Story

Mentions: Drug use, manipulative behaviour

1991 - 2006

Iona was born in 1991, to Cliff Jacobs and Hannah Bonham, raised in a small flat on the outskirts of Denman. However, mere months after her birth, Hannah left them both for not-fully-understood reasons. Iona was a problematic and angry child, who took out her frustration on her father and her classmates. She was raised alongside Kai London, who she considered her best friend for most of her childhood. Kai's father, Dominic London, was close with Cliff. The two men played in a band together when they were both young, and far closer.
However, Cliff was not a happy man. Working a dead-end job and living paycheck to paycheck, he didn't spend much time with Iona, leaving her home alone far more often than he should have. He was quite depressed and mostly apathetic to the things in his life - something that Iona most certainly internalised. Iona began to learn that the best way to get attention was cause as much trouble as possible.
She spent a lot of time growing up at the London house, playing with Kai, watched over by Dominic and Indira London. On occasion, she'd stay with her grandparents, who'd usually sit her in front of a TV set and leave her to it.
Iona never really stopped thinking about her mum. She wondered long and hard about why her mum didn't want her in her life. She became desperate to contact her, convinced that if she heard from her daughter, that she'd change her mind, and come running back. She pestered her dad for contact details so she could send her mum letters, but Cliff didn't even know where she lived now. In fact, Cliff didn't say anything at the time, but he somehow doubted Hannah even had a home. Iona was very saddened by her lack of success, and her letters to her mum remained unsent.

Iona was always amazed to hear Dominic and her father talk about their days in the band. She'd pour through photos and gaze up at their instruments, singing alone in her bedroom until she came to the conclusion that she was Actually Really Good, and people should definitely be taking more notice of her. She decided that when she was a grown-up, she'd have her very own band, and that it would be the best ever.
Iona didn't do great in school. She was constantly in trouble with teachers for being rowdy, vandalising the school, petty bullying, and thieving from other students, to name several.
When she was older, she was suspended for smoking pot on the school grounds. However, despite all of this, she was never overwhelmingly popular. A few kids would hang out with her, but it was clear that they didn't like her - her company just made them feel cool, and they were fascinated by her ways.

By this point, her and Kai had officially started making music together. Dominic eagerly helped them with everything, from songwriting to guitar to chords and harmonies, most of which went way over their heads at this stage.
Iona decided that she would name her new band Snake Bitez, because she thought snake bites were really cool, and adding a z made it even cooler.

Not long after, Iona was introduced to Matthew Navarro, a friend of Kai's. She was uninterested in him at first, but eventually started to change her mind when she heard that Dominic had been teaching him some basics on the drums.
Eventually, she initiated Matthew into the band, too.

Iona was still thinking about her mum, and now that she was a little older, she was more capable of doing her own research. After months of ringing phone number after phone number, she found the one. Iona asked the woman on the other end if her name was Hannah Bonham. Hannah said yes. The second after Iona started excitedly introducing herself, Hannah hung up. The phone went dead. No further calls went through, no matter how much Iona tried. And tried she did. Hannah did not want anything to do with Iona.
Iona was distraught.

2006 - 2019

Iona started to make some pretty dodgy acquaintances. A friend of a friends brother was a drug dealer, and a friend of his, made fake IDs. Iona started to realise that she needed to make herself known, she needed to leave a mark on people's lives, on the world. When she left school, she got a generic retail job, but was fired after little more than a month. She jumped back and forth from shitty job to shitty job, all the while, delving deeper into the world that fascinated her so much, the twisting the rules, the drugs, the music, the money, the sex.
By this time she was already involved in hard drugs, but tried to keep her wits about her, not relying on them too heavily and seeing them primarily as a way of enhancing her already crazy nights out. Of course, it was dangerous out there. Iona's go-to places were some of the dodgiest in the county - but she knew that with Kai by her side, she'd be most likely left alone. All the same, Iona had her fair share of drunken brawls, throwing punches whilst tripping out on something funky.

Iona knew that Kai was her biggest asset, and she also knew exactly how to manipulate him. Iona soon seemed to be making every decision in his life, exercising absolute control. The power she felt, knowing that if she tried hard enough she could get him to do pretty much anything, was intoxicating to Iona, and she couldn't get enough of it. She began manipulating other people, using them as tools before their use was exhausted. She'd leave them, usually with a few drug-related issues that weren't present before.
One time in particular, a young woman called Abigail got dragged into their crowd. She immediately hit it off with Kai, and shortly after, the two began seeing each other. However, Iona didn't like the fact that Abigail was getting his attention. She deserved that attention. Iona started introducing harder drugs to her, and watched as Abigail became more and more reliant, until she was coming straight off the rails. Iona felt no guilt, nor empathy.
Unsurprisingly, Abigail and Kai's relationship came to a close, as Abigail found herself hardly able to function.

During all this time, Snake Bitez was still one of Iona's biggest priorities. They started playing in small bars. It was in this period that they were joined by bassist, Jules Bailey. They started playing for audiences of an increasing size, until finally, it seemed as though Iona's childhood dream was on the precipice of coming true.
A voice in the back of her mind told her that when they get really, famous, her mother would hear them on the radio. Then, she'd notice her.

Iona became more involved in crime, even managing to get on the wrong side of gang members in one way or another during her various expeditions. In 2017, her and Kai were apprehended at a bar by a very dangerous man, who threatened Iona into keeping herself out of his business - before he left, stabbing Kai as a warning.
Iona was greatly distressed by this, the real concern she felt for her friend an unfamiliar feeling. As much as she told herself this was because Kai was such a great asset to her life - and he was, there was definitely more to it than that. In truth, Iona was a little bit obsessed with Kai, relying on him for much, much more than she let herself admit.
He was in the hospital for a few weeks following this, and on one occasion, when Iona had come to see him, she had quite the encounter with his mum, Indira - who fully blamed Iona for what happened. Indira barred Iona from spending time at their house, and demanded that Iona stop spending time with her son.
Iona, of course, planned on doing nothing of the sort.

In fact, Snake bitez were practicing more than ever - despite Kai's strange new Partner. Wisely, Kai tried to keep Addison and Iona as separate as possible.

2020 -
This year, Iona's hard work with the band pays off - they get signed! Iona is absolutely on a high - she's over the moon. She puts her everything into the band, giving up on her dead-end retail jobs entirely. Her entire existence becomes about the music, and about spreading her image as far as possible. She feels confident and in control, happy that her nails are firmly dug into the boys of her band. The next year is when they release their album, Drain. However, shortly after, Jules resigns from the band.

Iona is furious that he could turn his back on them, and she becomes even more controlling of Kai and Matthew, getting them into various extremely hairy situations, with the law, with criminals, with many people. Iona is out of control. She's lost her mind.

They tour after the release of their album - but shortly after this, a particular event tips Kai over the edge, and he announces that he and Matthew, too, are leaving the band.
Iona goes ballistic, denial, bargaining, anger - the situation gets more intense, and Iona almost seriously hurts Matthew before Kai tosses her into a table, knocking her unconscious.

...Iona doesn't hear much else from Kai, Matthew, or Jules, not after the bands properties are split. She's a solo artist now, who is also in the midst of a mental breakdown and a bender than never seems to end.
Iona begins to become involved in gangs. This entire period of her life flashes by, years that Iona can eventually, hardly even recall. She's reliant on drugs, and is beginning to question everything about herself and her life. After a few realisations triggered by hallucogenics, Iona realises that nothing matters.
Then she realises she's pregnant.

At this moment, everything changes. Iona is desperate to keep this baby, to make sure it's healthy. Iona puts her everything into unborn child - feeling as though it is now her only purpose. She goes cold turkey, which is incredibly hard for her, but reaches out to a rehab program and finds herself a support network. She doesn't know the father, and doesn't care to know, either.
But Iona's bad desicions creep up on her, and a vicious druglord that Iona seriously pissed off during the years that were but a blur to her, bluntly, wants her dead. Iona realises that she needs to run away - so she makes her plans. Fake ID's, a new life in Australia. It sounds far-fetched, but Iona's plans really seemed to be working. Everything is set.
Iona Jacobs would dissappear.

Before Iona leaves the country to find her new life, she finds Kai - desperate to have one last conversation with the man that her life seemed to revolve around for most of her time on this earth. She starts to wonder if she loves him. Was she ever really controlling him, or was he controlling her?
Iona leaves the country.
Iona Jacobs ceases to exist.
...

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