Individually Lauri seems like a somewhat attractive but typically unordinary girl, but when you get all five of her in the same place each acting differently but somehow all acting together you get that uneasy discomfort that proceeds the on set of a case of cognitivie dissonance.
For the past 30 years at least man kind has begun to extensively get in to various types of genetic experimentation. Although the ability to select genes to favor certain characteristics has only progressed so far as to make the carrot that tastes just like chicken, the ability to produce multiple clones of a single creature was found to be surprisingly easy. Thus began the US government's experiments on seeing how well a group of people that are in many ways physically the same person could be trained to operate as a unit.
One of the things that was discovered about N-clones was although they may be based on an unremarkable original when they operated together they tended to have markedly better concentration. There was also a group gestalt noticed. It seemed that they could work on problems better because one member of the group would take part of the problem and stop worrying about other parts that would lead to distraction having been trained with a faith that the other members of the N-clone would pick up the slack.
In time other attributes of a well-knit N-clone will begin to surface.
Most of the N-clones have been raised apart from normal life, normal schools. The first sets worked fantastically well together and wit the trainers whom they knew from early. However there was a marked inability of them to see a need to work with people who were not part of their core existence.
Many argued that this was not a flaw in these people being part of an N-clone, but more due to the way they were raised. There was also considerable pressure on the US government about the morality of their attempts.
So began the process where at a certain age (usually between twelve and fourteen) of an N-clone's development they were given the choice on how they wished to begin their life. Once exposed to the myriad of people in the "outside world" many of the developing N-clones fractured and they ended up with several individuals who would tend to go in dramatically different paths. Very much like a group of magnets which all had the same polarity.
Most that did not divide up in to unique individuals tended to remain in isolation and dedicated their unity towards various projects that the US government had designed them for.
Laurie-5 is one of the exceptions. When given the choice at fourteen years without hesitation Laurie-5 said that she wanted to attend Ikibomot. Her trainers and the supervisors were quite pleased at this. This was the first time an N-clone had wanted to attend a prestigious, if quirky, private school. Usually they had either opted for private tutor-ships outside of the sterile training environment they were used to, but still by themselves. A number had gone in to public schools, and the majority had gone right in to colleges and universities.
Laurie-5 is a rather open person. Not really given to moodiness, at least none that any of her classmates have noticed. She displays a singularly remarkable well defined sense of self and of purpose. In any normal situation among people she will not get lost in the crowd. Although she will seem to have a strong sense of purpose, it is not clear that she has a purpose at all. Laurie-5 seems to very much live in a balanced state and to go to school seems to be her purpose right now.
One does notice, though, that Laurie-5 still has a somewhat difficult time fitting in with many of her class mates. Part of it is because they do shun her somewhat, part of it is that they are so busy trying to just get through classes themselves while Laurie-5 rarely seems to need a study partner (why, she has four study partners on every topic.) Her closest friends are Yurika and Sanders, although at least one and every now and then two of Laurie-5 seems to like to hang around Terri when they get the chance.
Laurie-5 rarely huddles as a single mass. She tends to range out a bit. Usually there are a group of three and then two singles. They definitely seem to need to get together as a group of five for the evening and some parts of the day. During this time they apparently catch up on a lot of what the others saw. This provides a lot of confusion to people because Laurie-5 pretty strongly avoids having any of herself labeled separate from the others by people, and after they meet, it is hard to say at times which ones were the ones off on their own before and whether those are the same ones that are off on their own after they meet.
Laurie-5 is a rather pretty person, but tends to seem to rather be plain. She has a golden-brownish hair which she wears cut straight about one third of the way down her back. The hair has a decent amount of body, but is very straight. A goodly smattering of perky bangs rests on her forehead above her quite noticeable, finely arched eyebrows which curve over golden brown eyes that will twinkle with an almost elvish merriment at the slightest provocation. A small, rounded nose buttons out nicely in the middle of her face, and her narrow and slightly pink lips frame a smoothly randed mouth. Her face is quite ovalish with a simple roundness to the cheeks that will occasionally show a soft blush when embarassed. She usually wears a vertical hair band to keep her longish hair out of her face when reading a book. She is of fairly medium build, and just a bit on the thinnish side. Longish legs match her narrow build and shapely arms. This is Laurie-5 and they all look identical physically.
Laurie-5 wears no makeup, and tends to dress in somewhat dusty colors. Blacks, browns, evergreen, the occasional sierra blue offsetting the rather quiet colors. Rarely do all five dress all alike, but they usually dress quite similarly. She seems to have no preference of skirts over pants, etc.
Laurie-5 has no one class that she seems exceptionally strong in, but she is very good in any one topic that she is faced with in her class studies. For sports, she tends to avoid any thing that involves competition and prefers to bicycle all over the place. She will enjoy the occasional game of volleyball, in which she will frequently divide two and two on opposite teams with the fifth sitting on the sidelines, "to keep things even," she says.