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lastvoyages
Series: Zombieland
Age: 23.
From When?: right after she falls asleep at Bill Murray's.
INMATE
The root of most of Wichita's bad behavior is the fact that she has major, major trust issues. She doesn't trust anyone but her sister, and she's raised her to live by that same mantra. She expects the worst in people, and feels it's better that others make the mistake of trusting her than her making the mistake of trusting them. Not that she really ever gives people a chance, usually managing to cut ties before anyone gets too close.
But she's also a con artist, and has been for a very long time. She's "cut-throat" about it, according to Columbus, and she doesn't question that what she's doing is the right thing to do, by her, even if it means leaving someone stranded without weapons or a car in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Yeah.
She's not above using people in whatever way she has to in order to survive. She doesn't feel guilty about it. So she lies, and steals, and manipulates, and regrets absolutely none of it. She's smart about it, she doesn't make decisions without thinking them through first so she's not reckless ( unless her sister is in danger ), and while she feels perfectly content to break laws, she's not about to outwardly harm anyone ( unless her sister is in danger ) ...but she doesn't feel remorse for whatever bad situation she's left someone in because she's stolen their wallet, or their car, or their ammo. It's all about her, that's all that matters.
Item: --
Abilities/Powers:
I think her ability to manipulate/con others when she has to could be considered above-average. It's all about attitude (cut-throat, as Columbus put it) and both she and her sister have plenty of that. Judging by the events in the movie, Little Rock was good at coming up with quick plans on the fly (getting to the Rock It ride to avoid the zombies), but Wichita was all about execution. Once she had her mark set, she would get the job done. That said, I think it will take her a bit to get used to working as a one-woman team (since she sure as hell won't trust anyone for a while), but not having her sister around won't be crippling. ..To her ability to con, anyway.
Her sister is her one BIG weakness, and she always will be. As stated earlier, she would do anything to keep Little Rock safe, including putting herself at risk or in harm's way. No questions asked.
Also, after living in Zombieland for a few months, she was forced to give herself, and her sister, a crash course in gun training. She's got a great shot at this point, scarily accurate because she has to be, although she knows little to nothing about actually servicing a weapon. Whenever her gun started acting up back home she just ditched it for a new one.
Personality:
Wichita, believe it or not, is not your typical stuck-up bitch. At least Columbus sees through her sarcasm and scowls quickly enough, and there are even times when she seems kinda normal and fun, despite the whole zombie apocalypse deal she's found herself in. But more often than not, when she's around anyone she isn't close with, she tries to seem pretty closed-off, unimpressed, and jaded. Sarcastic and unaffected. And she actually can be, when she has to be. She's learned how to keep herself detached from a lot of her feelings, since most of the time they can only be used against her. And as a con artist, she has to have complete control over her emotions/body language. Like an actor playing a role, in a way. Any slips in her "role" tend to throw her off, and she'll likely run ( sometimes literally ) from a situation if she feels like she's losing that control.
After nearly kissing Columbus and getting the hell out of the house ( abandoning the two men without a goodbye ), she immediately brings up the one rule she has with her sister;
"Trust no one, just you and me."
"Just you and me, yeah. You and me."
I think this is a pretty significant moment because it's clear that rule hasn't been tested in a long time, judging by how flustered Wichita is about it. And yet, Little Rock recites the rule to her like it's the most natural thing in the world, like there's no reason to question it. It's the perfect representation of how they worked together both before the virus and after. That's the kind of relationship they have - Little Rock trusts her completely, and Wichita genuinely always has her best interests in mind. Wichita's faith in humanity is pretty low at this point, just in that she thinks that people can be really dumb, and I think it was easier for her to just tell Little Rock not to trust anyone and to follow the rule as close as she can herself than give anyone else a chance to screw them over somehow. She would rather cut the rest of the world out than lose her sister by trusting someone that they shouldn't have. Whether or not they actually need to be this paranoid/closed off from letting people get close is up for debate, we don't know why the girls are on the road even before Zombieland, but I think the rule was just Wichita's way of making it clear that they wouldn't need anybody else, or that Little Rock wouldn't need anybody but her big sister, no matter what.
It's clear that, even if it seems like a harsh rule to live by, she firmly believes it's the best for their chances of survival. It doesn't matter that she was starting to warm up to Columbus and Tallahassee, she decides it's better to pack up and run than let anyone come close to tempting her to break that rule. It doesn't matter that the two men turned out to not be the worst company in the world to have for a few days, once she was smacked in the face with the fact that she was letting her guard down, she felt that she had to get away from them. And of course, Little Rock followed without question, which made it just that much easier to trust her paranoid gut on the matter.
However! Even though this hasn't happened yet at her canon point, at the end of the film the two men manage to prove themselves trustworthy, by her standards, by going out of their way to save Wichita and Little Rock from getting killed. I won't dig too much into it since it hasn't happened to her yet, but the fact that it does happen sort of proves that while she is quick to cut and run, she's also willing to bend the rule, if someone proves that they're not about to screw her and her sister over for trusting them. Granted, Columbus and Tallahassee had to basically put their lives on the line to prove themselves, but it worked in their favor in the end. It's selfish, maybe, but that's how a person can get on her good side, and maybe even earn her genuine trust.
The zombie virus hasn't turned her into a cold hard killer or anything, but there's little in the world that can really get under her skin or make her question any decisions she's made. She doesn't let things about herself or her plans slip, and if it seems like she did, it was most likely intentional, a ploy to gain more useful information from someone else. The world she lives in has reenforced her mindset that in order to survive she had to become a manipulator, a con artist, and she's not ashamed of it either. If not just because most of the time, once she cons someone, she'll never see them again. Or at least, that's how things were before the virus.
Now with zombies running around, there's no room for second guessing, not when your life is on the line. It seems, when they first run into the two men, that she believes there's also little room for making friends, let alone actually trusting anybody they cross paths with. Her trust issues are deep rooted now, and it takes some time for her to get over that. And in a way, even those she might meet and talk to frequently, she wouldn't ever admit to trusting them completely.
Survival is her main focus in Zombieland, and her sister's survival comes before all else. Most if not all of her decisions are made with her sister in mind. Krysta would risk everything to keep her sister safe, and happy, and she's done it before. She tries not to be too overbearing on Little Rock, but to an outsider she really might come off that way. The sisters have become best friends through all of this, so ( at least, in Wichita's eyes ) the control is pretty evenly distributed between the two of them. Little Rock comes up with plans on the fly, and Wichita usually maps out the bigger cons. They work as a team, no matter what.
Throughout the film we are constantly reminded that her sister always takes first priority, but she slowly drops her hard exterior around the boys the more time she spends with them. Granted, I don't think she'll ever be convinced that Tallahassee and Columbus aren't severely lacking in the brains department, but she's no longer convinced that they might screw her over eventually.
Although, considering her canon point, it's obvious she hasn't gotten to the point where she'd rule out screwing them over again.
Despite her trust issues and her need to come off as cool and uncaring, this moment with Columbus when he almost splits off to head to Ohio kind of clues us into the fact that she's not actually as cut-off from being able to care about other people as she tries to act. She gets what it's like to want to be with your family - hello, she'd be lost without her sister - and as much as she tries to act like other people don't matter to her, she still gives him that piece of advice. Which, ultimately, convinces him not to go out looking for his family in Columbus, and stick with them instead. She doesn't deter him from sticking with them either, which says a lot. At that point they hadn't shared a lot of personal information, but it shows us that she doesn't exactly hate having other people around. It shows us she has the capacity to let people in, even if it kind of scares the hell out of her.
I think it's very telling that she asks Columbus to drink with her, too, considering she seems to be pretty gabby when she's buzzed on wine. Not only does that moment bring the two closer, but it also reveals a little bit of what I think she was like before the virus.
Zombie apocalypse aside, Krysta can be pretty likable. Really! It takes some time (or some booze) for people to get to see the "old" her, but before the virus hit her hometown, she was social, popular, and all the other things you can expect from a pretty girl. She's used to getting her way, but she's not a complete brat when she doesn't. Krysta's very grounded, but she definitely likes to have some fun when she gets the chance. Which is rare, in Z-land, but if the opportunity is there, she's on it. She's got a cutting, sarcastic sense of humor, and a cheesy side, even if she has to be a little drunk to let it show. While she doesn't put much thought into relationships or 'hooking up', she does have a bad habit of flirting without having any meaning behind it, or caring much about the aftereffects. She likes being the 'cool chick', and she'll rapid fire pop-culture references at you to prove it.
I do think she was pretty strict about her and Little Rock following Their One Rule during the two months of the apocalypse before the movie, but her development in the film stems pretty much entirely from meeting the two dumbass guys they managed to con twice. Tallahassee ( who she sometimes calls 'Florida', just to mix it up ) has become a kind of weird uncle figure, in a way. Once she spends a few hours in the car with him ( and sees how he acts around Little Rock ), it appears that she's convinced he's harmless, although completely insane. After finding out about Buck ( his son, who was only about 3 or 4 years old, who was killed by zombies ), she's gained a new respect for him, in a way. She might not voice that respect, but she knows now that he has emotional limits, and that changes things. It makes him less of a threat to her and her sister. Which she might have known from the concerned way he reacted to seeing Little Rock with the fake bite on her arm, but she needed some time to trust that concern. As for Columbus ( sometimes 'Ohio' ), despite their developing friendship ( or whatevership ), she will probably always think of him as a guppy with a heart of gold. The poor boy is too trusting for his own good, but he's survived, so obviously he's doing something right. Columbus and Tallahassee are slowly starting to become a part of her 'family', one that she didn't realize she was even looking for until she met them.
Other:
She's a huge comedy flick fan, with a particular liking for Bill Murray movies, and has a habit of laughing at all the wrong moments. Her first temporary tattoo was of a porpoise, first kiss was with a hottie named Scotty Lynch, and 1997 overall was a pretty damn good year for her. Wichita is an awesome shot with a firearm, and she's pretty fearless when it comes to defending herself. She doesn't consider herself 'risky', but if she needs to leap without looking, she'll do it. Nine times out of ten though, her moves are all pretty calculated.
Barge Reactions:
Wichita's going to be pretty freaked out! First, because it's a boat. A BIG boat, but you can't cut and run on a boat, which is kind of a con artist's bread and butter. You can't be "anonymous" on a boat. The fact that it's pretty much a prison- well, that's not going to fly very well with her either. She's never, ever gotten caught in a con before, and showing up here will feel like a big "F U" to that perfect record, so yeah. She'll hate that.
But, she's kind of a pop culture nerd, so she won't hate getting to meet some of the people on board. She won't be smashing 4th walls, but once she gets used to this place being an alternate reality kind of deal, she's going to be pretty into that. Floods and breaches will be handled like anything she would have been faced with back home - she'll look out for herself, and only herself. Deal with it, handle it, survive. And same thing with how she'll react to the different people on the Barge - she won't get too close to anyone ( at first ), might even lie about her name ( or just let people think Wichita is her real name, sure ), but she won't be trying to get anybody in trouble or anything. She doesn't care to ruin people's time here. But she might enable some bad behavior, sure. If she finds people that are like her, manipulative or con artist --y, she'll gravitate towards them, and try and convince herself she's not in the wrong for how she lives her life. But yeah, overall she'll be pretty observational at first, trying to scope things out, but she'll mostly just try to blend. Cause that's what cons do!
Path to Redemption:
The main thing a Warden would have to do with her is get her to stop being so damn untrusting, though I really do think that would come last just because she's spent so long convincing herself that she can't afford to trust anyone, because it would inevitably backfire. Even though Wichita's a con artist, she doesn't actually think about it as hurting someone else, or screwing someone over "just because", she really does think it's the best way to survive. She's never had a job before, and she's never had to be responsible for more than just herself and her sister, so starting there might be a good idea. Making her work for things instead of just stealing them. Although yeah, in order to get her to agree to getting a job, there might have to be some sort of payment involved, or she just... won't. It's going to take her a little while to listen to whoever her Warden ends up being, and she's not the type that can be intimidated, so it just has to be somebody who's patient, and will take into account that she's been living in Z-Land for about two months now, so she'll need time adjusting to like.... people again, haha.
She definitely has the potential for retribution, I think. It's going to take some time and patience, but overall I think once she's there for a while, things might start to sink in. But yeah, it really will take some time, because there are also definitely people on the ship that will enable her thinking that people suck, and can't be trusted. So that'll be fun!
History:
( Pre-canon information: Before the virus struck, she and her sister used to run cons against... well, any sucker that would fall for their schemes. It was never said in canon why they were doing it, but it seemed like they would just con guys out of their money so they could road trip around the country. )
The first time Wichita met Tallahassee and Columbus ( and the first time we're introduced to her in the film ) was while she was running a con on them. She gave Little Rock a very convincing zombie-bite mark on her forearm, made up of mostly strawberry jam, and tooth paste, for texture. It didn't take the girls very long to convince them that they believed Little Rock didn't have long before she'd turn into a zombie, and with tear-filled eyes, Wichita asked Tal for his gun so she could shoot her sister before she started to turn. Like she promised she would. Columbus fumbles over the decision, saying that they don't know for sure that there's no cure, but Tallahassee solemnly offers to do it for her. Quickly, Wichita convinces him that she has to be the one to do it, and with that, he surrenders his gun without question.
Once she had his gun, it was very easy to turn on them and snag his car keys and ammo, making their exit from the supermarket immediately after. From this experience, she concluded that Ohio was pretty damn gutless, and Florida was pretty damn dumb. She never expected to see them again.
It's at this point, while they're on the road, we find out that Wichita and her sister Little Rock are headed to California to visit a theme park they used to go to when they were younger - Pacific Playland. It seems to be their suicide mission, in a way, even if they would never call it that. But it's their mission in that they're doing everything they can to make it happen, no matter what. It's their motivation to stay alive and keep fighting - or at least, it's Wichita's motivation, to see her sister experience that same happiness she used to before the virus struck. Unfortunately, about a day or two later, the car they stole from the pair over-heated, forcing them to pull over and run another con to snag another vehicle so they could continue on their way to California. As it just so happened, the next car to come driving down the road was a ridiculous yellow Hummer, driven by none other than the same saps they stole from before.
"Bummer" was her only response to the fact that they just managed to screw them over again. The sisters didn't leave them stranded, though, which is the first sign that Wichita isn't a complete bitch. They decided to stick together as far as California, then they'd go their separate ways. Which actually almost happens before they get there! Columbus had told them about how he wants to find his way back to Columbus to see the carnage of his hometown himself, but when they do find him a truck, he decides to stay with Wichita, Tallahassee, and Little Rock anyway.
While in California, Tallahassee suggested they sleep in style, which leads them to the one and only Billy Murray's house. Well, mansion. It's at Bill's mansion that we see more of Wichita's old self, in the way she joins Bill ( who was still alive because he pretended to be a zombie! that was his survival tactic. brilliant ) and Tal in acting out a scene from Ghostbusters ( ..okay she was also a little high, but the fact that she even trusted them enough to get high with them is saying something.), then later on when she asks Columbus to drink with her. Or rather, very poignantly tells him "don't make me drink alone."
The two sip Very Sophisticated French Wine and swap stories about their 1997s, and it's really the only solid backstory we get besides the one flashback of Little Rock and Wichita pulling the ring con ( on the same poor Gas And Gulp bastard that got eaten at the beginning of the film, ew ). She talks about how much fun her year was - seeing her first R rated movie, experiencing her first kiss, getting her first tattoo ( temporary ) - and I think it paints a pretty good picture of her pre-Z-land lifestyle/mindset without actually just telling us. She had a lot going for her back then, and as such, a lot to lose. After Columbus shares his ( admittedly terrible ) 1997 memories, she asks him to dance, wanting to make up for the fact that none of the 8th grade girls asked him out that year. The moment is actually really sweet, even after Wichita admits that she'd 'hit that', and they almost share a kiss-
But then Tallahassee interrupts them and ruins the whole moment. They all build a fort together, and fall asleep.
Special Notes: I realize she was here before ( way back when, and more recently ) as a Warden, and I don't know if any of her old CR is still on the boat, but I have a feeling she's going to try and play along with people, if they think she's Warden!Wichita. like, she'll so roll with that. But! That said! I'd never have her just ~magically~ get her hands on a Warden Item or anything, though I might plot that kind of thing out, if that's cool.
inmate revisions;
I think my main focus was that they left Columbus and Tallahassee without much hope for survival, back at the supermarket. Without weapons, without ammo, without a car. Tal even said that they "got lucky" when they found the giant yellow Hummer full of guns. That said, it made me think about the fact that they easily screwed over those two men, and I feel like they must have done it before. The con went off flawlessly. Though! Thinking about it now, I guess I was headcanoning ( because of the flashback of Wichita and Little Rock running cons before the virus, and Columbus narrating that they've always been that cut-throat about it ) that they've probably conned people like that before ( taking their car and weapons whenever they ran out of gas/ammo, basically leaving them for dead ), and didn't care if the people they left behind found a way out or not.
So more or less, I think that the con artist side of her, and the trust issues, wouldn't have made her an Inmate before the virus, but post-virus they've just gotten worse in that now she feels justified for basically raising her sister to be a criminal in order to survive. The stakes are also a lot higher now, cause of the whole.. zombie thing. Also, I think canonpoint is pretty important, because she's just decided to cut ties with Columbus and Tallahassee again, but she hasn't been through the last scene of the movie, so she doesn't know that she can actually trust them to save their asses. Right now she's still 500% convinced that her way is the right way, no matter what.
But yeah, hnnn, I might be headcanoning a little bit more than I realized though, so I do completely understand if she doesn't fit Inmate level of bad habits, haha. I picked her canon point because I like the idea of her learning to trust people, and stop being such a dick about teaming up or leaving people behind, differently than how she did in the movie. I wanted to see how she could get to that point without a Columbus figure there being all... love-interesty.