jeanbarclay

[jeanbarclay]

It's as entertaining as anything else at the gala, watching all this fancy folk all pissy with the bartender. Jeanette almost respected him, really, showing these powerful people — powerful in more ways than just money — that they couldn't always get what they want. Fighting the good fight.

Then this woman shows up and gets everything under control in two minutes and it's maybe even more impressive, especially considering this was clearly a guest judging by the dress. She lingers around the bar for a little bit to watch the show — her date had gone off she knew not where and this was a million times better than being hit on by yet another 300 old white man.

"Hey, that's just me...," she finally spoke up after another satisfied costumer left with a drink, "but if they ain't paying me, I ain't working." Maybe she could use a drink, though; the woman looked like she knew what she was doing. "You should get your ass on the dance floor. ...After you make me on of those."

Open Starter (0/4)

Where: The bar @the Conclave

She could see the freezer full of chilled martini glasses. Could see the lady in her stunning dress asking for her martini to be overshaken and the imperious man behind the counter just wasn’t. He kept trying to hand a martini to her that had been under shaken and criminally underchilled.

It was a matter of pride with some bartenders not to overly dilute their martinis. But it seemed to be more a matter of making the woman wrong on the bartenders part rather than a matter of pride in the craft. A proper martini usually had the thin shards of ice at the top but that required effort and a lot of shaking. This man had been tormenting his customer for almost 20 minutes and Charlotte just wanted a gin and tonic. So she did something she should never do. She pushed her way forward and leaned forward to snatch the shaker out of the man’s hand.

2 minutes later and she placed a properly overshaken martini in front of the woman. With a nod of shared appreciation for never being heard, Charlotte turned to pick up a pack of fever tree, a bottle of Hendricks, and a thick goblet of ice as she went to do what this counter obviously didn’t want to. Actually make a drink someone wanted to drink.

[jeanbarclay]

JEANETTE BARCLAY — THE CONCLAVE GALA

Jeanette is dressed to impress and depress — her goal at the gala is get everyone's eyes on her, starting with her date ( @millieteethewolf ). She understands this is a big political event and as someone with big political aspirations in the supernatural community, it's her big chance to make herself known, and make sure everyone remembers her name at the end of the night.

[jeanbarclay]

Of all the times Jeanette imagined meeting Millie again, not once it was like this. She pictured the four of them together again, but jaded, changed by a decade-long hunt. They'd tell stories of triumph and terror, the weird places they spent countless nights on, they'd be almost unrecognizable. Millie's missing teeth draws a laugh from her, and she wonders if she's still the same in her old friend's eyes, or if she herself was the one who changed as much as she thought the others would. "That's cute, you can rock it."

It's not a surprise that Millie doesn't have any news from the others either — honestly it would be a shock if anyone did, but there was still a part of her that hope that while she ran one way, the other three ran together the other. It was comforting imagining they could've protected one another when she couldn't, and when she had no one watching over her. Knowing that town, though, it felt like a matter of time before another one of them showed up with his own stories to tell.

"I'm the best damn actress in this whole wide country, and trust me, I've been everywhere, I would know," she jokes and smiles, "but nobody knows it yet. Big secret. Gotta figure out how to get the Hollywood execs to hire us wolf folk first." And Jeanette did try. Hollywood, Atlanta, New York... she knew she had the talent, it was just the wolf holding her back for the most part. "For now, I just make people pretty and make sure they know they owe me one," she speaks with the confidence of a well-thought plan that is still yet to work out in her favor. "And you? Other than the tooth, I mean. Job? Pack? Partner? I wanna know everything."

J.B. Pushes her back, and Millie pouts a little - not a real thing, and enough to be obviously teasing. "I'ma pretend that what you're sayin' makes sense - because you're pretty, and later you can tell me later all about it."

Jeanette pulls her back into a hug again, and Millie smiles wide, getting a lid on any wayward tears, because she's cool and aloof now, and has a fuckin' image to maintain. It's a tight hug, a nice hug. She doesn't want it to end. "Mostly. Missin' a tooth." She pulls the corner of her mouth to one side. "Oo-ee-at? En-da-ack?" I ain't even know what happened there man, I mooned out, you know, as one does, and woke up the next morning? Bam. I don't even know where it went."

She takes a few step back, and hops up onto the back of a seat. At the question of how, here, she shrugs. At the question of Berto and Z, she sighs quiet and shakes her head. "Here I was, hopin' maybe you'd know."

She lets a moment of silence hang between them, hangs her head a bit. She looks up to the stage then, points to it. "You uh, you a big-time actress now?" A beat. A laugh. A smile.

[jeanbarclay]

⚡️Will you ever let your friends vanish again, now that you have millie back?

SEND “⚡️” AND A QUESTION AND MY MUSE WILL BE FORCED TO ANSWER HONESTLY

I didn't let my friends vanish, and they didn't let me vanish, we did it to save our skins, and yes, I think we'd do it all over again if it meant we'd keep breathing. I'd rather be alone than seeing my friends dead in the gutter.

[jeanbarclay]

⚡️what traits do you possess that sets you apart as someone who should be alpha compared to other alphas in port leiry?

SEND “⚡️” AND A QUESTION AND MY MUSE WILL BE FORCED TO ANSWER HONESTLY

I couldn't care less about the other Alphas and what they do or don't do, I want to be Alpha for myself. I want to do it because I know I can do it and would be great at it, nothing else is of any concern to me.

[jeanbarclay]

who: @huntedarte where: the alley

Jeanette was hoping to see Millie when she got to the Alley, but she wouldn't turn down the opportunity to do some exploring by herself. Since she became a werewolf, she'd been a part of more packs than she can count, most of them for less than a month or two, and it always intrigued her to see how they built their space. You could tell so much about what kind of pack it was by the stuff they had or didn't have.

Eventide looked... quaint. Jeanette could definitely feel Millie's presence in some of those choices, little things she remembered from Jasper, but even outside of that, the place screamed 'figuring out as we go', which was not too different from her own vibe, she had to admit. She did notice a few chances she would make if this ended up being the pack she grabbed for herself, but all in due time. Jeanette was about to call Millie and ask where the hell she was when she saw the werewolf approaching — they matched the described Millie gave her to a t. "Hey, sorry I walked in without talking to anyone, Millie said it was okay," she smiled. "You must be the big boss around here, right? Arte?"

[jeanbarclay]

who: @lrivkin where: satin cabaret

Jeanette's been to the cabaret dozens of times before to work with the girls and make them pretty for that creepy audience, and maybe the most surprising thing about it was how chill it was. Not everyone there was a vampire, but that was a vampire house, and Jeanette always heard from other wolves to stay away from those folks. She didn't see it that way. To her those were outsiders, just like her. Dangerous, yeah, but so what? She had fangs. too.

And maybe it's because of her mindset that not only she had a good time with the cabaret girls, but even made a few friends. It was one of them who called her there that night, in secret. It'd been a few weeks since she'd seen Lara but Jeanette could tell by her tone alone that something was up. The cabaret was much quieter than usual, and there was definitely a chance that this was some kind of trap, but still she made her way backstage and knocked on the door Lara said she'd be waiting for her. "Yo, gramma, are you ready to look good or what? I'm waiting.

[jeanbarclay]

Headcanon 1 / ∞

[jeanbarclay]

Jeanette hugs her back without a second thought and is immediately transported back to Jasper. Millie feels just as tiny as she always has. She sounds like she always has. Only the smell is different, a little wolfie like herself. It's almost hard to believe she's even an adult, with how much she feels like the same girl. Unlike Millie, though, Jeanette's not crying, she's smiling from ear to ear from the moment they touch, until she pushed the smaller girl back for just a second.

"Girl, if you weren't here in the New Year, you don't get it. I was praying I didn't see you that day."

She hugs her again, tighter this time, letting some of her werewolf strength show off the tiniest bit. "But yeah, I can give you dreamy, you silly ass. I can't believe you're here, and all in one piece... right?"

Over the years, Jeanette lost count of how many times she thought Millie or tried to think of a way to reach her. Pointless, of course. Unless any of them were stupid enough to go back to Jasper, it was just impossible to find anyone. It had to be by chance. And what a chance it was. "How the hell did you get to 'Liery? What are you doing here?" A beat "Berto and Zahj? Have you seen them?" The odds of that were astronomical, but she had to know.

She's not in the chair for long before she's standing, hands cupped around her mouth. "Ow ow AWOOOO," Hollers out Millie Tolliver, like they're a bunch of dumb kids in the woods behind the Barclay property passing bottles or blunts or whatever on hot summer nights. Okay so maybe they never really howled like that, but it's topical.

"Ghosts? Hell no! The hellyou mean ghosts? Am I see through? Oh shit, am I dead?"

She makes a big show of it, patting herself down like she might expect her hand to pass through herself. When they don't, she smiles sidelong at Jeanette, and breathes a theatrical, exaggerated sigh of relief, point's her finger like 'ah, you had me there'.

It's all jokes because if she ain't laughin' she's about to be crying. "What the FUCK!" she shouts, loud but joyful as she hops two rows of chairs before she side steps out into the aisle and pads down the slope towards her.

"Ghost, please. The hell you mean you picked 'is it a ghost' and not 'is this a dream', come on now, am I not dreamy what the-"

She wants to crash into her, and maybe she shouldn't because you know, a decade and probably a whole hell of a lot of space between them, but she does, flying around her with her arms. It's the first she's seen, or heard, or smelled or touched of any of them since that fucking terrible awful night, and man she's crying, God the fuck Damnit.

[jeanbarclay]

After all these years on the run? Jeanette learned to live with very little. A few clothes she can pack up in a hurry, just enough belongings that she could leave behind without worry, the right amount of friends who wouldn't miss her when she was gone. But this? She needed this.

The stage, the lights, the audience.... even if she has to imagine that last one. Jeanette didn't have any delusions that she would still make it big someday, but moments like this, when she was alone and performing and happy took her back in time to when it was still possible.

Everywhere she stopped she would find a stage to make it hers. She'd act out a scene or sing a song every once in a while when it was just her and the rats — sometimes a vampire or two if it was really late at night, though she much preferred the rats most of the time. It was good for the soul.

The Titan had been her second home for the better part of the year. She knows all the comings and goings of all the people who work there, the ones with a heartbeat and the ones without, which is why she's caught by surprise when she finishes the song and there's a reaction.

There's a spotlight pointing right at her, which although it made her look great, made it impossible for her to see anyone in the audience. With a curious look, she jumps off the stage with ease trying to find her newest fan.

"If y'all wanna holler at me, suit yourself, but I am gonna need a name," she spoke towards the audience as she walked confidently towards the voice.

Little by little, though, the mysterious features become clear, and curiosity makes way to disbelief. That's a face she thought she'd never see again. "Oh my, nobody told me the ghosts are back in town."

The Titan

@jeanbarclay

"Man I don't get it man. How the shit's this place so damn dirty, isn't this place for a bunch of high-falutin' types that use little binoculars on sticks and shit."

She bends down and picks up an empty box of Nestlé Crunch . "See? Who brings crunch motherfuckin' candy to a musical?"

Ryan stares at her and shrugs.

She shrugs, scores a three-pointer chucking the box into the rolling trash can they've been pulling along until she finds an empty plastic ziploc that looks like it used to have Pizza in it. "Bro they don't even have food here! Again I ask! For why!"

When she looks up, Ryan's got his headphones in. "Man, lame. Fuckoff."

She keeps strutting along and picking up shit (Is that a damn KFC Box? Not very culture of you, Port Leiry.), but then, as she nears the doors into the theater proper, she can hear somebody belting through the door. It's supposed to be empty this late, which gives her pause, but what give her a secondary, turbo pause is that the voice, muffled by the door as it is, is just so damn... familiar.

She opens it, just a crack, and peeks through it.

"Fuckoff," she murmurs so quiet.

There's Jeanette, on the stage, singing like its a packed house. Millies eyes are wide, and her hearts all quick and shit. Like damn, all aflutter and what not. No way this is just a handful of days after that Jasper Kid.

She doesn't go in yet, just watches. She holds the door open just so with a knee, and whips her phone out of her overalls to check herself in the black mirror of its screen. She looks like shit. Perf.

Then she goes through the door, quiet like, and sits in one of the far back seats, kicks her boots up, and listens until Jeanette's done singing, and then she just claps, then she howls, because that's funny.

[jeanbarclay]

Name: Jeanette Barclay Occupation: Hairstylist Age: 29 Sexuality: Lesbian Species: Werewolf Clan/Pack/Coven?: Eventide Hometown: Jasper, Arkansas Relationship Status: Single Personality Traits: Ambitious / Resilient / Alluring Guarded / Cold / Shrewd

When she was still just a kid, Jeanette realized she had a gift; she could always get whatever she wanted.

Jeanette wasn't a witch, and it wasn't compulsion either, nothing that brutish. She just knew how to talk to people — smile the right way, say the right nice thing, and boom. She was no longer grounded, her teacher didn't care about the missed assignment.

It wasn't surprising when Jeanette develop an almost complete disregard for the rules around her. What was the point of them if she always knew how to break them?

Still she was loved; Jasper's own southern belle who can do no wrong.

Everyone in town knew it was only a matter of time before Jeanette left her parents' ranch for much bigger things — an actress, is what she would tell everyone. She was gonna make it big in Hollywood and tell the entire world about her little town (and the best bakery in the world, who always gave her free sweets on Fridays after school).

Destiny had other plans.

The werewolf bite came with the realization that she wasn't always going to get her way. It meant that forever she would lose control to the beast that lived inside her. That infuriated her.

When the hunters came for her and her friends, Jeanette's impulse was to stay and fight back. Jasper was her town, and she wasn't gonna let anyone else force her out. That was easier said than done. The hunters were relentless, and little by little the realization came that fleeing was her only option.

It didn't take long before she was completely separated from her friends. preferring to hide in large cities instead of small towns. Jeanette lived almost everywhere, LA, New York, Miami, Atlanta... always trying to make the same old dream of making it big as an artist come true, always being held back by her curse or by some hunter who managed to catch her trail.

A frustrating life for someone who always believe she would have everything.

Still she fights. Against her curse, against hunters, against anyone who gets in her way. Jeanette hasn't given up on having the life she dreamed about; she's still the same Southern Belle that can make people blush and open doors with a smile.

Port Liery is step one on her latest plan to get the life she wanted. She heard from werewolf friends of a city booming with supernatural life, an actual home for people like her, somewhere she could build herself into someone she recognized.

For protection, she learned to hop around to different packs that would take her, and to stay close to the industry she loved, she used the skills she learned over the years to become a hairstylist working with models, dancers, stage actors... anything that would get her a step closer to the spotlight.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

CORE FOUR - They haven't seen each other in 12 years, and as far as Jeanette knows, they've all been caught and killed a long time ago. Reunions are fun. (see Millie Tolliver for details)

VAMPS - Most of Jeanette's clients are vampires working at Satin or the Titan. She's fine with it, doesn't discriminate, and has managed to even make a friend or two, though she will bite if things ever get violent.

HUNTERS - She's been on the run from hunters for 12 years. Escaped some, killed others, was stabbed a few times. Jeanette believes she's safe now in Port Liery with the company of other werewolves, but it may not be the case.

ALPHAS - Being a part of pack isn't enough. Jeanette is used to lead, not being led. It's only a matter of time before she notices an Alpha losing strength and makes her move.