✦ PHOEBE TONKIN, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER ✦ STELLA MATTHEWS the THIRTY year old has been in Hidehill for TWO MONTHS and was a STRANGER to Carter Thompson, one of the shadows. Whispers on the streets are that the BARTENDER AT ENVY who lives in HADLEY PARK are said to be ADAPTIVE and OBSTINATE but I guess we’ll find out for ourselves.
trigger warnings for intro: pregnancy, addiction, drug use, death, jail time
Stella grew up in Henderson, Nevada, a smaller town just outside of Las Vegas. She was raised by a single mother with her (half) sister who was a couple years older than her.
Her mother was a bit of a hopeless romantic which resulted in her always being in and. out of relationships, always believing the person she was currently with to be ‘the one,’ until one day she fell pregnant.
As soon as the father found out about the pregnancy, he vanished. Regardless, Stella’s mother gave birth to her and loved her more than anything. The story was essentially the same for her older sister’s birth, yet let the events repeat themselves.
Her mother was in nursing school, but the price of raising children was too expensive, and she ended up dropping out and eventually becoming an exotic dancer, believing it was the best way she could provide for her daughters.
Still, they didn’t have much money, but her mother did everything in her power to give the two girls a good life, to the best of her abilities. And Stella and her sister did have a lot of fun.
But Stella was oblivious to their monetary struggles. She originally blamed her mother (sadly) for them, but as she grew older, she realized her mother was just trying her best.
Unfortunately, Stella got into the drug scene pretty early on in her life. She had always been a part of the ‘bad’ crowd in school, having more interest in partying and hanging out in portions of the underground metro that had been abandoned than in school.
When she was 22, her sister followed in the footsteps of their mother and got pregnant. Things took a turn for the worse when the father took his own life and shortly after, her sister was murdered while walking home from a night shift at her job. The police could never figure out who did it, and Stella always thought they hadn’t put enough effort into trying to. Her mother was deemed incapable of taking care of the baby, and, somehow, Stella was given guardianship of her.
Living in near poverty and her sister’s death took a heavy toll on her and Stella never really stopped using after she started in her teenage years, but these events increased its severity. Her drug use was discovered, leading to a felony arrest and prison time for Stella and a foster family for her niece. Stella has never been able to regain custody after being arrested, but Joelle now resides with a foster family, one she recently learned lives in Hidehill.
After getting out of jail, she stayed clean long enough to pass the drug tests her parole officer gave her, but her use started back up again once the opportunity existed.
After living this type of lifestyle for a few years, she would come to fall in love with her dealer and later, roommate. Once they actually admitted these feelings to each other and started dating, they were quite happy. There was even talks of maybe giving sobriety a try, as for once, Stella felt as if there was a reason in her life not to constantly self destruct. Until it was like she suddenly entered an alternate reality one day and he called it all off, dumping her and taking their dog. Not even a full week went by before the brunette was informed that the worst had happened, ironically hearing it from a competitor who was gleeful in getting to take over his territory. Just one of these events happening would be enough to send Stella spiraling, but the fact that they happened back to back put her in a very bad place, until just two months ago when the whereabouts of her now seven-year-old niece was discovered. Moving to Hidehill, she's come to see if she can actually turn her life around enough to eventually regain custody, if she could just succeed in keeping her nose clean, metaphorically and literally.
She managed to get a job as a bartender at Envy where she has already gained a reputation with regulars as the bartender who picks fights with any patrons who try something sketchy. When she's not there, she's usually seen in seedy bars, flipping her butterfly knife over her knuckles, looking to start fights with whoever offers her shot fuse enough to spark one, at basement shows for punk bands with questionable levels of talent, or being a general menace to society.
Personality-wise, Stella is pretty dry and sarcastic, acting pessimistic and jaded about pretty much everything, as it is the way she feels. She’d never be totally honest about these issues, instead choosing to make self-deprecating jokes about them than truly admit how she’’s struggling. She's volatile, usually angry about something, and generally unpleasant to be around. But once you're on the shot list of people she doesn't mind, she's loyal and will go above and beyond for you.
okay, i think that covers most of it, lol. feel free to message me on here or discord while i work on some replies to some starters. (:
possible connections off the top of my head (not limited to the only connections i'm willing to consider but just some suggestions:
neighbors. this could go in multiple directions as she is pretty handy from never having the money to hire a handyman when things break. but also possibly a nuisance when she gets home at all hours of the night and making noise from banging into things and doors due to intoxication.
opposite/unlikely friend(s). i am a sucker for connects between opposites so i think it would be so funny for stella to have a friend or friends who are nothing like her and yet somehow they have managed to become friends.
a drinking buddy, ig this one is pretty self-explained. bonus points if they'e known to cause a ruckus when they are out drinking.
an enemy. i mean, it would be pretty easy fo stella to find herself with a connection with someone where they absolutely don't get along no matter what considering her augmentative nature. maybe they've even gotten into a physical altercation before.
friend from the music scene. i could see her having a friend she goes to shows with or who bond over having similar taste in music.
okay that's all the like more general ones i can think of. but i look forward to making other types too if anyone wants to plot!
