bubblyontheoutside

Name: Marian Agnes Grady

Age: 21

Gender: female

Type: Dreamer

Appearance:

Marian has long wavy, generally unruly hair that she can't quite tame. She's of medium height, a little on the too thin side, and has large, expressive brown eyes. Her clothes are old, thin, and often patched or re-sewn, though they're cared for well. She tries to keep them looking better than they are, even if she fails sometimes with that. She has a sweet, endearing sort of smile, something the dimples help with. Most of the time, people view her as being open and friendly, it's only if she's not paying attention that they can catch a more haunted look in her eyes.

Personality:

Marian has taught herself to be bubbly. It isn't really her natural state, it's more of something she puts on for the world, and a little for herself as opposed to how she would be if she didn't have to try so hard to keep her head above water. She learned as a waitress that sweet, happy girls who have bright smiles and flirt lightly with customers get better tips than surly ones. Somehow she managed to take it and blanket it across the rest of her life, even after she moved on to a better job.

Underneath, she's troubled. Some days she’s barely able to make it, caught up in her own shortcomings in the fact no matter how hard she tries she sometimes just can’t get to where she wants to be.

When she doesn’t mean to she can be very curious, the type that tends to make her look into things she probably shouldn’t. It gets her asking the right questions for her articles, but it also has her finding herself interested in the investigative side of journalism, which may or may not be a good fit for her.

Sexuality:

Straight

City History:

Things were fine, before. She remembers when they were fine. Growing up, when she'd been little, it had all been pretty awesome. Then things got harder, and those memories blot out most of the good. Three huge families in one household, that's a whole lot of different personalities, a whole lot of stress, and a huge lack of privacy. And there was never enough. Never enough food, medicine, space, it was a hectic existence at best.

When people died, it was hard on Marian. When her father disappeared, it was even worse(as she'd been a bit of a daddy's girl). Things fell apart, and it seemed like it all happened so fast. When Roy left for the war she stuck held on as long as she could without him, being the second oldest child. Once she graduated from high school she got a waitress job to make ends meet, moving out to the boarding house she lives in now, just as the family really fell apart. The kids that didn’t wind up in the orphanage were scattered to the wind, around the city here and there, but Marian isn’t sure where many of them are.

After a few years of waiting tables and teaching herself to type, she was able to get a job at the Echo. It’s hasn’t ever been too much, usually given articles to write that are of little no worth like covering the church bake sale or the school’s Christmas Pageant.

When Roy got home she interviewed him about the war, a total personal piece. She loved the way it came out, paired it with some photos of her brother turned it in to her editor. Surprisingly enough her editor loved the story and ran it. It also came with the condition that if she could write more like it, she could move up and out of the crappy stories and into real lifestyle pieces.

These days she gets by. She makes enough money to put her a step above dirt poor, but there isn’t really room for any sort of luxuries. She’s doing better than she has in the past, especially when Roy left and her family imploded by she’s by no means got it under control.

Special Skills and Abilities:

Reasonable typing and interviewing skills.

Weaknesses:

Emotional Scars - This is by far the most crippling to Marian. She carries around a whole host of issues, pretty much none of that she's actually dealt with. They're all there just beneath the surface, and she always feels like she's just one step away from breaking down. This is because that's truer than she would like. It's actually an accurate assessment. She isn't some girl who's really stronger than she gives herself credit for. No, she knows. She knows well that sometimes she gazes out the window, spacing out as she listens to the rain falling, where she can just feel all those traumas beneath her skin.

Avoidance - Marian doesn't truly deal with things. That means when she wracks up new issues, they really are just more tossed onto the pile. Eventually this will break her, unless she learns to deal with things and move on. She needs most to learn to forgive herself, and her parents, aunts and uncles who she deep down views as betraying all of the kids. She'll never admit that out loud, but it's certainly there. She needs mostly to learn how to let things go, which she's never in her life been any good at.

Naive - Marian isn’t clueless to how bad things can get and the difference between the haves and the have nots, but what she doesn’t understand is the crime in the city and where it comes from. Growing up she saw the gritty details, but she hasn’t quite grasped the concept of how that all originates in a nice house somewhere.

Curious - Since becoming a reporter, she’d started asking questions of everyone around her. She’s interested in writing lifestyle pieces, like the one she did about her brother, but eventually she’s going to ask the wrong question (or the right question depending on how you look at it). She’s not as interested in investigative reporting, but she does find herself drawn into it because of the way it piques her curiosity.

Strengths:

Likable - Marian's persona she puts on is quite likable, and a lot of people are fond of her. It means that she rarely gets too much shit from people, and people are willing to answer her questions when she does her interviews.

Family or Connections:

The Grady clan, but specifically Roy, her brother.

Residence:

all girl's boarding house

Career:

Lowest level reporter for the Echo.

PB: Vanessa Anne Hudgens