Name: Adriana Delgado-Souza Age: 46 Community Job: Childcare Worker Job Before: Elementary School Teacher Reside in: Small home near Beckett Farm How long have they lived in Redwood?: A month Family: Ermano Delgado (ex-husband), Bruno (adopted son) Status: Starting Over with Ermano Delgado Faceclaim: Morena Baccarin
TW: Bullying, Racism, Miscarriage, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts
Adriana Souza was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro for the first ten years of her life. She was the youngest, having three older brothers who were all so doting and protective of their little sister. Their mother and father were both hard workers who did everything they could to provide for their family, leaving most of the care to her brothers. The oldest, Paulo, was the most protective one of her brothers and would often put Adriana’s needs over his own. He walked her to and from school, helped her with her homework, made her lunch and put her to bed. When she was ten, Paulo had been reading her a bedtime story when there was a knock at the door. Paulo went to answer it and, unbeknownst to him, she had followed him and watched him from down the hall. She saw the blue and red lights and recognized the uniforms of the police officers. Apparently their parents had been mugged and killed on their way home from their job. In the blink of an eye, they were now orphans.
Their uncle on their father’s side had moved to Texas a few years ago and agreed to take in the kids. Just like that, Adriana and her brothers were moved out of their family home and to a new country. The new place was weird and different but between her aunt and uncle and Paulo, Adriana adapted and learned how to fit in. It took a couple years but eventually, Adriana found her way and grew up just as well as any other child. Well….for the most part. Being from Brazil, there were a few years in her preteens that she was picked on and bullied for her accent. One kid went so far as to call her a derogatory slur, which her third oldest brother, Marcelo, heard and beat up the kid. Originally the parents of the kid tried to sue but after learning what their son had said to Adriana, the school backed Marcelo and the other kid was expelled. She was never picked on again after that but she still saw the looks she got. At least, until high school when puberty hit. Then she became every boy’s wet fantasy.
But Adriana never paid them much time. Her eyes were elsewhere. Adriana wanted to go to school to become an elementary school teacher and start her own family. Her brothers meant the world to her and she wanted to have her own family, now that her brothers were grown up and had families of their own. She went to college and got her Master’s in Child Education and soon, got a job at a school as a music teacher. Now with the job out of the way, she needed to start working on the next part of her life, which proved to be harder than she thought.
That was, until she met Ermano Delgado. One night, she was out drinking with one of her sister-in-laws who was adamant that she would help her find her dream man. Adriana had gotten up to go to the bathroom and accidentally ran into Ermano, nearly spilling his drink on him. Their eyes met and everything else was history. A year later, they were married and soon, Adriana found herself moving around with him. But the two wanted the same thing - to start a family. And they tried. Oh, did they try but it seemed no matter what, nothing ever worked. Until it did.
Just when she had been about ready to give up and go back to the doctor again, she got the positive test - she was pregnant! Ermano was ecstatic about the news and had promised to stop going overseas to help her raise their soon-to-be-child. It was perfect. But it was the stress that did it in. So worried about something going wrong, her body betrayed her and she miscarried. It was the worst thing she had ever experienced and the look on Ermano’s face broke her heart. But at least she still had him….until the following week came and he was gone. Adriana blamed herself. How could she not? Ermano hated her. He blamed her for not giving him a child and now, he was gone. Unable to handle the devastation from the loss of their unborn baby and breaking Ermano’s heart, Adriana moved in with Paulo and left divorce papers for Ermano. If she couldn’t give him a child, she wanted him to find someone who could.
Adriana fell into depression shortly after. Needing to get away, Adriana got a one way train ticket to California. She promised her brother she would be back, although she wasn’t sure if she could keep that promise. While she was on the train somewhere in Arizona, someone got up and started biting someone. That was when she got the news - the zombie outbreak had just begun. Adriana escaped but now stranded in the middle of the desert with no one she knew, she found herself facing a new problem - surviving. She tried to reach out to her brothers but the phones had gone down. When she did finally make it back to their homes, they were empty. It might have been better than finding their bodies but then again, it was possible they had been turned and were now wandering aimlessly as the living dead.
Adriana has continued her way East since then. She had joined up with a community known as Demeter. She had been there for a few years but a few months ago, the community was attacked by a cult with sun faces. Adriana was able to get out, along with a few others before the cultists took over and now is in search of finding another community to call her home.
Headcanons:
Adriana never found out what happened to her brothers and their families. She has hope that they’re somewhere out there but without any word, she has to expect the worst.
When she made it out of Demeter, she had helped a young boy by the name of Bruno get out. He was eight and both of his parents had been killed a year before by zombies. She had met him as she worked in their daycare and had basically adopted him once he became an orphan. For all intents and purposes, he is her son.
After trying to find her brothers, Adriana had tried to find Ermano. She hated how they left things and wanted to explain why she had done what she did. If he’s alive, she hopes that he is happy and has found exactly what he’s looking for.
Has several tattoos on her arms and back, but the most important tattoo is a set of wings right above her heart with the name of hers and Ermano’s unborn baby girl written in it.
