Odessa Allix

Senior of the Spinners
LifeWeaver of the Verbena
Advanced Adept of the Clear Dawn Chantry

Description


~Petite and quiet, Odessa tends to remain aloof and unnoticed. The dark-haired and dark-clothed young woman appears to be in her mid-twenties. Odessa's features emphasize an old-fashioned look by the way her face seems sculpted. But pale skin and sunken eyes often highlighted in black detract from her prettiness. While she isn't a wallflower, Odessa still seems a little odd. It probably has something to do with the fact that she's carrying a flower or two tucked into her shirt collar or breast pocket. Odessa prefers gray or black cargo pants, loafers, and whatever style chemise catches her fancy. A wool overcoat often drapes over her slender frame, adding wind resistance to her swift stride. Odessa's chestnut-brown hair often sways loose in an accompanying breeze. Her eyes reflect this earthy color, yet brew with indeterminable and unpredictable emotion. Like the tornadoes of these plains, few see Odessa coming until she's already there.~

OOC: Appearance 2; Arcane 1

... (a daisy, wildflower, or queen anne's lace is offered.)

History


Youth

France was always a prosperous nation. But the Allix family saw opportunity in the USA. Much of their extended family moved to the States, too. So Odessa's parents dragged her and their printing/framing business to America. They settled in Des Moines, Iowa, only a few hours' drive from Odessa's immigrated grandparents. There the Allixes prospered further and Odessa enjoyed a decent life, learning English at the early age of 3. Indeed, French was no longer spoken in her home, and she never learned it. Odessa came to respect her new homeland much more than dim memories of Normandy anyway.

Perhaps Odessa's respect for the plains and farmlands were why she never did too well in school. In fact, she was often distracted by daydreams, or more often by the sights out the classroom windows. The world beyond excited Odessa. And storms especially disturbed her academic career. She found herself staring enraptedly at thunderstorms, blocking out everything else, secretly hoping cyclones would touch down. This was Tornado Alley after all. It was little surprise to those who knew Odessa that science held her interest throughout school. In high school, however, her math weakness caught up to her in chemistry and physics, and it turned her off from science. The theories always interested her, but the mathematics behind it all bugged Odessa.

Then high school graduation came and college loomed on the forefront. Though she was a good-natured and intelligent young woman, with many friends and a steady boyfriend throughout high school, Odessa had no real plans now. She disappointed her parents some by deciding to take some time off from school. She moved out of their house and took up residence in the city, working as a waitress. Her lingering French accent and pleasant attitude helped her gobble up decent tips.

Awakening

At the age of twenty, Odessa was cruising from home to meet her parents for Thanksgiving. It was an unusually warm November in 1999. An innocent thunderstorm began to spawn tornadoes. On the highway she drove to reach her parents' home, Odessa had the closest call to death she ever had. To her shock, a tornado did indeed touch down on the fields to her right. And the blasted twister swerved right out onto the road, knocking down telephone poles. She screeched her brakes to a halt and watched in terror as the cyclone split into two, and the two into four. Four tornadoes were ripping along the road straight for her. Fear sparked her sleeping Avatar awake. Her fear became rapture, as if her rational mind accepted death that day, while her newly Awakened mind embraced the fury of nature on display. Odessa screamed, she screamed and screamed until her voice gave. By will, or perhaps luck, the tornadoes all turned their paths at the last minute. Her car was given a brief spin, but then the twisters spun off into the fields and dissipated. Odessa climbed out of her car, realizing something was?different. She stared up at the stormy clouds as rain pounded down on her. Odessa heard the wind blowing, whistling and shrieking, and smiled.

No one heard Odessa speak ever again. She no longer had anything she wanted to say and she couldn't bring herself to utter a syllable the few times she tried. Perhaps her Avatar stripped her of her human voice? No one could tell for sure, and only future Seekings would reveal this to Odessa undoubtedly. She saw her future in the clouds and yearned now to join them in their raw fury. Odessa wanted to constantly be in nature's atmospheric glory and began to despite being indoors at all. Indeed, something primal inside her freaked out whenever she found herself behind doors and windows, instead of outside and breathing the fresh air. Fortunately, despite these great changes in Odessa's mind and budding talents, the flash of raw power she manifested that day drew the attention of a local coven of Verbena from the Des Moines' Fifth Maze Chantry.

LifeWeaving

Unfortunately, this coven of four Verbena, called the Moonsayers, were all Gardeners of the Tree. They had little patience for Odessa's rather chaotic, solitary preferences. The nominal leader, Stewart Lane, served as Odessa's main mentor during this period of initiation. Odessa's muteness actually helped her case: nothing like a mouthy apprentice to piss off the Adepts! All she had to do was listen, learn, and nod to Stewart that she was in fact learning. As for what she learned: the rites and ways of the Verbena held a certain mystique and secretive appeal to the young woman that lured her in despite how mainstream society mocked those ancient beliefs. Odessa was never really a "normal girl" anyway, and despite her coven's occasional impatience with her, she finally felt at home among people she could trust and like.

And Odessa demonstrated a natural aptitude for weather magick. Combined with her Life studies, she knew this was the quickest path for her to achieve her goal of becoming one with the storm?whatever that would actually mean. Due to her dynamic nature, she had focus learning even these mystickal things. Like in her school days, her attention often drifted to the world around, as if she were an "innocent". It fed Stewart's irritation and he wasn't the best of teachers to begin with -- too short-tempered and irritable. So Odessa learned fairly slow. She had to take a number of cues from her inner Avatar more than anyone else. Within a few years, she was becoming an able young witch, self-reliant and tough. Odessa's furious essence drew her to the more combat-oriented elements of Verbena teaching and she learned how to use the athame blade outside of ritual purposes. She also learned the Language of Flowers, the Verbena's method of communication by presentation of flowers and bouquets. And she was able to more accurately inform Stewart of just what she thought of him.

Feud

Well, the coven was not pleased by Odessa's growing confrontational attitude. They felt she was getting too uppity for her own good and were looking forward to cutting her loose. The time for the ordeal to end her initiation arrived in 2004. Stewart opted to test Odessa with a traditional duel. The two met with real knives in a sanctified ring, their battle designed to test skills above all: lethal target areas on the body were off-limits. And they observed those rules well, but Stewart still gave Odessa a good thrashing. The young woman wasn't sure where she was bleeding from by the end of it: Stewart held nothing back in his effort to "teach her a lesson in humility". But pride wasn't Odessa's problem.

Despite her defeat, she held her own in that duel well enough to show off her skills. And she was able to restore her own vitality after the fact, demonstrating her healing abilities. So although the coven was willing to keep her on another month, so she could be put through another ordeal, a chantry leader stepped in on her behalf. The representative Verbena of the Fifth Maze, Meredith Tolly, suggested that Odessa didn't need to win the duel to pass the ordeal. She overruled Stewart Lane in this instance, and Odessa was recognized as true Verbena that Highsummer Night in traditional celebration.

New Path

Afterwards, Meredith suggested to Odessa that she leave the coven behind. It would be best to let any grievances she might have with the Moonsayers settle down. Odessa volunteered to leave the Fifth Maze's protectorate altogether. But she wasn't sure where she would go next. Though Meredith didn't want to see such a talented young witch leave, the Moon-Seeker respected freedom of the individual. So, she recommended that Odessa check out a new chantry forming up in Centropolis, Missouri, under a Master named Lyle Madison. This new chantry would be for the purpose of seeking out and recruiting newly Awakened mages. Odessa gladly left and took a bus down Route 35. She reached this new town and looked up this new Clear Dawn Chantry, all-in-all eager for a new life.

Significant Other


Odessa met Victoria Maddison in the Clear Dawn Chantry in early 2005, and they were the only two Verbena at the time. They began to relate and share knowledge. But that sharing grew much deeper and more intimate. Soon they found heartful trust in one another and became fervent lovers as well as study partners. They know they have much to offer one another and will continue to share experiences and affection for as long as possible -- forever, if they have their way. Their passions are primal yet quiet, and keep them apart from the chantry even as they do their part for the chantry. Odessa realizes she'll never have Victoria's heart entirely, for the woman will always love her twin brother, Walker, too. But Odessa is content in the knowledge that she'll always have Victoria's romance. Their love blossomed in due time, for in early 2007, through the magicks of Life, Odessa impregnated Victoria. Their daughter was born (with careful wording at the hospital as to who the father was) on October 31st! The Samhain child was named Felicity, and both Wyck looked forward to guiding their daughter’s education. Of course, Victoria benefited from the experience. Perhaps Odessa will give it a try next time…

Victoria

Weakness
Eye of the Storm


Odessa's biggest problem is her willingness to obey her Avatar's wild whims. This chaotic nature will lead her into many conflicts, especially with enforcers of stasis -- like Paradox.

Likelihood of Corruption


Low.

Odessa isn't likely to fall to corruption easily due to her highly dynamic, chaotic nature, as well as her primordial wisdom. She's neither good or evil. Like nature, she just is.

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