Name: October Valentine
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Art, graffiti, punk music, piercings, boxing for exercise
Appearance: October is 5'10" and weighs 138 pounds, her height helping to give her a more impressive aura. She is Caucasian and slightly on the pale side, although not drastically so. Her body type is mostly average, although her arms are clearly toned, as can be seen when she bares them in most of her off-campus outfits. Her legs are also quite long, as can be seen when she runs with long, fast strides.
October has jet-black hair that is cut almost short enough to be a crew-cut, aside from a spiky fringe that is left longer and dyed fuchsia. Her nose is medium-sized and sharp-looking, and her cheeks are smoothly angled. Her thin lips wear a frequent scowl, often accented by black lipstick. Her eyes are a very pale blue, sitting underneath a dark brow. She also has an enthusiasm for piercings that is visible just from a glance. She wears two small silver rings in the helix of her left ear, a barbell piercing in her left eyebrow, a black tourmaline crystal on a chain attached to the lobe of her right ear, and a ring in the right side of her lower lip.
Her dress sense tends to be very dark, only lightening it up a bit in order to skirt past the dress code. It acts as a boost to her intimidating image. Band shirts and graffiti-like graphics are the norm for her, as are black jackets.
Biography: For most of October's life, she has felt like she was somewhere she didn't belong. Born to Pam and Matt Valentine, a human resources representative and a stockbroker, her early life was spent as something of a loner. From preschool through elementary school, she kept to herself, drawing pictures with her pencils and crayons. She was usually not interested in the games that the other children played. She was easily annoyed and preferred to do things on her own, especially hating when other people messed up her work. Her social circle took a long time to grow as a result, and it wasn't until middle school that she joined an art club and started forming concrete friendships.
Her home life wasn't very enviable. Her parents were extremely strict and obsessed with appearances, being very controlling over October's time and activities. This rigidity often frustrated October, and she hated having to follow their instructions to the letter. Her attempts to rebel were always punished swiftly, and being grounded eventually became common to her, leaving her in the familiar situation of drawing alone in her room.
Once October turned twelve, she started developing more alternative tastes, taking a liking to goth and punk styles and music. The style was a complete reversal of the buttoned-up, clean-cut way that her parents always tried to present themselves, and she loved it for that. She took a particular liking to bands like Rise Against and The Offspring for their loud, unmistakable sound and catchy rhythms, although she did take a particular liking to their slower, more melodic tunes. This did not go over well with her parents in the slightest, who saw such things as a symbol of anarchy and delinquency. They tried to clamp down on October's explorations into her burgeoning interests, and all it did was drive more of a wedge between them. October started trying to spend as much time away from home as possible, signing up for art projects for extra credit and hanging out with friends after school, all to keep from having to spend time with her overly-strict parents. The continual conflict between them caused October to develop quite a temper, becoming very short-fused when she became upset.
By the time high school rolled around, it seemed that they couldn't talk to each other any more without a fight breaking out. With October growing more independent and openly ignoring their rules, they had been clashing more and more. Her parents tried to confiscate her aggressively dark clothes and punk albums, and she just grew more resentful of them. However, all this did was make October try harder. One of their major rules was that she was forbidden from having any piercings or tattoos. However, she thoughts that piercings were cool, and in certain cases, attractive. She took a bunch of Christmas money that she had saved up, and after a trip to the mall with her friends, she came home with two rings in her ear. Her parents were livid when she got home, but the fact that they couldn't directly do anything about it felt empowering to her.
She went on to find more ways around her parents' restrictions, partaking in racy and violent movies and games while hanging out with her friends, and sneaking out during afternoons and nights to do graffiti. She started on the outskirts of the neighborhood, but eventually got more daring with her targets, tagging deeper in town and developing a signature tag, a crudely drawn eyeball. She lifted old spray cans from the garage, and was lucky to avoid getting caught.
Although October did make some friends in high school, she still liked to have plenty of time to herself. With Endecott's sports programs in the sorry shape they were in, that meant that the gym was a frequent place where she could spend time without too many people bothering her. It was here that she discovered some old boxing equipment, and she started doing some drills to pass the time, which eventually turned into a frequent hobby. At least once a week she would run some footwork drills or shadowboxing, and that built her stamina much higher than it used to be. Once she got into a groove of working out frequently, she started putting in some time with the weights, taking great satisfaction in feeling herself get stronger. However, her boxing drills were still her preferred exercise.
Shortly before the beginning of her junior year, October found herself in real trouble. She attended an LGBT rights demonstration, and wound up brawling with someone who came to disrupt the event. She ran through the crowd and descended upon him with a series of punches, breaking the man's nose and creating a bloody display in the process before she was pulled off of him and arrested. When the trial came, she got some sympathy for her reasons, but the video of her attacking the man was a heavy anchor on her case. In the end, the ruling stated that she had to pay the victim's medical bills, which came out of her college fund, and six months of house arrest. With the state of her relationship with her parents coming out in interviews with the court, it was decided that she should serve out her sentence in a halfway house, in hopes that it would provide a less tense environment for her rehabilitation.
During October's stay in the halfway house, she felt demoralized. The people running it seemed nice, but she had to abide by very strict rules, including an early curfew and limited time on the internet, with her studies being an exception. The combination of the pandemic and her sentence forced her to do her learning remotely, further restricting her activities and interactions. She didn't make friends with anyone else there, and spent most of her time off on her own, continuing her art under supervision. She made sure not to draw anything that could be construed as threatening, but aside from that, she was drawing almost constantly unless she was mandated to be elsewhere. Although she lost her access to her boxing drills, she shifted to a regular regimen of sit-ups and push-ups to keep from falling out of shape.
As part of her sentence, October received regular anger management sessions with a court-appointed therapist. At first she thought that it would be a waste of time, but her sessions made her realize that her actions at the protest weren't a bout of sudden fury from nowhere. She had been building up anger for a long time, and that was the stressor that let it all out at once. Through their discussions, October realized that various factors, such as her lack of patience with people and hatred of losing control, had been weighing on her. However, it was pretty easy to see that her severely strained relationship with her family was the biggest thing affecting her.
When her sentence finished, she was evaluated and deemed to not be at serious risk of reoffending. However, due to how deep into the school year it already was, she would finish out the year with remote learning before returning to Endecott for her senior year. It had been almost a solid year or trials and tribulations, but October finally had a chance to go home and put all of that behind her.
Coming home wasn't much of a relief, unfortunately, as her parents had effectively written her off as a lost cause after her conviction. After a few fraught months where they scrutinized her constantly, she packed her belongings in a duffel bag and left, unwilling to try to live with their relationship anymore. She currently lives at the home of her best friend, Monti Morgan, and has not spoken to her parents since she left, nor does she have any real desire to.
Life at Monti's house proved to be a completely different experience from the world October had known. Monti's parents accepted her with open arms despite her history, and they proved to be extremely open-minded and pleasant. However, sometimes October wondered if they may be a bit too passive, considering how irresponsible and flighty Monti could be. She earns her keep by helping with chores and other errands around the house, and always cleans up after herself. In the Morgan house, October feels much more comfortable than she ever did in her own home. The parents are always happy to see her and Monti, and Monti's mom even complimented her tourmaline chain piercing when she got it. She often found herself wishing that they had been the family that she had been born into.
Her senior year has been a bit of a mixed bag. She still performs quite well in most categories, and she wasted no time in rejoining the art club and returning to work on their projects. However, the stigma of having been arrested had a significant effect on her social life, especially in a school like Endecott Memorial. She felt like there were always eyes on her, be they from students expecting her to go off, or teachers waiting for her to mess up so they could march her out of school. She keeps her head down and keeps her nose clean, doing her work, getting good grades, and going home.
October's plans for the future presently involve graduating and moving on to art school, with a gap year or two to earn some money not out of the question. She's bookmarked a few school websites on her computer, and she's trying to come to a decision before graduation. She doesn't plan on staying in town for too long after she graduates. She just wants to get away from her past and find a place where she fits in, wherever that may be.
Advantages: October is in good physical shape and has decent endurance to boot. She has more stamina than most, and can run, work, or fight for longer periods without exhausting herself. Her experience in sneaking out of the house and around town gives her some competence in moving around silently and unnoticed.
Disadvantages: October's reputation is a significant red flag that would hurt her chances at finding allies outside of her immediate friend group. In addition, her temper may hurt her ability to handle delicate situations, which would only degrade as time goes on and situations get worse.
October Valentine
The Aggressive Goth
Hey there Aura! October is off to a good start, but is temporarily DENIED pending some cleanup and things that need to be expanded upon.
What sort of style does October wear her hair in? Short hair could mean anything from a buzzcut to a bob, so being more specific will give us a better picture of her.
What are October's parents' jobs?
Why did October keep to herself so much as a child? Was she shy or just uninterested in playing with others, or was there some other reason? Did she have any interests besides art from early childhood to middle school?
What does October like about goth style and punk music? These two subcultures have a lot of even more niche styles within them; is there any particular one that she is drawn to? October's hobbies in general need more expansion; what kinds of art is she interested in besides graffiti? What does she like about piercings, and when did she get hers done? How did she afford the piercings she got, and how did her parents react?
When exactly did October get into graffiti tagging? In Massachusetts, you have to be 18 in order to purchase spray paint, and aerosol and spray cans are technically classified as weapons in many areas when it comes to schools; October would most likely be suspended if she were caught with spray paint at school. Additionally, what originally interested her in graffiti? Does she do it for the art, or is it more of an act of rebellion?
Given that she was at an LGBTQ event and the person she got into an altercation with was specifically there with hateful intent, and presuming that there were witnesses to this given that it was a public event, it's also likely that October would have been able to plead self-defense or defense of others as a mitigating factor. Even if her parents didn't provide any defense for her, she'd be given some sort of representation and probably encouraged to put in a plea bargain for a sentence like probation, and that's if the charges even made it before a judge. Altogether, I don't see her getting sentenced to juvie right off the bat for this unless she has an established pattern of violent behavior, which I do not see in the biography leading up to this point. Getting a full year as her sentence on a first offense is also unlikely unless it was a particularly violent assault, as mentioned above. Secure juvenile correctional facilities are pretty much a last resort in many cases, and you could be looking at house arrest or removal from your family home and placement in a halfway house before you go to actual juvie.
Based on the state we're in, October's history in the profile as it currently is, and the circumstances of this fight, I think that the most likely charge October would be looking at is misdemeanor simple assault (NOT felony assault) and a likely sentence would be probation with anger management counseling following community service or a fine.
October moving out of her parents' house is fine as an element by itself, but it's probably going to need the details reworked a bit in relation to all of the stuff I've outlined above. Same deal with her school life.
As far as the biography goes right now, October seems to have only ever been in one fight; I would not consider this to have given her enough experience fighting for it to count as a notable advantage. I'd also like some detail in the bio as to where her physical fitness comes from, as currently it doesn't seem like she does anything especially physical to keep in shape.
That takes care of the first pass, so post in here when you've made those adjustments, and I'll give October another look!
What sort of style does October wear her hair in? Short hair could mean anything from a buzzcut to a bob, so being more specific will give us a better picture of her.
What are October's parents' jobs?
Why did October keep to herself so much as a child? Was she shy or just uninterested in playing with others, or was there some other reason? Did she have any interests besides art from early childhood to middle school?
What does October like about goth style and punk music? These two subcultures have a lot of even more niche styles within them; is there any particular one that she is drawn to? October's hobbies in general need more expansion; what kinds of art is she interested in besides graffiti? What does she like about piercings, and when did she get hers done? How did she afford the piercings she got, and how did her parents react?
When exactly did October get into graffiti tagging? In Massachusetts, you have to be 18 in order to purchase spray paint, and aerosol and spray cans are technically classified as weapons in many areas when it comes to schools; October would most likely be suspended if she were caught with spray paint at school. Additionally, what originally interested her in graffiti? Does she do it for the art, or is it more of an act of rebellion?
Unfortunately, this whole element is not very plausible as it currently stands. After finishing her sophomore year of high school, October would be only 15 or 16; getting into a fistfight with a stranger would certainly get her into some kind of trouble, but unless she was committing assault with a deadly weapon, getting sent straight to juvie is pretty unlikely. Especially since this appears to be her first actual criminal offense, she's far more likely to have received a fine, community service, probation with a curfew, and/or counseling.Shortly after finishing her sophomore year, October found herself in real trouble. She attended an LGBT rights demonstration, and wound up brawling with someone who came to disrupt the event. She got arrested and sentenced to a juvenile detention facility. She obviously hated the decision, but she was equally upset by the fact that her parents did not offer any help in her defense.
Given that she was at an LGBTQ event and the person she got into an altercation with was specifically there with hateful intent, and presuming that there were witnesses to this given that it was a public event, it's also likely that October would have been able to plead self-defense or defense of others as a mitigating factor. Even if her parents didn't provide any defense for her, she'd be given some sort of representation and probably encouraged to put in a plea bargain for a sentence like probation, and that's if the charges even made it before a judge. Altogether, I don't see her getting sentenced to juvie right off the bat for this unless she has an established pattern of violent behavior, which I do not see in the biography leading up to this point. Getting a full year as her sentence on a first offense is also unlikely unless it was a particularly violent assault, as mentioned above. Secure juvenile correctional facilities are pretty much a last resort in many cases, and you could be looking at house arrest or removal from your family home and placement in a halfway house before you go to actual juvie.
Based on the state we're in, October's history in the profile as it currently is, and the circumstances of this fight, I think that the most likely charge October would be looking at is misdemeanor simple assault (NOT felony assault) and a likely sentence would be probation with anger management counseling following community service or a fine.
October moving out of her parents' house is fine as an element by itself, but it's probably going to need the details reworked a bit in relation to all of the stuff I've outlined above. Same deal with her school life.
As far as the biography goes right now, October seems to have only ever been in one fight; I would not consider this to have given her enough experience fighting for it to count as a notable advantage. I'd also like some detail in the bio as to where her physical fitness comes from, as currently it doesn't seem like she does anything especially physical to keep in shape.
That takes care of the first pass, so post in here when you've made those adjustments, and I'll give October another look!
"Art enriches the community, Steve, no less than a pulsing fire hose, or a fireman beating down a blazing door. So what if we're drawing a nude man? So what if all we ever draw is a nude man, or the same nude man over and over in all sorts of provocative positions? Context, not content! Process, not subject! Don't be so gauche, Steve, it's beneath you."
Revisions have been made!
Okay, looking better!
October's arrest and sentencing look much more reasonable now, there's just a couple more things to iron out. Her junior year would have been the 2020-2021 school year, so everyone else would have also been doing remote class for much of the year; if that's what you meant when you mentioned her attending school remotely, it's unclear that the pandemic is the reason why and not just her placement in the halfway home. Additionally, I'd like more detail on why she was put in a halfway home for the duration of her sentence rather than on house arrest with her parents. It could be that her home environment was found to be contributing to her issues like you state later with her counseling, or that she needed more structure and supervision, I'd just like it to be specified.
Has October applied to any art schools yet, or at least have any in particular that she wants to go to?
Post in here when you've taken care of those few things, and I'll take a look at October again!
October's arrest and sentencing look much more reasonable now, there's just a couple more things to iron out. Her junior year would have been the 2020-2021 school year, so everyone else would have also been doing remote class for much of the year; if that's what you meant when you mentioned her attending school remotely, it's unclear that the pandemic is the reason why and not just her placement in the halfway home. Additionally, I'd like more detail on why she was put in a halfway home for the duration of her sentence rather than on house arrest with her parents. It could be that her home environment was found to be contributing to her issues like you state later with her counseling, or that she needed more structure and supervision, I'd just like it to be specified.
I believe you mean October here and not Monti.In the Morgan house, Monti feels much more comfortable than she ever did in her own home.
Has October applied to any art schools yet, or at least have any in particular that she wants to go to?
Post in here when you've taken care of those few things, and I'll take a look at October again!
"Art enriches the community, Steve, no less than a pulsing fire hose, or a fireman beating down a blazing door. So what if we're drawing a nude man? So what if all we ever draw is a nude man, or the same nude man over and over in all sorts of provocative positions? Context, not content! Process, not subject! Don't be so gauche, Steve, it's beneath you."
Revised and ready for review!
APPROVED
"Art enriches the community, Steve, no less than a pulsing fire hose, or a fireman beating down a blazing door. So what if we're drawing a nude man? So what if all we ever draw is a nude man, or the same nude man over and over in all sorts of provocative positions? Context, not content! Process, not subject! Don't be so gauche, Steve, it's beneath you."