Joan Thomas

Joan Thomas is a seemingly normal woman living in New York City. She isn't at all well know, but does race motorcycles.

Her real name is Amy Farnsworth, but that was legally changed to Joan when she was seventeen.

Background
Amy was born into a moderately sized cult, under the iron grip of one Douglas Larson. They lived in Missouri, away from prying eyes, in a farming compound out in the middle of no where. High fences and thick woodlands where no one went. Based off the Christian religion, Douglas set himself up as the next Messiah. On farm grounds his word was law. Even as the word kept getting stranger and stranger. He fathered a great many children on the group's women, and lorded over everyone like a king. Not to say that life was all bad. Thankfully Doug spent most of his time in seclusion by the time Amy was growing up, leaving the cult members to run the daily affairs of the farm. Nor was she one of Doug's children. In spite of the fact her mother was expected to spend the occasional night with their savior, Amy was quite properly born in wedlock to her mother's husband. She did have at least one half brother from Doug however. For the most part her upbringing was a good one. Taught firm values of right and wrong, she believed in her god on earth, and did as she was told. Really, in spite of the setting you could almost say that her upbringing was normal. Solid family, very solid community.. it was just a strange community, and incredibly sheltered. They weren't allowed tv, or music out side of church, but Amy knew nothing outside of what she was taught. She had never been outside of the farm to learn. Nor was she taught history. While allowed to read and write thanks to her father, Amy was ignorant of the world outside. Until it that world intruded. Some new converts joined, and this pulled Doug out of his hiding for a while. Amy was kept away from Doug, for she was pretty and her parents didn't want her to quite yet receive Doug's 'blessing'. These new converts began speaking of the outside world, and a new thing.. mutants. Doug was immediately fascinated. He listened, thought, and then began speaking out against them. It didn't matter that he didn't know where mutants came from, or what they were really like.. no Doug needed to keep the focus of his family where he wanted it. With this Doug began speaking out against mutants. They were of the devil, and they were going to do their best to take down the family! He soon had his most faithful frothing mad and wanting revenge. Amy's parents, being more level headed than some (For all this is questionable considering the cult they belonged to.), kept at the edges of it all. They especially kept their children out of it. Until one of Amy's friends started changing. The boy began to turn red, and his eyes began to glow. As much as he tried to hide it, and before he could run away, he was found out and brought to Doug. The family killed him that very night in a large spectacle. See? The mutants were coming! The devil was turning the family against itself! Devastated, Amy found herself very confused. She knew what the adults were telling her, but she also knew her friend. He would never have hurt anyone. He was more afraid than anything else. All the boy wanted to do was get away and go somewhere safe. Why did he have to die? Were mutants really that bad? It wasn't long before the witch hunts began. Or rather mutant hunts. Only one poor soul was found to be a mutant, but the hunts tore the family into pieces. It took more than a year for things to even begin to heal emotionally, and even so little was the same any more socially. People didn't congregate as they did, and Doug had to take steps to ensure that peace reigned. The evil mutants were gone! The family was the way it should be again. As per Doug's orders the group met every night in prayer, and after a few months of forcing it down people's throats things calmed. Until Amy discovered her strength. Finding out quite by chance, and by lifting the back end of a cow, the fifteen year old had no idea what it meant at first. A few days of experimenting, and suddenly Amy was terrified. Mutant. There was only one thing she could do or this would not only get her dead, but tear the community apart again. Amy packed a few things and fled. She nearly got across Illinois before she was taken in by the police for being a minor. A simple stubborn refusal to talk, and a lack of any ID, kept her from being sent back to Missouri. No one knew her, where she was from, or what made her run away, so they put her in the foster care system. It was a huge shock for the girl. At first she was determined to run away again, but that faded quickly. Placed in very normal homes, for all she never stayed in many long, the real world proved a huge shock to the girl. Television, school, friends.. normal things, normal people, and an entire lack of weirdness. It wasn't long before she was enjoying herself. Amy didn't make trouble for her foster caregivers. No, even with their rules, it was a very easier, far more understandable life than what she had grown up with. The only thing she didn't do was tell about her past. Amy told no one about the family in Missouri. Things were going well well until she was seventeen. Still in specialized classes, but high school, Amy had been turned into a very normal teenager. She was happy. This is of course when her cousins found her. Doug had sent two of his best out looking for the girl. It had taken them two years, but they found her. Her foster parents were murdered by the pair, and Amy would have been too if she weren't invulnerable. Discovering it by being unharmed by a shotgun blast, Amy used her super strength and scared the two off. While no one besides the pair witnessed this, thankfully, the neighborhood where she lived had seen those cousins break into the house. Finally Amy came to tell the police about the family. She was terrified, and grieving. Uncertain of what to do, the passed the girl off to the FBI since the cousins had crossed state lines in searching for her. The FBI put her in witness protection. While they had no solid proof it was the cousins, and those two couldn't be found, they knew they had to keep tabs on the girl somehow. So they changed her name to Joan, and shipped her across country to New York. There Joan was placed with another foster family to finish high school. While it took months, the girl finally stopped looking over her shoulder, and began living again. Joan has since then graduated high school, but has no interest in college. Not after discovering motorcycle racing. This is a fairly new activity for Joan, for all that she's loved motorcycles for as long as she can remember, and she's more determined to join the racing circuits in some manner. Having saved money for a couple of years, the young woman even bought a fairly expensive bike. She makes good money playing with stocks, and that's where it went. (Well, the bike she bought cost 25k, and she put a large down payment on it instead of buying it outright, but that doesn't change that she loves it.) It's been a year since graduation and Joan works part time at a grocery store near where she lives. The memory of her family still looking for her lurks, but she knows she can't give up living for that.

Personality
Patient

Just one of those things. Joan isn't a saint, but she's patient just the same. Patient enough to wait a couple hours without much fidgeting, to deal with troublesome children without yelling, and more than patient enough to listen to people's problems. There's no hurry to life, and you can take the time to smell the flowers. This isn't to say she's slow about things, or lazy. Just not prone to getting frustrated when things don't immediately work. Do things right the first time, even if it means taking extra time.

Practical yet silly

Being responsible is something that is very important, and Joan understands this and believes in it rather strongly, but at the same time.. there are simply points in life where you need to be silly. Throw it all to the winds and make a fool of yourself. Joan rides her shopping cart down the slope of the store to her car, she stops the pick the flowers in other people’s lots, races motorcycles on weekends, and she makes faces at kids through windows. All the same she works, supports herself, and makes sure all of the bills are paid on time. Even with being silly she doesn’t forget, or put off, the things that need tending.

Guarded

Due to her upbringing, and her escape from a cult, Joan doesn't talk about this. Her family is a non topic, and even if she didn't have to protect her new identity, she wouldn't speak of them. Ashamed of her family, truly bothered by their radical world view, the more she learned of the truth behind the cult, the more disturbed she was by it. Another insane man convincing people that he was god reborn, then abusing their every trust. The woman keeps her cards close as it were.

Self Assured

Running away taught Joan to stand up for herself. Doesn't hurt that she's invulnerable and beautiful. She knows she can try for what she wants if she wants to. No need to hesitate or be ashamed. This doesn't mean Joan is extroverted. She's hardly that. Won't be shouting off the rooftops, or doing things to earn the spotlight, but just the same she's comfortable with who and what she is. Even in being a mutant.

Simple tastes

Raised with only the bare basics of life, having to earn her daily meal, Joan kept that even in the real world. Excess is all around her, but she doesn't try for much of it. Instead, she enjoys simple things. A low cost home cooked meal, watching the sunset, enjoying coffee with friends.. this one isn't an expensive date by any means.

Gets Things Done

Joan doesn't think of herself as a super hero by any stretch of the imagination, but like a lot of women raised as she was, if something needs to be done.. she does it. No matter how dirty, nasty, or otherwise, if there is no one else who can get the job done, Joan will roll up her sleeves, set her jaw and get to work. No complaints, no bitching about how life is unfair, it simply gets done. It directs back to her practical trait. No point in throwing fits about something you can’t change.