InsaneJournal

Age: 28
DOB: March 17, 1980
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 105 lbs
Hair: Blond
Eye: Blue
Notable features: Tattoo across right side of face from forehead to cheek
Languages: English, Latin, Italian, pronunciation knowledge of various others
Classes Taught: Intro to Music, Music Composition, Girl's Choir, Chorale
Clubs: Men's A Capella, Women's A Capella
Likes: Swimming, dancing, singing, guitar
Dislikes: Spicy food, onions, spiders

She tries to play the role of "responsible adult", but due to her playful nature, doesn't always succeed. When forced into a serious situation, she'll do what needs to be done, but may need an outlet to vent afterwards.

She wasn't a bad kid growing up: got good grades, did well with her dance and swimming, never got arrested. Trouble, however, would seem to find her whether she went looking for it or not. Her older brothers were forever dragging her into their pranks until she started retaliating.

Jules makes friends easily and without reservation (with people and animals alike, which was forever a major point of stress to her mother as Jules was forever bringing home "strays"). She considers Casey her best friend

Music is her passion, her guitar her prized possession. Dancing makes her happy, swimming clears her mind. It is her friends and family, the interactions with them, that make her complete though. All of the music in the world, all of the swimming pools could not fill her need for companionship the way that people do.

Jules Beckett is the youngest of four children, and the only daughter of Mary and Douglas Beckett. She spent her formative years in a growing suburb just outside of Kansas City, living in the house she was born in until college. Growing up in the Beckett household made for a fairly uncomplicated childhood. Her father taught orchestra at her high school and was a bit saddened that, though she was the most musical of his children, she never grew to love any instrument like she did her guitar. Her mother was a nurse both by profession and at necessity at home, patching up her four rambunctious children.

Her brothers Owen, Kale and Tyler range between ten to seven years older than her, putting Jules in a position to be babied and fiercely protected during the years that her brothers still lived at home. By the time she hit junior high, it was suddenly as though she were an only child, the boys off becoming businessmen, scientists, and lawyers (and how they managed to accomplish that, she still doesn't understand, after hearing all of the mischief they continued to get into during their college years).

Jules started doing ceilidh when she was six (ballet was too girly and she'd just seen Brigadoon with her parents at the Music Hall), loving it as an outlet for her energy as well as for the actual music. When she was in junior high, a boy she had a crush on was on the swim team, prompting her to join. The boy was quick to break her heart, but she was already in love with the water by then, so she stayed (and might have gloated a little when she ended up winning more medals than him). As much as she loves dancing and swimming though, music has always been her first love. She's had her heart broken once or twice by people who just couldn't understand the role that music played in her life and that no, she wasn't willing to give it up for a "real" major or "real" career. The bulk of her talent lies in her voice, the guitar and mandolin, though she's proficient with piano and a number of other instruments thanks to her years in college (she's itching to try out bagpipes though, and is hoping to get her hands on some before the end of the school year).

High school years were filled with practices and rehearsals, musicals and swim meets. She never considered herself popular, nor was she an outcast, but people seemed to know who she was for one reason or another. She had a couple of boyfriends, though none of them were very serious. She finished school in the top 10 percent of her class, proving that though music was her life, she hadn't shirked in her academics.

After graduation she headed off to New York to study music education and performance at NYU. This is where she met Casey Winters. Jules didn't pay the upperclassman much attention her first semester, thinking the girl a bit too crazy for her tastes (which was saying something). But Casey was persistent and finally convinced Jules to come along on an adventure. And while she discovered that Casey's idea of an adventure far exceeded her own, she had enjoyed the thrill of it all. There might have been certain activities that she'd swear never to do again, but in general, found Casey a hard person to say no to. The exception to that rule was Casey's constant teasing and flirting. Jules had never had a boy pursue her so persistently and was a little shocked by the girl who did so. It wouldn't be until after Casey was no longer at NYU that Jules would figure out that she was attracted to women as well as men (and that had certainly been an interesting thing to reveal to her friend, after she'd been dumped by a girl who lived on the floor above her).

Jules never could put into words how much Casey's friendship meant to her and how glad she was that the older woman seemed just as unable to stay away as she was. By the summer after Casey's graduation, it had become an unspoken law that part of their summers belonged to a shared adventure. They'd pick places at random, whatever sounded like fun at the time, and just go. Two summers ago had been the cross-country road trip to Burning Man. Though Jules doesn't really remember much from the four day event, she came away from it with (in hers and Casey's opinions) an awesome tattoo. Unfortunately, the private high school where she'd been teaching for the past few years didn't think it suitable for their choir director to have a whimsical design inked over the right side of her face.

And so she found herself jobless and back home in Kansas City, driving her parents insane as she alternately moped and worked on her own music. She hadn't expected for teaching to become something she needed to be doing just as much as creating music, but the year off proved that point rather well. She'd about given up hope of finding another teaching job and was ready to do something crazy like move to Ireland by the time summer rolled around again. Fortunately for Jules, summer equaled Casey. And along with the usual adventure, Casey had brought a job offer: Goldfinch was willing to hire her, ink and all.