Sapphire Waters

[Catche Jagger]

Name: Sapphire Waters
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Hobbies and Interests: Art History, Folk Music, Painting, Astrology, The Occult, Cryptids

Appearance: Sapphire stands at 5’8” and weighs 140 pounds, marking her as relatively tall and lean. In addition to her lankiness and long neck, this led to comparisons to a giraffe in late middle school. Her red hair trails down long past her shoulders, reaching to her mid-back and stands out strikingly against her pale skin. Sapphire has a noticeable overbite, leaving her reluctant to smile showing teeth. Her nose is long and narrow and the blue eyes for which she was named are rather large, making them even more noticeable below her light eyebrows.

Sapphire often wears rather conservative dresses, though to offset this, she often prefers those with colorful or flowery designs. However, in hotter summer months, it isn’t unheard of for her to transition to a simple t-shirt and shorts in order to deal with the weather. Regardless of outfit, Sapphire wears her round, tortoise shell glasses.

On the day of the abduction, Sapphire was wearing a blue and white striped, short-sleeved spring dress that reached down to her knees, a pair of black flats, white ankle socks, and her glasses.

Biography: Sapphire’s mother, Lydia Waters, was born in Saint Paul to her parents, Albert and Diane. Lydia had a rather troubled childhood possibly as a result of a strict upbringing, possibly as a result of undiagnosed mental illness, possibly a combination of the two. Shortly after coming of age, Lydia left home to make her way towards New York City, on dreams of stardom and getting rich quick, or at the very least getting away from the home she’d grown to hate.

Shortly after making it to the big city in the northeast, Lydia met Robert Kovac, an aspiring entrepreneur several years her senior. In spite of sharing little in common with one another, the two found themselves attracted to one another and began a relationship spanning several months. Eventually, Lydia found that she had become pregnant with Robert’s child.

Perhaps as some leftover guilt from her religious upbringing, Lydia could not bring herself to terminate the pregnancy and when she informed Robert of this, he quickly ended their relationship and cut her off. Being left with few other options, Lydia was forced to return to Saint Paul where her parents, somewhat reluctantly on Al’s part, welcomed her back.

At the time of the baby’s birth, Lydia envisioned a fanciful future for her daughter, and gave her a name she thought poetic and matched her blue eyes: Sapphire. Following the birth however, Lydia found herself unable to care for the child in the way that she wanted to, as she was ill-equipped for the role of mother and, though not entirely conscious of it, did carry some resentment over having to return back home. Over the years, Al and Diane ended up taking on the roles of Sapphire’s primary caregivers.

Though still quite conservative, the couple had softened with age (possibly in regret over how things had gone with Lydia) and were far more accepting of their granddaughter’s quirks than they would have been in her mother. They also allowed their daughter to stay with them rent-free, although she would only work irregularly over the next several years. This dynamic would lead to Sapphire developing a deep admiration for her grandparents as she grew older, while at the same time growing to view her mother as a distant and irresponsible leech.

Diane and Al both made it clear that it would be best if Lydia tried to get child support from Robert. However, the end of their relationship had left Lydia adamant that she wanted nothing more to do with the man or his money and, though both of her parents thought this decision rather ridiculous, they eventually relented and dropped the issue, partially fearing that their daughter might just run off to the middle of nowhere again.

The family was well supported financially, even with Lydia often not working, as Al was a well respected physician. Additionally, Diane assists in supplementing family income through her work as a teacher, though she makes notably less than her husband. The work Lydia took on over the years was varied and always short term: ranging from working as a cashier to janitorial work, to even attempting to join a nearby theater company, all of which did not last long.

In her early schooling, Sapphire performed poorly, and her grandparents became concerned that she might have some sort of cognitive disability. However, through the use of tutoring, her grades were able to improve, though she would consistently remain on the lower end of her class in terms of grades.

Though she often struggled in the classroom, Sapphire was always an inquisitive child, fascinated by the mysteries of the world around her and eager to explore nearby parks and landmarks to see what she might find hidden in their nooks and crannies.

As middle school came around, however, Sapphire’s more outgoing tendencies would take a hit, as she became the subject of bullying from her peers. Whether it be insults based upon her appearance or stranger tendencies, the girl was left with a greater sense of self-consciousness and timidity that would characterize her interactions with peers through the present day.

Primarily spending time with her grandparents, Sapphire found herself listening to the American folk music of the 60s-70s that the two of them had enjoyed and this fondness would carry on to affect her taste in music even as she moved on into high school. Even though she would listen to more modern acts, she seemed to always prefer those that would incorporate elements of American folk.

Her grandparents also brought her up within their Catholic faith, which she still identifies with to this day. Though her views by this point aren’t entirely orthodox, she regularly attends church with them and prays semi-regularly.

Entering high school, Sapphire remained rather reserved with few friends carrying over from middle school. Seeking a creative outlet, her grandfather suggested painting as a great hobby, one that they might share. Sapphire had done some light sketching in the past, but never really put much thought into her art.

However, after spending some time painting with her grandmother, Sapphire found that not only did she enjoy the art, the feeling of creation, but also that she seemed to have a knack for it. Initially she, like Al, did a lot of landscapes. However, Sapphire eventually came to prefer making art of people, making portraits. She found that, rather than sticking to realism, she much preferred to get creative with her depictions, exaggerating physical characteristics or playing with the use of color in order to emphasize what the picture might not capture: the aura a person projected.

As she has become more interested in painting, she also found a greater interest in looking into art history and seeing how various art forms developed over time.

It was also during her time in high school that Sapphire, with support from her grandmother (though not her mother or grandfather) finally reached out to and managed to meet her father, Robert. Unfortunately the man ended up showing little interest in his daughter beyond feeling an obligation to meet her and possibly provide her with some money. Robert had lost most of his assets in the 2008 Financial Crash and had failed to claw his way back up since, leaving him an embittered shell of the charismatic man she had never known. Upon meeting him, Sapphire’s strongest feeling turned out to be pity. She has not spoken to him since.

Sapphire’s more inquisitive tendencies also never truly faded, though her eagerness to express strange findings and ideas has been tempered. Indeed, these tendencies have found her deeply interested in the stranger, possibly mystical aspects of her world, an aspect of her personality that shared with her grandmother. Diane helped to lead Sapphire toward learning more about notions of the occult.

Though a very religious woman, Diane held a plethora of superstitions beyond her religious faith and had read a fair bit online and in self-help books about New Age spiritualism and witchcraft, and though she thought it somewhat scandalous, she eagerly absorbed the information even relying on some of it in practice, and now passed such knowledge down to Sapphire.

Though not all of the spiritual ideas stuck for the girl, it did foster in her a deep curiosity for the occult and mystical traditions. Astrology is one of these sorts of ideals that did stick with her strongly, deeply interested in reading about it where she can, and has found that it isn’t thought of as being too strange by some of her peers.

However, with other occult topics such as witchcraft which she enjoys looking into and secretly to some wishes to possibly take part in, Sapphire is concerned that it might alienate certain friends of hers, so she often keeps these more quiet.

Additionally Sapphire has come upon a separate strange obsession independent of her grandmother’s influence: cryptids. The notion of mysterious creatures living among the wilderness, hidden away from civilization, like bigfoot or mothman, to be fascinating and enjoyed reading about various bits of evidence for them and occasionally daydreaming about going on her own journey into the wilderness to search for the truth. These sorts of creatures have become recurring subjects in her paintings.

Among her classes, Sapphire performs best in art and history courses, developing a somewhat close relationship with the teachers for those courses in discussions about the subjects after class. In her other classes (particularly math), Sapphire tends to struggle, but through the assistance of tutoring she has been able to keep up.

Within the past year, Sapphire’s family has taken a big hit, with Al being diagnosed with lung cancer. He has recently had to cease working, leading to Lydia taking to working on a consistent basis for the first time in years in order to help alleviate the financial burden, though it is of little help. Sapphire is deeply worried over her grandfather’s health, with it frequently occupying her mind.

Sapphire, being relatively quiet and good-natured, often can easily blend into most friend groups without too much trouble, particularly due to her tendency to be a good listener. However, she has a tendency to aggressively separate the people that she will associate with, between those friends that are seen as more socially acceptable and those that share her more eclectic interests.

Additionally, she has had a series of hard crushes on her male peers, becoming focused on her dynamics with these individuals to an almost obsessive degree. However, social anxieties have led her rarely ever acting on these affections. At the same time, Sapphire has begun to question in recent years whether or not she might be bisexual (a possibility she has kept to herself).

Advantages: Sapphire is kind and easy to get along with, allowing her to easily coexist among large groups. Additionally, she can be a rather inventive thinker when given the chance, due to her unorthodox approach to certain topics.
Disadvantages: Sapphire is not physically fit and does not exercise with any regularity, placing her at a disadvantage in physically strenuous tasks. Sapphire’s issues of social anxiety often result in her being unable to fully articulate her ideas. Additionally her creative mind can be a bit of a double edge sword, as it can lead to unreasonable or magical conclusions.

Original Profile: Sapphire Waters (V7)
Permission: Own character

[MurderWeasel]

Howdy, Catche! Sapphire's looking pretty solid, but there are a few things I'd like to see addressed before she's waved through.

Does Sapphire have any piercings? Does she ever wear any jewelry?

It's a little unclear if Sapphire's mother actually had an undiagnosed mental illness or not (and what it was, if so). Since that's something that would have impact on Sapphire's situation.

Can I hear a bit more about what Sapphire's interactions with her mother looked like in her younger years? Did her mom offload all interaction to her parents, or did she try to still be involved in the "fun" stuff? Was she around the house a lot, or was she out and about most of the time (even if not actually working)?

Was Sapphire ever actually checked for any sort of learning disability?

What sorts of strange tendencies did Sapphire have that led to her bullying?

What about folk music appealed to Sapphire? Was it just the familiarity/connection to her grandparents, or was there something else that drew her to it too?

It's stated that Sapphire's grandfather suggested that they paint together, but then that she spent time painting with her grandmother. Since it swaps back to her grandfather afterwards, I think that's just a typo, but I'd like to see it standardized (or, if she's painting with both of them, that explained).

Were there any specific parts of art history that especially interested Sapphire?

What does Sapphire's interest in astrology look like? Does she pay attention to horoscopes or zodiac signs? How seriously does she take it?

What's Lydia doing for work now?

With it being the end of senior year, has Sapphire applied to any colleges? What are her hopes or plans for the future?

Can I hear just a bit more about Sapphire's poor physical condition in her bio? Is she notably worse off than the average student? How does it affect her, and does her grandfather (as a doctor) have any thoughts about it?

Post when you've got that taken care of, and we'll give Sapphire another look. Thanks!

[MurderWeasel]

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