Devlin Godry is a character from one of my stories. She has slight heterochromia, one eye is blue-grey and the other is hazel-green.

Story Triggers/Warnings: Suicide and LGBT characters.

S/he is the agender child of Deacon Godry (I’m going to use “he” as a pronoun to clarify the description here). The Godry family was a well-to-do southern bunch, and Deacon was a black sheep. He was sent to a boarding school in Louisiana, but ran away to New Orleans, where he hooked up with a prostitute named Melinda “Lindy” Pinkerton. She introduced him to heroine and he got immediately hooked on it, becoming a drug dealer to take care of her. He was caught and arrested shortly after Lindy got pregnant, and he was given a 5 year sentence.

Lindy’s family tried to help take care of her through her pregnancy, but as the birth date approached, she became more and more depressed and afraid of raising the child without Deacon. Eventually she attempted suicide by slitting her wrists.

At the hospital, doctors delivered the baby (premature), but couldn’t save Lindy.

The Godry family fought for custody and won, because the Pinkertons were very poor and lived in a dangerous neighborhood. When Lindy stopped visiting Deacon in prison, he called his family for answers, but they ignored him and told his Devlin that he died in prison.

Devlin was born female with the name Vanessa Pinkerton. He was rebellious like his father and hated his family’s pretentious airs. He preferred a masculine identity and pronouns, changing his name from Vanessa Pinkerton to Devlin Godry. However, Devlin’s grandparents put him into Christian conversion therapy to try and get him to identify as female.

He hated his grandparents and always wondered about the life he could have had if his parents hadn’t gone. His Grandparents couldn’t look at him without remembering their disowned son Deacon. They treated Devlin with disdain and a little spite, using him as a pawn to get back at Deacon for bringing shame to their family. As long as they could keep Devlin and Deacon apart, then they felt justified.

The only family member who Devlin was close to was his youngest Aunt and Deacon’s youngest sister, Emma-May Godry. Since they were only six years apart in age, Emma was more of a sister than an aunt, and the only one who was sympathetic to Deacon and was against keeping father and child apart.

Devlin took to cutting his skin as a release from stress.. but on his 13th birthday he got so depressed wanting to join his parents in the afterlife, and slit his wrists. Emma found him and called 911.

He was institutionalized, and during a visit, Emma told him that Devlin’s Mother Lindy had died by slitting her wrists. Devlin knew his Mother had died during childbirth but always blamed himself for it, so this was news. Emma asked him never to cut again, concerned that Devlin would share his Mother’s fate. Devlin promised he wouldn’t.

Then Emma shared one more secret– telling Devlin that his Father was still alive, and that if Devlin worked hard to get better and leave the hospital, Emma would help him reunite.

Devlin was shocked, but suddenly everything made sense. He formed a plan.

He put on his best behavior and left the hospital much quicker than anyone imagined.

Once he was out, he acted like the perfect daughter, not complaining when his grandparents made him wear dresses and act more “like a girl.” He even told his family that he wasn’t interested in meeting Deacon, and that he considered his Grandparents to be his only parents.

When he asked permission to get a couple of piercings, Emma obliged because he was so impressed by Devlin’s apparent turn around (Devlin was underage).

Even Grandma and Grandpa reluctantly let this one slide, since they were so pleased with his good behavior.

As soon as the piercings healed, he stole a bunch of money from his Grandparents and ran away, hitchhiking across the country to New Orleans, where he hoped to find Deacon.

He was very tall for his age, looked, dressed, and acted like a boy, and the piercings made him look even older than he was. Not many people questioned him or wanted to get involved with calling the police about some punk kid– Devlin looked like he knew what he was doing.

He ran into a dead-end in New Orleans, but came across some of Deacon’s old band mates by chance. (When Deacon got out of prison, he became a member of a Haitian Vodoun group and joined a band that went on tour. On one of the stops, he met a woman from the audience who showed him a good time, and after the tour was done, he left the band to return to her town and live with her, getting a job in construction, getting licensed, and eventually opening up his own construction company.)

The band was still sore at Deacon for abandoning them (he was the frontman/lead singer of the band, and when he left they essentially broke up), but one member agreed to bring Devlin to the town and help him find Deacon.

When they arrived, they found out that the woman who Deacon dated had moved away. They found his new address listed in the phone book, and went to it, but no one was home. The house was large and the neighborhood was posh. This couldn’t possibly be an ex-convict’s home…

The bandmate had head back home and wasn’t interested in seeing Deacon again, so he gave the kid some cash and left him there to wait.

Devlin loitered around the area, looking suspicious and out of place. Luckily no one called the cops on him, and after nightfall, he hung out in the shadows, watching Deacon’s house.

A care pulled into the driveway, and two men got out.

One was a tall man wearing a black cape– long black hair falling in waves over his shoulders.

The other was a much shorter man wearing a more punk/gothic getup and sandy blonde hair. They looked like they just got back from a costume party. Devlin was shocked to see them kiss before entering the house.

Devlin was quite sure he probably had the wrong house, but wanted to try anyway. The taller man did have the Godry’s signature hair, and all the family members were taller than average.

When he rang the doorbell, there was some stirring inside before the smaller man answered.

“Hello, is Mr. Deacon Godry here?”

“Uhm, yes. who are you?”

“Can I see him?”

The man hesitated, then called into the house, “Deacon! There’s some kid here to see you…”

From the back of the house, Deacon walked up. He wore a muscle shirt and jeans, revealing a lanky, domineering physique and sharp features.

“Who’re you?”

“I–” the words froze on Devlin’s tongue.

Then Deacon’s eyes widened. He stepped closer, looking into the kid’s eyes a little better– yes, one was green and one was blue, just like Lindy’s used to be.

“What’s your name, kid?”

Devlin was still speechless.

Deacon came closer to him, noticing the kid’s height and similar lankiness, and that jet black hair that every Godry child had…

“I’m,” Devlin stammered, “My name is Devlin Godry. My Mom’s name was Melinda Pinkerton. My Father’s name was–”

Before he could finish speaking, Deacon had him in a close embrace.

Father and child held each other for the first time, and both felt a serenity that neither could ever have imagined.

After that, Devlin lived with his Father and his husband (Deacon was bi to begin with, and said that after Melinda died, he could never bring himself to love another woman. Really the story is more complicated than that…but that’s a tale for another post).

Deacon’s friend Anna had a daughter named June who was around Devlin’s age. Devlin and June became fast friends and even started dating for a while, until Devlin revealed to her that he was biologically female. Although open minded, June decided they should just be friends. They still experimented with each other as they got older and the hormones started racing between them in their teen years, but it was more awkward explorations than love.

Devlin becomes more and more promiscuous and experimental as he gets older, and starts going out to a local bar dressed as a woman to attract male attention, going by his original name, Vanessa, and hoping to have a sexual experience with a man and see what it’s like.

Normally, Devlin wears very loose clothing that hides his body, so no one recognizes him when he wears a close-fitting dress and high heels.

By now, Deacon knows that Devlin is biologically female, and so does Anna.

Anna recognizes Devlin at a bar, and reports to Deacon. Deacon waits outside the bar one evening after Devlin goes out claiming he’s spending the night at a friend’s house.

He sees her walking out with some guy and stops them, forcing Devlin to come home with him.

The story gets pretty complex from there, with Devlin exploring being both female and male, with his friends and schoolmates reacting with curiosity, awe, and occasionally disgust.

He goes to school one day dressed completely feminine with makeup and everything, and attracts the attention of the high school football star, Aaron Connelly, who doesn’t recognize him at first. When he realizes that the “new girl” is actually that weird punk kid who always hung out with the goths, Aaron is totally caught off guard and he and the other jocks mock Devlin.

Eventually, Aaron and Devlin have a secret romance, which gets ugly when the football team begins to suspect that something is going on between them, and Aaron feels he has to prove his masculinity by hurting Devlin… to be continued