Tara grew up loved. She adored her parents, especially her dad. Her mother while always there, was not always present. Her brothers were a different story. She considered Adam and Hunter her closest companions, and enthusiastically did everything with them. While the dreaded middle child, she was at least the only girl, and got enough special attention for that to somewhat make up for it.
She loved growing up in a fairly rural area, and her brothers dragged her onto a plethora of expeditions into the wilderness that was the bush. Theirs was a childhood of adventures of play-pretend. Tara has vivid memories of daring sword fights, pet dragons, and scraped up knees.
It was her father that first showed her Dungeons & Dragons, and everything changed when Tara first realized that she could create entire worlds. While the real world treated her well enough, she enjoyed the opportunity to retreat into high fantasy and number games. She made her family her first guinea pigs for those new worlds, although her mother came at into more reluctantly.
A short time after Tara turned 10, her mother decided that apparently family life was just not for her. Her mother mumbled something about opal mines and an aunt that nobody in the family had ever heard of, and left. Tara and her brothers heard from her on most birthdays, but sometimes even those went forgotten. So that sucked.
After graduating from secondary school, Tara made the terrifying move to Melbourne for school. She missed her family terribly, and spent a good portion of the first year of university too anxious to return calls from her dad and brothers. They surprised her one day, and they spent a day together in the city. After a lot of tears, Tara made a pact to not go that long without calling again... and that is something that started to frustrate her as more time passes in the game.
Chase's familial situation was that of an average person. His family was always there for him; yet, he was always lonely.
This could be attributed to the fact that he was an only child who's parents worked a lot. They were both extremely successful, and would often try and make up for their lack of presence in material items like toys or video games. Still, that wasn't what Chase wanted, even as a young kid. He was always jealous of his friends, because while they didn't have the large house or the fancy things, they had a parent/parents who were always with them. They weren't met with silence every day for most of the daytime hours.
That all changed however when they moved down to the States. His dad got laid off up in Canada and his mom didn't feel much hope in their home country anymore, so they took a chance down south. They took jobs that didn't pay as much as they would have liked, but it brought them closer together as a family. At least, closer to Chase.
His parents began having marital issues when his father continued with his spending habit. There were just so many things to do and buy in America. He bought kayaks, a fishing boat, several firearms, and even an RV, all without his wife's permission. This put them in extreme financial hardship; he was still spending money as if they were making as much as they used to. He always did it with good intentions however, wanting his family to have all the nice things and fond memories, but he was never one to think about the future.
His dad's spending problem put Chase in a bad situation for college. He knew he wasn't going to be able to afford it, so when a military recruiter showed up on his porch one day, he decided to sign the paperwork the next day. His parents pleaded for him not to go, that he could take out a loan, but he didn't want the debt. At the age on 19, he was enlisted in the Coast Guard. He wrote his parents every week while he was away, sometimes twice depending upon what time allowed. Even though they weren't there with him, he found comfort in their words. He didn't feel much different being away from them, as he didn't see them much for the majority of his life anyway.
While with the Coast Guard, he became involved with a business woman who worked close to where he was stationed. He had a long relationship with her (4 years) and was planning to propose when he was 27, but got a very unwelcome surprise when he found she'd cheated on him with a man she claimed was 'just a friend'. Chase always suspected something was there between them, but he just didn't want to see it.
After the search and rescue incident that caused him to have to be relieved from service, he didn't start dating again until two years later. Since that first long term relationship, he's dated two women, neither relationship lasting more than 6 months. Just before the game however, he did have a very new girlfriend, but he never really thought that relationship was going anywhere anyway and was planning to end it soon.
Family is everything to Wes, it always has been. That's how he was raised.
His parents stressed the importance of family from a young age. Thier siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles were always involved in their lives. Every holiday they would join together, both sides. It didn't matter if they were in-laws, long term friends, or blood, they loved and cared for one another just the same. When he was little, Wes actually had a hard time distinguishing family friends from cousins and cousins from siblings. He loved them the same, so what was the difference?
Out of everyone however, his sister, Adriana, was his favorite. They worked on the farm a lot together and shared many of the same interests. They both had an innate quality to care for things and people. While their older brother was more concerned with hard work and how much money it could make him, Wes and his sister valued work for the feeling of independence it gave them and the skills they earned from it. While the two brothers love each other immensely and would be there in any time, they stopped regular conversation when the oldest went to New York to be a big shot businessman.
Adriana was still a big part of Wes' life after he married Emma and had Kinsley. Not with any children of her own yet, Adriana jumped at the chance to care for her while Wes and Emma were at work or at some function. Emma and Kinsley made up Wes' world when they came into his life. He didn't have to see the world as long as he had them. He and Emma planned to build a larger family and pay off the house in Arkansas to move closer to Adriana and his parents. However, those plans were never fulfilled, as Emma was killed in a car accident on her way to work when Kinsley was only one year old.
Wes' older brother, Dane, flew out the second her got the news from Adriana. Wes wouldn't come out of his house for several days, and he wouldn't answer the phone. He just would stare at Kinsley's crib, wondering how he was going to do this, seeing he was an utter wreck because of Emma's loss. He swore he'd never be able to love someone like that ever again, and that he wouldn't. Not only because it wouldn't be fair to him, but to the other person as he felt he'd always be comparing them to his first wife.
Wes took a leave from work for a month, and tried to recuperate. Dane offered to take Wes back to the Big Apple with him, but he declined. He knew he'd hate the city lifestyle and it'd probably only make him worse. So, he threw himself into work. He made his daughter his reason for everything he did, and he wanted to make sure she would have the best life possible.
Anneliese Thea used to have a very loving family, she still might, but she doesn’t see it that way.
When she was younger, up to her early twenties, her favorite person in the world was her grandmother. The two could talk for hour about nothing, and as her grandmother was always a feisty woman, the two were two peas in a pod. Anneliese Thea would argue that she spend more time at her grandmother’s than at her actual home, The only reason she’d ever stay at her house was for school the next morning.
Grandma Nida was Anneliese’s Thea’s role model. She never took shit from anyone. She’d gone through four husbands, kicking them all to the curb when they began to treat her wrong, because she’d rather hold onto her self respect than stay in a marriage for the sake of being married. Before retirement, she helped run and organize a very well put together company and was extremely successful. She hoarded her money, even though she was close to being a millionaire, she’d shop at the thrift store for most things. This left her in a very good position for retirement, but even after, she took up a small job at a department store simply because she loved working hard.
When Anneliese Thea turned 19, she noticed that her parents weren’t allowing her to visit their grandmother much, if at all, despite the fact that it appeared they were with her all the time. When Anneliese Thea snuck out one night to see what was happening over the past months, she knocked on the door and found that her grandmother appeared confused, and would occasionally call her Anneliese, which was her mom’s sister’s name.
She confronted her parents about it which resulted in a large fight because while her parents didn’t want to burden her with the information of her grandmother’s decaying mind, Anneliese Thea felt as if it were her right to know. Within a year, Grandma Nida had no memory of her and kept calling her Anneliese. She accepted the new name, because if that was who her grandmother wanted her to be then that was who she would be. It was much easier than correcting her.
When Anneliese Thea was 20, she finally came out to her parents. It didn’t go well. She assumed that her parents would be accepting and loving despite it because that was how they always were, but instead they tried to talk her out of it, and tell her she was brainwashed. They said they’d work on ‘fixing her’ and that they’d get through it together. Less than a week later, she had her bag packed and on her way to Perth without a word.
Thea was her mother’s middle name, and with the actions her mom had taken, it made her sick to her stomach to say it. She saw a new opportunity in Perth, a place no one knew her. That was when she began calling herself Anneliese, in honor of her grandmother.
Anneliese would still make her way to Adelaide to see her grandmother in her declining state, but would always sign in as Anneliese. Her parents assumed it was her mother’s sister, but since the sisters weren’t on speaking terms, they never found out the truth.
She was veiled in black three years later when her grandmother passed. She sat at the far back, hoping no one from her family would recognize her. Anneliese went as far as to dye her hair brown so no one would do a double take. She spent a good three hours at the grave after that, but after that she never returned to Adelaide. For her, there was no reason to.
Anneliese has received word from a former friend that her parents want nothing more than for her to come home; that they love her and would do anything to have her in their lives again. She doesn’t believe this; she doesn’t think they really love her, just the image they’d created in their minds. If they truly loved her, then they would have accepted her all those years ago.
What’s the characters relationship with their family?
In typical Italian fashion, Leo had always had a large extended family growing up. Gatherings were always frequent and lively, the Flynn’s coming together to consume mass amounts of wine and food as often as they could justify. Leo didn’t talk much at these events but he enjoyed it all the same, basking in the pleasant atmosphere.
At home it was just him, his sister Sophia, and his parents – and later just Sophia and his mom. From a young age Leo and his father had never gotten along. Leo was too quiet, too meek; too nerdy, too gay. First it was just quips about his choice of program and studies; his father had never thought history was a worthy pursuit. He had high expectations of his first born son. But as Leo grew older and started to grow and discover himself, he found him increasingly at odds with his strict Catholic father. His choice of company was frowned upon – even more so when his father found out the extent of it. Subtle jabs turned into all out rows.
However, despite this he tried his best to shield Sophia from it all. Their father adored Sophia; Leo didn’t want to expose his young sister to any of the ugly side. Sophia was his everything, he grew up doting upon her and being the perfect protective brother. Unlike many of the boys his age he didn’t mind spending time with her, following her around the beaches she explored without complaint. He couldn’t imagine loving anybody more than he loved her.
Leo was 12 when their father left, taking off into the night without a word. He could picture it even now, Sophia screaming and taking off after him down the driveway, collapsing into Leo’s arms sobbing when he dragged her back. At only 9, she hadn’t fully understood what was going on. Life changed drastically after that.
His relationship with his mother had always been pleasantly bland; not the cold disinterest of his father but not quite the fierce love he had for his sister either. This only grew after the divorce as she withdrew further into herself, retreating from the pain her husband had left behind. Unsure on how to help, it left Leo and Sophia to look after themselves more often than not. This in turn only strengthened the bond between the siblings.
Leaving Sophia had been one of the hardest things Leo had ever done. As much as he vowed to speak regularly and visit as much as possible, Leo would never quite forget the pained look in her eyes when he’d flown to the states.
Death Incarnate was supposed to be a fun option for the two of them to connect in a way that was greater than a simple Skype call. It had been Leo that called her to suggest the purchase of the console. It was Leo’s fault she was here.
He wasn’t sure he’d ever come to terms with the guilt.
