Born in distant Alaska, Zavia's parents were nice folks, and so were her five elder siblings. Sure there was the occassional strife, and a family with six children has all the monetary issues that come with that, but on the whole, childhood was pleasant enough. School, some sibling strife - but not too much - and while there was no money for hobbies, Zavia didn't mind, spending a lot of time outdoor… even when the winter cold was out.
All changed in the year 1990, when Zavia was 12 years old, the family was torn apart when her eldest sibling died of cancer. Zavia's mother and father both had different ways of dealing with the pain, and eventually, the pair grew apart due to that grief. Zavia herself wasn't affected as much by the death of her sister as she was by the strife between her parents… the age difference was a whole ten years, after all.
By 1992, Zavia's parents divorced, a settlement was made that the girls, Zavia and her elder sister, would remain with their mother, and the boys with their father. Soon after, Zavia's mother took herself and the kids off to New York City, where she came from. This was a pretty damn big change for Zavia, and she had to get used to it. This wasn't easy… not by far, and she never quite lost her homesickness, which in turned triggered a depression.
By 1996, Zavia had long gotten used to her new life in New York City, and she was a strong young woman with a desire to help her country. As such, she joined the United States Army. And things went well, boot camp was heavy, but she got through it well enough. In fact, she did better than most of the guys… something she's rather proud of.
It wasn't until the year 2001 that Zavia had another major upheaval in her life. She discovered she could emit a sleep gas from her eyes. At first there were some minor incidents while she learned to control it, but it was never pinpointed to her personally. Zavia noticed due to the remnants of the tears she discovered on her face every time.. not to mention it only ever happened when she was around. It was a pretty shocking discovery, and she hid it as well as she could, trying to forget she could even do that.
In the second gulf war, Zavia had a single term in Iraq, serving as a combat medic. A tough job with a lot of responsibility, and while she promoted to Corporal at the end of the ordeal, she still didn't think she deserved it. After Iraq she got stationed in Fort Drum, in New York.
When the bomb went off, Zavia was part of the people who looked through the rubble for survivors. Tough job, emotionally draining. It made her look at life in a different way. It made her realize just how finite life is, as in Iraq, most of the people who died were fellow soldiers and 'enemy combatants', these were almost all civilians. It worsened her depression to see this happen. She was offered a promotion to Sergeant, which she accepted, albeit reluctantly.
When the great reveal came, Zavia was possibly less surprised than others. Mostly due to the fact she was one of those people herself, even if she had never known any others like her, she had theorized about their potential existence.
As the call came for registration, Zavia did the responsible thing and registered. It wasn't the easiest thing for her, but she knew she had to do so. With the military's new-founded knowledge of her ability, they started to encourage Zavia to practice using it, and as such she did, this strengthened her control in that she started to not only be able to mostly repress it, but also allow her to summon it reliably.
The years thereafter weren't all that interesting, nor all that unusual. Until the riots came, Zavia played a role in keeping at least one part of town relatively calm… if quite sleepy. After that, slots came open for FRONTLINE, and Zavia was asked to join that branch of the military. Not having any personal objections, she did.
