"The camera's here, and the microphones, and they wanna know."
IC BASICS.
Name: Samira Cassandra Mansour
Nicknames: Sammy, Cassie, Latigo
Age: 41
Gender & Pronouns: Nonbinary & She/They
Occupation: Freelance Journalist, writer for The Paxton Roundup.
Affiliation and Position: The Cowboy Mafia, Top Hand
Faceclaim: Sofia Boutella
BIOGRAPHY.
The Mansours came to Arizona many generations before Samira. Her paternal line started the Blacksnake Ranch, but by the time her father inherited control, it was harder and hard to break even at the end of each season. Mr. Mansour took out a huge loan to turn Blacksnake into a guest ranch, but lacked the eye for flash and gimmick that outside developers wielded. The family lost their ranch the same year Samira began high school.
The teen took this out on the encroaching businesses; posting vitriolic opinion pieces in the Roundup, defacing wasteful, ostentatious golf courses, and racking up a few charges before their 18th birthday. For reasons she was never quite sure of, Samira rarely received punishment beyond community service when caught. When the internet became more accessible, their activism went online. This also meant exposure to other kinds of photography, other journalists and causes.
Sammy traveled after graduation; working farms, ranches and truck stops whenever money ran out. Everywhere they went, there were stories of local farmers and generational ranchers being run out of business. Stories of the little guy being crushed by the capitalist machine. Fearless and dogged and willing to get into trouble to do what was right, Sammy won accolades and awards and acclaim and no small amount of respect. But it also earned her enemies, who she has come to believe put wheels in motion to kill the reach of her work.
Traffic was down, suddenly there were anonymous complaints to employers about her "baseless, inflammatory" work, and search engines were mysteriously leaving her work off the front page of results. None of it gave Sammy pause until she received word that her parents had been threatened. Vague enough to avoid tracing back to anyone, and without any direct threat - but enough innuendo that anyone in the loop in Paxton would understand. Enough for Sammy to understand. Rather than shut her up, it pulled Sammy's attention back home - to Arizona and Paxton and Obsidian.
Sammy's uncle was a trucker for the Cowboy Mafia, and when they met up in New York he offered her a ride back to Paxton with him. It seemed like a good way to catch up with beloved family, and from the semi's little cab, Sammy's uncle encouraged her investigation. He shared tales of all sorts of goings on back home - times he'd had to bribe cops who'd mysteriously pulled him over for seemingly no reason, threatening notes under windshield wipers, physical intimidation and more. He couldn't prove it was always Obsidian and not a rival operation, but he shared it all the same. Sammy didn't judge him; she'd met countless former ranch hands, farmers, cowboys and the like who'd had to dip into criminal activity to survive - another sin she pinned on the meat grinder of capitalism. It drove people to desperate measures, and then punished them for it.
It was precisely their bad luck that another run-in happened as the pair crossed back into Arizona. She didn't think the goons had been expecting her uncle to have company at the weigh station. Likely they'd planned to work him over and steal whatever he was hauling. Instead, the Mansours left the station with some additional weight in the back. In Paxton, the truck's contents were handed off to the Cowboy Mafia to deal with. Sammy had their thanks, and a place among them if she wanted it.
For the sake of her family, beloved home town (and perhaps inside track to information), Sammy accepted the brand. She found work at The Paxton Roundup, and lived out of a suitcase on her parent's couch until a half-decent apartment became available. She continued what dwindling remote freelancing was still available while learning more about the goings on in town. And - more personally - the strange downturn in her online presence and demand.
Then Randall turned up dead. Her family had been close with the Kastings when Sammy was growing up; the Mansours understanding to the bone the feeling of losing your long-held home to the bank. Her mother encouraged her to investigate, it falling neatly into line with Sammy's existing purview. Samira daydreams about the blow it'll strike to the bloodied hands of those suits when Samira exposes them. Should it also restore her career, all the better.
PLOT ARC.
They feel they’re shadow banned from the internet. The more articles they write about the dying American farmers and ranchers the less publications they see. They’re close to figuring out what is going on, and closer yet to gaining the attention they need. It’s a fine line to get attention without being exposed for their own crimes, and they have a feeling it’s connected to Obsidian some way or another.
MISC.
Her parents (Henry & Margaret) currently work at Blue Rooster.
Sammy has a younger brother who stayed behind in Paxton in contrast to their wanderings. (Future WC)
Samira has more than a little bit of an ego about her work after so many accolades and praise for the "self-taught" journalist and photographer. Her irritation with being buried isn't just the injustice of the truth being concealed.
Was never entirely comfortable with Charlie as the boss - it made her spine itchy. Elias seems far more pulled together.
While they can appear cynical much of the time, Samira's heart and care are truly what drive them. She wants a more just world, and her hope that it may still happen prevents her from ever truly giving up.
