Mildred Winters
From SuspireWiki
Life Underrated
1935
Born a bastard child of the Depression Mildred was an "occupational hazard" of the "job" that her mother took to make ends meet for the children that her husband left behind when he went to run the rails. As the youngest of 7 children Millie is not treated well at all and ends up more a house maid or servant than a sibling.
1941
Millie's mother dies on a sick bed and as the authorities were unable to track down the children's father they are sent off to orphanages around the city. Millie is sent to a "school for wayward girls" in hopes of instilling in her the qualities a woman ought to possess to be productive members of society. Millie is trained in the finer points of feminism in the way of house keeping, cooking, knitting and keeping a house hold. Millie spends a lot of time in trouble, unfortunately, for questioning the conventions that she's expected to hold to and for sneaking in inappropriate reading materials. As a last ditch effort the administration teaches Millie some occupational skills in hopes of quieting the young woman.
1951
Millie is released from the school with enough money for a small room in a Boarding house and a job in a secretarial pool where she was expected to work only as long as it takes for her to find a man to take care of her. Millie, on the other hand, has other plans. Though she keeps her job at the secretarial pool she saves up her pennies and instead of buying nice dresses and pretty things to attract a suitor she buys a typewriter and started to write.
1952
Millie develops a friendship with her neighbor at the Boarding house, Jefferson, an elderly African-American man who may be the first person to take Millie seriously and think of her as something other than a pretty face and the potential wife and home maker. After she shares some of her writing with him he encourages her to move forward with it, develop her skills. Under his prompting Millie takes night classes in journalism, politics and philosophy at the local college. Millie is, notably, the only woman in her classes.
In the mean time Millie takes her talks with Jefferson to heart and with the confidence that he begins to instill in her she starts to go out to the cafes and parlors and gets into political and philosophical discussions. The men there are at first amused by the pretty woman and allow her, and her ideas, mainly because she was nice to look at. After a while though she earns something of a reputation as an upstart and instead of listening to her the men shut her out.
1956
Armed with a degree in Journalism Millie flits from secretarial pool to secretarial pool while submitting articles left and right, trying to find a position at a magazine. After her 20th rejection in a row Millie turns to her trusted friend Jefferson and asks his advice. She can do this, she has the passion, the drive and the ability, but no one was giving her the opportunity. His suggestion was simply to become some one they would give the opportunity to.
Millie begins to submit articles under the name Miles Summers and is published shortly after. As a freelance journalist Miles Summers gains not only a solid reputation for quality reporting but a decent sized following. Millie begins to follow the Civil Rights Movement, due mostly to her friendship with Jefferson. Inspired by the African-Americans demand to be treated equally for their skin color, and by the successes of other female journalists Millie "comes out" as it were in an article about her experiences as a female writer, writing under a male guise. While the article is heralded as a great feminist accomplishment she would never take the title herself, saying that she had only ever presented the facts and that the facts remained if she were male, female, black or white.
1957
Still freelance writing she splits her time between her articles and various demonstrations she sets up. She becomes something of a local celebrity by being the white face and voice of the civil rights movement. She is also arrested for the first time for "public indecency" for kissing a black man at the front of a rally.
1958
Millie organizes a large sit-in early in the year that unfortunately turns violent, resulting in a number of injuries and a lot of property damage. She spends the rest of the year in jail for inciting a riot.
1959
Released from jail after having having had the charge downgraded and eventually dismissed with a fine Millie tones down her approach after a stern warning from the judge. Though she doesn't take his advice to find a nice man to settle down with she does fade a bit from the public face of the Civil Rights Movement, turning to coordination and planning behind the scenes. She publishes articles about her experiences in jail and the effect that the corrections system has on African Americans.
Having toned down her approach, but still being very active Millie catches the attention of Anthony Anderson, who had been watching her for years. For weeks they meet late at night at a bar and whisper philosophy and politics. It doesn't take long before he decides to embrace her, taken by her zeal and her careful and thoughtful methodology.
Unlife Unlived
1960
Amidst much whispering and rumors Millie is embraced by Anthony Anderson, the Carthian Prince of Atlanta.
1963
Having slowly integrated herself into Kindred society over the past three years Millie is released. She's proven herself a competent student. She keeps mostly to herself, watching and observing, asking questions and generally staying out of trouble. She is, for a time, unbound. There are rumors flying about her relationship with Anthony and her ability as a Kindred.
1964
Millie joins the Carthian Movement (no one is surprised).
1968
Following the natural tendency of her journalistic nature Millie starts to take records of the happenings in the city and in the Carthian Movement. Notes and minutes from meetings and official Carthian communication is all carefully transcribed and recorded by her. At the same time she begins to track the allies and contacts of the Carthian Movement, recording who has control over what sectors so that they were better able to spread their influences.
1970
At a Carthian meeting Millie is officially elected as the Archivist and Auditor of the Carthian Movement.
New Beginnings
1975
Tensions stir between Millie and the Prefect, Trey King, when she gets prepared to attend an anti war rally. There were rumors that the rally could turn violent and Millie was excited about the prospect of being there to report on the situation and perhaps get her hands dirty again when Trey forbids her from going. She demands a reason she finds that Trey, who'd handled her with kid gloves, was afriad of what Anderson's reaction would be should anything happen to her.
Angry at Trey and a bit at Anthony Millie sets out to let the Kindred population know that she is not only the Prince's childe.
At a very public debate in the Elysium she openly disagrees with her sire, Anthony Anderson, on a point of philosophy. The public debate turns into a heated argument and tempers flare. She does not, however, back down from her stance even in the face of the Prince's anger. For the first time since her embrace she is looked at by Kindred outside of the Carthian Movement as her own woman, as opposed to simply the Prince's childe.
Bolstered by the new-found respect she'd found with the city's Kindred she begins to get out more, making it a point to not only become a regular at the Elysia but to get to know every Kindred in the city on at least a casual basis. She threw parties and hosted debates and forums and began to develop a reputation as a socialite.
One night she accidentally finds Eveline Carre near fatally wounded, with severe burns all over her body, near an abandoned building in Decatur. She shelters her until she fully recovers. The best explanation she could get our of Eveline was her fevered words about "her past catching up with her". Still, rumor has it that Eveline's enemies from the old world, Carthians, that finally caught up with her.
Until 1977 Eveline keeps a very low profile with the help of Millie who spreads the word that Eveline is presumed dead.
1980
Using her reputation as a socialite in the Kindred world she turns her attentions to the social arena of the mortals. Having dropped out of journalistic circles to develop herself in the Kindred world she spent a good deal of time building herself up back. She started to write contributing pieces on culture and current events. As her contacts grew she founded a small, but popular magazine that was amazingly good at staying at the forefront of cultural trends.
1985
Caught in the mindset of the magazine she began to push the envelope in regards to social conventions again and starts showing up in Elysium dressed in current fashions, from the virgin whore to the fake glam to the new age punk rock to the black leather and lace goth.
1995
Having spent the past 15 years getting herself acquainted with the Kindred of the city Millie gets the reputation as being the girl in the know. She is the person to go to in regards to news about the city and about the city itself. For a few years she acts as Herald, unofficially, occasionally (but unintentionally) stepping on Bridget Connelly's toes.
1997
Millie is officially given the title of Herald. The Seneschal is distinctly unhappy with this and beyond making overert snappy comments to Millie in Elysium she also revives the rumors that Millie's position in the city is due only to who her sire is.
Almost at the same time Millie gets into an argument with DJ. Having watched him building his contacts only within the computer realms she pressures him to get out and expand his influences. He accuses her, behind her back, of abusing her position as the Prince's childe. Word gets around to her and she's furious. The dispute is brought to Eveline after tempers flare a little for resolution.
1998
In a move of reconciliation DJ teaches Millie how to use a computer. She in turn turns her magazine into an internet entertainment portal that is subescription and advertisement driven. The site begins to run itself and Millie takes time to develop herself personally. She continues to experiment with her appearence, new tattoos and piercings become common place, keeping with the trend.
1999
For New Years Eve Millie throws a huge and debaucherous party. It's a grand time that no one who attends talks about.
The Future is Now
2002
Millie sells the internet portal and while she still makes contributions to that and a number of other entertainment magazines she focuses her money on investing, learning the ins and outs of the stock market so that she can better concentrate both on the city and the Carthian Movement. At this time she also opens a small coffee shop that quick becomes a gathering place for the bohemien crowds in the city, as it hosts a plethora of activities from Poetry readings to debates to live music on any given night.
The Coffee shop quickly becomes a favorite spot for the local Carthian Movement.
2007
new stuff goes here.