KATZ, Ruby Ariella

RUBY ARIELLA KATZ

AT FIRST GLANCE

FULL NAME	”Ruby Ariella Katz. My dad chose my first name, and my mom chose my middle. My last name is my mother's.”
NICKNAMES	Sometimes I hear Ru or Rubes, but not often. Ruby’s a pretty short name as is.”
AGE	”I’m the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen.”
DATE OF BIRTH	”March 9, which makes me a Pisces.”
GENDER	”Agender; I don't really identify as any gender. But I use female pronouns, so I guess female.”
SEXUALITY	”Pansexual, which basically means gender doesn’t affect my attraction.”
YEAR	”I’ve just started my senior year.”
SOCIO-ECON	”We’re a comfortable middle class.”

MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL

FACECLAIM	Juno Temple
HEIGHT	5’8”
WEIGHT	143 lbs.
HAIR COLOR	Naturally dark brown, but she bleaches and dyes it strawberry blonde
EYE COLOR	Hazel
COMPLEXION	Fair
NATIONALITY	Israeli-American
APPEARANCE	Ruby is a lovely young person with modest curves and a tall build. She dresses kind of sloppily, and she’s the queen of messy hair. Her outfits are probably best described as somewhere around the grunge, punk type of clothing, with ripped jeans, lots of black clothing, and stuff like plaid and leather. Ruby likes to dress more on the promiscuous side when it's hot out, but nothing too obscene. Her long hair is wavy on most days, and she’ll normally leave it down or throw it up in a ponytail/bun when she wants it out of her face. She has a round, heart shaped face with hazel eyes that sometimes appear to be more green. As for piercings and tattoos, she has both of her ears double pierced, her cartilage pierced on her right ear, and her bellybutton pierced. She has quite a few tattoos that she’s gathered over the years, most that can be covered with clothing except for the sleeve on her left arm(1,2,3,4) Any scars that she has aren’t especially noticeable, save for the ones on the very tops of her thighs from when she self harmed early on in high school.

BEYOND THE LOOKING GLASS

LIKES	”Hmm, let’s see. I like art, sleeping, drugs and alcohol, smoking, driving, swimming, parties, music, those cheesy, cliche indie movies, laughing, and flowers. Does that cover the bases? I think that’s a pretty solid list!”
DISLIKES	”Well this is a little less fun of a list. I guess school is my biggest thing. Also the authorities, judgy people, sexism, being bored, drama, soap operas, root beer, high expectations, close minded people, pain, and being sad.”
BEST SUBJECT	”The only thing in school I’m good at is art.”
WORST SUBJECT	”Haha, pretty much everything except art. I’m not very good at academics.”
STRENGTHS	”This sure doesn’t leave room for modesty! Let’s see… I’m very creative. It helps with my art. I like to see the world through different eyes and try to find beauty in most everything. Sorry I sound really cliche right now, don’t I! Anyways. I’m pretty charismatic, or so I’ve been told. I try to be as likeable as possible, since I’m not really one for conflict and I don’t like when people don’t like me. I’m brave; it’s not that things don’t scare me, it’s just that I don’t like to let my fears to control me. Believe me, there’s a lot of stuff I’m scared of! I just don’t let it hold me back. I’m passionate and driven, though my math teachers would tell you otherwise. If I’m interested in something, I get really dedicated to it, and I commit. And let me think, last one… oh! I know! I’m easy-going. Kind of that go with the flow sort of thing. I try not to let things get to me and just shrug things off; I’m pretty chill.”
WEAKNESSES	”Well I can tell you right off the bat, I’m really lazy. I don’t like to do work and school stuff, and I procrastinate like no other. It really gets on my teachers nerves, which I feel bad about. I'm a terrible liar, so I'll never be good at poker since people can see right through me. I tend to be an open book. I also hold a grudge like no other; I'm super forgiving up until a certain point. If someone hits that point, I'll be damned if I ever speak one word to them ever again. I also tend to put others before myself, which is good in most cases, but I do it to a point where I tend to not look out for myself as much. I set myself on fire to keep others warm. And I have really bad anxiety, and am rather susceptible to panic attacks."
HOBBIES	"Art's my biggest hobby. I like to draw and paint and doodle; it puts my mind at ease. Do drugs count as a hobby? I spend a decent amount of time doing that, so I guess that should be put on the list. And I like to cook. Probably because I like to eat so much, and I spent a lot of time cooking meals as a kid."
PET PEEVES	"I hate pretentious people who think they're better than everyone else. Like, seriously, get off your damn high horse. And I can't stand people who cheat on their partner. I have no respect for people who do that."
PERSONALITY	"I'm nothing special, honest." Ruby's a kindhearted soul, very casual and easy-going. She's very calm and chill, but also has anxiety, which seems like a bit of an oxymoron, but it's her. She is mainly anxious about her future in regards to what she will do with her life and whether she will be successful in the art world as well as her past relating towards her mother's ex-boyfriend, who was sexually and physically abusive towards Ruby. She's not an especially loud person, but she is friendly and outgoing and easy to get along with. She enjoys making friends, and isn't a fan of making enemies out of people. Ruby doesn't get in fights or arguments with people, and she'll normally avoid conflict at all costs. The only time she'll fight is if someone is messing with her little sister, who she is wildly protective over. She's kind of a slacker, with the only school subject she really cares about being art. She couldn't care less about the other subjects, and will normally get C's in core classes like math and history. Despite this apathy, she's very passionate about what she loves, and is very dedicated and determined. Ruby's free-spirited and loves to laugh and have fun, and doesn't take many things seriously, which can be frustrating to people sometimes.

THE HOUSE THAT BUILT ME

MOTHER	YAEL TALIA KATZ - 43 - TEACHER - "Ruby, darling, you can be whoever you want to be in your life. Don't let anyone or anything stop you. Just aim to be happy."
FATHER	CHARLIE JACK DECKER - 43 - CHEF - "I get that you're upset, but please just talk to me. I know you feel betrayed, but I'm your father and I want to be a part of my little girl's life."
SIBLINGS	JACKSON GEORGE DECKER - 24 - PEDIATRIC NURSE - BROTHER- "Ruby, you can't hold a grudge on him forever, for Pete's sake. You're acting like a child. Get over it already." KEREN LEAH DECKER - 21 - ENGINEERING STUDENT - SISTER - "I'm worried about you, Ru. I'm afraid you're going to get yourself in trouble, with all the illegal stuff you're doing. Just be careful, okay?" ELISHEVA NAOMI KATZ - 15 - ASHFORD STUDENT - SISTER - "We have to stick together, right? You'll take care of me, like you promised? And we'll be safe at Ashford?" LANCE RICHARD MITCHELL - 20 - UNI STUDENT - STEPBROTHER - "Don't talk about my mom that way you little bitch. Who do you think you are? You don't know anything." DAISY BELLE DECKER - 8 - PRIMARY STUDENT - HALFSISTER - "Ruby, why don't you ever talk to mommy or daddy? You play with me but you never say hi to them. Did something happen?"
OTHER	DAVID AUGUSTUS GRANT - 47 - SALESMAN - MOTHER'S EX - "If you're quiet and cooperate, everything will be alright." AMANDA JANE DECKER - 45 - VETERINARIAN - STEPMOTHER - "I know you don't like me, Ruby, but I'm your step-mother now, so we should get along, don't you think?"

SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW

HISTORY

(**trigger warning for sexual abuse and self harm**) "I'm the third of four children, born in Israel. My mother lived there her entire life, while my father had moved there in his mid-twenties. He met my mother not long after he moved, my mother became pregnent with my older brother, Jackson, a year and a half later, and they got married about half a year after Jack was born. My father wanted to name Jackson, since he was their first son, and my mom allowed him, so Jackson was given an American name. My mother wanted to name the rest of the kids, and my dad was okay with that. The next was a girl, who my mother named Keren Leah. And then I was born. My dad's mom, my grandmother whose name was Ruby, died two days before I was born, so my mom let my dad choose my first name in her memory, and the name I was going to have, Ariella, became my middle name. Not long after, my baby sister was born, and named Elisheva Naomi. We were a pretty happy family. My father was a chef, so he taught me how to cook, and I loved it. I was quite good at it too. When I was little I wanted to be a chef just like him. Not long after my fourth birthday, my dad got offered an excellent job in the United States in LA, so we moved. I have very few memories of Israel when I lived there, but we visited often during Hanukkah and other holidays, and all of those memories are very good.  When I was eight, everything turned sour. My dad frequently went on business trips, but it turned out that said trips were actually to his mistress. He was having an affair and cheating on my mother for a solid year before mom found out. She was so furious, and so was I. We all were, initially. Mom wanted to try and repair their marriage, but dad wasn't interested, and he left the next day and went to live with his mistress, Amanda, while they went through the divorce process. During that time, he barely even talked to us. I refused to speak to him when he did try to reach out. Before the divorce was even over, Amanda gave birth to a little girl Daisy, my new halfsister. If anything good came out of that mess, it was her. Not long after, when I was ten, they got married, and I gained a step-mother and a step-brother who was three years older than me. By that point, Jack and Keren had forgiven my dad and were on good terms with him again. I was still furious and refused to speak to him, and since Elisheva was very close to me and pretty much did whatever I did, she shut him out too. He tried to reason with me and convince me to forgive him, but I refused. He never even tried to apologize for tearing the family apart. I visited to play with Daisy, because I had no ill will towards her(it wasn't her fault, after all,) but I refused to ever spend time with my dad or step-mother. Jack went off to college to study nursing, and Keren decided to go live with dad and his new family since he lived in the state where she wanted to go to college for engineering and she wanted to get in-state tuition when she went there.  So that left me, Elisheva, and my mother. My mother decided to move the three of us to Portland, Oregon for a change of scenery and to try to get away from the mess that had happened. I welcomed the change. I started to get more interested in art, which I had already enjoyed, and began to improve my art skills at drawing and painting. I also discovered my power, heightened senses. I was scared, at first. I didn't know what was happening, everything was very new and very frightening. I told Elisheva about it, who told my mother, and my mother explained that our father was an SPB, and that Keren and Jack had both gotten powers as well, and Elisheva would probably get it too. She hadn't told us because she didn't want to scare us, and she wasn't sure that we would even get powers. Elisheva got her power not long after that, since she hit puberty earlier than I did. We were a happy little family, for a little while. But that changed when my mom got a new boyfriend. His name was David, and he seemed nice at first. He made mom happy, and, therefore, I was happy. But one day, during the summer on a day when my mom had to go in for work, he stopped by the house where me and Elisheva were home alone. I was okay with him stopping by, initially, because he was nice and fun and played games with us and bought us things. But when he showed up that day, he was different. He told Elisheva to go play with her friends, which she did since she was always one to oblige an adult's order, leaving me alone with him. Then he started to...molest me. I don't want to get into details. I tried to protest and fight him off, but that just made him angry, and he ended up hitting me. He threatened to kill my mother and little sister if I said anything, and he left before my mother got home. Fearing that he actually would hurt them, I said nothing. When Elisheva asked what had happened, I just told her that he wanted to talk to me about boring stuff like school, so she lost interest. I never told my mother that he had stopped by, and Elisheva never thought to, so my mom had no idea. It happened multiple more times, with him coming to the house when my mom was gone and Elisheva was out so that I was alone for him to do what he wanted. It went on for over a year.  Because of what he was doing to me, as well as my feelings about my father, I developed severe depression, anxiety, and PTSD. My freshman year of high school I started self-harming on my upper thighs, and though I've stopped now, there are still scars. I was diagnosed for the depression and anxiety, but not the PTSD because I didn't tell anyone about David. The medication helped, but since I was still going through abuse, I was still suffering pretty badly. Then he started doing it to Elisheva too. I didn't know at first, because he did it to her when I wasn't around ad told her the same thing he told me: "Don't tell, or I'll hurt your family." After the second time it happened to her, she broke down, unable to hold it in, and confessed to me. That was my breaking point; I could handle it being done to me, but to my baby sister? Hell no. I went to the police and told them everything. Then I went to my mother. She immediately kicked him out, which infuriated him. He threatened that he would come back and hurt me and Elisheva. Luckily, the police arrested him later that day and he was put in prison for rape and child molestation. But Elisheva and I were still frightened he would get out and come after us. I had heard about Ashford by then, and figured it was our best bet at being safely away from him. However, Elisheva wasn't old enough to go, and I couldn't leave her behind. So I waited for her to turn fourteen. I continued going to school, but I had poor grades in most classes except art, and began to do drugs, smoke, and drink to deal with my power and my past. I was also diagnosed with PTSD. Finally, my sister became old enough, and I asked my mother to let us both go to Ashford. While she was reluctant of letting go of her children, she understood our fears and wanted us to be safe. She also wanted us to be able to have better control over our powers, so she agreed. I started Ashford on my junior year, while Elisheva started her freshman year. And we've been here ever since."

ALL THE SMALL THINGS

POWER	Superhuman senses
POWER DESCRIPTION	Ruby has superhuman senses, which means she has a heightened sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch and an increased perception. She can see about twice as far as the average human, and she is able to focus very clearly on objects close to her and notice small details that one would normally not see or take note of(subtle differences in shades of color, able to interpret a person's body language very well and notice any tics or habits they might have, spot telltale signs of a person lying such as increased sweating, shifty eyes, etc.) Her hearing is very good, and she can hear very quiet sounds, sounds very far away, and frequencies higher and lower than the average human. She can hear things such as a person's watch ticking from across a room, a person's heartbeat, hushed conversation from a couple blocks away, and other things like that. She can also smell things from very far away as well as smell things that are not very noticeable, such as a meal on a person's breath that they ate hours ago or the smell of rotting food across a building. She's extra sensitive to being touched, so even a light brush on her shoulder would be incredibly noticeable to her. This makes her incredibly susceptible to pain, but it makes sex very good. Often times she will go into sensory overload, with too many smells, too many sounds, too make sights. She hates crowds and loud places because of this, and will sometimes get sick if she catches a whiff of something unpleasant, even if it isn't very noticeable to others, since she can smell it very strongly. When she is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, her senses are normally dulled, which is why she is such a fan of these things.
SPECIAL ITEMS	Ruby has a pair of noise-blocking earphones she will wear if things get too loud. This won't render her completely deaf, but it will muffle the sounds to a tolerable level, and she normally wears them to school and most public places. She also has a pair of prescription glasses. Since she was better than 20/20 vision, incorrectly prescribed glasses dull down her vision. Like the earphones, they won't make her sight completely blurry, but it will normalize it a bit. She also owns a silver charm bracelet that her mother gave her when she left, and she only removes it when she is going to get wet.

PULLING THE STRINGS

ALIAS	Simplicity
CREDITS	THIS APP WAS CREATED BY RYN ★

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