Byrd

Byrd, Etcher's current aide and someone just trying to move on from the very literal ghosts in her past

Story
Byrd's early life was relatively normal, if a little lonely. She was always the kid who'd hide away and read instead of playing with the others, and she often found socialising exhausting, partly because she didn't really know how to do so. She'd tried to connect in other ways though, by helping out others with little favours and whatnot, which resulted in a lot of the townsfolk seeing her in a positive light. So she was pretty friendly with a lot of them.
She met Jade and Leon after seeing the latter by the sea with a cut across his nose, crying his eyes out. Seeing the two too flustered to tend to the wound, Byrd helped them out, and they eventually formed a little friend group, with Jade and Leon showing her their latest magic tricks and Byrd talking about her books and drawings.
Eventually, as Byrd grew up, she saw the 2 less and less, and getting the sense that they were cutting her off, she stopped asking to meet up. (Eventually, before the whole incident, she does finally meet Jade again, and finds out that she's a mob boss now, and Jade didn't want Byrd getting mixed up in her work. Byrd is a little saddened to hear that this was the reason they drifted apart, she wouldn't have cared what Jade does anyway)
And well, entering adulthood, she found work at a recently opened office of an Aithoran company doing paperwork. Like before, she was shy and introverted, always doing favours for others as a means of connecting with her coworkers.
One day, she was approached by J (name. sigh. pending despite him existing for. what. 6 years? idk). As someone with a lot of good standing to their supervisors, Byrd was in a very prime position to ask (steal) for some documents that J had his eyes on. Promising that it was important (it's not) and that he'd make it up to her (he wouldn't), Byrd begrudgingly agreed and managed to get her hands on the file and handed it to J, but not before giving it a read herself. The documents itself was sparse, but told of people going missing around a Circus Firefly in the area, a certain suspect, and simply warned to not go near it. J, blowing this warning off, decided it would be fun to visit this circus, hence him asking Byrd for the files.
Byrd tried to convince J not to go, but was ignored. And as J and his friends left for the night, Byrd decided to quietly follow them. If something went wrong, if they got hurt, she would never forgive herself for giving them the file. After all, she's the one who technically instigated the whole chain of events, wasn't she?
She tails them on the train, into the path leading up to the circus, and as she watches them foolishly announce their intention, she runs out towards them and lies that she was the one who sent them to the circus (technically true if you think about it), sensing the hostile atmosphere from the circus owner and performers once they opened their mouths. She begs the owner that they don't know anything, that they're just some stupid kids who were looking for fun, to please let them go, they have no quarrel with the circus. This last phrase seems to set the circus owner off, and they are knocked out and taken captive.
Byrd doesn't quite remember the next 7 weeks. Just small blips of torture for information she lied about having, her killing J and his 2 friends with her own hands, and just a cesspool of guilt and regret, regretting that she didn't just say no for once in her goddamn life.
She's taken away by Jade, sent to a hospital in the city after the latter probes her memory and realises who she is.
As Byrd spends the next 2 weeks in a coma, Etcher gets wind of the fact that someone, under her company's name, went to the circus and was hospitalised because of it.

Personality
Even before the incident, she was always a shy and quiet woman. She found it hard to talk to people, but was always willing to lend a hand and do a bunch of favours for others. And sometimes this backfired on her as some people would take advantage of it. but the brownie points, y'know
After the incident, she's become a lot more quiet, a lot less willing to lend a hand, a lot less interested in engaging with others. But she's slowly coming out of her shell though
She's not very emotional. Feels it a little less intense as other people, she thinks, but she's good at reading the room. She's also quite good at faking a smile, though it comes through as a little hollow on occasion.
Around people she's close to, she's still quiet, but makes an attempt to talk. It comes out a little stilted sometimes, since she's not as good as keeping a conversation flowing.

Magic
During her time in captivity, Byrd subconsciously trained her magic to detect a person's presence. It's similar to Jade's sense, except it's a lot less detailed, and a lot more sensitive to environmental changes (more in terms of atmosphere, a little bit of physical presence). It's sensitive enough that she's able to sense ghosts as well, which is handy considering she's got 3 of her own.

Relationships
Ayesha - Friend (tense), after Etcher employed Ayesha for whatever reason, Byrd saw her around a lot, and they find comfort in each other's presence. Byrd's still a little tense around her though, on account of her association with Scarlett.
Etcher - Boss, Etcher also helped Byrd recuperate after she was rescued. She's very grateful towards Etcher, and almost a little too loyal...
Jade - old childhood friend, they've drifted apart as they grew older, but would still greet each other on the streets. That was until Jade put her in a coma for 2 weeks following a month and a half of being held captive by Scarlett. She doesn't really know how to feel towards her now, but she does know that she's angry at her.

Other Notes
I'll be real with you, a lot of her story is just. me kicking her around. narratively. and then i realised somewhat recently that she uh. didn't have a lot in terms of characterisation. yeah.
i do feel a little bad about it. uh.