( STANA KATIC + CIS-FEMALE) â Have you seen VIOLET NOVAK? This FORTY-TWO year old is a BOOKSTORE/COFFEE SHOP OWNER who resides in THE BRONX. SHE has been living in NYC for HER WHOLE LIFE and is known to be COMPASSIONATE and QUICK-THINKING but can also be MELANCHOLIC and ESCAPIST if you cross them. People tend to associate them with BOOKS YELLOWED AND LOVED WITH AGE and BOUQUETS OF SUNFLOWERS ( itâs cezera again!)
tw: death, murder, pregnancy, kidnapping
PAST
Valentina and Erik Novak were in their late thirties when they fell in love and while they both dearly wanted a child, it seemed as if it would be too late. However by some miracle, it was not and little Violet Novak came into the world.
From the day she was on, both parents absolutely doted on her. She was the child they never thought theyâd have. She grew up spending her days in Motheaters, the bookstore/coffee shop hybrid that her parents had opened up upon immigrating to NY from Croatia soon before she was born. Erik took care of the books and Valentina of the coffee. It was here that Violet discovered her own love of books and within that, a love for music. There were books that spoke of music as if it were magic so of course Violet had to find out for herself.
When she was sixteen however, she was shifted from the world of music and books that she had been brought up in and into the real world or more specifically, the world of motherhood. It had been a fright when she found out that her and her boyfriendâs first time had somehow turned into her actually being pregnant. It felt like something out of a movie. Everything changed after that.
The first thing that changed was her dropping out of highschool when she was pregnant, pretty much erasing the college future her school had been certain she was made for. From there on, it was like a domino effect, The decision to raise the child with her boyfriend was a big one but luckily for her, one that her parents were in support of. While she was certain they were more than a little disappointed in their daughter (they would have had quite big dreams for her), they never let it show. Not after she decided to keep the child at least.
So that was it. James Novak was born and life continued on. She continued working in the bookstore while doing small music gigs on the side (ranging from teaching it to performing at the stores or events of those her parents were friends with) and somehow things worked. At the time, it felt like somehow the pair of them were going to make this having a kid thing work. Or at least thatâs what it seemed like.
However that was apparently a complete lie as soon before the pair hit twenty, he announced that he wanted to go to law school. That wasnât the issue, the issue was that he expected to just leave Violet and James as if he wasnât his and that would be okay. Safe to say that Violet called him out and the argument that followed was their last one. He was gone fairly soon after.
Soon after he was out of her and Jamieâs life, Violet found out that she was pregnant. She would have contacted him, however he had left no way for too so this time, she was alone. Except for her parents at least.Â
Valentina Novak was born when Violet was twenty and James was four. Named after her maternal grandmother (you can bet Valentina Snr burst out into tears over this), she was more boisterous then her older brother and as soon as she was old enough to drag him around to play dolls with her, thatâs exactly what she did.
So life once again, continued to carry on. Violet lived with her two children in a small little apartment close to her parents and kept with her work at the bookshop as well as her additional music gigs on the side. In an ideal world, she would have pursued her music career quite a bit further however for such a thing, one needed belief that it would work and she never really had that.
She loved the life she had though. Loved the people she met at work and the way she got to surround herself in books for a living. Loved raising her children even if sometimes she wondered if she could even manage, if perhaps they would have been better off with someone else.
PRESENT
Slowly both her children aged out of the home and went to college. First James and then Valentina and suddenly Violet was alone for the first time in over two decades. It was a bizarre feeling. If anything, things felt a little empty. After all, her whole life had been built around her children and suddenly one was at college and the other had already graduated and was doing his own things. God, she was proud of both of them.
Violetâs mother passed away two years ago and soon following that, her fatherâs health began to decline. Due to this, Violet sold the apartment and moved back to the family home to look after him. It was easier than getting him to move after all.
Death was not done with the family yet however and six months ago, tragedy hit again. Valentina went missing and was soon found murdered near Columbia University. Violetâs little girl who had dreams of saving the world, who lit up every room she walked in, was suddenly gone.Â
The murderer was found but it didnât give the closure that they so desperately needed. Valentina was still gone. Nothing would change that.
There was a shift in Violet after that. It was as if the world darkened when her little girl died and her along with it. There is a hardness to her that wasnât there before. One that only comes with grief and the pressure of needing to be the one that others can lean on. After all, sheâs still a mother and sheâs still her fatherâs carer.
EXTRAS
Motheaters is Violetâs baby and is quite a well loved place in the Bronx. Itâs a quirky name for a quirky little place and she wouldnât have it any other way. (Thereâs a connection there for people who work at Motheaters!)
Despite a deep love for music, she hasnât performed publicly since Valentinaâs death. Itâs as if her death took away the little confidence she had in her music. After all, Val had always been her personal cheerleader.
Loves flowers and both her home and her store is littered with them, almost every flat surface having itâs own little vase of flowers. Sunflowers though, theyâre her favourite.
Has a tattoo on her ribcage of a hand holding three sunflowers. She got it when both the kids were young as a representation of their little family. James got his own version of it done on his forearm after the loss of his sister.
Absolutely horrendous with time. Sheâs constantly late to something or double booking herself. If you want Violet somewhere at a certain time, you tell her the time is half an hour earlier.








