Gregory "Grizz" Lee

"I can't be your knight in shinin' armor without no shine."

BACKSTORY

It's a classic story: boy meets girl, boy and girl have one-night stand at corporate retreat, boy is actually the CEO of the largest megacorporation in the River City area, boy abandons girl and their unborn child, girl abandons child with a trusted friend.  Okay, maybe it's not a classic story, but it's Gregory's.  Besides the sordid behind-the-scenes, Gregory lives a relatively normal life with his "uncle" Geoff.  That is, until Geoff is killed by burglars, and Gregory slips through the cracks and ends up on the streets.

There, he comes to call himself "Grizz", mimicking his uncle's nickname of "Grizzly", as he raises himself.  He comes to learn a lot about how to survive, which mostly involves getting himself a heavy cloak and dagger from a nearby pawn shop and turning to thievery.  He spends a couple decades alone, malnourished, and cold.  That's the state his life is in when he comes to meet Alyce Brangwyn, a runaway from a corrupt medical facility.  Grizz becomes a teacher and protector for Alyce, as he secretly grows to admire her ability to see the good in people and society.

PERSONALITY

Grizz is all about image and reputation, which comes with life on the street.  As much as he hates behaving in a way that's not "like himself", he certainly knows how to, if it means more success in panhandling or thievery.  He also does his best to appear tough, dangerous, maybe even deadly, and he does have the skill with the knife to back that up.  Deep down, however, he's a total softie.  The only problem is, with all the loss and scorn he's faced in his life, there are a lot of walls he's put up around himself, so very few people even know how soft he can be.

Grizz is very used to being self-reliant, having gone most of his life without parents, friends, or even school.  He's a very private person, and he keeps his pain to himself as much as possible.  He has a very crude way of speaking, a pastiche of action movies and other street toughs.  That and his frequent profanities make it kind of tough to make it "through" to Grizz's real self.  But those that make it through find themselves a loyal friend, a good listener, and a very good person to have at their back in a fight.