Persephone Simmons

Persephone Renee Simmons
A lot of people think I'm just a stuck-up rich bitch, and they're not too far from the truth
Age: 19
Race: Half-Saiyan
Status: Alive
Affiliation: None

Origin

Born to a saiyan mother and a human father, Persephone is a halfblood that spent the first half of her childhood with the social stigma that came with a very unique genetic defect: rather than brown or black, her tail was a brilliant white, a trait that is said to bring severe misfortune upon her and anyone else that dares to get too close. Having to deal with the backlash that this bore for her, Persephone toughened up and lashed out in return, earning a reputation as a bully and a delinquent during much of her school tenure. As her mentor, trainer and overall best friend, Persephone's mother tried to get her to be more open-minded about her unique 'gift,' but the way she was treated by everyone else around her gave no rise or momentum to these attempts. Persephone trained diligently under her mother's guidance not for discipline, but for self-defense, believing that her lot in life would ever be one that required her fists to do the talking. Her father is a prominent business figure in Shrike and did not play a prominent part in Persephone's early life outside of a generic father figurehead and breadwinner. Somewhere between the age of seven and eight, Persephone and her mother were training in the Phendrana Drifts when her mother was beset by two assailants near an abandoned laboratory. Persephone was unable to assist her mother before the latter was brutally killed, and forced to flee to avoid suffering the same fate. Left without the only keystone that kept her head up, Persephone began a new life with only her stand-offish father for support, sinking into a pit of bitter self-loathing (most prominently aimed at her tail) and general revulsion toward the world at large.

History

Despite her mother's passing, Persephone continued to train herself so that she would never find herself at anyone else's mercy, doubling down on her disposition for being the one who would start and end fights with neither aid nor remorse. In the roughly-decade-long timeframe that followed, Persephone became a loner and made sure everyone around her knew it, spending most of her time at home when not at the dojo or school. Rather than seek a placement in her father's company or pursue secondary education, Persephone simply holed up in her room more times than not, only occasionally leaving the house to run errands or for other self-serving needs. She gained a reputation around Shrike as 'the Black Queen' due to her demeanor and choice of clothing coloration, which did nothing to improve her mood on any given outing. Keeping everyone at arms' length (or further, if she could help it), Persephone kept her head down and shouldered her way through her teenage years. She developed quite a mouth to go along with this attitude, the nature of which tends to get her into most of the scuffles that result. Colorful language also flies pretty prevalently and without filter, in most scenarios.

At seventeen, Persephone made an appearance at Hikari no Matsuri more-or-less against her will, and while she still saw fit to ignore everyone there and remain isolated, Hikari Fukawa was sympathetic to her plight and sought to extend a branch of friendship. While not exactly accepted, Hikari's incessant selflessness did crack Persephone's shell just a small amount, such that she would return on subsequent years solely because Hikari asked her to.

Currently viewing Hikari as the only thing remotely resembling a 'friend' that she's ever had, Persephone is attempting to find ways to break free from her self-imposed introversion; like all things, though, bad habits tend to be hard to break.

Abilities, Powers & Traits

Being of saiyan blood means that Persephone is naturally predisposed to combat and problem-solving that involves her fists rather than her words, with her traumatic past only serving to exacerbate this premise. She is not especially weaker or stronger than any other saiyan or half-saiyan, and tends to be rather vicious and unruly in her combat style; rather than embrace the general nature of saiyan honor or pride, Persephone is not averse to going so far as low blows or fighting dirty in other ways if it gains her the upper hand. For all of the ire it has earned, Persephone refuses to simply remove her tail, citing that it was one of the few things her mother made Persephone promise not to do. She is also unable to harness the power of her Oozaru form, likely because of said genetic anomaly.

Persephone is quick to anger and tends to view everyone else as beneath her, with pretty much only Hikari as the sole exception.