FACECLAIM: LILY COLLINS AGE: 94 SPECIES: VAMPIRE OCCUPATION: Headmistress of Shadow Falls University ARRIVED: October 2001
DECLARED
As far as Ava knows, she sprang to life on the screen. As far as her admirers know, that was where she perished too. Icon of the Golden Age of Hollywood, they say worshipfully, immortalized, forever young.
The dears don’t know the irony of that statement.
Born in 1925 to the beloved silent film actors Henry and Florence Strange, it was no surprise that she entered the public eye early. From a young age, she was groomed very carefully into a perfect little lady, fit for the glamorous shoes she was expected to fill. She doesn’t recall any of her first roles, but all of her memories have been permeated by the feeling of a very conditional love. The older she got, the stricter others were with her. She was always well put together, always proper, so that no one could snap an ugly picture of her or talk of scandal. Ava was a character after all, not a person.
Still, she didn’t resent the acting part of it. Feeling permanently unchallenged, it was something she craved, this mental stimulation. She devoured the scripts like they were sherbet.
It almost didn’t matter that her entire life was fake, down to the marriage. With 22, she turned from Ava Strange into Ava Scarbrough, bride of Harry Scarbrough, another actor, whom she had been chosen for carefully. Their wedding was a heavily publicized and beautiful event, even if it was all make-pretend and she barely knew the man.
The idea of being married to someone she barely knew, all for publicity she didn’t need, gave her the very first desire for rebellion, a gut-wrenching feeling of wrongness. In the end she didn’t act on it.
Like a medieval king and queen in a political marriage, they had one son together and considered their duty fulfilled. After that, it was like a weight was lifted from them. They never loved each other, but settled into an easy friendship instead, fostered even more by their shared adoration of their son, Roy. Having both had to act since they had been children, they were very adamant about not letting him suffer the same fate. If he wanted to act, it would be by his choice.
Ava remembers everything about the day her contentedness had come to an end. The taste of the winter air. The feeling of the ball gown under her coat. The burning pain, like she was a leaf being eaten up by fire. The way the snow melted in her clothes and hair. She met this strange man’s red eyes and thought him to be Death. It happened so fast that she wasn’t able to consider why this was happening, but she knew that she was dying. Her eyes felt hot, stinging with tears, her broken heart more painful than the injury. “I promised him,” she panted, lying there on the ground while he was watching her. “I promised Roy a train set for Christmas.” His eyes shifted then, but she barely caught a glimpse of them before her own lids closed. There was rustling, then a wet palm was placed on her lips and she got a taste of copper. Then, darkness.
Although she hadn’t thought him to be a vampire initially, she knew what she was as soon as she woke up. Heaven wouldn’t feel like this.
Her attacker’s name was Aaron. Apparently, he had been charmed by her portrayal of Mina in a production of Dracula and been tempted by the idea of turning her because of that. “It was a pain to get you alone,” he told her, “But it was worth it, for both of us. You might not be able to see your son anymore, but at least you won’t grow old and ugly, right?”
Before that point in time, Ava had never hated anyone in her life.
He didn’t allow her to go out; her face was too recognizable and the world still mourned her. At some point, her restlessness and hostility grew tiresome to him, so he sat her down in his extensive library. “Learn,” he said, pressing a book into her hands. “Think of it like a script.”
It wasn’t like scripts, like sherbet, but it was still something. She devoured the books, studying everything she could touch, all to distract herself from her son, her life. Over time, she gained an appreciation for the subjects she was learning about. Unlike her roles, they were completely real. Being a vampire, she would never be able to appreciate sherbet again anyway.
Eventually, Ava’s patience was spent and so she left with a scuffle and poisoned words. Her ‘death’ had been 20 years in the past and no one would mistake her for herself anymore. She was done being Mina.
A few years were spent traveling, then she applied to colleges with forged papers. Ava was eager to learn about this real world that she had never seen before. In the beginning, she was quite inept at common tasks, such as buying groceries, something she had never had to do before, but she learned. She always learned.
At the end of the century, Ava finally caved and looked up her family. Apparently, Roy had moved to Shadow Falls, but she never got to meet him again. The only thing she found was his grave — he had died of a sickness years ago. Still, her grandchildren, after much shock, had been all too happy to accept her. Even as a dreaded vampire.
Following the desire to learn more and share her knowledge, Ava took on a role as a professor and then as a Headmistress. It’s certainly not as glamorous as being an actress, but it’s better.
Chocolate fudge, not sherbet.
Ava likes to make sure others only see her best side, portraying herself as fearless and reliable. To make others more comfortable in her presence and less intimidated by her elegance, she uses humor. She doesn’t tolerate bigotry and is quick to reprimand it. On campus she is known to be wry, but also helpful and kind. Students often approach her, as opposed to other faculty members, if they have a problem with a professor.
Of course, Ava isn’t without faults; on the rare occasion that she does a blunder, she is easily and extremely flustered. She takes pride in her intelligence and quest for knowledge, but her passion often leaves her distracted in the face of more important matters. She still mourns deeply for her son, feeling guilty for her own turning. Loneliness is a big issue for her and so she does her best to have a good relation with as many people as possible. A lot of Supernaturals and humans in Shadow Falls know her personally because of this.
