Appearance
In the vault everybody acts, dresses, and talks the same way. Akira is no exception to this rule. She has three outfits; a dark blue jumpsuit for work; a pair of blue jeans and a white button down shirt for casual wear; and one egg-shell white dress only to be worn on the occasion that there is a formal event being held. As far as looks go, when the population of your entire world is only four hundred; you all start to look very similar. Hazel eyes, pale skin, brown hair; these are but a few of the most common features one would find in a citizen of the vault.
Here the majority of the people have a deeply-rooted belief that “If you don’t look like us, you must not be one of us.” Because of this, often times when children are born lacking the features considered “status quo”, they will have their hair dyed by their mothers or colored contact lenses prescribed to them so that they won’t experience bullying or discrimination while growing up. Akira happened to have been one of these children. Born with a natural red hue to her hair, Akira hated nothing more than the smell of dye as her mother forced her to cover it up with the more accepted “Chestnut Brown”. When her hair was still healthy and vibrant it would curl up into beautiful locks that would frame her face. She always took great pride in how long and wavy her hair once was. Now her hair has become incredibly damaged and coarse due to years of abuse, forcing her to keep it shoulder length. Still she chooses to continue this treatment because in her eyes and the eyes of the vault crinkly hair is still better than being seen as a societal pariah.
Akira works in the coal-mines and after years of shoveling coal and moving carts, her body has become incredibly lean and muscular. One of the biggest problems of working in such a highly physical job, however, is the scarcity of food found within the vault. Often times, Akira finds herself going to work with nothing but a gallon of water and a granola bar. Some days she’ll get lucky and get to have cereal in the morning, but milk is scarce and sources are limited so it’s seen as a special treat. Due to lack of nourishment and the intensity of her job, Akira often times has fainting spells; sometimes even being out for a couple minutes straight. Some days can be hard, but Akira’s hunger motivates her to push through the pain because she knows that if she doesn’t work, she doesn’t eat.
Personality Traits
Having started working in the coal mines at the tender age of twelve, Akira has developed something of a tough exterior. She works hard, makes money to feed herself, and comes home to a room that is only a little bigger than a walk in closet. She tends to keep to herself and mind her own business. For her, conflict is something that must be avoided at all costs, as to stick out is to make yourself vulnerable to those around you. Many nights Akira finds herself lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering what life outside of the confines of the vault would feel like. Ignorant to the reality of what is happening on the surface, to Akira anything would be better than being stuck in the place she is right now.
Stories about the surface circulate around the vault, but because of the taboo nature of the subject, most avoid the topic entirely. Very few people actually know about what is happening on the surface, and those who speak a word of the truth place themselves in a dangerous position. The government of the vault could never allow that kind of information to get out, for if that were to happen the bubble that its citizens exist in would be endangered and chaos would ensue.
As the years went by less and less people were educated about the virus until eventually it became nothing but a myth. Many even go so far as to believe that humans don’t exist on the surface at all.
Regardless of the rumors and beliefs of the people of the vault, however, Akira refuses to give up hope that there are people out there; people who think like her, who want to experience the world and what it has to offer, who want more for themselves than to work, eat, and die.
Little would Akira know, however, of the true nature of the outside world and what it has become.
Backstory
Akira was born and raised in the vault. Her mother and father were very cold, as most adults are to their children here, and cared less about Akira’s happiness and more about her appearance. Daughter to a coal-miner; Akira was born into her occupation. No little girl grows up hoping to shovel coal for the rest of their lives, but for her that was simply a reality she could not escape. Until her twelth year, when Akira began her own line of work, she lived with her mother and father on the lower level of the vault. Childhood was difficult for her. Unnecessary pressure to fit into the box that society had crafted left Akira growing up with many anxieties and feeling as though it didn’t matter what she did so long as she didn’t stick out.
Yet; the older she got, the more she would think about things that would go against this mentality entirely. She had always held a deep curiousity for what existed outside of her world, but never before had she felt such an insanely powerful urge to find it.
It was this very urge that finally pushed Akira to take the first steps outside of her caged mind and to try and find a way out of the reality that was forced upon her.
She started digging around for information, eagerly devouring any word that could be another step towards her freedom.
After months of searching and gathering any and every piece of info that may help her, Akira was able to construct a plan.
Having collected blueprints from a coworker of the entire layout of the vault, Akira was able to pinpoint the exact access pipes that would lead her to the surface. These pipes were meant for disposal of trash and waste, making it a somewhat awkward trip, but what are a few bad smells when your entire life is on the verge of the biggest change its ever made?
Finding and travelling through the access pipes, Akira would emerge onto the surface for the very first time and finally begin her life outside the vault.
