Abusive Parents: Her parents made it pretty clear that she was an accident, and her mom drilled it in that she was never allowed to be angry or own her feelings.
Big Brother Attraction: Nothing untoward, but when she was a child and her brother was the only one who looked after her, it took her a while to figure out whether the love she felt for him was romantic or just grateful little sister.
Big Brother Worship: Her brother was always the mediator between her and her parents, and she still talks to him a lot.
Big Sister Instinct: For all her annoyances with Mary taking too much time off work, she and Lucy worry about her and will take care of her when Liz isn't around.
Born in the Wrong Century: She's one of those young people who complains about her own generation being too into smartphones, and secretly wishes she could be in the 1900s to experience the "good" new developments.
Brainy Brunette: Goes to university (she's getting a master's degree and PHD) and loves to read, though this comes with some snobbishness and elitism.
Character Tic: Chewing her lip until it bleeds when she's worried. Lucy teasing her about sharing a trait with Bella Swan doesn't stop her.
The Charmer: She gets guys pretty easily with a few touches and a smile, but learned in high school that this doesn't mean they love her, they just want a bang.
Cool Old Lady: She lives to 74, and while she ends up in a wheelchair and a dementia home, she's proud of keeping most of her mind, and not having her food pureed.
Conditioned to Accept Horror: She doesn't like it, but she sadly accepts being bruised and hurt by guys as "just work". Mary's the one, in a movement of bravery, who tells Joe about a guy who roughs them up so much that they take bets on who'll be next.
Competition Freak: If it were up to her, she'd spend most of her time at the club playing poker instead of working.
Establishing Character Moment: She's introduced by being ultra sultry and submissive to the Nerd, but that all being an act and being far more interested in winning a poker game.
Goofy Print Underwear: She never wears sexy underwear when she's off duty, going instead for hearts, stars and teddy bears.
Hollywood Atheist: She has complicated feelings on both religion and the Sami shamanism that her father's side of the family still practices. She's sour on the former, having had way too many televangelists on TV tell her she's hellbound, and she mostly just honors the latter by praying to the few goddesses she likes. Any further in and she just feels anxious.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: She gives Chester her poker winnings sometimes, which is more than can be said for the non-sex worker people walking by outside and ignoring him.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Her main fear is that nobody except a few people love her, and there must be something badly wrong with her for that to be the case.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Persona to get money aside, she really would rather be the everygirl, and that's why she moves to quiet little Wappinger Falls when the club falls apart and stays there for the rest of her life.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: She has a big insecurity about not being smart as she thinks she is, and what if her keeping-to-herselfness is just being a bitch?
Insistent Terminology: She doesn't have depression, she has melancholy. She doesn't have OCD, she has quirks.
Ironic Name: She's horribly allergic to most flowers, and yet her full name has a very flowery motif.
Obsessively Organized: She would cry as a child if anything wasn't aligned properly.
One-Note Cook: She can only make jalapeno poppers. They're really good though.
Meaningful Name: Stacey means fruitful and Anne means grace, while Blomgren means "flowering branch".
Not a Morning Person: She gets so pissed off at having a rare lie-in ruined that only sitting on top of a washing machine cheers her up.
Old Maid: She never married or had children. But she was a Maiden Aunt to her nieces and nephews and the kids she tutored love her.
The Quiet One: It's not so much shyness, but she's only really comfortable to be loud and giggly when Lucy's around.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Sometimes they turn out to not be so good though. After the club, she's happier with herself and knows she doesn't need a guy.
Stepford Snarker: When Joe is angry about men hurting her and making her cry, she keeps a smile and tells him how crappy male writers are.
Undying Loyalty: After stealing her high school best friend's boyfriend and thus being hated by everyone, she made a pledge to be nothing but loyal to her friends from then on.
The Unfavorite: Alec was always the one they were nicer to, while nothing she did was good enough.
Wine Is Classy: In between the lady drunks and the girls who can't deal with alcohol lies Stacey who just likes a few glasses of wine when she's feeling sad.
Wise Beyond Their Years: When she was younger, she learned pretty quickly that she should get out on her own.
Weight Woe: She finds it easy to put weight on, and the thought of that being too much for regular customers gets her nearly crying.
Western Zodiac: Scorpio. She's loyal, gets upset about rejection, and is very charming.
Because Destiny Says So: She's a believer in God sending people who'll make your life better when things are going badly, like her son for her or Chick for Critic. This is partly motivation for herself as well, for when she's feeling overwhelmed.
Being Good Sucks: She's always telling herself to be grateful, take responsibility and be nice to everyone. It's clearly hard. When she's old and dying, her son feels like he can't repay her for all her sacrifice.
Big Beautiful Woman: She's 40 bust and hips, with a 30 waist, so she's bigger than the other girls, but she gets plenty of people attracted to her, especially when she wears a corset.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Chester likes her for lots of reasons, one of which being her corset not hiding her bust well. She on the other hand worries about them a lot, fearing she's too big for customers.
Condescending Compassion: She pities anyone who she deems wallows in sadness, and given what a lot of the club is like (as well as having Don't You Dare Pity Me! as a common treat), this is something she tries to work on.
Competition Freak: She and Stacey spend a lot of time competing with other in poker.
Country Mouse: Had a nice pampered childhood in Florida country-side, with horse-riding and ballet lessons, and went to an all-girls school.
Death Seeker: Not actively, but she has a recurring dream of walking into the sea and leaving everything behind.
Doting Parent: When she gets bad Alzheimer's, Andrew is actually annoyed at how much she doted on him, because he feels like he can't do anything to repay her.
Egocentrically Religious: While she avoids it most of the time, it's really not a good idea to try and talk to her about sexism in Christianity. As far she's concerned, God knows what she does and still loves her, and her church is nice to her even though they must actually know as well, so there's no misogyny in her religion.
Fallen Princess: She considers herself like this, having spent her childhood thinking she'll end up with ponies, a happy marriage and a big house, but ended up a Single Mom Stripper who lies to her church friends.
Forgets to Eat: “Forgets” in airquotes, as she likes food a lot but will go without so she can take care of her son. When he's older and being a brat, Lucy (who is visiting at the time) tells him all about it to shut him up.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She fails every now and then, but is a blonde who always is at least well-intentioned.
Hidden Depths: She's a big fan of surrealist art, and yet likes bands such as Metro Station and Cobra Starship (all other mainstream stuff sounds like white noise to her).
Holier Than Thou: She's a genuinely good person, but can be haughty about people or places she deems less put together than she'd like. She also gets a little put out when someone complains to the heavens.
Hollywood Old: Being only 29 but being the one customers go to for "hot mommy kink", pisses her off.
Horrible Judge of Character: She wants to believe there's good in everyone. Her two failed marriages prove her wrong on that one, not to mention believing Michaud was actually a softie.
I Just Want to Be Free: She desperately wants more out of life, for both her and her son.
I Just Want to Be Loved: She's as nice as she is, and always does what everyone wants, because she wants people to like her.
Important Haircut: After Critic dies and the club begins to break apart, she cuts her chest length hair to a bob and works even harder to get up enough money to leave.
Innocent Flower Girl: Practical but prefers to be naïve, she's good at gardening and likes brightening up her apartment with lots of roses on the windowsill.
Lethal Chef: There's a reason why she orders so many ready meals. It's best for everyone if she just sticks to the microwave.
Meaningful Name: Elizabeth means "God in abundance" and she mostly survives through religion.
My Beloved Smother: Her parents loved her and she's grateful, but even she thinks having to drive an hour from Palm Beach Gardens to Miami just because they wanted her to go a prestigious all girl's catholic school (Carrollton School Of The Sacred Heart, from kindergarten to high school) was overboard.
Naughty by Night: Being a middle class church mom by day, hooker by night, and not knowing which life she fits into best, causes her much angst.
Not So Above It All: She bursts into giggles when she sees Michaud losing his contact lenses and hears his lisp, and interprets club-people thinking her son is cute as a threat or insult. She's also a bit of cocktail mommy (think the wine mom memes on facebook), having friendly shouting matches with Critic about her love for lemon drop and bazooka bubblegum drinks.
Of Corsets Sexy: As Chester puts it, "her boobies were very pretty and spilled out because of that tight thing women wore to make their waists tiny".
Only Sane Woman: While her advice tends to be "everything happens for a reason/God wills it"-orientated, she gives the best logical advice she can and has called Critic out for wanting his life to be as dramatic as possible.
Penny Among Diamonds: She wouldn't dream of telling her middle class church mom what she does, and definitely not the fact that she's had to bring her son into the club when she can't afford/find a sitter. Luckily her upper class childhood makes her good at pretending.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: It's her way of getting free drinks for Chester.
Rightly Self-Righteous: Plus putting on the front that she knows best hides the insecurity that she's failed at life.
Sexy Secretary: Getting away from the club, she gets a job as admin at Jessica Lange Dance Inc in Long Island, New York. Of course she does a lot more than look pretty, overseeing all the schedules, but it's a job where her experience in both erotic dancing and ballet comes in handy.
Single Mom Stripper: Took the job to look after her child after her husband left her.
Southern Belle: Raised Catholic in Florida, and is smartly proud of her background (plus uses Good Girl Gone Bad to her paid advantage), but also defensive and a self righteous Wide-Eyed Idealist in her worst moments.
Team Mom: She wants to look after everyone, but in a nice peaceful way. Mary even calls her "mommy" at one point.
Terrified of Germs: She says she's not as bad as Penny, but the club's dirtiness doesn't give her much joy.
Token Religious Teammate: Not including TGWTG-characters at the club, she's the only one out of the girls who is actively religious.
Uncanny Valley Make Up: When she's using Puppy-Dog Eyes to get him drinks, Chester reckons she looks like a creepy doll with all that make-up on.
Weight Woe: She's heavier than the other girls, and worries if the men will like her curves or think she's too fat.
Western Zodiac: Taurus. Reliable and knows how to live on a tight budget.
Yaoi Fangirl: Watched Nerd/Critic have sex as a way of cheering Mary up. It worked.
Mary Jane Kelly
Afraid of Doctors: While none of them were inappropriate, being a young tiny thing and having big male doctors put their hands on her still made her feel violated and scared of most of them.
Afraid of Needles: Which really sucks considering how many times she's had to get blood drawn.
All Periods Are PMS: She gets particularly bad ones, and a fair few customers have complained because they hate the submissive Shrinking Violet getting ratty at them when they fuck her.
All Women Are Prudes: She doesn't hate sex, but considers it less actively enjoyable and more something that women just have to do for men, whether it's either sex work or rewarding your boyfriend when he's nice.
The Baby of the Bunch: She's a good few years younger than most of the girls, who spread around early twenties, and gets on best with Liz, who also feels left out because she's oldest.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: She started at the club as a teenager, and often acted bratty to the older girls when she wanted to shut them out.
Broken Bird: Joe helps her defrost, but she keeps fearing that she's losing herself and had no identity to begin with.
Can't Hold Her Liquor: All she can take is a few vodka with limes and then she's done. Lucy, being the Lady Drunk, will tease her and give her nightmares about burning drinks.
Corner of Woe: She has her own usual corner for when she needs to hide and come down from a panic attack, and a week after she started, when Michaud rapes her (taking advantage of her inability to say no), she huddles in the backroom and cries hard.
Daddy's Girl: When Joe gets a half chelsea grin, she breaks down on Michaud, and when he gently rubs her back she remembers her dad doing the same.
Damsel in Distress: Not in the "actual peril" type, but her family fretted enough over her ill health to make her think she's always in need of protecting. Joe makes her happy, but doesn't help in this regard either.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Customers being kind to her regarding her young age make her want to cry, and she prefers the actively misogynist ones because at least they're honest.
Doting Parent: Gwen (her daughter) remembers her going overboard with trying to instill more self-esteem in her than she had.
Endearingly Dorky: Selling herself doesn't come easily to her, and she's filled with awkwardness when she's trying to make a grab. The customers find it endearing, so, as she notes, she can manipulate them into spending more.
Extreme Doormat: She's too scared to say no to Michaud when he gets lecherous, and cries about it afterwards in the back-room.
Fangirl: She takes any criticism of Frozen, Taylor Swift, Kesha or Lana Del Ray very personally.
Green-Eyed Monster: When she sees Stacey potentially flirting with Joe (even after she slept with him once), she gets jealous because she thinks Stacey always hooks the good guys and she wants one for a change.
Guilty Pleasures: Likes bad porn and Kesha. "Tik Tok" is actually what she sings to herself to stave off a headache, and her single room occupancy place is filled with the former.
Ice Queen: Her image (the regular men have been known to get annoyed when she giggles of her own volition) and what she portrays to everyone before she comes out of her shell. She's really a sickly Broken Bird. Also, fittingly enough, she's a fan of Elsa, but more pre-"Let It Go" than after.
Hopeless with Tech: While she's very much the stereotypical millenial, she's completely lost when the slightest thing goes wrong.
Long Hair Is Feminine: Even her daughter notes that she never changed her hair length and always looked young with it.
Meaningful Name: She's named after a Jack The Ripper victim, and she's the youngest and most fragile out of all the original characters.
Missing Mom: When Mary was about ten, her mother started to feel trapped by all the doctor appointments and the school asking if she was being treated right at home, and left the family. She still phones/phoned every few months, and Mary feels both pity for her and wishing she would just leave properly.
Naïve Newcomer: Subverted, in that while she feels like a little girl and often acts like it, Michaud tells her that's actually a good thing because no other woman in the club would ask for help like she does.
Race Fetish: She's never dated a white man, and there's a bit of fetishizing/idealizing men of color, but mostly she's just afraid of white men.
Silk Hiding Steel: She knows full well she's Prone to Tears, but when Joe is injured, she takes care of him despite how scared she is.
Shrinking Violet: She formed the Ice Queen persona because she'd always been crippingly shy and Michaud took advantage.
Small Reference Pools: Much to Stacey's chagrin, she only likes what's relatively current. She has no interest in reading The Snow Queen for example.
Survival Mantra: When it's not Kesha or Taylor Swift or Lana Del Ray, she gets herself through the chronic illness by telling herself she's a good girl and good girls work.
Throw the Dog a Bone: She falls for Joe almost immediately but assumes tearfully he's just a one-off who wanted to screw an Ice Queen, but he comes back and does actually care about her.
Weight Woe: She has never been able to put weight on. She's not actually that bothered by it, she's more irritated by the people who assume she has an eating disorder.
Western Zodiac: She's a Virgo, being born on September 1st.
Yaoi Fangirl: Watching men having sex is a good way to make her feel better.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: She gets this from her daughter post-death, who knows her mother was "so much stronger than she gave herself credit for".
Younger Than They Look: When she's eighteen (having joined the club at 17), she says with her thin/small frame she can pass for sixteen.
Lucille (Lucy) Desiree (later Cerise) Abrams
Abusive Parent: Her father was abusive to her mother (who took her children away from Lily Dale to Mumford as soon she could afford it), and she refuses to answer his phone calls.
Affectionate Nickname: The guys who like her (and aren't made angry and insecure) call her "cherry hair girl".
Badass Driver: Part of the reason why she got the delivery job at the Chinese restaurant. She was the fastest on her motorbike and yet still cheery and non-breathless to customers.
Berserk Button: People trying to tell her she has less power than them very literally makes her want to burn things. Critic also notes that if the club ever played any known-abuser singers, she would demand it changed and be so angry she would get her way.
As much as she teases Mary for being fragile, seeing the girl cry makes her even angrier.
She's protective of her actual younger siblings, Leo and Macayla.
Stacey's only a couple of years younger than her, but she treats her like a younger sister even when they get older/move to different parts of the world.
Big Eater: She can eat all the Burger King, KFC and McDonalds she wants, and won't gain a pound.
Boisterous Bruiser: It doesn't take much for her to get into a fight, and she wears bruises with pride.
Break the Haughty: Subverted. She gets a lot of men who want to put her in her place with forced sex scenarios, but it only makes her angrier.
Boyish Short Hair: Is the only girl with short hair in the club. It's a niche as well pointing to her personality.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's lazy and angry and likes to piss people off, but she gets any job she wants, and appeared on several shows later on in life to talk about sex work.
Brooklyn Rage: Born in New York, and will ignore anyone who tries to tell her she doesn't have a right to be angry.
Brutal Honesty: She'll manipulate when she has to, but would prefer not to sugarcoat anything and, even if you're her friend, she'll rant at you if you've pissed her off.
Cool Old Lady: She makes it to seventy, and she's still like she was in her twenties, just more mature.
Cunning Linguist: The reason why she got a job in a Chinese restaurant, and was so accepted in her Korean martial arts classes. She spent enough time learning both languages and respecting the cultures so that she could be trusted. She also speaks French because it's a big part of her mom's heritage, and both Saami and Greek to talk to Stacey's older relatives who actually care about someone in their family.
Does Not Like Men: If you're a man and you've gained her trust then congrats, she'll love you for life, but very few men get that far.
Easily Condemned: Doing the condemning. She's not one for second chances, and even if she forgives what you'll done, it'll never be the same.
Embarrassing First Name: She was named after Lucille Ball, and would very much prefer it if you called her Lucy.
Everyone Looks Sexier if French: She's half French, and if customers behave, she'll dial down her New Yawk accent for a sultry French one.
Face Death with Dignity: Double subverted, in that she attempts to do this (refusing treatment so she can die at home) but it really hurts. On the other hand, she still dies with no regrets.
Fiery Redhead: Her hair is bright red spikes, in contrast with Mary's hair, which is also red but paler and long.
Functional Addict: She has a lowkey addiction to pain pills, Prozac and LSD.
Has a Type: Gentle mellow guys (her first major relationship was with a surf bum), and high powered, successful women.
Hot-Blooded: She has a temper on her, loves fighting, and she likes angry slam poetry. It's only the fact that you can eventually calm her down that prevents it from Hair-Trigger Temper.
Heavy Sleeper: Stacey notes with irritation that Lucy can sleep through drilling. (Not that kind of drilling, the roadworks kind.)
Hypocritical Heartwarming: She wants to ruin Donna's hairdo and beat some sense to her sometimes, but no customers are allowed to hurt her.
The Lad-ette: Has short and spiky hair, goes out drinking, likes getting in fights, and is easily angry.
Laughing Mad: When she hears she has liver failure, she bursts out cackling. Her husband and her doctor are confused by this.
Lady Drunk: Y tells her he's pretty sure she's going to die of liver failure the amount she drinks. He's right.
Like Brother and Sister: She and Critic share a teasing sibling-like relationship, and it's partly because of his accidental overdose that pushes her to be such an activist for sex workers when she's older.
Mamma's Girl: Fiercely protective of her mother, and if the woman says anything that might be a problem, she'll go back to New York to sort it out. It's lucky Ellis likes her.
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Her favorite relationship. Y was cute, nerdy and gave her massages, while her final husband Eduard is sweet and sensitive and lets her call the shots.
Never Be Hurt Again: She learned this early on, taking Korean martial arts classes and being the Brown 3rd gup rank.
Pyromaniac: She's not an arsonist, but she gets urges and likes watching fire a bit too much. Stacey will usually give her a lighter and some paper and hope she doesn't set off the fire alarm in their apartment.
Really Gets Around: She only has a few long term relationships, and settles down to marry at 52.
Suicidal Overconfidence: Linkara's scared that her temper will set off the wrong man and she won't make it out alive/get in too much trouble.
Tattoo as Character Type: On her back she has a full sized lioness and cubs to symbolize her fierceness and loyalty to women, on her thigh she has high heels and lipstick to remind her of the club, and on her stomach she has bitten cherries because it just looks cool.
Trademark Favorite Food: Cherries are her only venture away from junk food. She even tattoos them on her body and changes her middle name to Cerise, a word that means cherries.
Ultimate Job Security: It's not like she can get away with never working, but she's Ellis's favorite and so gets away with being a brat.
Western Zodiac: Aries, given her firey personality, energy and impatience.
Womanchild: The most prone to get bored and skive off, but most find her brattiness lovable.
Zipperiffic: A lot of her clothes have zips (including her favorite corset◊). Reasons threefold: playing with them annoys people, it gives her something to do with her hands, and easy pockets!
The Other Girl
Adorable Abomination: The Evil Counterpart to Penny's little girl wish of wanting to live under the sea. The Other Girl, on the other hand, wants to have tentacles and unhinged jaws and Eye Scream.
Angsty Surviving Twin: When Penny dies. Partly because she becomes less real and everything feels like she's on the verge of death, mostly because she just misses her Living Emotional Crutch.
Berserk Button: Penny being 'ungrateful' is enough for her to lose her cool (if only for a moment) and suffer a Glamor Failure.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Her way of manipulating is to be harmless and giggly to lure the victim in, and then claw them.
Book Dumb: Cunning and sneaky and controlling, but doesn't get the high art things that Penny is so into and doesn't care.
Control Freak: Luckily for her things have a tendency to go her way. When she feels it's not though, that's when her cool persona slips.
Child Hater: Played with in that she'd make Liz's son disappear not because she can't stand him personally, but it'd be a fun means to an end in driving his mommy to suicide.
Does Not Like Men: She thinks they're ugly (even Critic she only thinks is pretty because he's a good torture toy), weak and really should know their place, i.e catering to her.
Domestic Abuse: The emotionally tormenting kind to Penny. Sexual abuse pops its way in there too.
Dominatrix: You couldn't get her to submit even if your life depended on it.
Dream Walker: She's real as anything, but for that extra fun, likes to make her victims feel like they're just dreaming.
Driven to Suicide: Subverted in Overwhelming To My Soul, as she's on the edge of a bridge after Critic's suicide, but it's just to manipulate Penny into talking her down and, in her mind, consent to having her life continue to be ruined.
Drunk with Power: Her favorite fantasy is snuffing everyone in the club in slow torturous ways, with Penny in a cage and nobody to stop her.
Enemy Without: She's Penny's response to trauma taken flesh and doesn't want to give anything up.
Eviler than Thou: She's working with Sage, but she's much worse than him, as he realizes when she makes Critic choose who to torture to death next.
Evil Feels Good: It's only when she loses Penny and she's in what is essentially purgatory that she stops feeling this way.
Evil Is Petty: You could walk into Penny on the street and not apologize, and The Other Girl will still pay you a visit that night (though she won't obsess over you at least).
Fangs Are Evil: Critic sees them when he's been drugged by her. Along with Red Eyes, Take Warning, a hint that she's a lot more than a hot human woman.
Female Misogynist: Any woman in the world (aside from Penny) could get abused and hurt and she'd just laugh at them.
The Gadfly: She goes for whatever will piss anyone else off. If it'll make a man angry to say all men should be castrated then good, if it'll make a woman angry to say all women should be treated as furniture then yay. So on and so forth.
Glamor Failure: When Penny is standing up to her, she gets angry and shows red eyes for a moment.
Icy Blue Eyes: When Critic is drugged to hell under her, he notices her "ice for eyes". It's one of the differences between her and Penny, who has kicked puppy blue eyes.
Living Emotional Crutch: For Penny. Mostly because The Other Girl is the one doing the isolating, and making Penny feel like she's the only one she can trust.
Makeup Is Evil: Everyone wears make-up, but one of the only way (aside from a differently colored streak in the hair) to tell her apart from Penny is that her make-up is darker.
Manipulative Bitch: The queen. She imagines making Liz's kid disappear and playing the False Friend until the woman dies from suicide or heartbreak.
Nightmare Fetishist: She gets off on torturing people, to the point that she faps to all the different ways she can kill the club people, and has little interest in anything else.
No Name Given: Finds it pointless to give herself an actual name, especially as everyone believes she's Penny anyway.
Psychopathic Womanchild: When she's having fun and everything is going her way. While she takes great joy in what she does, she's too busy plotting most of the time.
Properly Paranoid: Given that she's the cause of most of the pain, she's right to realize that even she's never safe.
Sadist: She has creative fantasies of torturing people she hates (i.e Penny feels they've hurt her in some way) and can and will carry them out.
Sexier Alter Ego: Penny is attractive, but The Other Girl has the confidence to look like this.
Single-Target Sexuality: She wants to destroy everyone, but her two main victims are Penny (for gaslighting) and Critic (for all-around tormenting). She's possessive of Penny and thinks nobody else can have her, and calls torturing Critic her purpose in life.
Succubi and Incubi: Penny calls her a succubus when she's in a bad mood, and she might as well be.
Undying Loyalty: A lot of why she hurts people is for fun, but she genuinely only starts torturing them because they've hurt (even just slighted) Penny in some way.
Yaoi Fangirl: Subverted. She breathes quicker at Sage forcing Critic, but it's less 'two men are hot' and more Power is Sexy.
All Periods Are PMS: She outright refuses to get out of bed or her bathroom (or her fridge) when it comes to periods, and Michaud and Ellis know it's no use threatening her.
Brainy Brunette: Is smart, just chooses to focus on different things than Stacey does.
Brutal Honesty: In the words of Cordelia (who is the only woman she'd go gay for), “tact is just not saying true stuff, I'll pass.”
Cigarette of Anxiety: She doesn't have a problem, mostly because it tastes awful, but every so often (mostly when she hasn't got laid) she needs to go outside and take a deep drag of a cigarette.
Culturally Religious: Having Italian and Irish blood and being raised in Tennessee this was a given. She's very meh on that now, though she still believes in guardian angels, owns this necklace◊ and likes Uriel the best. (Followed by Lucifer.)
Dominatrix: Definitely not in the same sense as The Other Girl, but she's had her fair share of being paid to hurt men. Mostly in the cuckold/Forced to Watch fantasy way.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: She really doesn't like Ellis for the reason that he pities her sometimes, and she hates that.
The Fashionista: Except when in breakdown, her heels are always high, her body assets are always shown off, and her hair is perfect.
Feminine Women Can Cook: She was raised in a "Stay in the Kitchen and look pretty" environment, so she can cook well (mostly pasta, rice dishes and jacket potatoes) even with her money problems, but hides it from her co-workers.
Fetish: She genuinely enjoys being in the middle of a threesome, even with customers.
Foil: Both she and Liz came from rich backgrounds, and were expected to marry and continue to be wealthy, but while Liz was pushed too hard and hides her bitterness under a pure exterior, Donna was expected to look pretty for the rest of her life and hides intelligence and sweetness underneath a being a Lovable Alpha Bitch.
Freudian Excuse: Her father was distant and was more interested in his high paying (Branch Manager at Capital Bank) job than his family, and her mother was a Trophy Wife, bitter about having a Mrs Degree but expecting Donna to be the same.
Girl on Girl Is Hot: She's the kind of straight girl who'll still use this to get more money from men.
Guilty Pleasures: Knows it's really silly, but loves Supernatural anyway. Hot men going around in angsty circles is just amusing to her.
Heel Realization: Downplayed. Her last thought ever is "what a waste", implying she wasted her life, but she's dead before she can get to the specifics.
High-Class Call Girl: While she isn't, she likes to think she's on that level, and is pretty haughty and shallow with money.
Hot-Blooded: Is more easily appeased than Lucy, but still has a temper.
Inelegant Blubbering: When Benzaie leaves, she doesn't care about her appearance and spends most of her time crying desperately on the bed, ignoring every attempt at help.
Internalized Categorism: She's a lot more Italian and Irish than she is American and was taught by Social Climber parents to ignore both heritages. She's torn between agreeing with them, having told customers she's just had a lot of time in the sun, and just really tired of hiding everything.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's selfish, shallow and self-absorbed, but even when she's jealous of Suede, she still comforts Benzaie when he misses him.
Lack of Empathy: Of the "you know I care, why do I have to show it" type.
Lovable Alpha Bitch: Was this in high school, and still continues the personality in the club despite none of the other girls really knowing what to make of her.
Nerds Are Sexy: At high school, she was a cheerleader (and did archery) with all the blessed looks that implies, but also the one class she excelled at was Technology and she was the only girl in computer club.
Not Like Other Girls: She would never actually disparage other women, but she's one of those girls who you can catch preferring the company of men “because they're less dramatic”.
Polyamory: Is in a relationship with both Benzaie and Paw, though clearly likes Benzaie more and has a breakdown when he leaves.
Pride: Stays with her until the end. Even when she's working in a crappy dive bar after the club disappears, and money's running out, she still doesn't ask for help.
Princess in Rags: She still acts like she's a princess, and gets frustrated at the banks only rarely giving her loans.
Regal Ringlets: She takes great care of her curls, though it descends into Messy Hair when she's depressed.
Selective Obliviousness: She has no idea of Paw's worries about their relationship, or the fact that he's scared of her.
Skewed Priorities: She'd rather spend money on looking good than using it to support herself.
Sex Is Liberation: Has this view (with people she loves, not clients), as sex is a good way to relax for her.
Southern Belle: While Liz is the hard working, naïve and idealistic kind, Donna's the vain, selfish, raised to be a princess version with (internalized) racism issues. She still shouldn't be underestimated though.
Spoiled Brat: Shows traces of it when she routinely leaves early to get out of helping to clean up.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Lucy's tomboy. They'll find any excuse to clash, and seem to enjoy their mutual disdain.
Too Much Alike: While Donna's the girly girl and Lucy's the tomboy, the fact that they have things in common (rebellious, angry at the world and channels it in unhealthy ways, haughty/bratty but good-hearted) is one of the reasons why they bristle at each other.
Vanity Is Feminine: Used as a Hidden Heart of Gold moment though, as in high school she helped a friend transition with make-up tips and advice (that was actually asked for) on how to pass better. And when Critic gets people who see his crossdressing and want him to go further, she helps him too.
Western Zodiac: Aquarius. Smarter than she tells people, affectionate in every sense of the word, and prides herself on attractiveness.
Penny Rose Moore
Ambiguous Innocence: She gives up sometimes and lets The Other Girl take vengeance for her because she wants to feel protected. Ashens takes it further and suggests the "other personality" is just a way for her to have power and guilt at the same time. She gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
Apologizes a Lot: It's second nature for her to beg for forgiveness for anything, for all she knows The Other Girl probably did do something awful to whoever she's apologizing to.
Beneath the Mask: Even without The Other Girl, she's afraid of anyone seeing the bad things in her, and doesn't believe them if they say they don't see it.
Berserk Button: Treating her like you would Mary (like a fragile doll who needs protecting and things explained to her) will make her lose it and beat the shit out of you, no The Other Girl required.
Born Unlucky: Aside from some moments of confidence, nothing really works out for her. When Ashens is analyzing what he thinks her problem is, it's clear she would rather think this is the cause of her problems than acknowledge any trauma in the past.
Broken Record: Her verbal skills take a beating when she's tired, forgetting words, repeating herself and jumping from topic to topic.
Cassandra Truth: Tries to tell people what's going on, but it's hard when not even she's sure.
The Cynic: Life has taught her that "optimism is a fancy name for bullshit".
Damsel in Distress: Given what The Other Girl does to customers, the customers think they have a right to break the rules and punish Penny in various ways.
A Degree in Useless: She sees her English Lit degree as such, sadly thinking that being completely in love with Shakespeare didn't prepare her for a ton of lost jobs.
Determinator: Played straight and subverted. She carries on far longer than expected even when the odds are stacked against her, but she can only bear so much, and after a few attempts, she commits suicide.
Disposable Sex Worker: Is the one most aware of it, and knows that the 'club girl' designation doesn't give her any more safety than what Critic and Linkara have. When she kills herself, the police do indeed chalk it up to her being a hooker.
Expressive Hair: The more desperate she gets, the brighter the streak in her hair becomes.
Extreme Doormat: Even when she tries standing up to The Other Girl, she always ends up cowed and manipulated.
Foil: To Mary. Both know they're fragile and get pity from their co-workers, but while Mary either closes off or feels like a little girl in need of rescuing, Penny drowns under the pressure she's set for herself and her breakdowns are more likely to be violent to other people. The customers aren't allowed to have them together because it's twice the vulnerable.
Hates Being Alone: She thinks/assumes she'd make an even bigger mess of her life alone, and at least The Other Girl is a shoulder to cry on.
Heroic Suicide: It's not heroic to Penny, she just wanted The Other Girl to be gone, but her death makes The Other Girl have far less power.
Laughing Mad: She spews out a few "laugh so you don't have a crying breakdown" giggles here and there.
Living Emotional Crutch: The Other Girl truthfully tells her that she "needs [her] so much, and tell [The Other Girl] what to do". It's vice versa as well.
Messy Hair: Interestingly, not in the frizzy sense, but it always hangs around her face like they're Medusa's hair. Meanwhile, when The Other Girl is in charge, it gets a lot sexier.
Mirror Character: Her and Critic. They both have bungled suicides but succeed (accidentally in his case, "let me die as myself" in hers) later on.
Not a Morning Person: Being a sleepyhead, not getting any rest at all makes her cranky enough to stand up to The Other Girl.
Not Me This Time: On a selfish level she's glad when other people have drama in the club, because at least it's not her.
Parental Abandonment: Inverted. When she dies, it takes a while to find her parents (they're in Lincolnwood), and they only grieve for how much they didn't know her.
Repressed Memories: And she doesn't want to dig either, reassuring herself that there's "nothing to remember".
She could ask for so much. Tell her to get a job to help her pay the rent, ask her to cuddle with her at night and stay when daylight hit, explain to Chick and the others that she wasn't horrible or a flake, just her life was fucked at the moment. But instead she wanted to fill the ache. “Tell me what you'd do to people who hurt me?” The copy of her face lit up, grinning like a little girl who'd got a pony for Christmas. “I'll cut your name into their skin.”
Sleepyhead: Is easily tired and falls asleep quickly despite stress and nightmares. This might be The Other Girl's doing.
Starving Artist: She comes from a poor background (though her parents paid for the drama classes she wanted) and never gets out of being just under the poverty line, relying on sewing up clothes and a shitty apartment with cracked windows and failing lights.
Sweet Tooth: Loves herself some chocolate puddings. It's the endorphins.
Stockholm Syndrome: She gets the chance to be rid of The Other Girl for good, but doesn't take it. Instead she kills herself later on.
Textile Work Is Feminine: Though out of necessity than choice, she has experience with sewing up torn clothes and hemming skirts.
Then Let Me Be Evil: There's a small part of her that knows what The Other Girl is capable of but lets her do it anyway because she's so tired of everything.
Waiting for a Break: She's working at the club while auditioning for plays. She's a good actress, but her dissociation problems really don't help.
Weight Woe: She feels herself getting and looking more hollow (she teeters around eight stone), and can only fill it up with foundation and rouge.
Western Zodiac: To the surprise of nobody, she's a Pisces.
Yank the Dog's Chain: When she goes a couple of weeks with nothing bad happening, she genuinely thinks things will get better. Nope.
Shelly Alicia Verity
Abusive Parents: Her father was sexually abusive, her mother was hysterically Where Did We Go Wrong? almost constantly and they gave her an apartment just to get her out.
Brutal Honesty: Made Lucy look like the most tactful person ever.
Burial at Sea: Ellis and Michaud dispose of her body in the Chicago River.
Does Not Like Men: Is the separatist kind of lesbian, though will take men's money if they want to have sex with her.
Driven to Suicide: She took an overdosing combination of vodka and cocaine when she got pregnant by a customer who didn't wear a condom.
Emo Teen: Died at 19, and was obsessed with the morbid.
Lack of Empathy: She rages about injustice so clearly she cares a great deal, but actual 'empathy' is very difficult to her.
Tragic Dropout: Dropped out of Farragut Career Academy at sixteen, having no interest in their help or even education. Her parents kicked her out not soon after.
Twofer Token Minority: She was a schizophrenic hispanic lesbian with added communist leanings.
We Hardly Knew Ye: She killed herself before Critic, Linkara, Lucy, Stacey, Mary and Y even joined the club.
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