the long way down.

INFORMATION:

fullname. riley jean maddox

nicknames. riles, doc.

gender. cis woman

pronouns. she / her

d.o.b. may 31st, 1989 | ( 35 years old )

astrology. gemini ☀ aquarius ☾  aries ↑

birth place. brooklyn, new york city.

hometown. brooklyn, new york city.

current residence. aurora bay, california. ( @aurorabayaesthetic​ )

occupation. bartender at four leaf irish pub.

religion. none.

tattoos. several (here and here).

piercings. several ears, both nipples, septum piercing.

marital status. single.

sexual preference. bisexual.

family. louise maddox ( mother ), unknown ( father ), cole walters ( foster brother ).

children. none.

CHARACTER INSPO:

eleanor shellstrop ( the good place ), sarah manning ( orphan black ), letty ortiz ( the fast & the furious ), alex stern ( ninth house ), selina kyle ( batman ), gillian owens ( practical magic ).

PERSONALITY:

+ adaptable, spirited, opportunistic. - sarcastic, distrusting, irrational.

BIOGRAPHY:

( tw: car accident, death, crime, drugs mention, violence, domestic violence ) 

There’s not much known about where exactly Riley Maddox came from. Some may say she came straight from the pits of hell. The only memory that comes to mind when thinking of a time before being shuffled from foster home to foster home is of a beautiful brunette looking at her in the rearview mirror of a beat up car. A warm smile, two bright headlights coming towards them and then, nothing but darkness.

Police would say it was a drunk driver but Riley was never sure which driver exactly was to blame for her mother’s death.

Jumping from foster home to foster home for all of her childhood, Riley learned very quickly that people are mostly not to be trusted. Running away, starting fights, whatever she could to get through until she was old enough to be on her own. When she was just eight years old, she met the ying to her yang. Cole Walters was around the same age and just as angry. They were inseparable from the moment they met, forever causing trouble and simply being the bane of their social worker’s existence. 

Try as they might to keep the two separated, they’d always find each other. And Cole is the only person that Riley has ever considered to be as close to family. 

As they grew, so did their anger. Juvenile delinquents who had nothing to lose. 

A perfect storm of bad intentions, they’d hit up liquor stores, sneak into clubs, start fires. Whatever they could to feel something. Riley’s specialty was stealing cars. While her mind wasn’t academically smart, she was always curious about how things worked, taking things apart and putting them back together.

Stealing cars for joy rides were a regular occurrence but selling them for parts was more lucrative. But there was only so much one can do in a busy city without getting noticed. On the precipice of aging out of the system, Riley wasn’t about to let Cole start a new life without her so they decided to run. 

Escaping from Brooklyn in a stolen car, they road-tripped around the States, making money and making trouble. It was tiring, always scrounging for cash, moving from place to place. Riley never longed to be still.

Stillness always came at a cost. 

One night, after spending all their cash on whatever the hell they felt like, the two decided to rob a liquor store with a stolen gun that Riley had taken from an ex-lover. With her waiting in the getaway car out the back, it felt like every run they’d done before. But this one was different. 

As shots were fired from inside and the sirens came in the distance, Riley knew that she had to bail. Once the police had arrested Cole, she knew it wasn’t long before they took her too. After destroying the car beyond recognition, she waited for them to come. But they didn’t. Cole didn’t breathe a word. 

After his conviction, Cole got five years for attempted robbery and theft of a firearm and Riley wanted to say that she’d never leave his side for what he did for her and all they’d been through, but that wasn't the case. They'd been on the run for so long, she didn't know how to sit still. Jumping from place to place around the country but it never felt the same without her brother, she always needed someone else to hold her down and keep her steady.

She ended up in Arizona, working in a local mechanic when she met Kyle. At first, Riley thought they were perfect for each other. He worked as a boxing instructor at the local rink wanting to make it to the big-time, but Riley knew he was never gonna get there. ( tw: domestic violence ) Their relationship was tumultuous, screaming rows and thrown objects at each other. For Kyle looking at another girl's ass at a bar, for Riley getting home too late from the mechanic's where she worked, for Kyle taking steroids to keep up with other fighters at the gym. It only took one time for him to give her a black eye for her to know she needed to leave. Once that boundary is broken, it only gets more frequent from there.

At this time, Riley knew that Cole had finally gotten out and was living in some beach town in California. She hadn't contacted him, worrying that he'd hate her for never visiting but with her face half beat to shit, Riley didn't have anywhere to go. She left in the middle of the night, stole her car boyfriend’s car and drove straight into Aurora Bay to find him.

POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS:

grew up bouncing through foster homes in brooklyn, learned young to trust no one except her foster brother. she’s good at getting people to let their guard down — bad at doing it herself. — ( possible connections: other foster system survivors, old connections from the east coast, people she instinctively tests before trusting )

riley and cole have always been a matching set — raised by the system, sharpened by the streets and bonded together after everything they've been through. for years, they ran cons, stole cars, couch-surfed; always leaving chaos in their wake. it all came to a head after a botched liquor store robbery. and when the sirens came, riley vanished. cole never gave her up — took five years without ever saying her name. — ( possible connections: people who know cole and blame her, old contacts from their time on the run, local law enforcement digging into her past )

riley showed up in aurora bay in a beat-up stolen car with nothing but a busted phone, twenty bucks and cole's address written on a dirty napkin after leaving her abusive boyfriend back in arizona. — ( possible connections: cole’s friends who don’t trust her, someone who gave her a place to crash, curious locals )

used to steal cars for cash and joyrides before going straight. she’s a damn good mechanic, mostly self-taught and will always fix your transmission without judgment but at a small cost. — ( possible connections: fellow gearheads, people who's car she fixes for a low fee, someone she helps break into their own car )

what started as a few cover shifts over the holidays at the four leaf irish pub has turned into a now permanent gig. riley likes the noise, the crowd and that she gets paid to talk shit and pour drinks. it’s the most stable thing she’s had in years and for now, that’s more than enough. — ( possible connections: regulars, coworkers, barflies she flirts with for tips, someone she kicked out for getting handsy, post-shift drinking buddies )

these days, riley’s trying to stay on the straight and narrow for cole's sake. it’s not easy as old habits tend to die hard, especially when the rent’s due and trouble feels like second nature to her. — ( possible connections: someone who tempts her, a cop keeping an eye on her, someone who catches her slipping )

riley has a tendency to fall hard for the worst types of people — exes with bad tempers, anyone who feels like a big mistake, you name it. she's more leaning towards women these days after the situation with her ex-boyfriend. — ( possible connections: toxic exes, bad decisions, hookups, situationships, people who want more from her )

CURRENT CONNECTIONS:

foster sister of @colexwalters

currently rooming with @phoebekeller

working for @santiagodeleons at four leaf alongside @roxdelrosario and @esmaxdemirci

not trusted by @ulyflynn

shared one amazing night with @buddywellls back in new york