Occupation: Hostess at The Ocean Suite Venue / Freelance Musical Entertainment
Face claim: Keira Knightley
Greta has been a mother since twelve years of age. Without ever having given birth, she took on the full responsibilities of motherhood to her four young siblings and ensured their safety and survival. Greta’s father abandoned her mother and the very family he assisted in creating when she was just eleven years old, when her mother was pregnant with their fifth child. Her mother responded by falling into a permanent state of melancholy, forever mourning over the man as though he had died in her arms.
The terrified pre-pubescent spent a month at her mother’s bedside, constantly begging her to get up, pleading with wide, tearful eyes and crossed fingers because she needed her - all her children, they all needed their mother. However, the woman simply locked herself away, only stirring for an occasional break of water and a small meal. The baby she carried was soon lost due to a miscarriage, and she continued to dwindle down to just skin and bones without so much as a care to the very children she had brought into this world. It was after the birth of Greta’s youngest brother that she realized there would be no one to take care of herself or her siblings anymore. The mother she knew was dead, remaining only in a shattered, dilapidated, hollow shell. And so, the young girl became exactly what her little siblings needed - a protector.
For years, Greta put aside her hobbies, desires, and needs in order to provide for her siblings. She worked two jobs, cooked the meals, cleaned the house, became an after-school tutor for those in the house that needed it. With only one working body feeding five, including her mother, they were forced to live in a low-rent, high-crime environment where muggings, thievery and assaults were common. She was subject to several repeated attempts of rape and assault, one of which had resulted in an extended stay in the ICU. The eventual diagnosis? Irreparable damage that rendered the girl infertile. As a result, Greta took it upon herself to learn self-defense to the best of her capabilities. As the oldest and essentially the largest, she became the protector of her siblings; there were flaws in her fighting - of that she was sure - but she fought their battles when they couldn’t, no matter the opponent - bullies, thugs, and thieves. If anyone was going to harm her family, she would stand in the way. Initiating fights was never preferential, but backing off was never an option.
The one fight Greta could never win was the struggle with her sister Sylvia. Only one year younger than Greta, she was the rebellious child of the lot, and she seemed to harbor resentment for her older sister, who she often screamed at for trying to rule her life. In reality, Sylvia was hurt and angry from their father’s abandonment and their mother’s subsequent breakdown, as well as the lack of attention she received. So. she rebelled against Greta, escaping into the night to let all manners of dangerous sins become acquainted with her skin. Drugs, alcohol, dangerous men, and an equally dangerous profession of sleeping with those that would pay meant Sylvia quickly became Greta’s biggest source of stress. Often, she stumbled in just before daybreak, inebriated and almost unable to walk, which would result in the two sisters hollering back and forth at each other at the top of their lungs. The end result was always the same four words being lashed into Greta’s heart: “You’re not my mother.” Those few words were the last ones she ever heard sister say. Sylvia was killed by her employer on the grounds that she hadn’t been able to ‘satisfy’ the customers well enough. Her body was found bloodied and broken, dead at twenty-two, and her family was alerted three days after they reported her missing.
It was after this that Greta threw herself into studies, making sure to earn a respectable degree, while also developing some hobbies of her own - music, namely. Admittedly, it was difficult to cope with focusing solely on herself for a change. Her care for her siblings never fully diminished, but letting go of them as they soon began to find their own ways in the world proved to be a change she didn’t quite know how to handle with the usual delicate cogitation she managed in all other situations. Suddenly, she found herself quite alone in the world, quickly realizing that the small amount of friends she kept helped little in terms of what she was truly missing - a family. Despite her magnetic cheeriness and promising future, her efforts were never sweet enough to attract her fly of a father to come back, if only to answer the questions she so frequently asked as a child. Determined despite her inherent fears, Greta sought her father out, tracing him back to the beautiful, bustling little town of Eastbourne.
Upon realizing that he had perished in the 2014 fire, she has taken it upon herself to learn everything about him - what he did before his death, if he ever considered the family he left behind, and, perhaps most importantly, why he left them in the first place. Now, she considers this evolving town her home. It’s a place she found all on her own. It’s little, and broken, but still good.
Though the roles of mother and guardian were bestowed on her at such a young age that she simply had no choice, it has now been thoroughly absorbed into her being, etched into the lines of her face and scars marking her battle wounds. While this facet of her personality certainly has its obvious positive aspects, the fact that she so freely offers her advice and assistance to strangers and friends alike is often met with responses considerably less than enthusiastic. Additionally, much like a caring mother, Greta finds it incredibly difficult to let things and people go, and often tries her best to keep them around. Greta finds herself usually caring about everyone and anyone she meets, even in the smallest and simplest of ways. She lends her ear quite liberally, and often finds herself swept up in others’ supposedly harrowing life stories before it’s too late to escape. Greta’s loyalty is both a help and a hindrance. She will follow her family and friends to a fault, which is precisely the problem; if there comes a time when a serious situation dictates a response or course of action other than what she promised to do, Greta struggles to reevaluate and deviate from the plan, even if it is necessary for the greater good.
Throughout all the ups and downs of her life so far, organization had never been the primary concern - especially not while keeping her family relatively intact prevailed as a seemingly never-ending battle. Granted, certain circumstances allowed for a bit of chaos, which harbors a clear manifestation even in her day-to-day life. However, the far worse state of chaos is the one that resides within her. It’s only until recently that she’s been able to truly focus on herself and her passions, but - like her fellow scarred - she carries the horrors of those years around, having never been able to really let go. Still, it’s quite obvious that even Greta isn’t entirely sure what to do in Eastbourne, which has contributed to her taking up a part-time job at the ice cream shop her father started as well as trying her hand at various open mics around the town.
