Birdie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
acaseofyou) wrote2023-01-26 02:51 pm
acaseofyou) wrote2023-01-26 02:51 pm
if i had my way in this wicked world
THE FOLKSINGER
Music is a powerful thing.
The right song at the right moment can change a mind. Galvanize a cause. Stop a fight. End a war.
Or it could start one. Drive you mad, lose control.
A song can transform. It can delight, and it can mourn. It can tell a history and a lie. Some can reassure while others tear apart. Change the key, the tempo, and a simple love song can be a haunting warning.
Birdie knows them all, from the old Union standards of Joe Hill to empty bubblebum missives about love and lust. A long, long time ago, she thought she could save the world with them, stuck on the fringes of the folk scene in Greenwich Village. Now she's on those fringes in every scene, and every song can be a tool to help her and other Kindred survive the modern nights.
＋
charming · funny · accepting · dedicated · easygoing · musical
＝
persevering · temporary · distracted · outgoing · political · non-commital
－
manipulative · reckless · fickle · short-sighted · hesitant · frustrated
Dark hair with blunt bangs, worn consistently in braids big and small, sometimes with flowers and ribbons woven in. Clothing all takes a hippie-out-of-time effect -- peasant sleeves, old army surplus flack jackets with protest pins, flowing dresses, t-shirts with old slogans. She is paler than one might think she ought to be. Often humming to herself.
Her life was as uneventful as anyon'es was for the time she'd lived in. Born in Skowhegan, Maine, she had enough drive and talent to push her out to Greenwich Village in New York City as soon as she was old enough to be out on her own in the early 60's. While she was talented enough, she was never able to become much of a name in that scene despite her efforts, constantly singing background harmonies in studio sessions or picking up gigs to replace cancellations around The Village. Then, as the Vietnam war progressed and she lost her younger brother first to the draft and then to fighting in '65, she began to spend more and more of her time and efforts on anti-war efforts. Marches, meetings with the Mobe, and talking with other activists.
It wasn't until the spring of '67 that she met Lorelai. The (much) older woman was an off and on attendee of Birdie's performances over the spring and summer, until there was a month straight through July and August that she was meeeting Birdie nearly every night and never missed a set, whether she was headlining or not. Then, Lorelai approached her with an offer: leave everything behind to follow her and pursue music completely, with three days to decide. Birdie's answer was a resounding yes, and she spent those three days packing up and quitting her job, then writing home and telling friends she was heading out. Most assumed she'd gone to San Francisco or Chicago. Instead, Lorelai took her from the city and she was Embraced.
From then on, through to the early 80's, Birdie traveled with her Sire through the US and Canada, learning everything she would need to know to survive her new existence as Kindred, from how to navigate Camarilla courts to how best to keep the Beast at bay. They met with other Daughters, worked on developing her Melpominee, and sang together in any number of cities, towns, and highway bars, never staying in one place for long and passing themselves off as Toreador when official introductions were necessary.
During this time, she also learned about a unique problem among her bloodline: there were some elders losing their minds to a particular type of Frenzy. They would go on a rampage, singing to tear the flesh from bone and consuming any mortal in their path until they were given the Final Death. Those who were brave enough to whisper about it called them 'Banshees,' but there are so few Daughters already, it hadn't happened often enough to feel real, or any more concerning than any other Kindred falling into a Frenzy.
By the mid-80's, Lorelai's behavior had become erratic, paranoid in fits and starts. It was around this time that she released Birdie to her own devices and went off on her own, and would only see her Childe again when meeting with the other Daughters.
On her own, Birdie never stayed in a place for too long, opting to keep up the same pattern of travelling and singing set with Lorelai. It wasn't until the early 2010's that she managed to break that pattern. She'd been through Denver before and was acquainted with the Prince there, a Toreador named Edward who was a musician in his own right. This time she made the mistake of coming through with a group of very vocal Anarchs. For as tolerante as Edward presented himself to be, he was paranoid and unforgiving, and very unwilling to risk fighting in the streets no matter the reason.
He worked to dispatch the Anarchs as efficiently as possible, including Birdie's small coterie, before making a weighted offer that Birdie wasn't in a position to refuse: he'd discovered her actual bloodline, and wanted her as his Keeper of Elysium, using her skill with Melpominee to keep the Kindred and Kine in his domain feeling content. She didn't have much choice (both politically and given Edward's use of Presence against her) but to go along with the request, out of her depth and wanting to avoid worse repercussions both for herself and others in Denver.
It wasn't long until Edward had her being watched by his ghouls and other Kindred loyal to him near constantly. Twice old friends would come through the city to see her and be driven out by the Prince one way or another, until she finally decided it was time to call on her Sire. Lorelai arrived, half mad from the Fugue, and after a few days went on a mindless attack of not only Edward and his Court, but Birdie, until she was staked.
Later, with the help of a Setite Primogen from Las Vegas, Birdie assisted Don Alonzo (the Senescal of Denver) in taking control from Edward and was finally allowed to leave. She went to Las Vegas with her Sire (in a box) and stayed with the Setites at the Wadjet hotel for some time recuperating and assisting Benedic, the Prince of Las Vegas, in strenghtening relations with the local Anarchs.
After a time, she'll have to leave again and see if she can find more information on what happened to Lorelai, what might happen to her and all her other Sisters, so that she might be able to find a way to undo it.
A - before Denver: any time between the 80's to the 10's, wandering around the country on her own or with her small makeshift coterie, very easily involved in nonsense and shenanigans; unburdened
B - after Denver: she got out! she's taken refuge with the Setites in Las Vegas, doing shows in small spots off the strip and helps represent Anarch concerns with the Camarilla court there; recuperating
C - after Vegas: back to wandering, still singing but primarily focused on finding information on Banshees in an effort to help Lorelai and prevent her other sisters from the same fate; driven
B - after Denver: she got out! she's taken refuge with the Setites in Las Vegas, doing shows in small spots off the strip and helps represent Anarch concerns with the Camarilla court there; recuperating
C - after Vegas: back to wandering, still singing but primarily focused on finding information on Banshees in an effort to help Lorelai and prevent her other sisters from the same fate; driven