Oh my god, yes!
Lori Penzans
Age: 21
Nickname: Iron Dora, BP-DJ
-Previous nicknames: KIT-dub, Lower Gear, Cog-teeth
Current Occupation: Lori works at a BP Station. Usually, she gets the night shift and early morning shifts, which generally suit her fine, since she is allowed to pick her own music. Still, it's a low paying dead-end job, full of monotony.
Hobbies outside of racing: Lori loves four things above all else: Cars. Music. Steam-punk. And Good Italian Food. A confessed audiophile, Lori loves metal, but has a unique fondness for Jazz and Swing. She plays saxophone, frequents jazz pubs, and actually has an unrequited soft-spot for dancing. She's a bit of a groupie for her favorite band, Anarchy In Harmony. Lori is also active in the Steam-Punk communities, and has a flair for salvaging parts to make jewelry to sell on Etsy. Beyond that, the girl is a sucker for a prize fight, a hookah, or a bit of innocent crime.
Appearance/Style Description: Lori has short black hair which bunches around her ears, and bored green eyes. She was always somewhat fair skinned, and although the Miami Sun has changed that to a degree, she is still pleasantly pale by local standards. She tends to dress in blacks, and is fond of wearing a necklace with a bear tooth on it. What most people notice about her first, however, is that she walks with a slight limp, and wears a leg brace composed of clockwork gears. She has several tattoos under her shirt, which go from her right shoulder blade to her left elbow, depicting ghastly spirits manifesting in the snow. She also has several scars, one just below her right collar bone, indicating a bullet wound.
Personality: Lori leads something of a double life. Many people mistake her for a goth, owing to her monotone apathy and cynicism. This is a disguise, however, for the artsy, curious and tough as nails young woman she actually is. She has a capacity for theatrics, and has a deep appreciation for solemn enjoyments and the 'less fine' arts. She has been told that she has an expression, a warped sneer of sorts, when she's having an idea she means to pursue. Despite her talents, however, Lori is somewhat insecure, owning to recent events that have shaped her life.
History: Lori was born as Lorelei Bianchi, to an Italian Immigrant Chef and an American Para-legal. She grew up enjoying fine cooking, accordion music, and the like. She was nerdy as a youth, smart and quiet, more prone to being lost in her own world than actually hanging out with others. When she started to hit her rebellious years, during which her temperamental father and ice-berg like mother got on her very last nerve, she began to seek companionship. She found music her calling card, at the time, going to jazz houses and coffee shops. After making some quirky friends that, while not nerdy, seemed to understand her for what she was, she was invited to the Maw, the parking garage that served as the headquarters for a gang called The Teeth. That was where she saw her first cover show concert.
Lori was already familiar with their leader, Kaitlin Naus, who had been part of an experimental rock band. The energy was entrancing, and she began to try to go to these cover shows as often as she could. Her grades suffered as she began to fall into various substance abuses and small acts of hoodlumism with her gang-member friends. A very confusing period followed, in which Lori teetered between giving up the gang for the life she'd had, or vice versa. This confusion ended rather suddenly one night when a member of a rival gang attempted to kill her. Naus herself was the one who saved her life, following it with hard but well-meaning advice to "fucking pick" where she stood. After this, Lori formally began her life as one of The Teeth.
While the nerdiness she'd carried as a youth had to be quickly beaten out of her, the gang members welcomed her curiosity. Various mentors appeared, teaching her music, mechanics, driving, and fighting. Under Naus's tutelage, Lori gained a deep appreciation for one on one fights. A tall and imposing woman named Silver taught her to drift during street races. And her first lover, a boy named French Fry, taught her the joys of junking. It was he who re-awakened her nerdier side by showing her how to craft junk-jewelry.
It was during one of these junking expeditions that Lori's leg was crushed by a falling car in a junk yard. Unable to walk under her own power, she fashioned a clock-work leg brace. Thereafter, even the other members of The Teeth had to respect her nerdiness. She started working more on steam-punk fashions in her spare time, running a profile on Etsy to raise money for the Gang. She also rekindled her love of Jazz Music, buying a saxophone and taking lessons in her spare time.
This was a fine time for her, but it was due to end. Sadly, a gang member's foremost skill must be the art of violence. Even with her brace, Lori no longer had the agility for it. After nearly getting herself killed for the second time, Naus threw her out, partly for her own protection, but mostly out of frustration. The event broke her heart. She took what money she had and moved to Miami, consoling herself for a time on the beaches, taking her leg brace off and letting the waves caress her.
She loved the musical venues there, and as she began to feel more like herself, she decided she would find a way to get this going. Taking a job as a cashier at a gas station, Lori started saving up for a car that could compete in street races, resolving to get all the other stuff she wanted with the prize money.
Current Situation: She is currently shacking up for some low rent, saving up to build a competitive vehicle, and hopes to earn some fast cash. Getting thrown out by The Teeth forced her to start over, and to reassess how big a handicap her leg really is. Once she has enough money, she wants to get her leg fixed. After that.. who knows.
Car:1991 Nissan 300 ZX
Strengths: Scion of the Silver Tooth: Among her many mentors, a woman who called herself Silver was her driving instructor. She taught that even the fastest drive must be done with grace, and to accent that point taught her how to round tight corners with drift. She never got as good as her teacher, of course. But she can none-the-less pull off some beautiful maneuvers, and seems to have a sense for how a car will perform on unfamiliar terrian.
Grove is in the Heart: Lori likes to say that her interests split her into pieces. The more of them she can reunite into a single thing, the better she will perform. She proves this point on the track. When she sinks into just the right music and starts to feel the rhythm in her bones, she gets into a unique head-space for driving, that often leaves people in the echo of her custom tuned speakers.
KIT-dub: Of all Lori's talents, mechanics comes most easily to her. She loves junking for parts, and if she can find the right stuff, she can modify a car extensively. That's only part of the story behind that particular nickname, however..
Jack of All Trades and Their Connections: In addition to her gang life, Lori is also involved in the local Steampunk and Jazz Communities, as well as running a fairly successful profile on Etsy. She does try to keep those separate, however. Not the least reason for which being that she occasionally launders money through her art sales. Ho hum.
When life gives you lemons..: Lori is a survivor, who once earned her place among The Teeth almost entirely on her ability to improvise an increasingly bad situation into something awesome! This trait is responsible for her junking skills, as well as many other things.
Weaknesses: Snapping Turtle in a Porcelain Mask: Lori's withdrawn nature is based on a whole lot of internal issues. She isn't immune to her own life's regrets, or to the insecurities of her leg injury. Add to that, most of her formative years were spent inside a gang, and one she's recently been cast out of. Lori hides whatever this makes her feel in her hobbies, in her cynicism, and when needed, in her anger. It makes her hard to get close to, and she's well aware.
Something to prove: Lori was a good student to her mentors. Not a great student, but a good one. When she is in her element on the track, she sometimes forgets that there are certain moves she can't pull off, and others that even Silver would have told her were dangerous. As her insecurities began to peak, this manageable need to prove herself became more pronounced. This may be the primary reason why Naus threw her out.
Thirst for the Life: Lori won't admit it, but she loves this lifestyle. Live fast, die young. Skid into your grave with a half drunk bottle of Yeager and flames in your wake. Her old Gang boss gave her the keys to get out, knowing she would need them. It's a temptation she finds hard to resist.
That Damn Leg: Good thing it was the left leg! All I need to manipulate is the clutch! Just tap the clutch and.. move, leg.. Move! ..aw, fuck.
