CROFT, Violet-Grey

[violet-grey croft]

VIOLET-GREY CROFT

FULL NAME: Violet-Grey Croft .
NICKNAMES: Vie (Chester calls her this), Lettie, Grey.
AGE: Twenty-five
GENDER: Female
SEXUALITY: Straight.
STATUS: Single.
GROUP: Citizen.
GRADE: N/A.
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: Six Feet Under bar staff, (Ex-Getaway Driver?).

HAIR: Darkest shade of brown – almost black, but with a deep red hue in certain lights. It’s long, tied up when she’s frazzled, and down when she’s relaxed.
EYES: Blue
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: She has one on the back of her shoulder where some shrapnel got caught during a crash.
TATTOOS: She has many. She’s got a full sleeve consisting of a peacock at the top, geometric patterns, flowers and mandalas. She had a rose on her opposite wrist and hand, and a tattoo on that palm in a similar mandala pattern. A jackal on one thigh, and a quote on the other; “She is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear”. She also has “Live through death” on her ribcage. She has ornate stars on each of her ring fingers. She has a portrait of a woman on the outside of her calf and a carousel horse on the back. She has flowers on one side of her neck. She has Chester’s name on the side of her finger, and the date of the job that changed her on the top of her other hand. An outline of the Dread Pirate Roberts is on her forearm, along with a doll and rose. She has a cat on her knee and a venetian mask around her ankle. A snake/ribbon behind her knee, and “Carry me” on her foot.
PIERCINGS: Ears once and a nose ring.
PLAY-BY: Scarlett Simoneit!

LIKES: rally driving, patchouli oil, loud music, rock shandy, being behind the wheel, fast cars, breakfast muffins, tattoos, electric guitars, cherry lipbalm, good mascara, snow, keychains, Winona Ryder movies, frogs, pepperoni pizza, beanie hats, hazelnut lattes, warm brownies, egg on toast, spaghetti hoops, small house plants, black clothes, leggings, dinosaurs.
DISLIKES: Guns, missing Chester, sleepless nights, thunderstorms, being alone, cold chicken, cold homes, an empty purse, strong alcohol, dancing, blood, her step-father, people who use look at their phones while walking, ghost hunting shows, churches (and those associated with them), rich dark chocolate, emoji overuse, hard shell tacos.
FEARS: Getting caught for what she did, being alone, her little brother knowing the truth about what she’s done.
SECRETS: Violet-Grey has been a getaway driver for a dozen different jobs. She forced herself to walk away when on the last job an innocent man was shot and killed.
PERSONALITY: Given her past, Violet-Grey is very aware, but sometimes can come across as jumpy because of it. She’s remorseful for what happened six months ago, and hopes to somehow make up for what happened. She’s guilt-ridden, but at the same time she believes she did the wrong things for the right reasons. Vie is a survivor and she knows that some times surviving means bending or breaking the rules just so you can get from day to day. Despite her criminal past, Vie is a good person who doesn’t want people to get hurt or be taken advantage of. However, she’s also a little jaded when it comes to trusting others. It takes her some time to get comfortable around people, and to confide in them. She’s not at all a fighter; in fact, she was chosen specifically for her talents at flight. If she feels like something is wrong then she’ll speak up, but she’s not one for violence. Violet-Grey is scared of being alone, and this trait has often been the very reason her romantic adventures have had a rather tragic end. Most of her forays into this department have been built on lust and not love. She’s no stranger to waking up in an unfamiliar bed, especially in the last half a dozen months or so. She’s hurting and afraid now that she’s on her own, trying to work her shit out.

MOTHER: Sandra Jean Washington, 48
FATHER: Lewis Compton Croft, 50
SIBLINGS: Arthur Edmond Croft, 16
OTHERS: Chester Frances Ward, 27, ex boyfriend/ex partner in crime/ex everything.
James Michael Washington, 51, step-father
PETS: Snow, a white kitten she rescued.
HOMETOWN: Cottonwood, Minnesota.
HISTORY: Sandra and Lewis were college sweethearts. They met through a student rally on the campus and it was love at first sight. Neither of them knew back then that their relationship would eventually fizzle out. They married straight away once Sandra graduated, and once they both had jobs and had put down the deposit on a small, cosy house, Sandra announced to the family that they were expecting their first child. Violet-Grey was born one Sunday afternoon when everything else in their city was quiet.

Vie was an only child for most of her childhood. For that reason she spent a lot of time with her parents. Her father, Lewis had a weekend hobby of rally driving, which was a far leap from the Biochemist researcher he was most days of the week. Vie went to every race to watch him, and when she was old enough he began telling her why the cars were designed the way they were, showing her the elements that made a rally car different from the sedan in their driveway. Sandra knew her daughter was a daddy’s girl, but she still managed to squeeze in some time with her, often making breakfast or letting her help in the garden with her.
When Vie was nine her younger brother was born. She couldn’t have been more excited for Arthur. She was keen to be a big sister since she was only of the few in her class without siblings. Vie helped whenever she could, though often she was tripping her parents over in her haste to help with Arthur. As he grew older he idolised his big sister for all kinds of reasons. Arthur was always telling stories of Vie and praising her, even when she had done very little.

Vie was a quiet kid in school. No one would ever imagine that she would go on to follow her father and adopt rally driving as a hobby. It came in stages, mostly for her age, until she was able to have her own car and race with some of the upcoming names in the business. However, as knowing rally driving as her main point of driving, her friends were terrified when they first got into the beat up van she had for her first car. She could drive fast with control, and drag racing in the dead of night was definitely her scene, even if it wasn’t theirs.

The drag racing helped her after her parent’s divorce. Lewis and Sandra separated when she was thirteen, but the divorce happened when she was fifteen. For the two years of separation she held hope that her parents would get back together. The divorce killed that hope and left Vie feeling confused and hopeless. She wanted something to ignite her spark again. What definitely didn’t do that was her mother bringing James home and letting him move in just days after the kids were introduced to him. They were married a few months after the divorce was settled. James put down a lot of rules and demanded more from his step-children. If they got less than a B in school he demanded to know why and would take “privileges” away until the grades improved. Vie had a small weekend job in a coffee shop, but he would demand a surprisingly large portion of her wages for what she used in the home. Sandra never really stopped him but instead told her children that he was teaching them responsibilities for adulthood. Vie thought that her mother had changed for the worse since she married James.

Vie wanted to move in with her father, and Lewis was happy with that. In fact, after hearing from both his children he was planning to take Sandra back to the courts for custody. Before it could even reach the courtroom it ended in tragedy. There was a crash at the rally race, and Lewis ended up in the middle of it because he couldn’t avoid the front collision and the people behind couldn’t avoid him afterwards. He was in a coma, in hospital, and when he came around a week later he was paralysed on the left hand side. He also had brain damage that made him forget things like appointments and dates. After that, he couldn’t take Vie or Arthur permanently without finding a way to ensure their care would be prioritised. He couldn’t even look after himself.

Vie had her licence and spent as much time out of the house as she could. The kids who did drag racing on the quiet night roads became her friends, more so than her classmates. It was there that she met Chester. He was a little older than her, but would often comment on her driving and ask about her rally driving. It was him who nicknamed her “C’est la vie” which he later shortened to Vie. Everyone else had always called her Violet-Grey or Lettie. He took her for her first tattoo, was there when she had her first drink, and would ultimately hold her hand as they walked down a dark path.

Vie was just shy of nineteen. She hated her homelife. She hadn’t gone to college because it was unaffordable. Her father had lost his savings to medical builds, and James was not going to pay for college unless there was some kind of ten year plan. Vie didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life aside from driving on the rally tracks for her father. She picked up more hours in the café, but the pay was practically pennies to her now she was out of school and needed to pay for more things on her own. Chester pulled her away from the crowd one night and whispered to her. He told her there was a way to get a “shitload” of money, quickly, and get out of town.

There was a guy he knew who worked security at the main post office. He knew all the system, he knew the best times to raid the building and they were planning to rob the place. However, they were missing their escape route. Chester wanted Vie to be the getaway driver. She knew it was so, so wrong, but the thought of having the money to get away from James, maybe help her dad out a bit – even start a college fund for her brother….it was far too tempting. She made Chester promise that no one would get hurt, and once he assured her that any weapons would be fake, she was on board.

Vie was so nervous she felt sick. Still, she was there on the day, at the right time, in the car that had been modified to her suggestions. It looked like a very common make and model, but some work had been done inside so she could get them away quickly and before they could be traced. Fake plates, head to toe black, she was ready for them when Chester and the two other men came running across the street and jumped in the car. They were out of the city in a matter of minutes, and several miles down the road they ditched the car for a different one and hid it in an abandoned shed on private land where the plan was to repaint it and switch the plates again.

Her cut was impressive, if still not quite enough to change her life entirely. She got out of the family home, had a small apartment above a bar, which Chester often crashed at, too. He would bring food with him when he knew he was going to be there for a few days, which Vie thought was considerably thoughtful despite telling him it wasn’t necessary. Still, he knew all of her reasons for wanting to get away from her step-father, and he didn’t want her to think he was going to make her feed him as well as give him the other half of her bed. She put some money away for Arthur, though it was a long cry from college tuition. The final bit of cash she used to pay her father’s debts. She told him it was money she had been saving from some extra work and rallying. He never questioned it.

A year later, Chester propositioned her again with another heist. It was a different city out of the state so they couldn’t be considered repeat offenders. A bigger job this time, but another confident one with the same group. Vie agreed in a heartbeat because of two reasons.
1. The money was very nice, and the café was losing business because of a new franchise opening down the block.
2. Chester had snuck his way under her skin. She liked him, wanted to be with him. The feeling was mutual, though they had both sort of pulled back every time the tension rose between them.
So, the car came out again, and another successful job was done. When they were clear this time, Chester kissed her as soon as she was out of the car. After that they were sort of a thing. They never put a label on their relationship over the years. Sometimes they were just hanging out like always, other times they were wrapped up in the sheets, or he was kissing her goodbye at work. It might have been confusing to everyone on the outside, but Vie never had any questions about it. They were just right together.

The adrenaline rush from a successful job was addictive, and soon they were moving across the country, finding scores and pulling off jobs in a deliberately random pattern so that they couldn’t get linked from one to another. They each got themselves a nice stack of cash tucked away in savings and accounts. Vie had enough for Arthur to go to college, as well as keeping herself comfortable.

The years went by and the scores got bigger and bigger. Eventually they came across a New York job that needed an extra man. Chester’s companion “knew a guy” and he was brought in with them for a bank heist. It was one of the smaller banks, away from the city so there wouldn’t be as big a police presence in a close vicinity. It was the usual rules as far as Vie was concerned; the car was good to go, the weapons only looked realistic, and no one would get hurt. However, when Chester jumped back into the front seat he was splattered with blood and looked ashen. Vie demanded to know what had happened and if he was hurt, but he just screamed at her to drive. They were far enough away when she cut off the engine and demanded answers (not that she hadn’t been screaming for them the whole time). Chester filled her in by shoving the new guy into a nearby ditch during a short scuffle. He screamed that the asshole had shot the man Chester was using as a hostage. It had always been the way to grab someone, but they were always let go with nothing more than slight bruising if they had struggled. Vie was horrified. She screamed about the promises, the rules, but it turned out the new brute had a real gun in his waistband and saw to use it. He thought it was cool, more badass, but the whole deal with their jobs had been that they were in and out without any casualties. It didn’t make the news for as long that way, and insurance companies paid out for the rest. This, this was different.

Chester took Vie to the motel to calm down and shower himself. Vie turned on the TV to find out what the reporters were saying and it was then that she found out the man shot hadn’t survived. She beat on Chester, blamed him for dragging her into this. It was a full on emotional breakdown for her and he couldn’t help. He was just as shocked by what had happened, and apologies didn’t cut it.

Two days later she told him she was out. Out of the jobs, out of their little gang, and out of his life. She regretted everything. She regretted the drag racing, the late nights with him, the tattoo of his name on her finger. All of it. She didn’t dare go home, ashamed to face her father and brother. Instead she headed to New York, catching a bus before Chester could follow her. She got a job in the first bar she drunk herself stupid in, and then had an apartment signed over to her once she put down a cash deposit.

For the first two months she was shaky, terrified of every little noise when she was alone. Then, she got a surprise when Chester showed up at Six Feet Under. He had found her when looking at another friend’s photos of a night out there. She was in so many of the backgrounds, pouring the drinks, that he knew she was there. He wanted to check on her, see how she was doing. He tried to reassure her that they were clean, but she couldn’t be swayed. Or at least she thought not. He left his number, and she called it twice, late at night. The first time she had left her keys in her jacket at the locked up club. The second time she had just missed him. It was a bad feeling for her knowing that she still wanted him. Before he came to the city she could put it all down to guilt, to being outside of her comfort zone. Now she knew the truth. He was still deep under her skin. He promised that he was like her, out of the game, wanting to get straight and move on from what they had done. She foolishly believed him. Then she woke up in the middle of the night too warm, and as she went around the bed to open the window, she saw his phone light up with a message from a too familiar name. She couldn’t see the whole message from the lock screen, but there was enough there. She had received the same in the past when a new job was being planned.

Vie was furious. She screamed at him so much that her neighbours threatened to call the cops. That was the last thing they needed, so Vie simply kicked Chester out, and with tears streaming down her face she told him she never wanted to see him again. She said that if he couldn’t go straight then she wanted nothing to do with him, nothing at all. That didn’t stop him from calling her, writing to her, trying to convince her to give them one more chance, that everything would be different, that it was a big mistake. Each deleted message was a nail to her heart.

Violet-Grey began to make a good go at things in the city. She worked hard at the bar, and even tried to find opportunities to volunteer to help others. She wanted to make amends for her past crimes. Her father suffered a stroke over the winter, and while he survived it, it would take a lot before he was independent. More medical bills, plus her promise to Arthur that he could go to whatever school he wanted, saw the pressure piling up on her thin shoulders. Rallying could pay big if she won, but it was the winning that was the harder part. Every race came at a price before they even took off from the start line, not to mention any repairs and improvements to the old car she hadn’t dusted off in a long while.

So she got back on the tracks, spent her nights in Six Feet Under, and scraped every penny together by selling what she didn’t need. Her apartment was bare save for the necessities and yet there was still nowhere near enough money to make sure her father had the best care back home. A nurse suggested a low cost care facility, but after taking one look at it, Violet-Grey decided against it. She would get her dad the best care possible. A part of her felt like this was a cruel twist of karma for all that she had done. She needed to make it right. She hated herself for it, but she began to miss the secure financial promise that came with a successful job. Still, every time she thought about that, she remembered the man who had died because of their greed. It was still a really bad temptation, and Chester was only a phone call away…

YOUR ALIAS: Kim.
RULE WORDS: kidnappedbykim.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: In the lost tomb of the ancient kings.
SAMPLE:

Avada Kedavra!