gatekeeper

Name: Corey

Age: 16 or 17

Gender: female

Type: Aspect

Appearance:

She's chopped her hair short and keeps it that way, because it means sometimes she's mistaken for a boy, and it's just far easier to keep herself clean and free from lice or fleas if it's short. She's usually at least a little dirty, very rarely sparklingly clean. She's also usually at least some form of injured, being a girl who leaps before looking as a matter of course often enough. Also, she gets into fights and scrapes a lot.

She wears an old pewter medal around her neck that she was given by her adoptive parents. She's unaware it's St. Jerome, patron saint of orphans.

One odd little aspect of her appearance is it always looks like she has a scrape on her cheek, neck and up near her eyebrow on the left side. It's an older wound, that she'd gotten brick dust in to stem the bleeding, and it's left her with light scarring that's bright red. So it always looks like she's got scrapes on her face, even if they're healed.

Personality:

She's a good listener. Often, she'll do a hell of a lot of listening and not so much in the way of talking, depending on the situation. But first and foremost, she hears what people have to say. She's got her own mind and her own opinions on things--and she isn't at all afraid to share those--but unless situations arise where she needs to be pushy she won't be. She'll be firm and secure in herself and things, but she won't immediately go in for being abrasive unless she has to.

On the other hand, she's probably quicker to throw a punch or peg someone with a ball bearing or wooden pellet than she is to verbally start shouting. Her 'duties' underground are much more about keeping people in line than they are posturing, and therefore she doesn't do a lot of posturing. Not unless she has to. But most people will take the warning shot and react accordingly, and then there doesn't need to be any arguments.

Beyond that, she can be very kind, and very nurturing, if the occasion strikes. She especially does this while caring for the injured, something she's sort of picked up along the way. She has kind words and soft smiles for those in need, even if that's not the main part of her 'job'. Still, it's there in her personality, and shows she's got a sweeter side underneath the guard dog surface.

She's got a good sense of humor, and likes to have fun as much as the next guy, though she still always remembers her responsibilities and therefore there's an undercurrent of seriousness to her that's occasionally hard to shake, and never fully gone.

Corey also has a very decent sense of fairness and tries to keep to it. Along with this goes the aspect of her personality that dictates that because people wind up telling her a lot of sensitive business due to the fact that she's a very good listener, she doesn't go telling anyone anything about it. She will keep people's secrets to herself. No one's hearing anything untoward from her mouth.

Sexuality:

undecided

Constants:

~Aspect of Artemis~
Constants - Animal Affinity - the girl collects pets. Rats, strays of all descriptions, she feeds birds that'll hop right onto her shoulder or hand, if it's non-human, it's her buddy and she loves all of them. She often thinks she gets along better with animals than she ever does people (which is probably true) and when she's feeling her lowest, she definitely retreats to their company. There's something about her that animals tend to like, and even the most vicious or skittish of animals take to her readily. This helps out when you're sneaking in someplace with guard dogs if just a nice belly rub will get you in no problem. And animals who have a temperament to be protective generally are for her.

Hunter - she thinks like a hunter, and is actually one in practical terms. That always sort of runs along the baseline of her personality, understanding the world in those terms. It's usually her own perspective, though she's been known from time to time to be able to view it from the other end, and make moves accordingly.

The Wild - whether it's the woods on the way to the village, or the underground network of tunnels beneath the city, that's her domain. She knows them like the back of her hand, and moves freely throughout both places like she owns them. She does not do well when she's cut off from those environments. The back alleys and such of the streets are fine because they're close enough to the escape routes back underground, but uptown? She's not going there. And if she can't get back where she feels most comfortable at any point the results will likely be disastrous.

City History:

Not even graced with a last name, she has absolutely no clue where she came from. Neither does anyone else, for that matter, as she was just an anonymous baby left on the doorstep of the orphanage. She was raised there for a few years, though around the age of four a family took her in. Unfortunately they only had her for a short amount of time before they were killed in a mafia style killing. She remembers that, though she doesn't even really remember her adoptive parents being alive. Just the day they were all dead, with blood soaking into the earth beneath them. It had been at a gathering at the park, a shooting there that took out a whole bunch of people.

For her, she wandered off, not having been with them long in the first place so people didn't immediately recognize her as being anyone's child, and she got taken in by the street people. For quite a few years, she was raised nearly entirely underground which is why she knows the system so well, and she was taught just about anything anyone was bored enough to want to entertain her with. Her street survival skills were of course paramount, and she picked up on them quite well. More than well enough to thrive in the community, and contribute to the wellbeing of the whole at a young age.

For a few years now she's played quite well the role of go between and guide. She's one of the people that gets sought out the most to act as guide or hired to find things. That, and her word as vouching for someone to be allowed down there in the first place is quite the vote of confidence--though it's a rare thing when she gives that out. She's extremely protective of the people down there, and doesn't want the society she's a part of to become upset or tainted by those that live above ground. She's a little like a gate keeper at times, or a city guard. It just happens to be the city beneath the city.

Special Skills and Abilities:

While she doesn't have the bow and arrow of her Aspect type, what she is is a dead shot with a slingshot. Which if made properly with heavy ball bearing shot? Can be pretty nasty. She's picked up a gun before as well and been a decent shot, and while she's got one squirreled away in her 'nest' she doesn't use it unless she's feeling like she has to go hunting for 'bigger game' than usual.

She also has learned bits of medical treatment, knowing basic first aid and the like, even if it's all practical knowledge without the slightest bit of actual education on the matter.

She's also got stealth skills like no one's business. If she doesn't want you to know she's there, you don't know she's there.

Weaknesses:

When bad things happen, she takes it personally. She also takes it very hard. This is especially prominent when anyone dies, which frankly, happens fairly regularly. She got to the position she's in because she's smart, capable, and can keep a level head in a rough situation. But she does take her 'duties' extremely seriously. She wants to handle situations herself and isn't much good at delegation at times.

agoraphobia - wide open skies scare the living shit out of her. she needs either the canopy of trees above her in the thick forest, or she needs to be underground. At the very least she needs to be indoors most of the time. She can go out, but she starts getting twitchy fairly quickly, and generally will put something above her head whether it's just an overhang, an awning, the sixth street bridge, etc.

uneducated - while well spoken, due to many people reading her stories and general wild storytelling throughout the underground, she can't actually read, and numbers are just as much of a mystery to her. she never went to school, and while educated by the nuns at the orphanage for a little while, it's a very distant memory and never really got very far. Mostly at that point they were just going over sunday school stories, and hadn't gotten into proper education yet.

no past - Corey doesn't know where she's from. She doesn't know if there's any family out there. And one day they could come looking, and she'd have no idea what to do, where to go or how to react. It's left her with a sort of sense of duty more than individual identity, and instills that 'greater good' ideal in her mind. which often means she'll make personal sacrifices for the good of the whole.

nocturnal - Since she spends so much time underground, when it's daytime, Corey isn't seen all that much. Mostly she's active during the night, even if it's not unheard of for her to be out and about during the day when important things are going on. Night is much more her comfort zone time, and she finds it easier to venture out. The daytime makes the sky seem so much bigger.

light sensitivity - Corey lives most of her life in shadows of some description. It means if she's out in the sunlight she burns to a crisp in no time, and she gets headaches from the bright light. Really all overly bright light for any extended periods harm her eyes and give her headaches, but daylight? That's a bitch.

corey's developing a sadistic streak. she isn't quite aware she's doing so, but she is. As she's getting further along in her duties and such, and as she's got relationships in her life she cares about, there is the flipside to her nurturing sort of disposition. It's if she's crossed in certain ways, she's going to make someone pay, and it won't be pretty. Corey's also under the impression there are worse things than death. And if she's crossed hard enough? She'll hand some of that out.

Strengths:

memory for details - not a lot escapes her notice, and she's got a very good recall on those details. to the point that while she might not be able to read, she'd be able to draw out the letters that a sign said, even if she didn't know what they meant.

Family or Connections:

no clue! she's probably got family out there somewhere but she's got no idea who they might be!

Residence:

she has a fairly nicely set up nest of her own, near the entrance to the underground accessible through the basement of the library.

PB: Samantha Krutzfeldt

Other Information:

guide/guard to the underground, etc.