Character Bio: Minor Waltz

Minor Waltz was growing up like any other happy child. Her father was a professional photographer, her mother a lumberjack. With her Mother working long hours, she spent most of the time with her father and after awhile got a good grasp on his trade. By the time she was ten she was already developing her own pinhole cameras in their bathroom/darkroom and knew her way around all manner of lenses and films. Her world collapsed one day when her pregnant mother was raped and murdered. Her father seeking revenge and justice enlisted the help of the local mob: The Tarantella’s. Revenge was served and the people responsible were found by the Police castrated, hanging in the same alleyway they committed their crime. However, revenge does not come cheap and Mr. Waltz was unable to pay The Tarantella’s what he owed. After his wife‘s death he fell heavily on a drug habit and a few years later was found dead in the living room. It is unsure whether his overdose was accidental or suicidal. In the Will everything was left to his daughter, the mob of course figured this also meant his unpaid debts. Now her father was a good photographer but Minor was excellent. This was exploited by the mob for all kinds of things, mainly snoop jobs, set-ups and the occasional dabble in pornography.

It is a common believe amongst the Red Indians that by taking a picture of someone you take a bit of their soul. Minor as a child staring up at her father cradling his old photos of her mother was inclined to agree. When photographing people she felt she was stealing their moments, capturing them and making them hers. When your in your late teens with no friends and working for the mob you need to clutch at the tiny bits of control you have. However, the psychological idea of stealing anything you shot made the transaction from shooting with a camera to a gun fairly easy. This led to more ’interesting’ jobs from the mob. Sadly no matter how much she worked she couldn’t clear the debt. Over time she learnt how a debt to the Tarantella’s really worked, she was getting by but would never come out on top. Trapped in this world for years she has grown wise but weary, tired and somewhat numb. She has seen the worst in man and has become repulsed by it. Behind a lens she feels a level of distance (and therefore escape) that she hasn’t been able to find anywhere else.