~*Larissa Jennings*~
As according to The Jennings Twins (by Megan McGory ~ "Lydia Jennings")
and When Worlds Collide (by Amie Martin ~ "Larissa Jennings")
By Amie Martin
Larissa Jennings was born in Collinsport, Maine, on February 13, 1954, the second of two daughters to be born to Brian and Annie Jennings on that cold, wintery day. Her twin sister, Lydia Jennings, was born some hours earlier. She was born into a large family, with two older brothers, Chris and Tom Jennings (born in 1940), and in 1959, her sister, Amy, joined them.
Had her life taken its normal course, she would have been killed in a boating accident with her family at the age of 14, in 1968. However, a boy who was infatuated with her sister discovered a way to avert that disaster. He learned to go back in time, as well as forwards and even "sideways" into Parallel Time, and decided to change the course of history. He went back to 1954, kidnapped the twins, and brought them into 1984 Parallel Time, where he dropped them off at Laurence and Memorial Hospital, hopeful that they would not be killed when they would have been.
Needless to say, Larissa Jennings has always been the darker of the Jennings Twins. Taking after her great-grandfather Quentin Collins, her no-holds-barred attitude towards the world leads her to be a loner. She doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about her, and she keeps her true emotions hidden deep inside her, where she can keep her heart safe from harm. Although she knows as much about the Collins family history as Lydia does, Larissa often finds very little reason to become involved in the various problems that plague the Collinses, preferring instead to write and listen to music. An outsider in her own family, Larissa feels that few people (Lydia and Quentin, respectively) understand her, and fewer even try.
One of Larissa’s most unique talents is her ability to “create” alternate personalities. Unlike Lydia, who accepted her past as Margaret Lowe and moved on with life, Larissa’s past as Diana Moreau was spent as a complete different person. Whereas Larissa was brash and straightforward with her beliefs, Diana was weak, cowering behind a mask of silence with only her tears to comfort her. Larissa “created” Diana as a child to avoid living in a world all alone, without her twin sister and family to comfort her. Larissa is also a telepath, and can resurrect any of her multiple personalities at will.
After the supposed “death” of her twin sister Lydia in 1977, Larissa was forced to come out of her sarcastic and cynical shell and almost take her sister’s place within the Collins family. Secretly Larissa never believed that Lydia was dead; the psychic connection between them still existed, and she anxiously waited her twin’s return.
A little trip off of a balcony and an induced period of time spent as Diana led Larissa to discover an important aspect of her life shortly after Lydia’s disappearance—that she had a portrait identical to the one keeping her great-grandfather Quentin alive.
In the meantime, Larissa became plagued by the memories of Daphne DuPres Collins, her counterpart on the Titanic in 1912 Parallel Time. Daphne was torn from her lover Josiah Davidson by her fiancé, Johnston Cummiskey, and Josiah was almost killed by Johnston’s jealousy as the ship sank. The endeavor led Larissa to find Josiah’s counterpart in 1977—Howie Davidson, a broke musician from Collinsport, and the two soon fell in love despite Larissa’s doubts and that nasty little portrait.
When Lydia returned to Collinwood, possessed by the spirit of her jealous ex-boyfriend, Larissa and Howie proved that the two are a forced to be reckoned with, kicking that boy’s spirit’s ass into kingdom come. Of course, that meant another trip over the balcony for our heroine… but no Diana complex this time around.
Larissa and Howie married in 1980, and Larissa gave birth to their son Jonathan in that same year. However, the couple experienced some… martial problems and in 1984, Howie took Jonathan and left Collinwood for good, believing that Larissa had abandoned them. She, of course, had never done such a thing, and Howie left her heartbroken and pregnant with his twin daughters, born in January of 1985. Anna and Meredith Davidson were raised with the help of Howie’s best friend, AJ McLeod, who knew of the pregnancy and the grief that Larissa was going through. While Larissa and AJ eventually became a couple, her heart remained with Howie, and in 1998 she creates another personality to hide behind, that of British “cousin” Jennifer Collins.
Believing that he was indeed divorced, Howie starts a relationship with the witch Bianca in 2000, when Jonathan is 20 years old. Jonathan, having learned of his Collins blood, sides with the Collins family, moves out of the house, and starts a verbal war with his father. In the 16 years since he last saw his mother, Jonathan has adopted Larissa’s personality and the problems that go with it. Anna and Meredith, on the other hand, have their own issues to deal with.
Of course, there’s always the plots that Bianca is cooking up… but rest assured, there’s a happy ending.
Behind the Scenes of When Worlds Collide
This story was originally called 1977, and featured Leonardo DiCaprio arriving at Collinwood and turning into a vampire. I started this in seventh grade (hm…. 1997 maybe?) and I wish I still had this version, because it would have been absolutely hilarious to go back and read.
The current version of the story was started in 1998 and still hasn’t been completed. At this point I’m unsure whether or not I should just finish it or go back and start all over. Either way, I’ve still got a long road ahead of me. I’m just past the 1912 storyline, at Quentin and Angelique’s wedding…. Bah.
Like Meg said, it’ll be rewritten and finished… eventually. It’s on my to-do list.