Her leather jacket is the most extravagant thing she wears, and even that has a well worn comforatable look to it. Carfully stitched/dyed into it is a stylized caducous.
When they're time overlaps, she merely stays over at her brothers' place, a three bedroom / Condo which has been paid for at least to according to the landlord who seems more than happy that Jess is there, at least some of the time. She goes there at least three times a week to feed the cats and take care of the place, but she doesn't like to stay too long, because she gets maudlin.
The cats are Taco and Maxwell. (named after two cats I knew in real-life) they are littermates and about as completely different as you can get. Maxwell has been described as wearing a "striped tuxedo with white hightops." While Taco looks every bit the part of Morris the cat. Taco is the highstrung of the two and Max is Mr. Cool.
Jess was nine when the split came and they divide the childern with every other one going to one parent. Jess ended up with her dad and three of her brothers: Matthew, Alan and Andrew. The four of them stuck together and saw eachother through, but because of the split there was a rift between her and the other sibs. The way she sees it, they don't care about Mat, Al and Andy. They aren't *their* sibs.
Their dad was a teacher and never really had time to cook. They grew up scrounging and raiding the refrigerator for what they could easily consume. To this day, Jess has problems when it comes to eating 'Real Food.' (She doesn't realy understand the difference taste wise and if she eats too much, she pays for it later. Rice and grains are okay, but anything else she has problems)
After she graduated high school (a year early), Jess went on to College, where her father was a teacher She stayed in for a year and a half before she realized it wasn't for her. Jess dropped out and became a paramedic. She was making a pretty good living at it, when Andy went west to join their brothers.
They never would tell her what they were doing in the Seattle area, but they kept in touch and the 'Sunday phone check' became a normal part of everybody's routine. Then, almost a year ago, her calls would be returned later and later and usually by only one of the guys. Jess was worried, but then the calls stopped coming. Calls to the police revealed that Matt's car had been found, and that it was all but demolished. Weeks went by and when nothing turned up, Jess found she couldn't just sit around so she lined up a job and headed west.
When she got to their apartment, it had been trashed. The windows had been broken and the cats were missing. She started cleaning up and Taco and Maxwell came back. She stayed at the apartment for the first few months as she tried to get a handle on what was going on. She found nothing at the apartment, but when she found herself getting maudlin, she 'moved in' with Ray... (They'd already dated and found it wouldn't work out)
Her temper shortens when she's tired or hungry, or as in the current situation, she's been running too long with no results. (ie her search for her brothers)
Jess is not a particularly vindictive or mercenary person, but idiots, especially of the buerocratic sort bring it out in her.
The one time she dated outside her normal fair was a disaster. He went psycho and threatened to kill her. The boys stepped in and he's only shown up two other times. But that was Baltimore and Jess figures its over.
(which may or may not be true)
The net result of her dating experience is the fact that she's a learning junkie and has ended up learning an odd variety of things from people she's dated. All but the one have ended well, to the point that they remain her friends and contacts.