Byrd (AUs)

-snuck into scarlett's house once in search of her classmates (who peer pressured her into coming)
-gets caught by scarlett (who at this point is kind of a rebellious teen trying to live up to the standards of her father but also not really) and gets taken to her room
-scarlett's kinda like 'lol im bored' so she just wants to chill with the person who just broke into her house
-byrds like hmm. hmmmmm. stressed the fuck out and also learns that she just broke into the hq for the local mob, which is swell
-time passes and suddenly they here a commotion downstairs and byrd gets shot by two different people
-one by chi (whose bullet nicked her cheek and ear) and the other by a mysterious gunman (this bullet hit her stomach)
-stuff happens, she gets taken to the hospital and scarlett kinda. stays with her since she's never actually seen someone get shot up close and she's worried
-anyways after byrd is discharged, they stay in touch. byrd would rather not but it was a request from etcher, who was investigating scarlett's dad and wanted to find out who the new boss was
-they end up. getting along decently actually. and also byrd eventually finds out who the new boss is
-this au is really a 'byrd doesnt get emotionally and physically scarred in this au and she just kinda chills'

-works as a servant/blood bag for etcher
-really kind of just a background character watching the antics the vampires get up to

-no i refuse to elaborate on the name also i havent thought of a name yet this is a new au
-byrd and scarlett's meeting but it goes a bit better for byrd (no traumatic injuries. maybe some psychological ones idk)
-Canonically byrd and her. colleagues? acquaintances? sneak into scarlett's circus for fun (found a document in their boss' office and thought it would be thrilling, byrd wasn't involved in this but they needed one more person for some reason i guess. glad that after all these years i still haven't worked out this part) and scarlett mistakes them for etcher's lackeys and horrifically tortures them. leaving byrd alive to send a message, as is her usual m.o.
-canonically when scarlett sees them she is already wavering, they're acting unlike her expectations and part of her had wondered if they're really etcher's people, they're too young
-and this is where i break away from canon. scarlett decides to show mercy (for once lmao)) but she doesnt trust them so keeps byrd as a collateral in case they do any funny business while she works out who they really are.
-so this is also where i need to start thinking about byrds relationship with the other 3 peeps. so one is like, a friend she likes being around but not the best friend kind and the other two are like friend of a friend who she sticks around because she doesn't want to be alone. to be honest though, given the distance, byrd does not really care about them, she struggles to get to know people so she doesn't have a lot of people she's really close around.
-(this right here is what makes the original canon already complicated. like kind is she in the face of death to others?)
-anyway she's kind enough. or maybe it's just a front. who knows? maybe she just kinda wants to have a joker moment. lmaooo
-christ anyway continuing on, byrd is kept under heavy supervision at scarlett's place, and the entire crew sorta minus chi is extremely apprehensive or distrustful towards her, on account of their previous experiences with etcher. chi not so much because she's only heard but not experienced what it was like
-scarlett makes byrd help out around the place to earn her keep, and she gets to know chi a bit (and also chi was the only one willing to actively talk to byrd) and the crew slowly starts to warm up towards her
-meanwhile scarlett occasionally interrogates byrd a bit and obviously gets nothing.
-ok so thats the background, byrd is being kept as a de facto prisoner under scarlett, and i suppose she slowly starts to forget that fact as she acclimates into working there
-(side note but she doesn't know exactly what scarlett does, just that she does crimes tm)
-and i guess scarlett starts??? enjoying having her around, they accidentally settle into a routine that gets too comfortable
-and finally byrd finds it
-and scarlett finally remembers why she was keeping her
-this is the main crux of the au. theres no story (yet)
-byrd walks into the building that scarlett does her business (of murder) in, which, like, no one actually told her to stay away from, she just noticed that no one ever goes there except for scarlett and didn't question it
-and she sees the scalpels and scissors and the body parts frozen there. and shes just. morbidly mesmerised
-scarlett finds her in the room, stood still and oddly calm
-i dont wanna continue this right now but this is like. au where byrd has to come to terms with her morality, she always worries about being a kind, caring, altruistic person, creating an image to everyone else, doing stuff for others just for the brownie points, but she sees the bodies and grapples with the fact that she's utterly and absolutely fascinated
-basically corruption arc AU i guess LOL

• my one (1) favourite type of character
• um. Reverse!Byrd, still works as Etcher's aide, and Etcher has a soft spot for her
• She's  arrogant, selfish, and mostly only lives for her own survival and  entertainment. She likes to act sweet and nice, but she could not care  less about anyone
• (well, most people. She hates to admit it, but there are a few she'd hesitate to maim)
• Like in canon, she used to work at Cape co, in a branch office, doing deskwork. Her team was fine. Good, hardworking people
• (but not to Byrd. She found them obnoxious)
• All three of them died, in quick succession, in what could only be called  accidents. A fall from the 4th floor of the building killed Charlotte,  after the railing gave out (no one had noticed the severed artery in her  neck). Bridget drowned in the harbour, after an uncharacteristic  fainting spell (her windpipe mysteriously crushed). Jay was poisoned, in  the middle of the day, in a room full of people. 
• Now, this one was actually poison, and because it was so sloppy, the authorities (Etcher. and co.) were called. 
• No  one had suspected Byrd of anything prior to their arrival, and Byrd had  continued to put up an act of fear to really rub it in. 
• Somehow, a few days after Etcher came, a few general inquiries and interviews,  Byrd felt the atmosphere change. Rumours flying around that her team was  cursed, that Byrd was cursed, only fated to bring death upon anyone she  talked to. It felt... absurd, but people were starting to give her  looks, and avoid her.
• And when Etcher finally called her into a private meeting (moreso an interrogation), she finally realises that  she's been found out
• With a mixture of praise and threats,  Etcher convinces Byrd to come work for her. Personally. Her type of  cunning and skill was a valuable asset to Etcher, it seemed.
• ---
• For  the most part, as Etcher's aide, Byrd's job wasn't too different from  her old one (more fucking paperwork). But the working environment was  cut-throat, and Byrd's sadistic tendencies thrived there.
• Her personality really meshed with Etcher, always knowing exactly what her boss wanted to hear.
• She  knows how to do magic here, having actively practiced it when she was  younger. (it's somewhat similar to Canon Jade's magic, putting out  feelers to grasp the layout of the environment. But Reverse!Byrd isn't  able to hold it around a large area. Instead, she was able to hone in on  a small place, with surgical precision, and just nudge things around.  Or break them. Barely any visual flair, but it sometimes manifests as a  white smoke.)
• Thinks Scarlett is pathetic. She's so strong, and so commanding, so what is she doing, cowering in fear? 
• Thinks  Jade is annoying. She used to know Jade as a child, but grew bored of  her as they grew up. She's so naive, so trusting, it makes her sick.  (and she hates how kind Jade is towards her)
• Thinks Leon is...  also annoying. He always came along with Jade, and they'd snark at each  other until it became a familiar habit. Leon hates her now though,  having been on the receiving end of a few of her.. 'punishments'
• She  likes Etcher! Best Boss Ever! Yeah!!! And there are good moments and  scary moments as she buries the feelings deep, deep, deep down in her  heart, screaming at her that she'll die because of her someday.
• ---
• When  Scarlett and Jade escape, she's there, throwing jabs at them, a gun  pointed at them (like it would've done anything). She hesitates, she  talks more, something stopping her from shooting. Jade is pulling at  Scarlett to just run away, but Scarlett-
• The ice skewers her,  cutting through her flesh easily, a disgusting sound as it  disintegrates. She's left there to bleed out, desperately holding her organs in with her magic, and she knows she's going to die then and there, Etcher wouldn't allow such a monumental fuck up like that-
• For some reason that escapes her, like she still didn't expect it from the way Etcher treated her, she's gently carried to the infirmary, where she's stitched back together, painfully awake for every moment of it as she held herself together-
• She wakes up a few days later, and Etcher is by her side. She's berated, scolded, and bafflingly, Etcher pulls her into a hug, kind and warm. For someone who answered mistakes with violence, here Etcher was, just hugging her, crying. That after all the violence Byrd had committed in her name, she finally gains her trust and love.
• And isn't that just such a wonderful feeling, if Byrd could care to return them.
• -----
• It takes Byrd a few days to wake up, a few weeks for the organs roque forced into her body to stop being rejected
• (how did they get organs to transplant on such short notice? ... don't ask.)
• Every minute, with every step, she feels like she's going to hurl. The feelings of hands inside her body, shifting her organs as she was helpless to stop it, it haunts her
• Roque is there behind her, constantly, persistently. Obviously, Etcher told him to do that, posted a guard for her favourite little toy, but Byrd knows that if it were up to him, he would've let her die on that table
• The fact that the sight of the doctor's face makes her feel guilt, is something she refuses to accept, replacing it only with an anger that she couldn't explain
• And Etcher. Etcher is patient, kind, uncharacteristically soft. She dotes on her, helps her recuperate, helps her sleep peacefully at night. 
• Etcher is doing something to her, something that makes her forget herself, that makes her waking days undiscernable to a dreamless sleep
• She starts to remember things that never really belonged to her. Memories of a fuzzy childhood, a sanguine life that she never lived, a beloved sibling that she never had.
• She remembers the hands wrapped around her neck, the crushing grip in her digits as she looked at her, and she looked at her, and the fear and pain and betrayal
• Who is she again?
• Who was I again?
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• notes: she has continued developing in my head. disjointed notes heehoo. 
• likes to be like 'i'm just a little guy 🥺🥺🥺' if she's about to get punched. 
• really only thriving because of the exact environment she's in. take her out of it and she becomes a lot more pathetic
• liked to antagonize leon a lot, while he was still there. A lot of pointed jabs, some physical bullying, always threatening to make shit up to Etcher so he get punished.
• (funnily, it's exactly because she's there that Leon decided to expedite his plans to escape)
• When Leon left, Byrd actually got punished for 'not catching it earlier'. Byrd thought it was bullshit, that it was humiliating, that Jacey had to watch- it's a chip on her shoulder ever since
• maybe i can flesh this out when i actuallly flesh julien out more but. she's closer to julien (in the more genuine human connection way) than she is to etcher
• Has no ghosts in this au (despite actually. being at fault for killing those 3. HA) so less being haunted by actual ghosts
• instead she's haunted (figuratively) by someone else's ghost. she's never met that person ever before in her life.