.
  
• Teaching. If she'd had the money or the drive, she would have loved to go to school to be an English teacher
  
• Day-dreaming. She feels she has a boring, ordinary life and loves to pretend she's a warrior or princess (but never helpless!)
  
• She likes cooking by herself, but mainly because her parents made hippy-gross food and everything is a new world for her
  

HISTORY
Anais would love to say that her parents were educated, classy people who enjoy reading in the evenings and attending garden parties on the weekend. She would love to say that is why they picked a name like "Anais Medea", but that is not the case. Anais' parents were neo-hippies who enjoyed getting high in the evenings and attending weird-hippie gatherings on the weekend, which Anais didn't really understand. Anais got her name because her parents perused a book store whilst stoned, and thought the names were "far-out man". Anais is just glad that she was born female.

Anais was born in the spring, which made her hippie-parents very happy. Her childhood was filled with flowers and skirts and peace-rallies. Her parents didn't do any of the sad things like beat her or forget her, quite the opposite. Anais' parents were very involved with her as a child; they played with her and entertained her, and she felt loved. However, once she was of school-age, she was grudgingly enrolled into a public school, "to be force-fed lies by the man!" Nevertheless, her parents enjoyed the macaroni necklaces and fingerpaintings.

Kindergarten was when Anais got the nickname "Annie" (which she never approved of) and when she learned to read. She was given a book written by her namesake, eventually, and was enamored (one of the earlier ones, mind you). At this point, she was reading anything and everything she could get her hands on, including books that her disgruntled father would have to read her, because the words were too big.

Most of her public schooling passed like this, except for her father reading her books (her vocabulary increased eventually). High school was particularly troublesome, what with being as tall as most of the boys, but she kept a couple of close friends throughout her years who all had similar interests. They were also accepting of Anais' smelly parents, who were in turn accepting of her friends. Her parents, however, could see that she wasn't following their hippy, flower-power lifestyle, and were sad and dismayed. Their relationship to Anais grew thinner and thinner as she grew up, and is currently patchy at best. She still loves her parents, but she accepted they have different lifestyles as soon as she realized patchouli was a foul smelling thing.

She moved out of her parent's house when she graduated highschool (at 18). She skipped town to the city with the small amount of cash she got from working at the library (she couldn't work fast food or anything as her parent's wouldn't let her). She quickly gained a job at a bookstore and moved into a decent apartment (for the city) and a good landlady. Anais is aware of her boring life, but she keeps herself immersed in a world of fantasy through her books, so she doesn't mind.

SAMPLE
Anais rolled her eyes. Her own boss noticed that she never did anything but go home and read after work. It didn't help that her boss couldn't tell that Andrew was very, very gay and still kept trying to set them up. Well, that's no matter, I guess. She let out a sigh, and continued sorting books. She had fled, no, she had wanted to help, and gone to the back room to huff about the accusations. It's not like she needed a boyfriend to survive! It wasn't that hard to get around if she needed to, and she wasn't really interested in a relationship again.

"Oh, Anais," she heard from the front, "when you've finished that stack, you can go home! We aren't very busy tonight."

She could agree with that. For the past couple of nights it seemed like the shop was emptying early. Oh well, she was only half-way done through her new book, and was looking forward to finishing it soon. She was almost done with the stack anyway, so she hurried through it and exited the shop, calling good-bye to her boss and Andrew as she left.

It was a cold night, and she had on her coat, scarf, gloves and hat. They all matched (naturally) and were very, very warm. But it was something about this night that made the cold creep to her core. She wrapped her arms around herself, and hurried towards her bus stop.

When she got there, she checked her phone watch and realized the bus had just left five minutes ago, and it would be another 25-minutes to the next bus. Resigning herself to wait, she took to perusing the ad-board on the back of the bus stop. She noticed a couple of flyers for lost pets, baby pets, lost people, and jobs that needed doing. It wasn't until after a few minutes she noticed a hand-written flyer with a key design stamped in it, and one tab of information left. Her boss didn't think she got out enough? Well, that's that she decided, and pocketed the tab.

Glancing around herself, Anais settled down into a steady pace towards 66th street, not understanding that her life would change forever.

ESSENTIALS

• Name: Lisa Joy Avery
  
• Nickname: n/a
  
• Age and Birth Date: 19 --> July 21st
  
• Occupation: University student - undeclared major

APPEARANCE
In unchangeable features, Lisa is rather ordinary-- Light brown eyes, medium brown hair, standing at an average 5'5", and an average build that perhaps leans a bit to the plump side with a tanned skin tone also average enough not to be worth noting. She's far more noticeable in what she chooses to adore herself with. Lisa loves to be the girly-girl, playing up the favorite colors of pinks, purples, and whites, often seen in mid-length skirts, cutesy accessories, and just-so hair and make-up jobs. She has a few of the expensive items, mostly gifts from her father, but Lisa manages for the most part to scout out the cheap versions of most of her styles.


PERSONALITY

In the quickest of summaries, Lisa is a 21st century, Internet-generation romantically-idealistic girl with a tendency to be overly empathetic and concerned about what others think.

Lisa connects with people, either becoming quickly empathetic to their feelings or, more often than not, projecting thoughts onto them and why they are the way they are. Foolishly optimistic, she rarely projects negativity onto anyone, instead going on about 'oh, that poor soul!' Concerned about all these 'poor souls' in life, Lisa is careful to be polite, politically-correct, a careful listener, and observant of what others enjoy so she can cater to those interests. Minus the aspect of being a 'poor soul,' someone can quickly become a pedestal-figure, very much worthy of admiration and even fan-girl devotion. Reaching this status, those people can hardly have any fault in them at all, at least in Lisa's eyes.

Lisa's goal is to make-peace-out-of-the-world, starting with the city she currently lives in. Endlessly involved in charity work and other humanitarian efforts, she naively believes in the good of humanity, and the simple idea that everyone just needs a chance. Lisa has no idea that her idea of a perfect world is rather communist in nature and those ideas have caused the sufferings and deaths of thousands of individuals--Or, rather, staunchly refuses to believe that her ideals fall into that category. Who knows about 'those European people'? Maybe it just takes education and enlightenment to make it work--Certainly in America it can be done?

Lisa's information almost entirely comes from the Internet, and she always picks and chooses those sites which most obviously suit her the best. Gathering information and chatting with like-minded individuals in this manner will assure her continued delusions.


ABILITIES

On the whole, Lisa is a fairly average individual. She has nothing outstanding to speak about physically. Socially, Lisa does have a tendency to understand others, but it is greatly impaired by her own block of refusing to see certain aspects of people and her staunch belief that evil doesn't really exist. Intellectually, Lisa has a good deal of knowledge on the great subjects of charities and philosophies of improving others.

HOBBIES
Conversely enough, Lisa loves to shop. She doesn't necessarily have to *buy* anything, she just enjoys gazing.

Internet surfing, chatting, blog-creations, and the graphics communities.

Volunteering in organized events. Never the leader, always a follower.

HISTORY
Lisa was born to then happy parents and lived a normal childhood. Lisa joined her brother, Derrick, in many of his scrapes and enjoyed helping him to make up stories for cover-ups as to what happened to them. Always more introspective and introverted than Derrick.

Her parents divorced when she was 7 years old. Derrick went on a manic-rampage, switching from a boy-who-got-into-scrapes to an-utter-terror. Mom leaned on Lisa to be the sweet, always good little girl. Lisa, confused and torn, allowed for Mom to pick her and Derrick to pick Dad.

Time passed, and nothing extraordinary happened in life. Lisa was the mediator between Derrick and Mom, and the boyfriends that came along. Lisa was the one who pretended happiness when Mom finally remarried, all the time breaking over the fact that her perfect-ideal-of-Dad-remarrying-Mom. She was, afterall, supposed to the The Glue of Family, a role never said nor necessarily implied, but a role she felt she must fulfill. School days were school days, and nothing interesting ever came of them.

High school over, Lisa attends university at the expectations of her parents, not knowing exactly how to pursue life interests. She lives at home with her mother and step-father in order to save money, but spends a good deal of time at the university with the students there.


SAMPLE

It was one of those wander-around-with-nothing-to-do afternoons. The morning had been spent in volunteer work with Habitats for Humanity, lunch time spent with some of the same college friends, and now---? Oh, she figured she'd call up Derrick to see what he was up to.

Derrick was suspiciously gleeful about something, and Lisa knew her brother well enough to know that whatever it was he was giddy about would be sure to be an irritant to her. He wouldn't say over the phone what it was, but ended up telling Lisa to 'doll up' and perhaps he would convince her to come along 'for the ride' if she'd meet him in a certain location.

Lisa knew, knew, KNEW her brother well enough than to get her hopes up. She KNEW she couldn't have high expectations of his behavior, not with the tone of voice and words he'd used. She *knew* that... Well, he was her brother, and Lisa had an undeniable soft spot for him. She'd do whatever he asked, and the 'whatever' this time was to figure out what 'dolled up' meant and to meet him somewhere while very much hoping the best out of it.

She'd decided to wear her newest winter set of clothes, fashionable in coloration and cute enough to pass off as casual or more, if she put on the accessories she put in her purse just-in-case.

Derrick showed up in that energetic sort of way that just confirmed her suspicions that he was up to no good. He swooped in, nearly knocked her over in a split-second hug, then told her to hold out her hand. With a slight frown, Lisa wordlessly did so---then stared at the tab he placed there.

"What's this?"

"Doors Nightclub, risk the alleys of despair for a cheap night you won't forget!"

"You're going to a NIGHTCLUB? You're inviting me to a nightclub?" Lisa's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Alcohol was one of those things that made it so people couldn't be enlightened, and nightclubs were just infested with never-do-wells! "What an even more horrible way to waste your money than usual!"

"I said it would be cheap. It's a cheap night club, you should approve of that." Derrick's eyes lit up with mischievous amusement, "Come on, Lee, you can't be so conscientious ALL the time, it'll kill you! It'll destroy your little romantic ideals, just like it destroys all your rosy-perfect-people, and then you'll be a broken fixer of the world. Can't have a broken fixer!"

"You are horrible!" Lisa insisted, "What would Dad say?"

"He would say I'm irresponsible and headed for flunking out, but I've finished all my projects and it's not like tomorrow's a school day, and I don't intend on doing anything stupid like injecting myself with a needle." He smirked, "Besides, I prefer to---"

"Don't say it, whatever you're about to say, don't say it!" Lisa protested.

The conversation went from there, Derrick teasing Lisa worse and worse, until she was in a jelled state of confusion and red as a lobster. Then there was a pinch for a good-bye and she was staring at his back. Lisa's mind flew churned over these ideas, and what solutions there might be to the problem. The more that she stood gaping though, the further away Derrick got and the worse he could get!

Not knowing what else to do, Lisa grabbed up her bag, jumped in a taxi, and flew after her brother. She had to save HIM from the evils of---of---THIS---If she couldn't save her own brother, what good could she be otherwise?