Petra doesn't consider herself bland, but almost everyone else in her active life does. She's a little rough around the edges personality wise, often slow to responding. She has a tendency to wander, both in thought and position, having a habit of loitering around the property. It's hard to get a read on her at times, but she doesn't seem to have an issue making her thoughts and intentions known, coming off as blunt or even rude at times.

She likes to watch others, preferring to stay a bit quieter than most to give her time to listen to those around her. Her staring is described as creepy by others, but she's just curious by nature, even if she's a bit owlish at times. She's actually quite funny if given the time to warm up to you, her truer thoughts being aired often humorous in a dry, deadpan way, and she seems to enjoy making people laugh.

Before Move-In Day

Petra remembers very little about her upbringing. She was born to a single father in a busy metropolis-type city, in the kind of apartment so close to the street you could feel the building shake with the morning traffic's bustling. She recalls her childhood being humble, if a little drab. She went to a private school for gifted children, but was often reminded that she wasn't quite gifted with anything, really. She had two or three friends, who she never seemed to understand, but loved anyways. Her and her father weren't close, but were close enough for Petra to feel guilty when their relationship turned hollow. She was never without, but she was never with.

She can't quite pinpoint when the dissociation started. She states that the fuzziness is worse when trying to recall memories of life before high school, but even then it's hard to point out times where things felt clear and real. As time went on, faces melted out of her memory, fading into simple blobs of color and light, the barest inkling of a recollection tucked away in the crevices of her mind, hard to coax out and hieroglyphic all the same. Her father never understood, he couldn't possibly understand it, it wasn't his to understand. Petra was alone to try and parse the unease herself.

The Tipping Point

As the years went on, Petra and her father grew further and further apart, and Petra found herself drifting further and further away from the Earth. It wasn't until she woke up one day and stared in barely masked distress as she realized she didn't recognize the man sitting at the kitchen table. She knew she was supposed to, she knew she had to, and trying to parse the emotional onslaught sent her leaning against the counter for support.

Instead of trying to help, her father simply yelled, yanked her up by one frail arm when she slouched in on herself, told her she was being ridiculous, to stop embarassing herself.

Petra did the only thing she knew to do.

She let herself forget.

Move-In Day

Petra found Tepid Waters exactly when she needed to.

It was a rainy day, the kind of drizzle where you don't quite notice until your clothes are heavier with water and your cardboard boxes are drooping as you carry them into a new life. Her and John, a strange new man with an oddly charming temperment, worked out a fast, if a bit concerningly so, application for her to have a place to stay, and for that Petra was grateful. The bed was a bit lumpy, the floors a bit creaky, but it was... quaint. In a way that gave Petra a pleasant feeling. Simple enough to remember, and to remember was to feel familiar.

Enter: "Piper"

Days passed, then weeks, and as things settled in, Petra grew bored. Her job at the library wasn't exactly enriching, and while the people there were fun to watch at times, the days dragged on. She was absently scrolling Chitter one particularly limp afternoon when she stumbled across a young woman's profile. She had a cutesy, likeable aesthetic, and while it was a bit much, that wasn't the thing that caught Petra's eye. No, it was the attention this woman garnered, and the way these people acted in response, even paying for her attention, it was fascinating. A new kind of people observation.

When Petra made a profile for herself, she knew she couldn't possibly pawn herself off as, well... herself. She wanted to get a real job one day, and heaven knows she didn't want people recognizing her in real life. So, she dawned a psudeonym, something classic and pretty enough to catch the eye. She finally settled on Piper.

"Piper" was a lot different than Petra, carefully crafted to be so, something sugary sweet that gave people something to fawn over. It was then Petra began her experiment. If she put out this persona, she got attention, she was getting fans, people who cared about the things she had to say, even if they were words perfectly chosen for the internets' eyes alone. It was enough for her to get deeper into the persona, to put more time and effort into it until she blew up over night in a way that would be overwhelming for anyone caught off guard.

She's known as the internet's girlfriend, a sweet, doting girl always jumping at the bit to support and lovebomb anyone who encounters her. She spent weeks learning what people liked, what brought them in, and most importantly, what made them pay. They paid her bills and her reptile hobby, and while it took a toll on her to put on the facade so amply, it was simple and interesting enough to see the way people fawned for "Piper."

In Media Res

Nowadays, Petra spends her time trying to figure out how to live. It isn't a simple task, but it's one she's slowly adapting to given enough time and care. She has her pets, and her home, food to eat. It was enough, and it would be enough for her. She wouldn't consider her life particularly saddening, not that she can fully remember the things from her past that would make one disagree, and each day she could find something new to boost the quality of her life. She's even started to become accquainted to some of the other tenants in Tepid Waters. Though a bit on the... quirky side, they seem like halfway decent enough people for her to feel at home. And for now, that would be enough.