Dove

Mockingbird's only biological child. Very withdrawn and shy, he has trouble opening up to people, even his closest friends, not helped by the fact that Mockingbird treats him very poorly. CW for parental neglect and abuse in the following description.

Dove lives in a minibus but Mockingbird wishes his son spent more time with his old man to which Dove is like “NO I HAVE MY OWN LIFE” (maybe he’s trying to compensate for the time not spent when Dove was a child but who knows). Dove is a musician, much like Mockingbird used to be, his childhood was spent pretty lonely when being homeschooled and being surrounded by birds, alive or dead. His father was barely around and the few adults he’d meet were either his nannies or Mockingbird’s weird friends. Around the time he started college he really longed to see the outside world and eventually he’d go touring with his band and he’s kind of a restless soul. Mockingbird travels because of work, while Dove travels because he feels it’s in his blood, so he feels pretty antsy staying in one place, especially his father’s penthouse apartment, but that’s because of their complicated relationship.

When pried about his personal life, Dove becomes testy and irritable and wants to change the subject. He believes that if he exposes himself, he only gets hurt. He admired his father as a child, despite being distant and they'd meet rarely in the weekends or Mockingbird would drop by unannounced or not show up at all as minimum effort as a father. By the time Dove tried reaching out to his father again as an adult, Mockingbird became clingy and manipulative. Dove blames himself and Mockingbird makes no effort to comfort him. Mockingbird is only affectionate when it suits him, and it leaves Dove in a very precarious position.

Some of Dove's favorite things are making music, he dedicates his life to writing and performing his music, while he was certainly encouraged by his father as a child to pursue a musical career and Dove can certainly play a number of instruments and has a well-trained singing voice, he wants to be an independent musician with nothing to do with his father's record company or professional studios which Mockingbird wasn't pleased by and would insult Dove's work in attempt to discourage him. Thankfully Dove isn't phased by that and is in fact more resolved to keep doing his own thing, even if he does feel indebted to his father. In a sense, Dove feels less like a whole person in his own right but rather a vessel for Mockingbird to build expectations on, which doesn't help Dove's poor self-esteem at all. Notice how much of his description is in relation to his father? Argh!

One of Dove's closest friends is Meena Misra, lead guitarist and manager of their band , and even then, when she tries to reach out to him, Dove rebuffs her affectionate gestures. She has her own problems to deal with which Dove listens to patiently, but Meena can't help but feel that their relationship feels one-sided and she's worried he doesn't trust her even when reassuring her this is not the case.

All in all, Dove's a depressed mess of a young man who wants to find his place in the world.