vivien conrad was born to marsha conrad and douglas conrad, the last of three kids, including an older brother and older sister. just as one would believe, she was almost constantly babied by everyone in her family - her father and brother were protective (probably overly so) and her mother and sister loved to dress her up. her sister often called viv her "favorite doll" but she never minded. marsha stayed home with the kids, doting on her children and opening their house for playdates with the neighborhood kids while douglas managed his own construction company. the family was always more than comfortable.
like her siblings, vivien was raised to be the epitome of polite. she and her sister were expected to always come across as southern belles, usually meaning they had to be well behaved, sit still, and not speak unless they were spoken to. even today vivien's speech is full of "yes ma'am"s or "thank you, sir"s. and though vivien followed the rules easily at home, at school she was always much more vibrant. she was a good student but also talkative and deeply involved with friends and numerous activities.
the only job she's ever really had was babysitting, though she loved it. viv has always been great with children, though she's honestly not sure she even wants any of her own one day (though she knows that very thought would surely struck down her mother right where she stands). that experience did however lead to her interest in becoming an elementary school teacher.
vivien was raised in the church, often attending events with her family or volunteering to help with them or in her time off. giving back is just something she was raised to do. however, as she grew older she found that her own ideas on things didn't quite line up with the church's teachings. part of the reason she moved away to college was to be able to have experiences for herself, to learn for herself, without the ever watchful eye of her parents and their beliefs.
viv's parents were not thrilled with her decision to go to school out of state. they tried for weeks to talk her out of it before eventually relenting (she's nothing if not stubborn) and finally compromised that she would go to umich, where she had other family nearby, so that at least if anything happened she wouldn't be stranded on her own. for the most part viv keeps to herself and doesn't check in with her michigan family that often, but she has grown closer to her cousins since living there.
vivien dated the same boy all through high school. many believed they would actually both stay in fayetteville and eventually settle down together, but both ventured off on their own. vivien had considered herself in love with him, but in the years since has looked back on it as maybe nothing more serious than a teenage romance. they still talk and are friendly, but things have never been the same since they moved away from home.
to say that life has changed since vivien started college would be an understatement. for one thing, she met greer james. randomly selected as freshman roommates, greer quickly became one of vivien's closest friends at college. what she never would have expected though was that feelings would develop as well. for vivien, it was the first time she'd ever been attracted to a girl, and though it was confusing for her everything about greer just shouted acceptance. vivien had never met anyone like her and though she'd been raised to believe that men and women belonged together she's used her independence to see where things go.
for viv there was almost never a question that she would plege a sorority. her sister had pledged one and their mother before them, and growing up vivien had always remembered her mother's "sisters" stopping by with their own children to catch up. without her family close by, vivien decided a greek family would be the next best thing. she's never regreted that decision and is teh current new member educator for her sisterhood.
vivien has no tattoos or piercings aside from her ears, as her parents never would have allowed such a thing. she's interested in possibly getting a tattoo now but has no idea what she would want it to be of. though she has adopted a more carefree and fastpaced attitude since leaving home, wanting to try anything and everything, this is something she imagines she would take a lot of time to mull over.
recently moved in with greer, josh and ree and is involved in a polyamorous relationship. vivie has never been involved with anything at all like it before, but she can't imagine any of them without the others. they all bring something unique and necessary to the relationship and her feelings for them all, though different, are incredibly strong. it upsets her to think that she still needs to keep it from her family and that they would not only disapprove but likely worse.
which apartment complex do you live in?
windsor commons, which is so, so nice. aside from my parent's house i've really only ever lived in the dorms at umich, so i mean, come on.
when did you move in?
not too long ago! it's only been a couple of weeks, really.
where are you originally from?
i'm originally from fayetteville, georgia.
why did you move here?
here, like away from georgia? i came here for umich! plus i have some family that lives up here, so it didn't seem quite so bad. if you mean here like, windsor commons, that's because greer had a place and didn't want to live all by her lonesome.
who do you live with?
greer, ree and josh, the most amazing group of people ever.
what kind of neighbor are you?
me personally, i'm a great neighbor. i like to bake cookies to welcome people and generally i'm pretty quiet. us as a group? i think that's probably debatable...
