Lora Desdemona

Lora Desdemona is one of the three protagonists in the story Stonehall High. She is introduced in Chapter 2, it and a substantial amount of the story is from her first-person perspective. Lora is a Hunter, who is trained along with her younger sister by her father. She is also a Year 12 student studying for her HSC (High School Certificate) in Stonehall High, eighteen years old and considered by many as the school's best Hunter.

Background
Being the eldest daughter of a well-respected and powerful Hunter, it was decided that Lora would be trained to fight and hunt monsters. She began training at an early age and has shown remarkable promise, quickly becoming refered to as a prodigy. Lora's younger sister, Kaitlyn Desdemona, often felt outshined by Lora's skill and this led her to being jealous and spiteful. Despite this Lora has always been shown to care for her younger sister, even if she doesn't often express it. Lora was never able to truly empathise with her sister's situation, so didn't understand Kaitlyn or her behaviour. This lead to the sisters' relationship being strained. They didn't see eye to eye with each other at the beginning of the story. This is also because of the different treatment Lora received from her father because of the two sisters' difference in skill.

Half-way through Year 11 it is revealed that Lora was considered very popular because of her talent and reputation. Lora had already been involved in several cases (monster hunting missions) by the time she was Kaitlyn's age of sixteen. Lora had been conceited and lacked the maturity she possessed at the beginning of the story. At the time Cody Burkett moves to Stonehall High in the middle of Year 11 it seems Lora had a much different lifestyle. The Lora at that time spent half her time hunting monsters, as it was her passion and obligation, and the rest of her free time partying and getting drunk. She also used to frequently fight with both of her parents. After Lora approached and befriended Cody they soon started dating. At this point Cody's mellow personality began rubbing off on her, and instead of getting wild Lora would spend half her time with him. Cody was described by the current Lora as being a safety net but not a safety harness in those days, meaning he was there to support her but wasn't constricting. Due to her nature at that time she did end up leaving Cody for Felix Jameson, whom she dated for three months before he broke up with her. This caused her immense pain as she believed she was in love, Cody was there to help Lora as her best friend. Ever since then Lora has felt in debt to Cody, considering him a truly kind and selfless person as well as wanting to make up for the guilt she feels at leaving him for someone else. The current Lora still considers Cody to be her best friend. After these events Lora became a much more responsible person entering Year 12. She abstained from most parties, drinking much and being promiscuous, not dating again until Elvira Summers a considerable way into the story. When the story begins Lora is more or less an outcast and has willingly given up her popularity. When drunk on one occasion Kaitlyn mocks her older sister saying she has never known what it's like to be popular, this implies Kaitlyn had little knowledge of Lora's social position in the high school prior to her transitioning there in Year 10. Lora often lectures Kaitlyn for her misbehaviour, as it reminds her of the things she used to do before dating Cody.



Personality
Lora appears to be a serious and mature character, with strong politically correct opinions. In her first chapter Lora was seen hunting a witch responcible for turning her ex-boyfriend, Felix Jameson, into a zombie. The witch, Angela Benson, was acting flirtatious despite her intent to kill Lora after she entered the cemetary at dark. While admitting her own sexual attraction to Angela, Lora remained unwavering and determined. She showed no hesitation in killing Angela after escaping her zombie horde, however she did give the witch a chance to surrender and a warning that she would lose her life. Despite being kind and loyal to her friends, Lora shows a dark contrast in her opinion towards taking the lives of supernatural beings who pose a risk to the general public. This is shown by her resolve to kill Dylan Wilson on two separate occasions when Lora believed he was a threat to the public, despite him being a fellow classmate.

Through out the story Lora retains her tough demeanour. She can be nice to people at times, this is shown when she tries to befriend Cody's other friends, however they remain intimidated by her and she soon gives up trying to be nice to them. In the early chapters Lora brought much of the action into the story. Lora was present in six of the seven Major Plot Fight Scenes. Her skill is shown off where it is revealed Lora would be able to defeat one of the vampiric duo, Clement and Grayson, were it a one-on-one battle. The vampires were shown to be highly skilled fighters and hired hitmen who were specifically trained to kill Hunters. She didn't find a Hunter stronger than herself until, alongside Dylan, fighting against the Ripper who overpowered them both. Fellow hunter and student Michael Jeffry seemed to do well in his first fight against Lora, but the battle was post-poned and the winner left undecided until many chapters later where he was defeated by Lora in another fight.

Due to her past the current Lora appeared reluctant to have a romantic relationship. Before dating Cody it is revealed that Lora had multiple relationships of different kinds with boys and girls, she was also sexually promiscuous. This is shown by her becoming aware of Elvira's attraction to her and stating in an inner monologue that she would not have hesitated before taking advantage of Elvira when she was Elvira's age of sixteen. She also stated that she had slept around a lot, mostly with girls, and that in the past her father had caught her in bed with a girl or two. Lora identifies as a bisexual, although she had more experience with girls and prefers them sexually, she has never been in love with another girl until dating Elvira Summers. After becoming aware of Elvira's affections Lora admitted to herself that she was flattered but showed no reciprocation at first. Gradually Lora came to realize her attraction to Elvira and started dating her later on in the story. Lora wasn't interested in having sex or being in a relationship after being dumped by Felix, stating that her mistakes and pains had wizened her into the person she was at the beginning of the story.

Another trait that Lora is famous for is her short temper. She can become enraged, usually at her sister or Dylan, Michael and the other deemed populars when they offend or annoy her. Lora is protective of Kaitlyn, which leads her to lecture and scold her on occasion. This angers Kaitlyn, making her think that because Lora is her older sister she believes she owns her. When Lora found Kaitlyn spying on her best friend Cody, she became greatly angered at her little sister's suspicion due to the admiration she has for Cody's goodness. When Kaitlyn tried running away this lead to Lora chasing her publicly through the school, attracting a lot of attention from bystanders. When Lora caught Kaitlyn underage drinking she took her away from Cody and company for a private lecture, to which Cody became doubtful as he believed her yelling wouldn't be very private. Despite her intense feelings of dislike for Dylan, she grew to consider him a friend and care for him deeply, notably after their fight together against the Ripper.

Appearance
Before commencing to write Chapter 2, Zoicite23 made a picture of Lora with Paint XP and shared it with the other authors via private messaging. The initial reaction was one of shock and surprise, G even questioning Lora's gender. Zoicite23's intention was for Lora's appearance to be unique and attract attention. Initially her eyes were a pale green, but this was soon changed to steel grey. Small inspiration for Lora's appearance came from another picture made by Zoicite23's younger brother.

Lora is described as having average height with biege skin. Her hair is raven black, but is shown to have a bluish hue in Zoicite23's pictures, falls half-way down her back and is also moderately spiky. Lora's body is muscled and she possesses great strength, which her father points out is her best skill. Due to this she weilds a heavy metal scythe as her specialty weapon. Lora wears fashionable black rectangle glasses, and without them has very poor vision. When fighting she often readjusts her glasses, but doesn't ever wear contact lenses. Lora has multiple piercings on her face: a stud in her right ear, another in her left nostril, a spike piercing in her bottom lip and another stud in her left ear from which a pink feather dangles. In the climax battle the feather piercing is ripped out by The Warlock and is later replaced with a purple feather in Suicunetobigaara's extra 'After Stonehall: Cody's Decision', set after the events of Stonehall High. Lora's eyes are steel grey, and the pupils have always been naturally very dilated. Lora has a large bust size which is commented on by various characters in the story.

At school Lora wears the correct uniform, however instead of wearing the girls' vest and bow she wears the jacket and tie, which is consistent with the boys' uniform. Lora is also known to wear spike bracelets on both wrists. When she isn't at school Lora usually wears black clothing, typically either plain black T-shirts (sometimes with bands on them) and mini-skirts that are around knee-length or higher. She also wears boots that she sometimes conceals knives inside. Lora rarely wears make-up, which is shown at the beginning of the extra 'SH - Black Dahlias' where she is struggling to apply mascara before her first date with Elvira.

Abilities
Being a Hunter, Lora is trained in combat as well as with varying weapons, her specialty weapon being a large metal scythe. Possessing a great deal of physical strength, Lora uses this to her advantage while fighting. She is able to swing around the heavy scythe, and fight off multiple opponents with brute strength as well. Her fighting style has been described as more direct and destructive. In a fighting situation Lora was shown to have incredible endurance as well as cunning analytical abilities. This is shown in the Major Plot Fight in The Warlock Revival Arc where she comes up with a strategy to utilize the weakness of Shadow Casting, having only discovered it within that fight, and almost defeats The Warlock with it.

Apart from her scythe Lora has been known to keep a long knife in her boot. She also uses thin metal shuriken (throwing stars), that she keeps in a pouch under her clothes strapped to her body. In her first chapter Lora mentions she has a whole collection of weapons, despite this she only fights monsters with small blades, shuriken and her trusted scythe. Around Stonehall Lora has hiding places where she keeps her scythe, so that if a monster suddenly appears that needs to be slayed she can retrieve it. Because of her adept skills and battle experience Lora is heralded as a prodigy and the strongest hunter in Stonehall High School.

Throughout the story Lora has had the least amount of power growth. At the beginning she was very skilled, much more than the other protagonists. By the end of the story Cody and Kaitlyn were much more powerful than her, leading to Lora feeling nostalgic and smiling as she considered how much had changed.



Stonehall High
Lora has a total of 23 official chapters in her first-person perspective, as much as the other protagonists within the 100 chapter story.

Introduction Arc:
Lora is introduced walking through the town graveyard in the middle of the night with her scythe weapon, in school uniform. She has set out to stop a witch who has been turning corpses and civilians into zombies, and has snuck out past curfew to do so. This case is personal for her because her ex-boyfriend whom she still cares about to some extent, was turned into a zombie. Finding the witch Angela and her zombie horde, a battle ensues to which Lora is victorious and successfully kills her enemy. Lora had been unaware of Angela's motives and involvement in the Coven. At school Lora tries to involve a distant Felix with herself and Cody. Felix makes her realize that despite the fact she still has some feelings for him and Cody, she knows she's not right for either of them. Felix states that this is the same way he feels about her. After being given a class English assignment Lora attempts to build her friendship with Cody and Felix by spending the weekend camping in the bushland near an Aboriginal heritage site, where they can get resources for their assignment. Unknowing to her Kaitlyn, who was spying on Cody, used her influence to start a drinking party in the area so she could keep her eyes on him. Dylan, as a drunken werewolf, sniffs them out and starts chasing Cody and Felix. Lora then fights him without her scythe, realizes it is Dylan but decides to kill him anyway stating the law permits her to. Michael appears to Dylan's defence, fighting briefly with Lora before both of them retreat. Lora is then left with the impression that there are strong feelings between Dylan and Michael, and that they may be dating.

Vampires In The Mall Arc:
Lora decides not to dob in Kaitlyn to their parents after she is brought to the three unwillingly by Aiko Suzuki. This is because Lora used to do the same thing when she was Kaitlyn's age. While going to the movies with Cody and Felix at the Stonehall Megamall Lora hears that there is a monster inside causing chaos. She runs off to retrieve her weapon from its hiding place and doesn't return until the final chapter of the Major Plot Fight. With the help of Felix and Michael, Lora fights off Clement and Grayson and the two vampires retreat. Lora declares that their fight isn't over.

Birthday Party Arc:
After being invited to Dylan's birthday party along with most in their year, Lora doesn't enjoy herself much. She drinks only a moderate amount and mostly keeps an eye on her younger sister and best friend. After noticing that Aiko is watching over Kaitlyn very carefully, she decides to go home early when her friends agree to play Seven Minutes In Heaven with a group of others including Dylan. At school the next day Lora and Michael intervene when Cody tries to break up a fight between Dylan and Walter Sanders. It seems Dylan is jealous of something that happened between Cody and Walter during Seven Minutes In Heaven. A teary Cody then confesses his love for Dylan to Lora, pleading that she doesn't tell anyone else. Lora hugs him in sad understanding, knowing and relating to the fact that you don't always love someone because they're a good person and treat you right.

Ripper Battle Arc:
Half of the chapters in this Arc belong to Lora. When inviting Cody and Felix over to play video games, Lora learns from Felix who was paired with Elvira in Seven Minutes In Heaven, that Elvira is gay. Instead they spent their time in the wardrobe talking about Lora, a fact that unsettles her. Lora disregards Elvira's feelings as a little crush, saying that she is Kaitlyn's friend and it would never happen but Felix disagrees. After Collin and the other Senior Hunters try to impose a rule forbidding their children from hunting due to suspicion of the Coven, Lora gets in a heated arguement with her parents and runs off one night with her scythe. Hearing a werewolf howl she then tracks Dylan to a cemetary, deciding to kill him she stops in her advance after remembering Cody's feelings. Then noticing Clement and Grayson are standing against Dylan, Lora and the werewolf join forces (due to Dylan's enchanted gloves he has retained control of himself) to stop them. After fighting for a while both sides seem evenly matched, until the Ripper appears. Fearing for their lives if they remain in a battle with the Ripper, the vampires retreat leaving the mysterious silent hunter to fight Lora and Dylan. The Ripper is shown to be immensely talented and powerful, Lora realizes over the course of the fight that he isn't a human but is unlike anything she's ever fought. The battle is relocated to an electrical substation, the surrounding forest as well as a cliff face. The two get close to stopping the Ripper and develop a bond of comraderie together, despite this the Ripper's invulnerability allows him to win the fight. Dylan and Lora fall off the side of the cliff into a river, this leads to Lora being hospitalized for a considerable fraction of the remaining story.

Seeking Bianca Arc:
Due to being unconscious from losing her previous fight, Lora has no chapters in this arc.

Battle At Glenville Arc:
Due to being unconscious from losing her previous fight, Lora has no chapters in this arc.

Rescuing Kappa Arc:
While awaking from the hospital and recovering from her injuries, Lora hears that Elvira was secretly spying on all of them under orders of the Coven. Deciding to switch loyalties Elvira and Solomon Elgard agree to help the Senior Hunters by explaining their knowledge of the Coven's plan and helping them stop it. To avoid an infuriated and deeply hurt Kaitlyn, Elvira stops going to school and practices Animating Magic with Ariel instead. Once Lora returns to school and notices Elvira's absence she decides to visit her house to question her about why she left the Coven and her feelings towards Kaitlyn. A distressed and ashamed Elvira believes she has let her friends down and that they must hate her. After Lora stated that this wasn't true for herself while a little embarrassed, Elvira jumps on Lora in an attempt to kiss her. Accidentally fondling Lora's breast, Elvira stops and blushes allowing Lora to push her off and storm out of the house angrily. On her way home Lora visits the cemetary, remembering the battle she lost and happens across a tunnel which leads to a diary she discovers inside. Lora questions her father about The Warlock and the Secret War with him that happened seventeen years ago. After Aiko's younger brother Kappa is kidnapped by the Coven after being caught spying on them, Kaitlyn goes out to help Aiko rescue him against her father's wishes. Lora is sent to bring Kaitlyn back and help Aiko in her place. Lora becomes unsettled after discovering that the apparent location for Kappa is the same place Cody and Dylan were supposedly going for a date. It is then revealed that Michael has tricked Cody and is working alongside a Coven member, Bianca who wishes to use Cody's dragon DNA as a valuable ingredient for potions. Lora fights Michael on top of Bianca's castle roof, the two enjoying their final rematch since the camping site, Michael then falls off the roof and is presumed dead by Lora. Not checking to be sure, Lora hurries off to find Bianca or Kaitlyn.

Three-Way Battle Arc:
After Kappa and Cody are rescued, Lora, Felix, Dylan, Aiko, Kaitlyn and Michael join forces against Bianca. Michael decides to help the others when he learns that Bianca wasn't going to abide by their agreement and planned to kill Cody. Bianca uses a potion to force Dylan to change into his werewolf state despite it not being a full moon, after the others manage to force on his enchanted gloves Dylan regains control of himself and stops trying to kill them. However Bianca, who was the one who enchanted the gloves, uses them to control Dylan and thanks the others mockingly. After Aiko shape-shifts into a dragon and causes the castle foyer to collapse it is assumed that Bianca is killed due to her arm being sighted under a boulder with a large quantity of her blood. Later Hades Elgard, the leader of the Coven, has started the ritual for a Perfect Revival intending to ressurect The Warlock. Ariel is made aware because of the magic she is able to sense with her Sensing Spell, however Hades has set up multiple decoys to distract them. Lora heads off with a group to investigate the most distant signal, in the bushland outside of Stonehall. There she finds a revived Angela who fights them with a zombie horde. Eventually Ariel is able to defeat the remaining enemies when the group is gathered together, causing Angela to die a second time. When returning to Joey Sanders' house Lora learns that Cody has run off. Noticing the swirling clouds above the cemetary Lora assumes it would be just like Cody to go there, and heads off to find him alone. After meeting with Cody and Kaitlyn in the cemetary, they briefly fight a weakened Hades but fail to stop the revival in time.

The Warlock's Revival Arc:
When The Warlock is revived in a weakened form, Hades retreats telling him to do the same. He decides to remain and fight the three protagonists alone however. While the three fight valiantly against him, and come very close to winning at one point they fail to kill him before enough of The Warlock's power returns to be overwhelming. When Jack Drachen is seen flying towards them The Warlock retreats. Afterwards when Lora visits Elvira again and discovers that the witch still has feelings for her, she yells and forces the younger girl to finally ask her out. After that the two begin dating and are official girlfriends. While at school the climax battle begins as Hades isolates the Stonehall High School with her Pyromancy, creating a fire wall. The Warlock sends his chimera inside and starts destroying the school and killing students. Without any of her weapons Lora is left to lead students to the safety of the assembly hall, which has been barricaded to keep out the monsters. Until an evacuation plan can be made Lora sees it as her duty as a hunter to protect as many innocents as she can.

Conclusion Arc:
After the fighting outside between the Senior Hunters distracts Hades enough to weaken her fire wall, Kappa is able to evacuate the remaining students and staff from the school by turning into a bridge. Lora then decides to help in the fight in any way she can, running off to find her weapon. As the fighting intensifies Lora's scythe becomes destroyed by The Warlock's Shadow Casting taking advantage of a crack that was put there in her fight against Michael. After the stronger protagonists and Hades are incapacitated Lora can only watch as Cody and Kaitlyn fight The Warlock. She feels nostalgia at how much things have changed. When The Warlock's ultimate chimera, the Colossus, reaches its final stage of transformation Lora comes up with the plan to use Cody and Kaitlyn's power to dig through and kill it. In this fight Lora sustains a lot of damage but remains standing. The most notable injuries being a shard of wood piercing several inches into her side from a fall and a coil of Shadow Casting piercing her shoulder, Lora's glasses also become cracked through the fighting. Despite her cuts, bruises and pain Lora remains able to stand and fight up to the very end.

Extras
After Stonehall High was completed it was announced there would be no sequel. However various short stories were created by Suicunetobigaara and Zoicite23 that feature Lora Desdemona inside them.

SH - Black Dahlias
This completed extra was made by Zoicite23 to focus on the lesbian relationship between Lora and Elvira. Six of the chapters are from Lora's perspective while the other four - including the final chapter - belong to Elvira. This extra was made because Zoicite23 felt that the relationship between the two characters was fairly untouched in the story, and he wanted to go into more detail with a pairing of two girls, something which the author had previously not done. While suicunetobigaara put a lot of emphasis on Cody's relationship with Dylan, Zoicite23 put more focus on Action and the plot instead of Romance in his chapters. The story begins by depicting Lora and Elvira's first date at the Stonehall Megamall. Both characters were initially nervous, especially Elvira, but their date ended on a very good note. The story then progresses to show the evolution of their relationship. It mostly revolves around romance, and is eagerly followed by suicunetobigaara.

After Stonehall: Cody's Decision
This completed extra was written by suicunetobigaara to explore Cody's life after the events of Stonehall High. While Lora has no chapters in her perspective she makes several appearances. The usage of Lora in the story has been approved by Zoicite23.

Stonehall High: Gender Bend
An alternate version of the story was being written by both suicunetobigaara and Zoicite23. This version was going to loosely follow the plot of the first story but with less detail, it was also going to have the genders and respective sexualities of all characters swapped. Lora made an appearance as Loran Desdemona, and was still one of the main three characters. Kaitlyn's counterpart Keiran Desdemona was also going to be written by Zoicite23, while Cody's counterpart Cora Desdemona was to be written by Suicunetobigaara. Three chapters were uploaded but due to lack of attention and reviews the story has been put on temporary hold for the moment.

Cody Burkett:
Lora and Cody had a relationship before the events of Stonehall High, and are seen to be merely friends throughout the story. Although Lora considers Cody her closest friend. Lora dumped Cody for another current friend of theirs, Felix Jameson. This all happened in Year 11.

Felix Jameson:
With a reputation as being the coolest guy in school, Lora was instantly infatuated when Felix became an option for her. Despite Cody's safety and warmth being everything she needed, as well as a positive influence on her reckless character, Lora was attracted to Felix's 'bad boy' persona. Considering both were very popular they were quite compatible with each other, even in Cody's opinion, but after three months when Lora's feelings became too serious Felix called off their relationship. This devastated Lora and was an event she considered to be one of the most painful in her past. After becoming a zombie Felix also gave up on his popularity status, eventually becoming close friends with Cody and Lora.

Elvira Summers:
While Elvira moved to Stonehall High School under direction of the Coven, befriended Kaitlyn so she could spy on her, she became aware of Lora. Elvira became instantly attracted to Lora, thinking she was cool and commenting out loud on her hotness. This caused Lora to notice her as she was previously indifferent to the new girl. Despite being confident in her own weirdness, Elvira found herself nervous to the point of anxiety when faced with social interaction with Lora. Feeling conflicted with her loyalties, and the legitimate sense of friendship she was developing with Kaitlyn and others, Elvira did nothing about her strong feelings for Lora at first. When Lora was injured after fighting the Ripper, Elvira felt responsible and set out with Cody to find a healer. This caused her identity to be revealed, and after Cody witnessed her guilt he persuaded her to come clean to everyone, making her loyalty switch official. Lora was shocked to discover that Elvira was secretly a witch, one of the monsters she had hunted and killed in the past. After Elvira stops going to school Lora decides to visit her house. After Lora admits that she doesn't hate Elvira, the young witch jumps on Lora and attempts to kiss her, accidentally pressing her hand onto her breast. Embarassed, Lora storms away angrily, especially about the fact that someone like Elvira was able to catch her off guard. Later on the two become more affiliated as the group of protagonists work to stop the Coven and The Warlock together. Eventually Lora decides to check up on Elvira again, and after becoming aware that Elvira still has feelings for her, she becomes angry that Elvira never asked her out. While Lora had grown to be intrigued by Elvira she was waiting for her to make the first move since she had apparently liked Lora first. On the other hand Elvira had assumed that after all the wrong she had done Lora couldn't possibly want to date her, and that her feelings were so obvious that all Lora would have to do is say the word and the two would start dating. Angrily Lora forces a bewildered but happy Elvira to ask her out on a date, to which she snappishly replies 'yes' to. The first date and events after that are recorded in the extra 'SH - Black Dahlias'.



Creation and Concept
Lora Desdemona was created by Zoicite23 to be one of the three main protagonists for the story. After discovering Suicunetobigaara would be writing a male main character despite being a girl, Zoicite23 decided he would write a female main character despite being a boy. Wanting to create a variance between the main characters as well as explore all the themes in the story, creating a strong and gifted character like Lora was a way to introduce Action into the group story. Her personality also contrasts greatly to that of Cody, from the previous and first chapter. Lora has the most chapters of any of Zoicite23's characters. When Suicunetobigaara admitted she wanted Cody to be in a homosexual relationship and when G stated that he planned for Kaitlyn to be in a heterosexual relationship, Zoicite23 thought it would be perfect to introduce a female love interest for Lora. Thus the three pairings in the story are straight, gay and lesbian. Felix and Elvira are side characters of Zoicite23 that became particularly popular, but Zoicite23 is proud of the impact and role Lora Desdemona has had as a lead character in the story.

Trivia

 * The Coven first became aware of Lora and considered her a threat after she killed Angela.  After this they started taking the Hunters at Stonehall High more seriously, getting Elvira to enrol and act as a spy there.
 * Lora prefers the look of the boys' unifrom jacket and tie to the girls' uniform vest and bow, so has always worn the previous.
 * Lora and Felix were both very popular prior to the beginning of the story, and were once considered the coolest couple while dating.
 * When Lora found The Warlock's diary hidden in a tunnel beneath the cemetary she brought it home and read all of it, later discovering that it belonged to Marcello Elgard.
 * Black Dahlias are Lora's favourite flower.
 * Lora gets acute travel sickness when on top of flying dragons.
 * Lora has a small raggedy teddy-bear called Hutchinson that she used to sleep with as a child, it now lies on the top shelf in her wardrobe somewhere.