Victoria Birdwistle

27

Female

Laura Matthews

Main protagonist

Irish, a little French

Milky, freckles

Hourglass

None

Red

Bangs, hair comes down to shoulder blades
Does different styles periodically

Golden brown

159 lbs

5’6

Thin lips, pierced ears

She has a thing about alcohol. She was always told it was the devil’s drink, and it stuck with her. She silently judges people who drink excessively. She has also feared becoming an alcoholic mom, knowing that it would damage her son, one way or another.
She also feels uncomfortable around hospitals. Sometimes she feels like people are watching her inside them, or they somehow know she’s a witch. She usually steers clear of them, but if going to a hospital is necessary atm, she’ll go.
She generally doesn’t trust men, especially when alone with one. In general, she doesn’t trust people who try to make romantic advances on her. She acts very guarded and cold towards them. If she has been familiar with a person for long enough, she may learn to trust them, though it depends on the person.

Tends to get emotional
Rocks back and forth when stressed/overwhelmed
Very quiet
Her face basically becomes a tomato when she’s angry/embarrassed
Experiences dissociation (eyes will become blank)

Her son, peace, order, feeling productive in some way, photography, escapism, her values/beliefs as a Quaker

She hates being manipulated and has hidden behind walls most of her life. Takes things a little too personally, but is slowly growing out of it. Procrastination, tends to focus more on others than herself and has a hard time saying no.

Photography and editing
Gives pretty good advice occasionally
Multitasker and planner
The best mom ever

Photography (mostly landscapes and animals these days, though she does other stuff for her job), reading (mystery and historical fiction), sewing, taking long walks by herself, yoga
her son takes up most of her time

ISFJ, Defender

PTSD
Depression
She’s taking meds for both

Triggers:
- the smell of cologne
- silence; she needs something like music or white noise on
- touching the thighs/midriff/neck, hugs are ok sometimes, but on a bad day, I’d advise against touching her
- most dark-headed young men

Waiter

Swan, cat

Magic, but only for defense

Joel (y’know, in a familial kinda way), her camera

Pasta

Green

Photographer

She has mostly centrist views
She wants witches to be seen as normal people and not be hidden by the government

Liberal Quaker

Feb. 19

Average, went to college to study photography and editing

(Trigger warning just in case: abuse and sexual violence)

Victoria was born in [insert town here] to Marissa and Theodore Birdwistle. Theo was a stay-at-home dad, and Victoria quickly became daddy’s girl. He was often the one who cooked, brushed her hair, played with her, etc. Marissa worked the night shift at the local Walmart and as a high school teacher. They went to their local meeting house every single Sunday, and Victoria became familiar with the community there.
She’d had an interest in photography since she was young, from capturing special moments to simply being fascinated with the camera itself. Her dad had an old camera that his grandfather had owned, and she had been enamored with it. She liked to take pictures of her dad all the time. Sometimes she took pictures of animals or bugs she saw. When she got a phone, she never took selfies but was fascinated by how you could alter the pictures you took.
Around Victoria’s elementary school years, she befriended Charlie Eastwood, who would become her oldest friend. She was basically Victoria’s mom for much of their school career. She would fend off Victoria’s bullies, and she would help Charlie with schoolwork.
When she was 12, Charlie was home sick, and Victoria had to walk home from school by herself. Her bullies confronted her and got a little too close for comfort. She tried to dodge them but they kept cutting her off, calling her names and insulting her. Finally, she’d had enough, and on pure instinct, she summoned a force field to put distance between them. It pushed the bullies backward, and they stumbled and fell onto the sidewalk. Victoria, realizing what she’d done, ran home. When she told her dad what happened, he looked concerned. “Just don’t let that happen again honey,” he had said. He didn’t tell mom what happened until she came home when Victoria was fast asleep. That was the first instance of Victoria using magic.
After that, she was constantly told to keep her powers hidden. Although strange occurrences continued, she was either told it was her imagination or to somehow stop it from happening. Her mother began indirectly verbally abusing her, calling her dangerous or a monster behind her back. Dad, however, tried supporting her however he could, believing she was sick in some way. Victoria, though she didn’t understand at the time, began experiencing magic leaking. Magic would sparkle in her tears, or her blood when it was that time of the month. Sometimes it even leaked out of her ears or nose. This only reinforced her parents' views about it all. As the years went by, Victoria noticed her parents fighting a lot. They tried not to do it in front of her, but she could tell when her parents weren’t seeing eye to eye. When she told Charlie about everything, she stuck by her side. They became a little distant during high school, but Charlie was always a bright spot in Victoria’s life. She was diagnosed with depression when she was about 16.
When she was 18, she became petrified. Her depression consumed her, and she woke up one day to flowers growing from her skin and hair, and eventually her mouth and eyes. When her dad found her, he called 911. She was moved into an ambulance and it was only then that she came out of her petrified state, mildly curious about where she was and how she got there; the flowers disintegrating. A few hours later, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and stayed there for about 3 weeks. After that, the police and a few people from the government came to their house. They asked her to sign a contract that said she was confessing to being a witch and promising not to use her powers in public. Then they said she was required to change her name. And thus, she became Laura Matthews.
Then she started college and living with Charlie. She was supposed to call her Laura, but she would call her Victoria when they were alone. Victoria told her she was a witch, and again she stuck by her side.
Life slowly started to improve. At least, there was a sense of normalcy. Victoria eventually graduated from college. When she was around 24, she decided to go into therapy. Her therapist, who introduced herself as Bimala Miller, turned out to be a witch too. She said she knew a friend who was the founder of a witch coven somewhere out of town. She gave Victoria the number and that evening she punched it into her phone. The woman on the other end, Arabelle Collins, offered her training on how to use her abilities and other magics she’d done research on. Victoria then joined her coven, feeling like she could grow and cultivate the thing she had repressed her entire life. She got her lessons by watching Arabelle teach her coven via recorded videos. Victoria finally realized the extent of her abilities and how she could use them.
After several months of therapy sessions and coven meetings, Victoria was feeling happier than she had in a long time. One day, she was invited to Charlie’s birthday party. It was held at one of her favorite restaurants, and Victoria took to ordering a sweet tea while everyone else was crowding the bar. Charlie introduced everyone who Victoria didn’t know to her. One of these people was a fellow by the name of Braeden McAllister. It may have been the beer talking, but he was very flirtatious with her throughout the night. Victoria wasn’t too interested in relationships at the time and wasn’t sure how to take Braeden’s moves. They did get to know each other; the conversation drifted from how they each met Charlie to their school days, and so on. Eventually, the party ended, and Braeden offered to help Victoria take a very-not-sober Charlie home. After that, he made many attempts to be with Victoria. He texted her frequently. Though she simply considered him a friend and enjoyed his company, she could tell what he was trying to do, and she didn’t want it.
One day, about 2 months later, he confronted her, not understanding why she didn’t want to be with him. ”I’ve been so nice to you,” “Why can’t you just like me back?” She repeatedly told him that he was just a friend to her and that she didn’t think they would be good for each other. Gradually, he lets off. For the next few weeks, he quits with the romantic advances and seems to be trying to simply think of their relationship as a friendship.
One evening, after a long day of work, Braeden asks if Victoria would like to stay at his place for the evening. She accepts, and after a small dinner and small talk, she takes a nap on the couch.
She wakes up to deathly silence. The only sound she hears is heavy breathing. She smells Braeden’s cologne. Braeden is on top of her. Victoria freezes. She can’t think. She never should have accepted his offer. She shouldn’t be here. No... she wasn’t here...
She passed out. The next thing she knew, it was morning and her phone was ringing. Charlie was calling her. Braeden seemed to have gone to work. Victoria quickly gathered her things and left his apartment.
She felt so betrayed, yet so ashamed. It would be many months before she told anyone what happened. In those months, there was a lot of Victoria being distant and neglecting herself, and Charlie being incredibly concerned, and her not being able to easily open up, making her more concerned, etc. Charlie immediately cut Braeden off when she told her. She tried to tell her parents, but it was difficult. They were sympathetic and concerned, but they didn’t entirely understand what happened. Victoria decided to leave it that way. She told her therapist and was eventually diagnosed with PTSD. She took a break from magic, but eventually started Arabelle’s lessons again, maybe because it distracted her from the pain.
Then she found out she was pregnant. Though she seriously considered abortion, she ultimately decided against it. In a strange way, she already loved whoever was inside of her. She also wanted to be the kind of mother her own wasn’t. The next few months were a blur. Charlie, being the best friend that she was, helped her with everything; from making space for the baby, to helping Victoria whenever her mental health was not at its best. She didn’t tell her parents about it and ended up not speaking to them for an indefinite period of time.
She found out she had inhuman pain resistance when Joel was born. Giving birth didn’t seem to hurt as much as her mother said it did. Yeah, she had sweat running down her face, tears in her eyes, but she didn’t scream even once. It hurt like heck, yet no wail escaped her throat. Not that she didn’t make any sounds though. She whimpered and groaned, but nothing beyond that. Her nurses definitely noticed. Then, when she was allowed to see and hold him, she was overcome with so many emotions that she became petrified. Again. Those emotions drained from her body as she turned to stone. Joel was taken out of her arms and she was moved to another room, where she eventually came out of her petrified state. She begged to know where her son was as the stone crumbled and disintegrated from her skin and hair.
Time passed. Not four weeks after Joel was born, Victoria and Charlie found out that Braeden was killed in a car accident. The only reason Victoria wasn’t on the news was that the hospital she went to tried to cover it up, though it was in vain. They began noticing people were reserved and stiff around them. Some were straight-up rude. People gave her dirty looks, and sometimes even threatened her.
Eventually, she decided that leaving would be the safest option. She remembered that Arabelle held her lessons somewhere out of town. She didn’t know exactly where it was for the sake of secrecy. She called Arabelle and told her what she could to explain why she was asking where she lived. She found out that there was an entire witch town many miles away, and set to making arrangements to move. Charlie had to stay close to her job, but as always, helped Victoria with everything. They stayed in close contact after she moved.
In the witch town, Kelna, she found an apartment to stay in. She met up with Arabelle and her coven, and she took her photography career online. She was living there for about a year when she got a call from Arabelle. She said she had a mission for her. A mob of people burned down a house, and a young witch was in need of help...

super hearing- she can turn this 'on' on and 'off,' can hear sounds up to 5 miles away
enhanced pain tolerance- it's strong enough to dull the pain of childbirth if that gives you an idea
summoning force fields- invisible, but they will glow green when something comes into contact with it. can only protect herself

Telekinesis- can lift up to about 145 lbs or 66 kg