Laura Mereford
NAME: Laura Mereford
AGE: 19
GENDER: Female
OCCUPATION: Bassist of a punk band, Mercy's Law. She makes extra money by
renting out the spare room of her apartment.
APPEARANCE: Laura is slim (frequently described as skinny or scrawny), not
particularly tall, and not overly attractive. She has prominent cheekbones
and tends to look gaunt and tired most of the time. Her skin is almost
unnaturally pale. She has intense green eyes and shortish, spiky red hair.
She is about 5'2" tall and weighs just over 100 lbs. She dresses somewhat
scruffily, preferring blue or black jeans, practical boots, a black t-shirt,
tank top or sweater, a long navy blue raincoat or trenchcoat, and heavy
black leather gloves. Her wardrobe also includes a biker jacket and leather
trousers, a leather trenchcoat, and various stage costumes which could be
loosely described as "gothic-punk" on a limited budget. Just where her
spine meets her skull, there is a tattoo of a barcode with the word 'GENOM'
and the code 'MB-001-047' underneath. She wears her hair long at the back
to hide this tattoo.
PERSONALITY: Somewhat unstable. Laura is typically easy-going, soft-spoken
and friendly, although she can seem a little distant at times. She can
undergo mood swings when under extreme stress or anxiety, switching to a
brutal, feral, almost murderous mood when threatened, or a whimpering,
near-comatose state when confronted with facts she doesn't like or forced
into a confrontation with someone she considers a friend. She won't switch
mood under normal circumstances, but she might do if she sees one of her
team-mates badly injured in battle, or someone confronts her about her
murderous moods or with details of her past. She is very much the 'kid' of
the Knight Sabers, being quite vulnerable emotionally, but would fight
fiercely to protect the other members. She would probably not go as far as
giving her life to save them, but she might go as far as risking it. She
likes cats and motorcycles, and dislikes being in crowds (where people
generally tower over her), and 'dressing up' (she especially hates
businesswear and expensive fashion).
HISTORY: Laura was a fairly typical girl for the first 17 years of her life
- she got good grades in school and was looking forward to university, and
had a fairly close circle of friends. Two months after her seventeenth
birthday, there is a month-long gap in her memory. The last thing she
remembers before this gap is leaving school on a Thursday afternoon; the
first thing she remembers is waking up, naked, starving and cold, in a
burned-out apartment, with a shaved head and a barcode tattoo. It took her
only days to discover her newfoud abilities (detailed below); adjusting to
the fact that she was no longer completely human took several months. When
she finally pulled herself together, she decided to seek and and kill the
people who had altered her physiology. Painfully, she decided not to
re-establish contact with her family, and instead moved to Tokyo, the heart
of GENOM's empire. She quickly discovered that GENOM's crimes went far
beyond what it had done to her, and joined the Knight Sabers to combat
GENOM's evils and keep them in check, although her ultimate goal is still to
destroy the people responsible for her condition. She doesn't like to talk
about her past.
FAMILY: As far as Laura knows, her family (mother, father and younger
sister) are still alive. She hasn't checked on them or tried to contact
them since she was 17, fearing what they might say about her current
condition.
FRIENDS: The other members of Mercy's Law - Sonja Janet Stevenage, lead
guitarist and singer, Natsumi Masakano, rhythm guitarist, Vanessa MacIntyre,
drummer, and Rebecca Lewis, third guitarist. Her other friends include her
ex-roommate, Miyuki Masaki, and the other Knight Sabers. She currently is
not in a serious romantic relationship. For reference, she considers
herself bisexual put prefers girls.
ARCH-NEMESIS: Laura currently considers her arch-nemesis to be the person
responsible for her current condition, and, if she found out who it was,
would probably kill them.
NATIONALITY: Scottish born, but has lived in Japan for the past year.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Laura's senses are significantly better than those of an
average human, and her senses of smell and hearing verge on almost animal
sensitivity. Something about her altered physiology makes her resistant to
diseases and minor poisons, and she heals rather quicker than would be
expected. She can also heal naturally from borderline fatal wounds - a head
or heart shot would probably kill her, but other 'killer' wounds such as
gutshots, serious internal bleeding, massive blood loss or major organ
trauma might not, as her tissue regenerates rapidly. Finally, she can
extend her fingernails on both hands into sharp, strong, six-inch claws, and
retract them back to fingernails. She believes that these abilities (her
'condition') were acquired during her blacked-out period.
Who does your character represent from the original series? Linna Yamazaki
STRENGTHS: Special abilities listed above, plus a talent for music,
excellent close combat abilities, resonable firearms skills, and a natural
empathy that makes her a good listener and comforter.
WEAKNESSES: She tries to hide her 'condition' from close friends. She
dislikes sudden, loud noises. She tends to go for long periods (48-72
hours) without sleep, then drops into a deep sleep for up to a day. Also,
she tends to binge on high-protein foods (especially red meat), then go into
a digestive torpor for several hours. The sleeping problem and
eating/torpor problem are results of her condition. Besides these, she
burns easily in direct sunlight, is nervous around large open fires, and
gets edgy at the smell of blood (the sight of it doesn't bother her). She
is very defensive about her condition and her blacked-out period. She has
an irrational dislike of large animal predators.
STRENGTH: 6
SPEED: 8
ENDURANCE: 7
WILLPOWER: 4
WEIRDNESS: 5
EGO: 3
HARDSUIT: Laura's Hardsuit is optimised for close combat and emphasises her
dynamic, energetic and flamboyant fighting style. Its mobility (includes
jumpjets) and strength amplification are above average, while its armour is
below average. Its armament consists of a three-shot knuckle bomber on each
fist, rocket boosters on the legs to enhance its kicks, and a four-round
explosive charge launcher mounted in the backpack and firing over the
shoulder. The suit is primarily black, with a red chest, red stripes on the
helmet, upper arms and thighs, and chrome details.
