[center][b][h2][color=#C3D6C8]V[/color][color=#BED1C4]e[/color][color=#BACDC0]r[/color][color=#B5C8BC]a[/color] [color=#ADC0B4]A[/color][color=#A8BBB0]d[/color][color=#A4B7AC]d[/color][color=#A0B3A8]l[/color][color=#9BAEA4]e[/color][color=#97AAA0]y[/color][/h2][/b][/center] [center] [img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/20/2c/f5/202cf5b1b658a0e27c54fd63e29d6165.jpg[/img][/center] [center][i]”One of these days, I’d like to clean the muck off mah shoes, and spend the rest of my days drinking tea by the fire.”[/i] [b][color=82ca9d]Birth Name[/color][/b]: Vera Lilith Addley [b][color=82ca9d]Nickname(s)[/color][/b]: “V”, Lil, or Sweet V. [b][color=82ca9d]Gender[/color][/b]: Female [/center] [b][color=82ca9d]Birthplace[/color][/b]: Liverpool, England [b][color=82ca9d]Birthday[/color][/b]: April 27th, 1898 (22) [b][color=82ca9d]Affiliations[/color][/b]: [i]Eliza Fields[/i] – Vera’s Aunt, her mother’s sister, that is rather rich, and distant from the family. She has several estates across England, while Vera is her favorite niece, she hasn’t seen the woman since she last lived in Liverpool. She isn’t all that certain if Eliza is alive or dead at this point either. [i]Edward Fields[/i] - Vera's Uncle, Eliza's husband. Much like Aunt Eliza, she is unaware if either of them are still alive due to the fact that she hasn't spoken to them since her mother passed. [i]Millie Addley[/i] - Vera's mother, deceased. [i]Samuel Addley[/i] – Asides from Eliza, Samuel, or Sam for short, is her only living relative to date; her brother. Samuel is a henchman for the Jolly Roughers. [i]Mr. James Harrison[/i] – Owner of Harrison’s Trinkets & Charms, he has employed Vera since she was 16. He is a kind elderly man, and a widower. [b][color=82ca9d]Role[/color][/b]: Thief [b][color=82ca9d]Occupation[/color][/b]: Associate of the Rougher's [u][b][color=82ca9d]Skills[/color][/b][/u] [list] [*] Communication – Whether Vera is trying to get her point across, or simply catering to customer’s needs, she is the best at what she does. [*] Singing – Ah yes, she has a voice of an angel, she does. She’ll sing you a lullaby to sleep, or keep herself busy with humming. [*] Dancing – As is accustomed to a woman in the beginning of the 1920s, she knows how to dance, either a jig, or a slow waltz. [*] Lock-Picking – Not that she’s started off as a thief in her early years, but she learned from a very young age how to unlock the cabinet where her mother hid the sweets. After moving to the East End at an early age, Vera practiced her skill more, but never put it to its full potential. [*] Book-Keeping – Much like a secretary, Vera has kept the books neat and orderly for Mr. Harrison since she was 16. She has a knack for numbers, making it easier for her to calculate if there has been a slip-up in the book, or in the drawer after closing. [/list] [u][b][color=82ca9d]Assets[/color][/b][/u] [list] [*] Trust Fund from her Uncle Edward, Eliza’s deceased husband, she hasn’t bothered to cash in the funds, as she believes she doesn’t need it. It equates to roughly around 40,000 in cash. [*] Smith & Wesson Model 10, .38 caliber Revolver [*] Jewelry – Given as a present to her from her mother, shortly before her passing. Vera owns a gold diamond ring, a pearl necklace, and a pair of pearl earrings. She wouldn’t dare pawn them off, not even if meant that she could find a better place to live. She doesn’t wear any of them out in public, as she worries that she will be ridiculed, or drawn unnecessary attention. [/list] [b][color=82ca9d]Personality[/color][/b]: Vera Lilith Addley, the name alone evokes a sense of awe, and certainly when one finally meets the lady, they are in surprise to see such a beautiful woman, as one would presume her to be of noble standing. Rather, as soon as she opens her mouth to speak, her accent betrays her every time. In the city of London, it is easy to identify accents, whether someone is from Birmingham, Greenwich, or as in Vera’s case, from Liverpool. In this time, Liverpool is a booming city, one that competes with London in all areas, however, many will be mistaken for her accent, that she is actually not well-off. This gives Vera an apprehensive nature, one that puts her on edge, a feeling of working with black powder and dynamite. She is beautiful, yet deadly. She has an astonishing singing voice, yet when she [i]isn’t[/i] singing, Vera’s voice is rather soft, like that of a whisper. When she’s angry, she’ll raise her voice, shout, and break things, yet it’s why she keeps her voice soft, so that people are forced to listen to her. Repeating herself more than once isn’t something she likes to do. While her voice is low to garnish attention, she prefers not to be the center of attention in of itself, as it makes her squirm with uncertainty; with so many eyes watching, what is she supposed to say? If anything, Vera is most comfortable tucked away in the corner of a room, sipping on a cuppa’ tea, with a book in front of her. While she may come off as one that is a snob, acquainted with wealth, and the way she carries herself through the course of her day, head held high and a smooth gait, Vera actually understands the meaning of hard-work, and would rather earn her money, than be handed a sack full of cash. That is the main reason as to why she hasn’t bothered cashing in on the trust fund that her Uncle Edward bestowed upon her, it’s easy money. All around, Vera is a sweet woman that cares deeply for her brother, were anything to happen to him, she would be devastated. With a wise head on her shoulders, as her head is full of today’s current events, she is always in the know. As Sam would say, [i]”my sister, would never hurt anyone. Unless o’ course, only if she meant to.”[/i] [b][color=82ca9d]Weaknesses/Flaws/Secrets[/color][/b]: [i]Opium Smoker[/i] – While she doesn’t frequent the opium dens often, Vera keeps a small supply of opium on hand for when the nights are long. She’s been smoking for the past three years, and would be considered an addict. She is rather ashamed of her habit, and keeps it a secret. [i]Murderer[/i] – One night while walking home from the Tawdry Countess, a man attacked her, and pulled her into the dark alley. He held a gun to her head as he tried to rape her. What the poor man didn’t know, was that Vera was armed as well. Since he held the gun to her temple, he didn’t bother restraining her arms, assuming that she wouldn’t counteract him, well… that’s how the poor sonuvabitch died. She reached for her own gun, and with one switch cock of the gun, she pulled the trigger, killing him with a bullet through the heart. She ran all the way back home, and never told a soul. Samuel came the day after, telling her that one of their men had been shot, and left for dead in the alley just a block away from the Tawdry. He questioned if she had seen anything that night on her way home from work, but she denied seeing anything. She suspects he knows, because he’s taken her to the outskirts of town to practice her aim. [i]Animals[/i] – Mainly cats. Vera has a tender heart for all animals, large or small, scaly or slimey, feathered or furred. She’s found herself in trouble countless times, as she’s taken home many a stray animal, and even to this day, Mr. Harrison has to plead for her to return said dog or cat to the outside world. [i]Fear of Disease[/i] – When she was a little girl, her mother fell ill with dysentery, leaving Sam and her alone in the world. Ever since, she does her best to keep herself clean, and avoids the presence of people that are sick, as she fears falling ill herself, and then leaving Samuel with no one else in the world. [i]Self-Harming[/i] – Vera doesn’t mean to harm herself… It happens more when she is under the influence of opium, than when her head is clear. She keeps a switchblade on her nightstand, and if a man were lucky enough to pull up her skirts, they would discover scars that line the inside of her thighs, some fresh, some faded silver. [i]Realist[/i] – Probably a cause from the opium use, Vera is a rather realistic woman, though when she thinks darkly, and her thoughts promise what she foresaw, she’s rather pleased with her thinking. She’s tries to refrain from being a debby-downer, except for the fact that life in the slums is rather pessimistic as is. [b][color=82ca9d]Appearance[/color][/b]: Standing at 5 feet 6 inches, Vera Jane Addley, is a mousey woman, with delicate features. With a long slender nose, and a smooth brow, her dark brunette hair and thick brows draw attention to a pair of light blue eyes. Her skin is pallid due to working indoors, and her lips are typically left unpainted during the day. However, were one to find her at the bar after hours, they would see her lips the color of blood, with the occasional mascara or black eyeshadow brushed across the lids of her eyes, and her hair pinned atop her ahead in the latest fashion. While Vera earns a meek living, she is thrifty in her choice of clothes. She earns 4 pounds a week from the work she does as Mr. Harrison’s ledger, and an extra 2 pounds for her work as a barmaid; this allows her some small expense to invest in a small closetful of clothes, majorily hand-me downs from second-hand shops, or cheaply tailored pieces. She prefers to wear her hair down during the day, in loose curls, and pinned up for work at night. Vera forgoes any pieces of jewelry, as she sees it as nonsensical. Her skirts are knee-length, in solitary colors, as patterns turn her away. She wears sheer, black stockings under her skirts, and atypical mary-jane’s on her feet. For her blouses, she owns innumerable amounts of white, button-down tops. Were it not for her natural good-looks, Vera would be seen as a plain-jane in the community. [b][color=82ca9d]History[/color][/b]: Born in Liverpool, England to a widowed mother, and only brother, the first few years of her life were pleasant, as any mother could hope in England at that time. Millie, her mother, had lost her husband, Vera’s father, three months prior to her daughter’s birth, in a shipyard accident, when a steel beam slipped from the rigging, and crushed him. With a hungry 2-year-old son, Samuel, and a newborn child to care for, Millie accepted the invitation from her sister, Eliza, to live with her and her husband for the time being. Within the walls of the expansive manor, Millie could breathe a sigh of relief that she needn’t worry about a roof over her children’s head. Vera remembers very little of Eliza and Edward, save for the times when Sam and her would play hide-and-seek amongst the many, seemingly endless rooms. She remembers the scent of her aunt’s perfume, one that smelled of lavender and jasmine. Another memory that she fondly recalls, is the massive garden with its own boxwood maze. At the time, it felt like a never-ending forest, as the hedges towered over the tiny Vera. By the time she reached her sixth birthday, in 1904, Millie packed their bags and moved them off to London, to better support her children with a job as a secretary for a lawyer. She was an independent woman of sorts, and didn’t wish to rely on her sister’s good charity to look after her children. Life was good for the time-being, as the children had clothes on their backs, and food in their mouths. She enrolled them in school, and while she worked, they attended school. It was hard to keep Samuel out of fights with the other boys, for they picked on him for his accent, teased him for being a rich boy in the wrong part of town. What they didn’t know, was that Vera stood behind her brother, small as she was, and would often jump into the beatings they wailed on her brother. She bit, she scratched, and kicked them all where the sun doesn’t shine. Of course, Sam and Vera would receive a good switch across their hands or bottoms for misbehaving, the other boys received their punishment as well. Living in the East-End, they were soon forced to move due to the steady influx of migrants to the area, there were plenty of jobs, and many people were in need of work, everyone from all walks of life came; the Spanish, Chinese, Italians, Turks, Greeks, and so forth. They moved to the South End of London, in Southwark where Millie kept her job as a secretary for the Bowman & Liegeman Law Firm. She rose early at the crack of dawn, to catch the early train to Greenwich, and stayed well after dark, she kept the law firm well organized in the matters of their documents. When 1914 arrived, all of Europe was in turmoil, the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, was assassinated in his car by a man named Gavrilo Princip. . The Great War had started, and the call for men went up. Samuel, being 18 at the time, enlisted before the draft papers ensnared him. For the first year of the war, Millie succumbed to tuberculosis, fortunately, whatever the cause, Vera never contracted the deadly disease. She was distraught, and wrote to Sam frequently, often writing letters to him on a weekly basis. The decline of her mother’s health had traumatized her, never, did she ever wish to fall ill, she kept after her well-being and practiced a life full of proper sanitation, she avoided suspicious foul-smelling meats from the market, and boiled her water twice. After her passing, Vera found a job in perfect timing with Mr. Harrison, a jeweler that opened a shop down the block from where her mother rented their flat. As she worked for him as his ledger, he allowed her to rent the attic room above the shop. A year later, she found work to make ends meet at the Tawdry Countess, a sleazy pub filled with gang members of the Jolly Roughers, not that she minded, they tipped her well enough, and were too drunk to make passes at her. It was 1918 when Samuel returned, on account of medical problems. Vera knew he was a different man, now 22, when he returned, she could see it by the emptiness in his gaze, the way he talked, the way he walked, as if he were on edge. Most of the women whose men went off to war were calling it [i]"shell-shocked"[/i], as the sound of artillery shells falling around the men in trenches traumatized them. She could tell by the way he wrote his letters during his time away in the war, and now that he had come home, she could see the underlying mental problems as well that afflicted her brother. He stayed with her above Mr. Harrison’s before he joined the Jolly Roughers as an Associate, he peddled drugs, acted as a look-out for the higher-ups, and targeted marks like the foolishly rich that had wandered into the wrong end of town. While she looked down upon his choice for a career, Vera only worried if he would make it home at night. The upside to working at the Tawdry Countess, is that she had the chance to see her brother at night, albeit, drunk, but she saw him nonetheless. One night while walking home from the Tawdry Countess, a man attacked her, and pulled her into the darkened alley. He held a gun to her head as he tried to rape her. What the poor man didn’t know, was that Vera was armed as well. Since he held the gun to her temple, he didn’t bother restraining her arms, assuming that she wouldn’t counteract him, well… that’s how the poor sonuvabitch died. She reached for her own gun, and with one swift cock of the gun, she pulled the trigger, killing him with a bullet straight through the heart. She ran all the way back home, and never told a soul. Samuel came the day after, telling her that one of their men had been shot, and left for dead in the alley just a block away from the Tawdry. He questioned if she had seen anything that night on her way home from work, but she denied seeing anything out of the ordinary. She suspects he knows, because he’s taken her to the outskirts of town to practice her aim. After the attack, Vera started using opium, as she suffered vivid nightmares, and to lull herself to sleep, she found the blackish-brown tar-like substance soothing. She keeps her pipe next to her nightstand, and a stash under her pillow. She doesn’t use much of it, save for at night. Within minutes, she’s fast asleep. Now 22, Vera continues her work at Mr. Harrison’s and at the Tawdry Countess, in the weeks before, family members of the Jolly Roughers were being rounded up by the coppers in an attempt to deter the notorious gang. She watches over her shoulder when she leaves work at night, afraid that she’ll see a paddy wagon waiting around the next corner she turns. On special occasions, she’s been asked to accompany some of the men from the Rougher’s to special events, such as a date to a horse-race, and of course, she’s never said no, it helps to draw attention away from the dapper dressed gentlemen with ladies on their arms. Even more so, she’s been asked to go with some of the street-rats to help distract their marks while they pick-pocket them. She has a nagging notion that they’ll ask her someday soon to join them.