Talia Williams
She/Her
41 years old
Violent
62 kg
Personality
Talia's capability of how useful she can be is often, to her own detriment, how she directly gauges her worth to others. This is something that has only been reinforced over the years by the company kept and lessons learned. She is extremely task oriented and always eager to prove herself, often throwing herself into various small tasks just to keep both mind and body in near constant motion. She's almost never entirely idle, often able to be observed fidgeting or in some form of occupying movement.
Ever the loyal soul, Talia has always been something of a habitual follower. That's not to say she'll shy away from situations that require decisive action, but she is more often comfortable deferring to those who have earned her trust when it comes to the day to day and working out decisions on next steps. She cares deeply for those within her circle and does her best to show it where she can through small gestures and gifts. Though never something she would directly acknowledge, it's clear that a desire for approval and recognition is often a driving factor. Doing things for others has always brought a certain sense of satisfaction she's never quite been able to put to words.
She's adopted something of an aloof front over the years, initial reactions typically intentionally muted on the surface in an effort to give herself more time to gauge unfamiliar situations. Those with a keen eye or a knowledge of her tells, however, know just how intently she feels. Despite this and though generally keen to avoid conflict of any kind, she's quick to jump to the defense of those she cares about.
Appearance
Standing at a solid 5'9, what could be an imposing figure struck is often muted by the slump to her posture and a near constant state of exhaustion. Her black hair is kept short, often pulled back off the nape of her neck in a small ponytail. Her sharp features are framed by her bangs, dark grey eyes carrying a level of cautious exhaustion.
Years of near constant physical labor has done much to help her maintain an athletic figure despite her age. This has simultaneously led to a number of aches and pains evident in her occasionally stiff movements or the slightly crooked thumb on her left hand from a previous mishap. Her pale skin is littered with a number of small scars from various nicks and cuts garnered over the years of manual labor.
A full sleeve tattoo covers the length of her right arm, swirling vines and flowers surrounding a skull in the middle.
Background
Born on the Eastside of Los Angeles, California in December 1953, Natalia's earliest memories were of growing up under the financial struggles that came from a single parent household. Her mother, overworked and often unwell, fell ill and eventually succumbed to her sickness after months of slowly deteriorating when Talia was around 8. Relegated to the foster system, she bounced around through various foster homes for years until she finally found herself adopted by an older couple that lived in the Silver Lake neighborhood, Josef and Linda Kovak, not long after turning 13.
Not entirely trusting this to become a permanent fixture, Talia continued to act out in small but harmless acts of rebellion to fabricate some sense of control in her life. While Linda was a teacher at the local elementary school and had the patience to let it run its course, Josef remained gruff and firm but ultimately understanding. His approach to help curb the acts was to have her accompany him to the garage he worked at to keep her busy and out of trouble with small, simple tasks. Through the initially unwilling opportunity, she came to find she enjoyed working with her hands in practical means. She came to enjoy spending time at the shop, learning the basics of working with tools and spending time learning Spanish with a couple of the other mechanics.
Though she generally kept to herself in school, her penchant for working with her hands had her shop teacher encouraging her to join the theatre program at school as a stagehand to assist with building sets. Through the program, she found near immediate friendship with another girl in her grade, Maria Williams. The two became close over the following years, and things seemed to be progressing beyond simple friendship until a line was crossed, and then a line drawn. Maria abruptly started to pull away and Talia could only watch and chase answers that weren't forthcoming before Maria and her father moved away near senior year.
Shortly after graduating, she took up an apprenticeship with a nearby general contractor. Never one to do well with inaction in her downtime and keen to find a new sense of self after moving out, she fell into the allure of the nightlife the city had to offer. There was a slow but steady descent into addiction over the years to come. Drugs and alcohol were often the crutch of choice in order to get through the seemingly endless days, an expectation almost amongst the group of friends she'd come to gravitate towards over the years. The volatile nature of it all eventually led to a fall out with her adoptive parents around 1978 when another foster child was adopted into the home.
This was something of a nail in the coffin and an eye opener wrapped in one. She put in the work to sober up and get clean, distancing herself from the influences of others she'd fallen under by throwing herself into work to the point of near exhaustion as she sought help through local groups. This worked for years as she floated between jobs, building upon her meager savings. Feeling the need for something of a new start and a reinvention of herself, she moved back to Silver Lake in 1989. With her savings she began her own general contracting start-up, a few advertisements for her services posted around.
It wasn't long after, during what she believed to be just another run of the mill service call, that she reconnected with a returned Maria. Though the budding tension from their youth was still present, held back yet behind a number of reasons, at the end of the day she was just glad to have her friend back. Conversation flowed as easy as it ever had, and it was a slow but steady path of building up a new routine. Only this time, her almost flame had two teenage children in tow, Adrian and Sarah.
Talia visited often and offered her help with the twins where she could in both presence and what financial support she could spare for the struggling single mother. The friendship shifted into something of a complicated co-parenting relationship. Unconventional as it was, they made it work for them. After Maria brought up the idea in 1990 that she wanted to save for a family trip for the twins' 18th birthdays and graduation, so began the process of setting aside a vacation fund. Adrian finding employment and assisting with some of the day-to-day expenses helped alleviate some of the financial burden to allow further advancement of the fund. Talia took on extra contract work to help pad the fund, often left exhausted but determined with an end goal at least in sight.
Plans were delayed slightly when the fund was dipped into for vehicle repairs, at which point the original plans were pivoted upon announcement of a new cross country rail experience. The extra year to save up afforded them time to make that last push to securing economy tickets for the family's first vacation together.
Preseason Ticket Type: Economy Class
