Valerie Lecter

Father Valerie Lecter was raised in a nunnery in New Orleans, and now runs a small parish on the outskirts of Vegas, where he tries to encourage gamblers and thieves to turn over a new leaf. He’s been a good friend of Friday’s ever since she paid for a full renovation on his church.

 **POV Character?** | Yes

## Description

Val is very tall. His skin tone is light brown-verging-on-olive, his hair medium-to-dark brown. He wears sparing facial hair on his chin, and he has two moles, one under his right eye, the other on the left side of his face, just under his mouth. His most striking feature are his violet eyes, which could be natural, but are most likely a mutation. They are not his only mutation: Val keeps two small vestigial arms on either side of his stomach bound down with bandages under his shirt. Val usually wears a priest's black shirt and slacks with a clerical collar, but even out of uniform, dresses conservatively.

## History

Val was an orphan abandoned at the doorstep of the Convent of the Holy Mother in New Orleans as a baby, and taken in by the Mother Superior. He grew up as the only man in the nunnery, with a gaggle of nuns who all treated him like he was their brother - by blood, not just by title. By the time he was a teen, Val was very much the Fraulein Maria of the convent, and was getting himself into too much trouble to stay there for much longer. The Mother Superior sent him on a mission trip to Vegas, to set up a church there. Val ended up hitching a ride with a travelling salesman, Hezekiah, delaying his arrival in Vegas by several months. Val fell in love with Hez and asked him to stay when they finally arrived in Vegas; Hez dumped him.

The church there was in bad shape, more or less abandoned by the retiring priest who was meant to mentor Val, but who had cleared out before Val arrived. The costly repairs the church needed ended up being funded by Val's new neighbor, Friday Wilmot.

## Relationships

### Friday Wilmot

Friday lives and works in the Ace of Spades, a gambling house and burlesque venue catty-corner to Val's church. Val and Friday had a rough start as neighbors, but through a series of favors, earned each other's friendship. Friday comes to church every Sunday and hassles Val in the confession booth. Both know they can count on the other to be a good neighbor in an emergency.

### Hezekiah

A travelling salesman from Val's past. When Val was just leaving the convent at 18, Hez picked Val up after his motorbike broke down. They were about the same age, and Val traveled with him for some time, avoiding his clerical responsibility. Val fell in puppy love with him, and being dumped when the two of them arrived in Vegas is still a sore spot.

### Mother Superior

Mother Superior is more than the Holy Mother of the convent to Val; she raised him from birth, and while she always held him at the same distance she holds all the novitiates, Val still considers her his mother. When Val returns to the Convent of the Holy Mother, Mother Superior confides that she regrets encouraging him to the priesthood, and believes he should have taken another path.

### Valentine

Val's childhood friend from Convent of the Holy Mother, Valentine was always getting into trouble with Val, but Val fears they ended up the better priest.