#skeleton.a

‣  GRACE ADELAIDE | SHE/HER | 26 | WEST EGG | FC UTP

“ welcome to new york, it’s been waiting for you.  “

‣  STORY

grace was born in new york, but her family moved to london before the girl could make any real memories of the city. as the youngest daughter of a wealthy business man, grace was raised to be graceful, poised and soft, a rose petal in a sea of thorns meant to charm anyone around her – but none of that ever really stuck.

she has always been a handful, always defiant, always wild, and after a particular shameful incident involving one of the stable boys the girl was sent to one of the strictest finishing schools in the country. while her parents had hoped they would beat the wild out, the girl only learned to hide her rule-breaking, and found new ways to enjoy life in the process. she’d gotten smart, and she realized that if she truly wanted to enjoy the pleasures of life, she’d have to fly under the radar of those around her.

a little less than a year ago, grace became infatuated with a boy from london and blindly followed him back to the united states - the ‘land of dreams’. while she quickly grew tired of the boy and discarded of him within months, she reveled in the freedom, away from her watchful parents, and has since taken residence with her uncle on the west egg, determined to live her life as wastefully as she possibly could.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— ROY COATES : friend with benefits — GEORGINA SPARKS : project — MADISON HALLOWAY : new party friend

‣  VANESSA ABRAMS | SHE/HER | 27 | VALLEY TO CITY | JESSICA SZOHR / CANDICE PATTON

“ the lights are so bright but they never blind me. ”

‣  STORY

vanessa’s parents have always been different. living on the edge of of the valley, they were always big on self-sufficiency and surrounded themselves with people of the same train of thought. and so, both vanessa and her sister were homeschooled, shielded from a society they deemed poisoned, hoping to pass on their belief system to their children.

many of their ideas were inherited - including a love for the arts, but while vanessa’s parents were more interested in visual arts, vanessa felt a strong connection to the performing arts. while she never had a desire to be on stage, there was a vision she had for orchestrating what happened in scenes and saw stories in her head even before they’d unfolded themselves. 

while she never had the ambition to gain ‘fame’ with her dreams, her talent didn’t go unnoticed when she worked in community theater, and she eventually started working on short films, first as a.d. and later as director. she’s been shot into the stratosphere with her latest movie, and while she can see right through the facade of money, it’s difficult to resist when playing the game means having the ability to do what she loves.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— EMERSON ALDERIDGE : step-brother — JENNY HUMPHREY : friend  — LOREN RUSH : former friend

‣  BECKHAM COOKE | HE/HIM | 26 | EAST EGG | FC UTP (POC)

“ and the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love, great clouds roll over the hills bringing darkness from above. “

‣  STORY

groomed to follow in the footsteps of his parents, beckham has always been the spitting image of his father: confident, charming, ambitious, and with a knack for making people comply to his will. even as a young boy, he knew he would take over the empire that his father had built up, and he was ready to do so before he really understood what it meant.

about a year ago, reading a newspaper on the train, beckham came across an article from an old doctor who’d been arrested on charges of swapping babies in a hospital in the city – the very hospital where beckham was born. it seemed a ridiculous notion, but something tugging inside made him eventually contact a private investigator, just to ease his mind.

the result of the inquiry, however, was anything but soothing. he can still remember the sweat trickling down his spine as the p.i. told him of the document he’d found, proving him to be the son of people from the valley. this revelation, so terrifying, should never see the light of day, he determined, worried for his ties to the family legacy and estate. and so, since then, he’s been searching for the boy who was supposed to be beckham cooke, so that he could make sure that boy would never lay claim to what beckham has been promised since birth.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— PENELOPE SHAFAI : friend — SAM SCHULZ : rival — ASPEN HAWTHORNE : friend turned love interest

tw: gambling addiction ‣  ROY COATES | HE/HIM | 24 | EAST EGG | ROME FLYNN / FC UTP  (POC - see isabel)

“ leather jacket, collar popped like antenna. never knowing when to stop.   “

‣  STORY

in the coates family, tradition and excellence have always been values that have determined the course of many generations. for roy, this was no different, taught from a young age the importance of family and entrepreneurship. the boy excelled in school, easily made friends and seemed native in the kind of small-talk that dominates the events he was required to attend.

he excelled in everything he tried his hand at, except one thing: money managing. being a coates, however, meant there was always a steady flow of cash and nothing to worry about, which in its turn only facilitated the lavish parties, the expensive holidays, the highest fashion and – most harmful of the vices, the most high-stake gambling games.

the games brought a level of excitement unmatched for roy, and before long he was playing daily, his life consumed by the bets he placed and the chances of wins. keeping the addiction under wraps from those around him is proving to be more difficult with each hand of poker, especially because his trust fund is emptying out quickly and he’s simply too focused on winning to do much else with his life.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— DAMIEN DALGAARD : poker buddy — ISABEL COATES : twin sister, rival — GRACE ADELAIDE : friend with benefits

‣  JENNY HUMPHREY | SHE/HER | 23 | VALLEY | TAYLOR MOMSEN / DAKOTA FANNING

“ the lights are so bright but they never blind me. ”

‣  STORY

jenny had always seen her mundane life drawn out before her with little possibility for change. born in the valley, she knew she’d grow up and find a job as a seamstress, praying every month it would pay the bills. that was, until her brother published his book and her eyes were opened to a whole new world. 

completely mesmerized by the glitz and glamour of the uber rich, jenny was initially reserved and stayed mostly with her brother when he took her to a string of events, but she quickly found her footing and gained confidence to step out by herself, inserting herself into a world that was so exclusive and elite she often felt she’d fallen into a dream – one she wished she’d never wake from.

the contrast between her life in the valley and the life she was just getting to know couldn’t be bigger, but most importantly, jenny realized she wanted this, forever. and as the girl grew up, she realized she was not afraid of going after what she wanted. determined to make her way in life, she’s thrown herself at blair’s feet and is willing to go quite far for a chance to make the life she pretends to have hers, even if that means stepping on some toes and leaving people behind.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— PAULINE CARMICHAEL : new friend — SCOTT ROSSON : former friend — ERIC VAN DER WOODSEN : brotherly friend 

‣  SERENA VAN DER WOODSEN | SHE/HER | 25 | WEST EGG | BLAKE LIVELY

“ whose heart would not take flight? betray the moon as acolyte, on first and fierce affirming sight of sunlight, sunlight, sunlight. ”

‣  STORY

nicknamed the golden girl, you would expect serena to live a perfect life. unfortunately, a rocky household where the only steady aspect was her brother served as the perfect foundation for an equally rocky social life, with the men traipsing in and out of her mother’s life symbolic for the string of drinks she’d down and boys she’d fling herself to once she left childhood behind. 

at some point, things got out of hand – so much so that her mother finally had to step in and send her daughter away to save her from herself. by then, however, some author had gotten wind of her, and while she was on the west coast a book was published that detailed so much of her life she simply had to return; better to face it head on than to hide away.

the publishing of the scandalous book was a turning point for serena, but a bore she would never be. and so, after trying her best to be the good girl for years and a failed engagement to boot, her former wild child emerged when she got caught up in an affair with a prominent politician  – only to bear the burnt of the shame when everything was written out in the tabloids and the tale was spun in such a way that he was the innocent man ‘led on’ by the ‘vixen’ she was.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— CHARLIE RHODES : cousin — ZAHRAH MOREAU : friend — DAN HUMPHREY : love interest

‣  PAULINE CARMICHAEL | SHE/HER | 23 | WEST EGG | HARI NEF / FC UTP

“ cause you look greatest when you feel like a damn queen. ”

‣  STORY

pauline, born as frederick, was born as the youngest of three sons. a latecomer, she’s been different from her brothers ever since she was born, and even without the terminology or knowledge of what she felt, pauline knew she was ‘not like most boys’ - because she wasn’t a boy at all.

it was tough, growing up under the thumb of her parents, her oldest brother as the only confidante. that’s why, when he told pauline he was starting over his life, she knew she had to follow along. convincing her parents proved to be a difficult task, and her brother was even threatened to be disowned if he took his sister under his wing. but life finds a way, and even though for the pair it meant disappearing in the dead of night, pauline finally felt free when she boarded the ship to the new world.

with her brother as a provider, pauline was able to focus on what she loved most in life: her music. while initially, she mostly played at small events hosted by herself or close friends, she has created a name for herself and is slowly gaining more recognition – to the point where she truly feels like like new york can become a real home.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— PENELOPE SHAFAI : friend — SCOTT ROSSON : love interest — AARON ROSE : adversary; guy who her boyfriend cheated with

tw: sex work ‣  ISABEL COATES | SHE/HER | 24 | EAST EGG | LAURA HARRIER / MAISIE RICHARDSON-SELLERS

“ You don’t need a lonely night, so baby, I can make it right. You just got to let me try to give you what you want.   “

‣  STORY

isabel’s sense of self-worth has always depended on others. even as a child she’d compare her christmas gifts to her brother’s to see who was in their parents’ best graces. and so, it was no surprise that the girl fell in line with blair, measuring how much she was worth against how high she was up on blair’s list of friends. and so, rather than outgrow her insecurities, they festered within, despite the fact that to outsiders, isabel seemingly had everything she could possibly want.

as she grew older and started turning men’s heads, she found yet another way to feel worthy, feel accomplished. and so, what began as innocent flirtations snowballed into something much more dangerous - a game of how far can i take it, until one day, with a friend of her father, she took it too far and ended up being paid for her .. services.

there doesn’t seem to be a way to turn back, the hollow girl numb to life, feeling only the rush of excitement when realization dawns that she owns the men who pay for her, can have them eating out of the palm of her hand just by undressing. and even though she tells herself she could stop any time she likes – she doesn’t need the money, obviously, there’s a tugging in the back of her mind reminding her it’s not that easy, lest she finds something else to make her feel alive.

‣  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS

— BLAIR WALDORF :  friend-ish — ROY COATES : twin brother, rival  — EMERSON ALDERIDGE : blackmailer