Max Rutherford | Pika

Character Name
Max Rutherford

I Agree
Yes

Has this character appeared in a previous lore?
Yes

Age
38

Blood Type
O+

Personality
Max's personality can most easily be described as fiery and rash. She has terrible impulse control and finds it difficult to take the feelings of others into account. In fact, she tends to show little to no interest in things that don't provide her with any gain. She will constantly disregard the opinions of others and act on her own, despite the risk it may bring to herself. It's extremely difficult for her to work with groups until she forms a bond with them. Even then, she's a hit or miss.

Max is a recovering heroin addict. Although, recovering may be putting it lightly. Without heroin, she's found herself drawn to other drugs to fill the void. But it isn't the same. She's more irritable than ever. She is incredibly likely to lash out at others and has taken to closing herself off emotionally to wallow in her own shortcomings. Alcohol and cigarettes are her other vices. The longer she goes without them, the shorter her temper becomes. She's a ticking time bomb.

Deep down, Max is suffering from intense self-hatred—not like she would admit that to anyone. The abuse and neglect she suffered in her childhood have left her a shell of a person. She's attempting to recover, though only seems to be slipping further and further into despair.

Character Motivations
Max's only motivation is her own survival. Well, that and finding her next high. The Coalition just makes it all that much easier. Gone are her hopes of piecing back together her fragmented and broken relationships. It doesn't matter now. It's her against the world, and she isn't about to back down. She won't go down without a fight.

Physical Appearance
Max stands at a height of about 5'7'' with a fairly fit build. Her hair, which has grown out to be choppy and gnarled, is dark brown. She has light brown eyes and a fairly pale complexion, aside from the freckles which are lightly scattered on her cheeks. She's typically seen with a snarky grin or a distant look. There are various scars scattered all along her arms and her palms are fairly callused.

Character Image Link


Mechanical Occupation
Unemployed

In-Character Occupation
CPF Ranger

Biography
Maxine Rutherford was born to Franklin and Linda Rutherford on September 29, 1990, in Portland, Oregon. In her early days, Max was an energetic and cheerful girl. She’d spend all her days running around outside with her friends. Her family was incredibly close-knit—Max would spend more time with her parents than anyone else. The Rutherfords held movie and game nights weekly which Max would always look forward to with immense excitement. She loved her parents, and her parents loved her. The Rutherfords truly looked like the picture-perfect family. At least, that was how it seemed from an outside perspective.

Frank and Linda had been having financial troubles for years. Not a word of this was ever mentioned to Max—they didn’t want to burden their young daughter with their stress. Not like she would have understood, anyway. In 1996, they moved to West Point, Kentucky after foreclosing on their home. They saw it as a new beginning; however, their financial issues persisted. The stress of it all became too much to bear. Around the time Max turned nine, Frank and Linda began to file for a divorce.

Money wasn’t the only thing that led to their decision. Even before marrying Linda in 1988, Frank had struggled with alcohol addiction. He was a callous, insensitive man who put up a facade for the sake of his daughter. He had always fought with Linda; however, these fights grew far more frequent as money grew tighter and Frank began to drink more and more. He would spend his nights out at bars, returning home in the early hours of the morning dazed and aggressive. Max’s parents did everything they could to hide this cruel reality from her, though it became apparent that they couldn’t keep it a secret forever as things became worse.

2000. Max was 10 years old. Frank arrived late to work one morning, incredibly hungover from a night of drinking. That very same day, his company laid him off due to budget cuts. Frank returned home infuriated and immediately began drinking again. He had down half a six-pack of beer by the time Linda walked in and found him slumped over on the couch. She screamed at him, telling him that he couldn’t continue to do this for the sake of their entire family.

It was a fight worse than any they had ever had before. So horrible, in fact, that Max was woken up and wandered downstairs, startled and curious. She stood there, at the top of the stairwell, and watched in complete and utter horror as her father smashed her mother’s head in with a metal baseball bat. Linda collapsed to the ground, a pool of her own blood soaking into the white carpet. There was no saving her.
Max never went to the police, mainly due to the fear that her father would hurt her too if she were to turn him in. Linda’s death was covered up as an accident and no investigation was ever held. From that day on, the cheerful and eccentric Maxine Rutherford everyone had known and loved was gone.

Frank had begun to drink heavily on a daily basis ever since then. He neglected his duties as a father, leaving Max to fend for herself. She was severely depressed all throughout middle school, plagued with intense self-hatred and constant suicidal thoughts. All of her fear ultimately turned into anger. She completely resented her father for what he did and what he had become. Regrettably, Max had picked up smoking and drinking by the time she was 13. She didn’t particularly enjoy it, but it helped to take the edge off. It made life significantly more bearable for her. By the time high school came around, Max thoroughly believed that she would never get anywhere in life. Everything seemed bleak to her. Until she met Grace Harvey.

Grace was a kind and compassionate girl. She seemed to always have her head buried in a book and was incredibly diligent about her studies. She had dreams of becoming a nurse practitioner and worked hard each and every day to get there. Grace was, to put it bluntly, the polar opposite of Max. And yet, somehow, that drew Max to her.

It didn’t take long for Max to fall for Grace. She listened to her without complaint. She genuinely seemed to care about her. Grace showed more kindness to Max than she had ever received in… years. The two began dating in the middle of their freshman year. It finally seemed as if things were looking up for the girl.

In her junior year, Max began using heroin after being introduced to it at a party by her friend Justin. She quickly became dependent on the drug, going as far as to steal money from others in order to acquire it. Max had never been big on keeping up with schoolwork before, but after she began using she barely did anything at school, even going as far as to outright skip. Grace could clearly see that Max slipping, but she found herself unable to do anything to help her.

As time went on, Max grew to be verbally and emotionally abusive toward Grace. She would become violent if Grace upset her in even the slightest way. The last thing Max had ever wanted was to become like her father. And yet, as she grew older, she came to realize that she really was no better than him. She was treating Grace the exact same way Frank had treated Linda.

Near the end of their senior year, Max took Grace to a party at her friend’s house. While there, she drank very heavily. Although this was nothing new for Max, it perturbed Grace greatly. They were about to graduate, and yet Max was making no effort to better herself. Despite having been together for three years, Grace knew that she couldn’t spend her life with Max if she was going to be like this. And so she approached her and suggested they break up. In her drunken state, Max had almost no control over her emotions. She blew up at Grace and attempted to have sex with her right then and there, only to be shoved off. Grace stormed off and Max was left all alone to brood.

Max never finished high school. She refused to go back, for she couldn’t bring herself to accept what had happened. Grace’s family moved away soon after she graduated. Max never saw her again. Her father was murdered in a bar fight a few months later, but Max didn’t mourn. If anything, it was an escape from his abuse. She was finally free to live her own life. She worked multiple odd jobs on and off, picking up a few trade skills, but could never find anything she enjoyed.

At 19, Max packed her bags and moved to Fort Holly, Texas. She got a job in construction—fairly strenuous, but it paid well enough for Max to afford her drugs. She rented a small apartment—not much more than a tiny kitchen, a couch, and a bed. She’d go out to bars most nights, sometimes hookup with girls—though nothing serious ever came out of it. That was her life. Monotonous and bland. She kept with this routine right up until the epidemic began, four years later.

The end of the world meant no more drugs for Max. And no more drugs meant a horrible, grueling period of withdrawal. She was exhausted and puking for days on end. She developed a horrible fever and seemed to be constantly sweating. She was sure she was going to die. And she was ready to when Holly Whittaker found her slumped over in the back of a hotel lobby.

Holly helped Max to recover from her withdrawal and finally kick the habit. For the first time in years, someone seemed to genuinely care about her. And that made Max ecstatic. The two decided to stick together. She thought it would be forever. She genuinely believed that she and Holly had a connection. Something real. Max had always been one to put herself before others, but for once she finally had someone she wanted to protect. Someone that she didn’t want to lose, even If it meant losing her own life. But, of course, all good things had to come to an end.

Things derailed fairly quickly. The two got into an argument. Something small. Something petty. Max was being too reckless; Holly was being too harsh; Max wasn’t respecting her. They went back and forth for what seemed like hours until Holly had finally had enough. She stormed off. Max couldn’t bring herself to go after her. It was almost exactly like the day on the steps with Grace. She was weak. Again.

Max never saw Holly again. She found her body a few days later, lifeless, torn apart. She didn’t cry. She gave herself a day to mourn, then kept on trekking. That’s all she could do. The world was ending—there was no time to be sad. Being sad meant being weak. Mourning meant being off her guard. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t.

Her perception of time had become fairly skewed. Things could have started to crumble days, weeks, months ago. She couldn’t care less. Her entire life had been miserable—what difference did it make? Max continued on, trudging across the American farmlands.

At some point, she reached Monroe County. Her intention was to cross the border into Canada, to start a new life. When she came across the CPF, however, those plans changed. The prospect of joining the Coalition was one that Max welcomed with open arms, and she ended up fitting right in. Her rough, antagonistic attitude ultimately sparked constant fights between her and her fellow members, but it was nothing she wasn’t used to.
She lived her days in a small apartment in Pittsford; it was the most she could afford with her meager funds. Being a ranger paid well, but inevitably it was all spent on drugs and alcohol, the only things that truly made Max feel alive. She had fallen right back into the same routine she had as a teen. There were far too many mornings that she found herself waking up on the floor of her apartment, hungover, a half-eaten Pittsburger, and a dried-up puke stain on the carpet beside her. Alas, that was her life.

Despite her shortcomings and vices, Max managed to do her job just about as well as any other ranger. She could fight; she could shoot; she could follow orders when they’re given. She had even learned how to ride a horse, something she had never even imagined. She and her horse Spitfire were an unstoppable duo. In her mind, at least.

Before she knew it, more than a decade had passed. Max had become an incredibly established member of the Coalition. That didn’t stop her from being her same old self, though. Even after all this time, at nearly 40, she was still Max. The hot-headed, junkie woman who couldn’t go a day without a drink. She had just accepted it. There’s no changing who you are.

[I'm just playing her as a fun minor alt this lore so I have an option other than Avery and Wolf. She'll really shine in LWC.]

Would you like your character to start with any items?
Large Alice Pack; Rifle (any is fine)

Would you like your character to start with any skills?
I don't care too much about specific levels, really. Just boost Fitness, Strength, Sprinting, Blade (all), Carpentry, Aiming, Reload, and maybe Trapping.

Is your character a member of a group?
Yes

Is your character a member of one of the world factions?
C.P.F.

Please detail your position within the faction, as well as your reason for being in The Barrens.
Max is a member of the CPF. She has been a part of the Coalition for over a decade and has been working as a ranger for a bit less. She came to The Barrens from Texas a year or two into the outbreak.

What is your Discord username?
max ? #0117

Accepted! Do de ting Maxie because I lazy yes

wow so rude ???

i'll do it though