Ruth Flanagan

[MK Kilmarnock]

Name: Ruth Flanagan
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Grade: 12
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Raising chickens, 4H, body modification, painting

Appearance: Ruth is 5'0" tall and weighs 107 pounds. She is Caucasian with a slightly tanned face and arms, and paler skin just about everywhere else. She is slim-framed with a rectangular body shape, with strong legs and thick wrists. Her curly hair is kept longer than shoulder length in order to weigh it down to prevent it from frizzing up and so it will appear wavier. Naturally, her hair is auburn, but Ruth likes to dye it different colors on an irregular basis, sticking with a single color for a month and then another color for up to three months. Her favorite hair colors are pink, lavender, and pale blue which is her current hair color. Her eyes are brown with dark flecks speckled around her irises, though they are hard to see and typically go unnoticed. She has a round face, an upturned nose, small rounded ears that lie flat against her head, and dimpled cheeks.

Ruth's fashions change with the weather: in spring she likes to wear skirts or dresses with pastels and floral patterns; in summer she favors sleeveless tops and shorts or capris in just about any color scheme; in autumn she wears long-sleeved shirts and a short-cut jacket, with pants or leggings with long skirts, and coordinates her outfits to have earthen color schemes; and in winter she bundles up with scarves, hooded sweatshirts often stolen from her brothers' wardrobes, a knit cap, and jeans or black sweatpants.

Biography: Ruth Flanagan was born in Salem, Massachusetts on October 27th, 2003. She was the youngest of five children, fraternal quintuplets, born to Elijah and Rebecca Flanagan, following her brothers Josiah, Micah, Zebulon, and Isaiah by a matter of minutes. Local media reported the event around the Greater Boston area, the Flanagan quintuplets becoming minor celebrities in the news cycle given the rarity of their birth (the chance of naturally conceiving quintuplets is calculated to be 1 in six million). Devout Lutheran Christians, Elijah and Rebecca's church raised money from the neighborhood to procure diapers, formula, cribs, and other baby supplies for the brand new parents of five. While the couple felt blessed by both God and their community, they were also stressed and exhausted, so it came as a relief to them when they finally fell out of the public eye to raise their children in private. Every so often, however, the local news station would check back in with the Flanagan family; the quintuplets' fifth and tenth birthdays made local news, and they are set to be interviewed on their eighteenth birthday as well.

Elijah and Rebecca were high school sweethearts who drifted apart when Rebecca went to Boston College and Elijah entered a trade school. They met by chance years later when Rebecca had graduated college with a business degree and Elijah was working a carpentry apprenticeship. Friendly chatter turned to dating, a blossoming romance, then marriage. They were married for four years when Rebecca became pregnant. In that time, Rebecca had worked her way up to better job opportunities, her most recent job being a healthcare business analyst at a senior assisted living facility in Newton, Massachusetts. Elijah was working as an independent contractor, offering his services for home renovation, repair, and roofing. Between their incomes and modest lifestyle, they were comfortably middle-class. When Rebecca found out she was not only pregnant but had beaten the odds and was carrying quintuplets, she and Elijah began frantically planning for the future.

One month after the quints were born, the parents had finalized the purchase of a four-acre plot of land with an old 4-bedroom farmhouse and a partially decayed barn. While extended family helped Rebecca care for the children, Elijah worked on fixing up the house with the help of his brother and father, both skilled carpenters as well. Just before their children's first birthday, the Flanagans moved into their new home. Elijah returned to contract work for a time, but Rebecca realized that in order to care for five children at once, she would have to leave her job. She hit upon the idea to start a small family farm right there on the property, handling the business end of things if Elijah could take whatever time possible to fix up the barn. The couple took out a joint loan, and Flanagan Farm was born. Over the years and as the children grew and were able to help out, the property has improved: two bedrooms were added onto the house, the repaired barn was accompanied by a brand new shed for refined goods such as cheese and butter, a small chicken coop was added, and a raised box vegetable garden was planted. The property had some old apple, pear, and apricot trees; these were taken down and new ones were planted in their place. The other most notable tree on the property is a large walnut tree that Elijah built a treehouse in as a surprise for the kids' fifth birthday.

Ruth was always an energetic, boisterous child. Raised alongside her four brothers and inseparable from them as a child, she ran around and roughhoused with them. While she was technically the youngest child, Ruth tended to be bossy towards her siblings and acted like she was in charge. When it suited her, however, she played up the fact she was the 'baby'; when wronged by one of her brothers or another child, Ruth would immediately run to another one of her brothers to take care of the problem. At the same time, she had no issues fighting her own battles and would constantly bicker and scrap with others. Elijah initially had some concerns about Ruth's behavior not being girlish enough, but Rebecca was quick to remind him that he didn't have any sisters to frame his opinion on, and Ruth was still a pre-school-aged child.

Ruth's artistic tendencies started to show themselves in kindergarten. She preferred any activity that allowed her to draw, paint, or otherwise create things with her hands while hearing stories bored her and music quickly irritated her more than anything else. Her parents quickly caught on to this; her birthday gifts trended towards art, like drawing instruction books and art sets. In school, she took every art class she could and, though she found some of her art teachers stifling and restrictive of her creativity, she had to admit that it helped to polish her skills and opened her up to new techniques and ideas. Experimenting with different mediums, Ruth came to decide that painting was her favorite way to express herself, and it's one of the few activities that keep her calm. She keeps most of her artwork on the walls of her room, though she permits her mother to sell certain pieces at the farmer's market along with other farm goods at their stand.

To Ruth, her own body served as its own canvas. She frequently got in trouble for drawing on herself in classes that weren't art, where she kept the drawing to the paper or canvas. Tattoos absolutely fascinated her as a concept, and when she was still in elementary school, she would often be caught staring at somebody with a tattoo in public which caused no small amount of awkwardness for her parents who had to explain the situation away. Unfortunately, learning exactly how somebody got a tattoo ruined them for Ruth as she had both a fear of needles and a low tolerance for pain, which prevent her from getting piercings as well. Most temporary tattoos were too tacky for her, with her seeing them as a step above just putting a sticker on your skin. When she stumbled across henna tattoos while surfing the internet, Ruth was astounded at tattoos that were both temporary and beautiful, hand-drawn versions of their permanent counterparts. She began to experiment with her own designs but frequently drew on paper rather than on herself until she knew she had a design she liked. Even then, she only drew designs where her clothing could cover it up if need be, like on her upper arm. The primary way Ruth visually expresses herself is through dyeing her hair, which she got permission to do starting when she was thirteen years old.

Ruth has always loved animals and thought she was lucky to be growing up on a farm, even a small one, where they could have animals. When Ruth was 12, she asked her mother if they could have chickens, practically on a whim. Rebecca only relented if Ruth was willing to dedicate some time to learn about raising and taking proper care of chickens, to which Ruth agreed. She checked out several books from the local library and spent a few days reading them, then pestering her parents with a constant stream of chicken-related factoids. Simultaneously irritated but impressed, Elijah and Rebecca agreed that Ruth could have chickens, and a small coop was erected in the corner of the yard. The coop, which included a small fenced-in area where the chickens could roam along the grass but still be protected from predators, was big enough to house six chickens. Since that time, Ruth has had six hens at nearly all times. She insisted on taking care of the birds herself, fiercely protective of finally having something on the farm that was hers and distinct from any of her brothers. The eggs her chickens laid were sold at the market which covered the cost to feed them with a little extra leftover. Presently, Ruth raises chickens as part of the local 4H program; she shows them at the Topsfield Fair annually and some of her chickens win ribbons each year. She will occasionally present some of her paintings in the art buildings in Topsfield, though she only occasionally wins ribbons there and has never taken first place in any category. She spends at least an hour every school day with her hens, which requires her to be diligent about changing her shoes and showering often, or else she'll go to school smelling like the coop. Her favorite hen is a black silkie named Miss Fame.

Ruth is a very social person and mixes well into social circles, provided they can take her strong and aggressive personality. Despite this ease of socialization and her extroverted nature, Ruth drifts between friendships from year to year, and her only constant bonds are the ones she has between her and her family. She is very open with her feelings and wears her heart on her sleeve. Her hot temperament means she's quick to anger, and stay angry for some time, sometimes the rest of the day. If somebody slightly annoys her, Ruth usually expresses her annoyance with a light bat on the shoulder. If she's angry at somebody she thinks is tougher than her, she strikes harder, sometimes punching the person's arm or kicking them in the shin. These tendencies have gotten her into trouble many, many times over her life, including suspensions prior to entering high school. She tries to restrain herself if she thinks a teacher or other adult is looking but has still received several detentions in high school, which like any other incident results in her being grounded at home. Her brothers receive the worst of her anger and she never holds back on them if they bug her, but deep down she loves her brothers as her closest and longest friends, and they are always the first ones she turns to if she ever gets into trouble and needs saving.

Academically, Ruth gets a B grade average with C's in English and History, both of which she finds boring, and A's in electives like P.E. and her art classes. While she's in good shape and enjoys the activity P.E. gives her, all of her free time goes to her passion for art or for her chickens and other farm work, so she has no time for any extra-curricular activities. She has no particular career goal as of yet but figures she should at least apply for a couple of years of community college so she can keep her options open for the future, perhaps transferring her credits to a university so she can get a business degree like her mother if she can't think of anything else.

Advantages: Ruth is scrappy, aggressive, and opportunistic with a ferocity that belies her small stature. Her active lifestyle means she's very quick, allowing her to run from others and use her small figure to stay hidden better than her larger peers. Her biggest advantage is her four brothers, to whom she trusts her life knowing they will always have each others' backs.
Disadvantages: Ruth has a well-known and exploitable fear of needles and a low tolerance for pain. If she is unable to escape, she is easily physically overpowered by just about anybody. She is rash and impulsive with a quick temper, which allows for others to bait her into poor decisions that may put her in harm's way.

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Hello Ricky, Ruth just needs a couple of things before she's ready for approval.

She needs an ethnicity and skin tone in her appearance section.

Ruth's interest in 4H is only mentioned in passing as an extension of her raising chickens. I'd like to know if she participates in any other way, or if not, a bit more detail on how her 4H activities differ from the usual duties of raising an animal (how often does she show her chickens, what sort does she raise specifically for 4H, does she sell them for meat or sell their eggs, etc.). When I was in 4H, I took part in art activities, so she could potentially do something with her painting there.

Does Ruth have any close friends at school or in 4H? She seems like a bit of a social drifter, given her personality and her strongest relationships being her brothers.

That should be all, so hit me up when that's taken care of and I think Ruth is ready to go!

[MK Kilmarnock]

This sentence added to appearance: "She is Caucasian with a slightly tanned face and arms, and paler skin just about everywhere else."

The profile already mentions she sells the eggs, but I've added a little bit to her showing the chickens at the fair (the nearest fair to Salem is the Topsfield Fair).

She does not currently have any close friends (and hasn't really ever developed any through 4H... are you supposed to? Uh oh...). I'm sorta planning on using pregame to decide her social circle. I at least made a note about this (in the second to last paragraph, where it talks about mixing well into social circles).

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