Grayson Whitaker

*We're lost in a cloud with too much rain*

*We're trapped in a world that's troubled with pain*

*But as long as a man has the strength to dream*

*He can redeem his soul and fly, oh*

*Deep in my heart, there's a trembling question*

*Still, I am sure that the answer*

*The answer's gonna come somehow*

*Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle*

*And while I can think, while I can talk*

*While I can stand, while I can walk*

*While I can dream, please let my dream come true*

*Oh, right now*

*Oh-oh, right now*

***If I Can Dream - Måneskin***

## Overview

Grayson is the personification of a coil wound too tight, ready to explode and held back only by sheer will. The vice grip on his emotions is not only a survival tool from dealing with his parents but also the extreme personal expectations of decorum. So while internally he is a raging storm to rival any hurricane, outwardly he is a soft spoken with a gentle and warm aura. Friendly and ever mindful of his manners, what with the weight of two very different and very heavy familial expectations weighing on his shoulders.

In conflict he defaults to sarcasm to diffuse a situation and has a reputation of being a Rake with a capital 'R'. The local bit of a playboy with a long list of ex-girlfriends peppered in with hook-ups and flings with the only serious relationship being with his now ex-girlfriend during his first attempt at senior year before the accident that made him differ the grade and try again to graduate with the class of '84. And while he is an okay student, Gray truly shines as an athlete and a musician with a soft spot for an acoustic guitar his mother bought him that he keeps at school and away from his father as much as possible.

Since the accident, Gray has been working at the local garage rebuilding his beloved BMW 733i that his Nan and Grandpa from Arkham bought him for his sixteenth birthday. Spending long hours working with his hands with his fellow mechanic Vince instead of at the mines, doing everything in his power to avoid the mines and his father, the overseer. While he is friendly with just about everyone there are a few people that he cannot imagine his life without; his best friend Dani, his freshman year ex-girlfriend and Dani's cousin Marilyn, and their cousin and his pick-up game friend Reece. Gray has become better friends with Gemma through Dani and feels responsible to protect both her and Bruce as best he can. And while they bantered a bit back when they were in the same grade over music it was The Meeks House Incident where Gray attributes Cole to why he's able to function after being trapped in the mines and the pair becoming closer. There was always a mutual respect and fondness though after Cole teased him about whether or not he would want someone to choke him that caused both of them a wash of awkward bashfulness.

## Physical Appearance

Gray is 5' 10", though he jokes that he's 6'1" if you count the hair; long of limb and aware of how to use that to his advantage. Even after the accident and the months of recovery, Gray still is lean with muscles born of hard training and a desire to accomplish athletic achievement in the hopes of a college scholarship. He personally takes great pride in his back and upper body, playfully picking up and tossing around his friends. It's almost the default that Gray is the one often the one giving piggyback rides or fireman carrying them, be it an injured teammate off the field or if an errant high heel caused a sprained ankle.

His hair is mostly to blame for his pretty boy reputation. A rich deep caramel brown with honey highlights and mahogany lowlights, the waves teased and tousled artfully, the shortest layers reaching his cheekbones and the longest brushing against his shoulders. His eyes match, a deep dark chocolate that tend to default to a softness unless an otherwise earned fire. He also has various freckles and moles scattered across his body predominately his back, shoulders, neck and face. He prides himself on his appearance, and while his clothes speak of a comfortable preppy jock, it's not a put-upon forced aesthetic. Instead it's soft, relaxed, and very much All-Americana.

Because of the accident Grayson now has a serious of severe scars along his body. His back, both sides of his lower abdomen and the back of his biceps have a series of vicious wounds that could resemble either burns or perhaps bite marks. And around his neck is an uneven split that looks as though he was strangled with something as sharp as razor wire. Originally he tried to hide the marks, at his mother's suggestion, with makeup or his clothes but after a bad incident with his father he now shows them off. Not necessarily with the 'pride' his father wanted, but more of a novice attempt at acceptance.

After the recent altercation with his father, Gray has earned a new scar; a handprint burn just above the split along his throat. The Meeks House Incident resulted in a crack in Gray's mind, a deeper edge to his claustrophobia where he cannot stand to have anything touching his neck. Trading out a lot of his old t-shirts for deep v-necks, a henley, or nothing at all if he can justify being shirtless.

## History

TW: Dysfunctional Families/Alcoholism/Ab\*se (inferred not detailed)/Neglect/Infidelity/Traumatic Accidents/Amnesia

The only child of Gideon Whitaker and his transplant Yankee wife Johanna, Grayson is the only legitimate Whitaker born in this generation. With pressure weighing on his shoulders of his family legacy and expectations weighing on his conscious under the public eye, it pales in comparison to what was kept behind closed doors. While the Whitakers originally hailed from up in Connecticut before settling down in Harper’s Calling, his mother and her side of the family hail from the North Shore, specifically Dunwich, MA. And they have their own expectations and obligations for him in the hallowed halls of Miskatonic University and his return to where he was born, albeit accidentally.

The last three generations of Whitaker men ironically have ended up in long relationships with Yankee women, though his grandparents and their loving marriage contrast sharply with his parents debacle of a marriage and his own complicated now ex-girlfriend. While appearances are everything (especially to his mother) Gideon and Johanna gave up the ghost of a loving relationship some time around Gray’s eighth birthday, devolving to open bitter hostility in his early teens. And where his mother’s vice of choice came at the bottom of a bottle, his father’s came from the back of his hand; thankfully the pair rarely spent any time near each other or their son, leaving Grayson to raise himself from far too young an age. More oft than not the Whitaker home held only one occupant. Whenever the isolation would get to him Gray would head down to his Grams and *Deda*, happily trailing after either of them with abject adoration and love. But when they were around it was Grayson who caught the focus and target of both of their personal demons. It’s part of why he defaults to a mediator to deescalate conflict and tries to keep such a tight reign on his own fury, not wanting to lash out like they do.

There is little Gray has ever been able to do that his father doesn’t find fault with or that wouldn’t cause a fight between his parents to break out. Usually devolving into whatever they believe he needs to do with his life or all the ways to find fault with Grayson as a person due to the other’s influence. Neither of his parents could agree with what they wanted him to do when not at school but the pair begrudgingly agreed that him working as a mechanic at the local garage was a responsible thing to do. Sports were the easy choice for extracurriculars, something that kept him from the house but something his father approved of. A painful lesson emotionally and physically learned after voicing his initial desire to get into theatre and guitar and the consequences of that voiced idea.

If it wasn’t his personal appearance and clothes, it was his academics and elective choices. If it wasn’t his music and the car he insisted on buying himself and restoring with his own money, it was his choice in friends or girlfriends. Neither of his parents quite saw eye to eye with him dating anyone, his father continually overwhelming him with the threat of a quickie marriage if ‘he got a girl in trouble’ and his mother’s drunken accusations that he should be careful lest he end up sleeping with a half-sister from his father’s boundless affairs. It led to a string of relationships that never quite worked out and Gray getting the accidental reputation of being a bit of a playboy, mostly from his own anxiety. The only exception to that being Katherine Morgan, the daughter of his mother’s friends from back home in Dunwich that she convinced to move down to Harper’s Calling when she was engaged to Gideon.

Kat and Gray were for all intents and purposes the perfect high school couple. The jock and the cheerleader, homecoming court, shoe-in for Prom King and Queen; they were the high school sweethearts that seemed to be made for one another. And for a good year, they were. It was fall of 1983 on the way back from one of his football games that everything went sour. Gray doesn’t remember much; something, definitely a *thing* and not a *one*, jumped out in front of his car on the winding forest road up the mountain to home. He only had a second to react and with a quick jerk of the wheel they were up and over the curb along the embankment that ran alongside the road proper. He can remember checking over Kat, the pair just shaken up but in one piece before getting out to see what damage if any was done to his car.

From there on it was fuzzy, gaps in his memory that to this day he is still desperate to fill. In what felt like a blink he was crashing out of the woods with Kat at his side, both of their uniforms covered in blood. Another blink and he was helping to push his car back onto the road, one hand pressed against his stomach holding the heavy river of blood back feebly as his other hand slipped and smeared a streak along the burgundy paint of his baby. Another blink and everything began to feel floaty with a dark cast along the edges as Kat’s voice echoed in his ears hollowly. Telling him to climb into the back, that they had to Move, NOW. Another blink and they were heading down the road, Kat grinding the gears of his manual transmission cursing up a blue streak as the wet warmth from his neck and sides began standing out in stark contrast to how icy cold his skin had gotten. Another blink and they caught each other’s eyes as she looked back first out the back windshield and then down at his eyes, Kat’s lovely face coated nigh completely in what he hoped and the doctors days later confirmed to be his blood and a quiet plead of “Please, hold on….” before slipping into unconsciousness.

The next few days passed in another string of blinks, the couple weeks after that the hospital monotony of recovery peppered with what felt like a dozen people interrogating him about what happened. What he remembered. That the Morgans were leaving. That Kat wasn’t going to even say goodbye. That he was going to have to repeat his senior year. That the scarring was going to be intense. That his car was a wreck that needed months and thousands of dollars of repair. That his parents threw all pretense through the window and were openly fighting in the Family Room of the hospital. That he was lucky to be alive. And that whatever it was he wasn’t saying, the truth would out one way or another.

Gray wasn't discharged from the hospital until early March 1984 and he has spent the last few months rehabilitating his body to get not only back into the shape he had before the accident but better. Making sure to take care of his scars so the skin would maintain flexibility as well as to lessen the purplish red into a softer pink by June. What with his parents not visiting him in the hospital, he attributes his recovery and continued soft and gentle disposition to Father Oren, as the deacon kept him company while he was at his most vulnerable as loneliest. Grayson feels indebted to the man, a depth that speaks of how highly he considers the pastor. It was his Uncle Gene that also bore the mantle of caring for Gray both through his hospitalization and the joyful parts of his childhood. It's clear as day how similar Grayson is to his father's best friend and a few people have made comments that it seems as though Gray is more like Gene's son than Gideon's, what with how little he has in common with his father. Not wanting to ask his father for financial help, Gray pleaded with Frank over at D-Auto to allow him to work as a mechanic with his son Vince. That way he could rebuild and reconstruct his precious Beamer while also ferreting away cash in a rainy day fund Gideon has no knowledge or access to. And while they are polar opposites, Grayson has befriended Vince despite all odds; the pair often found lightheartedly play fighting over what music to play in the garage and the other's musical tastes.

As of the Summer of '84 Grayson is as close to 'back to normal' as possible for someone who survived a harrowing experience. That doesn't however mean he hasn't become wary especially in the woods or whenever the sun has begun its descent. Clearly taking heed to whatever his Grams may be teaching him, joining the Whitaker Matriarch in wearing both the hunting knife as well as the Deagle she gifted him nearby at all times. The knife strapped to his right side of his belt a common accessory and the handgun within arm's reach at all times.

**June 16th, 1984**

* The day began like many others, with his early morning run ending at the diner to see Dani. Sneaking up behind his sister in all but blood, Gray picked her up and spun her, laughing as she squeaked and complained about him being "gross and sweaty". With a cheerful greeting to Mrs. Cowan, he put in for his usual as the rumblings of the later Party at the Pines set firmer into stone. His welcome back as it were, since The Accident. and Grayson made note to prep some of his playlists, his stereo, and bring a six-pack for his close friends.
* At The Pines, Gray settled in with Mar and Dani, handing a beer to each and Reece once he arrived in delight. Dani's friend Gemma joined them rather seamlessly and everything seemed to be going fantastic until Vince arrived.
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**June 17th, 1984**

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**June 18th, 1984**

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