|| Get to know VALERIE GRAY who’s TWENTY-SEVEN years old and works as a PERSONAL ASSISTANT AT HAUS DA VIL in town. She is from CHICAGO and is often times mistaken for NAFESSA WILLIAMS while others say she reminds them of VALERIE from DANNY PHANTOM. ||
raised by a doting father that wanted nothing more than to make her happy, valerie was raised with everything she could have possibly asked with and more. feeling a strong sense of guilt when valerie’s mother left to start a new family with another man when valerie was only five years old, her father showered her with material things to show her love and buy her happiness. it unsurprisingly turned her into something of a spoiled brat, and she expected to get everything she wanted when she wanted it.
valerie could be sweet as sugar when she wanted to be, completely wrapping her father and other adults around her finger from a young age with the bat of her eyelashes and an adorable smile. to people her own age she was cruel and judging, and it was only natural that she fit in with the popular crowd at school.
as far as she was concerned her life was perfect; everyone at school looked up to her. guys wanted to date her and girls wanted to be her, and she always got away from being casually cruel to anyone that she deemed to be beneath her — which was anyone other than paulina, dash, and kwan. nothing could possibly go wrong to ruin that. that is, until the incident that still haunts her to this day.
a ghost attack at the factory where her dad worked security caused him to lose his job, and with it valerie lost everything. forced to give up their luxurious home for a run down apartment, she had to sell nearly every single one of her most prized possessions and get a less than desirable job as a fast food mascot just to help her father make ends meet at home. it was a spectacular fall from grace, valerie going from hero to zero in the blink of an eye.
along with losing all her money, valerie lost her status, popularity, and closest friends. learning that her best friends didn’t care at all about her if she couldn’t afford the latest fashions or the hottest concert tickets was an extremely low blow to her ego. now being treated the way she treated so many people that she once deemed to be beneath her, she had to take a hard look at herself and her actions, humbling herself in the process. there’s still a part of her that believes herself to be a little bit better than most, but she works hard on curbing her ego, trying her best to be kind at others and at the very least give people a chance before she judges them.
extremely angry and bitter about the circumstances in which she lost everything, valerie swore revenge on the ghost that completely ruined her life. while she originally had no idea how she would do that, she woke up one day to a package on her doorstep from an anonymous source, providing her with all the tech and weapons she needed to defeat the ghost. she didn’t give much thought to it, never even stopped to think that she’s potentially being manipulated into doing someone else’s bidding. instead she strapped on the outfit, learned how to use the weapons, and never looked back.
the majority of her teens and early twenties were dedicated to fighting ghosts, spurred on by a blind rage that she was never able to shake. she wanted justice for herself and her father, and defeating ghosts seemed like the only way she could get that catharsis. even as ghost sightings started to die down, valerie never truly gave up, patrolling the streets of chicago for ghosts no matter how exhausting at it got at times. a part of her wanted to live a normal life, but a much bigger part of her found it impossible to do that when she had the knowledge of ghosts that she did.
once she lost her popularity, there were a lot of things valerie was willing to give up. she said goodbye to the newest and most expensive tech, she gave up weekly manicures and trips to the spa, she missed out on concerts and stayed at home sadly listening to cds instead. unable to step into a second hand store without gagging, though, high qualify fashion and the newest designs were something that valerie simply couldn’t part with.
if she couldn’t afford them, she would simply have to make them herself. valerie spent countless hours teaching herself how to sew, until she could make pieces for herself that replicated the newest trends and designs. valerie wasn’t herself if she wasn’t looking cute, and designing her own outfits made her feel cute as hell. after graduating high school she went on to study fashion design with the hope of becoming a well known designer one day.
she was twenty-four when her dad came to her telling her he got a new job doing security on a place called corona island, and while she was old enough to stay behind in chicago, she couldn’t bare the idea of being that far away from her dad. he was her biggest supporter and number one fan, and she couldn’t bare the thought of being that far away from him. she packed up her bags without a thought and moved with him to corona.
valerie looked at corona island as a fresh start, a way to leave ghost hunting behind and shake the pain, anger, and resentment she still harbours for the ghosts that ruined her adolescence. this is supposed to be her chance to focus on her love of fashion and make a name for herself in the industry, but that dream is shattered within weeks of arriving on the island. it doesn’t take long for rumours of people with magic and powers to reach her, and not so long after that she hears the stories of other spooks that have made the island their home.
twelve years of hunting ghosts under her belt, she sees the supernatural powers on the island as just as much of a threat, and it doesn’t take long before she’s strapping back on her hunting gear and hitting the streets of corona to track down the spooks. years of resentment and hatred for the supernatural has her unable to see the humanity in the people with powers and she spooks, seeing them as a a danger that needs to be defeated. valerie views herself as a hero, protecting the streets of corona from harm.
for her first few years on the island she laid fairly low, patrolling the streets at night but not causing much harm unless necessary. the disappearances at halloween were what really triggered her into overdrive, a belief that something supernatural was behind it. she’s started actively seeking out supernatural beings now in a desperate attempt to put a stop to them before they cause more damage.
while her main focus is on hunting, she isn’t willing to completely let he dream of becoming a fashion designer slide, and hunting certainly doesn’t pay the bills. after moving to the island she got a job at haus da vil as candice da vil’s personal assistant. the job is insane hours and there’s no denying that her boss is more than a little bit crazy, but she’s determined to do a good job in the hopes that she’ll eventually get the chance to show candice her designs. if she’s not out hunting, there’s a good chance she’s doing something related to her job.
spends big hours in the gym. hunting takes a lot out of you and she puts in a lot of work to make sure she’s in good shape. lowkey buff as hell.
one of the most stubborn people you’ll ever meet. don’t try to convince her to do something she doesn’t want to do or talk her out of something she has her mind set on. she simply will not listen and will do the opposite of what you want in the pettiest way possible.
has very little free time between work and hunting and she’s very picky about what she does and who she spends her time with when she does have a break. she has very high standards an she makes it known whether or not she deems you worthy of her precious free time.
very few people on the island know about her secret. she doesn’t trust people easily and doesn’t want to risk letting people in on the secret and risk that they could blow her cover.
she comes up with increasingly ridiculous excuses as to why she’s regularly in the emergency room with hunting related injuries. she tries to make it seem like she’s extremely clumsy so that people won’t think twice that she’s regularly injured or banged up, but it’s definitely started raising some eyebrows among those closest to her.
very nervous about what superhero-type nickname the island might give her as she starts to become more visible around the island. they called this ghost kid in her home town invisobil which is just about the dumbest thing she’s ever heard in her life. if her nickname is that dumb she will simply jump off a cliff.
incredibly well dressed at all times. you’ll never catch her slipping.
very loud and every opinionated. you’ll hear her coming from a mile away.
she has good intentions and a heart of gold deep down, you just have to dig a little to see it.
friends, workout buddies, people she doesn’t like very much that kind of bring out that brattier side of her, other people that work at haus da vil/in fashion, spooks that she can be hunting, exes, hookups, anything!