Can I join? I would love to bring back Jessie, my goddess of death!
Name: Jessalyn MacDougall (Jessie, Jess, J)
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Year: Fourth
Class: God
Domain: Death
Abilities:
Reaper's Scythe - Jessalyn, as the goddess of Death, can call upon her own personal weapon in battle - this takes the form of a large, black iron scythe adorned with chains and a single skull with glowing red eyes.
Necromancy - Jessalyn has the ability to summon the spirits of the dead, as well as raise bones from the grave, in order to communicate with the deceased, as well as use them to attack others. So far, she can only carry this out when in the vicinity of a graveyard, near a portal to the underworld, or if there's at least one dead buried within a 10-foot radius.
Enhanced Strength - Most gods have enhanced strength, but thanks to an endowment from her mother, Jessalyn has even
further enhanced strength, allowing her to be unexpectedly one of the best fighters in the school. Odin and the Morrigan agreed that some of the dead are just
difficult to handle, based on stories from other Death gods, and some were even known to actually
cheat death, giving inevitable headaches. Thus, they bestowed their daughter with a foolproof method of handling people who regularly bail out of things, something both of them possess...that is, the capability to overpower and wrangle them, whether it's their mortal bodies or their souls...souls of the dead
are as heavy as when they were once living people after all (only the gods of Death know this, of course)! No, nothing like elephants as of the moment...elephants are stupid enough to be cooperative after all and never once gave headaches in history. But yes,
people.
Death Aria - Jessalyn is capable of actually outright inflicting death onto someone. She accomplishes this by first, pulling on the soul of the target whom she intends to her her victim. Once she gets ahold of them, her power into a soaring aria that has the ability to hold her victim and force them to listen as she drains them of their life force. The victim falls into a deep, paralyzing sleep that grows closer to death as the song progresses. It can only target one victim at a time, however, and said victim has to be within a close radius for Jessalyn to keep her hold on their soul. Also, death only comes when she actually
finishes the whole song while the victim is still in her hold. Anyone can pull the victim away from the effective radius, of course, and said victim would just end up sleeping for several hours instead. Besides, the entire aria is 10 minutes long, giving a pretty wide window for anyone to pull the victim away from the vicinity. She can only attempt this once every three days, failed attempts included, of course, due to the fatigue it induces on her. No, this doesn't at all work on gods or demigods, but rather, only on humans so far.
Vitality Drain - Jessalyn can concentrate her Death powers into her hands, allowing her to sap a person's life force via skin-to-skin contact, whether in a hand-to-hand fight or by holding them, tiring them out or weakening them quicker than one would expect. Her bare skin must touch their bare skin, however. As of now, her power only go as far as to make her victims feel drained, fatigued and get the urge to lie down and sleep...she can't kill anyone with it (sorry, no death by shagging yet lol), only weaken or fatigue them gradually.
Summon Minions - Jessalyn can summon spectral animal minions as companions. Her favorite ones take the form of wolves (her father's symbol) and ravens (both her father's and her mother's symbol), and she uses them for a variety of purposes - scouting for something or someone, for instance.
Revenant - Jessalyn's protective mechanism as the goddess of Death. The life force in her body does not escape unlike in the case of mortals, so essentially, if she's on the verge of death, her life force, instead of leaving, rises a bit before bouncing back inside her, healing and restoring her, allowing her keep living.
Parents: Odin (Norse God of Death, War, Magic and the Sky; Father), The Morrigan (Irish Goddess of Death, Fate and War; Mother), Cassidy MacDougall (Surrogate mother), Erik Gallagher (Adoptive father...uh...
it's complicated and messed up)
Appearance:
Jessalyn is a tall, dark beauty. She is 6'1" tall, with a lean and muscular, toned, long-legged body and a light, Celtic skin tone. Her long raven hair is slightly wavy and goes down to her waist, though it is usually done in either a messy, loose braid or in a simple, unkempt ponytail, with long bangs falling to the left of her face. Her facial features are strong and can be described as "dramatic", with dark, arched brows, a straight nose, an angular face shape and striking emerald-colored eyes framed with long, dark lashes often coated in black mascara - one of the few types of makeup she chooses to wear aside from black eyeshadow and black eyeliner. Her teeth are slightly yellow, as she smokes a lot. Her breasts are very large and prominent - and she isn't shy about them either. Jessalyn's navel is pierced and decorated with a gunmetal-colored skull stud. Her other piercings include three on each ear, decorated with dark cross-shaped studs and dark hoops, and one on her left nostril, adorned with a gunmetal-colored hoop. She also has a tattoo of a tribal-style wolf on her upper-left arm, as well as a pair of raven wings on her back. Her hands and forearms have scars of varying lengths, caused by a a number of beatings she had to endure from higher-ups while she was still part of a gang. Though as a goddess, she has the capacity to heal them, she chooses not to, and prefers to wear her scars as badges of courage and survival. On the knuckles of her left hand are gang tattoos, each knuckle bearing the Gaelic letters of her former gang.
Jessalyn is one who dislikes particularly girly or classy clothing, as well as light colors. Do not try to put her in a pastel dress unless you have a death wish. She loves black, has a
huge weakness for skulls of all sorts, rips in her clothes and the like, and enjoys wearing dark styles. Her most commonly-worn piece of clothing is a zip-up leather vest with a skeleton ribcage print in dark gray. This vest also has an attached hood (not in leather, mind you) with its front having a printed skull in the same dark gray. Jessalyn gravitates towards shirts that either have skull prints, fishnet, rips and tears in them (with or without safety pins) or any combination of them. Unlike most people, she isn't at all ashamed of her cleavage either, and she shows it, even though it *might* be against regulation. For bottoms, she favors pants and shorts rather than dresses or skirts. She's most commonly seen wearing tight, black leather pants with rips on the knee, or shredded black denim minishorts. For shoes, she generally favors heavy, sturdy boots, usually either black lace-up combat boots or knee-high black boots decorated with belts that have skulls and sharp spikes on them. She wears black leather fingerless gloves with iron knuckle studs almost all the time, and also often wears a black newsboy hat with a skull print and a Celtic cross pin...even in class. Aside from her piercings, the only jewelry she wears is a black iron chain around her neck. Jessalyn
hates formal dresses, partly because it's so uncomfortable, and partly because of her bad experiences around Erik. Expect her to show up at a party in her street clothes (or dressed in shadows conjured up by Arcturus - she got kicked out for doing this once) whenever possible, though when forced to dress formally, she prefers to wear rather...
interesting and
subversive clothes.
Personality: Jessalyn is someone who's difficult to get to know, and her attitude can be described as prickly and troubled. Not the most sociable person, she finds it difficult to trust people and warm up to them. At times, she even pushes them away. She has a pretty good reason for being pessimistic and cynical however, as she's lived most of her life around people most would not consider as trustworthy. She doesn't give special treatment to people either...she's prickly to everyone she first meets...god, demigod, human or whatever. Having been used and manipulated for a good part of her life, she's very reluctant to trust
anyone. She knows she's a goddess, hence wants to live a life where she's no one's tool. She is a free-spirited, rebellious and headstrong person by nature, very much taking after the warlike temperament of
both her parents - slightly unusual for a death goddess - rather than the solemn, melancholic nature that usually comes with the territory. In fact, she has quite the temper - one that is very easy to set off. She is not one who enjoys listening to authority or being bound by strict rules, especially rules that she doesn't agree with, and prefers to do things according to her own set of principles on what she thinks is right. She knows that in death, everyone stands equal anyway, so why follow stupid rules made by people who most likely wouldn't be in authority once they pass on? Thus, she shows clear issues with authority even in school. She calls just about everyone by their first names or nicknames, never with titles or honorifics - things she knows do not matter at all in death. She's not a fan of institutions in general, and relies on
herself to choose her own path, and for her, what's right is what works best and most effectively. She doesn't want to be anyone's tool or victim, and lashes out badly and violently against those whom she perceives will try to use her or manipulate her. Yes, for a death goddess, she has an awfully short temper, again thanks to her parents. She's the complete opposite of an idealist, preferring to be practical in her approach towards many things, and would willingly throw propriety out of the window any day, especially if it gets the job done. She's an independent girl who would much rather rely on herself to take care of and fix things rather than choose to lean on others. Rather than choosing to deal with the authorities who had the inclination to turn a blind eye towards gang activity, she took matters into her own hands and handled Erik on her own. Her heart is in the right place most of the time, it's just that the methods she prefers and her way of thinking can sometimes make her seem uncaring and cold, when in fact, she's actually a hot-blooded and
warm person deep inside. She also doesn't take kindly to betrayal either, being used or getting on her bad side. She doesn't let go of anger easily. Rather, she holds terrible grudges that extend beyond the grave, and she never forgets when someone wrongs her. She's one who goes for
revenge rather than make the first move to forgive.
Jessalyn is not what one considers feminine, and is actually the farthest thing from a girly-girl, with boyish and far-from-refined interests. Thanks partly to her experiences and partly to taking after her mother, The Morrigan, she is streetwise, reckless and far from proper. For her, trying to be a "lady" would only cause her suffering and headaches, hence, she chooses to just be herself, without compromising anything. Plus, she couldn't die under almost all circumstances anyway, so she might as well live life the way she wants to - daringly, freely and dangerously. What's there to fear, when the worst thing that can happen to her is to
die? And Death, she knows, isn't totally a bad thing. She thinks living life cautiously and pretentiously is a
total waste of time. She's not affected by what others think about her tendencies, and makes no effort to please. She's very outspoken, swears a lot and isn't ashamed about it, and her foul language extends towards
everyone, even if she considers you a friend...she doesn't mince her words at all. In fact, she swears
so much that she probably has the foulest mouth in school. Unlike most full-blooded gods, however, Jessalyn is not one to discriminate based on one's lineage. As mentioned before, she knows that in death, everyone stands equal, and thus, she thinks it's logical and right to treat every acquaintance the same way, since they'll all end up the same way anyway. While this means she can be very rude to her superiors, this also means that she's just as likely to befriend a demigod, a personification or a human as she would befriend a god...as long as she can fully trust them, of course. Jessalyn has quite a number of vices, and she's especially skilled at pool and many card games, and is not fazed by opponents bigger than her, being trained at bare-handed fighting (the one thing she appreciates from being part of a gang) and is naturally strong (a gift from her parents; her punch is particularly painful) herself. She's one to take her bets and bargains seriously, and just like how any death god hates it when one cheats death, she hates it when people try to cheat her at just about anything, death or otherwise. For her, a deal's a deal, and she'd usually resort to using violent methods (coupled with both Odin's and the Morrigan's bloodthirstiness that she inherited, the gangster in her never died) or her powers if people don't cooperate. She does think that rather than diplomacy (gods does she
hate pretentious, silver-tongued diplomacy) or strategical planning, "might makes right" applies in dealing with and fixing a lot of situations and acts on this a lot, which can get her into
a lot of trouble at times. She's very much a risk-taker by nature, preferring to take her chances than do nothing...death isn't anything for her to be afraid of anyway. A brave and fearless girl, she believes in her own capabilities, as mentioned above, and never backs down from a challenge, not even when the stakes are high enough to scare others off. Hardly anything scares her, come to think of it...she's very accustomed to blood, and can watch even the most frightening sights and not be fazed by them. Gods of Death have strong stomachs after all.
Under this however, she is still a caring person, and has a certain way of looking out for people that isn't exactly the softest. She might be difficult to get along with and is often suspicious of others due to her trust issues stemming from her youth, and she often ignores her heart in favor of what's practical and rational, but once she opens up and learns to trust, she's someone you'd be proud to call a friend. She helps her friends in her own way, protects them the best she could, and stands up for them without hesitation. She might be intimidating, cynical and difficult, yet she does have a tender, if hardened, heart somewhere in there. She might be moody and easily angered, but she definitely has a better side, though it's rarely seen and manifests in less-than-traditionally-gentle ways. In terms of romance, she's pretty reluctant to get into a relationship due to her previous experiences with Erik, and would like to think that she shouldn't be falling in love. Like every normal person though, she has emotions, and is not immune to perhaps falling for someone. Expect her to deny it a lot when it happens, though. She thinks love is stupid and makes one weak and vulnerable, after all. She also
does not like getting into relationships with much older men, thanks to her previous experiences...this doesn't stop some people from spreading rumors about her sleeping around to get better grades, however.
Jessalyn is naturally drawn to the dark side in just about everything. Her music taste consists of death metal, black metal, doom metal and most other heavy forms of metal, as well as harder types of punk rock and the like. She enjoys riding
fast on her motorcycle, daring others to race her at dangerous speeds often, and she continues to do so, even while studying and no longer having to buy her own freedom. Her wardrobe is very, very black and she loves macabre motifs. She is also surprisingly a great cook, and knows how to utilize even the oddest ingredients in creating delicious meals, a skill she learned from one of her roommates. Also, though she might not look it, she has a lovely soprano singing voice, something she is particularly ashamed of because of how Erik used to praise her for it, and would coerce her to sing for him. She never reveals this particular talent of hers, and prefers that nobody knows about it, as said skill is very contrary to how she is, and also reminds her too much of Erik (and her time as his "dark siren"). This voice has the power to take its victim's soul and kill them, however...and how she
wishes that said power would manifest elsewhere sooner, other than her voice.
Jessie is practical, street-smart and confident in her abilities, knowing her way around many things and how to take care of herself. Of course, this means that she often doesn't rely on others and instead, tries to deal with just about anything on her own, as much as possible. Her issues are her own to deal with, and, knowing that she can handle a lot of things by herself, hates it when people impose on her and try to help her out, having the impression that needing help is equivalent to being helpless and weak. While she has good practical intelligence, however, she is not at all book-smart or an academic, and isn't the best student. Books bore her in general, and she's prone to skipping out on regular studying and instead, she crams before tests. She's no outright failure at all, but she only does enough to pass the subjects she isn't very interested in.
As mentioned above, Jessie being a goddess means that she partakes in very risky behavior. This of course, extends to smoking and drinking alcohol. Her goddess physiology means that she couldn't get drunk, and thus, drinks heavily and strongly, preferring the hardest of drinks.
History: Odin was a bored god. Well,
any god would be bored if they had to sit in Valhalla and make sure everything was going smoothly with the dead. Besides, Frigga was boring him and his loins for a while already, and he needed something
different, a change of pace if he could. Hence, he decided to take a well-deserved break and travel to different realms. It was in the gods' realm above the Emerald Isles when he saw
her. Long dark hair, a beautiful face stained in blood, a strong body clad in bones and raven feathers, and death in her eyes, the Morrigan was a different species of Death deity altogether, one closer to his own nature, which made him forget about Frigga at that moment. Lust overcame him, and the Morrigan, being unattached herself, reciprocated the action. Though Odin at first, planned to travel to different realms for two weeks, he ended up spending said two weeks with the Morrigan, to the point that they decided that there needed to be more death gods like themselves. However, the two of them needed a mortal to give birth to their offspring. They were gods after all, they were bound to be busy. The Morrigan knew that she wasn't the best mother to take care of a young child, herself. They spent their last day together looking for a suitable surrogate, and found Cassidy MacDougall, a beautiful Irish immigrant who lived in Boston, was a promising art student and had a wealthy fiance named Brian Kelly. Immediately, they went through with conceiving their child, foolhardily forgetting that
neither redheaded Cassidy nor Brian had dark hair.
When Cassidy gave birth to a dark-haired young girl, whom she named Jessalyn and who neither resembled Brian nor Cassidy herself, Brian was enraged. He accused her of cheating on him and immediately broke off their engagement. It wasn't only him, however. Her parents told her that they were ashamed of her, and turned her out on the streets without a penny to her name. They removed her from the university she was studying at as well. Now, she could have just abandoned young Jessalyn and easily made her own way in life, but brave Cassidy toughed it out and worked odd jobs to support herself and her baby. When it all became too much for her and when she found herself at wit's end, however, she turned to one of the most powerful Irish crime rings in Boston to seek help. Erik Gallagher, the owner of the local theater, one of its highest-ranking members and an ugly man with burn scars covering half his face, agreed to give her the money, on the condition that she pay it all back with interest after three years. Cassidy promised that she'd do anything, as long as they could help her. So, she received the money alright, and she obtained herself the necessary documents in order to secure a waitressing job. However, over the next three years, she realized that the job didn't pay nearly as much as she needed. Fearing for her child's life, Cassidy decided that she had to leave Boston and hide. However, Erik caught her, and as she did not have the money, he decided to take Jessalyn in instead, assuring Cassidy that there wasn't going to be any more problems if she did. However, Erik lied, and the next day, making sure the child knew nothing, he had his underlings shoot Cassidy dead.
Every deal had its price, after all.
Thus, four-year-old Jessalyn, or Jessie as she was more often called, was taken in by Erik and raised as his daughter. As Erik was one of the highest-ranking members of the crime ring, he had a lot of money at his disposal and thus, raised Jessie in comfort for the next few years of her life, without divulging to her the exact nature of his work. Erik initially seemed to be a doting father figure, taking care of her in an uncharacteristically tender manner that seemed so contrary to his face and his notorious reputation. The girl grew up to be strong-willed, stubborn and sociable, enjoying roughhousing and playing outdoors, as well as inside Erik's theater with the male kids of the gang. She also had an oddly macabre taste for someone so young...she took joy in beheading her dolls and playing "funeral" and "hangings", rather than more conventional "playing house" with the female kids, and enjoyed hiding inside the stage trapdoors. In school, while she wasn't the best student (she wasn't an academic), she did get by and managed to have her own friends. She thought at that time, that everything was going to be alright, and life was going to be normal for her. Erik often praised her for her looks, her stubbornness, her skill at pool (he was a very good player and taught her) and the lovely voice she was revealed to have after he caught her singing one of the songs he often listened to. Sometimes, he wished for her to be more feminine and to be less rough around the other kids, as well as less morbid in taste, but he felt that it was a small price to pay for taking in someone who could potentially be an asset to the gang, though the still-naive Jessie did not know about his true plans, nor did she know the truth about what exactly lay under the theater...
Truth be told, Erik was only waiting for the right moment before he could involve Jessie in the gang's crimes as well as make his move on
her (creepy and lonely man that he is, he found her hauntingly beautiful even as a child, and her voice just added to her appeal, despite her rough nature), and that moment did come, when Jessie was eleven years old. Right after the end of one of Erik's productions, Jessie noticed that none of the "actors" had emerged and come back, even after forty-five minutes had already passed. Noticing that the last scene involved the main characters disappearing, which meant going down the trapdoor, of course, Jessie decided to take a look for herself, rather than obey Erik's order to wait. Inside the trapdoor, she noticed that what was once a wall that she swore was there before, now opened up to a tunnel, which she then entered. As she passed through its length, she heard voices, some of which were familiar to her - voices whose owners were people who were acting onstage hours earlier, and some which she couldn't put a face to. Though rats skittered past her and cobwebs hung low, Jessie wasn't at all fazed and instead, kept going, almost like a born queen of the underground (maybe the first true hint that she was perhaps,
more than human). It was only a matter of time before the passageway opened up into a large underground room, and gathered in there were several people, some of them being the actors who were onstage during the performance, some of them unfamiliar, and most importantly,
Erik was among them. Immediately, she knew that this was something she was not meant to see or hear, and that the wise thing to do was to run back and pretend to have not seen anything. Jessie, however, was no coward and instead of turning back, she did the opposite and made her way into the chamber. Erik took a look at her and, instead of yelling at her and making her leave, he smirked and calmed down the others, telling them that everything was alright, and that the girl was eleven - she might as well know the truth and get involved. "What truth? What the hell have you been hiding?" Jessie asked. Erik had been nothing but kind to her, and while she didn't like exactly like raising her voice at the man she considered her father, the thought that he had been keeping a big secret from her was more than a little bothersome. What secret did he have to hide that involved a large, hidden meeting place under his theater? At that moment, a few more people entered the underground chamber coming from the other end, from a tunnel that led to somewhere else. Some of their faces and hands were stained with blood, and they all held firearms, their pockets bulging with things that Jessie suspected she could guess correctly. Before she could say anything, however, Erik assured them that "MacDougall is a strong girl. She'll take to this, alright." While some of the people in the chamber took it as a good thing, others jeered at him with insults that compared him unfavourably to their old boss...that Erik had only half his looks, half a face yet less than half the ability. Later that night, Erik visited her in her bedroom, asking her to come sleep with him for the night. Jessie refused, again asking for answers. Erik placed his hands on her shoulders and told her that because he was a powerful man who had powerful allies, he inevitably had powerful enemies, and that it was only human nature to protect himself. "You do forgive me, do you?" He asked softly, and as Jessie pondered whether to do so, Erik tenderly kissed her on her head and placed a rough finger on her lips momentarily. Jessie looked at him and saw the loneliness and sadness in his dark eyes, the scars and burned flesh that marred the right half of his face, now that he had taken off the realistic half-mask he usually wore. From the time she knew him, she always held pity for him. The underground chamber wasn't the only time Erik's face was brought up; she wasn't deaf after all. And there had to be an explanation why Erik always went off alone, or why his subordinates often dropped things off and called him on the phone, rather than talk to him in person. He had always treated her kindly, always was tender with her...surely there was more beyond the mask he wore and the scars he bore, something that she, at least, saw? She didn't answer him, however, and instead lay down on her bed. Erik switched off the lights, but instead of leaving, he joined her on her bed and held her, kissing her once more, this time on her cheek. "Sing for me, my siren?" He asked, and Jessie sang, her high, clear soprano lulling him to sleep, while she lay with her eyes wide open into the morning.
Thus, beginning a few days later, Erik started to show his "gang leader" side more often around Jessie, as he started to train her to become one of them. It started with small, simple things...learning some lines and some songs, knowing where the underground passageways led to and fighting lessons. Now fighting, she took to very quickly and admittedly loved to do, as she was already a rough-and-tumble child to begin with. Erik decided to add musical productions as part of his theater offerings (in reality, a cover-up for gang activities and meetings), in order to take advantage of Jessie's voice and rather developed looks...he even went so far as to cast her in many of the leading roles of his productions, claiming that only she had the voice to carry them (in reality, this was a way to make sure Jessie was occupied enough not to go do anything stupid that could expose them...twelve-year-olds were loose-lipped after all). By day, she went to school like a seemingly normal girl, but from late afternoon to late night, she had a very different life. Hiding under the trapdoor was no longer a fun pastime, rather, she regularly had to walk through the tunnel and show up, whether to collect and store the illegal substances being brought in, to handle bodies, or to clean up the enforcers and their weapons to remove evidence of their activities. Soon, her tasks gradually into something that rang warning bells in the young girl's head. Suddenly, messages had to be delivered to other places in Boston and even outside the city, mysterious packages had to be smuggled past high-security places and to the hands of strangers in exchange for money, and the girl started to learn how to do things such as create small explosives in Erik's makeshift "laboratory" in his basement, and use firearms. Her fighting lessons grew more brutal, but frankly, that was the thing she was least concerned about. Fighting and being fit was
not a bad thing, but she
did not enjoy being pushed around like a gopher to do the other things expected of her and she
hated how she couldn't ask any questions. She
hated being forced to memorize lines and the sense of being owned and held captive that she now felt. It did not help her now-conflicted and tumultuous feelings that the 50-something-year-old Erik had developed a
particularly strange interest on her when she was twelve, starting to make subtle advances on the girl, kissing her on the cheek and tender words at first, but quickly moving into kissing her on the lips and asking her to sleep with him. Every night, he would ask her to sing for him, and he even bought her some very odd white outfits - delicate outfits in fine material that looked like a cross between lingerie and a wedding gown - which he had her put on for some nights.
At twelve, she embarked on her first real smuggling operation and at thirteen, she shot her first victim, knew all of the crime ring's secret hideouts and started working as an assistant in the gang's various rolling meth labs, the higher-ranking members often making her work with dangerous substances. What made matters worse, Erik started making actual moves on her when she was nearly fourteen, and actually had his way with her more than a few times. At first, she would allow herself to accept his hugs, kisses and touches, sleep with him in his room, and would oblige to sing for him when he asked, partially because her conflicted feelings included the positive ones she held towards him in his youth, and because part of her still pitied him, and knew the loneliness he felt due to his bad reputation and ugly face. Her actions caused her to be notorious throughout the the crime ring as Erik's alleged "b
itch". Being a self-aware individual, however, it only took some months for her to be disgusted with herself as to how low she had gone.
Why was she doing this? Why was she allowing her previous impression of Erik to give herself such rotten judgment? Why was she allowing him to use her? Knowing that it was partially her fault, she decided that she didn't want to be Erik's slave any longer. She wasn't a doll, she wasn't
a thing. Thus, she began to lock herself in her bedroom, refused to sing to him any longer, and tore up the white dresses he had bought for her and made her wear for numerous occasions, whether in the bedroom or onstage. Gradually, the lingering pity she felt for him turned to
hate. Maybe she thought she had seen the real him in the past, thought she could trust him, thought that he deserved her pity and compassion...but now she saw the real Erik, and she wanted him to
die. One night, just a little over a month after her fourteenth birthday, she decided that she was going to leave, repercussions be damned. Erik had managed to make her sleep with him and sing him to sleep once more. Boldly, she pulled herself away from his arms and grabbed the gun that he kept under his pillow. Noticing that it was unloaded, she instead, bashed it on Erik's head several times, waking him up but also causing several head wounds that made him bleed. She kept going on until he was unconscious, before pulling herself out of the window and landing on the snow; the first snow of the season. She rationalized that even criminals needed their sleep, before heading for the direction of the cemetery, knowing very well that there were no hideouts in there. On her way, however, she got exhausted and rested against a street lamp. She wanted to take a breather before continuing on to the graveyard, but someone approached her before she could leave. It was a boy, a couple of years older than herself, who recognized her as the new star of Erik's theater. He introduced himself as Raoul, and wondered aloud why she was out alone in the middle of the night and in the cold. He asked all this with a sunny smile, which caused Jessie to snap at him, telling him to mind his own business. Raoul didn't give up, however, and instead chuckled as he heard her mutter "bastard" under her breath. This caused Jessie to briefly smile at him, before telling him that she had to leave. Raoul again asked her why she was in such a state, and Jessie only cryptically replied "Trust me, you
don't want to know. The less you know, the better," before taking off.
Jessie sat alone in the graveyard, once more cursing Erik's name under her breath and muttering how she hoped that he bled out and died from his wounds. No tears fell from her face. In the morning, she was going to leave Boston once and for all and start a new life. She looked old enough, she was tall enough, and she had of course,
seen enough in order to pass as a plausible young adult. She felt an initially cool feeling in her chest that gradually expanded and grew icier, before almost...
exploding. Her hatred and her desire for Erik's death, as well as the deaths of all the others, she thought. She did not notice, however, that the soil in the graveyard began to stir. Soon, skeletal limbs poked out of the ground and pulled up their equally skeletal bodies. She only
did notice when she heard clattering and footsteps grow closer to her. When she looked up and saw some skeletons come to her, she was at first, a bit surprised, but she somehow found their presence strangely
comforting. Well, anyone was better company than Erik, but then again, anyone would find the company of walking skeletons
terrifying...yet there she was, unafraid and almost familiar with them, and she didn't know why? Did
she raise them up? No one else was at the graveyard. Curious, she strode over to the far side of the cemetery and stood in front of a closed grave. She placed her hand over it and focused. Again, the icy feeling expanded, and moments later,
something grasped her hand. She looked and saw a skeletal hand and wrist, confirming her suspicions. At that moment, she heard another set of footsteps, this time without the clattering, coming from behind her. She tensed, and immediately, the skeletons and bodies she raised closed in on her, as if to protect her from the intruder. She looked back and saw someone familiar, though his head was bandaged crudely.
Erik, she realized, as her face hardened and her green eyes narrowed. He had seen her, alright...but that
did mean that he was going to dump her or kill her, right? She was wrong. Erik's mouth had curled into a smile as he pushed aside some of the skeletons and knelt in front of her. Rather than being afraid, Erik was
impressed that she had such power, and frankly, he was also
pleased. Now he knew he had some form of leverage over her, and with a girl with such powers on his side, perhaps one of those god-children often whispered about, everyone would respect him and fear him. His subordinates would stop making fun of him, and he was going to be
powerful. Jessie asked him why he was at the graveyard, and Erik calmly replied that he had eyes all over the city, and that he saw exactly what she did. He then taunted her that they did live in the state where the witch trials once took place. Jessie spat, then told him to kill her, then. Being dead and free was better than being alive and his tool. Erik, however told her that no, it was such a waste of perfectly good powers, a perfectly good voice and a perfectly good face to kill her. "Come back with me, my siren, and I'll forgive you for your moment of weakness," he told her as he put his arms around her, a gesture which Jessie resisted. He knew how to make his little rebel comply, however, and his bargaining chip came in the form of the boy his subordinate had seen earlier, the one who had talked to Jessie. "What has Raoul done to you anyway? He's just a boy!" Jessie demanded. Erik shrugged, commenting that it was very easy to harm Raoul and perhaps, even easier to kill him. Jessie reluctantly agreed, but not before laying down her own terms. She was going to live in her own small apartment, she was going to spend her leisure time doing
what she wanted and he was going to produce some false papers with her age bumped up a few years. Unbeknownst to them, Raoul, having followed Erik, heard everything from his hiding place close to the entrance of the cemetery, and he was
terrified for Jessie, now understanding what she meant.
Two years passed, and Jessie began to discover more of her capabilities, which she deliberately hid from Erik as she realized that she was more than a Necromancer. What Necromancer could summon a
scythe from nowhere? And then there was another...when she thought enough about it, she found that her hands could absorb any person's life force...which she used to her advantage, sparring with many of her higher-ups and
winning, earning the ire of said men, which was what she wanted. She even used her newfound powers to stop Erik from interfering with her life on more than a few occasions, knocking him out cold, whether by using her enhanced strength, or draining him of his energy, allowing her to shirk off his tasks...she knew he couldn't do anything except threaten her. She dropped out of high school after her first year, deciding that there would be plenty of time for it once she got herself out. Instead, she used her falsified documents to take a bartending job - her height and developed looks allowing her to pass off as an adult. During nights when she wasn't being forced to sing in one of Erik's productions, attend meetings or carry out tasks, she worked and hustled in order to earn her own money to make a life for herself. She even
defied some of Erik's orders in order to hustle instead. Such things made her feel more unrestricted, more free to live. In time, she bought her own motorcycle, giving her more freedom to get around (and frankly, to get away from riding in Erik's car). She saw Raoul more often, and the two of them grew close. Now that he knew of her predicament, he wasn't surprised by many things any longer, and Jessie seemed a bit happier at least. They grew closer, to the point that Jessie trusted him with the secret that only she and Erik knew. Turned out Raoul had seen what happened, and he promised to protect her from Erik. Jessie scoffed, telling him that she was entirely capable of taking care of herself, and Raoul simply answered by telling her that she needed to trust someone, at least one person, and assured her that he could be that person. She relented, and he became her confidante, and later on they entered a relationship. She knew that she had one objective, and that was to escape, however, and she never forgot about it...even if it meant letting go of Raoul to keep him out of danger.
One night, when she returned from a particularly messy job, two people were waiting for her in her small apartment. One of them was a strongly-built man with one blind eye, and the other was a dark-haired woman dressed all in black and blood red, a woman who looked quite a lot like Jessie herself. Jessie asked who they were, and they introduced themselves as Odin and the Morrigan, her parents. Unamused at what sounded like a joke, Jessie shook her head, telling them that she knew that her mother's name was Cassidy and that she died twelve years ago. Odin and the Morrigan began to explain, and when she heard the truth, Jessie was
angry at them. Why were they so careless? Why did they not care when she ended up living with a monster? The Morrigan, however, countered "And didn't you end up strong because of it?" Odin nodded, and admitted to Jessie that they had indeed been careless, but she wasn't going to be a weak-willed goddess for sure. They always looked out for her, they said, yet they also wanted her to know life, because to understand life is an important thing for a deity of Death. Jessie was unconvinced. She had been lied to all her life, and anyone could come up to her doorstep and claim they were gods. She demanded proof, and immediately, the Morrigan got up, grabbed one of Jessie's pistols and fired it at her heart. Jessie collapsed, fully expecting to die...but she didn't. She got up a minute later, and Odin placed his hand over the wound, which healed it. Jessie placed her hand over it, knowing this was proof. She was not a necromancer...she was a
goddess, and Erik really didn't know what he was in for. "That's it, I
really am leaving. I'm through with that son of a b
itch Erik Gallagher," she said as she began packing her essentials. Odin stopped her, however, telling her to remember that sometimes, the things she hated could hold great power, and that she should never forget it. He also told her that there was a school, a place where she could go to reach her full potential, a place for ones like her. They knew that she had dropped out after finishing her first year in a local school, so they decided that she was going to start as a sophomore for the new school year. Jessie said that she had to deal with a certain
someone first, however. She knew that choosing not to confront her personal demon would not set her free.
A week after the incident, Jessie was once again onstage at Erik's theater, dressed in one of Erik's dreaded white dresses and performing her new role as the siren Lorelei in his new musical production, a production which he claimed, he wrote with her in mind. He had reminded her to head to the underground chamber after her last scene - it was imperative, otherwise, she was going to regret it. However, the sight of someone made her forget about Erik's threats altogether, reminding her that she knew and trusted someone. Raoul was in the front row of the audience, smiling at her as he held a red rose in his hand. As Jessie finished the final notes of her last song and descended down the trapdoor on cue, she did not make her way towards the tunnel. Rather, she ascended the steps heading for backstage, then out to the wings of the stage itself. Raoul was waiting for her, and she made her way towards him and hugged him, accepting the rose. Jessie divulged to him her plan to really leave for good, and this time, Raoul understood, the scene he had witnessed two years earlier never entirely leaving his mind. As she predicted, Erik showed up after some time, grabbed Raoul and began to beat him up, furious that he dared show his face. Jessie saw red and black...what had Raoul done? Erik on the other hand, did not deserve to live, not after all he had done. At that moment, she understood what Odin had told her a week ago, and she told Raoul to leave the theater, assuring him that this was her own business, and that he should forget about her if he wanted to stay alive in Boston. She then grabbed Erik by his collar and punched him numerous times, each punch draining more and more of his life force until he was weak enough to let go of Raoul. The weakened older man taunted her despite his state, pointing out that she wouldn't kill him...she wouldn't dare, not after all he had done for her. All she did was drag him far enough away from Raoul, shove him up roughly by the shoulders. She then began to sing a haunting aria, one that arrested Erik so much that he did not move. As she sang, his eyes fluttered closed and he smiled as his body grew limp, and at the end of it, his heart had stopped and he breathed no longer. Exhausted, Jessie dragged herself away. It was over. She was
free.
Now a senior at Ichor Institute, Jessie has a bad reputation and often gets into a lot of trouble for breaking rules, starting fights and having issues with authority. She isn't a popular student thanks to her general hostility towards many people, her image, choices of activities, rebellious behavior and her less-than-stellar grades. Her tendency to call teachers by their first names rather than with their proper titles only serve to fuel the rumors that she sleeps with her teachers to get passing grades - even though in reality, she doesn't like sleeping with much older people in general. Some gods have also expressed contempt towards her when she actually chose to befriend a few non-gods. She's no academic - being a crammer and her grades being borderline passing, and preferring to partake in risky, daring activities outside school, such as drag racing, gambling, drinking and taking bets rather than study or join clubs. She even smokes and smuggles alcohol into the campus on occasion, reasoning out that for gods, alcohol is water anyway. As of recently, some of the higher-ups have been very concerned about her standing, and urged her to join some clubs. Reluctantly, she chose some sports clubs as well as one of the darker magic clubs. For some reason, however, she refuses to join Theater or the glee club...
Other:
- Loves dogs, is not a cat person.
- She's a
soprano, not an alto...which makes her even more ashamed of her singing voice!
- Her favorite color is obviously black.
- For some time already, she's been asking Odin and the Morrigan when her strongest Death power would manifest elsewhere other than
her voice. Both of them laugh it off, telling her that once she becomes stronger, it would manifest in other forms.
-
Always caught breaking curfew.
- Is often rumored to be sleeping with several teachers. Her insistence to call her teachers by their first names
does not help matters.
- Currently rides a Ducati 1299 Panigale with a custom paint job - black with heavy metal motifs.
- Though she doesn't seem like it, she's bisexual.
