#closedbird

                                  「 SWAN 」

       [18]  •  NEITHER  •  UNCAGED •  [MEDICINE]

BIO:

Let others be blinded by your facade, at least they have something pretty to look at. Oh, a world made of gold and opals, as shimmering as the insides of sea shells and as brightly coloured as the home of Louis XIV. Servants kneeling, dresses as fabulous as the dawn and as elegant as twilight, honour and beauty to your name. A name, spoken in awe, a spell cast upon you and embracing you until midnight chimes. That is what you dream of. What you've always dreamt of. Someone beautiful and free to be there for you. Back then, when you looked into the mirror, you felt betrayed. When you looked at your family, you felt betrayed. When you looked down the street of where you grew up, you felt betrayed. No diamonds; you were surrounded by rhinestones. They looked the same, but they were little pieces of lies. So you put on your rose-tinted glasses to make the grass a little greener, and decided to take matters into your own hand.

Secrets. Lies like dark veils hiding the truth, plunging it into darkness, making sure no one would ever see what you were truly made out of. Peace, privilege, solidarity, luck. Those were the things you required to reach your world made of dreams. Dreams that were constructed on ideals written by others and told to you in sighs. Fairy tales, so to say. But dreams, which you chose to believe in. And no one was allowed to stand between you and them. A world in which to trust and rely on others, how hard can it be to find it? Sometimes you wonder if you found it now, but then you are not so sure if your own secrets of how you got here wouldn't need to be revealed too, for the trust and loyalty you long for to be mutual. Then again. It is so easy to hold up a mirror to those dreamlike friends, and make them think someone is returning their genuine smiles. Ah, let them be blinded by your facade, at least they won't be tempted to look behind it.

TRAITS:

GRAND • CURSED • SHORT-TEMPERED • OVERPROTECTIVE • MAGNIFICENT

CONNECTIONS:

ABOUT OWL: “A liar recognises a liar, you know. Usually, if I saw someone like them, you wouldn't even bother looking at them. They're so plain and weird, as though they inhabit a totally different world than me. But since I saw them before our first Volière meeting, I knew that if they were to get invited back, then I'd have to keep a close look on them. It's as though they know too much. And as though they want to know even more...”

ABOUT MOCKINGBIRD: “They have no sense of aesthetic, do they? It's ridiculous, you listen to what they have to say, hear of all the things they're capable of, and you imagine this monarch to appear. Instead you find yourself in front of a peasant. And such a rude one too. Really, whenever I look at them, I get this bad urge of making something out of them. After all ... I was just like them once, wasn’t I?”

ABOUT MAGPIE: “They're the kind of person you know will be accepted into the Volière. I mean, I know next to nothing about them yet, but blessed be, are they beautiful! It's like looking into a shiny mirror. I hope to befriend them as soon as possible, our connection will suit the Volière a lot.”

                                  「 CANARY 」

        [19]  •  LEGACY •  UNCAGED •  [LIT]

BIO:

'If it's raining, I'll be your sunshine' they told you, and you've lived in their dazzling light and magnificent warmth ever since. You bathed in their comfort, you relaxed in their embrace, you strenghthened yourself on their feet and rested on their shoulders. They were your umbrella, your roof in the woods on a stormy night, the golden shimmer of hope at the end of a night. To others it seemed as though there had been no hardship in your life, no troubles clouding the bright blue sky of friendships and family, but perhaps they didn't realise that even a peaceful lake could be deep enough for monsters to hunt in it. What to them was nothing but tiny ripples on an otherwise calm surface, were entire waves of bulversement to you. Rain comes with puddles to bath in afterwards, but if there is never any sunshine, do you wish to seek the wet? So turned to them, to their sunshine, and called yourself grateful for their ever so comforting presence.

The sunshine nourished you. You became bright. Beautiful. As warm as the light that had kept you alive for so long. You learnt to smile again, and no matter who caught this smile, their lips could but mirror it with heartbeats of rejoice. Your opitmism was infectuous. There was nothing ever stopping you from seeing the rainbow on misted days, as you knew that there could be no raindbow without mist, and no mist was ever without rainbow, hidden somewhere. You prided yourself with this ability. This skill to conjure peace upon letting your chiming laugh resonate. This gift. Sometimes it made you forget to question your pieces of wisdoms you chanted easily into people's ears, made you forget to imagine them in hands less fortunate than yours, made you forget how it used to feel like when the brighter days were still somber. But was it your fault? To grow so free from pain and misery? There was no time to halt and reconsider now. Life was beautiful, and you had to help everyone experience it too. 'If it's raining, I'll be your sunshine', is now what you tell them.

TRAITS:

PRETTY • EVIED • SWEET • SHY • TALENTED

CONNECTIONS:

ABOUT DOVE: “We've just met, but we hit it right off. They're so sweet and hopeful. Delicate in their kind of humour and gentle when it comes to the feelings of others. Really, I like them. I think we could do great things together, so I hope that if I get into the Volière, they will too. For now I just hope we can be friends and that the process won't make us too competitive.”

ABOUT ALBATROSS: "I've heard some people mocking them for being so clumsy and seemingly unfit, but - and I don't pretend I know them well yet - I think they're quite the sweetheart. They might not really know what to do with themselves yet, but I'm certain that the moment they do, they'll be more majestic and more powerful than anyone else. Maybe I should stay by their side, to help them.”

ABOUT MAGPIE: “Now, I know that they're very handsome and nice to me, but somehow I can't shake the feeling, that they're not very candid. As though their words are empty, like they don't mean any of the beautiful things they say. Then again, I only just met them, maybe they were just as nervous as me and it'll turn out they're actually really sweet.”

                                  「 SWALLOW 」

        [22]  •  LEGACY •  CAGED •  [PSYCHOLOGY]

BIO:

The higher you soar, the lonelier it becomes. There was a time when it hurt. Like a sliver in your heart. Like fingers frozen in a winter storm. Like bleeding to death for the redness of a rose. Struggle ruled during that time. Nowhere was your home, because homes were too ... somewhere. Your limbs carried your body, but your body was not your own. Your thoughts were kept captive, for there was no one willing to understand them. You tried to comply, to oblige, to obey, to carry gemstones to those in need, but the attempts all failed. They failed because their was no benefit to you, so success was never but a word, a hollow concept tossed across a dining room too small to fly freely in it. And then, one day, you discovered yourself, and learnt that the ties holding you down, were never as strong as the wings carrying you. 

You flew careful at first, covered in the darkness of the night. Then higher and higher, learnt skills no one would expect you to master, acquired knowledge so specific and deep that no one knew to converse with you about them. And eventually you flew into freedom, and the people who looked up to you now, admiring your talent, your ease, the way you made them believe in their dreams again, gasped as they heard your laugh for the first time. Happiness came with the knowledge of making others happy, happiness came with the knowledge of making yourself happy, but it died when you realised that there was no one to share it with. Yet you did not dare to turn back to where you came from. The higher you soar, the lonlier it becomes, yes, but at least you’re finally soaring.

TRAITS:

TALENTED • CONFIDENT • FREE-SPIRITED • DISTANCED • SILENT

CONNECTIONS:

ABOUT EAGLE: "Yes, I've been made aware that they like me, no, I have no interest in being Head of Cage with them. They think it's their birth right to be in a better position than they are right now, but honestly? No matter the position in the Volière, we couldn't be gifted a better life. So why want even more? Solely to brag with it? I wish that they could appreciate what they got instead of always demanding more."

ABOUT ALBATROSS: "My big buddy. They worry so much about who others might think they are, that they end up being no one at all. If only I could show them how to close their eyes and just listen to their heart, to spread their wings and fly to whatever dream they truly foster... Sometimes when they think no one's watching, they smile, and it's the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.”

ABOUT SEAGULL: "Seagull is so loud, they don't even notice how everyone around them is forced to silence. It can be nice to not being expected to talk yourself but they easily reach the limit and make everything exhausting. And while they do know how to enjoy their time in the Volière, they're way too materialistic for my taste."

                                  「 CUCKOO 」

       [18]  •  LEGACY •  UNCAGED •  [BUSINESS]

BIO:

If it doesn't fit, shrink it until it does. You were born into a world of glamour, pomp and flaboyancy. You were born there and grew into the ugliest stain your family had ever had to endure. If their history was a beautiful tapestry made of the richest of wools, you were a single loose thread attracting all attention and ruining the image. You were a black sheep, a coffee stain, the shame and embarrassment of people too proud to admit that you could possibly be their fault. So they pushed you into the shadows, hid you from the flash light of curious eyes, and told everyone there had been a mistake. They still pretended to treat you like their equal, but of course thought you so much less. You felt it. Their disgust. Their disappointment. Their carelessness. From afar you watched them, feeling too big and too clumsy for this nest of filigree luxury, and tried to fit. Tried to fit into the space they offered you. Tried to be grateful. Tried to make yourself invisible.

And then it happened. That thing. One night. And your world expanded. No, you thought, if I don't fit then not because I am too big, but because their world is too small, and so you changed it all. You grew. You held your head up high. You strolled and waltzted and bristled up, showed your horns, transformed, changed into who you had always meant to be. Alas, they flinched away from you as you entered with fierce pride, and you took it with snide. This was your world as much as it was theirs, and you would not rest and until it was ready to accomodate you. Walls would be broken, doors enlarged, feasts adjusted, robes made look grand. What did it matter if you looked like a thief stealing what wasn't rightfully yours? What did it matter that they talked behind your back? What did it matter that obstacle after obstacle stood in your way? You knew this was where you belonged and you would not rest until everyone was ready to accept it. If you didn't fit, then the world around you would have to aggrandize.

TRAITS:

MANIPULATIVE • EGOCENTRIC • LOUD • WITTY • SKILLED

CONNECTIONS:

ABOUT PEACOCK: "Look at them. Dazzling, graceful, breath-taking extravaganza in person. They're possibly the most majestic person I've ever seen. They remind me of home. I hate it. All this shallowness, incapable of seeing past outward appearances... I’ll make sure they won’t stand in my way into the Volière because of that. Or they’ll get into big troubles.”

ABOUT PARROT: "It’s funny, because Parrot’s got all the changes to make it into the Volière. They’re pretty, intelligent, and from the right family. And still I doubt they will make it. Why? Because they don’t know how to play their cards. Hm. Maybe I’ll help them. Or maybe I’ll make sure it stays just like that.”

ABOUT PIGEON: "Yeah, what about them? Yeah, it's true, I went to school with them for years, it's true, we did kind of ... liked each other at one point, but that was when I wasn’t who I am yet. They decided to be content with the dirt they were pushed into, it’s not my fault. I wanted more, so I left them behind. What of it?”

                                  「 PARROT 」

        [22]  •  Legacy •  UNCAGED •  [PHYSICS]

BIO:

They called you a white canvas, all plain with nothing on it. A blank sheet of paper. A TV left turned off, a Christmas tree with no decoration, a snowman without carrotty nose. Nothing to feel, nothing to hear, nothing to see, that's what you are. They called you so because your whole life you kept your thoughts to yourself, discussed your opinions only in the shower with your lips pressed closed, let your wishes and dreams escape only inbetween the pages of your journal. Not because they were secrets. Not because there was no one willing to be shared them with. Not because uttering them out loud scared you. But simply because you weren't aware they were worth sharing. Your thoughts, the sum of all thoughts around you in this universe ever thought. What were they worth? Everyone knew so much more than. Everyone dreamed so much bigger. Everyone demanded things so much more fiercely. So you listened, and you listened, and you nodded, and you nodded. After all, they called you worthless, so surely you were?

Trust. You don't know it yet. But it is trust in yourself that you lack. You're smart, skilled and careful, but the time came when they started placing words into your mouth. You thought them more important than the ones coming from inside your mind, as their reasons seemed logical, the opinions thorougly inspected, the dreams not cheesy and shameful, and so you agreed and spoke them. Nodded and nodded and nodded. You opened your mouth like a ventriloquist's puppet until their minds were believed to be yours. Believed by others first, eventually by yourself, too. A dummy, that was who you were, ready to be positioned the way others thought would be the wisest way. You became their mean of execution, and unlearnt to be your own. They call you a white canvas, but what they always forget, is that all paintings once started out as no more and no less.

TRAITS:

LOYAL • INTELLIGENT BUT • PASSIVE • COLOURFUL • UNDERESTIMATED

CONNECTIONS:

ABOUT EAGLE: "The first time I saw them I thought, oh wow. I guess if they're the standard by who gets into the Volière, I will never make it. They're so confident, so talented, so ... mighty. I'm none of that. Weirdly, though, they're also very kind. I can't shake the feeling off that maybe they could help me become a little more like them..."

ABOUT OWL: "They're not very friendly but their intelligence is immense. It’s as though they knew everything about anything. We went to prep school together and sometimes our teachers paired us up for projects. I can't count the amount of evenings we spent together in the library, flying high on wild theories and interpretations of books we've read. It’s not like we’re friends, I don’t think they have many friends, but-... But I enjoy their company. Though ever since we made it to Whitebridge, and I mentioned the Volière, they suddenly seem very uninterested in hanging out with me."

ABOUT CUCKOO: "Now, I guess they're not very well liked by the others, but they sure are determined, aren't they? I've seen them only that one time before the first interview, and I can already see they've got what it takes. Maybe if I act a bit more like them, I'll have better chances? Then again, I should probably avoid them, before they think I'm in their way."

                                  「 SHRIKE 」

       [19]  •  Legacy •  UNCAGED •  [PRE-LAW]

BIO:

Destruction to those who bring destruction upon others. Death in this world was everywhere of course, the stench crawling into your nose whether you were peacefully asleep or wide awake, listening into the bleakness of the days, holding your breath out of fear to make a sound and draw attention to your weak determination. It was everywhere, but so much of it peaked right before your eyes. The end of beauty. Destroyed. You couldn't bare it. Your heart so soft and fragile, confronted with spikes of hatred. No matter where you looked, gullible people were used, their possessions stolen, their hopes crushed. Money poured like water in fountains, smiles were pulled up in front of the suffering, selfishness to a point that even cakes weren't cut to be shared but baked in smaller forms so everyone could have their own. Destruction. Nothing was safe. Nothing was spared. Nothing was left intact. You hated it, feared it, never knowing when your turn would be, and eventually you decided to change it. Their fate. Your fate. It had to change.

No. Destruction would not stop. On the contrary. Destruction had yet to commence. Hearts beating too rapidly until they didn't anymore. That was your goal. There was no going back, only self-justice until the world was cleansed. Cleansed of those who ruined, who ignored, you refused. The destruction had been one sided until now, but now it was their turn to drop like flies. Drop their hopes, their possesions, and finally perhaps even their precious lives. No one ever even suspected you of your crimes, too small, plain and nice was how they called you, and it became your greatest strength. Ruthlessness with no apologies or fears, that was who you became; your name, hollowed out from inside out. And now that the destroyers have been punished, it is time to turn to those who will one day destroy just the same way. The rich. The powerful. The selfish. They meet up while still young, while still innocent, but their future is predictable. Like wasps they gather in nests. Destroy the nest, and you destroy their future destruction. Yes. Death to those who bring death upon others.

TRAITS:

SWEET-LOOKING • UNAPOLOGETIC • RUTHLESS • BRUTAL • CONFIDENT

CONNECTIONS:

ABOUT HUMMINGBIRD: "There is such an energy to them, I-... I've know them for a while, we met when we were still children dragged along to our parents' charity events. I mean ... "met". We were never introduced. But I always kind of admired them. They're reckless and unapologetic, and I love how they're holding the Volière's strings without anyone quite noticin. It's just sad they're not using that power to put an end to that whole travesty."

ABOUT CANARY: "Have you ever seen anyone less naive, mindless and idiotically pretty? No? Me either. They're the epitome of those traits, it's almost funny. Not that that's something bad, of course. I guess it's nice to see someone as untainted by the ugliness of this world. What I just don't understand is why someone like them would want to join the Volière - them and their kind who are the reason for said ugliness.

ABOUT CUCKOO: "Now that's what I call someone with the right mindset. Eyes on the prize and no hostages taken! They don't care about looks and names either, which is great, it's like they truly know what this world needs. Then again, it seems like their prize is getting into the Volière. But who knows, maybe if I can prove them that the others would never accept their type, they'll help me destroy that prison from the inside."

                                 「 MOCKINGBIRD 」

        [19] •  NEITHER  •  UNCAGED •  [COMPSCI]

BIO:

When pushed into the shade, you've got no choice but to befriend the shadows. At first, it was a life spent together, spent in the sun, in the heat of a summer holiday's afternoon, it was a life full of perks and sheep clouds passing easily by. Popscicles eaten on lawn chairs, music played from old radios, shoes blackened to make them look sleek and expensive. It was a good life. A sunny life. But then you watched him grow bigger than you, faster than you, brighter than you, and you were left behind. Pushed off your seat, off your place, off your rightfully earned spot in the sun. He had everything, everything he wanted, everything he needed, yet everything you deserved just as much. He was holding his face up to the sun while you stood in his shadow, shivering, while he was glowing of Summer. Quickly, you learnt how fast warmth can turn into ice when you're forgotten in the shade. Too quickly.

You had no choice. If they didn't see you on top, you had to own the bottom with pride. You had to pull your lawnchair there, and sit where others flinched. Not because you wanted to, but because you had to. And you had to make them believe that it wasn't because you had to, but because you wanted to. Crossing your arms you made them believe you were the one refusing the spot in the sunshine. Snark became your parasol, scoffs and eyerolls your dark-tainted glasses, rebellion against everything too bright your suncream. It was easy not to shiver when you were the one to order the cold. At least you wanted to believe that. One could almost think you were born all the way down there by the way you had chosen to fight a war against all the light up here. That no one comprehended, you didn't care. You had chosen your spot, and you held it with pride. After all, when accepting the shade, the shadows at least offered you one of their seats.

TRAITS:

DOWN-TO-EARTH • DISINGENUOUS • SARCASTIC • CYNICAL • REBELLIOUS

CONNECTIONS:

ABOUT DOVE: “If they make the peace sign at me one more time, I'm going to snip of their fingers myself. Seriously. I mean, politically, they're not wrong. And they're not stupid either. In fact, I'm sure that out of the whole Volière bunch, they'll be the most educated. But gosh, how can they be so naive? It's not with peace and love and lots of hope that all that shit is just going to get better.”

ABOUT PARROT: "They make me laugh. They're such a good example of everything that's wrong with the Volière. You got perfectly intelligent kids, good-looking, hard-working, and genuinely nice kids, and this idea of having to be on top of the world makes them dumb, parroting and ruinous. If I could just grab them by their shoulders and be like: Hey, buddy, you're beautiful enough, stop trying to be someone you're not...”

ABOUT SHRIKE: "Sometimes I think out of all the invited students, I'm the only one who hates the idea of the Volière. And I guess at first I thought Shrike was just like everyone else too, but ... now I'm not so sure. I know them from somewhere, a long while ago, and I can't shake the feeling like they hate all this as much as I do. I'll have to get to know them, that's for sure.”