Birth – Age 12
Virginia's first twelve years were what some would call ideal. Her family, who was quite rich, lived in a wealthy section of New York. She was surrounded by luxury, and always wore the best clothes and had access to quality education, and even learned to sing (Voice: Soothing). Many children her age lived in her neighborhood, and she had many friends. Her life was one of ease (Purty).
This all changed on her twelfth birthday. Her family was staying in their country house, and several of her friends were there at her birthday party. Unfortunately for her, her parents had crossed a rather violent gang, and they were after revenge – they attacked everyone at the house, killing and doing even more savage things to them. Virginia and her best friend Charlene were the last to die; the gang threw a pair of nooses close together over a tree branch, and the two girls got to see each other gurgle and suffocate, just a few inches apart.
This incident made Charlene's mother snap. She never particularly cared for Virginia's family, but after her daughter was murdered at their house, she lost her mind. She found out that Virginia still lives, and really wants to see her dead, believing her to be a witch who killed everyone that day (Enemy 3: Charlene's mother). Fortunately for Virginia, she didn't turn murderous until fairly recently (she has largely been a shut-in up until that point).
Age 12 - 13
Of course, Virginia didn't stay dead. When she woke up, it was dark and stormy, and she was still hanging from her noose with Charlene right in front of her. Of course, she didn't realize (yet) that she was dead. Needless to say, the next few days were pretty unpleasant. It wasn't long before her manitou, the malign spirit of another young girl who had died over a century before, took over. This was a frequent occurrence in her first year, as she didn't have the personal strength to fight back very well.
She still believed that Charlene was around her in spirit form (Loco 2: Invisible Friend), and sometimes talked to her…of course, anyone who saw this thought that she was a bit crazy, though her innocent appearance stopped anyone from taking it farther than that.
Her life was pretty squalid. She alternatively lived on the street and in orphanages, though she occasionally got kicked out of the latter when her condition was discovered (or when her manitou caused too much trouble). While it wasn't a happy time, it did toughen her a bit (Fleet Footed, Tough as Nails, Thick-skinned, Brave, Harrowed Power Stitchin', Outlaw: Various Mischief).
Age 13 – 14
By the end of her first year as a harrowed, Virginia started to make an almost decent living by stealing and sometimes fighting (her harrowed body giving her an advantage in the latter – even a big kid had trouble landing significant hits). She scraped together enough money to buy a knuckle-duster from a shady gun dealer (who, for some reason, was standing near a blue torch), for the aesthetic reasons as well as practical ones – the .32 caliber meant that the weapon was easy for her to handle. She actually mugged a few people, who almost chuckled at the sight of a twelve year old girl demanding their money. One of her favorite retorts to these chuckleheads was “A little girl with a gun can still blow your head off, mister.” Even when some of them fought back, the fact that she could be stabbed or shot and remain relatively unfazed made many people flee.
It was during this time that Virginia's Reflexes began to grow to incredible levels (Harrowed Power Unholy Reflexes). If necessary, she could get off several shots and reload before her targets knew what was happening (she preferred not to hurt anyone though; it was a last resort…her manitou was a different story, however).
Age 14 – 15
As she began to gain a poor reputation in and around New York, she left for smaller towns in the area. Whenever people began to ask too many questions, she moved on. In one particularly unfortunate incident, she tried to rob a stagecoach carrying the Meyers family…the incident deteriorated into a shootout, and her manitou seized control, killing everyone onboard including two children.
These two children still haunt Virginia, and while they usually don't cause her many direct problems (ie, actual direct injury), they do try and taunt and scare her on occasion (Veteran Hindrance: Double-Haunted by the two Meyers children). Her mind, still damaged by the events of her past, doesn't usually process their presence very well, and she occasionally winds up yelling at them or even firing shots, which of course doesn't actually do anything. The female Meyer's child, Sarah, often shows up to torture her about her new undead state, rubbing it in her face. The male child Anthony usually goes for more outright fear, occasionally distracting her in dangerous situations.
For a while, she even lived in her parent's old country house, which sat empty for a long while; much of the furniture had been sold, and the property was almost never visited by anyone. She had procured a horse by this point, and satisfied her craving for meat by shooting small game with a .22 rifle that she had stolen. As a harrowed, it was a bit easier to survive alone, since even cooking the meat wasn't strictly necessary and she didn't really need much else.
Towards the end of her 15th year, the property was visited by the Knight's family lawyer (Brian Peterson), who was getting ready to sell it so that the money raised could be divided amongst distant relatives. Brian didn't see Virginia on the property that day (she hid in the attic), but his visit gave her an idea – one that would allow her to climb out of poverty.
She returned to New York, and paid a random woman she met to be her “guardian.” She showed up at the lawyer's place of business in clothing that made her look just a bit older (she would have been around 14 at this point), and managed to prove to him that she was indeed the Knight's daughter (as her body was missing, her fate was officially listed as unknown by the authorities). The end result of all this is that Virginia has limited access to the remains of her family's fortune (she will gain full control when she is 18). She can access this money via a good excuse and a telegram to her family's lawyer (Dinero 3).
Of course, her fake mother would be discovered if she remained (resulting in her being placed in an orphanage or with far off relatives – a bad place to be as a harrowed when you're not quite so anonymous), so she simply told Peterson that her new mother was going to take her out west to see the world, hence the reason why she crossed the Mississippi. Virginia doesn't know it, but her manitou took control one night and killed this woman – too bad she picked the wrong little girl to help, eh?
Age 15 – 16
By this point, Virginia's attitudes began to change. While her body still appeared to be only twelve years old (Scrawny), her mind was maturing, and she started to realize that she couldn't just make her living stealing from people (she didn't really need to anymore anyway, given the money she has access to). While not necessarily a great hero, she did try and do “the right thing” whenever possible (and whenever her manitou didn't seize control). One of her bigger achievements was sneaking into a group of bank robbers' camp one night, freeing their horses, and forcing them to tie each other up so that the authorities could easily catch them (of course, said thieves probably never mentioned that they were caught unawares by a little girl).
Life in the Weird West is in some ways harder and and easier than life Back East. On the one hand, Virginia has more money than she did previously, and doesn't have to work to get it. On the other hand, any individual town is more likely to form a lynch mob if she's discovered, and she's forced to constantly travel to avoid raising too much suspicion. For a few days, it's pretty easy to be just a cute little girl, but stay too long and people start to ask questions about why you're alone, and where your parents are, and why they caught you chugging a quart of whiskey faster than Norm (their obese barfly of a friend) and didn't see you keel over from alcohol poisoning.
Present
While her appearance is sweet and innocent, Virginia certainly isn't. Her experiences since returning from the dead have given her more knowledge and experience than most people twice her age, which is currently sixteen (her body still appears twelve, of course). She's still a bit mentally unbalanced at times, and still talks to “Charlene,” but she's no delicate flower (on the inside, anyway).
Manitou
Virginia's manitou is the evil soul of a girl that died in the late 1600's in England – Maria Anderson. She was around Virginia's age, but she (along with a good chunk of her family) practiced black magic, and she was quite evil. She picked Virginia because of her appearance, which was very similar to her own.
She likes to restrain her victims, then slowly torture them to death. Not a pretty sight or a peaceful demise.
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