Janika Vaneck Olsen

Janika is an artist painter and the owner of Vaneck's View, an art gallery on Geary Street in San Fransisco's downtown art district.

Roots[]

Of Czechoslovakian and Sioux descent, Janika Kimimela Vaneck was born to Dušan and Kim. The eldest, she grew up with two siblings: brother Chayton and sister Adriena. Their father Dušan was the son of a watchmaker, who fled Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia during WWII. Landing in New-York, děda (grandad) Miloš found employment with Bulova and married a pretty waitress from a long-established Czech American family from Yorkville, Manhattan.

Dušan, the third of five sons, became a rather well-known photographer and stayed close to his father's Czech immigrant roots until he met fellow Art student Kim Pelletier in the 60s. Kim, or Kimimela, was half Lakota Sioux from South Dakota, having left her homeland for college. They took off together and photographed most of the United States. Upon returning to New-York, Dušan and Kim mounted their own exhibition and it was a resounding success, pretty much launching both their careers. Unhappy with their son's choice for a bride, Dušan's parents nonetheless embraced their grandchildren when they came, passing along the Bohemian ways and stories. For the birth of all her children, Kim returned to her home village of Kyle, near the Badlands of South Dakota, to be close to her people before returning to New-York after a time. She and Dušan tried to reflect their ethnic origins in their lives, giving their children both Czech and Sioux names and making sure they spent plenty of time with both their families. Thus Janika and her siblings are a bit of a melting pot of beliefs and cultures.

Her brother is a professional baseball player for the New-York Yankees and her sister works in Graphic Design. Since her family was still primarily based in New-York, they're all assumed dead. Janika secretly holds hope that her mother might have been visiting in Kyle during the attack but she has so far no way of verifying this.

The Three Musketeers[]

It was in Florence that Janika would meet Lance Olsen and Lennie Laslow. All three studying there for three years, Lennie and Janika in Fine Arts and Lance in the Art of Photography, they would become fast friends.

Back in the United States, they would remain close and even going as far as following each other to Berkeley. A tragic event in Lennie's life made him drop out and make a drastic shift in careers.

Their relationship evolving, Lance and Janika fell in love, finally giving in to an attraction that had always been there.

Moving to San Francisco a couple years later to be near their friend Lennie, now a SFPD cop who would soon make detective, Janika enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she would later teach.

Though Janika and Lance loved each other deeply, it would prove to not be enough. As passionate as they were with each other, so were they for their art and it would cost them. Even though their union gave them a beautiful daughter, Winona, their marriage would slowly fall apart.

Lance moved out of the family home for a place in Oakland, close enough for shared custody of their child. Still in good terms, they also decided to keep their holiday home in Lake Tahoe, time-sharing it. Like many other things, their respective lives are still somewhat entangled. They split up over a year ago but never tidied up, just like they were legally separated but never got around to get finalising a divorce.

Lennie, having faced another life-changing drama, quit the Force to return to his first love, sculpting. He would slowly become a part of Janika's art gallery, ultimately becoming her business partner.

Lance's and Winona's deaths at the hands of the Visitors on the 1st of March 2009 would be an incredible blow.

Resistance[]

When the Pulse hit, it was with Lennie that Janika found her Winona and her father dead. Mad at losing his friend, his heart also going to Janika for her loss, Lennie wanted to hit back. Using his old contacts in the police department as well as on the street, he soon started running an underground network where information, false papers and passes were distributed.

Janika, with her skills in computer graphics jumped at the chance to help. It wasn't much but their little illicit business gave her something to focus on as well as giving her the feeling of fighting back.

A chance meeting with Murphy Michaels, the Resistance leader himself, would give Janika the opportunity to get more involved. In more ways than one.

Personality[]

Janika spent her childhood between New-York and South Dakota, trying to fit in but never really managing to. Luckily, she never let that be a problem. Strong-willed and comfortable in her own skin, she jumps and dives. She's not afraid to take risks. She's a doer.

Becoming a mom mellowed her some, and while she knew she was cuddler and rather a loving person, she discovered she was also a nurturer. That said, she's also passionate and dedicated to her art and can easily lose herself in it.

Since the Visitors' return, Janika doesn't know where she's at. With the loss of her daughter and (would be) ex-husband, she's adrift, and had it not been for her travel companion and business partner, she would have most likely eaten Lance's gun upon finding their bodies.

Statistics[]

AGE: 35

HEIGHT: 5'10"

HAIR: Brown

EYES: Brown

PLACE OF BIRTH: Kyle, South Dakota

PROFESSIONAL OCCUPATION: Artist Painter, Gallery owner

FAMILY:

Father - Dušan
Mother - Kim (Kimimela)
Brother - Chayton Miloš
Sister - Adriena Maka
Spouse - Lance Olsen
Daughter - Winona

Education[]

Bachelor of Science in Studio Art, Lorenzo de' Medici, Florence
Master of Fine Arts, University of California, Berkeley
Master of Arts in History and Theory of Contemporary Art, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco

Played by Dolarabee