History

Old Year's Night, Dublin 1855 (Birth through 12-year-old)
Skye's ma couldn't have told you who it was put the babies in her, but as the new year loomed over Dublin, she gave birth to a boy, and a few minutes later, a girl. Eoin and Skye she called them, and she didn't have anything in the world to give them, but she would give them as much love as she could until she died from consumption in the spring of '68.

Dublin 1868–Whitechapel 1870 (12-years-old through 14-years-old)
Their aunt, Niamh, took them in after that. Although she couldn't offer them much more than their mother could, she managed to catch the attention of a businessman visiting from England. They married in the spring of 1869, and he moved her and the twins to live with him in the city of London. He doted on their made family until he passed of a stroke in 1870.

Whitechapel 1870–1871 (14-years-old through 15-years-old)
His death was overwhelming for the twins, who had never known a paternal figure before that. Each grieving in their own way from the short-lived but long-impacting family, Skye and Eoin ran away, turning to the streets of the city for comfort and solace.

Whitechapel 1872 (16-years-old)
Skye was sixteen when she became a woman as the world knew it. She didn't know his name, but she can still remember his breath, and the feeling of comfort in sleeping in a coffin box that night, straight on her back for the first time in weeks, hand tightly curled around the spare penny she had leftover.

Whitechapel 1873 (17-years-old)
She had always been a quick learner; she'd had to be, hadn't she? Soon enough, however, the skills she was picking up — the survivalism, the bargaining, and the art of using her body to make ends meet — became more than just a means of survival. She quickly gained a reputation at The Gilded Cage — a brothel notorious for its cruelty, where women were treated as commodities and forced to sell their flesh at the whims of those with money. Skye was no stranger to manipulation or the harshness of the business. But her sharp wit, her ambition, and her ability to endure pain in all forms made her a favorite among the patrons. Despite the degradation and abuse she endured, her resilience and desire for something greater began to solidify her as a woman to be reckoned with.

This reputation among the Golden Girls led her to more than one complicated and dangerous encounter, and one night, one of her clients wanted to indulge a little too much, wanted to make a point, wanted to own something; wanted to own her in a way he couldn't afford. Lines were blurred, and blood was drawn; some of it her own, some of it not. At the end of that night, it was one of the housemen, Jeremiah, who sat with her, not the other girls, not Madame Vera. Stoic, understanding, the bouncer stitched up her brow without a word of judgment or spite for the money lost the house that night. Skye never forgot his kindness that night. And she never forgot what it was like to be at the mercy of the world.

This kept her focused on one goal: to own something, too; to build something of her own. She would not be owned; she would do the owning. She would own a name for herself.

She would own her fate.

Whitechapel 1874–1877 (18-years-old through 21-years-old)
Skye spent her late teens and early twenties at The Gilded Cage, slowly working her way up in the ranks. Though she was never treated with the respect she deserved, she was too clever to let the system break her. Her sharp tongue, her ability to manipulate, and her eye for business helped her stand out. She became involved in the inner workings of the brothel, working closely with Madame Vera and learning about how the business ran. This period of her life was marked by immense pain and occasional triumph. The Gilded Cage was a world of constant exploitation, but it was also where Skye discovered her power and how to wield it. She learned how to navigate the grueling and violent dynamics between brothel workers and their clients, and she saw how women like her could be elevated — or utterly destroyed — by the system.

Whitechapel 1878–1882 (23–27 years old)
By the time Skye was 23, she had worked tirelessly for years and had saved enough to attempt her first venture. She partnered with another woman to open a brothel of her own, but the attempt ended poorly. The project was sabotaged by rival brothel owners who didn’t want another competitor in the area, and Skye found herself back at square one. This failure had only made her more determined, but when she and her partner had a falling out over Eoin, everything else fell apart, too, and Skye was forced to start over, returning to the only thing she knew best, and relying on the reputation she had built over the years to reclaim some stability.

Whitechapel 1883–1887 (28–31 years old)
After the disastrous failure of her first brothel venture, Skye didn't let the setback break her. She took what she learned, bided her time. Reconnecting with Jeremiah, she offered him a job and he left the Cage without hesitation. Together, they began rebuilding her reputation, and by 1884, she opened The Moth & Lantern, a brothel that quickly gained a reputation for discretion and quality. Her sharp business acumen, meticulous attention to detail, and ability to form relationships helped her regain her standing in Whitechapel's tightly-knit world of brothels and vice.

Her relationship with Eoin, however, remained a constant source of tension. His addiction was an ongoing strain, and while Skye still felt a sense of responsibility for him, she was growing increasingly unwilling to let his destructive behavior derail her progress. She gave him money when needed, but over and over again, she tried to distance herself from him. In 1887, after a series of events that threatened the stability of the Lantern and her own tightly-wound sanity, Skye made the hard decision to ban Eoin from the brothel (again), marking the end of any public involvement with him (for the umpteenth time). Of course, that doesn't stop her brother from bribing Jeremiah on occasion ... A fact of which she's currently unaware, and if she found out, who knows how many shades of red she could see.

Luckily for Eoin, Skye's been a bit distracted with a beau: Mr. Evelyn Shelley — he's still convinced they’re in a genuine relationship, even if he used to pay her, and even if he ... still ... technically .. pays her. To him, they're in love! But to Skye, he's an adorable and well-off means to an end: a key for unlocking doors, both in business and society, in a way that Jeremiah and the other men in her life can only hope to be.