Matthew Allen Graves

Intro

• "A homeless man who thieves to survive"

• Gallery

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• Basic Info

  • Name: Matthew Allen Graves
  • Gender: Male
  • Played by: InkAndBone
  • Nicknames: Matt, Grey
  • Age: 27
  • Body Type: Thin but toned
  • Height: 5' 10"
  • Hair: Long, dark brown
  • Eyes: Grey
  • Relationship Status: Single
  • Personality: Abrasive, Defensive, Sarcastic, Suspicious, Loyal, Stubborn, Clever
  • Likes: Indian food “indulgent” coffees like lattes and macchiatos, classic rock, muted colors, warm weather
  • Dislikes: Sour foods, judgmental or closed-minded people, neon colors, stereotyping

• Appearance

  Physical: Matthew is a pretty average guy in a lot of ways; he’s about 5’11”, white skinned, and toned but not built. He has hazel eyes that look tired a lot and long brown hair that he hasn’t had cut in the couple years since he left the army. He has a fine layer of stubble on his face more often than not, since he only shaves on days when he actually managed to get a spot at one of the local shelters, which happens once every three days or so.
  
  Clothing: Matthew owns three shirts, two pairs of jeans, one coat, and one pair of gloves, plus a few pairs of socks and boxer briefs.
  
  The shirts include a black one with white print of a forest and a UFO which reads “I want to leave”, a black shirt with red roses with white leaves along the collar, upper chest, and sleeves, and a dull gray shirt with the cover of the novel The Outsiders on it.
  
  His jeans are both old, faded and torn; one pair is blue jeans, while the other is gray. His gloves are simple black leather, gotten from a donation pile, while his coat is black with gray and black fur at the collar. He always has his dog tags on, too, tucked under his shirt and out of sight.

• Biography

  Matthew had a relatively normal childhood until he was twelve. He was the youngest child, his sister being seven years older than he was, and he knew pretty much all his life that he hadn’t been planned. His mother was already forty-five when she had him; she hadn't expected to still be able to get pregnant. She loved him nonetheless, and doted on him constantly until the day she died.
  
  His family moved on and off of military bases through the years. Matt’s older sister, Rene, always hated the military, and as soon as their mother was gone, she left as well, taking off. She sent Matt letters now and then over the years, always from different places, but they grew more and more rare and, by the time Matt graduated high school, he hadn’t gotten one in almost a year.
  
  Matt joined the army the second he was out of school, and was in for 5 years. He ended up spending about 2 years of that overseas, while the rest of the time, he either lived on a base, with his father, or sublet a place with his best friend, Andrew, who was in the army with him and usually was on the same deployments.
  
  Then, on Matt’s last trip over, Andrew was killed, and Matt left the army with honors intact rather than accepting the continued enrolment they offered him. His father was pissed when he found out; he had served in the army until he retired out, as had his brothers, his father, and his grandfather, and pretty much everyone else. He and Matthew had a huge fight, during which Matt came out, admitting that he and Andrew had dated. John kicked him out instantly.
  
  Matthew got the first long-distance Greyhound he could get a ticket for, found a new city, and restarted his life. For a while, it worked out well enough. It was hard to make rent on minimum wage, even with the little bit of money he got every month from the government, and when his job cut his hours, he had to rush to get a second one. He ended up getting laid off his first job because of the strain that working two jobs put on him, leaving him tired and more likely to make mistakes; the second job was only part time, and Matthew ended up getting evicted when he was four months late on his rent. Without a place to sleep or a way to keep his uniform clean and unwrinkled, he soon lost his part time job as well.
  
  That was in November, two years ago. He’s been on the streets for long enough to know how things work, and as much as he hates it, it’s become normal to him, comfortable. He knows which shelters are good and which ones are liable to leave you with lice, bedbugs, or some illness or another. He knows which shops will give away their leftovers at the end of the night, which places will kick you out if you’ve been there over an hour, which librarians will look the other way when you duck into the staff bathroom.
  
  He tries to avoid begging as best he can. Sometimes he manages to find gigs on Craigslist that he can answer, things for landscaping or cleaning or painting houses or fences. Once in awhile, he has to resort to thieving.