Carol Graves

Carol Graves
First Comic Appearance	10 - Lineage in Question
Job	Megatainment Front-of-Store Clerk / Customer Service Manager
Nicknames	Care Bear (by Thomas)
Relationships	Thomas (Dating / Boyfriend from 228 onwards)

Carol is a leading protagonist of Between Failures, and like the other core characters works as a Clerk / Supervisor at the slowly-failing Megatainment store in Marbleton, Kansas. Although Thomas' role is notionally senior to hers, he generally lets her organise matters. She is around 24 years old at the start of the comic.

Appearance

Physique

Carol is relatively short, and definitely curvy, with an ample bust. She appears Caucasian, has bright green eyes and a small, upwardly-tilted nose. Although it has yet to be mentioned in the comic, Jackie has mentioned that Carol is very slightly far-sighted, and sometimes wears glasses to read books.

She has bright red hair, which she wears short in a short but full-bodied hairstyle, usually reaching the nape of her neck (turning gradually darker as it does so). Carol parts her hair to her right, with bangs often hanging over her right eye.

Clothing

When wearing a Megatianment uniform outfit, Carol seems to prefer a round-necked t-shirt without a collar. On the few occasions her pants make it into shot, she seems to favour well-fitted jeans.

On her way to-and-from work, Carol wears a variety of clothes, including a brown coat and green scarf.

Background

General

[Pending]

Family

Carol has mentioned her family several times through-out the comic's history. She has a mother Cheri - who she closely resembles (except for the black in her hair) and two sisters: Dusty and Robin.[1] Dusty is the eldest sister, Carol the middle and then Robin is the baby of the family but there isn't a lot of years difference in age between the sisters. All three sisters and mother are short and curvy with Cheri, Carol and Dusty being red-headed and Robin being brunette. Carol's father hasn't been seen in comic but he is apparently a model train collector, a DUNE fan, and a lapsed catholic as well as the lone man of the family. Carol has said her mother is "to blame" for naming her daughters Dusty, Carolina and Robin Graves - whether she didn't see the joke or did and thought it very funny hasn't been mentioned.

Childhood / Education

Carol has attended college, initially for the arts but she eventually got a degree in accounting instead.

Job Role

Carol's job role is listed in his character bio on the Between Failures website as running the Front Counter. It also notes she takes care of anything else the team don't feel like doing. Later in the first arc, she also reveals she is the Customer Service Manager. In practice, it seems she covers some of Thomas' Floor Manager role by managing much of the staff, while both of them cover for Mike, the inexperienced store manager. She seemingly works full-time.

We know that Thomas helped Carol get her job at Megatainment. He claims to have done so owing her to her focus on the stores' goals... and perhaps for other reasons.

Although Carol generally pays more attention to company policy than most of the other characters, it is still clear she bends store rules fairly reguarlly.

Relationships

Romantic / Sexual

Thomas

Carol and Thomas appear to be good friends from the outset of the comic, as acknowledged by Nina while talking to Ed. This doesn't stop them (and possibly even encourages them) to verbally spar and bait each other, something they sometimes simply do to pass the time. Nina challenges Carol as to her crush on Thomas, which Carol initially (and unconvincingly) denies.

When Carol confronts Thomas regarding his behaviour at the start of the comic, she is visibly upset that he won't level with her. Given that she'd pretty much decided to ask him out earlier the same day, this is understandable.

Although they took them around four years to get together (in part because of the store rules), Thomas and Carol now appear to be in a committed relationship. They initially agree to keep the relationship secret. Nina clearly considers them a case of opposites attracting each other.

After Carol freaks out when caught using his smartphone, she also tries to return a spare key she'd taken to his apartment. He refuses, telling her that he loves her. Surprised, she reciprocates, before chasing him into the shower.

Friendships

Nina

Carol and Nina are good friends, to the point that Nina let her stay over for a time while she was getting her life back together.

John

Carol appears to have a similar relationship / friendship with John to that John and Thomas share (albeit a little less full-on). He is willing to make her try a new (dubious) soda, and she certainly considers revenge. She occasionally refers to him as 'prettyboy' or a variation thereof.

Jo

[Pending]

Other

Ed

Carol is fairly harsh on Ed during his first day, and he responds badly to her frosty, dismissive and sassy attitude (not realising she is most putting it on). He declares that they are 'NOT FRIENDS'.

She later apologises, leading to a slight relaxation, but they do not appear to be friends. She proposes that they be considered "...co-workers who tolerate each other". She also commends him, noting that he stood up to her on his first day.

It seems Carol doesn't find Ed particularly attractive, although she may simply be contradicting Nina.

John

While Carol has said she has no particular problem with John as a person, she has expressed holding a grudge against him due to the circumstances of his hiring.

Mike

Like Thomas, Carol shares the view that Mike "...couldn't find a clue if you nailed it to his head". However, she also seems happy to support him.

Reggie

Like most people in the store, Carol seems to find Reggie irritating. She has pointedly antagonized him at least one while he was waiting near her to talk to Mike.

Personality

Behavior

Carol is a fairly no-nonsense character, and more than willing to engage in workplace banter (provided she maintains the high ground). She has been known to cuss in the store. It is also suggested she enjoys sometimes making others do some of the more menial tasks, and/or being the bearer of bad news.

She routinely expects new starters to justify their very existence in 10 seconds or less. She is especially harsh on Ed, although subsequently realises she may have gone too far.

Self-image / Beliefs

Carol has at least some residual beliefs from her Catholic upbringing.

Hobbies

Although she often acts less 'nerdy' than the other staff in the store, some of Carol's comments suggest she may well read DC comics. When Thomas compares Ed and himself to Green Lantern and Green Arrow, she wishes them both death by lava. In the comics, Pele attempted to inflict this on the characters (see also Comic Book References). She has also shown more than passing familiarity with the Transformers series.

Food, Drink & Drugs

Carol loves ice cream, so much so she sometimes has two in the same day.

Gallery

Trivia

• Early on in the comic (when the some of the characters 'spoke' in different  Carol used Times New Roman.
• Jackie has previously mentioned that some of his characters have 'ear numbers' (as discussed on a podcast with Moonhawk Studios Presents).  While the full list (and specifically Jackie's reasons for them) has never been revealed, Carol's was confirmed 6.  This referenced an ex-girlfriend of Jackie's, whose nickname was 'Six'. With Thomas being Jackie's 'self-insert' character, he was amused to give his love-interest (Carol) this number.
• Carol speaks in contractions and colloquialisms somewhat more often than the other characters.
• Although we very rarely see the characters from behind, we see Carols' back in at least once while talking to John in the store.
• Carol seemingly knows at least a few words of Spanish.