GRACELAND TOO.

⸻  𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘

Penelope Elena Soto, preferably called Nell was born the eldest of the Soto clan in Hadley Park, the oldest of five children. She grew up believing that everyone lived the way they did, close together, sharing space in the trailer with very little to their name.

Josephine and Luca Soto tried their hardest to keep themselves together, to make sure their children could have anything they wanted within limits. The older Nell got, the more she realized -- there were a lot of limits.

Very quickly Nell essentially became the third parent in the household. When her parents were at work, Nell was tasked with caring for her two brothers and two sisters by herself.

Nell had very few friends and very little time to make them. The moment it was legal, she was waiting tables at Mel's after school to bring money home for her family.

In High School she enters her first major relationship with Scarlet Santiago, who brought her a lot of peace. Even if they ended things when Scarlet went off to college, she carries the relationship close to her heart because it taught her how she deserves to be treated romantically.

Just like she expected, everyone of the few friends she had managed to make in her high school years went off to college. Everyone had been temporary, and she was alone again. A routine soon came about: wake up. Head in to open Mels. Stay until her manager would force her to clock out. Go home again. Start over.

It was here where the patterns began to start, the visits to Dead Dawg. After work she felt the pull for a drink, and it soon became difficult for her to end her day without one. It was her secret, a vice that she could hide from her family.

She meets Charlie Abbott at twenty-two, fresh from his NFL draft. He draws her in with his sweet words and promises, but words can only mean so much. The drinking stops for a while. But it starts again when she discovers that he had been unfaithful.

The drinking starts again, and in private it begins to get worse. Some time later she meets and falls in love with Viktor Henriksson and for the first time, she wonders if she an actually truly be happy.

Their relationship disintegrates, and as does she as she descends deeper into her private vice. This time, she begins to spiral. Like really, truly spiral following the death of her father, who got into a car crash and passed away on impact. She shows up drunk to work a couple days later where she proceeds to get fired, after having worked there since she was sixteen years old.

It takes one friend, someone who cared to tell her what deep down she already knew: she was an alcoholic. They gave her an ultimatum, I can drive you to rehab, or you'll lose me forever.

Nell checks into rehab and completes the program a year later, sober chip in hand. She protects it with all she has and it is her most prized possession.

She takes the first couple months to travel, before she gets a call from her mother: you need to come back to Hidehill.

She is met when she moves into a trailer of her own with her brothers diagnosis: cancer. He has cancer. From what her mother knew, it's unclear how much time he has left and there's little that they can do.

During this time she reconnects with one of her brother's childhood friends Ajay Rao, who helps her return to life in Hidehill and even stays in the car when she goes to ask for her old job back. The owner welcomes her back with open arms, proud of her for having gotten the help she needs.

She begins stripping at The Vanilla Unicorn, something that is unknown to her family to earn extra money. She can only contribute so much to her brother's medical bills on a waitress salary.

⸻  𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒

Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for November Ends. Music is the one thing she uses to escape from being everyone else's caretaker and truly one of the only things she has for herself.

Goes by Nell most of the time because Penelope reminds her of someone's mother, and only allows Viktor to call her Penny.

Carries her sober chip in a pocket of her clothing, so she can remind herself of how far she's come.

Never stopped loving Viktor, even after her time away. This time, she'll be better for him. If there even is a next time.

more to come.

⸻ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

Exes: Scarlet Santiago, Charlie Abbott, Viktor Henriksson

FWB/Hookups (Former): Mallory Goldmann, Jordan Hayes, OPEN

FWB/Hookups (Current):

Friends: Ajay Rao, Josiah Sterling, OPEN

Bandmates: Carter Thompson, Mateo Martin, Alexis Hayes, Jaxon Fairchild, Jamie Zenik.

Coworkers: Adriana Martinez, Max Aguilar, Dallas Parker, OPEN

Vik had promised her the stars. Thats all Nell could think about as she sat in the corner of the room, nursing the glass of ice water in her hands. She had been keeping her focus on the solid that dissipated into liquid as time went by. They would make their rounds, they would leave, she wound get to see the stars. The pattern allows her to drown out the voices around her, drown out the reminder of what this place used to be for her. An escape from the problems that festered beneath her skin. An escape that had soon consumed her before it was too late. Sooner or later, she found herself actually having some amount of fun. When Vik wasn't at her side she had engaged in a lovely conversation with Kit -- no wonder Ajay loved him. After the frequent visits to Gage in the hospital, the two of them needed to remember what it felt like to be alive again.

The thought felt selfish to Nell, the moment it crossed her mind. For there were so many people who should be here, with the people that loved them the most. It is this thought too that keeps the woman grounded, that is, until the world around her flickers and she is surrounded by blackness.

Run. It's the one thing she thinks to do. Thank god Vik is not far away, her hand wrapping around Vik's wrist as she makes a dash for the nearest exit. "We need to go!" She calls out to him. "We need to go now." It seems that he wordlessly agrees, eyes tracing over the faces in the club as she tries to find the ones she loves. She spots Max next to Adriana about to pass the threshold that separates the club from the safety of the outside, at least she hopes so. Eyes fall on Kit, Ajay.. the other girls from Mel's and the club. But there remains one person unaccounted for. Josiah.

"Jo?!" She calls out, her voice managing to echo in the throng of desperate faces. She needs him to be okay. Nell doesn't know what she'll do if he isn't.

Nell's childhood had been nothing like a normal childhood should be. It was filled with packing lunches, walking her siblings to the bus stop, paying the bills, rarely thinking of herself. Falling into a pattern like that is normal for a little girl -- believing in her heart of hearts that no one else would understand. Being alone would be her constant state of being. That is, until she met Josiah Sterling. He reminded her of bare feet connecting with the grass as they ran through the sunshine, faint whispers of encouragement to talk to her crush when they were nearby... it wasn't hard for her to face that Josiah Sterling taught her how to be a kid, when everyone else had expected her to grow up just a little too fast.

Coming back from rehab, the light that had once surrounded her had extinguished. She felt like a failure, having lost her grip on her control before she could stop it. Her first AA meeting had begun with her hood up, hoping to be unrecognizable even if she had never seen any of these faces before. Maybe she had on the street, sitting at a table in the diner. That is, until she locked eyes with a face she couldn't possibly forget. While initially silent, it seemed that their eyes spoke the same words that they had never thought they would say.

You too?

Vik and Nell manage to make it outside -- but still with no sign of Josiah. She had to go back in there. The woman didn't care what damage it did to her, not if it meant seeing his face again. "Vik -- I can't leave him in there..." Her voice cracks as she tries to pull away from the man she loves with no avail. It's then she realizes he doesn't know who she's referencing, who she'd be willing to put herself on the line for. "I can't leave Josiah in there!" She can't. She can't.

It is in that moment that police cars and ambulances descend on the scene, the air from Nell's lungs releasing into the broken evening without even thinking. She thought she had forgotten how to breathe. It appeared that everyone else was accounted for, some familiar faces being wheeled away on stretchers. Mateo was being checked out by a paramedic, something in Nell easing when she realizes he is still breathing. There are some other faces she acknowledges -- still no Josiah.

That is, until she sees a body bag being wheeled out of the club. This causes her blood to run cold. It can't be who she thinks it is, but the seconds that pass by -- it becomes more and more real.

"No.." She says at first, her voice cracking. She wants to look away, but she can't. When the doors of the coroner's van finally shut, that's when her screaming becomes more and more frenzied. "Josiah?!" She calls out, finally breaking free from Vik's grasp as her call becomes more and more like a whimper with every word. "Josiah?!"

She can hear Vik calling out from behind her. To come back.

The sight of Danny covered in blood causes her worst fear to come true. He's gone. He's really gone. Someone took her family away from her. How cruel could the universe really be, or the people that had decided to dawn the mask of The Shadow and play god? It's as if she looses all bodily control as she feels her knees make contact with the gravel of the road, inches away from where the sea of help begins. She doesn't acknowledge what's happening between her sobs as her vision becomes blurry. When she feels a pair of strong arms wrap around her, she can only assume it's Viktor. Regardless, her head is in her hands as her cries become harder to ignore.

I'll do it for you, Jo. I'll stay on the right path, I'll keep my shit together. Everything I do, it will be for you.