Age: 28
Pronouns: She/her
Orientation: Heterosexual
Occupation: Writer
Family: A younger sister, unknown mother, deceased father
Personality: Gemma is calm, cool and collected. She is very motherly towards her friends and family, especially her younger sister. She is extremely protective, and despite her usual calm and calculating demeanor, will throw caution to the wind when it comes to her sister. She describes herself as a lioness, the leader of the pack. She’s a stickler for rules and hates the idea of chaos. She loves being tidy and orderly.
BIOGRAPHY
Gemma was named after gemstones. She was light of her mother's Lilly’s life. Gemma’s father Tom, was a functioning alcoholic. His days consisted of work, and drink. Some days were better than others. He would get drunk and throw his wife over his shoulder, or slow dance in the kitchen. Sometimes he would sit and stare mindlessly at the TV for hours. Sometimes he didn’t come home at all. When she was 8 her father came home with a newborn baby girl. He didn’t tell them how it happened, just that she was his and they were family. Gemma’s mother left them shortly after. Gemma however took a liking to the wrinkly infant and became a de facto mother to her. As they grew up, they relied on each other, having no one else. Gemma's mother's calls back fewer and farther between. Eventually one day they just stopped. Gemma vowed never to abandon the only remaining family she had. She found out later that her mother had married and had another child. Gemma found solace in books, where she could escape from the real world, if only for a brief time. Six-year-old Winter wiped away her tears and comforted her the best a small child was able too. They remained close till Winter became a teenager. It seemed like age was no longer the only gap between them. She changed, from a bubbly little girl to a dark and brooding young woman. She wouldn't even look in her direction. Gemma began to work. Alcoholism had taken its toll on her father, and he had fallen ill. Unable to work, he pleaded for a favor from his eldest daughter. Her first job was in a gas station, where she would work the overnight shift. While she was there she would write. Just a little bit a day. She made enough money to supplement her father's disability payments and they lived. It wasn't lavish or even comfortable, but they had food, clean clothes, and each other. After two years of night shift writing Gemma had finished her first novel. She carted it from publisher to publisher with no takers. She tweaked it, constantly worked on getting it out there. It was her baby, the brainchild of all her sleepless nights. After another year it was published by a small publishing house. It was a children's fantasy novel. It had done well, not well enough to live off, but they didn't worry about groceries for two whole months. It was a surprise when it suddenly picked up speed a few years later. The publisher commissioned her for a series. It seemed like they were drowning in money now. Gemma bought her family a home in New York closer to her publisher.
GROUP LORE
River Kessler was six years old when she went missing. It was worldwide news. Her very public adduction shocked the world. The police had more than enough information to find the perp, but the days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into years. River’s parents die, leaving her brother as the only surviving member of her immediate family. He gives up on his search, until eight years later. River’s skeletonized body is found buried in a shallow grave by a woman on her way to work. That was not the only thing in that shallow grave. Buried underneath River was an older female corpse. Police attempt to identify her, but her DNA does not match any of the missing females in the NAMUS database. Their discovery makes the news again. The homicide detective is personally attached to this case. He's new to Homicide and the area but is drawn to this case. He thinks it may be career-making. The case makes news nationwide. Descriptions of the Jane Doe are plastered everywhere in an attempt to identify her. A podcaster covers all the case updates, but starts receiving threatening warnings against it. River Kesslers remains are returned to her family. Her brother is the only remaining member of her immediate family. He immediately searched for ways to identify the doe, in hopes it will lead him to their murderer. Across the country a woman and her sister come across a picture of someone who looks Jane Doe in a family album. Their father doesn’t seem to remember the woman, but they can't shake the feeling of dishonesty from him, so they make their way back to their hometown of Tacoma Washington. A local librarian can't stop the dreams that haunt her every night. She has no idea how to explain it, but she confesses to a penpal that she is seeing memories that don't belong to her. She's not the only one. These strangers are intrinsically linked to each other. At times they can feel each other's strong emotions, or witness a vision of their memories. What is it that brings them together and how dangerous is it?
