whisperling

Name: Laura Denise Culligan

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Type: Dreamer

Appearance:

Laura is small and dark with delicate features and a knowing smirk. She prefers simple dresses that show a little more leg than most respectable people care for. She can be very girly and enjoys pinning up her wavy, nearly black hair and painting her nails when she gets the chance, but more often than not her work calls for loose boy's cloths to cover her decidedly female figure.

Personality:

Survivor: Laura's had a rough time so far and it shows through her personality. Most of what she does is for physical or emotional survival. The dynamics of any group are constantly analyzed so she knows who's in charge and who's on borrowed time. Laura pays close attention to body language, especially with men. It's a habit that was formed over years of trying to judge when something bad might be about to happen. Even when she knows it's coming, though, she won't always try to avoid it. She trusts and fights like a wild animal. She will sometimes defiantly submit to abuse.

Sensual: Everything is noticed, taken in and enjoyed. Even the things that aren't so pleasant. Laura lives in the moment. She notices the light breezes, the contrast of the plum colored leaves and silver branches of a gum tree against the clear fall sky, the patterns of vibration when the music is too loud, the slightly dizzy sensation and narrow concentration that comes with a life threatening situation. She loves swimming when it's too cold, the scent and feel of someone else’s bare skin on hers, hot showers, goose bumps, sex, booze, sand in awkward places, food with interesting tastes and textures, the sting of a slap, cicadas singing, nicotine rush, and licking a nine volt now and then. It's all about feeling something.
Affectionate: Laura hugs her friends, plays with people's hair and stands too close to strange men. Some would call it promiscuity. She is quick to sleep with the right kind of guy because she enjoys the closeness and loves to be touched. It is very upsetting when they leave or kick her out afterward. Usually, what Laura wants more than the sex is for someone to be there. She wants a warm body to curl up with and strong arms around her so she can pretend, just for a while, that someone really is there.

Eager to please: Most would never believe it, but she secretly tries her damnedest to give the people around her what they want. She's not always great at guessing what that might be, though, and her smart ass attitude often makes people think just the opposite.

Emotional: Emotions are a very private thing to Laura. If you tell someone how to hurt you, they'll do it every time. Never one to cry on someone's shoulder, she's turned to some very self destructive habits to cope.

Independent, but not by choice: The girl can take care of herself, but the stress of doing so makes her half crazy. Laura hates having to attend to the details. It stresses her out to have to keep track of everything and be responsible for it all, but there's never been anyone else to do that for her. She’s like a stray cat; something that should have been taken care of, but wasn’t, and has gone feral. She never lost the need to be taken care of, though.

Likes: goat cheese, tough guys, dressing up, hard rain, rough lovin, bubble baths, black coffee, booze and running until it hurts.

Sexuality:

Very Straight

City History:

The Culligans were a lower middle class Irish family. Hard work and hard luck and a veneer of decency. Her father was carpenter. Her mother cleaned rich people's houses and her brother delivered papers before school and groceries after school. Everyone had a job. Laura's job was to be a fuck up.

Tommy drank, and it made him mean. Every night when he came home, a horrible tension came with him. There wasn't much that wouldn't make him angry because he looked for something. If they were lucky, he didn't have a cigarette in his hand when it happened. Eventually he always quit his job or got fired because of his drinking. Then, when he couldn't handle their needs, he'd walk out on his family saying Anna was cheating on him and the kids weren't really his anyway. Everyone else always said he couldn't deny either of them. They'd smile when someone said that, but it hurt.

Sooner or later Tommy would come around again and Anna would always take him back. He'd say everything was going to be different and talk about some new job he had or some big plan to set them all up in a new place. He'd tell the kids he was going to get them some brand new clothes and every fancy toy they could think of. Tommy would say he was going to take care of everything. And then it would all happen again.

Anna struggled to keep the kids fed while their father was gone and to keep him from beating them when he was home. She had been pretty once. There were a few pictures in a scrapbook under the coffee table of a girl with perfect hair and a movie star smile standing in front of a nice house or laughing with friends. There was one of her and Tommy after they got married by the justice of the peace. Anna looked like a model from a magazine. Laura never remembered her looking like that, though. She only knew her mother to be tired, with lank hair, no makeup and a faded dress. She was an empty shell, existing just to feed her children and love a man who didn't deserve it. Laura tried not to despise her for that, but she couldn't help it. She didn't ever want her mother's life.
Laura had just started high school when her father moved back in after being gone for the whole summer. With the nearly grown Daniel already taller than Tommy and Laura in high school, he felt the need to make sure every minute that they both knew they weren't too big to take a beating and everything they had really belonged to him. They were also told that they'd be kicked out the day after graduating or dropping out, since they probably weren't his anyway. Laura went ahead and left early.

She had no idea where she would go, and she didn't care. Laura just headed out the door with a small suitcase and put out her thumb. The ride she got was Joey and Mutt. Lucky for her they needed a kid to do the little things at the moment, or she'd have been sold by supper time. The threat was always there, but after a little breaking in period, she was told as long as she did her job, they'd keep her around.

Joey's guys all had the same tattoo. It was a stylized cross on the right hand. Laura got one on the back of her neck. It felt more like a brand than a badge, but then, that was the idea. Mutt was in charge of seeing that people did what they were told when they were told. In the beginning, Laura wasn't very good at that, so she and Mutt spent a lot of time together as a consequence. She never talked about Mutt's pain games. Those who came to know the resulting 'quirks' were told it was a personal choice. She’d rather have them think she was just naturally deviant than to know she’d been conditioned to respond.

Oddly enough, for the first time in her life, Laura had some stability and a little security. She was living on a cot in a broom closet, but there was a sink, a hotplate, and a little heater, so it was sort of cozy. It was hers and she could lock the door. The pay wasn't much, but she was meeting people and learning all sorts of interesting things.

Special Skills and Abilities:

Singing: Laura has a good voice, but she almost never sings where someone will hear it.

Driving: Learned for the purpose of smuggling.

Smartassery: She has a knack for making people want to strangle her

Weaknesses:

Scars: Cigarette burn marks, mainly on her back and shoulders, where teachers and neighbors wouldn't see. Sets of two to three inch long cut marks, mostly on arms and upper thighs. The scars are important to her. They’re a sort of record of things that have happened. None of it matters to anyone else and she tells herself that means it doesn’t matter at all, but it wouldn’t feel right if it didn’t change something. Laura is very unconflicted about the self inflicted wounds. Reactions of judgment or disgust will get a response that surprises most people. She usually keeps all of these marks very private, but because of her ‘affectionate’ nature, now and then they are seen. She refuses to talk about them and most of the people who see them aren’t exactly hanging out with her to provide therapy anyway.

Borderline traits: Wildly emotional, angry, impulsive, and unpredictable. Reactions of others, even if they are negative, are needed. She tends to provoke and test people, especially those in authority. Laura often comes across as a moody, rebellious little psycho bitch. She hates conflict, but just can’t help causing it.

Excess: Too much drinking, too much smoking. Not enough sleep, food, or self control. Laura lives like she might miss something or like she expects to die tomorrow. At first people enjoy this. She’s the life of the party. But almost no one can keep up and it gets old pretty fast. As a result she rotates between groups of casual friends, moving on when a group needs a break from the intensity.

Crime: She hasn't been arrested. Yet. It's really just a matter of time, though, right? Everyone gets nicked eventually. Laura is involved in a variety of criminal activities. Smuggling, extortion, and the selling of drugs, people and guns. She hangs out around drug dens, brothels and meetings involving midlevel mobsters. Laura takes orders, runs messages and delivers packages. She listens in on people who don't pay much attention to random kids. Occasionally she indulges in recreational drug use and often vandalizes public property.
Fears:

She’s afraid of snakes, like most girls, but unlike most, she doesn’t say “I don’t like them.” She freely admits that even little grass snakes scare the hell out of her for no good reason.

Falling in love, which most young girls dream about, terrifies Laura. She doesn’t ever want to turn into her mother. So far there’s been no danger of it, though. In her experience, men do what they want, take what they want, and think what they want. Then they leave. Those that don’t are just weak. There’s nothing in that to fall in love with. Laura has nothing but contempt for wimps. Her measure of manhood is skewed by the examples she’s had. Any guy who takes shit off of her is considered a stupid boy.

That she might outlive her usefulness is a constant worry. Things have never been great for Laura, but as long as there’s something somebody wants, she’s relatively safe. Or at least things are predictable. Usefulness is a tricky thing, though. If you do too well and a man starts to think he owes you something, he’ll most likely make something your fault so it outweighs his debt. And sometimes useful just means being a safe target. The worry means she’ll willingly provide a target for all sorts of aggression and will also take on tasks that no sane person normally would.

Laura was a mistake. Her dad told her so once when she asked to go to church with a friend He said God didn’t really mean for her to happen, so there was no point in that. She has come to actually believe this. Her feelings and actions involving religion are extremely confusing. She doesn’t want it to be true, and cycles through testing for acceptance and bouts of intense anger. It also drives a lot of wildness and a fiercely determined will to live. She figures all she’s got is right now

Strengths:

Tough: Physically and mentally tough. Laura doesn't give up or give in. She will do what she has to and worry about what it costs her later. Sometimes it costs a hell of a lot, but she’ll never let them see it.

Adaptable: She's worth what she has to offer, so she'll offer whatever is wanted. If she doesn't know how, she'll figure it out. You need it? Laura Culligan will do it.

Tight lipped: Laura knows how and when to keep her mouth shut. Any secret is safe with her.

Loyal: To the point of stupidity. She knows this makes her the dumb ass who will go down for people who wouldn’t do it for her, but in her mind, this gives her some sort of connection to something. She needs it, even if it does make her a dumb ass and even if the connection is one sided. Without that, she’s not only on her own, but completely adrift. This is why it takes a hell of a lot to make her run away.

Family or Connections:

Immediate family doesn't want anything to do with her. Her mother figures they’re all better off with Laura out on her own and the others just like the fact that there’s not nearly as much noise and bother.

She's an expendable lower level member of a low level mobster's army.

Laura knows a variety of street people. Homeless, addicts, whores, drug dealers, hustlers.

Residence:

Most nights it's the broom closet and cot in a certain run down building. It's dark and small, but it's out of the weather and it's relatively safe. The guy that pretends to fix things lets her have it for certain favors.

Career:

Joey O'Malley's runner. She gets sandwiches and beer, delivers letters and packages (without asking questions), burglarizes warehouses, drives through the city with trunkloads of whatever more valued members of the organization don't want to be caught with, and always has cards, dominos or dice.

PB: Jane March

Other Information:

Playlist: (stand by for angst)

Whisper ~ Evanescence

Pain ~ Three Days Grace

Somewhere I Belong ~ Linkin Park

Figured You Out ~ Nickelback (Yeah. Nickelback. Shut up)

Crash ~ Methods of Mayhem