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Magnolia Hartford

Little Magpie

fallen bird

This wasn't supposed to happen. The Nether was no place for her -- she didn't belong there. She didn't belong there! Someone has to listen -- someone has to let her back up...
She can't stay. This wasn't supposed to happen.

the bird

Maggie, or Magpie, as she is sometimes affectionately called, is considered a good child by her parents and siblings. Despite their less-than-fortunate situations, she keeps a positive, sensible outlook and works hard as a maid to several wealthier families in the township where her family lives. This money goes towards her families meals and clothes, as does the money her father, mother, and sister Diana make in their respective jobs. Maggie has no great love or desire for riches or wealth, as she finds high society rather stuffy, but she does wish her family could have things easier. Though she rarely gets the chance, she loves to read and, very occasionally, attempt to write some few verses of poetry. She has an affinity for animals and the outdoors, and prefers to wear articles of men's clothing whenever possible as they are "easier to breathe in". Her parents had hoped for her to marry, but she's found no one that suits her and would just as soon stay home and help keep her family stay afloat. That said, with new opportunities on the horizon, she's begun to entertain thoughts of finding a real romance.

the history

Born the oldest of six children in a poor family in Virginia, Maggie has been no stranger to struggle and hard work -- nor has she been a stranger to great gifts and kindness. From a fairly young age she was gifted tutoring by a wealthy woman within the township, and thus learned to read, write, bookkeep, calculate simple numbers, and several other skills. As she grew older she began hiring herself out as a maid to other wealthy families in town to help support her family, forgoing the slim opportunities at marriage to keep working and remain free of a loveless partnership. When she turned 22, however, a distant great aunt who had been traveling abroad came to visit and instantly took a shine to the younger woman, offering to take Maggie abroad with her on her travels. Maggie and her parents agreed, and after the voyage across the Atlantic, Maggie had the privilege to visit several different countries in her aunt's company. During this time she took up the "nasty habit", according to her aunt, of dressing in men's clothes and hiding her figure with either bindings or excess padding, and going to walk the streets to get a real "feel for the place". Overall she greatly enjoys these excursions, as well as being abroad, though she does oftentimes miss her family.

the fall

During one of her excursions, playing at being a young man while she and her aunt enjoyed France, the little magpie lost her way. She should've known better than to let her wanderings linger 'til evening, especially when she spoke so few words of French. But she was far from the edges of the "Ghastly Hole", as her aunt called it, and far from any less-favorable sides of town, so it worried her little. However, the path she thought would return her to the hotel was the wrong way entirely, and the passersby offered little help via long and short explanations in a tongue she couldn't quite understand. It was long before she ran into the wrong sort of folk altogether, and while originally nabbed with the intent of forced labor, once her kidnappers realized they had a young woman on their hands, they decided there was a place to make a better profit off her.

A place... below.