Post by tess on Dec 15, 2010 18:03:59 GMT -5
"The world ended... Didn't you get the memo?"
- Amy
- Amy
Your Name: Remy
How many years roleplaying?: 7
"You don't know what it's like out there. You may think you do but you don't. It's only a matter of time."
- Rick Grimes[/center]
Character Name: Tess Marie Lauderdale
Age: 18
Hometown: Cumberland Hill, Rhode Island
Current Location: somewhere in North Carolina
Bio:
Tess was raised by her lovable mother Patricia and her adventure-seeking father Adam. Both parents had barely any rules for their daughter so Tess grew up making her own rules and doing basically what she wanted. Her mother would spend hours planting lilies in their tiny garden beside the house and her father would spend even more hours cutting comics out of the news paper for his extensive collection. While they busied themselves with their hobbies, Tess was off in the woods taking photographs of everything she could.
See, Tess adores photography. She snaps pictures of anything-- the neighbor's cats, Mr. Nelson mowing the lawn across the street and her mother primming in the morning right before she puts her make up on. The loves to playing with light and angles. What was just a hobby would later gain her a scholarship to college, but obviously, that comes later.
During the summer when Tess was 12, she joined a writing group near her school. She joined it on a whim, because really, what else would she do with her time? Turns out she wasn't half bad at it. She met her first best friend during that summer. Laura Amberly. The girls were inseparable. Right up until they reached the 9th grade they did everything together.
Everything changed when Laura began to grab the attention of the boys at their school. Tess, never one to care for her looks, ignored the boys, but that didn't mean they ignored her. She couldn't understand why Laura started hating her at the end of their freshman year. They fought constantly and finally, when Tess confronted Laura, the other girl called her a whore. A whore! Although Tess had lived a sheltered life, she did know what a whore was and she wasn't one, but Laura was convinced she was. Why else was her boyfriend looking at her all of the time?
Tess never befriended girls quite so easily after that. She stayed to herself and, although she made friends with those in art, she didn't give herself entirely over to friendships with girls.
Now at the tender age of 18 Tess went to college on an art scholarship. Her parents were pleased with that because they wouldn't have been able to afford to send her on their own. Especially not with her father losing his job as a Realtor and her mom choosing to be a housewife as a full time job.
Tess will tell you that her freshman year of college was when she really began to live. She changed her look. Instead of being the strange looking art girl with the ribbons in her hair, she straightened the fro on her head, donned a pair of jeans that actually fit and smile just a bit more widely.
Who would have thought that her room mate Madeline Porter would be the first girl she'd learn to trust. They meshed like peanut butter and jelly. Tess, being the art enthusiast she was, took endless amounts of pictures of them both and plastered them around their tiny dorm. They even got jobs at the campus bookstore to help pay for their added luxuries---junk food, movies, books and more junk food.
The infection put an halt on their seemingly peaceful lives. When the broadcast began to take over the airwaves, Tess, being almost dumbly optimistic, didn't think it was real. She only started taking it seriously when she saw the horror in Madeline's eyes.
Packing what they could, they took Madeline's car and tried to find safety.
Likes: Boys, English literature, photography, caramel apples, popping bubble wrap, romance novels, soft pillows
Dislikes: Spiders, laying on the ground, blind dates, straightening her hair, slow computers, texting (she believes it dumbs down the English language)
Strengths: Writing, debate, finding the good in everyone, reading maps
Weaknesses: Finding her way when she doesn't have a map, talking too much, listening, priorizing, being on time, she's clumsy as hell, she has bad vision so wears contacts or glasses
Anything Else? Nope
Roleplay Sample:
Jeremy eyed the gas hand of the old pick up truck and finally decided, after an hour of driving, that it wasn't moving. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, dragging his eyes back to the darkening streets as he weaved his way along the barren roads of Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had long since lost his way, but seeing as this was the only road for miles, he chose to stay on it. Hopefully he'd come across a house or, better yet, a gas station. Old trucks like this guzzled gas up like water. He'd be lucky to get five more miles out of it.
He traveled slowly. The engine roared, waking up every beast in the forest for miles. Driving around in a piece of crap like this in Manhattan would have been a death sentence. Walkers would have heard him coming for miles. That wasn't a problem out here. There was only trees, grass and more trees.
The monotonous view was dull and more than once his eyes drifted close. Biting the inside of his cheek to wake himself up, he shook his head, exhaling loudly. Gently he rolled down the driver's side window a few inches to let a cool breeze in. It worked wonders. He drove for another ten minutes, his mind filled with images of Emmy's face...and the others. Had they made it to Atlanta? Were they safe? He told himself countless times that he shouldn't think about them. Emmy was strong. She could handle herself...yet, he continued to be burdened by what ifs. What if...no, this wasn't the time.
Jeremy raked his dirty fingers through his disheveled hair, quietly humming to himself as he watched the darkening sky on the horizon. Everything was going well. Perhaps that was the problem. In a world filled with death and chaos, why did he deserve a moments peace. He was sure that was God's thinking when, after ten more minutes of driving, the old truck stalled in the middle of the road.
Shit!
He switched off the ignition, tried it again. Nothing. He pumped the gas a few times. He tried again. Nothing. Damn it. It was almost pitch black outside the trunk. The headlights illuminated the road ahead. Off to the right he saw the glow of a deer's eyes staring at the truck. He looked just as fucking shocked as he did to see a truck stranded in the middle of the road. After a moment, the deer slipped back into the brush and disappeared.
He had two options. Stay here or walk up the road and look for another car. Staying put seemed like the wise thing to do, but then it was getting colder by the second. He'd freeze. If he walked he could come across a house. What if he didn't though? Then he'd be stuck on the side of the road freezing his ass off. Either way he'd freeze, but he'd have a better chance of staying warm if he moved.
His decision was made.
Gathering what little he had collected during his journey, he stuffed his things into a green bookbag. He kept his hand gun out just in case he came across a walker. After making sure the coast was clear, he climbed out of the truck, closing the door gently so it wouldn't squeak so badly. Hefting his bag onto his back, he started walking down the middle of the street.
When he saw light in the distance after what seemed like forever, Jeremy thought he was hallucinating. He had barely eaten anything for almost five days and he was tired. With each step he took it dawned on him that the house in the distance wasn't a figment of his twisted, food deprived imagination. It was real. Bloody fucking hell!
If he had had the energy to run toward it he would have. Instead he kept to a steady pace. The trees opened up to fields filled with hay. There was a barn too, but he could only see its silhouette. He hoped someone 'alive' was at home cause he couldn't walk any further.
