Lauren Flowers

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Lauren Gabbro Lauren Flowers

Player Name	Cecilia L.
Relatives	Medusa(deceased) The Great Euryale(deceased) Percy Gabbro(deceased) Xenia Gabbro
Species	Gorgon "Jellicle" Ghoul
Gender	Female (she/her)
Height	5 ft 4 in
Eye Color	BD (Before Death): Light Nervous AD (After Death): Light Calculating

Lauren Flowers (she/her) was a member of the class of 2368 at Ravendean Preparatory School.

Physical Appearance

Lauren was described as having an average height with deep brown hair and light calculating eyes. She could usually be seen with her signature resting bitch face, though she would wear a smirk or a pout depending on who she was talking to at the moment. Her sense of style changed from day to day depending on her mood or her hairstyle but she always made sure that she accentuated her feminine curves and that she was pulled together. If a hair was out of place, it was meant to be so. She was never seen without cat-eye eyeliner, red lips, or false eyelashes, even when playing masculine characters in the school plays.

But she was not always this put together. When Lauren first moved to Ravendean during her Freshman year she would best be described as not even worth noticing. She was shy and tended to stay in the corners of rooms. Her nervous eyes barely looked up from her own clumsy toes and her hair, while rather ordinary, mostly resembled a dark pit of writhing snakes...without the cool snakes. If only she could have looked more like her grandmother!

Personality

As seen in the comments section of Lauren's social media, she was most often described as "high school drama queen", "bitch", or "#extra". Though her personality may have been viewed differently by each person she talked to. She became whoever she believed the other person wanted her to be or needed at that moment. A bitch? Done. Sweet friend who will lift you up and make you feel *magical*? Done!! Seductress? Done ;) Just like putting her cat-eye makeup on in the morning, it took practice and she felt that she had honed her fake personas perfectly.

At home, and with only a select few people, Lauren dropped her guard and showed herself. She was generally a kind person, though her anxiety and perfectionism made her self-obsessed. Her insecurities could rule her life and cause breakdowns, making her hide away in her comfort zones: the theater and her bedroom. She was close with her parents, especially her mom who she told everything to. She was Lauren's first friend and helped her understand the changes and power she could inflict on others. Lauren and her father drifted apart but she hoped she could still be close with him. They had their arguments and he could be stoney at times but she worried that she took their previous conversations for granite.

She was constantly trying to prove herself as someone worth noticing. From proving her powers to her grandmother (which failed and caused a lot of half stone plants to grow in their garden) to having people see her talent and respect her (which somehow caused her to be covered in pigs blood and blacklisted by the theater department). Every attempt at connection seemed to cause her embarrassment and ridicule.

Since dying Lauren felt her anxiety dim a little and then she was only fueled by revenge. Add in that strange hunger and Lauren became what everyone thought she was: the villain.

History

Lauren Gabbro was born just outside of Ravendean to her mother, a gorgon, and her father, a human. Her mother, Xenia, had moved away from Ravendean after graduating from Ravendean Prep to go to veterinary school and in search of a life where she could be "normal". She had lived her life in Ravendean as a disgrace to The Great Euryale's terrifying legacy. What great and powerful woman would want a daughter who tries to save lives instead of threatening them?

One night while at a bar with some of her friends Xenia met Percy Gabbro, a solar engineer. They fell in love and eloped two months later. It was only after their marriage that Xenia shared her mystical ancestry with him. He took it well, all things considered, until they went to visit Euryale and the rest of the clan for the first time. There he felt the powerful gaze of the matriarch and he could only meet her eye for one fleeting second in the hallway mirror as they were leaving. Xenia promised Percy that after that day they would not return except for the most important of holidays.

Their family grew a year later with the arrival of their bouncing baby girl. Xenia wanted her to have a normal sounding name and so tasked Percy with naming her. He chose the name of his great-grandmother and they both agreed Lauren Gabbro would be the perfect addition.

As years went on, Lauren grew up spending most of her time in her home or her local community theater. Her parents were both busy but they took the time to drive her back and forth to the theater and they tried to encourage her to audition when a new show was announced. Even though Lauren loved to sing and insisted on performing small plays and monologues for her parents in their living room, she kept herself to the dark of the backstage and tech booths. Her ability to go unnoticed even while standing in an otherwise empty room was an asset to her life backstage. When not at school, Lauren spent her free time exploring the theater. Whether it was trying on the beautiful costumes in the costume shop, practicing her one woman shows on the empty stage, or playing with the lighting board to make rainbows appear on the scrim, Lauren knew that this was her home.

That all changed when Euryale left her family estate and money to her only daughter Xenia. With a stipulation to her will, Euryale had made it so that the Gabbro family would need to move to Ravendean, enroll Lauren at Ravendean Prep, and stay there while Lauren was a student in order to get the full inheritance. Lauren had never heard her parents fighting more than the weeks leading up to their move. While her father could not stand being in a place with no sunlight, they needed the money as Xenia had been let go from the vet clinic and could not find another one after the incident. Four months earlier after a particularly aggressive pet-owner had screamed at Xenia, the man's mouth had been clamped closed and his joints had spontaneously seized up and seemed to freeze causing him to be carried from the clinic while he seemed to be trying to hum obscenities at her. Xenia could not stand to be back in Ravendean but relented.

So they moved. Xenia found a small storefront for sale and with the cash that her mother had left for their moving expenses, she bought it and set up her own vet clinic. Percy found the adjustment even worse than he imagined. He tried to drive into the city everyday to do his job but after a couple of weeks, and a few too many times pulling over to sleep on the side of the road after the traffic, Percy decided to quit for the four years that they would be there. They now owned the house so would not have to pay rent and Xenia's business was becoming quite popular, so he could relax and be a part of the community and Lauren's life.

Lauren started at Ravendean Prep on the first day of Freshman year. She stuck to the back of the class, the seat closest to the door, and rarely spoke to the other students for the first month. She thought about signing up for different clubs but she was too slow for the champion Chess team, too uncreative for the TTRPG club, and too awkward to be a cheerleader. Finally one day Lauren walked by the audition sign-up sheet for the Fall Musical: Hello Dolly! She took a deep breath and signed up. The next day at the auditions she regretted her decision immensely and sat on top of her shaking hands in the waiting area as she nervously read over her sides and tried to remember the words to her song. She felt her breath getting caught in her throat and was a few short seconds from running out of the room when a statuesque blonde sat down next to her and placed her hand on Lauren's shoulder. She introduced herself as Electra, no last name, and she was a senior. She was already so cool. Electra's eyes dazzled Lauren and she could not help but be swept up by this amazing creature. Electra helped calm Lauren's nerves and taught her good breathing techniques. Because of Electra's help, Lauren was cast as Dolly's understudy which meant that Lauren was contractually obligated to follow around and talk to Electra, who was of course cast as Dolly! (Electra was a little annoyed that a freshman was her understudy but brushed it away because Lauren really was like a little puppy following her around and laughing at everything she said. She couldn't pay people to be that attentive!) That year after many makeovers and lessons, Electra transformed Lauren from a wallflower who was not even worth noticing to a blooming flower. Thus Lauren Flowers was born.

Lauren cried in the bathroom that first day of Sophomore year because Electra was no longer there to be her rock. But then she stepped up to the mirrors and heard Electra's lilting song:

"Kitty cat's who hide in corners, never get mittens or roses. At their funerals no mourners so alone the casket closes."

Lauren looked at her reflection, mascara running down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and then grabbed a towel from the shelf and wiped off the remnants of her tears. She calmly reapplied her mascara and lipstick. Finally she fluffed her hair and gave her reflection a wink and a kiss. She was going to rule this school.

Thankfully she partially got her wish, Sofia disappeared! Now Lauren would have no competition in her pursuit of the lead roles. She was able to get the leads in the theater department but her awkward social skills and too confident strut around the school kept the students from getting too close to her. She may have been growing in her stardom, finally being appreciated for her voice and acting talents, but she had no friends. She thought about it and realized that Electra didn't seem to have any friends when she graduated, well except for Lauren. But Electra had been the star in every one of the productions and she seemed happy about it! Maybe friends were not important. Maybe being alone was okay.

She was not just alone at school. One night after a long rehearsal Lauren came home to her mother weeping in the living room. She was clinging to her father's favorite chair. Lauren ran to her mother and saw that Xenia was not holding the chair, she was holding a sculpture that looked an awful lot like Lauren's father. As she got closer she saw that the sculpture had open eyes that looked terrified and it's mouth was parted as if starting to scream. Her mother looked up at her and just kept muttering, "I am so sorry. It was an accident. I did not mean to." Lauren would later learn that her parents had been fighting about living in Ravendean again and after a stressful day at the clinic her mother could not control her powers. Her father was dead.

They never told anyone. Both Xenia and Lauren would place flowers weekly next to Percy's prone figure still lounging in his favorite chair as they shared stories of their lives with him.

Junior Year

Charity Karaoke: Charlie, Diana, Emmy, Robin, Vaeth

Sofia returned and all the attention that Lauren had received for her talents veered away and back to the "fantastic" Sofia. Lauren decided to let Sofia know who the top dog was and that she would "help" her out in whatever way she could.

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"How do we know if [Sofia] is still talented? I mean she could have lost all of it in whatever treehouse she has been holed up in for the last year! She thinks she can get on my good side with a little bit of sex? She will learn, anything can happen under those big stage lights."

Lauren was very nervous about the Romeo and Juliet audition, especially after Mistletoe had accepted her changes to the theme and so hid away during homeroom in the costume shop running her monologue over and over and over and over.

After preparing for hours on her karaoke track and outfit Lauren felt so confident that she would show the whole school her talent and they would forget about Sofia and finally love Lauren and appreciate her. She felt her hands shaking just like that audition two years ago but then she heard Electra's tips and tricks in her head, calming her down. "Just be Electra. You will show them how amazing you are if you just be Electra." So Lauren straightened her spine and walked head high towards the stage. As she started her number she could tell that she had the audience in the palm of her hand. Then a drop of liquid dropped on her shoulder. She figured it was just the condensation of the heat of the room on the ceiling finally falling, so she continued her song. Then in one of her favorite parts of the song her body was suddenly covered with blood. Her throat closed up and she felt she could not breathe with the scent of it filling her nostrils and her mouth. She gagged and ran towards the bathroom hoping to make it there before she showed any little ounce of weakness in front of her audience. They were still hers. This was just a minor setback. But when she saw her reflection shining back at her the tears instantly came, clearing bloody tracks on her cheeks as they fell. Lauren tried to chant Electra's songs to herself and take deep breaths but each time she felt the need to gag again and she could not stand it. She grabbed as many paper towels as possible and rubbed at her bloody face and arms trying to get enough off that she could leave and go home where she could be alone. After she got home and went through her shower routine three times, she stepped out and leaned over to get a little bit of blood that had stuck to the side of her mouth. Lauren caught her eyes in the reflection again. They were steelier than she had ever seen them before. She almost didn't recognize the woman in front of her who picked up her deep red lipstick; almost the exact same color as the blood that had earlier stained her body. She uncapped the lipstick and carefully, methodically, applied it. After giving this new woman a wink and blowing a kiss in her direction, Lauren went to bed planning her just revenge.

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"I am going to find out who did this. I am not going to be Electra anymore. Lauren Flowers is more than enough to handle this situation. Electra will cower before the creature that I will become. Just let anyone try and hurt me in the future. My retribution will be swift....and smelly."

Auditions, Death, and Zoob's Party: James, Jason, Sam, Sofia, Zoob

The next morning Lauren spoke to her mother and told her what had happened at karaoke. After seeing her daughter come home soaked in blood, Xenia counselled her on how to get revenge on her bullies. Lauren had spotted Jason lurking backstage before the karaoke night started then she remembered how during her number he had leaned over to Sofia and whispered something to her. Sharing this news with Xenia they decided spoiled milk would work best as it is easy enough to come by on short notice and it is just gross. Xenia drove both of them to the market and picked up the milk that was about to be thrown out and a burner phone. They parked as close to the bleachers as they could and filled up one of the spare cleaning buckets from the clinic with the milk and Lauren set up shop at the top of the bleachers prepping her trap for Jason. She started to rethink her plan as Jason had been a wonderful asset to the tech crew and they had never had any problems before last night. But then it dawned on her: Sofia had probably asked Jason to pour the blood on her to undermine Lauren's chances at the lead!

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"Stupid Sofia with her friends and her confidence and her whole 'Who me? *giggle* No I don't have a stitch of makeup on but I still look ethereally beautiful' thing going on!!! Why did she have to come back?? Everything was going great and then SHE did mind-tricks on everyone to hate me!!!"

Lauren took a deep breath then texted Jason. Once she doused Jason with a taste of his own medicine she felt lighter and happier than she had felt in days. She decided to get to work again on her lines and rehearsing her monologue for the auditions later that day. She felt confident after her revenge and after studying and preparing for weeks for this role. She knew that she would be Juliet. She was the "perfect" Juliet. She was perfect in general. She looked up at the mirrors in the green room where she had holed herself up to practice and smiled. This was her shot to show them all that she was the best and then they would all want to be friends with her. They would finally love her. They would finally accept her.

Well that didn't go as planned.

After she saw the cast list, Lauren immediately walked out of the school and went straight to her car. She shut herself in and started driving. She almost didn't see the road through her tears and her red vision.

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"JAMES AS JULIET?? Are you fucking kidding me? And of course fucking Sofia is Romeo! What the actual fuck is happening with Mistletoe?"

She found herself in a big city, the sun was shining so bright through the windshield she had to search for her sunglasses. Thankfully her mom was more prepared and kept a couple pairs in the glovebox. After placing them over her sore eyes, Lauren parked and laid her head down on the steering wheel, she felt her cheeks become covered with tears.

She stayed that way so long that when she next lifted her head it was dark. For a couple of seconds Lauren thought she had imagined the whole day and she was actually just in Ravendean, about to start her school day. But then she saw strangers milling all around her car. No. It can't have all been real. She ripped off the sunglasses and got out of the car, making her way confidently towards the closest club. If the people at her school wouldn't appreciate her, she would find others who would.

She smiled as she strutted closer to the bouncer and he lifted the rope for her, letting her pass by easily. Lauren felt disgusted at the look she could feel boring into her back from him as she slunk into the pulsing club but at least it was attention. She made her way to the dance floor and took up residence in the middle, moving her body slowly and surely. Sure enough, soon she was surrounded by eager fans of all types. She smiled and her teeth shone under the bright lights.

Hours later after too many drinks, Lauren found herself sitting with a crowd on the roof. She felt so light and free and beloved by this group. They all kept referring to her and asking her opinion and actually listening to what she said. She could just be Lauren and talk. These people were her people. They were her friends even. Whatever their names were.

Eventually someone opened the door to the roof, and the group could hear the latest dance songs filtering into the open sky. Her new roof friends decided to have their own private dance party. Someone should have reminded them of the safety hazards of dancing on top of the roof. Especially Lauren.

One second she was smiling and laughing with a girl who she thought was named something like Jewel or June and the next the air opened up under her feet.

She watched Jewel or June or Julie start to spin away from her. Lauren tried to catch her eye but her view was quickly facing the sky.

She was falling.

Why was she falling?

Was she asleep and this was one of those dreams where you jerk awake?

She laughed.

But why wasn't she jerking awake?

Tears that she did not think she still had inside of her starting pouring out of her eyes again.

She saw them floating towards the sky like backwards rain.

"Well, Juliet I will lie with thee tonight."

She watched as the stars started peeking out from behind the clouds as if to watch the spectacle that was going to be her death.

"I defy you, stars"

She thought about calling out for help, but who would care? She didn't have any friends. No one liked her. In fact they all plotted against her. They hated her.

They caused this to happen.

Her tears stopped and she became resolved.

"A plague on all your houses."

The next thing Lauren saw was a light that was ever changing, almost like a strong LED stage light flashing straight into her eyes. Once second it was bright white and the next a bright red appeared. Their light seemed to be battling over her bathing her in the heat of both. Suddenly they moved and focused, joining together and becoming a light pink. A light pink that spread all over her body until it melted into a purple and finally a cold light blue. Lauren's body was suddenly devoid of all warmth, she felt like ice, it was as if she had been stuck in the freezer at the vet clinic for a week. Her limbs still moved but everything felt slightly stilted like she needed to stretch to get her blood moving again.

She tried to move her arm and realized she was back on the ground. Now the streetlight was the only bright light she could see. She stood up and found familiar eyes staring back at her. Vinny? The drug dealer from school?

She cocked her head to the side, then shrugged, brushed her short skirt off, and grabbed her keys from off the ground next to her.

The ground was covered in her blood.

But she didn't care about that anymore. She had a new mission.

She sauntered away, throwing a wink over her shoulder towards Vinny.

After getting home Lauren took a long shower making sure to get all of the blood off of her. She would have to throw away the outfit she had worn to the city, pity too as it had been one of her favorites. After putting on a face mask she tucked herself into bed, only to see those glaring lights in her dreams.

The next morning, Lauren checked her wound in the mirror still marveling at the thought that she had died last night. At the breakfast table Xenia turned to Lauren, and asked her why her clothes had been so bloody when she had come home the night before. Lauren took a breath and shared the story with her mother, after all she did not fully understand why and maybe her mother had some advice. Maybe there was some kind of regeneration thing in their family's myths? Her mother cried as she heard the story. Whatever had brought Lauren back, Xenia would be thankful for it until the day she died. When Lauren dropped her mother at work, Xenia wrapped her in a big hug almost fearful of letting go.

On her drive to school Lauren could not help thinking that maybe she was different than her mom. Her family's powers had never really surfaced and when they had they were only half right. Maybe she was a monster. Was there something on her dad's side that caused this? It wasn't like she could ask him now. Lauren pulled into the school parking lot and only then did she remember the embarrassing casting decisions from the day before. How could she show her face? They would all be laughing at her! Maybe she should just go home. No! She would not be pushed down by some bullies, not after she had worked so hard to become a stronger Lauren than before! She threw back her shoulders, pasted a smile on her face, and stepped out of her car.

She made it all the way to her locker before she saw the new star of the show parading down the hallway with his new fans. She felt rage bubbling inside of her stronger than ever before, red filled her vision and she blindly reached for her books in her locker. Somehow she made it to class but she may have snarled at a couple freshmen who were praising James along the way.

Seeing all the praise be heaped on undeserving creatures like Sofia and James made Lauren feel so angry that she put her head down on her desk in order to calm her thoughts. Take deep breaths. Just get through today. From over her shoulder she heard someone else congratulate James on his "great" audition.

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"I saw James' audition, and even calling it that was being kind, he barely knew the words and tripped over the emotion and wit of Juliet! He made her seem flat and plain. How could Mistletoe not see that? How did everything fall to shambles so quickly? Sofia must have paid her off. Sofia is definitely behind this act of injustice."

While Lauren was deciding whether to attack James or bolt from the classroom, she heard Zoob asking her about going to his party. She glanced up and met his eyes. She had never really talked to him, too busy with theater and not willing to do drugs in order to help her performance (unlike Sofia probably), but he seemed genuine in his request that she go to his party. He wasn't bad on the eyes either, maybe she would go to the party. It would be a good activity to distract from everything else.

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"How does one cover up a wound without worrying that it will bleed out over your clothes? Asking for a friend."

After Lauren promised her mother that she would not come home covered in blood again and that she would be safe, she made her way to the theater. As she stepped through the doors she took a deep breath, the dusty scent of theaters being a favorite of hers. But she was also assaulted with the smell of so many bodies. Young bodies pumping with blood. What was this? She shook her head, pulled out her shiniest smile, and joined the group that was dancing.

As the night went on Lauren felt overpowered by the scent of everyone around her and she snuck off to the side, where she met up with Zoob. He seemed even cuter in his element! And hearing that he was trying to make sure everyone was having a good time made Lauren feel warm and fuzzy. This guy cared, like really cared, about other people. She knew she had a reputation at school so she extended the offer that so many others had taken up. It was her way of sharing herself with others and helping them out. One of these days there might be some actual emotion behind it but if it took some sex to get this guy to let his hair down, why not? And Lauren figured she would have some fun as well.

After seeing Zoob's opening speech, with his adorable hat puns, Lauren could tell that something was off. When they finally met up again and he took her up on her earlier offer, she shook back her hair, smirked, and agreed.

After they were done Lauren was reeling with how different this time felt, she had to make sure that this meant something more to him as well. When he responded that she was not just a pity partner and needed someone to be there for him too, Lauren felt herself melting. Around Zoob, the walls that she held up around everyone else seemed to be burning down faster than the Globe theater during a production of Henry VIII.

When he left again she rejoined the party but she felt much better than earlier in the day. The production was still at the back of her head but she did not feel like such a monster. Someone noticed her and wanted her to notice them. She felt herself involuntarily smiling at all the people around her and did not mind when some of the group suggested playing spin the bottle. She felt like herself again, shyly glancing up at a sweet boy hoping she would get to kiss him.

Later while dancing, Lauren spotted Jason and Peter having a small fight on the side of the room. Peter kept motioning towards Sofia and Lauren's interest was officially peaked. What was happening now? A love triangle? Lauren focused in and saw Peter walk purposefully over to Sofia after that could not hear what was being said over the music but she saw Sofia lean into Peter and then they both rushed outside. Lauren looked over to where Peter had been standing but he was no longer there.

She glanced around to see if anyone else noticed and she began to wonder where their host went. She had not seen him in quite some time. Just then the lights and sound cut out. They were plunged into darkness and silence for a second before people started freaking out.

Lauren jumped at the sound of Sam trying to rally a group of people to play some kind of game? What the heck was happening?

She followed them to the game room, very suspicious of Sam being so nice after being the quiet loner kid in the back of the class for most of the year. When they got down there, Sam brought out a Ouija board and was talking to something? Or someone? Lauren was so confused and then even more shocked when she received a text from Zoob asking her to notice him. Notice him? Where was he? But she knew how hard it was to ask for help from others and went with faith. When she heard Sam mumble something about Zoob, she pounced, whatever Sam was up to she was hurting Zoob. She tackled her to the ground, also accidentally taking down Emmy, seeing as she and Sam seemed to be attached by the lips, and then she saw Zoob just....appear? Had he been hiding behind something? Lauren looked around the room trying to figure out what could have happened. Then he was asking what his name was and where he was. Lauren glared at Sam. Apparently Lauren could not have nice things.

Just as quickly as he had appeared, Sam and James were running out of the building. Lauren was still trying to piece together what had just happened and was a second too late to catch them. When she finally made it outside, she bent over trying to get some breath as running was not her cardio of choice. As her breaths came in her mouth tasted like iron and her nostrils were filled with the smell of blood again. But this time it did not make her want to gag, she breathed it in like a new scented candle. It smelled delicious. She felt her nose pulling her towards the bushes but she quickly covered her nose and rushed to her car. Maybe there was a monster inside of her but she would not indulge it. Also she had promised her mother to not come home covered in blood, better leave before she broke it.

Homecoming: Castor, Claude, Lauren, Peter, Vinny

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"They all deserve what is coming for them. They need to understand what it feels like to be humiliated. What it feels like to have the school turn against them. And I have something special in mind for Sofia. Just try and stop me."

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