Post by andrea spencer harding on Dec 17, 2013 22:37:43 GMT -5
ANDREA SPENCER HARDING
FULL NAME: Andrea Spencer Harding.
NICKNAMES: Andy
AGE: twenty-five
SEXUALITY: straight.
STATUS: single.
GROUP: citizen.
GRADE: N/A.
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: Fact Checker.
HAIR: Naturally dark blonde, but like most she enjoys playing with highlights and temporary dyes from time to time. It’s long and she usually loves playing with sea salt sprays and tousled waves.
EYES: Brown.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: She has one going down the top of her spine that came from an accident at seventeen that resulted in a herniated disc and surgery
TATTOOS: She has the word “courage” tattooed across her right wrist in very fine calligraphy and a very thin lightning bolt on the inside of her left bicep.
PIERCINGS: She has her ears pierced twice and her nose pierced.
PLAY-BY: Gillian Zinser!
LIKES: sea salt hairspray, travelling, ornaments, jewellery, green tea, swimming, the truth, festivals, being outdoors, summer, floppy hats, crazy plans, spontaneity, her laptop, coloured bottles, campfires, coming home after sunrise, vegetarianism, beanbags, cherry lollipops, horror movies, hair chalk, incense, sweet talking her way out of trouble, trail mix, skydiving, cliff jumping, bungee jumping, being upside down, jungle gyms, spray paint, her blog, protests, things that remind her of the beach, surfing.
DISLIKES: getting into trouble, upsetting the few people she cares about, going home for the holidays, liars, politicians, cry-babies, pickled onions, losing, being serious all of the time, people who can’t handle the truth, feeling stuck, cowardly men, rainstorms, Christmas, the idea of growing old mentally, ginger beer, dog fur on her clothes, cops ‘bothering’ her, people who don’t keep up with the news, dentists, feeling the cold, not being able to get rid of her frustrations, bouts of restless insomnia, cheaters, being lectured.
FEARS: Mr Right, poisonous snakes, The Stepford Wives.
SECRETS: She’s actually adopted. Her biological mother is her father’s cousin who felt too young for the responsibilities of a child. It was hidden from her for nearly fifteen years and she thinks that finding out the truth actually changed her into the person she is today. It brings up too many insecurities and doubts for her to talk about it today, but usually makes up excuses to avoid family gatherings so she doesn’t have to be involved in thinking or hearing about it.
PERSONALITY: One of the first things most people realise about Andrea is that she is opinionated; even when it doesn’t concern her she’ll have something to say and rarely keeps her thoughts to herself. The only thing she is closed off about is her family and her past, but she easily dodges those questions. She can also be brutally honest, not taking at all well to liars. Her need for honesty and truth is the reason she found herself chasing a journalism career in the first place and she’s not afraid to be ruthless from time to time. As stubborn as they come, Andy won’t admit when she is wrong or share her weaknesses or fears with anyone; even if they know of them, she’ll act like they’re making it up. She doesn’t need to, but she feels as though she needs to act like that for self-preservation. She has a dry wit and often finds herself despairing for the state of humanity with bouts of sarcasm and flares of anger. She’ll do whatever it takes to achieve what she desires and that includes breaking a rule or two or bending the law to her advantage. Spontaneous at the best of times, Andrea is not a creature of habit and refuses to think that she ever will be. Sometimes this lands her in trouble and she’s lost count of the number of times she’s had to try to sweet talk her way out of a situation she hasn’t put a lot of thought into. Despite how she might appear to a lot of people, Andy is a pretty chilled out kind of woman and it’s rare that she lets stress get to her. She does have a habit of either blindly confronting her problems or running away from them completely. She’s confident and determined, sometimes stepping on toes or sneaking about to prove herself more. Daring and usually out until after sunrise, she’s still a fun-loving girl who holds more than her fair share of free-spirited ways from her youth. Andy doesn’t take too kindly to people bad mouthing her friends or herself and she won’t hesitate to step up and retaliate, though usually it’s with words rather than fists; she can throw insults like it’s an Olympic sport and she has the gold medal! She’s no stranger to trouble, but it’s not like she goes out looking for it; it just usually ends up finding her! Andy can be blunt and to-the-point, but it’s only because she’s not a fan of mind games and the petty dramas that some people thrive on. She’s flirtatious, but doesn’t feel like she needs to be in a relationship to make something of herself. In fact, if anything, she’s actually a little nervous about finding Mr Right in case the whole romance thing changes her. That doesn’t stop her from going out on dates though, but there always seems to be something Andy can find to end most budding relationships before any of her fears have a glimmer of a chance at coming true.
MOTHER: Daniel Kyle Harding, 60.
FATHER: Marissa Leah Harding, 59.
SIBLINGS: Colby Liam Harding, 24.
Rose Louise Harding, 18 .
OTHERS: Nell Riley Mae Deveraux, 25, roommate.
Ashley Scarlet Samson, 45, Andrea’s biological mother/Daniel’s cousin
PETS: Poppy, Pomeranian pup!
HOMETOWN: San Diego, California
HISTORY: Daniel and Marissa were high school sweethearts who married as soon as college was over. They were crazy about each other and instantly wanted the nice house and the big family, but neither of those came easily. The house was only theirs after years of hard work and they moved into it alone, with not even the sound of tiny feet close by. They had tried to conceive for many years, but with no luck. When Daniel’s cousin, Ashley, fell pregnant, she seemed like their blessing. She offered the longing couple her child, knowing their struggles. Ashley was only twenty, still in college and with the father not around to support her or the baby, she didn’t feel like she could raise the baby on her own. Plus, she had so much she wanted to do with her life that she wouldn’t be able to do if she was changing diapers.
Andrea Spencer Harding was born five weeks before her due date, in between Christmas and New Year, but proved to be a fighting little baby who was healthy and happy. Ashley only spent a few minutes with the little girl before signing the official paperwork and doing the necessary things to make Daniel and Marissa the legal parents of Andrea. It was only a few short weeks after the birth of Andrea that Marissa began feeling unwell and sought out medical advice. It seemed the impossible had finally happened and now she was pregnant with her own child! The family feared about what it might mean for Andrea, but both Daniel and Marissa remained loyal to their daughter and did the best for her. They disliked the idea that people thought they’d toss the beautiful baby to one side just because this one would biologically be their own; to them, it didn’t matter. The hopes they had for Andrea remained, but just before she turned one she was joined by her little brother Colby.
Daniel and Marissa chose to hide the adoption from Andrea and asked for the family to do the same. Ashley had expressed that she didn’t want contact or to play some important role in Andrea’s life and they also felt that it would be inappropriate and too much once Colby was born. The two siblings were raised as brother and sister and to try and confuse that with talk of biological parents and adoption might only cause trouble. At least, that was how the parents saw it.
As a child, Andy was pretty happy. She and Colby irritated each other and then got along like best pals for a bit before they’d be back to pulling hair and breaking toys. It was typical sibling nonsense, but Andy was the happiest when she was in the water. When Colby started playing soccer at the age of five, she wanted something to do, too, and talked her parents into swimming lessons. She loved being in the pools and once she was swimming around rather than just splashing, it became clear that this would be a passion she hung onto for life.
Daniel and Marissa felt blessed with their two children. They treated neither of them differently and never acted as though there should be any competition or favouritism between the pair, but with modern medicine and treatments, Marissa found herself giving birth again when Andy was seven. The final pregnancy was a difficult one and while a healthy baby came from it, Marissa decided that there would be no more children for them. They hadn’t been trying for a third, but they weren’t about to recoil in horror when the news came. Andy was pretty disinterested in her baby sister, purely because “she didn’t do anything but cry” and Andy was an energetic kid who managed to find herself in more mischievous trouble than the neighbourhood could understand from one little girl.
Everything passed by as normal as could be, with no big shocks or amazements for a few years. In fact, Andrea was in her freshman year of high school before anything happened. Colby and Rose looked almost identical as siblings, whereas Andy had very few features from Daniel’s side of the family. If she ever mentioned it, Daniel would step in quickly and say that she had his grandmother’s nose or the same colour hair as her cousins. Obviously, with no real reason to question it further, Andy would let it go and head back to the neighbourhood pool or out with friends. It was Colby who overheard the truth one Thanksgiving when relatives were having a hushed conversation out of the earshot of Daniel and Marissa. He heard them talk about how Andrea was oblivious, how Ashley wouldn’t speak to the girl and by lurking outside the room he managed to discover the truth behind Andrea’s parents. He was shocked, but loved his sister and spent a while unsure of what to do with the news; he didn’t want to hurt Andy’s feelings, but he didn’t want to play a part in hiding it from her.
It was only during the Christmas family dinner that things took another dramatic turn. A fight broke out between Andrea and Colby, like they often did at that age. They were still like they had been as little kids; best friends to arch enemies in a matter of seconds. In an outburst, he let it slip about Andrea being adopted and the table froze, him instantly regretting letting the truth out like that. She only needed to see the shocked and horrified looks on her parents’ faces to see that it was the truth and then she threw a portion of the mash potatoes at Colby before exploding herself. She couldn’t understand why they had lied to her for so long and she felt like an idiot. It was from this experience that Andrea changed and became a lot more brutal and honest. She despised liars from this moment and hated secrets with a burning passion.
It didn’t help that at the time she was a teenager, too. That was tough enough without needing to feel like her whole world had been tipped upside down and emptied out for everyone to see. Once the news spread to her the rest of the extended family they seemed to think that it made it okay to talk about the situation in front of Andy. Ashley would avoid the young girl even more than before and make up an excuse to leave if they were the only few in a room. All in all, it made things worse. Daniel and Marissa explained it to her, but it was as though she didn’t want to accept it or understand it. In Andy’s eyes, Ashley hadn’t wanted her and Daniel and Marissa only kept her because they’d feel guilty otherwise. She blamed Colby, refused to speak to him and the relationship she had with Rose was just made worse by Andy snapping at the girl for going through her things and whining about how the kids at school now talked about Andy being adopted. She used it all as an excuse to rebel; sneaking out, breaking curfew, answering back…she did it all. The only thing that kept her sane was swimming and in high school she was on the swim team. In her sophomore year she also wound up helping out with the school newspaper after her English teacher roped her into it to try and help her find another outlet.
A lot of other kids did far worse than Andy. Sure, some nights she snuck in after the sunrise and once or twice the cops brought her home drunk, but she didn’t fall into any seriously bad crowds or dabble with drugs. Really, she went through the same wild phase most teenagers did, but with the added bonus of being able to shout at Daniel and Marissa that they weren’t her “real parents”, even though she knew full well that she owed everything to them.
When Andy needed to have some time to herself she headed to the beach. Sometimes she just swam in the ocean and other times she took her surfboard and let her thoughts get lost in the waves. The beach was her sanctuary and it was where she was most of the time, with parties late at night or hanging with friends along the boardwalk there. When she was seventeen, a surfing accident led to a thoracic herniated disc. The wave tossed her up and she came down hard on the edge of her board in one of those “one in a million” chance events. She needed surgery to fix the problem and to get rid of the pain, but as soon as her recovery was over, Andy was back in the water again and reaching for her surfboard once more. The incident didn’t deter her or scare her off and if people asked she just shrugged it off. Andy never worried about risks like that or anything happening again, or else she feared she might never do anything.
This carried on until just before the Christmas Andy turned eighteen. That was the year when Colby came out to the family and asked if his boyfriend could come over on Christmas Eve for dinner. A little surprised, the family readily accepted this news and agreed. Colby asked Andy if she could behave for one night and then she turned to him and found herself feeling hurt that he really thought she’d deliberately do something to ruin it for him. On the evening Colby introduced his first boyfriend to the family, she played a sarcastic little madam…but only for humour and to embarrass her little brother, claiming it was only what any big sister would do. She was still a little guarded around Daniel and Marissa, but let them talk to her about it all again. She didn’t exactly agree with what they had done, still resented the years of lies, but she was older by this point and could understand somewhat. She came back to the family just a little bit, but most of the damage was already done. The relatives still spoke candidly about everything without considering anyone’s feelings and after she snapped at them about their ignorance, she started making the excuses to miss the family weddings and parties. She felt more comfortable when she was alone, or with her brother than she did around the rest of them. She still snuck out from time to time and argued back like most teenagers, but there was less shouting over the little things.
Andy received an acceptance to Stanford on a sport scholarship. She had accumulated a couple of swimming medals during her time at high school and with the club outside of school that she swam for, and that happened to be her ticket to a decent college education. Her grades were good, too, but she had been more concerned that they wouldn’t be good enough. Her sophomore year had seen her slacking and she had worked hard as a senior to make it up, even working on the yearbook committee and as co-editor of the school paper to bring up the extra-curricular things to boost her college applications with. In the end, it turned out the one thing she did more for herself than anyone was else was the most impressive thing about her life!
At Stanford she sampled the student life like everyone else. She made many mistakes, laughed a lot of them off, tried to forget about others and had a blast of four years there. It was also at Stanford that she met Nell. Andy was studying journalism after finding a real love for it in high school and with her determination to always find the truth she felt like it could be the perfect fit for her. If she wasn’t in a pool at the crack of dawn training with her teammates then she could be in class or helping out with many of the passions she picked up during college. It wasn’t all that rare to see her in the middle of a student protest or handing out flyers to make people aware of something else that was happening. The four years passed by so fast that Andrea could hardly believe it when graduation rolled around.
She already had plans to move to New York and apply for jobs there. She wanted to spread her wings a little more and really, for her dreams to come true, she needed the hustle and bustle of a place like that. With luck sending Nell in the same direction, Andy was excited about making the move and hopefully putting her past behind her. There hadn’t been too many issues during her college years, but she had overheard cousins referring to her as “the other one” as though she was less important than Colby and Rose. Andy just wanted away from that and a chance to really be herself in a life where people didn’t ask or care about her family situations. She never spoke about it and just made excuses for everyone when she chose to stay at school over the holidays or avoid questions about her past. Once in New York, she landed herself the perfect starting job as a fact checker for the New Yorker. She has a long way to go to become the journalist she dreamt about becoming, but Andy can be ruthless when she puts her mind to it, and there’s nothing that she’ll consider as too much when it comes to getting information. For now, it’s mainly trying to prove herself to her bosses and running her little opinionated blog, but she’s convinced she can do bigger and better things; all she needs is the chance.
YOUR ALIAS: KIM.
RULE WORDS: kidnappedbykim.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: In the night sky.
SAMPLE:Pssh!
