HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

DIET: Tends to just eat whatever's convenient. Can't cook, so she eats a lot of fast food and premade meals, as well as sloppily made sandwiches. Whatever she can steal!

EXERCISE: Works out every day, just to stay in shape!

SLEEP: Light sleeper - will wake up if she hears footsteps. She passes out around 4am and wakes up at noon, left to her own devices.

HYGIENE: Tries to stay neat and clean but it's harddd when you're always into something!! Usually smells of misdeeds. Almost always wearing makeup - not because she's insecure, but because it's fun! And probably a closet goth!

ADDICTION: Chaos!

HISTORY OF PHYSICAL ILLNESS

Used to be quite sickly as a young girl! Had her unfortunate run-in with chicken pox. Nowadays she has licked enough bus poles to be nigh impervious to anything other than the occasional cold, but it's hard to slow her down. She would rather cough in your face than stay in bed!

SCARS: Vanessa has a large collection of cuts and stab scars! Her knees show the war injuries of countless years of tripping and falling, and she has a very faint scar at the base of her neck.

ALLERGY: No allergies! Everyone thinks cucumbers are spicy, right?

INTOLERANCE: The French. Oh You Mean Milk

STRENGTHS

Good at identifying other people's strengths and drawing them out. In the name of wreaking havoc of course, but a mentor is a mentor, are they not?

It's almost impossible to change her mind once she sets it!

WEAKNESSES

Can't bring herself to harm a beloved nona :( all motherly Italian women are safe from Vanessa's misdeeds-

Her allegiances can change very quickly and she is easily won over or convinced, it doesn't take much!

FLAWS

Turns on a dime - everything is hilarious until it's not. Not even Vanessa knows what her triggers are!

Can't actually bring herself to sincerely care about anyone else. The last person on earth she loved is dead - what matters anymore? She doesn't care if she loses you next! In fact, she hopes it's really funny!

HABITS

LOVES doing butterfly knife tricks. Her knife is basically her fidget toy - she is never not messing with it if she has a moment. She also loves idly cutting slashing and marking things with her blade.

Surprising her is a risky game, she may have a knee-jerk, pointed response!

PET PEEVES

Can't stand rich, spoiled little bitches who act like their lives were ohhh soooo hard!! It must've been SO hard to have a warm place to sleep and food to eat, huh! You poor little thing! Want Vanessa to give you something REAL to cry about?

Laughing in the face of her torment really pisses her off. Time to try harder!

WISHES

Wants to be a mom so bad! She's always dreamed of having a beautiful little baby to care for!

To die! Can't wait for 25! What does she have to stick around for, anyways?

PREJUDICE

The rich.

The French

SECRETS

She's sooo tired!! Can't somebody strap her to their table in a dimly lit basement and break some of her limbs, keep her for a while? It'd be such a nice break!

Deep down, she's so unbelievably livid Victor left her! Hey, what the fuck is she supposed to do now? HEY, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HER?!

PHILOSOPHY

Big fan of everything Kali preaches! Life is short and full of random disaster! What does it matter when it's all going to end? Just have fun while you're here!

ETHICS

Vanessa is entirely self-serving. If it doesn't sound fun, she's not interested!

HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS

There's definitely SOMETHING wrong with her, but it's not like a psychologist has ever had a chance to look! She definitely has PTSD and C-PTSD though!

TRIGGERS: Oh, but isn't that the fun part? Fucking around? Finding out?

PHOBIAS: The fear part of her brain doesn't seem to work properly, what was she supposed to be scared of again?

DEFENSE MECHANISM: Projection. Everyone knows deep down she's right!

THREAT-BASED MINDSET: Fight. Usually her body acts before her brain can even process what has occurred! It's fine though, it's usually funny!

BIRTHPLACE: In the slums of Fraser Coast, a poor neighbourhood full of immigrants and ruled over by the Coast of Angels

ENVIRONMENT: Vanessa has lived in Fraser Coast her entire life. Though mostly the seedier side, she knows the city like the back of her hand, and all its little quirks.

OVERALL HISTORY

CHILDHOOD: Vanessa has always known her worth. One eye. That's your salesprice, Vanessa. One human eye.

ADOLESCENCE: Getting promoted within the gang is a huge deal. One, well, it's hard to get any worse than where they were. Two, it means more freedom. Three, Vanessa is desperate for validation. They get moved onto the streets - though through back alleys under the cover of night - its hard to hide the horns, the pupils. They start off as drug runners, doing deliveries, then shipments. More money than Vanessa knew was possible is placed into her hands, night after night. The urge to disappear into the darkness, never to return with it is strong, but the fear of being caught is stronger. She keeps her head down and does as she's told.
The most beautiful woman Vanessa has ever seen takes a shine to her and decides to take her under her wing. She gets promoted once more to thug. Intimidation. Bodyguard. She follows behind Cas to sit on the counters of small businesses and play with her knife, smiling down at the terrified shopkeep whos never seen a real cursed in person before in their life. They always pay up. One man refuses, his wife pulling a gun. Vanessa suffers her first of many gunshot wounds. She runs upstairs to hide and finds a child. The guns are lowered. She takes the first of many lives. The child is screaming and sobbing. After a moment of thought, she takes the second of many lives. The tiny apartment is sweltering hot and she feels dizzingly ill, blood from her side mixed with the blood beneath her. Cas rewards her with a kiss. Maybe it was worth it.
They were right when they said things get easier. She barely even has nightmares anymore. In fact, dare she say she's having a bit of fun? It is fun. The terror in people's eyes. Her past only gets murkier behind her. Wasn't it always like this? Running through dark alleyways in the dead of night. Sneaking out and trying to experience the world on her own - she's a teenager now, after all. With the moon shimmering over the ocean, reflecting the sky like a giant mirror, obfuscated only by the waves lapping at the shore- she hasn't been this free in years. Victor makes a comment about how they should head back, and Vanessa pretends not to hear him.
Even for Vanessa it's hard to tell what he's thinking. Every time she looks back at him, his expression only turns harder, which is funny, when her spirits only ever seem to lift. Still, he's better at this than she is - she knows she's coasting on his coattails, but it's fine. Everything seems to be falling into place for her - a chaotic, brutal sort of place, but it's fun, and exciting! And besides, their deaths are carved into stone. They should have fun while they can!
"We need to leave," Victor says quietly, in Italian.
"Why?" Vanessa replies, acting oblivious. Like she didn't know this conversation would ever happen, when they both know she's lying.
"The Academy."
"You want to go to jail, Vici?"
"We're already there," he grunts. "It makes no difference. But I will not die for their mistakes."
"Don't be silly," Vanessa laughs, grabbing his hand and pulling it along. "We don't need the Academy. Don't be so dour." She grins. "It will be fine."
He relents. He's always given in to what Vanessa wants. She can see in his eyes he think he will still win in the end. Besides, they are not quite 18 yet.
The look in his eyes does not leave. Days melt into weeks, weeks drift into months. Vanessa can't put into words why she's avoiding it, if she really thought about it. On the surface, it was easy to excuse, she was having fun, she did not need anything else! But was that really it? Maybe its because this gang is all she's ever known, by now. Maybe she can't bear letting them down. Maybe this is enough for her. Maybe she just can't bring herself to keep going. They leave, they graduate, and then what? She doesn't doubt Victor doesn't have ideas. And being by his side is the only thing she has ever cared about. But what could they truly do? Live in the woods? Start their own gang? Is what they have now, not enough? Their eighteenth birthday arrives. He gives her a hard look.
"We need to leave."
"We don't need them! Here, look, we can collect our own souls! How many does she want? You love killing, Vici!"
"If that's all it took, we would be cured by now."
Okay! Okay. If that's what he wants. She can live for Victor. She will live for Victor. But first - "Just a little bit longer," Vanessa protests. "Please? We are so close! Then we can go, promise!"
"Three weeks," he replies, before rolling over to sleep. Three weeks! What a short timeframe to wrap up all her loose ends! Victor doesn't seem to understand how big of a commitment jail is. But he's never had many other commitments than her, has he?
ADULTHOOD: Three weeks to work her way up to meet the head. That's all she wants. If he smiles at her and tells her she did a good job - then it was all worth it. Then the blood, sweat, and tears she put into this gang will have been for something. Then she can leave all this behind. She takes on extra duties and works hard. They'd always been close. They just needed to push a little harder. She was this close to being happy!
She gets invited as muscle to a big deal. One of the biggest deals they've ever made. She immediately accepts. Victor does too - he'd never let her go without him. They get put into the back of a truck with the product. The correct knock code is six short raps. Vanessa is already dreaming about the rewards when this all goes off without a hitch. The truck eventually stops. The correct raps are deployed. Her and her brother help unload the product, before meeting up with the rest of the crew inside the warehouse. Inside is the man she's been dreaming of, looking just as she'd always envisioned. There are briefcases. Vanessa does her best to look intimidating in the hopes of impressing him.
How did anyone else find out?
Vanessa would never know. But the buyer was a powerful man and a powerful ally. The bullets that rained through the windows were enough to sabotage the operation - even without hitting anyone, it would have been enough. It would have ruined one of the best chances the Coast of Angels would have ever had.
"FUCK!!"
"WHO THE FUCK?!"
"YOU OKAY MAN?"
"WHO ELSE WAS HIT?"
Vanessa knows what a fatal amount of blood looks like. In this moment, she pretends she's never watched someone die in her life. Her hands clamp over the wound. "Stop moving. You're fine. You're fine! Stop moving!"
"Vanessa."
Victor grips Vanessa by the shoulders. There's nothing in his eyes left. Nothing but fury. Nothing but a pure rage pointed directly at her. Furious at her for dawdling. Furious at himself for dying. Furious that the world had taken so much from him. His nails dig into Vanessa's arms until they draw blood.
"Get to the fucking Academy, Vanessa."
"Vici-"
There's a lot of screaming and shouting around her, but somehow she can't hear any of it. The grip wanes until his hands slide off of her. The eyes burn until they glaze over. The breath huffs until it goes silent. The only thing she had left.
The only thing she had left has left her.
Someone touches her shoulder. "Vanessa, we have to-"
With a loud BANG his head explodes. Before she can even process anything, her finger is on the trigger. Bang. Bang. Bang. The gang. The buyer. Her friends. Her enemies. She drops her gun and draws Victor's, emptying the other clip. People try to run at her, but she's too fast. It's as though Victor is guiding her hand - he was always such the marksman - blood and viscera erupting all over the metal walls.
All but one.
She shoots him in the leg and he falls to the floor, swearing. The one she wanted to impress. She hoped she was impressing him. A rage she didn't know she had boils through her. She'd spent so much of her life afraid. She'd spent so little of it angry.
"You." She walks towards him. Everything feels surreal. Everything that she had buried down, so deeply - it all seems to resurface. Everything that happened to her, and all her mistakes, in this moment, they're so clearly all his fault. All the rage and agony inside of her suddenly has a direct target. Someone to blame. Her hands tremble in rage. She opens her mouth, the words coming out slowly and carefully, her usual fake voice gone, left with nothing but her true and natural intonation. "You stole my mother. You stole my childhood. You stole my innocence. You stole my humanity. You stole every single fucking thing I ever had."
"I don't--"
"But I could live with it," she cuts him off. "I learned to live with it. I learned to enjoy it. I learned to be good at it. I was good at EVERYTHING. E V E R Y T H I N G YOU ASKED OF ME." She's standing over him now. There's fear glittering in his eyes. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, maybe to persuade her - but the blood rushing in her ears is too loud. She cuts him off again. "BUT THAT WASN'T ENOUGH??"

"AND THEN YOU TOOK MY FUCKING BROTHER!!!"
The pistol comes down against his head. Over and over. Until there's nothing left but pulp. Until the rage has dissolved to tears. Until she's too tired to move. Until it all feels somehow justified. Until some desperate part of her feels she can move on.


She would have ended it there, in the warehouse with the rest of them. She knew it's where she belongs. She carefully extracts her brother's body, hijacks the truck they came in, slowly drives to the countryside. Finds a lake to wash herself off in. Finds a beautiful hill to lay him to rest. She commits the directions to memory. She would have ended it there, in the hill beside him. It's the only place she wants to be. But the least she can do is listen to him, for once. There's only one thing left to do.
The police all stand up as she enters the precinct, immediately rushing to arrest her. After all this time running from the cops, it feels so surreal, standing patiently as they slam her against a wall, take away the knife a Goddess she never cared for gave her to survive with. They do everything they can to identify her, but it all comes up with nothing. She already knew it would. She'd been wiped off the face of the earth a long time ago. It's so easy to make everyone forget about a poor, shy, immigrant girl. It's so dangerous to give that girl a knife. Confused and desperate, they finally ask her. What did you do?
Vanessa smiles and shrugs, as she answers as honestly as she can, "I don't know!"

BEST MEMORY: Her seventh birthday party! Mom counts down from three and she and Victor blow out the candles. It's the first time they've ever had birthday cake. It's cheap box mix and canned frosting, but it's the most delicious thing Vanessa has ever tasted in her life.

WORST MEMORY: There's a lot of noise, until there isn't.
A light envelops her.

SHORT-TERM GOALS: Let's have fun, baby!

LONG-TERM GOALS: Die! Woohoo!!

INTERNAL CONFLICT: Hey, what's the holdup?

EXTERNAL CONFLICT: What a waste of muscles. How does she get Dimitri to chokeslam her into the bedroom already?

CURRENT CONCERN: Hmmm, which one of these cute boys would be the best father? And who would be the best baby daddy? And who would be the best sidechick? Ah. So much to think about.

VERBAL

ACCENT: PNW Canadian. Her voice is VERY loud and pretty high-pitched, though the pitch of her voice is usually something she's intentionally doing. Her voice drops when she snaps. It's just more fun to be an anime girl! Teehee!!

VERBAL TIC: Likes to call people "sweetie" and "cutie" and similar. Likes to hum and chirp. Often ends sentences with "hmmm?"

CATCHPHRASE: "Awww, what's wrong, sweetie?"

SPOKEN LANGUAGE: Her first language is actually Italian! Despite this, she speaks English better.

ARTICULATION: Alternates between speaking quickly and slowly depending on her desired effect. If slow, she uses a lot of emphasis, if fast, it can all get buried and mucked together.

BREATHING PATTERN: Breathes fairly shallow and fast

NONVERBAL

BODY MOVEMENT: Big and bold. She likes to be dramatic!

EXPRESSION: Usually grinning, if not giving someone puppydog eyes in the hopes of getting something. She's having a good time!

EMOTIONAL STATE: Scheming. Always scheming.

BODY POSTURE: She likes to look meek and sexy, hoping someone underestimates her. Hmm? You thought she was vulnerable? Cute!

WALKING STYLE: Skips more than most. Usually a fairly fast walker, got places to be! Crimes to commit!

SITTING STYLE: Loves to sit like a whore, or in a weird way, like backwards chairs or sitting on a couch upside down.

SLEEPING STYLE: Sleeps straight and on her back, as a result of having spent many years side-by-side with her brother without enough room to be any other way.

ABILITIES

Scattering weapon: Able to summon up to ten copies of her butterfly knives to fight with while transformed.

Overdrive: Every 7 turns, she can deploy all 10 weapons simultaneously.

TALENTS

Pretty good at lying. Lies come to her naturally whenever she should need one!

Pretty flexible! She can do the splits and she can almost lick her elbow, promise!

SKILLS

Very skilled with a butterfly knife. Knows tons of flashy tricks and can deploy it VERY fast.

Good at encouraging others to do misdeeds. C'mon! Let's go cause problems!

TRIVIA

She's partially illiterate! It's hard when you went out of school so early!

Has no gag reflex! Gentlemen~

Knows waaaaaaay too much about crimescene cleanup. No reason! Did you need a body hid, darling?

While she is a pest, she's very easily distracted by simple things you did in your childhood. Boardgames? Playground? Climbing trees? Spin the bottle? Fucking macaroni art? That's all she wants to do right now!

HOBBIES

Bothering people is a hobby, right?

Likes to do psuedo-parkour if no one is around to entertain her - you may occasionally see her in a spot you're not quite sure how she got there. A true mountain goat.

REFSHEET

DESIGN NOTES

Link to full image

her hair is shaved on the one side, completely down the middle. she does it herself!

has a kiss mark tattoo on her right hip - for Kali!

MOODBOARD

PLAYLIST

Metric - Lost Kitten

Vince Staples - Are You With That?

Lil Mariko - WHERE'S MY JUUL??

HACHI - Lynne

ATTITUDE

TOWARDS STRANGER: Friendly! Loves chatting up strangers - will flirt if they're hot, will bully if they're not, might bully if they're hot too and look fun to bully, hmmm-

TOWARDS ACQUAINTANCE: She's only becoming more annoying!! She gets your name wrong and asks if you want to break things with her.

TOWARDS FRIENDS: Her friends get her! It's a lot of "HEY BITCH!!" and playfighting and getting into trouble.

TOWARDS FAMILY: Doesn't matter anymore, does it?

TOWARDS LOVERS: Usually she starts getting really mean. She takes people who love her for granted, though truly she's just looking for an overpossessive freak who will physically tie her down. It's that or get walked on! She's having fun either way!

TOWARDS RIVAL: Uh oh! Hope you like violence!

TOWARDS ENEMY: Vanessa doesn't hate many people, but if she hates you, good luck!