🔥 stateofdecay 🔥

[catastrophonic]

BASICS

NAME

Dr. Jessamine Edith Thorne

ALIAS

Jessa

AGE & DOB

45 / April 23

PRONOUNS

she/her

COMMUNITY

Outsider

OCCUPATION

Veterinarian

HOMETOWN

Pocatello, ID by way of Brandon, MB

APPEARANCE

HAIR brown EYES blue HEIGHT 5'10"

They used to call her Messy Jess for a reason: Jessa cannot keep herself neat to save her life. Her hair frizzes, her clothes rumple and never fit quite right, there's always a stain or a tear somewhere on her, her makeup is smudged, and her arms are sprinkled with mystery bruises. No matter how many New Year's resolutions and birthday promises she's made to look more professional and presentable, there's just never enough time for Jessa to take that extra second and look in the mirror to make sure she's wearing matching socks or her shirt is on the right way.

Also she has a tattoo of dolphins on her ankle that she got in Hawaii with her first husband. That was probably the least stupid decision she made in that relationship.

TRAITS & SKILLS

VETERINARIAN

Just another day of living the dream, elbow-deep in a cow's ass.

[ + ] over twenty years of veterinary experience [ + ] understands animal body language [ + ] has worked with pets, livestock, even some wildlife at a local zoo [ + ] shrugs off injuries and inconveniences from animals [ – ] sometimes shrugs it off when she shouldn't [ – ] clings to her books instead of trusting her instinct or knowledge

DR. DISASTER

I don't know how to make good choices, so now I just make choices and deal with the consequences later.

[ + ] rolls with the punches [ + ] nonjudgmental [ + ] has a lot of fucked up stories to tell [ + ] believes in her ability to survive [ – ] doesn't believe in thinking things through [ – ] attracted to danger, drama, mess [ – ] has never made the right decision in her life

INDEPENDENT

I know how to be alone. Whether I like it or not is another matter.

[ + ] self-reliant [ + ] picked up several life skills (foraging, chopping wood, cooking over a fire) by necessity [ + ] knows how to talk herself into not being afraid [ + ] doesn't mind being alone [ – ] terrible communicator, sometimes forgets how to socialize [ – ] tendency to hole up on her own [ – ] doesn't trust help from others

DEPRESSIVE

Jesus do I miss the hell out of my antidepressants right now.

[ + ] learned how to put one foot in front of the other, no matter what [ – ] low self-esteem [ – ] neglects her own needs [ – ] emotional minefield [ – ] gets annoyed when people try to help or be nice to her

RAISED RICH & HATES IT

I've since learned that we weren't real rich, more Manitoba rich—we had land and cars and horses that were just for recreation. Doesn't mean I don't still feel that privilege in every single thing I do.

[ + ] extremely generous [ + ] gives to every charitable cause [ – ] terrible at bartering [ – ] easily guilted into helping [ – ] didn't learn about moderation until adulthood

HISTORY

FAMILY

Jamie Clough - ex-husband #1
Stephen Frizelle - ex-husband #2
Six siblings (three older, three younger) back in Manitoba

cw: garden variety zombie death

• Jessa Thorne was born smack dab in the middle of seven children. Catholic, for the record. And she was immediately lost. Her older brothers and younger sisters all seemed like they had a clear identity: they were athletes or brains or partiers or rebels. One became a fishing pro, another married a Protestant, the youngest really thought she was going somewhere with her photography. And Jessa? She waited for someone to tell her what to do, what would make her parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and priest happy, so she could find her own happiness by extension. Unfortunately, everyone had different ideas there.
  
  
• She married her first husband what feels like minutes after her high school graduation. Jamie wasn't going to college and promised to support her through school—even if it took her six or eight or ten years because her dad said it sure would be nice to have a vet in the family to take care of their horses. But then Jamie had an idea for a business and convinced her to loan him the money she'd inherited from her grandfather as an investment. The money, the business, and any love she had for the man had vanished by the time she finished her undergrad. Soon enough, Jamie was gone too.
  
  
• Vet school followed. She volunteered in Kenya and Laos, she artificially inseminated cows and met her next husband, who was definitely the key to fixing her life. Marrying Stephen would finally make her as happy as her sister and her happy little family, and he wouldn't need her money because he was making his own. They moved to Idaho, she worked with farmers and breeders, she made her home in this new country. But that marriage didn't last past the news that Jessa couldn't have children; especially not when she saw his face at the suggestion that they adopt from one of the countries they'd volunteered in.
  
  
• Jessa wasn't alone when the world up and ended, but she sure felt like she was. She'd stayed in Idaho, she was dating a nice guy who managed a grocery store in town and who cared for his elderly mother and father that wanted nothing to do with Jessa. They wouldn't speak directly to her, even when she gave them sponge baths and cooked them dinner, and her boyfriend didn't see anything wrong with it. If the dead hadn't started coming back to life, Jessa would have dumped him by the end of the month so she could go back to her solitary life. But the best laid plans of mice and men...
  
  
• One by one, the others died. One parent died of pneumonia, another from Black Fever while she was out, and she never asked what happened to the body. Her boyfriend said he was getting water and never returned, his neighbors stopped answering the door when she came to see if they needed anything. So she left, she went ?west?, she found a hunting cabin near some fresh water to hole up by herself, learned to fish and forage and mend her own clothes, and then just... waited for someone to show up or something to happen. She didn't even know where she was, but surely the government would find her and help her, or the owners of the cabin would kick down the door with their guns a-blazing. But they never came, and at this point she doesn't even know how long she's been alone in the middle of nowhere, with just the fish and bugs for company.

MISCELLANEOUS

➔ Speaks English, French, Italian, and a smattering of Swahili she picked up in Kenya.

➔ The last time she encountered other humans was when she got vaccinated. The people she met said there would be another caravan coming by soon that could help her get somewhere more populated, but they never appeared.

PLAYER alex (she/they) TIMEZONE pacific PB kathryn hahn CONTACT dropbox

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