Profile
| Name | Maverick Cady, "Birdie" |
| Age | ??? |
| Pronouns | Any |
| Species | Human |
| Location | Angstrom |
| Story | TBA |
About
An AU where Maverick is raised by both of his parents in a bandit clan in the Angstromi wilderness. Also he looks way more like a bird than usual.
Between his mom’s carpentry skills and his dad’s magic the family was a huge asset to the clan and Mav WASN’T overly-ostracized despite being monstery(and everyone was prepared for him to be magic as well). So he would say he has a happy life.
When the world starts coming undone, there's really nothing to do but carry on as usual. Stars start blinking out of the sky and it's harder to navigate, but they make do. The sky is pitch black and the air is saturated with a trembling sense of doom, but there are still goats to feed and normal things to defend against. The sky tears open and gravity becomes...inconsistent. It's good they don't live on the coast because the earthquakes and tsunamis come too frequently for anyone there to recover. At this point it's difficult to carry on and a lot of the days are spent huddled together in prayer trying to come to terms with their impending extinction.
And then the universe tells Birdie that this is somehow his fault. Not him-him: another him, a him from another place who has risen to a level of existence high enough to challenge a god (and win, Birdie surmises from the general state of things). But the other him can't be here without Birdie to anchor him, and there’s no way he could be selfish enough to doom the world so he can at least die with his family around him, so Birdie says his goodbyes and lets himself be banished.
He doesn't know what to expect after, he isn't even sure if banishment is just a euphemism for execution, but he wakes in a world that is very similar to the one he left (aside from the fact it isn't falling apart at the seams like it's being swallowed by a black hole). He is found by a group of witches seeking refuge with the rebellion and joins them for lack of anything else to do(he has nothing but what he was wearing, and he left everyone he ever knew behind him to save the world).
As soul crushing as the complete loss of his entire life is, it's a pretty serious boon to the rebellion, having an agent who is COMPLETELY off the grid. He tells them the truth, and they believe him because why not, Ezra also claims to be a god & they're the leader. It occurs to him that if he is here and he anchored the other him to his last world, the other him may be here too. Having the favor of a self-proclaimed god is the closest Birdie can get to doing something to actively prevent another apocalypse. (The rebellion in itself is important too, in its aim to make the world a place that's actually worth saving).
In his work he encounters another him(well, a her), but after investigation it is definitely not the one he's looking to stop. She is very bad off though and Birdie does his best to rescue her from the same imprisonment he always feared in his life before.
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TBC
Personality & Outlook
Birdie is like….very mellow for a Maverick. Hardly keeps any grudges, not really prone to violent outbursts.
Sure he’s mad that his family lives a rough & dangerous life purely because they’d be imprisoned if they existed in any Angstromi city, but whatever! His family is safe & he feels like a real part of his community and on a base level he is driven by his personal connections.
Powers & Assets
Necromancer
A witch with a dark inclination, he's honed his power all his life. Mainly used to reanimate old bones to be used as pack animals or scouts, maybe lift heavy objects.
Chosen Savior
It's just his job to save the world now, apparently. And also everyone he feels a slight sentimental attachment to.
Relationships
Maverick [another me] Birdie lived in the wilds purely because his parents wanted him NOT to be stolen away from them & turned into a brainwashed little human battery. It was a constant background fear for Birdie, but for THIS Maverick it is her reality.
Even if it benefits nobody and actively inhibits his ability to remain useful to the rebellion(and thus in Ezra's favor), Birdie CAN NOT stop himself from rescuing her.
Godkiller [another me, bastard edition]
Ok so he's never actually met the guy, but anyone who's just going around obliterating worlds can't be a great person and Birdie is devoted to like...trying to talk him out of it or something? The guy can kill gods and break gravity there's really nothing else to feasibly do about it.
Lorant [partner in crime]
His assigned partner for rebellion work, just a weird kid who's good at technology and helpful for breaking into places. Feels strangely familiar.
Other Father [his dad, but not]
The first face he recognizes in his new world, and it fuckin suuuucks because Emanuel Does Not Recognize Birdie At All. And also he's in witch jail which is the nightmare scenario. Birdie breaks him out asap & WILL protect him even tho it is awkward. Birdie is also the one to tell him that he actually has a kid and introduce him to the other Maverick who is actually his child.
Ezra [valuable ally]
He stumbles into their good graces by chance, and he is doing his best to stay there. If he's going to beat Godkiller he's going to need a god's help, probably. Hopefully they will have a vested interest in stopping the apocalypse regardless of anything Birdie says or does, but they are erratic enough for him to worry about it. Surprisingly Ezra understands his decision to out himself as an enemy of the state in his rescue of Darkest and Emanuel. Unfortunately Ezra's much more politically competent advisors are not very happy with him.
Aesthetic
PLAGUE DOCTOR, but warm.
Trivia
Tidbits that aren't really important/don't fit anywhere else.
Q & A
Q: [Birdie & Darkest] are like a cute little bird family! Which one would you say is more like the older sibling? It seems to me like the one who is sometimes called birdie is more worried about their safety and wellbeing, but is that what you had intended?
A: (OOC) I never really thought of them in a sibling-like way, actually!! Now I'm wondering if they ever would come up with that,, I mean neither of them have siblings, so they can't really ascribe sibling-like as a quality of a relationship. Plus also they end up in some kind of romantic partnership & it's already weird without the pseudo-incest implication that would bring to the table.
Birdie knew going into it that he and Lady were alt versions of each other, a lot of his worrying about Lady comes from her situation being rampant with things that are super upsetting(both to decent people in general and to him specifically), so he's basically 'i have to save her if i don't want to have a panic attack for the rest of my fucking life', he can't see her as anything but himself. Which he knows is! P selfish and narcissistic of him but he's a lonesome person! It's just been him by himself for a long time and that will put keeping yourself safe & happy p far up on your priority list.
Lady also worries about Birdie, she's just quieter about it, cuz she doesn't think accusing him of being mentally ill is going to go over well if she wants this relationship to stay good(she's all about burning bridges but Birdie is different! She needs his help in the short term but also long term just wants to have him around even if he is off his rocker. Maybe they're the same person, maybe not, either way there is a real kinship there! They understand each other(or at least both have the same sensitive topics that they avoid so there's no need to be on guard all the time around each other,,). She doesn't think of him as a sibling but she would probably buy that they were cousins or something over Birdie's alt-selves story.
Really if I had to say one of them is the older sibling, I wouldn't be able to answer,,, Like they both need help and they both help each other and love each other, I think analogy-wise they'd be more like twins lmao
Q: How do other people respond to his looks? And how does he feel about the way people respond to him? I'm super curious about both his original and current universe and if there are any differences between how he's perceived, but you can pick just one too!
A: (OOC) Probably he just gets a lot of staring for the most part, maybe comparable to someone with a particularly large birthmark on their face? I mean there are also just assholes who will attack anything different, and certain cultures/regions might have superstition about corruption(Angstrom in particular associates it with magic which is seen as a dangerous/untrustworthy thing, so that's a thing he has to deal with), but mostly it's just staring. And Maverick even without corruption to deal with is just a self-conscious person, so Birdie just is super anxious about it! He doesn't wanna be looked at! Like he wants to go unnoticed to the extent that his personality has a more reserved tilt to it than his original universe self! He is less aggressive, quieter, less confident(or at least less willing to assert himself).
Artist Notes
- This image is the best reference
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