((Okay, going to preface this by saying I've done something I normally wouldn't do, that is cross a character over from another SIM setting. Thing is, I love Runya's origin story. Alot. But anything spooky or off or different from real world Hathian, none of that exists any longer and she never speaks of anything related to it. I still RP her in that SIM and she ages real time (she's currently nine) and she's never meant to become an adult there. So Hathian IS her future.

That said, here's the intro.))

Age : 21 years old
Role : Nurse
Abilities : Brave to a fault, quick temper, deeply emotional

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Runya's story is her parents' story.

Her mother was Tirtzah Cohen, an Israeli woman with curly black hair, dark eyes, pale skin and a laughing smile. Tirtzah served in the special ops unit of the Israeli military, renowned for their creativity and cleverness. Her father was Joaxino Vita, a Brasilian mestre of Capoeira, raised in Spanish Harlem, with dark skin, chocolate brown hair and matching eyes that seemed to see into the soul. He began running his own Capoeira academy at nineteen and showed great depth and breadth for the beauty, music and philosophy of his art.

Chanukah, 1961:
Tirtzah, on leave for the holidays, flys to New York to attend a family wedding, in the traditional Orthodox style. The ketubah read, the chairs danced, the glass broken, she plans to spend her remaining days hiking about New York.

Her first day is filled with rich sights and smells, and finally her feet take her to Spanish Harlem where she is drawn by the sound of the berimbau, the swing of the atabac, the clap of the pandeiro, into Joaxino's academy. She stands in the doorway and watches him sing the old chants, Ibo mixed with Brasilian mixed with languages long forgotten. He looks up from the pede de roda to see her framed there, petite and strong. They are inseparable thereafter, two passionate people with hearts in their eyes, and the rest of Tirtzah's stay is filled with nothing but Joaxino.

Sukkot, 1962:
Tirtzah, at the kibbutz where she was born and raised and resigned from the military a few months prior, gives birth to a baby girl who has her father's skin and hair, her mother's eyes. Joaxino is with her. They name their baby Runya for Tirtzah's grandmother Ruth. They marry a few weeks later and head to New York.

Purim, 1965:
The young family lives above the academy in Spanish Harlem and it is starting to become clear that their daughter has inherited more than her mother's eyes. Runya seems capable of astonishing feats, moving objects with her mind, and once even healing a wound on her mother's finger, presumably a variation of the same gift. She spends an inordinate time communing with their cat Tico Tico, and insists on translating for him as if he is speaking clearly. Tirtzah contacts an old trusted friend from her military days, worried about Runya hurting herself.

Yom Kippur, 1965:
The academy is closed, the flat above is empty with evidence of a hurried leave-taking. Tirtzah and Joaxino take Runya to Berkeley California where they mix in with the hippie movement. If their eyes are more careful than most, and if they seem to be ever watchful, what does that matter as they dance hand in hand with their bright-eyed daughter in People's Park?

Chanukah, 1965:
A small girl is delivered to the steps of the Woodside Mission, a Benedictine monastary in Portola Valley, California. She is alone save a small girlish suitcase, a note, and her cat, Tico Tico. The monks take her in. She is inconsolable for weeks, but finally adjusts to her new life, taking particularly to one monk, Father Martin. Runya has the run of the monastary and its grounds and the monks are kind, responding to her youth and energy like flowers to sunlight. A widowed woman, Clara Forrester, is hired to cook and serve as nanny.

Interim:
Father Martin, a man of sixty odd years, along with normal studies and encouraging her great love of books, teaches Runya to keep her gifts to herself. Of the vast library available to her, Runya's favorite books revolve around stories of magic and mythology and folklore, and she keeps a set of what she calls "witch books", novels by Ruth Chew, at her bedside.

Runya grows to be a curious child, polite but unafraid to ask questions or explore. She learns the lesson to keep her gifts secret, and while she makes friends with many animals on and around the grounds, is careful to make it seem normal enough. Her telekinesis she learns to fear for the disapproval of Father Martin saddens her greatly, and after a few "accidents", Runya seems to have it quietly stuffed away.

The monks celebrate the Jewish holidays with her as well as the Christian, and when Runya is old enough to be trusted not to lose them, two keepsakes are given to her: a figa, a luck charm found throughout Brasil, and a tiny golden book with Hebrew letters upon it. Runya keeps these on a chain about her waist which she wears always.

Early on, Tico Tico speaks to her of her parents but realizing that it upsets her, lets the matter drop and over time, Runya's parents become a vague impression of colors, scents and sounds.

Purim, 1970:
Tico Tico passes away and Father Martin takes Runya up into the hills to bury her long time friend. Runya has her little backpack on with her favorite stuffed animal, Zelda, her prized book, "The Witch's Buttons", and other childish things. She wears her most admirable possession, the multicolored shoes she was given for her last birthday.

The spring is cool and the mists cling to them as they work to fill the small grave. Father Martin kneels to pray and Runya joins him, her head bowed. He is deep in his prayers when her senses speak of a clear message of distress. Runya tries to ignore it, knowing how it bothers Father Martin when she "acts strange", but finally, she is unable to remain still any longer and she leaps to her feet, running into the deeply forested hillside. Father Martin calls after her, but his age is no match for her youth and he loses sight of her in the wood.

Runya weaves in and out of the trees, the mist deep, following the signal in her mind and returning reassurances that help is on the way. Finally, she bursts into a small grove to see an owl bending over its prey, a small brown mouse. Runya dashes forward to shoo away the bird, then scoops up the mouse, checking him for injury. In a panic, the mouse leaps from her hands and scampers off and Runya cries out, following him deeper into the trees.

Runya runs, frantically calling out in her mind that she is a friend, until finally they both stop, exhausted, and she collapses to the ground, resting on all fours, her heart beating like a wild thing in her breast. The mouse creeps to her, clearly embarassed and Runya feels waves of apology in her mind. She smiles tiredly, barely seeing him in the mist and their friendship begins. On this otherwise happy note, however, Runya discovers that they are quite lost.

They wander, getting to know each other and the mouse tells her to call him Fred and Runya is grateful for his company as else, she would feel rather more scared than she was. Finally, hungry and thirsty and trying not to cry, Runya spies what looks like looming buildings in the distance, dark and tall.

As Runya steps onto the asphalt, the mist vanishes. She blinks, whirls around and comes nose to brick with a wall. Quickly, she turns again, her back to the hard surface, Fred chittering on her shoulder.

"What are you doing here, little one?"

Runya's journey begins.

---

After two years in the city of Midian, Runya found herself back in 1997 right at the spot where she had originally left, the foothills of Portola Valley, California, again with no notion of how. She found the aged remains of the grave of her old cat and carries that sight with her as proof. Fred, thankfully, traveled with her, and after spending a good amount of time walking in circles through the wooded area, she accepted that Midian was out of reach, the rough streets, the other street kids, the fierce priest who'd taken her in to his parish orphanage along with other forgotten children, all gone. Lost.

She managed to find a vaguely familiar path and found that the old Woodside Mission was now the Woodside Priory, a Benedictine private school. Runya was taken in by one of the kitchen staff there, Lucy MacTavish, a descendant of Clara Forrester who cooked there back in 1965.

Oddly, Lucy believed Runya's story and did what's necessary to get her the papers and documentation needed to establish her identity as Lucy's ward.

By virtue of being the ward of an employee, Runya attended the Priory and got a good education, something that took some doing after her time on the streets of Midian. After puberty, her psionic affinity for animals faded and shortly thereafter, so did her telekinetic ability.

She went on full scholarship to get her BSN at the University of San Francisco and has taken her state board exams to earn her RN license. That in hand, she's taking some time off to roam the country, fulfilling whatever BRN requirements to work in that state.

She's damn near fearless and a defender of anyone she feels is weak. She's always been this way, even as a child on the streets of Midian. She has an innate sense of what she thinks is right and wrong and has a heart as big as her temper. She is a child of the 60's who wound up in a future time, something she'll never understand the how of it and now, at 21 years of age, a distant memory, unreal and rarely considered.

A year ago she wound up in Hathian, worked at the HG for a few months, then got a call: Lucy was sick. She hitched home and only now is she returning, a year later, after Lucy passed on. The HG rehired her and she's been working as a nurse.

Welcome home.