Penny

Cast » Penny

Penny Layne

Portrayed By	Alison Mack
Gender	Female
Species	Human
Date of Birth	Month Day, Year
Age	23
Zodiac Sign	Gemini
Aliases	Francine Polinski (secret real name)
Place of Birth	Cleveland, OH, USA
Current Location	Los Angeles, CA, USA
Occupation	DJ at Caritatas
Known Relatives	Miriam Polinski (mother; deceased), Frankie Polinski (father; whereabouts unknown)
Significant Other	Chad (DJ Cue) Lyle
Special Powers	Multi-tasking on the turntables?
First Appearance	White Girls CAN Spin

"This lick is off the chain. Fo'shizzle."

Table of Contents

History

In order to throw out any plot hooks that folks might be interested in here's the entire BG however it is all utterly secret. She doesn't tell anyone much. Bits and pieces but never names, places, and the full monty. If you wanna investigate for whatever reason let me know. Also people still (possibly) alive in her past are up for app!

Life aint always what it's cracked up to be. Especially when you're born on the wrong side of the tracks. And tracks? Well we had plenty of 'em in Cleveland, Ohio. Dad worked in a factory by day and lived in the bar by night till they kicked him out. Then he'd stagger home. If we were lucky enough he'd be too drunk to start wailin' on me and Mom. But I've never had that much luck. There didn't have to be a reason. He'd find something. Always did. Mom usually got the worst of it. Course she self medicated with some Jim Beam and would get to where she didn't feel it too much.
Round where we lived you didn't call the cops. You didn't call and ambulance or go to the hospital. It's just the way it was. For one you couldn't afford it. For another well, you didn't involve the cops in anything.
I went to school like I was supposed to. Only class I liked was band. The rest I pretty much failed. As one can expect I didn't exactly hang with the popular crowd. It was the Goths and Emo kids that I found companionship. Other kids who's clothes were ripped and hair cuts were unique and off beat, usually homemade jobs. The administration liked to call ed and my friends 'discipline problems'. Truth was we just didn't rah rah at the pep rallies and weren't bubbly and peppy. Course we didn't really have anything to be peppy about. Our lives weren't all 90210 ya know?

It was sophomore year that everything changed. I was 15, almost 16. Pops had, had a really rough day at work, suspended for fighting with a co-worker. He'd really done a number on the dude. Put him in the hospital and now Pops was up for a disciplinary meeting. Meaning more than likely he was about to be canned. When he came home that night he was in a mean drunk. By the time the dust settled I had a broken nose and arm and Mom was out, slumped against the wall. Someone had heard and the cops were called. Tell ya what that was a friggin miracle. That stuff just don't happen. People keep to their own, ya know?

Turns out Mom wasn't unconscious. She was dead. He'd finally managed to do what he'd threatened all those years, bash her brains in. Me? I was taken to the hospital while Pops was carted off to the pokey. I was laid up in there about a week. Some of my friends came to see me, a social worker. I didn't like it in there but I REALLY didn't like the idea of being sent off to some group home or stranger's house. Sorry but I aint exactly the milk and cookies type. The cops showed too, asked a lot of questions. I didn't tell 'em much. Old habits died hard.

When I was able to move around and had managed to stash enough pain meds and steal some other stuff I stole some clothes from the nurse's locker room and some wallets from purses and high tailed it out of there. Didn't know where I was going or how but I knew I had to get gone.
Hopped a train. rode it till it stopped. Ended up in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Not much to do there. Bummed around, found a guitar, did some busking on the streets. It was damn cold and the livin was lean. Never slept int he same place twice. Got beat up, threatened and managed to squeak out of relatively unscathed. Hey, after living with Pops it wasn't like I wasn't used to that kinda stuff. I missed my friends though.
Eventually I managed to hook up with some other musicians. We hung out, jammed, made a few bucks here and there. At least I wasn't alone right. One of them introduced me to Chad, he was a DJ and was spinning at this raver club downtown. He snuck me in the back door and took me to the booth. Showed me the ropes and even let me spin a few records. I was hooked. I spent a lot of time wit him after that. We had kind of a thing ya know? By this time I was still younger than him but I was legal. He was thirty something dating an 18 year old. Guess that kinda rocked his socks or something. When he told me he was packin up and moving out west it was a no-brainer that I'd go too. He'd gotten a gig in Vegas, spinnin in some little club off the Strip. We packed up his old VW van and took off cross country.
We spent three years there playing from club to club, even some private parties. I learned the ropes and was starting to make a name for myself as well. Course the name I used wasn't my real name, Francine Polinski. I became Penny.. Penny Layne. I think I got it from some movie we saw about a groupie or something but I liked it. It fit me.
I'd just turned 21 when we were booked for some big time rave. It was to take place in a old shelled out warehouse. It was friggin cool at first. All the lights and strobes and the hot licks blastin. But things started to change. It was subtle at first. I spied some chick in the audience who looked like she was doin some serious making out on the dancefloor. But then she went limp. At first I just thought it was from too much to drink but then I saw it.. the wounds in her neck and the blood streaming down her chest. By then everything turned into chaos. People were screaming and people's faces were changing and turning gruesome. Chad tried to save me. He threw himself in front of me an that's when the thing attacked him. Only later did I learn that it was a group of vampires. They'd planned this as some big blood orgy. A feeding frenzy.
Things happened so fast after that. There was a person on me, trying to friggin bite me! Bite me!!! Can you believe that stuff? But then this guy was behind him and then… ash! Like the dude trying to bite me just exploded but it wasn't gooey. I was dragged out of there, the guy that had stopped the vampire dragging me with him. Others were fighting as well. Axes, stakes, some had swords, crossbows. It was so surreal. He got me outside and told me to run before turning around and heading back in. That was it. Run.
I was stunned but you don't have to tell me twice to save my bacon. I wanted to go back for Chad but I knew he was dead. There was no help for him. I ran. I dont' think I stopped running till I reached the opposite end of Freemont Street. I ducked into a casino and that's where I stayed for several days.
It took me a while but I started working again. No private parties. At least none that are all secretive like that one. It was hard going. I missed Chad. He was the only person I've ever had that cared about me. But I'm not gonna get all blubbery and stupid. I hardly know you after all. You're lucky I'm even telling you all this. Anyway…where was I? Oh yeah. SO I started working again. Made a bit of a name for myself in the underground and club circuits. I also started spending time in the libraries and book shops and new age stores. Reading, trying to learn. I needed to know why or what or something. A lot of the stuff I read didn't make sense or was just that Hollywood bullshit. Now I aint sayin I'm any kind of expert or anything but I know enough to watch my own back. Turns out there's more than just fang faces out there. A whole world of shit. Course I aint gonna go spouting off anything. Last thing I need is getting thrown in the looney hatch. Or runnin off at the mouth in front of the wrong person and getting eighty-sixed.
The day I turned 23 I headed off to L.A. I got a job offer from a promoter. Said it was a place that was lookin for new talent. This guy was one that knew the truth like me. Asked if I'd be bothered by the place being a strip club first. Hell I don't care. As long as they aren't expecting me to take my clothes off. Next thing he asked though was if I cared that it's clientel catered to human and demon alike. I was hesitant. But then he told me it was totally safe. Had security measures and stuff in place to keep things from gettin out of hand. Hey, I'm not one to be prejudice. Far as I'm concerned demons aren't the only ones that can be monsters. I grew up with my Dad after all. So now I'm off to take a swing at it. It's not a solid gig yet. I gotta prove myself and convince the owner that I'm the keeper. I got enough confidence that I can. And if not.. well there's plenty of places in Glitter Land that could use a hot DJ.

Timeline

April
April 09, 2002

Unlikely Duo: Caught sleeping in her car in a bad part of town, the cop that finds her ends up having to face something worse than a crackhead or a pimp.

Relationships

Carlton
Da Man. Her Boss. El Capitan. Course she put her foot in her mouth when she first met him, talkin smack. But hey, she got the job.

Noteworthy Scenes: White Girls CAN Spin

Moxie
She hasn't really talked to the kiddo yet but she looks awful young to Penny.

Noteworthy Scenes: White Girls CAN Spin

Quotes

"Penny Layne… DJ, Funkmeister, and inflicted with serious foot-in-mouth syndrome." she introduces herself. "When can I start?" - To Carlton in White Girls CAN Spin

"But hey, as long as I'm not on the menu or you know.. your not out eating babies and strangling puppies it's all good. We're chill ya know?" - To Ezekiel upon finding out he's a Fox Demon