Lori appears as a quietly attractive young woman with dark skin and light brown eyes. Her hair is naturally curly and falls to her shoulders. Most of the time her hair is unkept, blowing wherever it wants to. She stands less than 1.52 meters (5'0") and weighs about 42 kg (92 lbs). Her body is very small and thin and she lacks physical strength and stamina. However she is exceptionally intelligent. Most of the time she dresses conservatively and tries not to showoff.

Though Lori may be physical small and weak, she has a very sharp mind. This allows her to function well under pressure. She also makes for a stimulating conversation and she has the equivalent of a college education. Yet she is still young and naive at the way the world works. Most of her sheltered youth has left her with very little idea on how things are on the streets of Seattle.

Generally she is shy and uncomfortable in social situations. She's been this way all of her life. This is one reason why she spends so much time in the Matrix. She won't hesitate to let other people know what she thinks, but she won't press her opinions. Instead she will make suggestions on what she knows and let others decide for her. Lori is most afraid of messing something up and being seen as incompetent in the Matrix which is her field of expertise. As a result she strives for perfection when she does anything with her deck and is embarrassed when something goes wrong. Once that happens she normally tries to keep the problem quiet and try to fix it herself.

The Matrix is a separate world to Tart. It is better than the real world to her. In the Matrix one sheds the limitations of the physical body and the restraints the people of the world place. It's freedom for her. This sense of freedom is sometimes marked by a sharp change in her personality while jacked into the Matrix. Tart is more self-confident and aware of her surroundings.

Where the Matrix allows, Tart's persona appears in one of two forms. The first comes from a combination of skulking programs and utilities. This "Sleazing" persona appears as a young girl made from translucent liquid that smoothly ripples in the Matrix. The persona's eyes are glowing white with small sparkles of gold flicking beneath the surface. A second appearing persona is really a visual modification of the first. This persona is a representation of offensive and defensive programs. It is an "Attack" persona. Offensive utilities and programs are represented by a elongated fingers and razored hair. Defensive programs, such as Armor, take the shape of a diamond hard skin. Thus the cool liquid girl can solidify into a diamond hard nightmare with razor-sharp claws for hands. The general color of the "Attack Persona" is deep red. The eyes change from white to a rose-red when these programs are activated.

Born in the structure of Fuchi in Seattle, Lori showed great promise at a young age. Her parents, Patricia and Robert, were so proud at her intelligence that they enrolled her in a special program provided by Fuchi. This made Lori's sister, Samantha (Sam for short), very jealous of her. Lori was the pride of the Collins household. However she wasn't a happy young girl. She had few friends and was empathically shy. Meanwhile her sister was one of the most popular girls in her school and had dozens of friends. This made Lori secretly envious of her sister

Lori graduated at a high school level by the age of fourteen. Afterwards she entered an advanced studies program in computer and matrix theory. Fuchi provided for her education, grooming her as a corporate decker. She showed great potential and impressed her instructors. Fuchi started to provide Lori with advanced headware cybernetics to improve her abilities.

Sadly Lori's life was to change drastically. In September of 2058, shortly after her birthday, Lori's parents got a divorce. Samantha would stay with Patricia while Lori would stay with Robert. However that wouldn't be the end of it. Robert, angry and depressed with what happened, was tempted by an offer from MCT. One night Robert downloading records from Fuchi where he worked as a programmer. He planned to sell the information and get himself a new job at MCT. Fuchi found out about it and planned to stop the deal from going through.

When the Fuchi hit team moved in on Robert at his condo in Everett, he had Lori with him. He immediately told her to run out the back door while he would talk to the team. The talk didn't go well and a trigger-happy mercenary shot Robert dead. Lori ran for her life with her father's deck and a little money. She spent the next three days on the streets of Seattle until a fixer that went by the name Hector found her. What's more he found out that the files that Lori's dad had downloaded were stored on the cyberdeck that she carried. Hector made a deal with her. He would provide her with a home and a way to make money if she would allow him to sell the files and split the profit with her.

Hector sold the files, but he knew better than to cross Fuchi. Instead he sold them back to the corporation for a small finders fee. One that wasn't too expensive to draw attention to himself. Since Fuchi had already offered a contract on the files, they were more than happy to pay. Specially since Hector's price was lower than the contract offer.

A few months after Robert's father had been killed, Lori was listed as missing. Lori was still afraid that Fuchi might still be looking for her. So she made an arrangement with Hector to fake her death. After this was done, the name Lori Michelle Collins was erased from the Fuchi files and listed as deceased as of December 8, 2058.