Emma RothEmma is a small girl, standing at a hair over five foot three with thin shoulders and a narrow frame that's only gotten more narrow with time and improper nutrition. She has wide, child-like eyes, blue-green like her mother, and auburn hair that's equal parts brown and red. She didn't have much of a personal style preference, save for what other girls her age were wearing at the time, though the apocalypse has narrowed that down even more. She's usually in jeans, because those last longer, and whatever shirts keep her warm and able to move. She always has at least two weapons on her at all times, a thick-bladed hunting knife in a leather holster on her hip, and a small switchblade she hides on her ankle.
PERSONALITYWhat makes you tick.Above all else, Emma is quiet- at least, on the outside. While her mind may be going a million miles a second, on the outside she won't make a sound unless she absolutely cannot help it. She was antisocial to begin with, but after months of surviving on her own, Emma is much more akin to a caged animal than a former high school student. She speaks rarely, and only to certain people, and even around them she is skittish and wild-eyed, ready to spring into survival mode at the drop of a pin.
To her credit, Emma really is trying to come back from her trauma. She realizes, internally, that she needs to be around people- she just hasn't figured out exactly how to make herself fit in. Surprisingly enough, when it comes to actual survival, she finds it easier to relate to others than she ever did before the apocalypse. On her good days, she has a sort of clan-mentality, seeing those she survives with as important as family, even if the actual affection still isn't there for her. She tries small-talk, but is cripplingly awkward at it. Any kind of sexual attention from men is the same way- if they're lucky. One too-aggressive move, and she'll retreat as fast as possible. If Emma feels cornered, she will lash out.
HISTORYHow far I've come.• November 1, 1992- Emma Claire was born the second and youngest child to Peter and Gwen Roth, the governor's personal accountant and a professional chef living in Albany, New York. Every bit the typical upper-middle class family for Emma and her sister's childhood, things began to decline after her tenth birthday, when her mother was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. The fight for her life put a mental strain on the entire family. Peter attempted to gloss over everything, inadvertantly withdrawing much-needed special attention to his daughters. Emma's sister rebelled outwardly, which pulled even more focus away from young Emma, who continued to withdraw into herself, unable to cope with the fact that her mother was wasting away and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
• August 2008- September 2010- Gwen Roth loses the six year fight with cancer, having lasted twice as long as the doctors predicted, but with a 'quality' of life that one could only call horrible. The years of watching their mother suffer and her death itself shattered the Roth family, but Peter refused to agknowledge how broken he or his daughters really were. Within three months of Gwen's funeral, he'd moved both girls across the country to Seattle, thinking the change of scenery would jar them back into normalcy. He poured his entire focus into his work, while Emma's sister got away as soon as possible by way of college in another state. Emma herself was left in the middle of an alien place with no support system, no friends, and no control. At that point, she'd already been cutting herself for two years. By the end of her first year in the new high school, she was contemplating suicide every day.
• The Outbreak- When the reports of the plague outbreak in other parts of the world first started hitting the internet and news, no one paid it any attention. Only when the Dead were filling the streets did people realize how bad the world had gotten, and by then it was too late. Things fell apart in a big hurry. Emma was at school when Seattle went under official state of emergency. By protocol, the authorities locked down the school and waited for parents to pick up their children- most never made it. Peter was among them- against her better judgement, she went looking went for him. Emma lost any sliver of hope when they bombed the city. She survived on autopilot, hidden away by herself in the ruins for months before two cops who'd bunkered down at the high school found her.
• The Aftermath- Emma had never been very talkative, but after the apocalypse, she stopped speaking entirely, for months. She never made waves, always did as those in charge instructed, but only recently had she started proactively engaging in her own survival rather than just hide away and retreat further into the black hole of her despair. She still doesn't talk much, and only to certain people, and her survival-mode kicks in on a hair-trigger.
OOCBehind the face.
Your Name: Erin PB: Kristen Connolly Timezone: CST Contact Information: justanowlet (aim)