judgemental. vain. direct. honest. dedicated. dramatic. loyal. stubborn. organised. focused. high strung.There are a great many parts of Schuyler that are still present in Holland, things that she's been unable or unwilling to shed like a snake, keeping her core personality much the same even through her numerous years living. For the most part, Holland is bold, vibrant, a young woman with a snarky and devious side. At times she presents as a closed off and withdrawn 'mean girl', particularly to those who either don't know her or she looks down on (and as a former Countess, she looks down on a lot of people), deep down she's actually a fairly emotionally dependent woman, although she is very picky about just who she's dependent on. It's taken a great deal of time for Holland to put aside her self-absorbed nature, but over a century of viciousness and self-involved whining didn't win her points for niceness. She's not cruel, not anymore, but Holland has always been blunt to the point of brutal honesty, and that's how she sees it. She's not 'mean', she's brutally honest. Over time, she's become an exceptionally resilient woman, but not lost that snarky and dark edge, even if she's seen a lot of death and suffered a fair amount of pain for it.
Holland has all the typical vampire traits; claws and fangs, superior strength and speed, healing factor and healing saliva, immortality. The usual really.SOCIAL STATUS
For the most part, Holland doesn't flaunt her species, and while she's gotten exceptionally good at controlling her bloodlust, she does have the odd flare up, particularly while she's angered or stressed.
At her age, Holland has also gotten very good at using her hypnotic suggestion, typically she only uses it to ease those nervous about allowing her to feed or if she's pushed into feeding from someone who didn't volunteer.
Through the last few years, specifically from the early 2000's, Holland has built up a social media presence, one of many, yes, but hers is exceptionally lasting due to her exceptional good looks and her ability to reinvent herself.LOYALTY
It probably helps that she's legitimately ageless. Recently, Holland has broken into print and commercial modelling.
Holland has stuck by the family of witches that were kind enough to gift her with her charmed necklace, as her sire destroyed her first one, the Vargas' were gracious enough to assist her with her plight. In the end, she made a lifelong friend, something that Holland carried on throughout her own life, staying with the family.BOSS BITCH
As a result, Holland is very close to each generation of the family, staying particularly close the the female members. She's pretty much assigned herself their eternal protector.
In life, Schuyler took no prisoners, in death, Holland does the same. She's branded herself and runs an Insta-influencer brand, something that she is very much aware takes a lot of work and effort to stay on top. Additionally she operates as her own management and promotional team, which takes some serious balls.
Holland is in no way about to let her empire fall under someone else's ineptitude.
Schuyler Visser was the only daughter born to low wrung noble parents; they weren't quite in the court, but not exactly out of it either. Her father was an adviser to an adviser and thus the family were rather comfortable. Growing up, everyone knew that Schuyler was going to be pretty, she held herself properly and her fiery red mane of hair was the talk of the ladies for weeks at a time.TEENAGE YEARS
Her brothers were rather protective, often sheltering Schuyler from the outside world, spoiling her with their attention and lavish gifts. In many ways it set up the young girl for abject failure through her life, but her brothers only wanted what was best for their little sister and wanted to keep her safe.
Her upbringing was a fairly normal one, although she was constantly spoiled and her outbursts when she didn't get her way were monumental, her family did nothing but pander to her, building Schuyler up to being the spoiled, vain and demanding woman she became.
Like everyone believed, Schuyler grew into a decidedly beautiful woman, with flowing red hair and the perfect face. Many girls of the court were jealous of her looks, the attention they garnered her and the fact that Schuyler knew it drove them crazy.ADULTHOOD
Ultimately, it backfired on Schuyler. While she believed she would have her pick of suitors, her father had other ideas and made political alliances with his daughter as a chess piece. Her brothers were the ones she begged to talk their father out of it, but he wouldn't be swayed, and Schuyler was wed to Espen De Vries before she got much of a chance to enjoy her womanhood.
Married life did nothing for Schuyler, becoming Countess De Vries was just a title, something she she was in no way prepared for or looking to have. She openly despised her husband, just as he was needlessly cruel her she would throw it back in his face. Many of their staff knew to avoid the pair whenever they were in the same room as the other.VAMPIRISM
After a few short years of marriage, Schuyler hit breaking point when she discovered that her husband had taken a lover -one of the maids in the estate. Rather than react in a blind rage, Schuyler plotted, left Espen to believe his affair was secret before she acted.
Shortly after their wedding anniversary, Schuyler arranged for an 'accident' within the estate, where Espen fell from the balcony of their bedroom to the cobbled courtyard below. She played the part of grieving widow rather well for a short time, cutting her staff in half and sending them to other estates in the region to work for other noble families. At the same time, Schuyler was expected at ball, something to honour her dear departed late husband. Showing up, wearing her widow's veil, Schuyler only grew more confident that no one suspected her hand in Espen's death.
It was also where she laid eyes on Istvan Kecskes, an attractive and charming man who seemed very adept at wooing a widow. Unknown to Schuyler, it would be her last night as a human.
Life as a vampire did not come easy, but nor was it jarringly complex. Istvan was not a careful teacher, nor was he an overly controlling sire. She knew not to get caught and to minimise her exposure, but at no point did Istvan attempt to curb the bloodlust that sang in her veins as her condition took hold.
In the few years following her turning, Schuyler was violent and tormented, often taking that out on those who crossed her path. She lacked a sense of empathy for many years, her only connection with her turned siblings and her sire, who readily encouraged her expressions of violence and anger. As Istvan fell into depression over the death of his own sire, Schuyler and her blood connected sibling often suggested methods of 'perking' their sire up -usually a bit of a bloodbath, but nothing that wouldn't be written off as the conflict in Europe at the time.
As Istvan slowly gained control of himself, pulling out of the depression at the risk of losing his own head, it grew to a time where Schuyler had to strike out herself. South America was very different from Europe, and while it took a great deal of time of Schuyler to grow comfortable, she learned methods of adapting.
She became Holland Bronwyn, an Irish girl sold to slavers who ran astray of some rocks and she washed up on some unknown beach before finding her way there, wherever there was at the time. It played into her learning Spanish and Mexican and Portuguese along the way, although she was rarely fluent and only passable. It was there, during a drug massacre, in the early 1930's that Holland met Constanca, a young witch who happened across Holland post massacre. The witch instantly knew what Holland was, but didn't seem afraid, possibly due to her decimating a drug cartel that plagued the area.
Accepting assistance from the witch, as a thank you for her service, was the first human kindness Holland had been shown from someone she wasn't actively seducing or controlling. She opted to accept the help, learn a little about the witch and stay somewhat close. While there were few supernatural threats to her or her family through the years, Holland didn't hesitate to strike out at perceived threats to her newly discovered friend, only growing more protective when Constanca asked her to be a guardian to her young daughter, part of the line of their family.
Sofia was somewhat of a newness for Holland, something soft and squishy that she could protect, but also someone that never learned to fear her. As Sofia grew she only ever expressed love and adoration of Holland, cementing Holland's decision to protect, nurture and destroy anything that threatened to harm Sofia at all. The big change came as Sofia was entering her teens and a choice was to be made. The family were moving from South America to North America, making the trek to a new country in the hopes of a better life.
In truth, it wasn't a hard choice for Holland, to uproot her flimsy life and follow. She'd already decided to dedicate her life to Sofia's protection, and she had always been loyal to Constanca, ensuring that they were safe and comfortable, even if just by robbing or conning a few idiots out of their money, Holland took that role very seriously.
In a great many ways, Miami was not so different. The languages flowed all around, and Holland still struggled to pick them all up. But Sofia thrived. Holland soon discovered new ways to sate her interests, primarily enforcing laws for certain groups within the city, at least until they misjudged her mood and then the battle for dominance began while a rival gang was given credit or blame for the bodies littering Miami that week.
While she didn't believe it was possible, as Sofia grew and loved and built her own life, Holland felt somewhat fulfilled, like she had a purpose. And it wasn't just protecting the inevitable need for her charm to be replenished. When Sofia eventually began settling down and building her family, Holland wasn't exactly prepared for Marisol.
While Sofia had been new and shiny and special, Marisol was like a whole new world. The child bonded with Holland in so many ways that Holland was regularly the one to console the infant, where some babies seemed to like their mothers heartbeats, Marisol appeared to like the absent thump from Holland's chest, her cool skin seemed to fascinate the child and her red hair was a constant distraction.
If Holland thought she would protect Sofia with her life, she wasn't prepared for the all consuming need to keep Marisol safe to the point of being preparing to decimate half the world should she need to.
It was a fierce protective instinct that never waned, Holland went from being a nanny to a caregiver to a teacher to a friend, and as Marisol grew older, Holland's appreciation for the fierce and independent young woman she became only grew too.
The biggest challenge came when Marisol, affectionately called Inez, displayed a desire to move to LA, all the way across the country. For the first time, Holland was torn between her promise to Sofia and her dedication to Inez. In the end, Sofia put her daughter before all else, requesting that Holland go with her, stay close to Inez and protect her from anything that might harm her. As her loyalty had never once waned, Holland easily agreed.
Buying a fancy apartment in Los Angeles, and securing numerous auditions to make sure she had something waiting for her, Holland arranged to fly out to LA first, making sure that the city was safe and the area was suitable for Inez and getting set up for her arrival.