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theconsequences) wrote2024-03-23 12:08 am
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Unpredictable and impulsive, it is always a mystery whether Mack will open her mouth and tell a wildly funny or share something deeply vulnerable. She is an avid storyteller, and while she doesn't make a habit of lying, she is not above an embellishment or two.What Mack lacks in book smarts and common sense, she makes up for in her creative and whimsical relationship with the world around her. Mack isn't book-smart or blessed with more common sense. Her strengths are her creativity, unique point of view, and wonder of the world around her. She has an artistic spirit; her only real, consistent passion is singing and songwriting.
Her impulsivity- in her words and actions- gets her most trouble. Mack lives in the moment, which can often be joyful. On the other hand, she lacks any serious ambition and often fails to consider the long-term consequences of her actions.
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Her mother, Rita, was left to raise her daughter alone when Mack's father chose not to be involved in their lives. Rita yearned for stability for her and her daughter, but her fear of loneliness and personal insecurities resulted in a life of cycling through jobs, subpar boyfriends, and alcohol. Her relationship with Mack is affectionate but fraught. Although they are close in many ways, Mack continues to have her guard up regarding her mother and some of the ways her upbringing affected her life.When Mack was in elementary school, she met her best friend, Paloma. Unlike Mack, Paloma belonged to an unbroken, upper-middle class, multi-generational household into which Mack frequently inserted herself. Mack particularly loved Paloma's abuela, who taught the girls to cook on weekends and often took them shopping at farmer's markets. Whenever Mack felt like she was drowning in her home's upheaval, Paloma's family was a welcome shore.
The men Rita brought home as Mack grew up were largely forgettable, except one - Todd. A traveling folk singer who met Rita when she was working at a bar he played at, Todd took to Mack almost immediately. For her 13th birthday, he gifted her a guitar and taught her to play. It was the most normal summer Mack ever had in her life. Rita never explained why she and Todd broke up. One day, he was gone and, with him, any hope Mack had of an idyllic family life.
It was mainly due to Paloma's support and help that Mack got through school. By the time she was 16, she had started partying and drinking. In her junior year of high school, Paloma's abuela passed away, and her family moved to California, leaving Mack once again bitterly adrift. She compartmentalized. Her impulsive behavior was curbed long enough to make it through slightly tipsy school days, and her nights were dizzy with club lights and liquor. During this time, Mack also explored her bisexuality. Although her tastes weren't particularly discerning, no-strings-attached liaisons gave her a sense of control in a life that otherwise felt like a tailspin. When graduation day hit, nothing held her back from completely delving into a loud, constantly moving, mostly anonymous nightlife.
Eventually, Mack got a job as a waitress at the White Coyote Cafe, mostly to support her increasingly expensive dependencies. However, at 19, she met Gabe. His tan skin pulsed under neon dance lights to the beat of her heart, and through a haze, she pictured a stable future. Within three days, she packed a bag and moved into his run-down trailer. Gabe had a job and an apartment waiting in El Paso, but his demons hitched along on their ride into the sunset. After another three weeks of stained hotel sheets and nights finding patterns in popcorn ceilings, Gabe attempted to rob a gas station. His car collided with a guard rail, and he was arrested. Once again, Mack packed her bags and drove back to T or C in his old truck, burping diesel along the way.
Mack quickly crossfaded her way far from the American dream. She delved back into the bar scene but spent more time listening to lackluster versions of Todd at music bars. At night, she hid in the dark corners and drank while scribbling in her poetry books. She sought her intimacies with the same fervor but with no interest in long-term connection. During the day, she returned to work at the White Coyote Cafe. All the while, she wondered if there was a way out on one of those wooden stages, picking sad stories from the cavern of a guitar.
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At just twenty years old, Mack found herself, inexplicably, in New York City. She became one of many known as Drifters - people from different times and worlds who were snatched via an experiment by the mysterious Genesis Industries. For almost half a decade, Mack lived in the Residences, an apartment complex located in Battery Park which served as housing for the befuddled Drifters.Additionally, Drifters found that they had acquired certain powers through whatever method Genesis Industries had obtained them. Mack was a shapeshifter who had the power to become a coyote or a roadrunner. Originally, her ability to shapeshift was triggered by intense feelings of emotion; however, over time and with the guidance of other more experienced shapeshifters, Mack learned to control her power.
During her time in New York, she worked at the bar in the Residences. While she began as a clueless and somewhat irresponsible barback, she slowly began to take on more responsibility, more so as she began to bond closely with her boss, who she often saw as a father figure. She also fell in love with her roommate, although the feeling was quite unrequited. Regardless, her friendships began to flourish and Mack found herself, for better or worse, developing a support system unlike one she had ever experienced before.
The changes she saw in herself did not come without challenges. Mack struggled with alcoholism, and while she made efforts to remain sober, harsh events brought on by Genesis Industries meddling and instances of those she loved being suddenly sent back to their homes often led to relapses. Still, Mack thrived. She started a cult, began writing again, and even started to sing at the bar during events hosted at the Residences. Manhattan, for better or worse, became the place she belonged.