🕊️

ㅤ ... 𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦,

name, beckett byrd. nickname(s), beck. age, 33. gender, cis man. pronouns, he/him. orientation, pansexual. birthday, december 18th. occupation, innkeeper @ anchorage inn. oddity, he's a phoenix lol.

mother, † beth byrd (née shepard). father, † thomas byrd. uncle, w.l. shepard.

height, 6'. hair, sandy blonde + shortish. tattoos, none. scars, none. style, comfy casual. the type of guy to layer a hoodie jacket over a flannel over a t-shirt. has like two pairs of jeans he really likes that he just wears on rotation. scuffed converse and the shoelaces come untied all the time and he is simply never bothered to re-tie them.

... 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬,

after the fire. you remember life mostly as an after. an addendum. after the fire, which you remember by scent and feel and fear and comfort, nobody knows what to do with you. miracle baby, the papers said once. abomination, the people used to whisper. firebird, the island names you.

everyone raises you. nobody raises you. they pass you around like they're playing a game of hot potato. mrs. abernathy thinks you're darling until you climb up the curtains, until you fall off and crack your head open, until you wake up in a burst of fire and ash and smoke, whole and unscarred. after that, not even your uncle's lavish spending can convince anyone to keep you for longer than a couple weeks.

there's no height chart to be found in shepard manor. nothing to indicate that anybody lives there, that anybody loves there. all there are, are the x marks. an 'x' on the floor by the window where you die for the first time. an 'x' over the big tree in the garden where you discover you're allergic to wasps. an 'x' over the driveway where a car accidentally backs up over you while you're ant watching. an 'x' at the bottom of the pool where you try to break the world record for breath-holding.

you're good at coming back, at the re-life. but better, you think, at dying, at the surrender. you're not sure where the distinction is, only that it exists, that it feels real to you.

it's why you flee home, because you fear it's the only thing you'll be good for, and you don't want it to be true. it's why you come back, because what you want doesn't always line up with what you know. and what you know is this: misery likes when you burn.

and what misery wants, misery gets.

ㅤ ... 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘,

1992 - the byrd family welcomes their first and only child, beckett byrd.

1996 - the fire of '96 burns down the byrd family home, and the byrd family with it. the only survivor is little beckett, only three at the time. nobody knows what to do with beckett, the byrd that shouldn't have survived, until news of beth byrd's death reaches her brother, w.l. shepard. while he doesn't ever appear in misery himself, his presence in the town is felt through the cheques he sends down, for whoever is willing to put up with beckett for the week, or month, or year.

1999 - shepard manor is built. the biggest residential property on misery, looming over the other modest, suburban houses. whoever's taking care of beckett for the time being can now do so from the comfort and luxury of a grand, sprawling manor.

2010 - beckett leaves misery for college on the mainland. with no true goal or dreams in sight, he blunders through, coasting on nothing but his uncle's money until it eventually dries up and w.l. shepard cuts off all communication, refusing to bear the burden of his nephew any longer.

2014 - beckett returns to misery, tail tucked between his legs, trying out different jobs.

2017 - he's eventually given the keys to the inn and told to make do.

... 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥,

he's like if a sad wet dog was a man and also a phoenix. doesn't feel like he's good for/at anything so whenever someone asks him for something he's like okay!!!!!! i'll do it!!!!!!!! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! and then sits and waits patiently (and a smidge desperately) for praise. surprise surprise the orphan who hasn't had a stable parental figure in his life will do anything for praise...

the amount of times he died growing up would imply he's clumsy but he's reeeeally not, the deaths were mostly just a case of neglect from whoever was taking care of him at the time or just bad luck (i think misery finds it funny when he dies, so it happens a lot).

it hurts every time btw, dying. he doesn't like it, never has. but if someone needs him to do it he will. cause it's something only he can do. something he might even be perfect for!!! imagine that... beckett byrd, being perfect for something!! sometimes he does angst about it in secret, wondering if it even counts when he's not actually doing anything, but then he wakes up the next morning and resigns himself to it anyway, because he thinks it's all he's got.

something of a people pleaser cause of the aforementioned lust for praise, but he's pretty chill with it. just an approachable guy. i think you kinda get his whole vibe the second he opens his mouth. mostly sweet, a little stupid, kind of a doormat, and just happy to be here.

ㅤ ... 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗,

someone who finds him really weird n unsettling to be around and he just goes around making this face 🥺 at them every time they ignore him, enemies >:), casual hookups, maybe a previous one night stand that it's really awkward to be around now, an ex, an ex friend, etc etc etc.

ㅤ ... 𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦,

name, sparrow song [宋霖萱 sòng lín xuān]. nickname(s), songbird [family only]. age, 27. gender, cis woman. pronouns, she/her. orientation, pansexual. birthday, march 5th. languages, english + chinese (mandarin). occupation, town hall receptionist. oddity, getting so good at being left behind it might be turning into a curse.

mother, † tabitha song [宋巧妮 sòng qiǎo nī]. father, † stork song [宋烨 sòng yè]. (ex?) stepfather, the ferryman. older sister, shrike song [宋雨嘉 sòng yǔ jiā].

height, 5'4". hair, dark brown + waist length + typically styled with curls/waves. tattoos, an empty bird's nest on the left side of her lower back. scars, none. style, light colours leaning towards pastel. breezy, free, pretty. sundresses, frilly skirts, anything light and airy. occasionally a bright pop of colour in the form of fun shoes or a jaunty little hat or even a scarf.

... 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬,

each absence is marked by a door you can't open.

your mother boards up the master bedroom after your father dies. whatever love she had for you and your sister, she leaves behind in that room. seals it up for good with bits of wood and steel. she starts sleeping in the attic, and even now, you swear you can hear her dragging her feet across the floor, muffling her cries into her pillow. resenting you in her grief, in her terror.

you padlock the hatch leading up to the attic after your mother passes. it makes no difference that she dies slumped over the dining room table, eyes closed and smiling. makes no difference that it took you two days to find her there, because you stopped being able to sleep in the house where things only ever disappeared.

your sister locks the basement door and hides the key after your stepfather leaves. you're too good at waiting, she tells you, when you ask her why. too good at sitting in the arm chair in that basement, staring up the steps waiting for that familiar footfall. heavy, slow, steady, thump-thump-thumping. it never comes, and then one morning your sister finds you sitting there, eyes red, lips blue, blood dripping down your nose, and locks the door. you never find the key.

you don't lock the door to the bedroom next to yours even years after your sister goes missing. you don't open it, either. but sometimes you hear the wind through the still open window, hear the absence of presence like an upside down song. she'll have to come back to close the window. she'll have to come back to open the door again.

but that's alright. you've always been good at waiting.

ㅤ ... 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘,

1996 - the song family welcomes their first child, shrike song.

1999 - the song family welcomes their second child, sparrow song.

2004 - the patriarch, stork song, is killed in a car accident. nobody knows what he was doing out that late at night, or why he wandered onto the road. a heartbroken and grieving tabitha, who only gave birth to two children because her husband wanted them, starts to look after her daughters with an increasing reluctance.

2009 - the song family welcomes a new presence in the form of the ferryman, tabitha's new boyfriend.

2013 - the ferryman leaves misery and the song family behind. tabitha stops acknowledging her children entirely. they live in the same house but she moves as if she's the only inhabitant. she doesn't speak, doesn't look at them. just drags herself up to her room in the attic and cries softly at night.

2014 - shrike song goes missing one night. what the police manage to discover is that the window to her bedroom was pried open by bloody john, and that shrike had managed to survive long enough to run out the front door, into the woods in an attempt to escape him, but despite their best efforts, no body is ever found. no one knows for sure what exactly happened to shrike, if bloody john got to her and buried her in a spot no one could find, or if in her haste to escape from him she ended up falling down the well or running into the witch's house. though nobody brings it up to sparrow, what they're all sure of is that whatever happened to shrike in those woods, it was permanent.

2017 - the matriarch, tabitha song, dies of a sudden heart attack a week before sparrow's high school graduation.

2018 - 2020 - with an offer from the mayor, sparrow starts working at town hall. beginning with no official position, she shadows the assistant for a while, running errands, doing busywork, before she eventually inherits her mother's old position as the receptionist.

... 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥,

was always a performer as a kid. singing, dancing, acting, sparrow loved all of it. she had grand dreams of leaving misery and becoming a big star one day, and then shrike goes missing. by then it all started to feel kind of... hollow. without her sister around to cheer her on and support her, the idea of performing, of getting on stage, suddenly didn't appeal to her at all anymore. who would she be singing for if not her? if not her father? or her mother? or her stepfather? she might still sing occasionally during the tavern's karaoke nights though! if she's drunk enough!! cause she does still love the attention<3 but it does hurt every time knowing the people she wants most to hear her aren't in the crowd.

she initially plans on going to college on the mainland, leave this godforsaken place behind her, maybe burn her house down while she's at it, but then the mayor says hey, how about you help out with some of the work in town hall instead? and sparrow thinks that's a hell of a lot better than four more years of studying, so she says yes, even though she knows it's just pity. and for the first couple years she really does make an effort with her work, but then she gets an official position, and then starts getting comfortable... a little lazy... and at some point she just starts doing whatever she wants :3. but you know after this long it's hard to just fire her... and look she's young and all alone, no family to speak of, so they simply can't bear to send her packing :p.

she's fun, she's free, she's got abandonment issues and she's enthusiastic, always up for a bit of an adventure. very much like unexpectedly upbeat despite her circumstances. i think it's the performer in her, just can't help but perform even off stage. and she'd much rather be fun and young and bright than someone who's been weighed down by all the loss she's experienced.

ㅤ ... 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗,

besties, worsties, drinking/karaoke buds, someone older she can a) annoy b) take advantage of (monetarily) by playing the dead parents + missing sister card c) teach tiktok dances to, an ex friend, a regular ex, an almost something, a currently heading towards something, someone who can match her energy re: partying and having fun, and.... other stuff too!