dylan grimm i don't know why i am the way i am
there's something in the static
i think i've been having revelations coming to in the front seat, nearly empty
skip the exit to our old street and go home alone
No one said she had to go above and beyond – which made it particularly embarrassing when she did it anyway, and did it wrong. She looked at the UPC codes she'd spent the better part of an hour organizing and neatly lining up on her own time, barely resisting the urge to drag her arm across the shelf and send the whole lot clattering to the ground. A few months after her release, and Dylan still hadn't managed to remaster the art of freedom or free time – or stocking goddamn shelves. When she heard a sound behind her, she turned, practically situating herself as a human barricade between her unexpected company and the mess behind her. When she saw Rance, the sigh that passed between her teeth landed somewhere between relief and disappointment. "Don't look. I'm getting it... unfucked, I swear – I was trying to help out before you got in, but now I've got really expensive things where really cheap things should've gone, and if a customer sees it before I get it fixed I'm going to be out a job, and I don't even have the option of leaving town in shame. So unless you want to bear witness to my absolute breakdown in aisle two..."
working at a bar for twenty plus years wasn't on the cards for sloane, but here she was, older than some of the furniture in this place. there were benefits to being a bar staple such as knowing the clientele and having a general reputation of how things are run in said bar. sloane was no different.
"alright troublemaker, what can i get for you." she joked as she leaned on the bar addressing one of the frequent patrons.
dylan watched the interaction from her own barstool, perched there like at any moment, someone was going to walk in and tell her she had no business being there. an addict walks into a bar... sounded like the beginning of a terrible joke, but her own personal punchline wouldn’t begin unless someone proposed a bet. when it was her turn to order, a small grin curved her lips, an expression that settled at the reluctant intersection of nervous and reassuring. “no trouble from me, promise,” she said. “i’ll take a shot of jameson, if you've got it – oh, and a beer – whatever's on tap is perfect.” she felt so out of practice that she may as well have been a seventeen year old with a fake ID again. as if it corrected at all, she tilted her head, small smile lingering. "you get that a lot? trouble?"
(alyssa sutherland) [THE GAMBLER]. Please welcome [DYLAN GRIMM (she/her)] to Huntsville, WV. They are an [40]-year-old [RESIDENT] who lives in [THE COMMUNE]. You may see them around working as a [O'CONNOR’S OUTDOORS CASHIER]. Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive.
FULL NAME: Dylan Mallory Grimm
PRONOUNS AND GENDER: Cis woman, she/her
AGE: 40
SEXUALITY: Queer
OCCUPATION: Cashier at O'Connor's Outdoors
HOMETOWN: Hunstville, West Virginia
RESIDENCE: The Commune
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death mention, divorce, gambling addiction
TL;DR:
Huntsville local, but her parents split up when she was seventeen. Her mother moved to Massachusetts, and when Dylan was given the choice to stay or go, she left.
Her mother died just after Dylan graduated college. She had never been close with her father – especially not after she chose to live with her mother over him. After her funeral, they all but completely fell out of touch.
By that time, Dylan had started her own life. She worked as a dealer at a casino to pay her way through college, and by the time she graduated with a business degree, she'd been promoted to managing the place.
She initially refused to gamble, especially in her workplace – she watched over the years as her regulars got more reckless, and almost always left with less than they'd come in with. What she felt for them was pity.
Then one day she got roped into a game of poker, and walked out with ten grand in her pocket. That money paid for her wedding with her longtime girlfriend, and got them a decent honeymoon. It was like a switch had flipped – she understood. She kept it out of her own casino, only registering that she was developing a problem when she was driving two towns over and pretending she was going to work, only to spend the day in a rival casino. It went well at first – she was winning more than she lost, and she played small. Then things started to shift, and she was desperate to level out. They didn't. She dug deeper, and she got more frantic.
All leading up to her recent release from MCI-Framingham prison. She served two years after embezzling a little under eight grand from the casino she managed.
should be noted that she ruined her wife's (now ex-wife) life with her gambling. she drained both their bank accounts to try to dig herself out of her debt. (she is the one who proposed the divorce so none of her legal fees fell onto her ex)
got released from prison and was surprised to find she would still be divorced and her now ex had no interest in reconciling
with her life in massachusetts in shambles, dylan decided to visit her first home to figure out her next steps – had no intention of staying (mostly because her parole wouldn't allow it), and was shocked to find she couldn't leave.
she's trying to figure out how to adapt in the sudden place of her nightmares, but she's predictably handling poorly. she's resourceful, but she isn't exactly ethical most of the time.