Aliases: Lady Morello, Star
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6"
Build: Slender, feminine
Skin: Soft olive
Hair: Extremely long, brunette
Eyes: Blue
Force Sensitive: Secretly, and she seems to have a strange resistance to (some) mental related Force Abilities
Appearance
No one can ever accuse Starla of being small, not more than literally. While physically being a small thing, the woman can fill a room with her presence. She stands tall, walks with purpose, and typically always has her business face on. A hardened expression, considering that the woman legitimately looks soft in all manners of the word. She is petite in frame, well rounded as a woman in all expressions of the term, and has smooth, delicate features - what can be seen at least. She has not gone through life without acquiring some scars along her body and soul, and each one has its own story as most scars do. Her eyes are a piercing blue color, typically always sharp to keep those around her in line, and the locks of her hair are long. The brunette locks cascade well past her waist and while only rarely found worn down, they begin to naturally curl loosely towards their lengthy ends.
Personality
Starla knows quiet well who and what she is. Others around her also seem to think they know of who and what she is - other than just a simple, successful business woman, and yet she remains a free bird; an innocent bystander among high society. Whispered about, but never convicted. There is never any proof, never any evidence to tie her to the criminal activity she's connected to. How she does it is a mystery, a secret only known to herself, and one she will ultimately take to the grave with her.
Being a leading woman in the Underground has made Starla hardened; she learned early on that mercy will get her nowhere, that understanding and a soft heart will only make her look weak. She had to work twice as hard to get to where she is, and continues to work twice as hard to remain there. That's not to say that she doesn't believe in rewards; loyalty to her is heavily rewarded. Having been one to watch the way this business works, she knows all too well the value of the people who stick with her.
To most, Starla is all business. Indifferent, calculating, perhaps even a little stern and/or cold. If you waste her time, she's going to make sure you know it. If you've wronged her, she's going to make sure everyone knows it. She's not above making a public example out of someone to keep the others in line. Beneath all of that, the Lady Morello is a woman. It's lonely at the top, after all, and she feels that each and every day. But, she'll die before she gives up her position at the top.
Characteristics
Strengths
- Ambitious
- Determined
- Silver Tongue
- Business Savvy
- Mental Fortitude
- Good With A Gun
Weaknesses
- Lonely
- No Physical Prowess
- No Combat/Physical Training
- Easily Physically Overpowered (If the chance arises)
History
It was no accident that Starla Morello developed into the woman that she is today. It's in her genes, and while her birth parents did their very, very best and hardest to take their only child and escape as far from the crime syndicate as they could? They did not run far enough. Dario Morello, boss at the time, had his daughter and (to him) lousy son-in-law hunted down. Unfortunately it lead to an altercation that killed his daughter, but his son-in-law and grandchild were brought back. At that point, the younger man was given an ultimatum, and wisely the man chose to live.
So Starla was raised among the underground. She was not a spoiled thing as she grew, but she was given all of the things she ever needed. Her grandfather believed in hard work, so if she wanted something, she learned at a young age to work for it. This stuck with her through her life as she aged, and slowly but surely she was let into the upper circle of things more and more. Never the dirty deeds, never the seedy deals, but the business aspect. How things were run, how to know when a deal was good and when it was a load of bull. The inner workings were all taught to her, and she soaked it up like a sponge.
Unfortunately, the seedier nature of the crime world caught up to her faster than anyone liked. As most things do, a business deal had gone wrong in House, and by the end of it Dario Morello - Starla's grandfather and greatest hero - was dead. Having been peeking in on the meeting, there had been no scream from the young woman, no panic, nothing more than a gasp. Then she had backtracked, collected a gun from desk in the next room, and met the offending shooter at the door as he tried to escape. She had of course been mocked; her petite size, the fact that she was a woman, and how she didn't have the brass to harm anyone.
The last of those words had barely finished leaving the man's lips as Starla pulled the trigger and shot the man in his throat. No silencer naturally alerted the right people, and from there it was all nothing more than a blur, for days, weeks even. Eventually weeks passed, and with her father missing in action, there was no one to step up and take Dario's place, no one but Starla. Admittedly she was hesitant, and for good reason. It had nothing to do with the dangers that came with such a place setting, no. Why would these men who had been loyal to her grandfather now follow her instead? She was still a child to many of them, never mind that she had grown right before their eyes over the years. Who would listen to her, who would obey any orders given? But what choice did she have, if she wanted her family name to live on?
So she took the seat, and as expected it was a struggle. It took years for Starla to build her own following. Yes, there are still members of the old House loyal to her, but it's now mostly comprised of her own making, members of her own choosing. And thus the curious, gleeful, prankster of a child had slowly grown into the cold, calculated, and ambitious woman that she is today. Years of making the harsh decisions, being the bad guy, all to keep herself from appearing weak to those down the chain - and it's worked. Starla is by no means weak, she is a force to be reckoned with both Underground and above, and she plans to remain as such for as long as she manages to stay alive.