&Phillip Powell
Name: Phillip Powell
Age: 33
Species: Harpy
Occupation: Author, under the alias G. N. Farrington
Orientation: Bisexual
Faceclaim: Oliver Jackson-Cohen
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death, murder, gaslighting, addiction
Donna Powell had made mistakes in her past, but it was something she had to do. Or she believed so. You see, Donna Powell was seeking the money and glory the richest people had, so she’d pull on a couple of acts as a very young adult to gain the money she so desired. She’d get close to rich men and once they trusted her enough, she would withdraw a couple of thousands from their banks and move on to the next person. She wasn’t proud of it, but any means to get to her goal... right?
Eventually, a demon caught notice of it, and decided she needed some payback. However, she wasn’t the most terrible person, so he opted for... an indirect way. The demon was able to seduce his way in her bed, and got her pregnant. Giving up on the child wasn’t something she could ever imagine, so she kept the boy. However, not even a day after she gave birth, the demon told her she would get the karma she deserves, cursing the child on his way out, making the baby a harpy.
Phillip was barely a few months old when Donna fell for a man and married, almost instantly. And just as he was two, his mother gave birth to a little girl. As he grew up, his half sister became the one person in the family he actually liked, seeing as his step father was often reminding him he wasn’t his, and his mother did nothing to help the situation.
Eventually, Phillip took to books and writing as a mean to escape the situation. And while snooping around his room while he was at work, his mother found some of his writing... and was speechless. She showed it to her husband, whose brain seemed to light up with what he believed was the best of ideas. The moment he came home, Phillip was sat at the table, and told about how he could do so well as a writer. And he believed them blindly.
About a year and half later, his first book was published. Nothing big, just a fantasy story writing by a 12 years old. But that got the attention of medias, of course, and his step father was at the front of all of it. Phillip understood the man really wanted the fame and attention for himself, and it became more apparent when he would answer every single question, even the ones targeted at him specifically.
At one point, almost a year later, he got done with it. It was an interview, yet again, to see where he was now and if he planned on writing more. His step father just kept on saying how proud he was of his “son” and how he knew he’d come up with something new very soon. Which Phillip wasn’t planning on, at least not so soon. So he said it. He told him he had no rights to answer for him and that he wasn’t planning to any time soon. It turned into an argument and soon, he just started throwing punches at the man.
All of it was filmed. Thankfully, it wasn’t on live television, but the news talked about it constantly. Meanwhile, Phillip was forced into therappy. Twice a week for nearly 6 years. It made him feel more miserable than anything, really.
But the moment he turned 18, Phillip left the house. The only person he kept in touch with was his half sister. He moved as far as he could, took on a small job in a restaurant, and started studying literature part time at a community college. He really didn’t have much money so his apartment was tiny, and he really could only afford to pay for part time semesters(which in turn, allowed him to work a couple more hours than he could handle on full time).
There, he met a boy. Royce. It wasn’t long until the two of them started dating. However... there was something off. He could tell the other was hiding something, something big that he felt bad about, but he didn’t know how to approach the subject. Eventually, the feeling grew even stronger as they moved in together.
One night, having suspicions and wanting to be certain they were false, Phillip followed his boyfriend into the night. Only to find the other try to break into a home. Something... something felt like it consumed him. It all happened too fast, but he remembers standing above Royce’s body, before promptly heading back to his apartment. The next morning, news talked about an attempted break in that turned into a nightmare as the thief was brutally murdered.
Phillip knew it was him, and he knew he couldn’t stay. He just had one year more to do to graduate, but he got a transfer to another college and left as soon as he could. He got another small apartment and another job there, and tried to start fresh.
He tried to make friends, something he’d rarely done before, and ended up meeting Catalina. Out of all those people, he felt the best when he was with her, so when they decided to just... try dating a year or two later, he thought it’d be nice.
He also started therapy again when he moved to that new town. However, his therapist was... shady, not that he noticed it. But that person knew he wasn’t human, and they knew of one way to help with his... urges. He was prescribed some angel blood, although he believed it was just some medication in a syrup form. He’d been told this one was more effective as a syrup and he just believed them.
And oh boy did that help. Whatever the things he felt were, it became numb whenever he’d take it, and he soon became addicted to the “medicine”. It was rare and hard to find, but he went through all the lengths possible to get it. He has no idea just how bad for his health it could actually be, he just thinks he feels better now.
At age 26, Phillip published another book. A mystery this time, something he’d been interested in for a while. Of course, when medias heard that boy had published something new, and cameras turned to him again. And of course, his step father jumped on the opportunity to go leech on his relative fame, and decided to drive all the way to his book release. And his half sister decided to come along. However, they never made it, getting in a car accident and ending up in the river.
He’d be lying if he said he was sad about his step father, however, he had a harder time accepting the fact his sister was gone, particularly has they buried an empty casket, with her body never being found.
But the funeral also brought him a tiny bit of hope for something better. A cousin on his mother’s side, Andrea, who he’d barely even heard of before - really, all he’d been told was that he had cousins. But she told him about Bellport, where she lived, and how it could be a good change for him to stay there. So he moved there with Cat not too long later.
Following the accident, Phillip decided he was done being in the spotlight. Forever. He had a talk with his team, and they all agreed to let him write under an alias. His style also shifted towards a more horror genre. More psychological, something with a meaning to it. And a lot of inspirations he gets from his own life, or from other events he sees on the news. So really, people never connected G. N. Farrington to him.
He also found a new provider for his “syrup” and does videocalls with his therapist - he could find a new one but he’s built some trust and bond with this one, that he can’t think about doing that.
Bellport has been good to him, and he feels more at peace now. He has completely cut contact with his mother, not wanting anything to do with her. However, he often believes he sees the ghosts of his step father and half sister, believing he’s being haunted by them as he blames himself for the accident.
He’s recently married Catalina, and they moved into a new place after coming back from their honeymoon, so they’re doing all that domestic setting up the house together and all that.