SchreckNet Data File
- Real/Birth Name: Abigail Grace Davis
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Abi Davis / @Ashfordabi_18
- Place of Origin: Ashford, California, USA
- Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
- Occupation: Waitress / Social Media Celebrity
- Apparent Age: Late teens
- Embraced: 2017
- Kindred Status: Thin-blooded Fledgling
- Sire: Paul Bairstow (deceased)
- Clan: Malkavian
- Clan Status: None
- Sect: Anarch Movement
- Sect Status: None (Anarchs) / Outcast (Camarilla)
- Player/Type: NPC
Appearance
Abi is quite tall for a girl, and her fairly skinny appearance and preference for boots only accentuate this appearance. Naturally considered pretty by most, she has hazel-brown eyes and a slender face with naturally chestnut brown hair, which she often dyes black (though, on occasion, has experimented with henna red, blue and green). Regardless, the colour is usually uniform rather than having highlights, and she favours grunge or wedge style cuts, occasionally with bangs.
Abi favours dressing in styles typical for alternative-lifestyle teens, with influences from gothic, emo and punk, all of which she identifies as to some degree - although she rarely goes to extremes in any of these styles, often leading to accusations of "you're not a real [goth/emo/punk]" by butthurt Internet keyboard warriors. She typically favours jeans, leather pants or skirts, typically leather or denim miniskirts or normal circle/flared skirts) and usually black, or accented with black. She typically wears t-shirts relating to the many bands she likes, or alternative style (such as a depiction of Marilyn Monroe as a vampire, or Cthulhu-themed). Depending on her mood, she may wear blouses, polo necks, sweaters or hoodies - again, usually relating to her interests or a vibrant colour such as red or black. Yet she can often be seen in more traditional and lighter-coloured clothing, often when wearing summer dresses. Regardless of what she wears, it is common to see her accompany it with a leather jacket - either her deep red one or a black, biker-style jacket.
Like her clothing, Abi favours make-up with strong colours popular for goth/emo styles - black lipstick and dark eyeshadow, or a strong red (especially when going to work or situations where she understands a more "normal" look is preferable), but on occasion has worn more natural colours. When having a depressive episode, it is common for her to go to more extremes and either not wear any make-up (and occasionally forgetting to use the Blush of Life) or particularly heavy emo/goth style dark makeup.
Background
Abi doesn't know why she was given the Dark Kiss, just that she really drew the short straw. She'd describe herself as a normal modern-day kid… a little emo/goth/punk, sure, but much the same otherwise as most kids. Born to a working-class family she admits her basic needs were covered growing up, though luxuries were few and far between and typically had to be earnt. Her mother and father divorced when she was a young adolescent and, although her mother initially got custody of Abi and her little brother, child neglect and alcohol problems led to her father gaining custody after a brief, vicious, legal battle. Her father was a stern but caring man - hard on her because he wanted Abi to get good grades in order to have a better chance after high school, which Abi found kinda ironic and frustrating as she knew they didn't have the money for Abi to attend College, and she was realistically unlikely to be able to get a scholarship.
A likeable, friendly girl, Abi had various friends in elementary and middle school. As she got older, however, her personality and interests began to deviate towards the "alternative" punk, goth and emo lifestyles. This, as well as being outed to be bisexual, led to humiliation and bullying in high school, with long-time friends alienating her because she had become too much of a weirdo for them to want to be seen associating with. All of this took its toll on her and Abi developed depression and a chronic eating disorder that, over sustained over-exercising and under-eating, began making her unhealthily skinny. Things got better when she gained a part-time job at Ashford's Texas Roadhouse restaurant. This gave her some financial freedom to buy and do more things that she enjoyed, and made a few friends, all of which helped her struggle with her depression But her big life-changer was just after her 18th birthday. For self-amusement, she began posting "spontaneous, random shit" on TikTok - only to find herself quickly gaining thousands of followers within a few weeks. Most beneficially, she found more caring support and friendship within the online community, than at Golden Valley High School. With her father's support, her growing number of social media followers, and her few loyal friends, she managed to overcome her eating disorder and began to physically recover.
But this golden moment wouldn't last. Just a few weeks later, near the end of the Ashford Riots (or so she believed they were at the time), an armed stranger unexpectedly burst into her house. Having heard about home invasions and burglaries during the riots, her father had his revolver on hand. He shot the individual several times - but the stranger just gave a menacing, fanged grin as his wounds healed before their very eyes. The apparent vampire then used Abi's father and brother as target practice for his (apparently new) assault rifle, before ending his playtime by with a good meal - exsanguinating Abi. Why he decided to bring her back from death, Abi does not know. Maybe he thought she was pretty? Perhaps he sensed that she was broken inside, like he? Or perhaps the bastard knew exactly what would happen...
The first few months of unlife were hard for her. She had no sire to guide her and, she quickly learnt, not knowing the rules of vampire society was no excuse for breaking them. To make it worse, her sire had apparently been a traitor to the ruling faction, who had defected to the enemy side and worked as a double agent in some form of vampire war with another faction called the Sabbath, which meant various distrusted her and wanted her killed just for that alone... apparently not getting permission to "Embrace" her is a big no no. The reason why he would never have been given permission (in addition to the apparent mental instability of her clan) was that her sire was something called "the thirteenth generation" and therefore Abi was something called "a thin blood" and as such a harbinger of the apocalypse, or some crap like that. But she was "fortunate" because the war had resulted in the "Scourge" - some form of bounty hunter who indiscriminately tracked and killed thin-blood like her - being killed and major political upheaval. As a peace/alliance concession between the ruling "Camarilla" and the powerful "Anarch Movement" the position of Scourge had been disbanded, so she was not automatically killed on sight as a result. After some strong arguments from the leader of her "Clan" who, apparently, were key in resolving the shitstorm that had engulfed Ashford's vampires, was allowed to live - although because of her thin blood was declared outcast to Camarilla society.
She's not sure if she was fortune to be allowed to live, or not. She's a vampire, yeah, but due to her thin blood cannot do many of the things most vampires can do - things that make hiding amongst mortals (something called "the Masquerade" which she thinks actually sounds cooler than it is) harder and more dangerous, such as not being able to create "the blood bond" in others. But worse is that Abi was alone, rejected by her own kind for her "thin blood" and treated like shit by most of the "Camarilla" members. Whatever. The only support she got was from her Primogen, Helen Quinzell who self-appointed herself as Abi's psychiatrist and, at least, managed to give Abi enough help and guidance to be aware of some things other kindred would have taken advantage of (such as teaching her about the blood bond, the Traditions and the basics of the kindred condition) and her childe "AJ" helps her at times. But Abi is too strong-willed to depend on others, and they're too busy to help her all the time (and it's not their responsibility) so most of the time she's on her own. Still, recently she's been finding the other faction, the Anarch Movement, are actually mostly all-right (as a faction, some of the individuals are just plain dickheads). They believe in freedom and push back against the oppression of the Camarilla, and generally don't much care about her being thin-blooded or believe in the apocalypse lie the Camarilla espouses as a tool of control. But she's quickly learnt that vampires are duplicitous, back-stabbing opportunists and today's apparent sympathetic Anarch ally is one shift of fortune away from becoming tomorrow's Camarilla rising star, holding all their favours as "boons" against her.
Most days, she wishes she hadn't been brought. No family. Few vampire friends. Too afraid of her bloodlust and having to come up with excuses to avoid going out during the day to continue a normal mortal life (and the constant threat of the Camarilla all-too-eager to kill her if she is even perceived to have endangered the Masquerade). And too weak-blooded to start bending mortals to her will and become Eliva: Mistress of the Dark (New version, Mk 2) - which she's still too humane to do anyhow. Still, at least the Embrace brought a sudden end to her eating disorder and depression, although she now found herself suffering from severe disassociative episodes instead. She doesn't even understand how this works considering she's technically dead. But that's only one of a huge mountain of things she doesn't really understand.
The only bright spot on the horizon is that she has become friends with two other neonates with similar interests, one a goth and the other a fellow metalhead, and they have formed a Coterie called Metalheads, giving each other as much support as three kindred who can barely handle their own shit as it is, can actually give each other - mostly emotional, with some hard and fast-hitting Brujah fists as backup.
Mortal Society
Abi has only been kindred a few years and is still clinging on to her mortal life. She lost her immediate family in the events leading to her embrace and kindred society generally wants nothing to do with her and so has little real support, other than the occasional aid from fellow Anarchs (something she doesn't really consider herself to be but has little choice - and she guesses being an Anarch is kinda the vampire equivalent of being a punk/goth/emo/LGBTQ+ teen in high school). Without her family, she has to rely on her own income - inheriting her father's house is all well and good; but without money to pay the bills, she needs more of it - which, in addition to problems attending lessons during the daytime, led to her having to drop out of high school. At least she was able to take a test and get a high school certificate early, but her options are pretty limited. She managed to turn her part-time job at the Texas Roadhouse into a full-time job, and fortunately her good relationship with the manager and the staff, who were understanding of Abi's mental health issues and losing her family in The Riots, enabled her to get put permanently on the night shift. Puts a cramp on her social life, but at least it's making ends meet for now. She's also been relying heavily on her social media fame. Her number of followers has been growing quickly and donations via Venmo have helped supplement her income and are picking up - her limited fame has even made it easier for her to hunt sometimes! She thinks preying on her fans to be a shitty thing to do, but going nuts from blood-hunger is even worse, so at least tries to not hurt her victims and relies on "the Seductress" approach... which makes her feel kinda slutty as she effectively has seduce different people almost nightly.
But she's smart enough to know that she's now technically 21 but still looks 18 (she's glad her driving license is proof of legal age but occasionally has issues with her youthful appearance), and will remain so forever unless someone teaches her a way to look different (she's aware it's POSSIBLE, and has seen it being done - but hasn't a clue how to do it herself)... and so in a handful of years is going to have to retire from Internet fame. So she needs some kind of 5-year plan to get herself a bit more financially secure and less dependent on integration with the mortal world... but, right now, every night is a struggle!
Personality
Those who don't know her tend to judge her by her appearance, and assume that she must be a rebellious teen with an attitude problem. This couldn't be further from the truth. She can appear to be deviant and tough to those who don't know her, but this is for her defence against adversity. Those who take the time and effort to get to know her, find her to be a kind-hearted, friendly and fun-loving person who enjoys the same things that most others do. She is a people person and enjoys being around others - spending time with friends, going to parties and raves, and similar social events enjoyed by young people with alternative lifestyles. In fact, although she no longer suffers from depression and the social anxieties she endured during her mortal life, at heart, she has never really completely gotten past judging her own self-worth based on the respect and opinions of others. Whilst she is somewhat of a survivor, unprompted praise, admiration or appreciation from others can quickly get her happy and feeling good about herself.
She has various interests, which includes various alternative, punk and metal bands, loves watching movies and television series, reading books, and making media content for her TikTok and Instagram accounts. She is a naturally talented artist and school was helping her develop her own style - this was something she was considering taking as a career prior to her Embrace but, for now, has been put on a back-burner as other priorities have consumed her attention.
Other Notes
As one of the fourteenth generation, and one of the roughly half of those afflicted with thin blood, Abi is not capable of using her vitae as efficiently as most kindred. Although she is capable of holding the same amount of Vitae Efficiency Units (VEU) as those of lower generations, she is only able to use eight of those to empower her physical might, regenerate wounds or fuel Disciplines. Not only that, but she it costs her twice as many VEUs to do any of these things as a 13th generation or lower. Additionally, not only does it cost her double the VEUs to create ghouls, but her vitae is too weak to create blood bonds, meaning ghouls or kindred can feed off her without risk of the bond - making her a potential target for independent ghouls and elders who can no longer sustain themselves on mortal blood, as she is a walking lunch box to them. Not only this, but the weakness of her vitae means that she will be unable to achieve mastery in any Disciplines, although she is still, overall, more powerful than your average ghoul.
On the one hand, her thin blood means that some of the typical problems of the kindred condition are reduced in her. Although sunlight burns her as it does any other kindred, she is a light sleeper and can wake easily and operate without penalty during the day, naturally waking an hour before sundown and can resist the lethargy of dawn with relative ease. She looks more hale and healthy than other vampires, retaining the colour of a living, albeit pale mortal (which, as a goth/emo, serves her well), feels only slightly cool to the touch and any body modifications (such as tattoos, piercings, haircuts or hair dyes) she makes are permanent unless she specifically puts in the effort to will herself to regenerate back to her tabula rasa state. Although it provides no sustenance, she is still capable of consuming mortal food and appreciate the taste - something that makes maintaining the masquerade easier for her, but considered disgusting by most kindred. Of course, she has no way of digesting what she consumes and must heave it up at some stage - but the sight or taste of food doesn't make her feel sick as it does other kindred, and she can actually enjoy a pizza with friends without worrying about vomiting it up (with blood) around mortals. Finally, it appears her weak blood means she is not as innately despised by animals as most kindred are, and they react to her as they would to mortals.
All this makes maintaining the masquerade a very easy task for Abi. As such she is more socially active with the kine than with the kindred, especially since they don't give her social grief.
Combat Style
Despite being kindred, Abi has only recently legally become an adult and therefore hasn't really had the time, finances or opportunity to really learn to fight. She took some self-defence classes back in 2016 after a creep attempted to assault her after work and, since then, travels with a SABRE Red lipstick pepper spray with her, which is police-strength pepper spray but outwardly resembles normal lipstick and so is discrete and inconspicuous. Although it won't typically disable any assaulters (kindred or kine), it will typically blind them long enough for her to be able to escape or, perhaps, overpower them somehow. This is mostly a deterrent, however, especially against humans - though could perhaps create an opportunity for an ally to strike a temporarily-affected opponent.
Abi now legally owns her father's S&W M640 revolver, which he taught Abi to shoot after the above incident. She occasionally takes it with her if fearing trouble but, having witnessed what little it did against the vampire who killed her family and Embraced her, has few illusions that it'll be much help against most kindred other than a deterrent or cause them to have to expend vitae. The revolver is mostly kept at home, in case of home assault, or in her car's glove compartment. She has only practised with it a few times though, so is barely a decent shot as likely to accidentally hit an ally as the opponent they might be engaged with, and so should only be trusted as covering fire or fire support against clear targets. Perhaps, paired with her limited knowledge of the Obfuscate Discipline, this could be used to some tactical advantage.
Social Style
Abi has spent many years being alienated for being different. Whether it's for being LGBTQ+, for her goth/emo/punk appearance or, most recently, for being thin-blooded, she knows that there are few people that mean well. Although she is outwardly friendly and craves praise and attention deep down, she has her guard up constantly and is wary of strangers. She naturally expects other kindred to treat her badly, bully her, or coerce her to suit their needs (and knows that there is little she can do about it - it's not like you can go to the police or sue kindred for discrimination!) so can initially seem defensive to those who don't know her. Even those who approach her with civility will find her cooperative, but slow to trust as she has quickly learnt that kindred don't do things out of the kindness of their non-beating hearts... they either are trying to manipulate her to their own ends, likely as a patsy for some scheme or entertainment, or trying to get her assistance sneakily without racking up boons (a tactic that doesn't usually work as it is one of the few things about kindred society she does actually understand).
But ultimately she is a kind person and craves the approval of others - so with compassion, kindness and patience, she can be swayed to act or help others. Those who aren't manipulative and self-centred, showing a willingness to invest their effort into being her friend as much as they expect her to return it, are likely to be able to soon befriend her, and find her a fun and loyal friend. Those who use crocodile smiles and false friendship may be able to manipulate her to do what they want, but will likely burn the bridge in the process and receive only animosity in the future. Despite being quite smart and naturally wary, she is a fledgeling and has virtually zero experience of kindred society, politics or the games of Intrigue, and these are easily exploitable flaws.
Signature Equipment
- Glasses or contact lenses
- Leather jacket or coat
- SABRE Red Lipstick Pepper Spray
- Smith & Wesson M640 revolver (.38 S&W)
- Hyundai Tucson compact SUV (2010 model, bought 2nd-hand in 2015 when she got her driver's license)
Signature Quotes
- "Having a dissociative episode is like being a stranger in my own life, a tourist in my own body. I forget who I am, where I live, what I'm doing. Everything around me feels like a dream or like a movie happening to someone else. Sometimes, I even forget that I exist."
- "I'm the girl who is always there for people when they need a friend. I'm also the girl who faces many issues alone, but will do anything to see someone else smile."
- "When in doubt, always wear black."
- "You know you're goth when... you anticipate the after-Halloween sales for home decor."