QueenBea

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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Location: Outside of Flowers and Canvasses

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Simone pushed against the glass of the flower shop exit, making her way out of the strange chaotic energy that still resonated in the air even as most of the Coven had made their exit. She could sense Kali’s presence following close behind. The crisp outdoor air felt good on her face, like a splash of cold water to sober her up after whatever the hell that just was.

“Well, you really know how to make an entrance,” she said, turning her head behind her so Kali could hear. She surveyed the street, unconsciously checking for any signs of danger. The only thing that stirred was the cool wind kicking up a batch of leaves on the concrete. Keys jangled in her coat pocket before she pulled them out and walked over to where her old Camero was parked. She stuck them in the lock, fussing with it before the lock gave and the car door opened with a low pitched squeak. She climbed in, unlocking the passenger side so Kali could join her.

“Get in, old friend. We’re going for a ride.” she said with a slight smirk. She put the key into the ignition, and the Camero started with a low roar of the engine. “It’s… been awhile, hasn’t it? Little ol’ Kal is a big time officer now.”

She waited until she saw the car that Drake, Luca, and Sloane drove off in and started following closely behind them. “I can’t wait to hear about how that happened. You’ve… changed, Kal.”

”Well, yeah. I had to, to survive.” he would say, his eyes staring off outside the window towards something no one else but him could see. ”I’ve been keeping up with your music though. It’s good. I mean it.” he says, finally turning his back from the window to look at Simone directly. ”Honestly though, I didn’t think I’d ever... see you again.”

She saw him looking at her in her peripheral vision, but couldn’t bring herself to look at him directly yet. Her eyes stayed locked on the road as she pushed a piece of her curly hair behind her ear. “Thanks, it’s about the only thing that keeps me sane nowadays.” she said about his comment on her music. “Well, here I am. I do… apologize for leaving kind of suddenly. Leaving you.” Her eyes finally drifted from the road and to his face. “It seems like you’re doing well, though. But seriously, how did you make your way to the FBI? Never in a million years would I have thought that’s where you’d end up.”

There was a moment of silence. An uncomfortably long moment, but eventually Kali would end up answering.

”It’s not that complicated” he’d say, taking in a deep breath as if he was bracing himself for something. ”When the Coven collapsed, I had nowhere to go. I was back on the streets... again.” His eyes looked away from hers as his expression showed for the smallest moment a hint of something painful before the emotion was quickly buried underneath his newly gained professional facade. ”Eventually, an agent found me. They saw I had... potential, and they gave me an offer. It took me a few years to finish training, a few more to get cleared for working on the field by myself. After that I’ve just been heading from one place to the next, solving problems where I’m needed without anyone knowing. Like a ghost. Funny how that works, right?”

The silence was deafening, but she owed him a little grace to answer how he wanted. “I hate to think of you back on the streets again, but you’re a fighter.” she said, nodding her head. “I’m surprised you’d want to come back here after everything. Even if you’re just on assignment. It probably took a lot of balls to come back. You’ve changed, but so has St. Portwell. I’ve been trying to keep track of what’s going on, but it’s too much. It’s not just the Wolfpack. Tons of other groups keep popping and causing trouble too. Something big is happening. I’m glad you’re here to help.”

“The others, though… I worry about them. For Auri to expect us to come back together again and be a ‘family’,” she said, making quotes with her fingers. “It’s a joke, honestly. I don’t know any of them anymore. I can’t trust them. For some reason, I feel like I can trust you though. I don’t know. Maybe you’ll prove me wrong.” she ended.

”To be honest, I expected things to end up this way.” he would say, his gaze now back at the window again. ”You don’t have to fill me in on how St. Portwell’s changed. Like I said before... I’ve done my own research. The Wolfpack especially isn’t something to be worried about” he says, leaning his back against the car seat as he looks up at the sky through the windshield letting out a sigh.

”Well, that’s how it should have been. They were a bunch of small-time crooks before. I have no idea how they got their abstractions. Still, there’s been no signs that they’ve been using it for anything more than just theft and other minor crimes. Well, minor in the grand scheme of things anyways.” he says. There was a certain look in his eyes as he talked about this. A kind of sharp focus that wasn’t there ten years ago. ”Ultimately, while their rise is suspicious, they have no motive. The 8th street Coven is arguably more suspicious but from what I’ve seen they also aren’t in the mood to start a war right now. If anything... there’s just something else going on. Something dangerous. I just hope I can figure this out before we take any more casualties.” he’d say, his eyes now having one of those stares you might see from a homeless veteran fresh from the gulf war. The kind of look that was staring at something right in front of them that wasn’t even there, haunting them, forever.

Simone’s eyes narrowed on the road in front of her and she shifted slightly in her seat when he started bringing up the others. “So… you’ve been researching us too, huh? Learn anything interesting about me?” she asked, partly joking, partly serious. There were a handful of people who knew her deepest secrets and while Simone and Kali used to be close, she never did divulge the details of her real life to him directly. “What have you been hiding behind those eyes of yours, hmm? How are you?”

”That’s classified.” he’d say with a smirk. A rare joke from the apparent government professional though that smirk disappeared pretty quickly.

”Honestly, I’m not feeling great.” he says looking down at his own hands for a moment, ”Something about this group just brings out the worst in me.” Eventually, he looked back towards Simone. This time he wasn’t shying away at all. He was looking at her directly in the eyes, refusing to break that connection no matter what.

”I haven’t actually looked into you. Or anyone else. My research is limited to potential threats and” he’d take in a deep breath before saying, ”I want to trust you. And... I just hope I wasn’t the only one who thought that time we had together meant something.” There was a slight quiver in his voice at the end. It was hidden, hidden well, but it wasn’t perfect. The armor, at least around her, had more than a few cracks.

She met his unwavering gaze as long as she could before a bump in the road distracted her and made her peel away to keep the tires safely on the road. Her heart started beating faster as she was the one who let the silence linger between them before taking a deep breath and replying. “Of course it meant something. You were probably my closest… friend. I didn’t take that for granted, but I also had my own demons to slay. Things I needed to protect. After that night battling the Snake… I snapped. Running away felt like the only choice I had at that moment.”

Unwanted emotions started to bubble up, first in her gut and then her chest, like this was the thing she has been waiting to get out for the last ten years. She bit the inside of her cheek hard to distract herself from the emotional pain. “I’m telling you, if I can trust you, you can trust me. I’ve got your back. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this.” she said, her breath stabilizing. Though, she couldn’t help the feeling of wanting to stop the car, take his face in her hands, and peer into what was really going on inside him. She knew what happened at the Battle had changed him in more ways than one. Instead, she kept the wheel steady and concentrated on following Drake’s car in front of them.

It took another moment for Kali to break the ongoing silence.

”I know.” was all he said at first, followed by another moment of silence. There was a hint of hesitation, his eyes seemingly wanting to run away from the gaze he himself committed to but eventually they managed to hold firm in their resolution. ”And I don’t blame you for running.” he’d say as one hand went to grab the wrist of the other in an awkward and uncomfortable gesture.

”It’s just... It hurt. It hurt a lot. And I... missed you. A lot.” his voice quivered ever so slightly as he finished that sentence. Whatever cold professional veneer there was seemingly wasn’t enough to hold back the slightest hint of the boy from ten years ago resurfacing, even if it was only slightly.

“I missed you too.” she replied, guilt creeping into her head as she saw a glimpse of the old Kali emerge from the shadows of his new facade. “But, we’re both here now. Together. Let’s just hold on to that for now. We’ll figure the rest out later.” she said. Drake’s car started to slow and make a turn into the restaurant. She followed, pulling into the lot and finding a well lit spot to park. She shifted the car in park and huffed a big sigh, but didn’t get out of the car right away, giving him a last opportunity to air out anything else on his mind.

He gave a nod as he stared ahead towards the Dairy Queen. ”Yeah, we’ve got a lot to figure out after all.” he says before reaching for the door handle, ”I’ll keep you safe Mona. I promise.” and finally opening the door without another word.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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There was too much happening at once for Simone to all make sense of. Britney's sudden appearance left Greyson's sorry attempt at probing the group cut short. Simone didn't even look in her direction when she finally arrived. The warm feelings she once felt for Britney left her body like snuffing out the last embers in the fireplace. People slowly started filing out the meeting at once. Simone glanced at Auri, not able to stop her facial features from forming into a disappointed look. She had tried her best to rally the group, but honestly, what did she expect out of these lot? It was all beginning to feel a little ridiculous, but ultimately Simone still had her eye on the prize. Father Wolf. What were they going to do about Father Wolf?

She overheard Drake, Luca, and Sloane's conversation about hitching a ride out of here. That seemed to be the direction most everybody was taking. However, jumping into the Wolfpack's den as Auri suggested with extremely limited intel on what they were actually in for sounded about as appetizing as the leftover charcuterie board that barely anyone touched. That kind of pissed her off, only because her mom worked so hard on it. Whatever, if she managed to make it home in one piece, she would tell her that it was a hit, garlic aioli and all.

Kali was only a few paces away from her, so she took his arm without thinking, which felt much different than the noodle arms he had back in high school, but that was besides the point. She dragged him with her over to where Drake, Luca, and Sloane had congregated, her eyebrows hesitantly raised. "Hey, we're hungry too, and I've got plenty I wanna run by y'all. Can we tag along? And don't worry Drake, I'll keep a close eye on this one," she said, motioning to Kali next to her. "We can meet you wherever. My car only fits two, so we'll just follow you."

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Simone’s Relationships

Drake.Blackmore
"Out of all my old Coven members, he's the one who worries me the most." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Drake was always at the center of attention which is exactly where I didn't want to be. I kept my distance, just like I did with most of the other members of the Coven. However, I wasn't oblivious to the the way he looked at me. His actions during the battle of the Snake were the hammer in the nail of my lowly opinion of him. He was a reckless boy who was desperately trying to be some type of hero and that desperation led to a lot of issues within the Coven. I didn't keep up with Drake after we both left, and seeing him again is bringing up old feelings of distrust.
Britney.Williams
"Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Considering I kept most of the other Coven members at bay, my relationship with Britney could have been considered close by my measurements. Britney's knowledge of the Paranormal made me gravitate toward her, sucking up her brilliance like a sponge. I also genuinely just got along with her on a friendship level, that is, until the revelations came out about her and what she did to defeat the Snake. I didn't keep up with her after leaving the Coven and am anxious for when the time comes for us to see each other again.
Alizée.Altieri
"Someone needs to handle her." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Alizee is a walking liability. She has minimal control over her Apparition and her night-stalking habits were detrimental for the Coven while she was in it. Why Auri even invited her back is a mystery to me. Her actions are only going to draw negative attention when we try to defeat Father Wolf. At this rate, regardless of Alizee, I'm not sure we'll ever get there.
Eksa.Thresh
"Smart and helpful. I hopes she speaks up more." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I wasn't close with Eksa, but we did hang out every once in a while. She was smart - maybe even the smartest in the group common-sense wise. That's probably why I felt like she put up a wall with me, rightfully so. Not unfriendly, but obviously not trusting of me. I wouldn't mind working with her. She seems like she has a good head on her shoulders.
Luca.Oliviera
"A walking reminder." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Luca is probably the one I know the least about out of all the members of our old Coven, only because he joined so late. I know he was helpful enough during the battle. I'm waiting to learn more before I formulate a real opinion. One thing is for certain, I feel horrible for what Britney did to him and as long as he's sick it will always be a reminder to me that I can't trust Britney like I used to.
Sloane.Faris
"Someone's got to set the standards around here." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I admire her smarts and ambition, but she's really gotta work on her people skills. Even after all this time, I remember she wanted to lead the Coven. To be honest, I don't think she would have been a bad candidate if she could've got her act together. She sort of intimidates me for that reason - because if somehow she did get it together, she would be a force to be reckoned with.
Tayla.Choi
"Is she okay?" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I didn't stay around Tayla much, only because she was good at getting herself into trouble. Didn't keep up with her after leaving the Coven either, and I was pretty shocked to see how different she looked when I saw her for the first time. It's obvious she went through something, but I wonder what it was?
Finn.Reid
"What an interesting creature." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Personally, I don't know him well, but I quietly studied him because of his mysterious nature. It was kind of my thing, being friends with the weirdos of the group. Couldn't say we were really friends, though, but I tried to make him feel included, just like one of the others. I learned a great deal about Abominables from him.
"Edict".Devola
"Stay far, far away." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	The only thing I think about when it comes to Greyson is how far away can I get from him? His abilities are impressive to say the least, but dangerous in a way I couldn't afford to get caught up in. I've seen the way people attach to him like a drug, and I've heard of the seedy business he's been engaged in since the Coven disbanded. I want nothing to do with it, but I'll be cordial for the sake of the Coven.
Kali.Mahendra
"I wonder if he still remembers our song..." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I don't even know where to begin. Kali has changed so much since the last time I saw him. Something snapped, and I don't know what really happened. We were friends back then, the quiet kids. The one I could go to when I just wanted some peace and quiet. That's gone now. Every so often the memory of me saving his life at the battle replays in my nightmares. I just can't seem to forget.
Linqian.Han
"Every time I look at her I see his face." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	It's obvious that Linqian doesn't like me, but I don't really know why. I never did anything to her, but... there are several things I did with her brother. That probably had something to do with it, but none of that matters anymore. He's gone now, and I hope whatever negative feelings she has toward me died in the grave with Jinhai.
Jack.Hawthorne
"Glad to see he's alive." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Jack and I made a good team. We bonded over our love of magic, and were often each other's guinea pigs when practicing new spells. We tracked the Snake, Jack through the netherworld, and I through our current realm. That only lasted for a short while, because then he disappeared. I didn't even know he was still alive until he popped out of one of his portals into Auri's flower shop. I'm curious to know what he's been up to.
"Sully".McPherson
"I missed his kind soul." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Sully was always there for me when I needed him, but especially when I first joined the Coven. I feel a sense of comfort with him that I don't with the others. I wasn't much of a beer drinker back then, but he always had my favorite green tea on deck. I didn't keep up with him after I left, but part of me wishes I did. He's a good guy.
Everleigh.Thorn
"I don't know what happened to her, but she doesn't belong here anymore." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I never really liked her, but seeing her now makes me like her even less. She's unpredictable, and that scares me. She's another liability. Maybe the rotten ones will naturally weed themselves out of the group. I might find a way to speed up that process if she continues to be an issue.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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Simone began to think that Auri should have been a bit more choosey with who she invited back to the Coven. At this point, they weren't even focusing on Father Wolf or the information Auri shared. Instead, they bickered back and forth about Kali, some not even wanting to hear him out. The Coven disbanded because of this type of behavior. There had to be a way to get this under control before trying to take on Father Wolf together. Simone was losing faith in Auri unless she could say or do something to get them on the same page without someone getting killed in the process... and soon.

As Eksa tried to speak up and be a voice of reason, Simone could feel the terrible vibrations of her coughing fit in the air. Seeing that Drake finally made the realization that it was actually Jack who popped out of his strange blob, she felt okay to disengage from the two and hustle over to the snack table to pour some water. She carefully walked over and offered the cup to Eksa. "You okay? Here, maybe this will help a little." she said, putting a light hand on Eksa's back as to offer a little support to the struggling woman.

Simone glared at Eve. What an annoying individual, barging into the shop like she owned the place, much like the person Eve was pointing all her vitriol at just did a few minutes earlier. Seemed like she was really just projecting her own issues on to Kali. Before he could even speak, Linquin had to get in her two cents too. Simone's lips curled into a snide smile when Auri served it to Eve straight, but it slightly dropped when she made the comment about her store being destroyed. Well, like she was thinking earlier, maybe she could have avoided some of this bullshit if she had be more careful about who she asked back into the group.

Simone couldn't help herself from sympathizing with Kali's explanation. Yeah, he had definitely changed into someone she didn't realize, but as he kept speaking she could still hear remnants of his former self. He never wanted to hurt anyone back then except the Snake. Why would he want to suddenly cause harm to the group now, even if he's working for the feds? The reason he was getting so much push back was 1. his untimely grand introduction (which she had to admit was doing himself zero favors) and 2. the people who were the most vocal were, let's face it, slightly seedy individuals who she knew for a fact had things to hide about their business. Yes, even Simone had things to hide, but at least she was quiet about it. This was the most inconspicuous group of people she had ever met. If she were in their shoes maybe she'd feel the same way too, but she wasn't, and they were starting to get on her nerves.

Instinctively, she couldn't help herself from stepping closer to Kali when Eve stuck the loaded gun to his head. This bitch... is actually crazy. The fuck?? she thought, but remained silent yet vigilant to the scene in case shit went down. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when Eve removed the gun from his head.

After trying to listen to the others, it was finally her turn. "I vote he stays. Like the others have said, if he continues to be honest and has true intentions, he could potentially be benefitting us. The FBI have information. All of us can't just bust into the strip club and start going off Scarface style... I mean, maybe some of us probably think we could," she said, her eyes landing on Drake for a brief moment. "but I don't think that's best thing to do right now. We should be a little more strategic about this. What the hell is making Father Wolf powerful enough to kill some of the greatest wizards we know? Like, we should probably do some digging or surveillance before taking him on."

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

All Simone could do now was sit and watch while chaos ensued. As soon as the Britney hate train was over, Tayla and Linqian finally voiced what she had thought this whole time. This wasn't a family. Listening to the conversations, it was highly debatable if they were even friends. Seeing Linqian brought up some feelings Simone wasn't necessarily prepared for. She was friends with the girl's brother, Jinhai, and his death was still fresh in her mind. She even quietly attended his memorial service and shed a few tears at the loss. The look that Linquin sent her way seemed less than friendly, and she took a mental note of that.

At first glance, Simone could barely tell that it was actually Tayla hiding behind those baggy clothes. What the hell happened to her? Simone had no idea. She cut off most of the members after leaving for tour, and even when she came back home, contact was limited. Many of the Coven members may not know or remember Simone, but she studied every single one of them, trying to understand their personalities, abilities, and secrets.

Sloane intimidated Simone, even as her monotone voice droned on about Father Wolf, but she was nothing compared to the Priest, who looked and spoke a whole lot like Greyson. His whole aura poked at Simone like a hot sticker telling her to stay far, far away. She remembered what he was capable of, and as a person with a lot to hide, her intuition was probably safe to trust at the time.

Finally, some tangible knowledge of Father Wolf's whereabouts was offered to the group, and Drake pounced on the information like a hungry lion. She viewed him as a lost soul, especially when she heard about Jade's passing. His one-track mind and thirst for Father Wolf's blood emanated from his every pore. Simone barely had time to ruminate on Auri's question "Who's in?" before Kali's dramatic entrance into the flower shop. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the not-so-little boy whom she once saved from the brink of his own mind.. and then promptly ghosted at the time he probably needed her the most. He was different and even more unrecognizable than Tayla, especially in his demeanor. Proudly announcing his new career choices almost made her physically recoil from the man. God, how things have changed.

Finn walked in soon after and looked just as dumbfounded as she probably had. The burst of energy from the room at Kali's announcement set off another wave of chaos, and it seemed to never end as Jack popped out of oblivion. Simone stood from her chair, startled as the air shifted around them. Alizee stormed out, and she couldn't blame her. This was all starting to become a lot.

Simone smelled Eve before she saw her, the scent of cigarettes thick in the air. Goddamn... she thought, her nose crinkling at Eve's condition. She was never good at hiding her emotions. It was one of the things she feared the most about herself. Evoke a strong enough emotion, and the truth would surely show on her face.

Then a massive teddy bear of a man made his arrival, and quickly got them off track, though they had already fallen off course in the span of only a couple minutes. Sloane saved the train from total derailment.

Finally, after witnessing the absolute madhouse of characters, there was a situation that Simone couldn't ignore. "HEY!" she shouted in the direction of Drake, using her low-frequency sonogenesis spell to try and knock him back a couple of feet, at least enough to get him out of swinging distance of Jack. It wouldn't have hurt him, but if successful, he would feel something like a burst of invisible force propelling him backward. Anyone surrounding Drake may feel some of the leftover reverberations in their bodies, but she had practiced the spell enough to be as accurate as possible.

"Can we just... chill the hell out and try to get on the same page about what we're going to do next? I know we're all a little on edge, but we'll never get anywhere going at each other's throats."

That was when Kali and Auri emerged from the room they had scattered off to.

"Maybe we can start by listening to his explanation," she said, motioning her head toward Kali.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

The Le Fay Family Home
Sometime in the early evening

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Light from the sun was still peaking above the horizon and pouring into Simone's family drawing room, where she sat alone behind an old antique piano with her fingers softly lilting over the keys. Her black waves hung in her face as her eyes closed and her nose wrinkled in concentration, trying to find the chord progression that came in a dream last night. She carefully listened to the reverberations in the notes as the hammers struck the chords, producing a unique tone that only this piano could create. Some of her band's most viral songs had been written over these keys, but some she kept to herself, the only proof of their existence living in a beaten-up notebook she used to record her lyrics.

Her head bobbed up and down as she finally remembered the right notes from her dream that made a beautiful, almost haunting, harmonic chord progression. She played it a few times, letting it inspire her as it echoed throughout the empty room around her. She quietly cleared her throat before opening her mouth and singing the first words that rolled around inside her mind.

"Seek, and you shall find
old ones still hanging on the vine
Some of em' never lost their shine,
others wilted and left far behind
I'm on the line between
heaven and hell
Only time will tell

So, in a moment
just give me a moment
to breathe
Please, give me a moment
just a moment
to breathe

Bulls and crows make their home
In a place where no one knows
What's howling at the moon?
Like ah woo, ah woo, ah woo-"

"Simone, are you gonna play wolf in there forever or are you still goin' to that meeting? Cause you better start gettin' ready if you gonna be there on time. And I didn't make this fuckin' snake shark-coochie board for nothing." Her mother appeared from the archway leading into the kitchen. She licked the tiny silver spoon in her hand clean as she leaned on the old wooden arch. "Ya little friends gonna go crazy for this garlic aioli I put on there. Damn, I'm good." She said, smugly chuckling her way out of the drawing room and back into the kitchen. "But seriously, get ready!"

Simone laughed in amusement and rolled her eyes at her peculiar mother's antics. She was right, though. The light had left the room, and it was nearly time to answer Auri's call. She folded the piano cover over the keys and took a deep breath before heading up to her bedroom to change out of her house clothes and into something more appropriate for the evening. She slipped on a silky midi skirt and layered it in a long black leather overcoat with a low v-neckline embroidered with cream floral accents that flowed down her decolletage. She added a silver belt for an extra cinching of her waist to give her figure a much more flattering shape. She accessorized with silver rings, bracelets, and a pair of earrings in the shape of a Sankofa Adinkra. The Sankofa symbolizes taking lessons learned from the past into your future to build a more successful life. "Se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenkyiri." she whispered to herself in the Twi language as she fastened the backs of the earrings. The Twi language was foreign to her for that one proverb, but she had learned it from studying one of her oldest ancestors who lived in Ghana hundreds of years ago. It translated into, it is not taboo to go back for what you forgot (or left behind). Seemed... fitting for the occasion.

She pulled on some opaque tights for warmth and her black leather heeled boots that went up to the knee which added a few extra inches to her short stature. She left her hair down around her face and snagged a scarf hanging from her door before spraying on a spritz of amber spice perfume on her way down the stairs.

Her mother hummed a familiar tune, one of Simone's songs, when she reached her back in the kitchen. "Listen, I know you're not a child anymore, and I can't tell you what to do, but be careful going back there, Simone. We know how that all ended last time - and we need you. The family needs you to stay safe, okay?" she said with warning eyes, grabbing her daughter with both hands by the shoulders. She enveloped her in a long hug before turning around and thrusting before Simone a saran wrapped wooden board full of meats, fine cheese, crackers, and nuts formed into a slithering snake with olives for eyes. "Now go." She followed her to the door and picked up a bell and a thin piece of metal that was always placed near exits in the house. She hit the bell twice with the metal, and a light chiming noise was emitted from it. It was a comforting sound. Just one of their many traditions. "Love you."

"Love you, too." was all Simone could chirp before leaving to jump in her car in search of Auri's flower shop, deep in thought about this decision. She could turn back at any second, but something embedded inside her told her to go. So, for once, she listened.

Flowers and Canvasses
Twilight

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She sat parked in her car, thumbs tapping on the steering wheel in a simple yet musical pattern. She was always producing music and sounds, even subconsciously. "So... you really about to do this. Yup. Okay. No turning back now." she thought to herself, biting down on her lip almost hard enough to break the surface of her soft lips. She tried to steady her breathing as much as possible, reciting the lyrics she had written earlier that evening. "Just a moment, please give me a moment, to breathe..."

Before she could psych herself out, she hopped out of the car with the charcuterie board and headed inside the flower shop. The sign on the door read closed, but she pushed on it, and it gave to the pressure. Not closed for the meeting... party... or whatever the hell this was supposed to be. Truth be told, she was nervous to see her old Coven. While she didn't grow particularly attached to many of the members due to her maintaining a silent boundary, never revealing too much about herself in fear of exposing the family, there was... one person she was more anxious to see than the others. The interesting bond that Kali and Simone developed over their time in the Coven was one that almost filled her with regret. She divulged too much to him on more than one occasion, and at the battle of the Snake, she basically saved him from entirely losing himself to his abstraction. After leaving the Coven, she disappeared to go on tour and ghosted Kali, even when she felt he probably needed her. Her feelings were complicated. Yes, she felt terrible, but would she have acted differently if given the chance? Probably not.

Simone walked slowly and deliberately through the shop to the meeting space, thoughts spinning. Among the flowers was a butterfly sitting atop her favorite kind. Lilies. She stopped to bring one to her nose to smell the inviting floral scent. It helped her calm down, and she allowed herself to look upon the crowd as she approached the group. She found the table where the food was and unwrapped the charcuterie, placing it among the rest of the snacks. She popped a few pieces of popcorn in her mouth and poured a short cup of water for her to nurse on as she found a seat around the rest of her old Coven members. She made eye contact with Auri and gave her a friendly wave of her fingers in the woman's direction. She seemed busy preparing for the meeting, so Simone let her be for now. She engaged in thoughtless small talk with some of the old members, who felt more like acquaintances after all this time. She was able to catch up with a few of them before Auri started the meeting. She stood as it began, propped against a skinny beam next to everyone, sipping her water silently.

All she could do was smile awkwardly and nod as Auri asked how they were doing. Knowing that Father Wolf had killed some of the members of the Coven filled her with dread. It was why she was here. He could be coming after her next. Selfishly, it was less about feeling bad about them dying and more about ensuring her safety and the security of her lineage. She would never admit that though; if you asked her, she would say the opposite.

Her eyebrows raised when Luca mentioned Britney's name. Among many other contributing factors, Britney was also another reason Simone left the Coven. After finding out the lengths she went to to destroy the Snake, it definitely rubbed her the wrong way. She looked at Luca with an air of concern, a perfect example of Britney's digressions. But she asked herself, would she stay in the group long enough to help Luca? At this point, she felt like she needed to use the group to end Father Wolf's rampage, and that was all. She didn't know if she would stay after that goal was reached, and she could sleep at night knowing he wasn't after her. She was conflicted.

She remembered the lesson of the Sankofa symbols that dangled from her ears. Don't be afraid of the past. We must acknowledge it to move forward successfully... So it was reassuring when Auri admitted to her wrongdoing and promised to do better in the future. She would be surprised if the other more egotistical members did the same. However, at the mention of them being a family, Simone already had one and didn't need another. She needed allies.

Suggestions? Simone had plenty but kept her mouth shut for now. What would be the procedure for choosing leadership among the "family"? Because she had an inkling that the previous leadership left a terribly sour taste in the mouths of other members, too. If this was a collaboration, how would decisions get made in times of uncertainty and conflict? These were things that she felt were pertinent to the conversation, but she did not act upon the thoughts. It was enough that she was here at all. She didn't want to put herself in the spotlight with them to attract undue attention now or ever.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Simone Le Fay

"My roots run deep. "

_______________________________________________ Simone Marie Le Fay She/her | 27 | African-American and Chilean | 5'1 | 135 lbs _______________________________________________ Siren _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Find yourself in the Blood." ___________________________________ [+] Musical Aptitude ⫻ Simone has been playing the guitar and the piano since she was a child. She can play songs by ear and has an arsenal of the classics ready to whip out at any given moment. Her singing voice has been begrudgingly described as a jazzy Disney princess. Her bread and butter is songwriting, and combined with the rest of her musical talents has crafted her into a musical virtuoso. Basic Physical Defense ⫻ Part of her family training was learning basic hand-to-hand combat. Most of her skillset relies on defensive mechanisms to protect herself in the face of danger. She was also taught to navigate and use a variety of different environments to her advantage in battle. Ancient Knowledge ⫻ The required studying of her familial lineage has led her to a deep understanding of ancient civilizations, their culture, languages, symbols, and the like. To know her ancestors, she must also know their life and the circumstances of their realities.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "The Artist can become the Muse." Simone is a reclusive and mysterious individual, which emulates throughout her overall appearance. Her dark features are a harmonious blend of her African-American and Chilean roots. She possesses light brown skin that glows with a warmth reminiscent of honey, thanks to a meticulous skin routine. Framing her face is a cascade of black hair falling in waves down her back. Her eyes, pools of deep, expressive onyx, reflect a blend of intelligence, weariness, and dangerous curiosity. Her nose is slightly sloped while her lips, naturally plump, possess a softness that can effortlessly transition from a gentle smile to a nasty grimace. She usually dresses in all black, favoring vintage dresses and coats in flowing, slinky fabrics that flatter her feminine figure. Her jewelry collection is vast, consisting of older designs that she adorns all over her body. Her favorite is a silver necklace that twists into a treble clef with an encased opal stone. Another accessory she is almost certainly wearing is her family crest on the breast of her dress. She’s pretty short, measuring at a mighty 5’1, and naturally curvy at 135 lbs. Most of her muscles and fat are situated toward the lower half of her body. She would never win in a game of strength but has found herself to be both nimble and swift on her feet in a fight.

_{Psychology
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"I don’t know what’s scarier… Change? Or the lack thereof?"

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Simone hopes to survive and keep her family safe. The bedtime stories she was told were not those of jumping sheep but of the horrors her ancestors faced and how she must carry on their traditions. There is a lingering fear in the back of her mind that they could be found and killed once more, without a trace, and without someone to continue their bloodline and the power it holds.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Simone knows these three simple truths: she must protect her family, she must create, and she must be inspired. In her 27 years of life, she has traveled worldwide to pursue these things. The way she goes about them changes as she matures and gets older, but for now, she is content living in St. Portwell with a watchful eye on the town while she writes and performs her songs at local music venues and shotty bars.

SECRETS ⫻ Simone’s real name is Simone Ylaef. She belongs to an ancient bloodline of powerful female Adepts. She has not yet been entrusted with all the secrets of her familial powers, but she could be used to get to the other members of her family who do. She didn’t share this information with members of the Coven, even when she knew it might benefit their war against the Stygian Snake.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Simone’s sexuality ebbs and flows like water. She’s less inclined to put a label on her sexuality as she doesn’t really know how to define what she is at a given moment.

FEARS ⫻ Her biggest fear is not being there for her loved ones in times of need. This is a recurring nightmare that only gets worse when separated from her family and friends. It’s why she came home early from the tour, even with her band’s success at its peak.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Simone kept a certain distance from the rest of the Coven, making members feel like they couldn’t fully trust her. Though, she always was there for them when shit went down. She leaned toward the most knowledgeable members of the group, trying to learn as much as she could. Her reason for leaving the Coven wasn’t necessarily on bad terms, and she parted with little spectacle.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Simone used her abilities in Echolocation to track down the Stygian Snake throughout St. Portwell for a portion of the battle as it tried to subvert the Coven’s attacks. She was at the Sycamore Tree when the abomination was defeated.

FLAWS ⫻ Simone lives in constant paranoia of her and her family being attacked. This has led her to be quite reclusive, quiet, and distant from her friends and passions. She knows she does this and hasn’t decided if she wants to do something about it yet. Change and uncertainty scare her enough to make her a terrible decision-maker. She will always choose the safer route even if it’s clearly not the best option.

_{Backstory
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"My blood. My soul. My sacrifice."

Simone was born into an old family that had been situated in New Orleans, Louisiana, for centuries. The Ylaefs have a deep family tree that traces back to their days in Africa as Egyptian nobility. Their collection of the Paranormal was some of the largest in the world - that is, before a wing of the modern-day Klan hunted, killed, and maimed Simone’s ancestors 35 years ago, destroying their collections and institutional knowledge in the process. Broken by this experience, the surviving members of the Ylaef family packed up what little they had left and fled to the Pacific Northwest, settling in the town of St. Portwell and changing their surname to Le Fay. Despite their previous hardships, they managed to work their way up, owning several small businesses and land in town but still sat with their heads low in fear of another attack.

Since Simone’s beginning, an intense expectation of family duty and sacrifice has been embedded into her to protect and keep the family strong. She was born to a brilliant, Adept mother and her father, who was none the wiser about who his wife really was. It had been tradition for the Le Fay women to become matriarchs and ultimately be the ones who pass down their ancient bloodline and the paranormal qualities that come with it. Since the attack, they kept their true identities a secret, even from their significant others, often choosing Blind partners as another failsafe measure. The Le Fay women live dual lives, and Simone is no different. She was told of her history at a young age, and it was easy to keep it from her father as he was in and out of her life for long periods anyway.

At heart, Simone is an artist with a talent for singing and songwriting. She can’t remember when she wasn’t making up songs, even for the most mundane, everyday tasks. Music is how she understands and conceptualizes the world. In childhood, her 1st-grade music teacher encouraged her to pick up a guitar, and she ended up never putting it down unless it was to perform beautiful melodies on the piano she self-taught herself to play at seven years old. However, this essential part of herself was seen as trivial to her family as they wanted her to dedicate each minute to learning their ways to keep their succession strong.

Into her teenage years, she was known as the quiet girl, which could have been mistaken for shy if it weren’t for the dramatic and moving performances she put on at school musicals and the local theater. She joined a band, too, which unknowingly would become very successful. Outside of her life as a musician, she didn’t talk much for fear of saying the wrong thing and exposing secrets to those that would cause harm to her and her family. When she wasn’t at school or band practice, she trained under her mother or was nose-deep in family spellbooks.

Her Kindling event happened outside a local jazz club after the usual open mic night she attended on Tuesdays. Four Apparitions who served the Stygian Snake cornered her in an alleyway while walking home and tried to attack her. Try as they may, Simone’s ancestors answered her call for help and activated the powers that had laid dormant in her for years. She finally saw them and saw what her mother and aunts told her to be true - women sitting atop golden thrones and ruling over thousands in their Egyptian homelands. The powerful Ylaef women who came after Egypt collapsed were great leaders in their own right in business, culture, and civil rights. Her great-great-grandmother, a renowned singer and actress in her day, came to Simone and used her ancestral essence to project through her. Simone used this to emit a deafening scream that incapacitated the Apparitions long enough to escape.

Auri Auclair was tracking the Apparitions and had observed the scene at a distance. She nearly stepped in to help before Simone took care of the situation herself. Days later, at a visit in the night, Auri tried to recruit her into the Sycamore Tree Coven, but she initially declined out of fear her family would find out and disapprove. After speaking with her mother and gaining approval, she returned to Auri and was initiated into the Coven shortly after. However, Simone’s charge was made clear by her mother. Learn everything you can from the Coven and use it to strengthen the family. Do not expose the family. You can never trust anyone fully but your family.

She did just that during her time in the Coven, only taking information, knowledge, and spells, but never items or tangible objects at risk of being obvious. After the Battle of the Stygian Snake, the subsequent infighting made it nearly unbearable for Simone to be a part of, so she left, using her band’s newfound fame as an excuse. This was partly true because after graduating at 17, the band was offered a record deal and a national tour to take her away from St. Portwell for the foreseeable future. Simone’s affinity for sound softened her mother’s disdain for her daughter’s “extracurriculars,” and she let her go as a way to explore and expand her abilities.

Notwithstanding her new freedoms, the longer she was away from home, the more intense her paranoia was at the thought of something happening to her family and her not being there to prevent it. It grew so horrible that four months into the band’s tour, she left it all behind at the peak of their success to go back home. If she had stayed the course, it would have been nearly impossible not to be launched into A-list fame. She still doesn’t know that this success could be attributed to the spell she unknowingly casts when performing, which makes her voice and the music utterly intoxicating.

Back at home, where she was reunited with her family, she buried her head deep back into her spellbooks. She took a long break from music before picking it back up three years later. It has been a source of healing and respite from the debilitating anxiety she still experiences. Despite her resounding abilities, she lives a relatively quiet life at her family home, training, writing, and occasionally performing at spots around town.

When the news broke that ex-members of the Coven were being picked off, the hairs on her neck prickled with a sense of dread. At first, her instinct told her to not get involved and stay as low profile as possible. For the first time in years, she thought twice about taking the easy way out. She decided that getting to the bottom of the murders was the only way to ensure her and her family’s safety. Auri, in another familiar visit in the night, convinced her to join leagues again with the Coven. With great uncertainty, Simone is again enthralled in the adventures of the Sycamore Tree.

_{Abstraction
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"Tell me to shut my mouth one more time..."

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Red and pink Lux, Simone’s Channeler: the Le Fay family crest she wears as a broach close to her heart at all times

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Simone's natural talent with her voice and music has manifested toward an Affinity for sounds. She can manipulate and produce her body's sound waves, such as screams, clicks, claps, and stomps. An ability she isn't aware of yet is how her singing and songwriting can mentally influence the listeners' mood.

High-Frequency Sonogenesis ⫻ Her first use of this spell manifested as a high-decibel scream, which incapacitates and temporarily deafens beings by piercing their ears with an excruciating sound. Using this same spell to a lesser degree, she can weaken and even shatter high-energy materials like glass using her voice or snaps.

Echolocation ⫻ High-pitched clicks made with her tongue allow her to "see" in the dark and through surfaces if the material is permeable to sound. The effect works up to 100 ft. She can sense underground tunnels, find water sources, and detect hidden rooms. This spell can also be used at higher concentration levels to track targets as they move throughout a building and even more extensive regions of space, such as whole city blocks.

Low-Frequency Sonogenesis ⫻ Low frequency and intensely produced screams can knock back enemies or objects ranging from 5-50 ft based on Simone's intentions. The spell can also create concussive blasts from claps to damage beings and low-energy objects, such as wooden doors, enough to weaken or break them. A lesser-used part of this spell is stomps. Her low-frequency stomps can create dangerous quakes that can create fissures and take down entire buildings, but she rarely uses them because of their potential to damage her and her allies alike in the process.

Song Incantations ⫻ Simone is entirely unaware this spell is cast when performing her own songs to an audience, and thus, has never explored the depths of her pink lux. Depending on the feeling and lyrics of the music, it will create the exact mood within the listener. For example, playing a sad song will produce intense feelings of melancholy, grief, or regret. The actual feeling will depend on the listener's experiences and how they connect with the lyrics. If she plays a calm or meditative song, it can put the listener into a hypnosis-like state where her lyrics are taken to heart and stuck in their mind until the song is over or they have forgotten the tune. The catchier the song, the longer the effect lasts.

LIMITS ⫻ Except for her Echolocation spell, it is nearly impossible for her to be stealthy. The attacks tend to be loud. Several of her offensive abilities depend on the enemy's ability to process sounds. That is, if something can not hear screams meant to damage their ears, they will not be affected. The direction of the scream matters, so if you are standing behind her, there is no effect. However, claps reverberate through space and don't have the same limitation. Depending on the material she's trying to damage with sonogenesis, she must find the right frequency. What might break glass will have minimal effect on metal or stone. Her song incantations will not impact listeners if she has not written the lyrics herself. A melody can be sampled, but the lyrics must be original.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ Frequent usage of her spells has a long-term effect of throwing off her equilibrium, causing nausea, and a constant annoying ringing in her ears. Simone's High-Frequency and Low-Frequency Sonogenesis have some side effects; she isn't entirely immune to its effects, and it temporarily disables defeans her after usage. Overuse will weaken her bone structure and cause them to become brittle.

Simone’s Relationships

Drake.Blackmore
"Out of all my old Coven members, he's the one who worries me the most." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Drake was always at the center of attention which is exactly where I didn't want to be. I kept my distance, just like I did with most of the other members of the Coven. However, I wasn't oblivious to the the way he looked at me. His actions during the battle of the Snake were the hammer in the nail of my lowly opinion of him. He was a reckless boy who was desperately trying to be some type of hero and that desperation led to a lot of issues within the Coven. I didn't keep up with Drake after we both left, and seeing him again is bringing up old feelings of distrust.
Britney.Williams
"Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Considering I kept most of the other Coven members at bay, my relationship with Britney could have been considered close by my measurements. Britney's knowledge of the Paranormal made me gravitate toward her, sucking up her brilliance like a sponge. I also genuinely just got along with her on a friendship level, that is, until the revelations came out about her and what she did to defeat the Snake. I didn't keep up with her after leaving the Coven and am anxious for when the time comes for us to see each other again.
Alizée.Altieri
"Someone needs to handle her." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Alizee is a walking liability. She has minimal control over her Apparition and her night-stalking habits were detrimental for the Coven while she was in it. Why Auri even invited her back is a mystery to me. Her actions are only going to draw negative attention when we try to defeat Father Wolf. At this rate, regardless of Alizee, I'm not sure we'll ever get there.
Eksa.Thresh
"Smart and helpful. I hopes she speaks up more." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I wasn't close with Eksa, but we did hang out every once in a while. She was smart - maybe even the smartest in the group common-sense wise. That's probably why I felt like she put up a wall with me, rightfully so. Not unfriendly, but obviously not trusting of me. I wouldn't mind working with her. She seems like she has a good head on her shoulders.
Luca.Oliviera
"A walking reminder." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Luca is probably the one I know the least about out of all the members of our old Coven, only because he joined so late. I know he was helpful enough during the battle. I'm waiting to learn more before I formulate a real opinion. One thing is for certain, I feel horrible for what Britney did to him and as long as he's sick it will always be a reminder to me that I can't trust Britney like I used to.
Sloane.Faris
"Someone's got to set the standards around here." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I admire her smarts and ambition, but she's really gotta work on her people skills. Even after all this time, I remember she wanted to lead the Coven. To be honest, I don't think she would have been a bad candidate if she could've got her act together. She sort of intimidates me for that reason - because if somehow she did get it together, she would be a force to be reckoned with.
Tayla.Choi
"Is she okay?" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I didn't stay around Tayla much, only because she was good at getting herself into trouble. Didn't keep up with her after leaving the Coven either, and I was pretty shocked to see how different she looked when I saw her for the first time. It's obvious she went through something, but I wonder what it was?
Finn.Reid
"What an interesting creature." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Personally, I don't know him well, but I quietly studied him because of his mysterious nature. It was kind of my thing, being friends with the weirdos of the group. Couldn't say we were really friends, though, but I tried to make him feel included, just like one of the others. I learned a great deal about Abominables from him.
"Edict".Devola
"Stay far, far away." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	The only thing I think about when it comes to Greyson is how far away can I get from him? His abilities are impressive to say the least, but dangerous in a way I couldn't afford to get caught up in. I've seen the way people attach to him like a drug, and I've heard of the seedy business he's been engaged in since the Coven disbanded. I want nothing to do with it, but I'll be cordial for the sake of the Coven.
Kali.Mahendra
"I wonder if he still remembers our song..." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I don't even know where to begin. Kali has changed so much since the last time I saw him. Something snapped, and I don't know what really happened. We were friends back then, the quiet kids. The one I could go to when I just wanted some peace and quiet. That's gone now. Every so often the memory of me saving his life at the battle replays in my nightmares. I just can't seem to forget.
Linqian.Han
"Every time I look at her I see his face." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	It's obvious that Linqian doesn't like me, but I don't really know why. I never did anything to her, but... there are several things I did with her brother. That probably had something to do with it, but none of that matters anymore. He's gone now, and I hope whatever negative feelings she has toward me died in the grave with Jinhai.
Jack.Hawthorne
"Glad to see he's alive." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Jack and I made a good team. We bonded over our love of magic, and were often each other's guinea pigs when practicing new spells. We tracked the Snake, Jack through the netherworld, and I through our current realm. That only lasted for a short while, because then he disappeared. I didn't even know he was still alive until he popped out of one of his portals into Auri's flower shop. I'm curious to know what he's been up to.
"Sully".McPherson
"I missed his kind soul." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Sully was always there for me when I needed him, but especially when I first joined the Coven. I feel a sense of comfort with him that I don't with the others. I wasn't much of a beer drinker back then, but he always had my favorite green tea on deck. I didn't keep up with him after I left, but part of me wishes I did. He's a good guy.
Everleigh.Thorn
"I don't know what happened to her, but she doesn't belong here anymore." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	I never really liked her, but seeing her now makes me like her even less. She's unpredictable, and that scares me. She's another liability. Maybe the rotten ones will naturally weed themselves out of the group. I might find a way to speed up that process if she continues to be an issue.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

I present Simone Le Fay for your consideration. :)

Simone Le Fay

"My roots run deep. "

_______________________________________________ Simone Marie Le Fay She/her | 27 | African-American and Chilean | 5'1 | 135 lbs _______________________________________________ Siren _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Find yourself in the Blood." ___________________________________ [+] Musical Aptitude ⫻ Simone has been playing the guitar and the piano since she was a child. She can play songs by ear and has an arsenal of the classics ready to whip out at any given moment. Her singing voice has been begrudgingly described as a jazzy Disney princess. Her bread and butter is songwriting, and combined with the rest of her musical talents has crafted her into a musical virtuoso. Basic Physical Defense ⫻ Part of her family training was learning basic hand-to-hand combat. Most of her skillset relies on defensive mechanisms to protect herself in the face of danger. She was also taught to navigate and use a variety of different environments to her advantage in battle. Ancient Knowledge ⫻ The required studying of her familial lineage has led her to a deep understanding of ancient civilizations, their culture, languages, symbols, and the like. To know her ancestors, she must also know their life and the circumstances of their realities.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "The Artist can become the Muse." Simone is a reclusive and mysterious individual, which emulates throughout her overall appearance. Her dark features are a harmonious blend of her African-American and Chilean roots. She possesses light brown skin that glows with a warmth reminiscent of honey, thanks to a meticulous skin routine. Framing her face is a cascade of black hair falling in waves down her back. Her eyes, pools of deep, expressive onyx, reflect a blend of intelligence, weariness, and dangerous curiosity. Her nose is slightly sloped while her lips, naturally plump, possess a softness that can effortlessly transition from a gentle smile to a nasty grimace. She usually dresses in all black, favoring vintage dresses and coats in flowing, slinky fabrics that flatter her feminine figure. Her jewelry collection is vast, consisting of older designs that she adorns all over her body. Her favorite is a silver necklace that twists into a treble clef with an encased opal stone. Another accessory she is almost certainly wearing is her family crest on the breast of her dress. She’s pretty short, measuring at a mighty 5’1, and naturally curvy at 135 lbs. Most of her muscles and fat are situated toward the lower half of her body. She would never win in a game of strength but has found herself to be both nimble and swift on her feet in a fight.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I don’t know what’s scarier… Change? Or the lack thereof?"

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Simone hopes to survive and keep her family safe. The bedtime stories she was told were not those of jumping sheep but of the horrors her ancestors faced and how she must carry on their traditions. There is a lingering fear in the back of her mind that they could be found and killed once more, without a trace, and without someone to continue their bloodline and the power it holds.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Simone knows these three simple truths: she must protect her family, she must create, and she must be inspired. In her 27 years of life, she has traveled worldwide to pursue these things. The way she goes about them changes as she matures and gets older, but for now, she is content living in St. Portwell with a watchful eye on the town while she writes and performs her songs at local music venues and shotty bars.

SECRETS ⫻ Simone’s real name is Simone Ylaef. She belongs to an ancient bloodline of powerful female Adepts. She has not yet been entrusted with all the secrets of her familial powers, but she could be used to get to the other members of her family who do. She didn’t share this information with members of the Coven, even when she knew it might benefit their war against the Stygian Snake.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Simone’s sexuality ebbs and flows like water. She’s less inclined to put a label on her sexuality as she doesn’t really know how to define what she is at a given moment.

FEARS ⫻ Her biggest fear is not being there for her loved ones in times of need. This is a recurring nightmare that only gets worse when separated from her family and friends. It’s why she came home early from the tour, even with her band’s success at its peak.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Simone kept a certain distance from the rest of the Coven, making members feel like they couldn’t fully trust her. Though, she always was there for them when shit went down. She leaned toward the most knowledgeable members of the group, trying to learn as much as she could. Her reason for leaving the Coven wasn’t necessarily on bad terms, and she parted with little spectacle.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Simone used her abilities in Echolocation to track down the Stygian Snake throughout St. Portwell for a portion of the battle as it tried to subvert the Coven’s attacks. She was at the Sycamore Tree when the abomination was defeated.

FLAWS ⫻ Simone lives in constant paranoia of her and her family being attacked. This has led her to be quite reclusive, quiet, and distant from her friends and passions. She knows she does this and hasn’t decided if she wants to do something about it yet. Change and uncertainty scare her enough to make her a terrible decision-maker. She will always choose the safer route even if it’s clearly not the best option.

_{Backstory
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"My blood. My soul. My sacrifice."

Simone was born into an old family that had been situated in New Orleans, Louisiana, for centuries. The Ylaefs have a deep family tree that traces back to their days in Africa as Egyptian nobility. Their collection of the Paranormal was some of the largest in the world - that is, before a wing of the modern-day Klan hunted, killed, and maimed Simone’s ancestors 35 years ago, destroying their collections and institutional knowledge in the process. Broken by this experience, the surviving members of the Ylaef family packed up what little they had left and fled to the Pacific Northwest, settling in the town of St. Portwell and changing their surname to Le Fay. Despite their previous hardships, they managed to work their way up, owning several small businesses and land in town but still sat with their heads low in fear of another attack.

Since Simone’s beginning, an intense expectation of family duty and sacrifice has been embedded into her to protect and keep the family strong. She was born to a brilliant, Adept mother and her father, who was none the wiser about who his wife really was. It had been tradition for the Le Fay women to become matriarchs and ultimately be the ones who pass down their ancient bloodline and the paranormal qualities that come with it. Since the attack, they kept their true identities a secret, even from their significant others, often choosing Blind partners as another failsafe measure. The Le Fay women live dual lives, and Simone is no different. She was told of her history at a young age, and it was easy to keep it from her father as he was in and out of her life for long periods anyway.

At heart, Simone is an artist with a talent for singing and songwriting. She can’t remember when she wasn’t making up songs, even for the most mundane, everyday tasks. Music is how she understands and conceptualizes the world. In childhood, her 1st-grade music teacher encouraged her to pick up a guitar, and she ended up never putting it down unless it was to perform beautiful melodies on the piano she self-taught herself to play at seven years old. However, this essential part of herself was seen as trivial to her family as they wanted her to dedicate each minute to learning their ways to keep their succession strong.

Into her teenage years, she was known as the quiet girl, which could have been mistaken for shy if it weren’t for the dramatic and moving performances she put on at school musicals and the local theater. She joined a band, too, which unknowingly would become very successful. Outside of her life as a musician, she didn’t talk much for fear of saying the wrong thing and exposing secrets to those that would cause harm to her and her family. When she wasn’t at school or band practice, she trained under her mother or was nose-deep in family spellbooks.

Her Kindling event happened outside a local jazz club after the usual open mic night she attended on Tuesdays. Four Apparitions who served the Stygian Snake cornered her in an alleyway while walking home and tried to attack her. Try as they may, Simone’s ancestors answered her call for help and activated the powers that had laid dormant in her for years. She finally saw them and saw what her mother and aunts told her to be true - women sitting atop golden thrones and ruling over thousands in their Egyptian homelands. The powerful Ylaef women who came after Egypt collapsed were great leaders in their own right in business, culture, and civil rights. Her great-great-grandmother, a renowned singer and actress in her day, came to Simone and used her ancestral essence to project through her. Simone used this to emit a deafening scream that incapacitated the Apparitions long enough to escape.

Auri Auclair was tracking the Apparitions and had observed the scene at a distance. She nearly stepped in to help before Simone took care of the situation herself. Days later, at a visit in the night, Auri tried to recruit her into the Sycamore Tree Coven, but she initially declined out of fear her family would find out and disapprove. After speaking with her mother and gaining approval, she returned to Auri and was initiated into the Coven shortly after. However, Simone’s charge was made clear by her mother. Learn everything you can from the Coven and use it to strengthen the family. Do not expose the family. You can never trust anyone fully but your family.

She did just that during her time in the Coven, only taking information, knowledge, and spells, but never items or tangible objects at risk of being obvious. After the Battle of the Stygian Snake, the subsequent infighting made it nearly unbearable for Simone to be a part of, so she left, using her band’s newfound fame as an excuse. This was partly true because after graduating at 17, the band was offered a record deal and a national tour to take her away from St. Portwell for the foreseeable future. Simone’s affinity for sound softened her mother’s disdain for her daughter’s “extracurriculars,” and she let her go as a way to explore and expand her abilities.

Notwithstanding her new freedoms, the longer she was away from home, the more intense her paranoia was at the thought of something happening to her family and her not being there to prevent it. It grew so horrible that four months into the band’s tour, she left it all behind at the peak of their success to go back home. If she had stayed the course, it would have been nearly impossible not to be launched into A-list fame. She still doesn’t know that this success could be attributed to the spell she unknowingly casts when performing, which makes her voice and the music utterly intoxicating.

Back at home, where she was reunited with her family, she buried her head deep back into her spellbooks. She took a long break from music before picking it back up three years later. It has been a source of healing and respite from the debilitating anxiety she still experiences. Despite her resounding abilities, she lives a relatively quiet life at her family home, training, writing, and occasionally performing at spots around town.

When the news broke that ex-members of the Coven were being picked off, the hairs on her neck prickled with a sense of dread. At first, her instinct told her to not get involved and stay as low profile as possible. For the first time in years, she thought twice about taking the easy way out. She decided that getting to the bottom of the murders was the only way to ensure her and her family’s safety. Auri, in another familiar visit in the night, convinced her to join leagues again with the Coven. With great uncertainty, Simone is again enthralled in the adventures of the Sycamore Tree.

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"Tell me to shut my mouth one more time..."

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Red and pink Lux, Simone’s Channeler: the Le Fay family crest she wears as a broach close to her heart at all times

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Simone's natural talent with her voice and music has manifested toward an Affinity for sounds. She can manipulate and produce her body's sound waves, such as screams, clicks, claps, and stomps. An ability she isn't aware of yet is how her singing and songwriting can mentally influence the listeners' mood.

High-Frequency Sonogenesis ⫻ Her first use of this spell manifested as a high-decibel scream, which incapacitates and temporarily deafens beings by piercing their ears with an excruciating sound. Using this same spell to a lesser degree, she can weaken and even shatter high-energy materials like glass using her voice or snaps.

Echolocation ⫻ High-pitched clicks made with her tongue allow her to "see" in the dark and through surfaces if the material is permeable to sound. The effect works up to 100 ft. She can sense underground tunnels, find water sources, and detect hidden rooms. This spell can also be used at higher concentration levels to track targets as they move throughout a building and even more extensive regions of space, such as whole city blocks.

Low-Frequency Sonogenesis ⫻ Low frequency and intensely produced screams can knock back enemies or objects ranging from 5-50 ft based on Simone's intentions. The spell can also create concussive blasts from claps to damage beings and low-energy objects, such as wooden doors, enough to weaken or break them. A lesser-used part of this spell is stomps. Her low-frequency stomps can create dangerous quakes that can create fissures and take down entire buildings, but she rarely uses them because of their potential to damage her and her allies alike in the process.

Song Incantations ⫻ Simone is entirely unaware this spell is cast when performing her own songs to an audience, and thus, has never explored the depths of her pink lux. Depending on the feeling and lyrics of the music, it will create the exact mood within the listener. For example, playing a sad song will produce intense feelings of melancholy, grief, or regret. The actual feeling will depend on the listener's experiences and how they connect with the lyrics. If she plays a calm or meditative song, it can put the listener into a hypnosis-like state where her lyrics are taken to heart and stuck in their mind until the song is over or they have forgotten the tune. The catchier the song, the longer the effect lasts.

LIMITS ⫻ Except for her Echolocation spell, it is nearly impossible for her to be stealthy. The attacks tend to be loud. Several of her offensive abilities depend on the enemy's ability to process sounds. That is, if something can not hear screams meant to damage their ears, they will not be affected. The direction of the scream matters, so if you are standing behind her, there is no effect. However, claps reverberate through space and don't have the same limitation. Depending on the material she's trying to damage with sonogenesis, she must find the right frequency. What might break glass will have minimal effect on metal or stone. Her song incantations will not impact listeners if she has not written the lyrics herself. A melody can be sampled, but the lyrics must be original.

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

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

interested :)