Paula Boerns
She/Her
27 years old
Peaceful
82 kg
Personality
Paula is a naturally cheerful and friendly person. While she does have a mildly misanthropic outlook about others, it often doesn't take much for her to change her mind if someone simply leaves a good first impression.
She's fun-loving and loves to indulge her sense of humor in bouts of silliness when appropriate.
Appearance
Barely five-foot-one, Paula is short and slender. Her raven black hair is perpetually pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her diamond blue eyes peer out from behind a pair of glasses that adorn her freckled face.
Her manner of dress is quite casual, usually wearing jeans and a flannel shirt.
Notable Skills
Paula has acquired an odd assortment of skills in no small part due to her time spent as a drifter. Her brother Jason had once roped her into assisting him on his carpentry projects, forcing her to acquire familiarity with a hammer that served her well in her time as a drifter. Due to this line of work, she found it useful to acquire an understanding of the basics of tailoring in order to maintain her clothing.
Background
Paula was the child of two deadbeat parents who didn't particularly care for their children. Even though this is often the makings of a broken childhood and damaged adulthood, Paula managed to defy the norm in no small part thanks to her older brother Jason. Throughout their childhood, the pair mostly kept to themselves and were known as an inseparable duo: the small and charismatic younger sister who did most of the talking and the imposing, blunt, and often rude older brother Jason.
Jason was regarded as intimidating by most people, causing Paula to fail to develop many long-term friendships. Furthermore, his pessimistic outlook rubbed off on her, causing her to maintain a rather low opinion of other people despite her cheerful friendliness. Fortunately for those who encounter her it isn't too difficult to sway her away from this opinion.
Both Paula and her brother took the first opportunity they could to escape their place of birth, her brother managing to land an impressive scholarship in New Mexico Tech while Paula leveraged her people skills. After balancing several part-time jobs, she purchased a cheap car for herself and became a drifter, going where the wind and whatever odd jobs she could find would take her.
Eventually her wanderings led her to taking a ferry to Braddock Island, where her car broke down and she found herself without the funds or ability to have it repaired. Out of options, she was forced to find a job, her natural charisma landing her a job tending a bar. She took a quick liking to it, enjoying being with people and hearing everyone's stories. Despite this, she never officially settled down, continuing to live out of her car for several months until the outbreak began.
When the shelter-in-place orders were made, Paula hunkered down with a co-worker, where the two of them would remain sheltered for as long as they could. Supplies dwindled day by day, and despite their rationing, eventually they needed more food. They had initially agreed to go out together in search of supplies, but Paula's coworker snuck out that night alone, leaving a note.
When she returned, she was nursing a wound she claimed to be the result of a careless interaction with a shard of glass. Paula didn't think much of it, but over the following weeks, however, she noticed her coworker steadily getting more and more irritable...
