[hider=Theresa Patterson || The Homecoming Queen][center][h2][color=E9ED40][img]https://i.imgur.com/p16HQDE.png[/img][/color][/h2]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/c4FMf4s.gif[/img]
[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Faceclaim: Ayo Edebiri // Color Code: E9ED40[/b][/color][/sub]
[color=E9ED40]_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Full Name:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]Theresa Patterson[/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Nickname(s):[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent][b]Tessa:[/b] - Short for 'Theresa'. Everyone in Pines Holler used to call her that. Most probably still do even if she corrects them. It's just Theresa now.[/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Age:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]31[/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Gender:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]Female[/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Sexuality:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]Bisexual. Recently single after a two and a half year relationship. [/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Occupation:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]Before leaving after high school, Theresa wanted a part time job at Magnolia's Salon mostly so she could show people how to do black hair the right way. But now, having left for twelve years, Theresa has found employment with Waldron and Sons Realty and Development and is back in her home town to do feasibility studies. Of course, she knows better than to tell the people that, so she has numerous cover jobs if asked. Hopefully no one calls her out. [/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Place of Residence:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]The house she grew up in, and where her father still lives, is [url=https://i.imgur.com/2O0tGus.jpeg]693 Miners Street[/url]. She is not currently staying there, however. She is living out of a motel room a couple miles outside of Pines Holler. The nightly rate is cheap and the continental breakfast is terrible but at least it gets HBO.[/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Family and Close Connections:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent][url=https://i.imgur.com/R4UGXUM.jpeg]George Patterson[/url] - Father. A Pines Holler local to the core. Eats at Lou's twice a week and has for the past...forever. Worked as a contractor, doing roofing and home repair jobs for the community. Never missed a Sunday church service. | FC: James Pickens Jr.

[url=https://i.imgur.com/VBlr7sx.jpeg]Sandra Patterson[/url] - Mother. Retired pediatric nurse that worked outside of Pines Holler. Considering picking up a part-time job now that money is tighter and things are costing more. Would rather finally start that dream of having her own garden instead. | FC: S. Epatha Merkerson[/indent]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7iNnsbG.gif[/img][/center]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Appearance:[/b][/color][/sub]
[list][*][color=E9ED40]Height:[/color] 5'8"
[*][color=E9ED40]Hair:[/color] Her hair is black and not just the color. Hair is quite important and Theresa takes it seriously. At the moment she has her curls in a half up half down style and last year she rocked boho braids for the better part of...the year. Her hair frames her face which benefits her expressive eyebrows that tend to talk more than she does.
[*][color=E9ED40]Eyes:[/color] Hazel 
[*][color=E9ED40]Body Type:[/color] Theresa was the definition of a late bloomer. Growing up she was somewhat squat and dumpy - the words of her extended family. But they weren't wrong. She wore unflattering, bulky clothes and was embarrassed easily by her teeth. But as she grew up she filled out, so to speak. She's lean, but not waifish and she is no longer embarrassed by her teeth which has massively helped her confidence. The awkward youthful gait is now a confident comfortable stride. What hasn't changed is how expressive she is with her face. Wide eyed blinks, open mouth stares, eyebrows that seem to have a life of their own. In a way, that's a charm all its own.
[*][color=E9ED40]Clothing Style:[/color] Gone are the days where Theresa wore baggy jeans and shirts and hiking boots and overalls; Theresa's sense of style has absolutely been influenced by her time in the city. At work she's known for her checkered suit jackets while in her casual life she enjoys wearing slacks as much as she does skirts and heels. Where before she used to hate dresses, now she quite loves them though she doubts she'll get to wear them while in Pines Holler. But denim jackets? Sleeveless button downs? She's all over that. The awkward bulky girl has become a little fashionable.
[*][color=E9ED40]Body Markings:[/color]She has her ears pierced and has since she was seventeen. No tattoos or scars but she does have a birthmark that vaguely looks like a hexagon on her right arm. 
[/list]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Personality:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]There's a confidence in Theresa that wasn't there before. While never the quiet girl, she was never really decisive and tended to go with the flow. But now she's found her voice and that voice has very little nice to say about the small town she used to call home. While not brusque, Theresa has a relatively short fuse for things that waste her time including and especially the nature of small town folk to take the highway to get to the point of an anecdote. It's not out of pocket to call Theresa a bit icy because of this. 

What Theresa has always been and continues to be is smart. But where she was just book smart, she's now a bit more streetwise even though sometimes there is the lingering difficulty in actually using that found voice to be heard by her co-workers and peers. It's not that she's still trying to get out of her shell, but rather that lingering youth anxieties have mutated into adult insecurities that she still needs to sort through. But she doesn't let that get in the way of doing her job, of which the intelligence has helped her become quite good at. 

Theresa lacks when it comes to humor. She knows humor and jokes but she just...doesn't quite know how to make people laugh and her attempts at telling jokes have gotten a grand total of two laughs in her life. And that's counting pity laughter. Theresa is someone that took to life in a town like Pines Holler very well but her time away has changed her and only for the worse. But that's fine with her, or so she says, because she never thought she'd come back and now that she has, she can at least maintain an air of smug superiority over the people who couldn't get out. Well...she'd never do that openly, of course.

Because deep down there's still part of her that has a fondness bordering on nostalgia for the place. Even if it's much smaller now that she knows what the grass is like on the other side. [/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]History:[/b][/color][/sub]
[indent]Theresa, or Tessa as she was known back then, lived in Pines Holler and grew up as a small town girl among small town folk that understood the idea of community. It helped that her father was and still is a pillar of the community. As a kid, Tessa always saw her father doing things like organizing town potlucks or making sure to say hello to everyone and always keeping an open door policy for the neighbors. Young Tessa spent more time reading in her room than socializing even though she wound up reading the same books multiple times due to not having many options. As she reached middle school age, though, Tessa found herself enjoying going down to the river at Paradise Falls and going fishing or laying in the back bed of her father's truck and looking up at the stars. She'd even tell people about the constellations if they gave her the chance to.

It seemed like Theresa would follow in the footsteps of her parents, specifically her mother, and get a job outside of town while still living and being part of the community. But that felt weirdly limiting to her, as if she should aim higher than spending her life in a place where everyone knew your business and the only entertainment for adults was going to a bar after working for scraps. It didn't matter how many times her father tried to tell her about the value of community, of treating your neighbor like family, for Theresa the goal was never just a small life and going to church on Sundays. 

So she left shortly after her nineteenth birthday. 

She went north. A small fish in an ocean of lights and action and rodents and street food. She got a degree, got an internship, landed a job, went on dates, broke up, lived fast as if she was making up for lost time. But despite having a job and an apartment within walking distance of a delicious Chinese restaurant, as Theresa entered her thirties she found herself wondering when life was going to be...fulfilling. The glitz and glamor of a professional career seemed to be what she wanted, but they don't tell you about the way her boss casually ignores her ideas but likes the same idea from a male coworker. Or the numerous people she matched with utterly torpedoing their chances by using words like 'exotic' or wanting to touch her hair. The job paid and all...but when she said hello to the man in the apartment next to her all she got was told to fuck off. 

It was better than going nowhere in the middle of nowhere, wasn't it? Of course it was. 

And then an opportunity presented itself. Her bosses were looking to expand down south. Plenty of land in smaller towns that could be turned to housing or infrastructure or leisure. Theresa submitted a name for consideration and was tasked with doing feasibility studies. The company she works for is very interested in acquiring land and making a nice profit. And all Theresa has to do is convince them that Pines Holler is the next slice of gold for developers and engineers. 

Maybe that's why she opted to stay in a hotel. It makes it easier to pretend like she's not going back home to try and kill the place that raised her. 

But surely Pines Holler welcomes its own back. Surely.[/indent]

[sub][color=E9ED40][b]Extra Facts // Headcannons:[/b][/color][/sub]
[list][*]Naturally, Theresa claims to be in favor of the expansion and alteration of Pines Holler because if there's profit to be made then that secures her job and with expansion comes more income for the town. Sure, some people might have to be relocated but...would anyone really  miss a trailer park? Or rows of houses where half the time the lights don't work? It's no longer the early 1900s so why not make the town more modern? More livable? Hell, why not let them experience the joys of a Starbucks? How can anyone be against change? With her familiarity, she truly believes she can be instrumental in turning Pines Holler into a place to be proud of rather than having to tell people in the city that she comes from "near North Carolina". 
[*]Theresa misses being able to see the stars. 
[*]She absolutely loves metal music. She once went to a metal show looking like she came from a pop show and managed to have a great time when she headbanged with the best of them. 
[*]Hasn't seen her parents since her twenty first birthday.
[*]Hasn't been back 'home' since the day she left. 
[*]Has become very, very good at lying. 
[*]Drives a Kia K4 GT-Line. It's not fancy but compared to the shitboxes she left behind? It might as well be.
[*]Has never gotten drunk and if social functions are at a bar, she orders virgin drinks.
[*]Still knows how to fish.[/list][/hider]