Sapphire Keating

Sapphire Therase Keating (legally Keating-Evans; born 5 June 199X) is one of the main protagonists of the Animatron Studios series Murder by Pixels, and the series' viewpoint character. An 18-year-old Internet geek, Sapphire works alongside her friend Harry Payne as a consulting detective for the Jacksonville Police Department, helping Lieutenant Matthew Hawke to solve various murders while also struggling with her own depression and anxiety.

Sapphire is considered one of Nurse's most developed and unique characters, though has been criticized by some for being "over-developed". She is also significant as Nurse's first LGBT character, and is currently the only LGBT protagonist of any of his works.

Early life
Sapphire was born in the fictional city of Jacksonville, Missouri, as the only child of Tara Keating, an Irish immigrant. Sapphire's father, Allan Davison, walked out on Tara when he found out she was pregnant, and Tara was left to raise Sapphire alone until three years prior to the start of the series, when she began dating divorcee Michael Evans. The two later married, moving in with Michael and Tiffany, his daughter from his first marriage.

At the age of fourteen, Sapphire began to suffer from chronic depression and anxiety, eventually escalating into self-harm. With the help of a psychiatrist, and the support of her family and her new-found online friends, Sapphire gave up self-harming at age 16 and had made an almost total recovery by age 17, but still occasionally suffers brief relapses and remains shy around strangers.

By the start of the series, Sapphire had already come out to her family as a lesbian; they both accept and support her sexuality.

Appearance
Sapphire is 165cm tall (roughly 5ft 5in), and weighs just 91lbs, a lasting symptom of her battle with depression. She has short black hair, with pink highlights dyed into her fringe, and green eyes. Her outfit varies, but she almost always wears black fingerless gloves that extend to her elbow, in order to hide the faint scars from her self-harming - she claims the gloves are to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.

Having been raised by her Irish mother, Sapphire speaks with a distinct Irish accent when at home, and a diluted Irish accent at most other times. When around unfamiliar people, however, she reverts to a Midwestern American accent.

Personality
(to be filled in)

Appearances in other media
Sapphire will appear as an unlockable playable character in the crossover fighting game When Worlds Collide.

Trivia

 * Sapphire was originally intended to be heterosexual and in a relationship with Harry. Nurse decided that this was too cliché and changed Sapphire first to be bisexual, and then to be lesbian.
 * Sapphire's middle name, Therase, is that of Nurse's mother.