Name- Conner Johnson
Nickname- None, yet.
Age- 17
Gender- Male
Reason For Running Away- Getting himself and Alyssa out of a bad foster home.
Personality- Conner goes out of his way to avoid communication most of the time. He won't open up to anyone without significant prying; even Alyssa doesn't know a lot about him. He will listen, though, and ask the appropriate questions especially if he thinks it'll help him or Alyssa in some way. Generally rather stoic and guarded, Conner shields a temper that can get the better of him when he's not careful. His instinct is to be protective Alyssa, and so he sort of hovers around her most of the time. If alotted the proper time and effort, this character is willing to be affectionate, comforting, and perhaps even forthcoming, but this takes quite a bit from whomever seeks such things. He doesn't particularly desire companionship outside of Alyssa, but if thrust into the situation (which usually happens by Alyssa's insistence), he won't actively shove all others away. With Conner's temper comes a touch of mental instability as well. Though he can act normal the majority of the time, random nonsensical thoughts may occur, and he may even be tempted to react to them or blurt them out loud. If he appears spaced out, it's likely that he's in the midst of some sort of hallucination (usually auditory), and trying to distinguish that from reality before attempting to speak again. It's not something that'll happen everyday, but he can get particularly unsettled when it does occur.
History- This character entered foster care because his parents and younger sister died in a car accident. The specifics of how this accident occurred are, perhaps fortunately, only known to Conner. At the ripe age of 15, he'd had enough of his mother's alcohol-induced complacent behavior in regards to his father's abuse and neglect of their two children. Conner had always loved cars. In the "spare" time he spent locked in his room, avoiding the company of the family he so despised, he learned all he could about them. It was with this knowledge that he elected to do something that would change his life forever. One fine summer night, when Conner knew his parents were fast asleep, he tampered with the family car. He knew that his folks were planning to go out early the next morning for groceries because they'd impolitely informed him just hours earlier that he'd be stuck watching his little sister for the duration of their trip. It was too perfect. He and his sister would finally escape the tyranny of this place. He slept soudly that night and into the early afternoon of the next day. When he awoke and checked the time... He panicked. Conner's parents took their trips in the morning, and there was no way that they would have left their daughter without waking him. He ran and checked the driveway. No car.
When all was said and done and his parents were declared dead, he entered the state's foster care system. Strangely, it wasn't long before he was placed. The parents that took him in were much like his own - abusive, on the father's end, and complancent on the mother's. Instead of leaving bruises, however, this man's brand of punishment left scars on the mind. He would turn the children against one another, goading them into humiliating, teasing, bullying, or otherwise isolating whichever child was newest to the group so that the kid would learn their place. Once this occurred, the father had his turn with brainwashing the already shy, broken individual. Heavy physical activity was the punishment for any male in the household. He enjoyed seeing the young men pushed to their absolute limits. Conner would have taken this any day, of course, over what happened to the girls. He largely tried to ignore the signs that he wasn't able to misconstrue, hoping to lay low until his eighteenth birthday would see him free of this place. He was successful until Alyssa came. Alyssa, with those big green eyes and that short brown hair... She looked exactly the picture of what his younger sister could have grown up to be. What she would have been if he hadn't ---...
Conner still tried to ignore it all, but Alyssa's personality was such that he couldn't help but get to know her. The other kids, so intent on following orders, teased her and attempted to drive her away, but he watched as she kept trying to be optimistic and kind. When she tried to get to know him, that was the final straw. He saw something in her that he hadn't in the others and he had to get her out of there before the father got to her, too. Within a week of her arrival, he'd gotten together their few possessions, knicked one of the foster family's credit cars, hotwired one of their cars, and left that awful place with Alyssa in tow.
They've been out on their own for a little over three weeks now, making their way on the credit card and sleeping in abandoned houses. They left the car behind long ago, not wanting to get caught with it. Conner has yet to allow Alyssa to wonder off on her own any longer than neccessary, fearing that he'll lose her just as he lost his sister.
Appearance- Conner has messy brown hair that's getting a bit long and always sticks up at awkward locations. His skin lacks a tan, but is not quite pale, suiting his dark brown eyes nicely. He stands at about 6'4" with a lithe frame, usually choosing to wear jeans that fit just a bit loosely and jackets with high collars or hoods. The only constant are his worn down tennis shoes and the necklace that Alyssa made him - a multi-colored circular charm on a long black cord that's long enough to rest in the middle of his chest.
