Name: Zora Ann Wilson
Age: 15
Gender: F
Appearance:
Zora would be unassuming if it weren't for her firey orange hair, since other than that there's nothing especially captivating about her looks. Standing at 5' even and just 90 pounds, she's a little stick of a thing. Her face is acceptably-pleasant to look at, with a strong chin and very round button nose. Thin eyebrows arch high over slightly-large-but-otherwise-nondescript brown eyes. Her cheeks are slightly pouty, giving a babyish aesthetic to her otherwise thin face. This is accentuated by generally open lips, which show off her surprisingly clean-looking teeth.
She wears her orange hair just long enough to reach her should blades, without bangs. She slings it over one shoulder as something of a nervous habit, generally sweeping to the left.
Personality:
Zora is one of those youth that the system would describe as "troubled". In fact, her school profile is full of papers describing her with that word, submitted by teachers of years past and guidance councilors who have tried to peer past the innocent shell that Zora wears, like battle armor, only to catch a glimpse of the extent of her true motives and personality. Teachers wonder why her grades are so low, and write the office to complain about and document her disruptive behavior. Her guidance councilors pry until her lies begin falling apart, and then, when she simply sits through their sessions in the protection of silence, sigh in defeat and pass their judgment.
"Troubled". It doesn't begin to describe Zora's depths, but it's a step in the right direction.
Most people don't get even that close, though. For her friends, Zora's that giggling cute airhead who can't stay in one place or stick with one thing for any length of time. Their parents think she's a perfect social butterfly (though highly, if adorably, immature and simple), always coming over for dinner with exquisite politeness, always staying the night for sleepovers, and always pecking their cheeks for services rendered. Her employers think she's a silent, hard worker.
The police think whoever does her crimes needs to be caught and thrown in jail. Good thing, then, that they haven't caught her yet.
But we can know the true Zora. We can peel away the innocent shell, get past the uneasy feeling of "troubled" and the wall of silence, and penetrate to the corrupted thing in the center of it all that one might call the Soul. We can see the battlescars that were left before the defenses could be erected, the deformities that signify her great faults. We understand her bitterness with the world, we realize how manipulative she is. We can see the animalistic desire for survival that drives her, and the horrible fear that bites at her heals the whole way.
And we see those parts that should be there, but are not. The atrophied pleasant side of her soul, her capacity to love, her understanding, forgiveness, and grace. And perhaps we wonder just what made her this way, what replaced so much of the good in her with hatred.
Relationship with Parent/Guardian:
With her mother dead, the only parent left to Zora is her father. They haven't talked in four years, and as much as she can, she attempts not to think of him. It was bad when she was with him, but it was only when he came home drunk one night and did the unthinkable to her that death out in the streets became the preferred option. Her memories of him are clouded with loathing, fear, and hatred.
Brief Biography:
Zora will tell you that her family is picture perfect. She'll describe outings to the beach, threaten boys by claiming that her father could beat up theirs (still. It's not quite as effective a threat in 11th grade as it was in elementary school), and even write papers on how her father and mother are her heroes.
Her mother, though, is dead. Has been for 10 years; died of a heroin overdose. Her father is no hero to her, and she hasn't seen him in four years. Outings to the beach are really outings to the city, where she can be found (or, rather, won't be) supplementing her income with a little of other's unknowing charity.
The past four years, Zora has lived, discreetly, by herself. She ran from her father with nothing, and from there has slowly made something of herself by abusing people. Every night was a sleepover, for she had nowhere of her own to sleep, and informing others of this didn't fit her perfect-family story. But little by little, she made her own fortune: presently she works two jobs (as a waitress and as a baby sitter), her father's unemployment check always "magically" ends up in her bank account, the inhabitants of the city have been trickling wealth into her pockets, and an abandoned train car makes decent-enough shelter.
Number: 7
Virtue: Temperance
