Jamie Miller
31
He/him
Librarian
Phoenix
September 16
Nicholas Ferrarese
5'9" // 175 cm
Hazel
Red
A flaming feather covering his brand (see magic category)
Jamie is the kind of person who never leaves his house unless dressed up and immaculate. His shirts and pants are always ironed, and his ties (if wearing one) are always on point - it doesn’t matter if he’s going to work, hanging out with friends or just grocery shopping Sunday afternoon. Has he been told relax and that it would be alright to tone it down? Countless times. Does he listen? Never. For him, it isn’t about relaxation; it creates a sense of comfort and control he is dependent upon.
It’s not just his attire, though - it’s everything about him that is properly cared for and kept: hair, beard, nails, skin, you name it… He’s very picky, too, about the products he uses, and is very big on organic and natural ingredients, that are harmless to both himself and the environment.
If Jamie had to describe himself using only one word, it would be 'organised'. He likes to be in control of any given situation, although he has never seen himself as a leader. Others, however, might prefer the word 'finicky' - they're likely not that far off, even if he would never agree.
Despite being both an introvert and closely guarded, he thoroughly enjoys socialising. Okay, no, it’s not always entirely obvious, but he really does. That said, he’s very picky about the people he chooses to trust and call ‘friend’, and not everyone takes the time or has the patience required to get behind his armour. He’s always quick with a sarcastic remark, and while it’s not always meant as harshly as it might sound, he doesn’t bother to make sure the people around him know that. This means he can also come off as a bit stoic, and he does nothing to prevent it.
On the other hand, when Jamie cares, he cares fully and very deeply. Once you do work your way through all of his bullshit, you have a friend who would walk through fire for you.
Jamie is incredibly invested in the Supernatural community. That isn’t to say he thinks humans are inferior in any way, it’s nothing like that - it’s just not where his interest is focused. If anything, he has a slight grudge against vampires and ghouls, but that is based mostly on some of the notes he has dug up over the years and not any actual experience in this lifetime, and thus he tries not to be too coloured by it.
Yes, Jamie is generally a pretty proud person, but something he takes particularly great pride in, is his work. Not many things are more important to him, especially not when he is at the library, and though he would never, ever admit it, he is motivated by the healthy competition he has with a certain coworker.
Jamie’s biggest interest, which seems to have been a recurring theme in several of his lifetimes, is history - especially supernatural history. The way certain events have shaped not only nations, but the individual as well, or how a single person - one little action - can set off a chain of events… The speculations on where we would be today if anything had been different. While he’s not exactly the humblest of persons, he by no means consider himself an expert or a scholar; those are terms he finds are much overused today.
Stubborn, passionate, thoughtful
Stubborn, sarcastic, closed off
Gay
Look, it can be a challenge, but it's not impossible to befriend Jamie. He's not a super social person to begin with, but he does deep conversations, and quiet evenings with or without company. As a general rule, he doesn't form bonds with humans - they're too fragile, and he ends up caring about close friends too much to want to watch them grow old and die. Because once he cares, he fully and truly cares, and he will do anything for you.
There are bound to be people who don't like Jamie, someone he's offended or insulted, likely not intentionally but it's also likely he really doesn't care. So long as you don't go after the few people he does care about, he's happy to pretend you don't exist, and it doesn't require even the slightest effort.
History
Mother: Primrose Miller (phoenix)
Father: Basil Miller (human, deceased)
Primrose, with not a penny to her name or any genius achievement to brag of, married into a wealthy family at just twenty-one. Basil, ten years older than his new wife and having studied the supernatural world for half of his life, was absolutely smitten. He worked at Nightfall, through which they had initially met. Basil was killed in a car crash when Jamie was just three years old, and so the young Phoenix has been raised primarily by his mother, who now has her own position at Nightfall.
As the rest of his father’s family were opposed to the union, he has no contact with any of them, and no interest in trying to establish anything. On the other hand, he’s very close to his mother’s side of the family, though it’s small.
September 16
Snow Haven, Alaska
Librarian, historian
“Yeah, it sucks to care about something. Every time you do, it has a bad ending.”
Jamie Miller was born a Phoenix. How many times has he been reborn? Who cares and who’s counting. Well, the truth is Jamie does care, he just doesn’t remember. He would love to adopt the philosophy that this life is all that matters, but can never truly convince himself. Perhaps caring about his past is how he developed an interest in history, or perhaps his interest in history is why he cares so much about the past.
Now, Jamie's passion for history is by no means something new, and that's about the only thing he knows for certain about himself - not as Jamie of this cycle, but as the Phoenix that is his essence. Jamie has managed to keep a collection of journals - tomes, if you will - of some of his past lives. As a teen he begun having flashes of memory of his previous life, particularly of this unshakable need to record any major events. With time he remembered where the record had been hidden and how to access it, finding with it similar texts from other lives. It feels like reading about someone else, and he doesn't recognise much of himself in many of them, but they're important to him. He can only assume that he has gone about it the same way each time to assure they were found by only him.
In this collection, Jamie has records of seven different lives, but no way of knowing how many he went through before starting this tradition, or if any were skipped in between. They are not as detailed as he might have liked them to be, and some are even difficult to decipher due to language barriers and sheer age of the texts. Another challenge is that some of them seem to be written in code.
Jamie has exceptionally few memories of his father. Actually, he has only one: the two of them sitting on the porch swing, talking (in that particular way a parent and their 3 year old can have a conversation) about life, the stars and the future. It was the night before Basil died. Anything else he remembers involving his father are memories of loss, grief and chaos. He didn’t understand until much later what all of it meant.
Basil left Primrose and Jamie everything he had, much to the dismay and anger of the rest of his family. It took years (and involvement from Nightfall) for them to lay off and leave the two of them alone, so they could properly work through the tragedy. But all the money in the world cannot buy happiness, and it took a very long time for Prim to realise that; she had never picked Basil for his money, but now that she had it, she experimented with ways it could bring her even a moment of joy. It never did, of course.
Jamie grew up never wanting for anything: he could have what he wanted, be what he wanted. His successes were - and still are - his mother’s greatest achievement and the only thing that has managed to make her truly happy. He was never taught to feel like he was above anyone else however, just to hold on to his own values.
For as long as he can remember, Jamie has wanted to be surrounded by books. “Knowledge is power” has always rung true for him, and what better to live by that than become a librarian? The few people he lets into his home almost always have a witty remark about how he already has his own personal library, but this is just what makes him feel at home.
Without admitting it, he can even tolerate the presence of one Shaun Morrison at work - his job is too important to let that deter him from it. What’s making it truly difficult is that now he has responsibility for the new Phoenix, and even worse, that even though he blames the other, he knows deep down what happened is his own fault.
Fully aware, always has been
Jamie’s control over his ash magic is quite strong and for the most part controlled - especially the more destructive abilities - but as he is the kind of person who has a bit of a temper which is mostly internal, it can fluctuate in waves and get a bit out of control/“spill over” when he’s feeling unusually strong emotions (which, granted, doesn't happen that often). The healing and light manipulation, while not at all weak, are not as potent but also easier to control when things get difficult. His shifts never give him trouble.
Jamie’s Phoenix form is that of a peregrine falcon, whose colours are reddish brown/auburn tones, slightly lighter than most regular peregrines.
His brand is the form of a feather, a mark slightly darker than his skin tone, which has been tattooed over with a flaming feather design, both as a tribute to his species and so as not to have to listen to “hey, your birthmark looks like a feather!” for the rest of his life. This is located on his right forearm, and is a design found among some of the notes mentioned in his history (a design he'll never know whether he made himself).
Librarian