overlooked

Name: Roy Edison Grady (answers to both Roy and Grady)

Age: 18

Gender: male

Type: Wakings - Spires

Appearance:

Not one who seems that imposing, he's about 5'8" and not overwhelmingly muscled. While he's toned enough, it's been from physical labor, and getting into fights rather than anything else, and he's on the thin side due to never quite having enough on his plate growing up. he's got a mop of wavy hair that tends to hang in his eyes when he doesn't do much with it, and half the time he keeps it that way for a reason. His clothes are always in some state of disrepair, and old. It's all hand me downs and a lot of it doesn't even really fit properly.

One of the more prominent things about Roy is that he's got a bit of a broken look to him. It's not something he goes for, and he wouldn't appreciate it if it was pointed out to him, but when he's upset about something, he looks utterly shattered by it. It's something that occasionally garners him sympathy, even if he isn't aware of that.

Personality:

Roy isn't what one would call a flat personality. He's got many different facets that come into play depending on his situation. Such as when dealing with adults or people in authority, he tends towards being very polite, something that was instilled in him from a young age. It's all 'yes ma'am' and 'no sir'. Around people his own age, he relaxes a lot more, even if sometimes he can come off as quiet. In groups he tends towards watching than becoming the center of attention, something he doesn't really like. He isn't used to it, he grew up in a family where no one was the center of attention, so it's unnatural for him to try to go for it. If he's made to be, he can shy back, or get embarrassed, and often finds excuses to excuse himself soon after.

One on one, he's better. He's much easier to engage in conversation, and once you get him going, he can be very warm and friendly, open and generous. He's the type who can lose track of time if he's having a good time with someone, and he can be a good listener when he needs to be. Of course, if he's having one of his bad days, he can be in black, black moods where nothing'll help, where he wants nothing but isolation. He's a passionate person, and tends to try and put his all into things, whether it's good or bad.

He believes in a better life, even if it's likely never going to pan out for him. So far, that dream hasn't been dashed, though it's not quite as naive as it was when he was younger. Still, though, he can be fairly naive sometimes, and he doesn't always have the self awareness to see it. He misses other things about himself too, such as the fact that he can have wicked moodswings that leave other people bewildered. That sometimes things that shouldn't set him off nearly so badly as they do just wreck him for a while. That his emotions tend to get the better of him, and he doesn't have much control over them.

When offended, either for himself or on behalf of someone he cares about, Roy can get violent. He's been in scraps before, sort of starting when things took a turn for the worse in his family, and it only slowly got worse over time. Oddly, if it isn't something he sees as his fight, he's less inclined to do anything, but if it's for family or a friend, he might need to be dragged off. There are definite deep down damaged anger issues that get triggered, and maybe that's where all his frustration with his life and how it's gone goes. He's never killed anyone, but does carry a straightrazor wherever he goes, just in case, and he's used it.

Sexuality:

hetero

City History:

Life wasn't really all that pleasant for the Grady family. They were Catholic, huge, and didn't have near enough money to spread around to keep everyone fed and clothed properly. As he was growing up, several siblings died, both younger and older. Some just drifted off and didn't come back home one day. Others were in and out. Not only that, but it wasn't just his family in the place. It was his family, and cousins, and aunts and uncles, and they were all kind of piled into a home that didn't really fit them all, because everyone had fallen on hard times. Really, as weird as it sounds, he's got family that he doesn't even properly know if they're siblings or cousins.

At one point, the family was doing fairly well, which was how the house was acquired in the first place. But eventually(and when Roy was still pretty young, around nineish), as times got harder and harder, people were called off to war, businesses took hits...things crumbled. Roy's father eventually took a track that would change the course of all of the family's lives, even if he felt he had no choice. While no one is actually positive what it was Frank Grady did for the DiGiovanni, he managed to keep everyone in the house as comfortable as he could. Which wasn't, really, but he tried. If it had just been his family, they likely would have been in a higher class bracket, but because it wasn't, they barely scraped along even if Frank did what could be considered well.

A few years ago, things changed. The succession of things is kind of a blur for Roy. Another bout of flu swept through the house, and when it was over with, about four of the kids were dead, and so were his two aunts. His mother was sick herself, and after that rather large trauma, she never fully recovered, and she succumbed a few months later. Roy doesn't want to think it was suicide, but he's blocked it out, really. His father used to like to say she'd died of a broken heart, and that was as much as he'd say about it.

Supervision and care of the young ones fell to the older children while Frank was away from the house, which became more and more often. The uncles that had been around sort of just seemed to leave, to drift off and Roy still doesn't know what happened to either of them. He and the other kids tried, they really did, but half of them were kids themselves, and things just got out of hand. And then? One day Frank didn't come home. He went missing, no one actually knows what happened to him. It didn't take long for the household of children to get shipped off to the orphanage, or disappear themselves. Roy was there for a while, til he turned seventeen and took off to work more often than he could if he were still staying there. His goal is to try and get everyone back together, because from a young age, he had family values instilled in him--it's just a task that's more than likely absolutely impossible for him. He just hasn't figured that out yet.

When he wasn't properly in the orphanage anymore, he was approached by some 'associates' of the DiGiovanni family. He was told in no uncertain terms that Frank had left debts to them, and that Roy was going to be held responsible for them. The first thing they did was tell him they had one of his sisters, and if he agreed, she'd be released. To this day, Roy doesn't even know if that was true. If they ever had anyone, or if they let her go and kept their word. They maintain that they let her go but they weren't responsible for her not having contacted him afterwards. Either way, he got roped in. They helped get him part time employment with Dutch, and generally use him for errands. He's been at it for a little over a year, and he splits everything he makes in half. Half goes to the orphanage to help out his family still there, half he hides away as well as he can to live on and save for a new place(or to buy the old one back).

World History:

Really, he lived a really really normal life with a family, and nothing remarkable ever really happened. No massive traumas, nothing--not until randomly all of a bloody sudden he dropped into a coma. Other than that he had a normal life. School, a girlfriend, couple of siblings, parents who actually weren't divorced.He got good grades, had a few extra curricular activities and was looking forward to college.

Special Skills and Abilities:

he knows his way around he tunnels, and back alleys of the city. he can hold his own in a fight(though he fights dirty and always carries a blade).

Weaknesses:

Roy doesn't have the best grip on his emotions. With as much shit as he's been through, and is still going through, he's more or less under constant strain and that's really really had it's toll. It isn't any specific emotion that will trigger, it can be anything, depending on the circumstances. What it basically boils down to is a lot of symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder, even if the term isn't even known, and he certainly doesn't know it's there. This has the potential to get darker and worse, particularly if the violence in his life gets worse. Things could go very wrong for Roy, and it wouldn't take that much.

Roy's working on some budding paranoia and untrusting tendencies. He hasn't been at things that long, but he's already learning that people aren't on the level, even if they can smile and look very sincere, and you need to check your pockets before you leave anywhere, in case someone's lifted everything you had.It's making him more resistant to making lasting relationships with people, and while he's not full on jaded yet, it could very well head that way.

Working off some unknown debt is one thing, never quite knowing when his debt is going to be paid is another. Both are things that hold his life at a standstill. He can't really try and move forward while having to do odd jobs, run numbers, and whatever else they might tell him to do. So far it hasn't been anything too insane, but he's always waiting for the axe to fall, too. He's always aware that things could get worse at a moment's notice.

Being one of the older kids(that are still around anyways), Roy feels responsible for the hoards of siblings and cousins that are out there 'somewhere' and he still visits the younger ones at the orphanage when he's allowed to. He'd like to be able to get a real place, and start gathering the family back up, but that's a pretty impossible task as of yet, and wholly unrealistic in nature. But that doesn't stop him from trying, and it's a continual bother in the back of his mind that he hasn't been able to do it, and doesn't foresee being able to in the near future, either. Another note on that, if people want to manipulate him, that's a major weak point they can do it with.

Not so book smart, Roy dropped out of school before finishing, because he tried to keep the family afloat. So, he isn't going to be having long conversations with anyone about the latest book he's read, and math is really not his strong point at all. (it's part of why he runs numbers, they don't mean anything to him.) Most of his education came from the church when he was at the orphanage himself, and the street. This is something that bothers him, and he wants to remedy it, but has no idea how to go about that, and doesn't ever seem to have the time to actually try finding out.

Strengths:

Roy's pretty sharp and observant, and can think on his feet.

Roy is, for all intents and purposes, ignorable. He's unassuming, people don't really remember him all that well more often than not, and he blends into the gritty background of the city extremely well.

If it's broken, Roy can probably fix it, if you give him enough time and materials. He's good with his hands, and even if he's not fixed something before, he can generally work out how to do it on his own.

Family or Connections:

several siblings/cousins scattered around the city. he's lost touch with a few of them, doesn't even know if all of them are alive anymore.

Residence:

a vault in the old bank building he occasionally shares with random cousins or siblings, if they happen to find him/need to

Career:

does little things for the DiGiovanni and their affiliates, does odd jobs around the neighborhood(and occasionally DG establishments), works part time at Dutch's shop

PB: Kyle Gallner

Other Information:

Roy is a collector. The vault he stays in at the old bank building he's filled with bits and pieces of random things. Old photographs, broken toys, a few partially burned books from the library, all kinds of things. He tends to take things that strike him when he sees them. There's no real rhyme or reason to it, and while a couple of the things he has are stolen, he doesn't generally get caught for it because it's usually nothing of consequence, nothing of any real value. He could pass up sellable jewelry and take an old picture frame next to them. It's also not a constant thing, just whenever something sparks in his head. He's also prone to giving them away, if something strikes him that he should. Such as some broken toys he finds he fixes then gives to some of the homeless kids in the tunnels.

He also has a little bit of a tendency towards being attracted to older women. Girls in his own age range would have to work harder to get his attention than someone at least five years older than him. He generally doesn't act on it or anything(or hasn't yet because it conflicts with his need to be polite and well behaved around adults), but can get a little shy around a beautiful woman he likes.