Earth, Again
Cursed with Glorious Purpose for Parish
50s-60s, any ethnicity, she/her, steady and pragmatic.
Parish is the leader of Spokane — a former high school principal who kept a city alive for ten years by keeping it boring. No electricity, no tech hoarding. She managed 900 kids and 40 teachers before the collapse, and now she manages a city the same way. Parish suspects more than she lets on and asks fewer questions than she should, because the answers might require action she'd rather not take.
(Episodes 7-8, ~19 dialogue blocks.)
I was a principal. Before. High school. Nine hundred kids, forty teachers, a building that was falling apart. You learn to keep things running with nothing - no budget, no support, just systems and willpower.
You need to leave tonight. I'm opening the south gate for you - just you, just once. It'll stay closed until morning, so no one will follow you. You leave after dark, before the city wakes up and the fear turns into something I can't control.
Kind of you to say. Spokane has survived because I've kept it boring. No electricity. No hoarding old tech. Two thousand people are alive because boring works.
