• elizabeth, called lizzie by her parents, was born on a hot day in august to marcus and frannie solari at massachusetts general hospital in boston. she was a fairly difficult child who had regular tantrums. she was dramatic and angst ridden through kindergarten. it seemed that being around other children had a somewhat calming effect, although it only served to heighten her inclination to talk and be disruptive.

• when she was six, playing at a friend's house, they had a fire going to ward off the winter chill and when the mother of her friend wasn't looking, lizzie burned her fingers on a piece of flaming wood that fell from the fire and rolled onto the hearth. she had third degree burns on her thumb, middle finger and palm that destroyed some of the nerves in her hand and left her with spots of numbness and a healthy fear of fire.

• lizzie's father belonged to the italian mob and a hit was ordered on him at a time when his wife and daughter were scheduled to be out of town visiting her mother. they decided not to go at the last minute because marcus fell ill suddenly. that night, lizzie was looking out the window with her dog nearby when she saw a man pouring gasoline all around their house. she was only 9 at the time and didn't realize what was happening. she went to tell her parents when her bedroom was engulfed in smoke and she fell to her knees coughing and choking. grabbing her by the collar, the family dog dragged her out of her room until they could get to the back door. she crawled out and then stood by while the dog ran back in to get her parents. no one else came out alive.

• determining that it was arson, and discovering her father's mob ties upon his death, lizzie's last name was changed to saxton and she was put through the system, extended family were notified of the deaths of the entire family and a closed casket funeral was held for the three solaris. as far as anyone knew, the entire family perished in the fire. she was urged to start calling herself ellie rather than lizzie or elizabeth to throw suspicion off even more. she floundered in the foster system for the next eight years until she was no longer a ward of the state. she was, however, still in protective custody and the government made sure that she was at least marginally taken care of in terms of a place to live and food to eat.

• in school, ellie excelled in art and music. she loved to sing, but she was too shy to sing in front of anyone so it was just something she did alone in her bedroom or in the shower. she was a gifted artist, though, and showed professional potential in illustration. she attended classes at the community college because the government was paying for it, but without any real drive to get any kind of degree or certificate.

• she never graduated from school, but she began to illustrate a web comic that garnered a lot of popularity. the comic was based loosely on her life, but focused more on people in the mob and their adventures. she's started several side projects and has designed most of her tattoos.

• ellie blames herself for her parents' death because she feels that if she had acted more quickly she would have been able to warn them in time for everyone to get out. she regrets allowing her dog to go back into the house and has never been able to bring herself to adopt another dog.

• she suffers from severe depression and often has suicidal thoughts. during the very bad times she will withdraw, become reclusive, hard to get ahold of, sleeps for days at a time, has little to no contact with the outside world and her weight fluctuates depending on how severe her depression is. she takes medication for it, but it makes her feel like shit so she sometimes doesn't bother with it. when things get really bad, though, she will force herself to take it just to try to get back to being human.

• if there was a picture associated with the definition of wishy-washy, it would be a picture of ellie. she has a hard time taking things on and seeing them through. she doubts herself and her abilities frequently and doesn't want to subject other people to her failures, so she will very often quit something then regret it and go back. she repeats this pattern with a lot of things in her life, and it has been a source of frustration for her web comic followers. especially since they use a funding program called patreon to pay her monthly for her comic. she has, however, learned to draw several days worth of comics in advance and put them into a queue that will post them automatically, just in case she has an episode.

• getting a tattoo one day led her to getting to know another woman in an all-girl guns n roses cover band. they were looking for another member, and though ellie was usually more shy about her music, she agreed. being in a band meant that the focus wouldn't be entirely on her and she felt less nervous about being up in front of people that way. she plays guitar and sings back-up vocals.