Profile
Cherry was born sometime in 2258, her exact birthday is unknown. On top of this, the well being of Cherry’s biological parents is unknown. But some time, in a time of her life that she does not remember, she became a stray wasteland child. She got by selling scrap or items she pickpocketed off of New Reno drunkards.
Eventually at age 6 she was found by Dolly Hawkins, an eccentric old woman who lived in a reclusive old farmstead in the California wastes. Miss Dolly had a habit of picking up stray children and raising them on her farm, a way of coping with the loss of her son. Miss Dolly would take in any creature that needed a home. One of these creatures was a mysterious Iguana that she claimed was from before the bombs dropped. Cherry quickly became very attached to her adoptive grandma, and followed her around like an imprinted duckling. She grew to see the other children as her siblings, and relied on her family for safety and support. And soon enough Nelson, the iguana, became a lifelong companion to Cherry. Cherry had turned into a ghoul at a very young age, but in Miss Dolly’s home she hardly even remembered her physical differences. Dolly treated all the children right, but she took a shine to Cherry. She would pamper the young girl, showing her her old magazines and cultivating the girl's love of self expression.
When Cherry was 16 Miss Dolly died from illness. Cherry was devastated at losing the only parent she had ever known, and grieved her heavily. Eventually she tried to pull herself up and do something with herself, wanting to be brave like her grandma had always been. 2274 She had heard of the recent reopening of The Vegas strip,and by 2275 she had used the caps left to her to buy protection for her journey east.
2276 Cherry was 18 and had quickly realised how important getting a job in Vegas would be. She had run out of caps fast, and was stranded in this brand new city. She tried getting jobs anywhere she could, and in her desperation she took a job at the Gomorrah. She was promised quick caps and a safe place to sleep at night, so she felt as if she couldn't refuse. She hoped to save enough money to be able to start up her own tattoo studio in freeside. Her hopes and dreams were quickly eaten up by the degradation the Gomorrah afforded her. She learned fast that trusting anyone was a bad idea, that getting too close to anyone was equally a bad idea. But she still held some naivety to the motivations of the people around her.
For awhile she had thought she had made a friend in Clanden who had seemed to care about her. She finally felt like she had made a connection in Vegas. But after a horrible sexual encounter with him she would avoid him at all costs. Hoping a higher up would do something about Clanden's sadistic behavior, she approached Cachino hoping he would help her. This did not go well as Cachino saw her as a threat because she had the courage to speak up. He attempted to push chems on her over time, proposing it as a way to treat her anxiety. But because she was resistant to chems he had to rely on controlling her in a different way. It began as just verbal abuse, but eventually he would physically assault her and purposefully make her feel like she was always being watched. Because of this Cherry lived in fear constantly, and became very closed off and distant from anyone who tried talking to her. She would put on a facade for her customers and employers, saying whatever was needed to survive. Her life at Gomorrah was a constant fight for survival. To survive her bosses, her customers and her own mind. In 2281 when the courier wakes up in Goodsprings, Cherry can still be found in The Gomorrah.
- Miss Dolly gave her the name Gabriel Hawkins when she first took her in, and later changed it to Gabriella Hawkins once Cherry started presenting as a female. Cherry is the stage name that she decided to go by after Miss Dolly died.
- Cherry is very hygienic when it comes to her physical cleanliness, but her living space is usually chaotic.
- Cherry has medically transitioned.
- Her natural hair is very curly.
- Cherry typically wears a prosthetic nose and a wig. Her favorite wig is her signature red wig, but she will change the wig depending on whatever look she is going for. She also wears heavy stage makeup.
- When Cherry is dressing for herself she enjoys trying out different things, but she leans towards a more punk style. She enjoys making her own clothing by sewing old clothing together. Overall Cherry’s style is kinda random. She fluctuates between punk, cowgirl, rockabilly, Pin Up or rockstar. She usually dresses more feminine but is not opposed to dressing in a more androgynous style. She enjoys having fun with her makeup.
- Under her wig she has the typical hair loss that most ghouls possess. Her natural hair color is black. She enjoys styling her patches of hair in little spirals that are kind of similar to finger waves. I imagine it as her applying gel and then combing the hair into the intricate curls flat against her scalp so wigs fit over them easier.
- She has many tattoos! A star on each shoulder, a bear trap on her left bicep, an abstract centipede on her left forearm, a cherry on her right collarbone , a stitched pattern on her right wrist and a floral design on her right thigh. She did all her tattoos. For piercings she has a bridge, lip and multiple random ear piercings.
- Animal print
- Anything red
- reptiles
- Spicy food
- Bugs
- Her natural hair
- Chems
- violence
Adoptive grandma
Cherry loved her adoptive grandma very much, and she was loved just as much in return. Through Miss Dolly, Cherry learned how to be glamorous despite the harshness of the wastes. Dolly had been a sex worker in New Reno until she met her future partner and they moved onto an old farmstead. They had a son together, and pretty soon Dolly’s partner ran out on her. She was very attentive to her son, and felt as if he was the only person she had left. Once he was old enough he volunteered for the NCR military and only served a couple years before he died in action. In her anguish Dolly struggled to cope, but during her visits to nearby towns she began to notice the many children who struggled without a family to rely on. She began taking in kids and teens, using her large ranch house as a haven for the lost children of the wasteland. The love she felt for these kids filled in the holes that her losses had left, and she was happy with the adoptive family she had created. She never spoke about her past employment, which meant Cherry never knew how dangerous sex work could be.
Pet iguana
Miss Dolly had found Nelson chasing her chickens soon after they started up the farm. Instead of killing him she took him in, intrigued by the strange creature. When she looked through books she found that he was an iguana, and concluded that he must have been a holdout from before the bombs. She took care of him alongside her own son, and treated him as if he were her second baby. Nelson became very lazy because of her meticulous care for him, and could most often be found perched along her shoulders or napping in a sling against her chest. When Miss Dolly died Cherry took over his care due to his preference for her over anyone else. Cherry always felt that he had a sadness about him from the loss of Dolly. She felt very strongly towards the lizard and similar to Dolly she would often let him perch on her shoulders. In her room at the Gomorrah, Nelson has his own little area near her vanity where he sleeps or watches her. He is not violent often, but will nip at people he dislikes, which is anyone but Dolly or Cherry. Despite being a very old lizard he seems to have never aged,and is in perfect health, adding to the mystery around his origins.
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