Skai

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Interactions: Linqian (@Fernstone) and Greyson (@AtomicEmperor).

Burns Home > Flowers and Canvases

---

Lyss stood leaning against her motorcycle with her arms crossed, her face grim as she surveyed the abandoned Burns home. After ten empty years, the house was decrepit and beginning to crumble. The dark green paint had faded grey. The shutters were decayed or missing entirely, along with rotten bits of wooden trimming along the roofing. The frame of the house still held, each wall holding firm with the assistance of the overgrown vines crawling up their sides. One side of the porch had collapsed, it's banister too rotten to support it's roof.

When Lyss left St. Portwell, she never thought that she'd see this home again. On the ride here she'd sworn not to step foot on the property. She was normally true to her words, and yet... here she was. Soiling the good memories she had of her once beautiful home. Well, whatever good memories were left of it. She figured, if she still had all of her humanity, that she would have shed at least a tear or two over it. Instead she felt an ache in her chest. Enough of an ache to make whatever percentage of her soul that remained seem far too much.

How much longer do I have left, before I look at this place and feel nothing? Would it be better, that way?

Best not to dwell on that for too long.

Lyss gave the Burns relic one last lookover before she straddled her bike. She got it started, pulled on her helmet, and began to make her way into the city. The ache in her chest slowly faded the further she was from her home.

The familiar drive into the city opened a floodgate to her memories. Memories she cherished, and memories she wished were forgotten. Places where the Stygian Snake had left scars stood out to her. Even after ten years, the businesses and homes that were built over the wreckage looked brand new and out of place. Portwell was both familiar and alien to her now. The thought made her rev her engine and ride faster. She focused on the streets until she couldn't tell the difference between old and new.

Lyss was hesitant to answer Auri's call a few days ago. The life that Lyss built for herself wasn't all roses and sunshine. Her work was a means to an end. Odd jobs here and there with great rewards. Her partners were sketchy at times, and yet she found some type of fucked up family dynamic with them. They had her back when she needed it most. They knew what had to be done without snide remarks and bickering. Something the Sycamore Coven could learn from.

Yet Lyss couldn't decline the call. It was nice to know that someone from the Coven cared to reach out. Even if it was to deliver grave news. No matter how much Lyss resented the way the Coven disbanded, she knew that they deserved her help. They deserved vengeance. To hear that so many members were missing or had been murdered, including Stone, was enough to convince her to break her oath and return home.

The wolves carved from sycamore trees were messages meant for the Coven directly. Whoever this Father Wolf was, whether it was one man, an apparition, or a coven acting under one name, meant to destroy their Coven. It was already apparent that distance was no issue for them. Lyss would have been roped into this eventually, or she would have been unfortunate enough to find a wolf idol in her apartment and become a martyr herself.

So why not rejoin the Coven? It took one major threat for them to work together, so perhaps this one was doing the same? Maybe they had all grown and matured over the last ten years, and it would be better this time.

With a wolf's knife to their neck, they might be even worse than before. Despite how cynical she felt about it, Lyss smirked to herself. It's going to be just like old times, then.

Lyss slowed as she neared the flower shop's location and it seemed she was right. She knew she was late to the meeting, but she didn't think that it would end within an hour. Her old friends had matured physically, just like she had, and yet she could recognize each of them easily. Lyss pulled her bike into a spot a few down from the entrance to the shop and watched as two groups left the building.

The first group to leave had Drake, Sloane, Luca, Simone, and Kali. Drake looked... well enough for someone who had lost his wife. He looked older than his age, which was a lot to say since she was one year above him. Maybe marriage did that to a person. Sloane was sleek and stylish, and yet she carried herself the same way as she did before. Luca, Simone, and Kali just looked a little taller, and better dressed.

The next group was... unexpected and yet expected. Two extremely tall figures, with others in tow. Sully was a man now, and Lyss couldn't wrap her head around how grown he looked. How much bigger he was. He was a football player back then, right? He must have continued the gig. The other tall figure, well... Lyss hadn't expected to see her here at all. To think that Auri would have called her despite her issues with other returning members was a bit of a shock. Lyss felt no ill will towards Britney, although she'd been disappointed in the decisions she made. To see her with Sully, though, that wasn't a shock at all. Sully stood up for Britney back then. Of course he'd be doing it now.

Lyss watched the two groups head off in separate directions before she removed her helmet. If they were leaving, it was probably best to save their reunions at the next meeting. She came here to meet with Auri after all.

Lyss cut the engine, and was in the middle of getting off her bike when she noticed two figures standing by the shop doors having a cig. It took her a second before she recognized them as Greyson and Linqian. Linqian had not grown much, yet from Lyss's position she could see how her face had matured. She could also see that Linqian's attitude hadn't changed either. Greyson, on the other hand, was sporting a goatee and looked like he had grown into some money. Not surprising, for someone who had unknowingly taught Lyss some tricks she later used in her new profession.

Lyss threw her messenger bag over her shoulder and took a moment to adjust her hair and jacket. Whatever reservations she had, they didn't matter now. It was time to get to work. Hopefully Auri had some answers already, or at least a lead.

Hopefully I won't regret coming here at all. She thought with a deep breath.

She began to walk up to the shop, one hand on her bag's strap, and the other tucked into her jacket pocket. As she neared the entrance to the shop, she gave Greyson and Linqian a brief smile as a greeting. "Did I miss the party?"

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Alyssa "Lyss" Burns

"Am I gonna regret coming back?"

_______________________________________________ Alyssa Burns She/Her | 27 | European-American | 5'9" | 145lbs _______________________________________________ Real _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "I know a thing or two." ___________________________________ [+] [Cooking] ⫻ She learned it all from her grandmother. [Underworld Connections] ⫻ Lyss understands how the shady side of the world works. She has friends there, and they know people who know certain things that helped her in her career. [Weaponry and Combat] ⫻ Even with the ability to summon her own personal army, Lyss has learned that it's a good idea to defend herself without it. She carries a pistol with her, and also a lucky metal bat. She prefers to use the bat first.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and get your shit together." Lyss has a sort of unblemished, untouched look to her beauty. Her fair skin is smooth and unscarred. Her most striking feature would be her eyes. They're a green flecked hazel, and they seem to peer through to the soul of anyone she meets. She wears smokey eyeshadow to highlight them. Besides the eyeshadow, Lyss prefers not to wear any other makeup except for her staple lip colors; these colors remain between dark red and mauve. She is rarely seen without any makeup, as it has become a part of her and not just an accessory. Her dark brown hair falls to her middle back. Since she was born, it has always been a sleek, smooth, and shiny straight style. She rarely does anything with it, except to push it back from her face. Her height comes from her long legs, and her figure curves at the right places in an hourglass shape. She stands tall and at ease, as if she is unfazed by most things. This is all a ruse, of course. Underneath her clothes lie toned muscles ready to take action at any moment. When it comes to clothing, Lyss rarely steps out of her general style. Her wardrobe consists of dark colors like black, brown, maroon, or navy. Her jeans are usually a dark washed denim or black. She is not shy to show skin, but she always balances out a tank top with her favorite dark brown leather jacket over top. In regards to shoes, Lyss prefers boots or slip on sneakers to anything with heels.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Life isn't black and white. It's a million grey areas, and I'm trying to find my way through them."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ To carry on her family's name. To survive this messed up world. She wishes to faithfully serve The Hound, and to continue her work until it is her time.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Lyss understands that there is a balance to life and death better than anyone. All things deserve a chance to live their life to the fullest and meet death when they are due. Those that decide to spit on The Hound's role by ending those lives too soon should be stopped.

SECRETS ⫻ Lyss still feels a sense of guilt that so many of her coven were harmed during the battle against the Stygian Snake, as if she could have done more to prevent it. Her one redeeming act is that she was a part of saving Eska from the rubble. After all this time, she feels like it's not worth mentioning.

In the time between the coven's dissolution and their reunion, Lyss had been working in the black market.

Lyss carries a journal containing the Burns spell casting history, taken from her family home after her grandmother's dead. Within it contains simple, well known spells, but also many rare and potentially dangerous ones as well.

SEXUALITY ⫻ On the off chance Lyss ever makes a move, it's on a man that can handle her.

FEARS ⫻ Failure. Heights. Pretty typical stuff. She does not fear death.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Lyss had no enemies within the Coven, at least not any that she knew of. She may not have given 100% of her efforts at Coven meetings, but she certainly gave everything she had into their battles. When the coven began to dissolve, Lyss felt as if she was losing another family. So she left before the goodbyes began.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Lyss's abstraction was an aid against the Stygian Snake. Even so, she could only stand at the sidelines and let her undead to the work for her. Joined by the other necromancers, her undead served as a barrier between many of the Stygian Snake's attacks and her fellow members. They also took on the Snake's monsters directly. She pushed herself to her limits and beyond that day, and fell into a few days long coma. She was never aware that they sealed the Stygian Snake into the Sycamore Tree because of this. By the time she awakened, the coven had already erased their memories and were beginning to fall apart.

FLAWS ⫻ Over the years, Lyss has grown to be quite blunt with her words. She's forgotten the meaning of "white lies" and prefers to keep her words and actions as obvious as possible. She'll let you know when you're wrong. She can also be stubborn once she's made up her mind, and more often than not ends up working alone to satisfying her own goals.

_{Backstory
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I owe it all to my grandmother."

The Burns family name carries meaning. Whether that meaning is looked upon in a good or bad way, the Burn family didn't care. Her mother worked with apparitions and spirits, while her father practiced necromancy like her grandfather. Because of their careers, her parents traveled often. Alyssa was raised by her grandmother, a strong woman who had once been a legend in the Burns family books.

After her grandfather passed, Alyssa's father became absorbed by his work. He soon lost his life to his passion. Alyssa's mother and grandmother weren't sure it it was by his own hands, or by those who opposed his work. At six years old, Alyssa wasn't mature enough to feel the weight of grief. Yes, she missed him, but she didn't know why her mother cried all of the time. Or why her mother left her without a goodbye.

Once Alyssa turned 13, her grandmother handed down the family ring. The same ring that had thrown her family into misery. She was apprehensive at first, but her grandmother insisted that she carry on their family tradition. Her grandmother opened up to her, explaining family secrets, stories, and anything Alyssa could think to ask her. Her training commenced and the two soon discovered Alyssa's affinity for necromancy. Alyssa secretly vowed not to follow in her father's footsteps.

Years later, Lyss was well on her way to mastering her abstraction. The news of the Stygian Snake's appearance reached the Burns house quickly. Lyss's grandmother, a generally stoic and brave woman, shook as she heard the news. The Snake's attacks grew more frequent, and it seemed like more and more lux users were falling to it's teeth. Her grandmother secretly planned their escape, while Lyss began to look for others in the city that were willing to fight. It was when her grandmother perished in an attack on the Burns home that Lyss fully threw herself into defeating it.

She was introduced to the Coven shortly after by Sully McPherson, whom she heard through sources had been recruiting people into a group of other lux users. While she didn't put much effort into socializing in the soon to be coven, Lyss threw herself into working against the Snake. Once the Snake had been defeated, Lyss stayed with the coven because it was all she had. Still, even the coven began to fray at the edges. While she wanted to stay and fight it too, she ultimately made the decision to leave St. Portwell and never look back.

She found a way to get by in a new city, with a sort-of good enough family to fill the void. She hardly thought about St. Portwell in years, until she received a text from an old friend...

_{Abstraction
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I have friends in all places."

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Lyss is a Black Lux user with an affinity for necromancy. She understands apparition sealing and warding, but she has never fully completed her training. Her channeler is a ring passed down by her ancestors and given to her by her grandmother.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Lyss's necromancy allows her to perform acts such as:

Reanimation ⫻ Lyss is able to summon the dead to do her bidding by projecting her emotional-field into the ground below her. Her emotional-field then fills the body with energy, enabling it to be controlled. This acts as an extension of her body, with the ability to see through their eyes and hear through their ears. She is unable to feel or smell through them, fortunately enough. If one perishes, she can only feel the loss of her connection to them.

In addition to summoning human bodies, Lyss is able to summon the bodies of dead animals. These animals can be small enough to act as surveillance or large enough to take down enemies.

The Hound's Blessing ⫻ With permission from The Hound himself, Lyss has the ability to summon underworldly beings such as golems and hellhounds.

Golems are constructed using the flesh of the dead. They are usually humanoid, resembling giants, or monstrous if the flesh of an animal has been used. These creatures are bound together into a macabre horror standing up to eight feet tall and weighing about 500 pounds.

Hellhounds are ferocious, terrifying entities that serve The Hound himself. To those able to see magic, they manifest as large, demonic pitbull-like canines, with red eyes and a black-aura around them, making hellhounds appear to be made of shadows. They cannot be killed by conventional methods, yet they will sustain damage from these attacks. The only way to truly kill them is with magic. Along with the invulnerability to human weapons, hellhounds can track any human or apparition once they have the scent of their emotional-field and possess the strength and speed of twenty live canines.

Spirit Summoning ⫻ Lyss is able to summon the spirits of the dead to communicate with them. She does this by using her emotional-field to seek out the traces of soul left in the body, and search for it in the afterlife. Once they have been summoned, Lyss only has to get them to talk. That is, if they agree to speak to her.

LIMITS ⫻

Reanimation ⫻ Lyss is only able to summon up to 100 undead at one time without weakening herself. This includes humans and animals. If she pushes past this limit she is at risk of a coma.

The Hound's Blessing ⫻ Creatures like golems and hellhounds require more energy and focus to summon. If she choses to summon only golems, she can only summon ten at a time. If she choses only hellhounds, she is only able to summon six. When she summons hellhounds, she must remain in complete control of them or else they will run rampant. They answer to her commands alone, and she must remain confident in her commands or she risks losing control of them. This makes them an extreme risk, and Lyss only summons all six if she is in a desparate situation.

Spirit Summoning ⫻ Lyss is only able to summon spirits if she is close to the original body. She is only able to communicate with one at a time, and the longer she keeps their spirit above ground the weaker she becomes. Should the spirit choose to be stubborn with their information, Lyss's frustration may cause her to lose focus, therefore losing her focus on the cast. Additionally, if the soul has become an adjoined apparition, Lyss is unable to summon them due to their attachment to a living soul.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ For Lyss to cast either of her spells, she requires time to concentrate, and that requires her to be stationary. During this time, Lyss can be vulnerable to attack, and her spellcasting can be interrupted. The undead minions are usually slow, shambling, weak against fire, or easily destroyed with magic. Lyss must always be mindful of her minions; otherwise, they will rampage out of control and attack friend and foe (and herself) alike. The Golems are, while durable, large targets and very slow. The Hellhounds are extra susceptible to magical attacks. Lyss has to be careful with using her spells, as over time, she will gradually erode her humanity psychologically. She will lose her ability to feel joy and other positive emotions and find it harder and harder to understand people. Eventually, she'll be a hollow shell that can only obey the Hound.

^{Other
_{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I've got my own ride, thanks."

Lyss drives a Harley Davidson 883 Sportster.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Final edits and additions have been made.

Alyssa "Lyss" Burns

"Am I gonna regret coming back?"

_______________________________________________ Alyssa Burns She/Her | 27 | European-American | 5'9" | 145lbs _______________________________________________ Real _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "I know a thing or two." ___________________________________ [+] [REMOVE THIS. A list of everything your character is good at... just, uh, keep it realistic. If I see one judo black belt with survival skills training, cooking, and rifle training, I'm gonna slap a bitch. REMOVE THIS.] [Cooking] ⫻ She learned it all from her grandmother. [Underworld Connections] ⫻ Lyss understands how the shady side of the world works. She has friends there, and they know people who know certain things that helped her in her career. [Weaponry and Combat] ⫻ Even with the ability to summon her own personal army, Lyss has learned that it's a good idea to defend herself without it. She carries a pistol with her, and also a lucky metal bat. She prefers to use the bat first.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and get your shit together." Lyss has a sort of unblemished, untouched look to her beauty. Her fair skin is smooth and unscarred. Her most striking feature would be her eyes. They're a green flecked hazel, and they seem to peer through to the soul of anyone she meets. She wears smokey eyeshadow to highlight them. Besides the eyeshadow, Lyss prefers not to wear any other makeup except for her staple lip colors; these colors remain between dark red and mauve. She is rarely seen without any makeup, as it has become a part of her and not just an accessory. Her dark brown hair falls to her middle back. Since she was born, it has always been a sleek, smooth, and shiny straight style. She rarely does anything with it, except to push it back from her face. Her height comes from her long legs, and her figure curves at the right places in an hourglass shape. She stands tall and at ease, as if she is unfazed by most things. This is all a ruse, of course. Underneath her clothes lie toned muscles ready to take action at any moment. When it comes to clothing, Lyss rarely steps out of her general style. Her wardrobe consists of dark colors like black, brown, maroon, or navy. Her jeans are usually a dark washed denim or black. She is not shy to show skin, but she always balances out a tank top with her favorite dark brown leather jacket over top. In regards to shoes, Lyss prefers boots or slip on sneakers to anything with heels.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Life isn't black and white. It's a million grey areas, and I'm trying to find my way through them."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ To carry on her family's name. To survive this messed up world. She wishes to faithfully serve The Hound, and to continue her work until it is her time.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Lyss understands that there is a balance to life and death better than anyone. All things deserve a chance to live their life to the fullest and meet death when they are due. Those that decide to spit on The Hound's role by ending those lives too soon should be stopped.

SECRETS ⫻ Lyss still feels a sense of guilt that so many of her coven were harmed during the battle against the Stygian Snake, as if she could have done more to prevent it. Her one redeeming act is that she was a part of saving Eska from the rubble. After all this time, she feels like it's not worth mentioning.

In the time between the coven's dissolution and their reunion, Lyss had been working in the black market.

Lyss carries a journal containing the Burns spell casting history, taken from her family home after her grandmother's dead. Within it contains simple, well known spells, but also many rare and potentially dangerous ones as well.

SEXUALITY ⫻ On the off chance Lyss ever makes a move, it's on a man that can handle her.

FEARS ⫻ Failure. Heights. Pretty typical stuff. She does not fear death.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Lyss had no enemies within the Coven, at least not any that she knew of. She may not have given 100% of her efforts at Coven meetings, but she certainly gave everything she had into their battles. When the coven began to dissolve, Lyss felt as if she was losing another family. So she left before the goodbyes began.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Lyss's abstraction was an aid against the Stygian Snake. Even so, she could only stand at the sidelines and let her undead to the work for her. Joined by the other necromancers, her undead served as a barrier between many of the Stygian Snake's attacks and her fellow members. They also took on the Snake's monsters directly. She pushed herself to her limits and beyond that day, and fell into a few days long coma. She was never aware that they sealed the Stygian Snake into the Sycamore Tree because of this. By the time she awakened, the coven had already erased their memories and were beginning to fall apart.

FLAWS ⫻ Over the years, Lyss has grown to be quite blunt with her words. She's forgotten the meaning of "white lies" and prefers to keep her words and actions as obvious as possible. She'll let you know when you're wrong. She can also be stubborn once she's made up her mind, and more often than not ends up working alone to satisfying her own goals.

_{Backstory
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I owe it all to my grandmother."

The Burns family name carries meaning. Whether that meaning is looked upon in a good or bad way, the Burn family didn't care. Her mother worked with apparitions and spirits, while her father practiced necromancy like her grandfather. Because of their careers, her parents traveled often. Alyssa was raised by her grandmother, a strong woman who had once been a legend in the Burns family books.

After her grandfather passed, Alyssa's father became absorbed by his work. He soon lost his life to his passion. Alyssa's mother and grandmother weren't sure it it was by his own hands, or by those who opposed his work. At six years old, Alyssa wasn't mature enough to feel the weight of grief. Yes, she missed him, but she didn't know why her mother cried all of the time. Or why her mother left her without a goodbye.

Once Alyssa turned 13, her grandmother handed down the family ring. The same ring that had thrown her family into misery. She was apprehensive at first, but her grandmother insisted that she carry on their family tradition. Her grandmother opened up to her, explaining family secrets, stories, and anything Alyssa could think to ask her. Her training commenced and the two soon discovered Alyssa's affinity for necromancy. Alyssa secretly vowed not to follow in her father's footsteps.

Years later, Lyss was well on her way to mastering her abstraction. The news of the Stygian Snake's appearance reached the Burns house quickly. Lyss's grandmother, a generally stoic and brave woman, shook as she heard the news. The Snake's attacks grew more frequent, and it seemed like more and more lux users were falling to it's teeth. Her grandmother secretly planned their escape, while Lyss began to look for others in the city that were willing to fight. It was when her grandmother perished in an attack on the Burns home that Lyss fully threw herself into defeating it.

She was introduced to the Coven shortly after by Sully McPherson, whom she heard through sources had been recruiting people into a group of other lux users. While she didn't put much effort into socializing in the soon to be coven, Lyss threw herself into working against the Snake. Once the Snake had been defeated, Lyss stayed with the coven because it was all she had. Still, even the coven began to fray at the edges. While she wanted to stay and fight it too, she ultimately made the decision to leave St. Portwell and never look back.

She found a way to get by in a new city, with a sort-of good enough family to fill the void. She hardly thought about St. Portwell in years, until she received a text from an old friend...

_{Abstraction
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I have friends in all places."

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Lyss is a Black Lux user with an affinity for necromancy. She understands apparition sealing and warding, but she has never fully completed her training. Her channeler is a ring passed down by her ancestors and given to her by her grandmother.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Lyss's necromancy allows her to perform acts such as:

Reanimation ⫻ Lyss is able to summon the dead to do her bidding by projecting her emotional-field into the ground below her. Her emotional-field then fills the body with energy, enabling it to be controlled. This acts as an extension of her body, with the ability to see through their eyes and hear through their ears. She is unable to feel or smell through them, fortunately enough. If one perishes, she can only feel the loss of her connection to them.

In addition to summoning human bodies, Lyss is able to summon the bodies of dead animals. These animals can be small enough to act as surveillance or large enough to take down enemies.

The Hound's Blessing ⫻ With permission from The Hound himself, Lyss has the ability to summon underworldly beings such as golems and hellhounds.

Golems are constructed using the flesh of the dead. They are usually humanoid, resembling giants, or monstrous if the flesh of an animal has been used. These creatures are bound together into a macabre horror standing up to eight feet tall and weighing about 500 pounds.

Hellhounds are ferocious, terrifying entities that serve The Hound himself. To those able to see magic, they manifest as large, demonic pitbull-like canines, with red eyes and a black-aura around them, making hellhounds appear to be made of shadows. They cannot be killed by conventional methods, yet they will sustain damage from these attacks. The only way to truly kill them is with magic. Along with the invulnerability to human weapons, hellhounds can track any human or apparition once they have the scent of their emotional-field and possess the strength and speed of twenty live canines.

Spirit Summoning ⫻ Lyss is able to summon the spirits of the dead to communicate with them. She does this by using her emotional-field to seek out the traces of soul left in the body, and search for it in the afterlife. Once they have been summoned, Lyss only has to get them to talk. That is, if they agree to speak to her.

LIMITS ⫻

Reanimation ⫻ Lyss is only able to summon up to 100 undead at one time without weakening herself. This includes humans and animals. If she pushes past this limit she is at risk of a coma.

The Hound's Blessing ⫻ Creatures like golems and hellhounds require more energy and focus to summon. If she choses to summon only golems, she can only summon ten at a time. If she choses only hellhounds, she is only able to summon six. When she summons hellhounds, she must remain in complete control of them or else they will run rampant. They answer to her commands alone, and she must remain confident in her commands or she risks losing control of them. This makes them an extreme risk, and Lyss only summons all six if she is in a desparate situation.

Spirit Summoning ⫻ Lyss is only able to summon spirits if she is close to the original body. She is only able to communicate with one at a time, and the longer she keeps their spirit above ground the weaker she becomes. Should the spirit choose to be stubborn with their information, Lyss's frustration may cause her to lose focus, therefore losing her focus on the cast. Additionally, if the soul has become an adjoined apparition, Lyss is unable to summon them due to their attachment to a living soul.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

^{Other
_{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I've got my own ride, thanks."

Lyss drives a Harley Davidson 883 Sportster.

@Skai

@Punished GN She's finished!

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Final edits and additions have been made.

Alyssa "Lyss" Burns

"Am I gonna regret coming back?"

_______________________________________________ Alyssa Burns She/Her | 27 | European-American | 5'9" | 145lbs _______________________________________________ Real _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "I know a thing or two." ___________________________________ [+] [REMOVE THIS. A list of everything your character is good at... just, uh, keep it realistic. If I see one judo black belt with survival skills training, cooking, and rifle training, I'm gonna slap a bitch. REMOVE THIS.] [Cooking] ⫻ She learned it all from her grandmother. [Underworld Connections] ⫻ Lyss understands how the shady side of the world works. She has friends there, and they know people who know certain things that helped her in her career. [Weaponry and Combat] ⫻ Even with the ability to summon her own personal army, Lyss has learned that it's a good idea to defend herself without it. She carries a pistol with her, and also a lucky metal bat. She prefers to use the bat first.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and get your shit together." Lyss has a sort of unblemished, untouched look to her beauty. Her fair skin is smooth and unscarred. Her most striking feature would be her eyes. They're a green flecked hazel, and they seem to peer through to the soul of anyone she meets. She wears smokey eyeshadow to highlight them. Besides the eyeshadow, Lyss prefers not to wear any other makeup except for her staple lip colors; these colors remain between dark red and mauve. She is rarely seen without any makeup, as it has become a part of her and not just an accessory. Her dark brown hair falls to her middle back. Since she was born, it has always been a sleek, smooth, and shiny straight style. She rarely does anything with it, except to push it back from her face. Her height comes from her long legs, and her figure curves at the right places in an hourglass shape. She stands tall and at ease, as if she is unfazed by most things. This is all a ruse, of course. Underneath her clothes lie toned muscles ready to take action at any moment. When it comes to clothing, Lyss rarely steps out of her general style. Her wardrobe consists of dark colors like black, brown, maroon, or navy. Her jeans are usually a dark washed denim or black. She is not shy to show skin, but she always balances out a tank top with her favorite dark brown leather jacket over top. In regards to shoes, Lyss prefers boots or slip on sneakers to anything with heels.

_{Psychology
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"Life isn't black and white. It's a million grey areas, and I'm trying to find my way through them."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ To carry on her family's name. To survive this messed up world. She wishes to faithfully serve The Hound, and to continue her work until it is her time.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Lyss understands that there is a balance to life and death better than anyone. All things deserve a chance to live their life to the fullest and meet death when they are due. Those that decide to spit on The Hound's role by ending those lives too soon should be stopped.

SECRETS ⫻ Lyss still feels a sense of guilt that so many of her coven were harmed during the battle against the Stygian Snake, as if she could have done more to prevent it. Her one redeeming act is that she was a part of saving Eska from the rubble. After all this time, she feels like it's not worth mentioning.

In the time between the coven's dissolution and their reunion, Lyss had been working in the black market.

Lyss carries a journal containing the Burns spell casting history, taken from her family home after her grandmother's dead. Within it contains simple, well known spells, but also many rare and potentially dangerous ones as well.

SEXUALITY ⫻ On the off chance Lyss ever makes a move, it's on a man that can handle her.

FEARS ⫻ Failure. Heights. Pretty typical stuff. She does not fear death.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Lyss had no enemies within the Coven, at least not any that she knew of. She may not have given 100% of her efforts at Coven meetings, but she certainly gave everything she had into their battles. When the coven began to dissolve, Lyss felt as if she was losing another family. So she left before the goodbyes began.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Lyss's abstraction was an aid against the Stygian Snake. Even so, she could only stand at the sidelines and let her undead to the work for her. Joined by the other necromancers, her undead served as a barrier between many of the Stygian Snake's attacks and her fellow members. They also took on the Snake's monsters directly. She pushed herself to her limits and beyond that day, and fell into a few days long coma. She was never aware that they sealed the Stygian Snake into the Sycamore Tree because of this. By the time she awakened, the coven had already erased their memories and were beginning to fall apart.

FLAWS ⫻ Over the years, Lyss has grown to be quite blunt with her words. She's forgotten the meaning of "white lies" and prefers to keep her words and actions as obvious as possible. She'll let you know when you're wrong. She can also be stubborn once she's made up her mind, and more often than not ends up working alone to satisfying her own goals.

_{Backstory
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"I owe it all to my grandmother."

The Burns family name carries meaning. Whether that meaning is looked upon in a good or bad way, the Burn family didn't care. Her mother worked with apparitions and spirits, while her father practiced necromancy like her grandfather. Because of their careers, her parents traveled often. Alyssa was raised by her grandmother, a strong woman who had once been a legend in the Burns family books.

After her grandfather passed, Alyssa's father became absorbed by his work. He soon lost his life to his passion. Alyssa's mother and grandmother weren't sure it it was by his own hands, or by those who opposed his work. At six years old, Alyssa wasn't mature enough to feel the weight of grief. Yes, she missed him, but she didn't know why her mother cried all of the time. Or why her mother left her without a goodbye.

Once Alyssa turned 13, her grandmother handed down the family ring. The same ring that had thrown her family into misery. She was apprehensive at first, but her grandmother insisted that she carry on their family tradition. Her grandmother opened up to her, explaining family secrets, stories, and anything Alyssa could think to ask her. Her training commenced and the two soon discovered Alyssa's affinity for necromancy. Alyssa secretly vowed not to follow in her father's footsteps.

Years later, Lyss was well on her way to mastering her abstraction. The news of the Stygian Snake's appearance reached the Burns house quickly. Lyss's grandmother, a generally stoic and brave woman, shook as she heard the news. The Snake's attacks grew more frequent, and it seemed like more and more lux users were falling to it's teeth. Her grandmother secretly planned their escape, while Lyss began to look for others in the city that were willing to fight. It was when her grandmother perished in an attack on the Burns home that Lyss fully threw herself into defeating it.

She was introduced to the Coven shortly after by Sully McPherson, whom she heard through sources had been recruiting people into a group of other lux users. While she didn't put much effort into socializing in the soon to be coven, Lyss threw herself into working against the Snake. Once the Snake had been defeated, Lyss stayed with the coven because it was all she had. Still, even the coven began to fray at the edges. While she wanted to stay and fight it too, she ultimately made the decision to leave St. Portwell and never look back.

She found a way to get by in a new city, with a sort-of good enough family to fill the void. She hardly thought about St. Portwell in years, until she received a text from an old friend...

_{Abstraction
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"I have friends in all places."

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Lyss is a Black Lux user with an affinity for necromancy. She understands apparition sealing and warding, but she has never fully completed her training. Her channeler is a ring passed down by her ancestors and given to her by her grandmother.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Lyss's necromancy allows her to perform acts such as:

Reanimation ⫻ Lyss is able to summon the dead to do her bidding by projecting her emotional-field into the ground below her. Her emotional-field then fills the body with energy, enabling it to be controlled. This acts as an extension of her body, with the ability to see through their eyes and hear through their ears. She is unable to feel or smell through them, fortunately enough. If one perishes, she can only feel the loss of her connection to them.

In addition to summoning human bodies, Lyss is able to summon the bodies of dead animals. These animals can be small enough to act as surveillance or large enough to take down enemies.

The Hound's Blessing ⫻ With permission from The Hound himself, Lyss has the ability to summon underworldly beings such as golems and hellhounds.

Golems are constructed using the flesh of the dead. They are usually humanoid, resembling giants, or monstrous if the flesh of an animal has been used. These creatures are bound together into a macabre horror standing up to eight feet tall and weighing about 500 pounds.

Hellhounds are ferocious, terrifying entities that serve The Hound himself. To those able to see magic, they manifest as large, demonic pitbull-like canines, with red eyes and a black-aura around them, making hellhounds appear to be made of shadows. They cannot be killed by conventional methods, yet they will sustain damage from these attacks. The only way to truly kill them is with magic. Along with the invulnerability to human weapons, hellhounds can track any human or apparition once they have the scent of their emotional-field and possess the strength and speed of twenty live canines.

Spirit Summoning ⫻ Lyss is able to summon the spirits of the dead to communicate with them. She does this by using her emotional-field to seek out the traces of soul left in the body, and search for it in the afterlife. Once they have been summoned, Lyss only has to get them to talk. That is, if they agree to speak to her.

LIMITS ⫻

Reanimation ⫻ Lyss is only able to summon up to 100 undead at one time without weakening herself. This includes humans and animals. If she pushes past this limit she is at risk of a coma.

The Hound's Blessing ⫻ Creatures like golems and hellhounds require more energy and focus to summon. If she choses to summon only golems, she can only summon ten at a time. If she choses only hellhounds, she is only able to summon six. When she summons hellhounds, she must remain in complete control of them or else they will run rampant. They answer to her commands alone, and she must remain confident in her commands or she risks losing control of them. This makes them an extreme risk, and Lyss only summons all six if she is in a desparate situation.

Spirit Summoning ⫻ Lyss is only able to summon spirits if she is close to the original body. She is only able to communicate with one at a time, and the longer she keeps their spirit above ground the weaker she becomes. Should the spirit choose to be stubborn with their information, Lyss's frustration may cause her to lose focus, therefore losing her focus on the cast. Additionally, if the soul has become an adjoined apparition, Lyss is unable to summon them due to their attachment to a living soul.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

^{Other
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"I've got my own ride, thanks."

Lyss drives a Harley Davidson 883 Sportster.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree (Witch/Surreal Urban Fantasy)

Put me down for a tbd baddie

Ju-V

H A V E N B A R N E S

---

Haven watched her roommate with thoughtful eyes. It was hard to imagine what it felt like to have such a dangerous ability. Zee would try her best not to be a threat? The fact that she had to say that aloud made Haven think that Zee never meant to harm anyone in the first place. Yet a voice in the back of her mind had to chime in. To remind her that she'd just met Zee, and that she shouldn't let her guard down yet. Even around her other new friends. It had been too long since she'd been around a kind soul to forget how cruel people could be.

"And don't worry. I don't have the emotional capacity to have enemies."

Haven's brows rose, but the hidden humor behind Zee's words was enough to keep her from asking any questions. Haven grinned. "Looks like we'll get along great, then."

Even if she couldn't fully trust Zee, Haven decided that what she knew about her roommate was enough to truly relax around her. She lifted her wings from the bed, which took more of an effort for her tired muscles than she'd like, and turned to lay on her stomach. She hugged the pillow underneath her, her head resting on it's side to face Zee. A sigh of relief left her as she let her wings rest beside her.

"Did you have to travel far to get here?" She asked. Zee didn't look tired, but then again Zee didn't look anything. "They put me on a plane." Her nose wrinkled as she remembered the experience. "It was awful."

Ju-V

H A V E N B A R N E S

---

"Planes go up, like, five miles into the air."

Haven smiled in response. A sort of dreamy smile that also held some pride. She remembered how elated she felt when she realized just how high she had gone. It had been incredibly tempting not to race the shiny machine through the clouds.

She was pulled from her memories when Zee confirmed her theory. Haven's brows lifted a fraction, and she sat up a little straighter as the girl reached for a bottle of water. It was hard not to show her interest. What kind of ability did she have that would need gloves to contain it?

Haven was already impressed as she watched Zee's breath chill the air as it left her lungs. So by the time the bottle froze with a single touch, little snowflakes that were once condensation falling from the it, Haven was in awe. With her vision, she'd seen exactly where the ice began at Zee's fingertips and travelled through. She even heard the pop as the bottle expanded around it's solid contents. It left a chill on the back of her neck.

Even in her amazement, she noticed how quickly Zee put the glove back on. Haven held back her praise long enough to hear the reason behind her caution. For Zee to know that she could freeze people as well... It meant that she must have learned the hard way.

Haven bit her lip, and her eyes moved to the frozen bottle in the sun so Zee couldn't see the trouble in her eyes. She couldn't imagine what it felt like to have an ability capable of that much harm. To discover that through experience must have been hard for Zee. Haven mulled over what she could say for a moment, before she pushed the sympathy down to the pit of her stomach and looked back at her roommate.

"I'm sorry... if you found out the hard way." She nodded to the gloves. "I hope that they can teach you to control it here."

"And I won't say anything to the others. It's not my business, and I'm not here to make any enemies either." She gave Zee a small, albeit a bit awkward smile despite the heavy conversation they were having. "I definitely don't wanna piss off someone I have to sleep around."

Ju-V

H A V E N B A R N E S

---

"Maybe, but let's not sugarcoat it, we are trouble."

Haven tilted her head to the right in response. Zee had a point, but Haven didn't really see herself as trouble. Then again, the incident with the thief had certainly proven she was prone to it. Now that she thought of it, her obvious truancy record, disregard for the law, and petty crimes had Haven questioning how much trouble she really was. Compared to the four who had already been detained, she assumed she was still among the lowest percentage of this institution.

"...So what kind of trouble are you? What can you do?"

Zee's stare wasn't demanding. It didn't feel casual either. Haven pressed her lips together. She felt a familiar urge to shut down any questions aimed at her personal life. Yet... Why should she bother trying to hide? It felt like hiding who she was would only make life here difficult and isolated. So, fuck it.

"Well," she began slowly, deciding to at least give short descriptions for now. "I'm a flight risk. Have been since I grew these." She couldn't help but grin a little as she lifted a wing behind her. It promptly slumped back onto the bed.

"Never really had a home." Except for with Isabel. "I've flown across the country and back by now. If they knew how many vacation homes I've broken into, I'd be considered a criminal case of breaking and entering." She shrugged. The feds would probably figure it out soon enough. "A park ranger with an anger problem caught me a few days ago and here I am." She twisted her lips now, trying to ignore the rage that bubbled in her stomach when she thought of that prick. Moving on from that thought quickly, she decided to give a short description of her other qualities.

"Along with the feathers, I have better eyes and ears than most people. The cold doesn't bother me as much, either. I've gone as high in the air as planes with no issues."

Haven figured that was enough information without droning on or sounding self-centered. So she decided to ask her roommate the same question.

"How about you? Does it have to do with the gloves?"

Ju-V

H A V E N B A R N E S

---

Haven looked back at her roommate as she spoke. Zelda, Zee, whatever? Zelda's tone was flat, walking the line between indifferent and cold. Haven felt a chill in the air between them that made her cramped wings shift. Was it just her imagination?

"Neither do I. I can sleep on the floor if you want both beds."

The humor was unexpected. Even if it was in the same tone as before, Haven felt it break the ice between them. The right side of her mouth quirked and she found herself feeling much more at ease with the stranger in front of her.

"As nice as that sounds, I don't think I could do that to you." She moved her way into the room, figuring that she could be the one to pick instead. "I guess I'll take the left side, then." She said as she looked between the beds. The orientation of the light coming through the small window in the room looked like the sunrise would hit her bed first. It would be comforting to wake up to natural lighting, since she'd never really used an alarm clock anyways.

To make the claim official, Haven stepped over to it and set her backpack on the end of the bed. She picked up the plastic bag and examined it's contents. Inside it was just her well worn clothes; the sewing kit was nowhere in sight. With a soft sigh she set it aside and turned to sit down on the bed.

From the hallway she could hear the last roommates get dropped at their room. Doors were shutting, and it seemed like the dorm had settled into a peaceful state. The sign that she could finally rest after such a long day.

With a roll of her shoulders, her wings slowly unfurled behind her. They stretched out to the length of the bed before unceremoniously sagging onto the sheets. The relief was instant, and clearly displayed on her face. She even took a moment to stretch her neck out before she remembered that she wasn't alone.

"This is... a lot cushier than I expected." She thought aloud as she nodded her head to the TV. "Guess they think we won't cause as much trouble if we're entertained."

Ju-V

H A V E N B A R N E S

---

A uniform in the room announced their next destination. The relief that Haven felt was visible in the way her shoulders sagged. I might have to thank the redhead for taking one for the team. She thought as she lowered her arms to her side and grabbed her backpack. As she was walking through the door she overheard the medics discussion. The dickhead would live.

Haven mulled over why she felt relieved that he hadn't passed away. She noted the way to the residential area, emergency exits, other juvee's room assignments, as she came to the conclusion that perhaps she just didn't want her first day here to end in a funeral. Even if it was for a stranger.

On a deeper level, Haven didn't wish death upon anyone. Even the worst of the lot deserved to live, but only so they could face their consequences. She just wanted justice. In her eyes, Billy's oncoming concussion was only a slice of a punishment cake. She doubted Rowell would give him anything more than a week in solitary and a slap on the wrist, but Haven guessed that there was more coming for him. One day someone was going to shove the whole bakery down Billy's throat.

The girls separated from the boys, heading down a hall opposite them. Haven began to feel that ever present anxiety begin to creep in again as the girls were being paired off. Who was she going to be paired with? She glanced at the remaining girls. Sophia had already been paired up with the girl who could disappear, so that ruled out the only other person she knew on this side of the dorm.

"Room 110 for Haven Barnes and Zelda DiAngelo."

Haven blinked as the group stopped once more, her last name hitting her like a cold drop of rain. The uniform continued on, along with the other girls. Haven stood by the door until someone lingered behind with her. She looked over at Zelda, a shorter girl with white hair and the palest skin she had ever seen.

"Hey," Haven began with less confidence behind her voice than she would have liked. She cleared her throat and started again. "You can just call me Haven. I don't... really use my last name." She glanced into the room, and was glad to see that it wasn't going to be a cramped situation. "Do you want to pick what side you want? I don't really mind what I get."