Willow was born to two hippie vegan lesbians that were ready to start a family of their own. One mother is her natural birth mother, while the other asked her brother to be the sperm donor so her child would still share the family DNA. Willow was a happy child in downtown San Fransisco, going to school, farmers markets, and just being a kid. She didn’t think about what she wanted to be in the future, but she did really like art. Art, horses, and tween pop stars.
The first stages of outbreak began when Willow was 11. A city as big as San Fransisco was a dangerous place to be, so her family packed up and migrated out of state. Over the next few weeks there were some separations and losses. At a dingy motel in Utah a couple of desperate people attacked her parents to steal their car. One mother was killed immediately, and the other was injured. Not knowing much about the airborn virus, they took too long when trying to bury Mom 1 in the desert. She turned and killed her wife. All Willow could do was run.
Willow has had nothing but long and painful experiences since. She’s been with creeps who enjoyed taking advantage of little girls, families who swore to take in a lost child only to abandon her when things get difficult. She’s seen frightening towns where the worst things weren’t even the zombies. Somewhere along the way she stopped speaking. Willow wouldn’t talk to anyone. She’d just show up somewhere, hang around if she was allowed to, and then disappear again once things got moving.
Something was different when she stumbled over Quinn, Robert and Bonnie. Willow did what she always did – make camp close by, but not too close. She ignored all attempts to get her attention or get to know her. But every night Quinn seemed to inch closer and closer. Willow found herself involved in meals, or being talked to, and even helping with supply gathering. What might have sealed the deal, though, was that during a skirmish she wasn’t left to fend for herself. And every time thereafter she was still protected as part of the group. No questions, no asking, she was just one of theirs. It’s been almost a year now and Willow has made sure to be useful.
Willow still doesn’t really speak, but she has developed more of an open personality around the group outside of “quiet weird girl”. She’s very facially expressive. Though Quinn seems to be the one she feels safest around and will often cling to, Willow finds Bonnie hilarious and seems to share that same sarcastic smartassery. She’s been slower to warm up to Robert, but these days she’s fine being alone with him and even having silent conversations. In very rare occasions Willow might speak out loud to one of the three, but so far it’s only been when she’s had something important to say or warn them about.
She has nightmares often. Pure terror nightmares. It’s one of the few times anyone will hear her vocal. Willow has taken to sleeping with Quinn or Bonnie and it helps.
Willow is barely 5 feet when wearing sneakers, with black hair and dark brown eyes. She’s small and wiry, but strong. Especially now that she is with a group and getting consistent meals.
She’s great for squeezing in to tight places, being sneaky, or climbing up things. She’s gotten very good at cooking stuff up, mending things, and doing busy work that’s given to her.
She whittles things from sticks. Specifically animals. In her pack she’s practically got a zoo of little wooden animal figures. It’s relaxing and she just enjoys doing it. Quinn has even painted a few of them for her, whenever they stumble across the right kind of supplies.
By all odds, Willow really should’ve died by now. But there is a little spark in her that keeps her going. Willow wants to defy all odds and live. She has this daydream about being somewhere safe and beautiful, with lots of animals, and doing stupid things that she used to do, like going to the farmer’s market, hanging out at a park or listening to music.