Willa Kurt

RiceKrisp · #1

Name: Willa 'Wil' Kurt
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Grade: 12
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Video Gaming, Photography, History, Bugs, Reading, ARGs

Appearance: Willa is 5’6 tall, weighs 134 lbs., has a boxy body type, and a flat chest. She has Caucasian skin with a lot of acne, especially on her neck and forehead, which she doesn’t know what to do with. Her hair is dark brown, shoulder-length, and very straight. She usually keeps it in a low ponytail. She has a round face, with downturned hazel-green eyes, a long, slightly upturned nose, and eyebrows on the thinner side, all evidence of her German-Irish ancestry. Her voice is higher than average, and she tends to talk quickly.

Willa’s clothing style is very casual and comfort-oriented, though she likes her outfits to have a cute flair to them. This mainly consists of t-shirts, jeans, sneakers, and hoodies, though she also has a few dresses and sweaters as needed. She accessorizes with headbands, hair clips, and sometimes bracelets.

On the day of the abduction, she had a green-black hoodie over a gray shirt, jeans, and black low-cut sneakers, with a green headband.

Biography: Willa Kurt is the only child of Lucas and Charlene Kurt, and was born in Seattle, Washington. The two had met in Seattle, Lucas having grown up there, working as an electrician and Charlene having moved from Salem, as she was attending the University of Washington for a degree in nursing. They began dating during Charlene’s second year, and after she graduated, they got married in 2000. Willa was born in February of 2004, her name being the result of Charlene going along with Lucas wanting to name her after Willa Cather. Charlene’s sister, Sarah Collins, however, nicknamed the girl ‘Wil,’ which stuck.

Willa’s early childhood was mostly spent with her grandparents on her father’s side, especially when her mother went back to work when Willa was 2 years old. Her grandparents left her alone with toys, but made sure she was fed and healthy for the most part. She didn’t mind at first, though as time went on she started asking for their affections in various ways. Her grandfather began telling her stories, something that Willa found herself completely invested in. When she turned three, she got several picture books, and though she couldn't read them on her own, she was extremely happy that she had them. For the holidays, Willa would visit her family in Salem. Her mother’s side of the family consisted of her aunt Sarah, uncle James, and her three cousins, Connor, Daniel, and Amelia. She liked them but had no real reason or ability to talk to them outside of those times, so she didn’t really have a relationship with them.

In early elementary school, she was an average kid, cheery and reading books. One, in particular, was her favorite: a book on butterflies and how they changed. This book was Willa’s introduction to bugs and how they worked, something that she would continue to love. She also was introduced to video games, specifically with Animal Crossing: Wild World, when one of her friends snuck in a DS to their school. She’d later get a 3DS of her own that she still uses.

A major sore point of Lucas and Charlene’s relationship was where they would raise their daughter. Lucas wanted to raise Willa in Seattle, as it was the place they had met and his parents lived, while Charlene wanted to move back to Salem, considering she had grown up there and her family was there. SOTF didn’t help their arguing either. Lucas thought that staying in the city gives less of a chance for Willa to be taken due to higher amount of schools as well as refusal to believe the terrorists would target the area, while Charlene thought the terrorists would be caught soon, and that there was little chance for her to be taken anyways. They stayed in Seattle for 8 years, trying to figure out if they should move or not.

In 2012, when the Seattle Abduction happened, her father no longer had the excuse to keep them in the city. They moved to Salem and got a house in the suburbs. Willa, while her grandparents told her she'd be fine, was still extremely upset about leaving, even if the move was for her own safety, to the point of refusing to leave with them. Her grandmother, in an attempt to distract her, gave her a camera and led Willa out to her parents. It worked. While it was a minor hobby at first, photography ended up being one of Willa's most common pastimes. Her favorite subjects were bugs, and as such her first picture in Salem was of a moth clinging to a lantern; The picture is still in a photo album in her room.

In elementary school, Willa largely got Bs or high Cs, with the exception of her reading grade, which was a low A. In middle school, however, she found herself heavily interested in World History, seeing it like a story, which became another A she had. She had her own niche in middle school, something she was comfortable in and didn't end up arguing a lot in.

Connor, Willa, and Daniel banded together in early 2017 after Connor got the idea to make a story that spanned the entire internet. The three of them ending up making TripleThreat, a multimedia scavenger hunt with its own story that would take place annually. They released the first one to a small audience in October of 2017, after having worked several months on it. Willa had written and photographed a few parts. It was a small success, but the three continued working on it anyways.

Willa was placed in John Endecott Memorial Academy for high school. Because of her hobby, Willa joined the photography club and often shows off her pictures, still mostly of bugs, there. Willa initially joined the peer aide course after the original course she wanted to take was full. There, however, she found out she was good at helping other kids and continued taking the elective.

Willa has a lot of trouble keeping her emotions in check. She had fallen out with quite a few people due to getting into arguments, often never making up with them. While she does still have close friends, and has made up with people before, it keeps her from really being considered 'popular.'

When Connor introduced a new friend of his, Riley, to TripleThreat in 2019, Willa greeted the boy warmly, excited to see what they could do together. However, as time went by, Willa began to worry that she was being pushed aside. It was an irrational fear from the start, but the idea festered until Connor mentioned how helpful Riley was. Willa began yelling at him, thinking her fear had been confirmed, forcing Connor to argue with her. The argument eventually ended in Willa cutting ties with TripleThreat, and making Connor not use the work she had done so far for the 2019 edition. She heavily regretted it later on, but the damage was already done.

When the pandemic started, Willa and her father had to stay with Sarah, as Charlene was a nurse. Willa didn’t take the quarantine well at first, as she was a very social person, and had trouble keeping up with virtual school. It ended up being something she needed though, forcing her to reconcile with Connor and Daniel after breaking off of TripleThreat. It took a while, Willa refusing to talk with them until May. They allowed her back into TripleThreat, though Willa decided that it’d be the last one she does. Over messaging apps, the TripleThreat team completed the hunt, to the same small success as the rest. But to Willa, it was a relief to have finished with it, and it was what kept her emotional state from declining too far during the quarantine.

In the present, Willa plans to try to get a degree in English or Social Studies, so she could teach one of them one day. English and History are the classes she wants to teach the most, English because of her love of reading, and History because she finds it interesting. She’s working on getting various scholarships so she could get into college, and is hopeful that she will get accepted.

She is unsure of her sexuality- though she has found herself crushing on various girls and boys at points in high school. Either way, she prefers more casual, friendly relationships, and doesn't particularly care for romance.

Advantages: Willa’s ability to work in teams can be massively useful on the island. Her time in the peer aide course could be beneficial as well, as she knows kids outside of her friend group and is a more confident person than she would be otherwise.
Disadvantages: She is stubborn, refusing to change her plans or ideas easily, if at all, even when a situation gets dangerous. In addition, she is very emotional, something that can cause her to make rash, and perhaps deadly, decisions.

MK Kilmarnock · #2

Hello RiceKrisp! It's exciting to be able to critique Willa today. She is denied pending some edits for grammar and content but altogether it's not a whole lot of work. I enjoy Willa as a character, but maybe I'm biased towards her because she wants to be a teacher and that resonates with me (spoilers for later, I'm credentialed in single subject social studies grades 7-12). I also enjoyed that she's explicitly named after the most famous person that she shares her name with. Anyway, let's get to the critique:

Grammar stuff

has a boxy body type and a flat chest. > add a comma after ‘type’. This is an Oxford comma household!

This mainly consists of t-shirts, jeans, sneakers and hoodies > same

On the day of abduction > the abduction

She liked them, but had no real reason > Plot twist: REMOVE this comma.

One in particular was her favorite: A book on butterflies > One, in particular, was… also, lowercase a.

She joined the photography club there in interest, and > This phrase reads a little weird, particularly the ‘joined in interest’ and should have a rewrite. “She joined the photography club out of interest in her hobby” might be better

There however, she found out > There, however, she found out

she was good at helping other kids, and > remove this comma

Highschool > high school, two words

Benefactory > beneficial

Content stuff

SOTF didn’t help their arguing either, Lucas thinking that staying in the city gives less of a chance for Willa to be taken, while Charlene thought the terrorists would be caught soon, and that there was little chance for her to be taken anyways. They stayed in Seattle for 8 years, trying to figure out if they should move or not. > Why did Lucas think that? SotFs prior to V5 had struck cities, with the last incident abducting kids from St. Paul, Minnesota, so there’s no reason to suggest staying in a city would make her safe. Also, the year they decide to leave Seattle for Salem is 2012, which is the year the Seattle abduction happened, but there’s no mention of that being a contributing factor for whether or not to move.

In 2012, her parents finally decided on moving back to Salem, getting a house in Suburban Housing > Suburban Housing is the name of the area on our boards, but it isn’t the official name of any neighborhood. Easy fix, just say “getting a house in the suburbs.”

Willa’s mother forced her and her father to live with Sarah, as she was a nurse. > This took me several rereads to understand, but you may want to clarify that it’s the mother who is the nurse and not Sarah (I was confused for a solid ten minutes figuring out why Sarah being a nurse meant that they had to move in with her).

TripleThreat seems like it could count as an ARG. Given it doesn’t fit cleanly into any of Willa’s other interests (though it does include them, such as photography), you can probably add ARGs or whatever else you would classify TripleThreat as in Willa’s hobbies and interests.

In the present, Willa plans to try to get a degree in English, so she could teach it one day. > This is fine as is, but given History is listed in her interests while English itself isn’t, does she have any interest in teaching that instead? Or getting a dual credential in English and Social Studies?

How is her time spent as a peer aide potentially beneficial to her on the island? Her paranoia comes a little bit out of nowhere. The only mention of it involves Riley with TripleThreat which is an irrational but reasonable reaction for a teen in her position to have, and it seems to have colored no other interactions in her social life or family life. Similarly there isn’t much mention of her being overly emotional. I think you can expand on these qualities in the profile.

Let me know when you're done with that, and we'll give Willa another look!

RiceKrisp · #3

Updated! I added some more relationship stuff, changed a disadvantage because I think this one fits better, and of course what you asked.

Changelog:

Spoiler!

MK Kilmarnock · #4

Denied for the Heathers reference.

...

Nah. Also this is one of the best changelog formats I've ever seen.

APPROVED

Willa Kurt

Willa Kurt

Re: Willa Kurt

Re: Willa Kurt

Re: Willa Kurt