Catherine Cowie*

[Nealosi†]

Name: Catherine Cowie
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Grade: 12
School: Bayview Secondary School
Hobbies and Interests: Basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey, television and training

Appearance:Catherine is taller than the average student and much broader as well. Standing about 5'11 and weighting in at a hefty 190.With much of her time spent working out and playing sports, Catherine is built like a linebacker. He shoulders are wide, her shape lacks voluptuousness and her flat, freckled face is cemented in a perpetual scowl. Her frizzy red locks are continually cropped short and are usually tied back into a bun, relieving her pale green eyes to stay focused on the ball.

When she's not wearing her team colors, Catherine dresses simply in monotone exercise shorts or sweats with a plain shirt. Her demeanor is intimidating; regardless of her clothing, her intense focus and bitter countenance combined with her masculine appearance tend to keep people at arm's length.

Biography: Catherine Cowie is a St. Paul native, born and raised, along with her older sister Marcy and her hellion of a younger brother Gavin. Catherine's mother, Terry, recently succumbed to a long battle with lung cancer, leaving her father Keith to raise the two children still at home. Keith Cowie has always had anger issue, thou he has never raised a hand against his own family, his stubborn Scottish pride would never allow such an affront. In many ways Catherine is her father's daughter, driven by fierce pride, passionate anger and bitter intensity.

Catherine Cowie's constant disapproval is far from unjustified. Up until high school, Catherine was overweight, awkward and already had a reputation for throwing tantrums. It's easy to imagine why she was picked out early as school whipping girl. There was a time when she would endure her tormentors, she would yell, wail and cry but the taunts and jeers never stopped. One day she lashed out at her oppressors with furious success, using her weight to her advantage she beat the snot out of two younger girls.

To her the feeling was palpable the very next day. With a glance Catherine was cautiously eyeing up those still brave enough to bully the girl, whose size was now a potential threat. Her father was proud, her mother upset and the school was less than pleased, but this was far from the last incident. It would take a few more fights, many with far less success before Catherine would be out of the woods. After two very unproductive, unsuccessful years of middle school, her peers finally gave up Catherine for weaker prey.

In her final year of middle school, she began to turn things around, mostly with a lot of help from her homeroom teacher Mrs. Harris and her older sister Marcy, who was back home from Iraq to be with her dying mother. Mrs. Harris (hearing of her mother's tragic illness) made it her personal project to get Catherine's grades back on track and spent many hours after class helping her with school work. Marcy introduced Catherine to soccer and basketball, which could be played in the backyard away from the prying eyes of her fellows. Mrs. Harris and Marcy were her confidants in those hard times, neither of them could breach the emotional ironclad that she had become, but they both aimed to put her on the right track. Teaching her to cope and giving her the skills to move on.

Things picked up in the first year of high school at Bayview with a few speed bumps along the way. Her fights were less frequent and her grades were consistent, though below average, and she had taken to sports and exercise under the tutelage of her sister improving her wellbeing. More of her peers had taken to ignoring her rather than pushing her around, she still didn't have any friends, but her quality of life had improved. Naturally, she began to accept this as a genuine improvement in her emotional welling being and her social status.

Her shallow improvement in self-confidence gave Catherine the inspiration to sign up for team sports in her second year at high school. Devoting most of her previous summer to practice and exercise, the rest of her weight was forged into muscle. Having finally arrived at a healthy weight improved her situation even more. Those few who still had the gall to mock her no longer had the material, or were too afraid of her. Physicality, focus and practice transformed her into a force to be reckoned with in any competitive sport. Catherine soon found herself competing with her male counterparts and new found fame as Bayview's own female powerhouse.

Even though her success had won the acceptance of her peers, Catherine was still friendless and still emotionally fraught. Socially awkward from years of segregation, she made attempts to align herself with other social outcasts. She found herself unwelcome in most circles, though Catherine was able to establish a few acquaintances among her fellow students; there was one place where her anger, frustration and confusion were welcome. After a quick courtship she was accepted among the ranks of a local trans-school clique of white supremacists.

Catherine's most recent year of high school has been marked by her continued success in sports and establishing herself as the thing she once hated most; a bully. She still hesitates to act on her clique's racist doctrine, but she has taken to using her size to intimidate those around her. On top of this, she is the first to join in, whenever a more confident thug starts picking on someone else. Her insecurities and anger are still there, but buried underneath her fierce self-defenses and channeled through sports and her confused social life.

Advantages: Catherine's physical dominance and position as a seasoned veteran of bullying are gains in the violence of SOTF. She has picked up a few survival and military skills from her older sister and idol Marcy, but being able to call upon those skills when she needs them is unlikely.

Disadvantages: Catherine has a lot of insecurities that run deep. She is emotionally and socially fragile and has poor skills of reason. Though she is schooled in the ways of combat, it is never her first response or her first desire to act violently.