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[03 Apr 2009|04:56pm] |
Skye Winsor-Adams
Skye Adams's mother, Katherine, became pregnant unwittingly. Christopher Murray, the girl's father, was a one-night stand and the two had never planned to make their relationship serious in any kind of way. It wasn't until Christopher had gone back to Atlantic City that Katherine even found out she was pregnant, but once that happened she knew she had a responsibility to her unborn child. Her slightly erratic ways turned motherly, and the young woman found two other jobs to support her and her daughter, who she'd named Skye. Unfortunately, on the way home from work one day, Katherine was attacked for her wallet. Resisting, she found out the hard way it probably wasn't the best thing to do - she was shot for the forty-three dollars in her wallet. When Katherine's parents, now living in Virginia Beach, Virginia, heard about the news, they were devastated, but they at least still had their granddaughter - until they realised the girl was a handful, and she wasn't going to be able to stay with them. They asked a private adoption agency to take her in 1988, but it wasn't soon after that she was adopted by Gregory and Alice Winsor of Montclair, Virginia. The two were having their share of marital problems but thought being able to bring a child back home would might help - their youngest was nine years older than Skye, and it'd certainly be nice to have another child around. However, the couple still split in 1998 and Gregory was given full custody of Skye - his professional reputation preceeded him, coupled with the fact that he had a very nice trust fund thanks to his Texas family and their stock in oil.
Gregory soon realised that a daughter coupled with a full-time job just wasn't going to cut it. Unlike most parents, Gregory retired from his position at the FBI (rumour has it, he was the inspiration for the character of Jack Crawford in the movie Silence of the Lambs, though that rumour stands unsubstantiated to this day) and moved out to California with his girlfriend, who was a surgeon in San Francisco. The two had had their share of casual run-ins when they first met, but the sexual tension was undeniable; if anyone was really being honest with anyone else, Gregory's affair with Valerie DiGiacinto was probably the reason Alice and Gregory's marriage dissolved in the first place; the two were sleeping together a good two or three years before the divorce.
Overall, the twisted family unit of Valerie, Gregory, and Skye worked well. Valerie was a workaholic and always very serious business, Gregory was enjoying semi-retirement, freelancing for various private detective agencies, police departments, and yes - even the FBI on occasion. However, he explained, freelancing was a lot less stressful and less life-threatening, since there had been a period of time before Skye's adoption that he'd been in witness protection thanks to a mob hit. Plus, it gave him the freedom to spend a lot more time with his daughter than he ever could have dreamed of.
The most important freelance position he took, in Skye's mind, were the summers in Cambridge. Not England, but Massachusetts. Gregory was invited to participate in a study of criminal thought patterns at Harvard Medical School's McLean hospital. While Gregory was studying people, thirteen-year-old Skye was getting her first lesson in Men. Charles Sawyer Marshall III was summering down the Cape with his family, and he came up to Harvard for a day tour, if only for appearance's sake: the family had been Harvard men since its inception, so there was no doubt that Chuck would end up there as well. Skye was coincidentally on the same tour (hey, it was never too early to start in her mind), and she was intrigued by the other boy's nonchalance - not to mention, he was gorgeous. She was shocked, though, when he first approached her and gave her his number - was she really that pretty? She didn't think so. She spent a few days down there with him and before he left, they made a promise (on Skye's first kiss, no less) to spend the summers together. This plan backfired the summer of her junior year, when Chuck landed Skye in a holding cell at the Cambridge Police Department overnight; this involved the dean of students' house, more specifically his mailbox, and a cherry bomb. It was after that she realized Chuck was bad news for her, and to top it all off, he'd been cheating on her, too? Apparently, it was her own fault for not having sex with him...shocking.
Skye is still a Daddy's Girl to a T. However, whenever anyone says this (and it happens often) she's quick to correct that the stereotype is completely untrue: she's not spoiled, he just loves her because she's smart. She's not being egotistical either. Skye indeed thinks she's brilliant - this is because she spends most of her time studying. She's not naturally intelligent and couldn't slack off and not do anything for her 4.0; she earned it with a lot of pain and a lot of sacrifice. Every morning, she armed herself with a venti black coffee from Starbucks, and got at least two refills a day. Truth be told, she'd much rather prefer something sweet and delicious, but after a caramel macchiato landed her in the hospital her sophomore year of high school, the stamp "allergic to wheat gluten" pretty much ruined her delicious fun. ...But okay. So she did get an M3 convertible for her sixteenth birthday (which she has still proudly never scratched) but other than that? She was just glad to get into college. Being a faculty child has its advantages, too - Skye went to Harvard and managed to waste half her college years tiptoeing around in different academic subjects until she settled on Biology, getting her masters' as well from the same school. Now twenty-six, she's currently teaching at a local private school until she decides whether or not she wants to go into research or go to medical school or what. She moved out of her father's place after her undergraduate years were over, though still relied on him financially, and has been in the same apartment in Revere since she got her bachelors'.
Skye's social awkwardness gets the better of her 99% of the time. She has a tendency to stutter when she's trying to be outgoing and have conversations, and is never one to initiate conversation unless it involves something academic - then she's often very quick to help. She's very scared of being rejected by her peers, and doesn't make much of an effort to get over this fright. This almost-crippling shyness has made her many fewer friends than she probably could have had, but she doesn't think she's missing out on all that much. After all, she's already had her heart broken, landed in jail, been in a high-speed car-chase, and almost died because of wheat poisoning. Right now, she just wants to make sure she makes it to her thirties totally unscathed, and she's still got a few years to go.
However, anyone with enough persistence and kindness is apt to break her out of her shell - as long as they do most of the talking. It takes quite a long time for Skye to be able to warm up to someone to the point where she can have a long, flowing conversation with them, and there are only about five or six people that she's comfortable enough with beyond her own immediate family. Her students don't count - they see her as a huge hard-ass, and truth be told, she is. Why would she think about curving a biology class grade? If you don't know the material, she's not about to give you a grade you don't deserve. This has gotten her into some trouble, but being accessible and showing the parents just how badly their kids have been slacking off gets her off the hook.
At-a-Glance
- Her favorite book is Dante's Divine Comedy, and she has a quote from it in the original Italian tattooed on her side.
- Is not kidding when she says she's allergic to wheat. An apple she was eating came in contact with some bread a few years back and she ended up in the hospital for two days.
- Is kind of convinced the only reason she got into Harvard was because her father was on faculty. Sure, she was smart, but she had a hell of a time keeping up. She was smart, but not that smart. Good-bye social life, hello keeping a GPA.
- Does not share her father's same penchant for fast cars. Fancy things, yes, and she tends not to skimp on her wardrobe, but she could care less about being on a four-year waiting list for a Porsche. Thinks there are better ways to spend money - that Porsche could instead buy a ton of books.
Storylines
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) emilyhart - friend from high school. The two drifted for various reasons, but part of why Skye moved to Revere was to maybe run into Emily one of these days. They might not be friends anymore, but Skye can certainly be civil to her.
sethbryant - they're apartment-building-neighbors and Skye thinks he's a pretty nice guy - he makes her laugh, and she likes lightening up. She hasn't quite figured it out that he has a crush on her though, and besides - HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND.
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