Holliday Hall

Mortal Days

Holly Hall grew up in an untroubled home, the much-loved daughter of a middle-class family slowly fighting to escape the poorer district of New Orleans. She did well in school, had good friends, and collected bugs. Things were good for a few years in a row, and finally things were looking up, when Holly’s family was torn apart in the years that followed Hurricane Katrina. The catastrophe destroyed her father’s business. Month after month of legal battles that followed destroyed any money left over and the marriage of her parents with it.

Holly blamed herself for not keeping her family together, and she ran away from home. School records were all missing, and when Holly lost interest and stopped attending at 14, no-one came looking for her. As the city trudged on resolutely, Holly thought there was no proof left she ever existed at all. She would spend the next few years of her life on the streets of the city, living in various homes, making transient friends among street kids and the homeless, always feeling directionless. She saw the brutal treatment of the people who lived on the street — she would inevitably end up blaming herself when one became the victim of police brutality or the cruelty of tourists.

The only thing that would invigorate Holly’s love of her city was the music found there on the street. She began picking up guitar and soon showed a clear aptitude for it. She’d play on the street, with old jazz musicians, living on tossed coins, and soon found a stage to play on at an old basement bar owned by a friend of her father’s. The owner ignored her age, and sometimes gave the girl a safe place to sleep when times were rough. People came to see the prodigy play though, and soon Holly had fans among the people of New Orleans. Fearing she would inevitably ruin this life, Holly decided it was time for her old self to die. She began taking to the stage donning a Mardi Gras mask, and no longer used her given name. On stage, she was Burgundy. People came to see Burgundy play, and next festival season, one pair of eyes behind the countless masks in the crowds saw Burgundy, heard the pain and loss in her music, and decided the girl needed to be saved.

Kindred Nights

The Embrace was a rebirth into powers that Holly could barely comprehend. The old blood of her sire surging through her veins focused her like a laser. She felt strong, she felt capable, and for the first time she felt master of her own destiny. Aided by the encouragement of her attentive sire, Holly has learned much, and she has learned fast. No longer feeling helpless in life, Holly strives to master fate, to overcome the desperation and hardship that struck so many families. As Burgundy, Holly can still be found playing in quiet clubs and bars. She keeps to no schedule, no discernible pattern, and her fans eagerly speculate where the ghostly musician appears next. Her rising celebrity is a value to be exploited by her new family, and her shows are often dotted with some unusual faces watching from the crowd.