Archived-Sash

I retreated into safety, the world of illusion, in the stage, in the footlights, all eyes on me and no-one really seeing Because I do not talk backwards, because I do not say (Tgin Emoceb Seilfrettub) And the night does not become butterflies. I give nothing of myself to the audience, As I do it with mirrors And string And sleight The delusion of illusion and the hand deceives the eye... My life is strobed like lightning by a follow-spot, And looking backwards I can only see The corpses of the animals and birds who strutted with me on the darkened stage And helped me fool them all. Charms of birds And hatsful of dead rabbits. - Zatara, Book One:The Invisible Labyrinth The Books Of Magic, by Neil Gaiman

Enchanter of the Free Council
Born: 1987
Age: 27 (like many of her Path, however, she looks younger)
Sleeper Alias: Olivia Twist
Rank: Apprentice of the Fourth Degree. However, her quick-talking and unwavering confidence often sees her taken for a Mage of far greater standing than she actually is.
Physical description: Grunge-hot, like an off-duty model; tall, leggy, and dressed like a thrift store manniquin, Sash rocks poker-straight pale blonde hair, torn leggings, and usually a few incidental scrapes and bruises. She has a dainty tattoo of a red heart on the webbing of her left thumb, matched by a black spade on the left, as well as a cadeuceus on the left side of her neck, and is never seen without a black bowler or trilby hat, out of which she is seen to conjure all manner of tricks.
Nimbus: The hush of the crowd before the big act comes on stage. Electric anticipation, breathless silence. Goosebumps and the pulsing of blood in ears.
Themesong: Worth Dying For by Rise Against: Don't ask me how I'm gonna solve this on my own. Don't ask me how, because I don't know; these things I've never faced scratch out, but can't erase. In the wreckage of a job well done, I saw a place I'd never seen before, and that moment I refused to close my eyes, anymore
Would Be Played In A Movie By: Kesha

A selfie, taken from her Facebook page; would you trust this woman?

Timeline

"What do I know of magic? Why, nothing, my masters. Nothing at all. Save that a little magic is a most dangerous thing." - The Fool, Book Four:The Road To Nowhere The Books of Magic, by Neil Gaiman

• April, 1987: born in Newcastle to boilermaker Daniel Grant and his Russian bride, Valeriya Volkova.
• September, 1993: brother, Mischa, is born.
• January, 1998: mother, Valeriya, diagnosed with breast cancer.
• August, 2000: after a long, hard struggle, Valeriya passes away.
• December, 2001: Awakens, and runs away from home, taking Mischa with her.
• 2002 - 2003: Promoted to parent and living on the street, she scrounges a living for her brother and herself, grifting and stealing and performing tricks.
• July, 2003: Discovered by Damocles, who schools her in the reality of her gift, and introduces her to Awakened society. Tongue-in-cheek, adopts the name Olivia Twist (often introduced simply as "Twist", and known affectionately to some as "Twistie").
• November, 2004: Meets the boy who would become Ricochet in Surfers Paradise during schoolies week, and the two quickly become close friends.
• 2005 - 2008: Continues her magic act, and as her skills grow, so does her following. Adopts the stage-name Sash the Spectacular, which eventually becomes more commonly-used - without the adjective - by fellow Mages than her original shadow-name. Acts as eyes on the street for the Sydney Consilium. Often travels to other Cities to help other Mages with issues that crop up requiring a magically versatile and physically dynamic agent.
• 2009: Is briefly pledged to the Silver Ladder, before being summarily booted when she proves to be just about the personification of everything that is antithetical to the entire Order. The Free Council take her gladly.
• 2010 - 2011: Continues performing, scamming, keeping her finger on the pulse of Sydney's Inner West, and occasionally traveling to assist other Consiliae.
• 2012: Becomes a popular finalist on the reality TV show, Australia's Got Talent, launching her briefly to national attention. Is obliged to drop out when dealing with a threat to the Sydney Consilium overwhelms her schedule, and also at the insistence of I. P. Smith.
• May, 2013: Witnesses Ricochet's Awakening, and is overjoyed to include her best friend in her shadow-life.
  • June, 2013: Greets her old Master, The Director, at the airport on his return from the States, and welcomes him back into the country.
• February, 2014: The timebomb drops in Sydney. Most of the Consilium is wiped out. Sash is interstate at the time, and so survives, but returns to a different timeline than the one she left.
• October, 2014: Chairs the Free Council meeting at the national gathering of all persons esoteric and arcane, and is a significant force in the initial uncovering of the timestream diversion that was effecting them all, and then in the discovery of the time-doors nearby, and their effects. Three weeks later, travels to Canberra and assists Beckett Shore in a delicate parley with the Seers of the Throne.
• December, 2014: Answers a summons from The Director to fly to Perth at one day's notice and assist in a ceremonial capacity with the signing of the new Charter of that Consilium. Is drawn into a matter effecting The Pinnacle, and with standard gung ho-ness, takes a running dive into it, head-first.

History

"First rule of magic; always be the smartest guy in the room." - J. Daniel Atlas, Now You See Me

Fast-talking, indefatigably cheery and compellingly cocky, Sash is a charming rogue. As an enemy, she'll get you every red light when you're in a hurry, and sour your milk overnight; as a friend, she'll turn up at your house at 4am on a weeknight drunk and expecting to crash on your couch, but you can trust her never to swear in front of your boss or your mum, and to wingman for you like the Devil himself.
If she has a macro flaw, it is that her amusing irreverence sometimes veers right up to the very brink of dangerous recklessness, which can be outright obnoxious for her companions, but this also makes her uniquely well-adjusted for the life on the edge of the impossible that being Awakened entails.
To say that Sash does not know when to sit down, shut up and stop drawing attention to herself is to suggest that she is not in total and conscious control of her actions, which would be untrue and unfair. She has simply been Awake too long, faced down too many eldritch powers, endured too much weirdness and survived too much danger to really be outwardly intimidated by anything, anymore.
She's quick-witted, exciting and easily distracted. All her friends have bailed her out of lockup at least once, and she's forever getting worked over by the mob for running her game on the wrong corner, or fleecing the wrong guy.
She's a thrill and a worry, and one of these days, she's going to get in over her head...
If only you didn't like her so damned much.

Currently

Which Sash do you want? Sash, the brilliant social engineer? Sash, the talented and charismatic illusionist? Or Sash, the morally-unreliable, substance-addicted kleptomaniac?

Her habit for travel notwithstanding, Sash currently lives in Sydney, working as a surprisingly successful (Fame:1) street magician, intermittent pro gambler and occasional pickpocket. She says she's just waiting for the right backer to catapult her to superstardom. She says she's going to be the next Criss Angel.
She says a lot of things.

Quotes

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." - Pancho Villa

Quotes by

"...not that there's anything wrong with being a Guardian. Some of my best friends are Guardians!"

- to I. P. Smith, on a matter of inter-Order delicacy, December, 2014.

"Look, at this point, all we have to fear is Fear Itself - and, if you ask me, Fear Itself needs better duds, to really make the impact that he's looking for."

- in reference to the overtly sinister costume of the Lichtor, Threat, to Beckett Shore. November, 2014.

"So, uh, I feel like at this juncture, that it might be pertinent, to, uh, let you know that I kind of am an expert in running away. Not that we need to run away, just right this second, per se! Just that it might become relevant - like really, really soon."

- to Zero of the Guardians, upon the discovery of the second timedoor, and what was occurring therein, October 2014.

"Jesus Christ, Goph, no! What are you...are you high?! It's more like...well, it's hard to...I'm sort of his...er, really snarky valet."

- mortified by the pre-Awakening Gopher's assumption that Damocles was her sugardaddy, April, 2010.

"Oh, I hate angels..."

- a rote complaint, groaned aloud whenever the subject of dealing with agents of the Aether arises.

"Spidermage, Spidermage, does whatever a Spidermage does..."

- often overheard during her parkour runs.

Quotes about

"I've seen her 'round Sydney a few times, busking with her little 'magic' show. I let her go cause it's more guile and fast fingers than supernal. She's sensible enough to know where to draw the line. If you catch her on your streets just pick her up, let her know you'll be watching, gently, and maybe buy her a meal. Better to play nice than have whole Consilium up in arms about persecuting a sweet young innocent. Plus she's proven useful in the past."

- I. P. Smith

"She's a jumpy girl, got up me for cleaning my gun. I mean, it wasn't like I was going to shoot anyone, or anything like that! She's friendly enough, I suppose; just far too talkative for my liking."

- Striker

*laughs heartily* "Sash? Pure gold, that girl. I regret having to leave that one behind - if ever I needed a 2IC, it would this one every time. If I had five mages like her, we'd bring an end to the Quiet by the end of the month."

- The Director

Conversations

"I may have accidentally wiped twenty-four hours of my own memory trying to do exactly the same thing to them, due to their shielding..."

"Hell, I've had weekends like that, too."

- to Beckett Shore, December, 2014.

"Calm yourself. It will not happen, child."

"Firstly, I'm not a child. I'm a sixteen-year veteran spell-slinger, which means I have seen shit, including more than one would-be apocalypse, and I am calm - startin' to get pissed off, now, but calm - and just because I'm Robin to his Batman does not mean I'm your monkey, no matter who the Hell or Heaven you are, so I'd be very appreciative if you'd reciprocate the courtesy and respect I have shown you up to this point, or, unless he says otherwise, I'll put you on top of a fucking Christmas tree."

- to a certain angel she'd just met, December, 2014.

"Look, man, I don't care what you think you saw, clearly you were tripping balls - and we should probably get you a blood test - because fairies do not, can not, have not and never will exi-...actually. Hunh."

"What?"

"I...guess it doesn't really leave a lot of room for skepticism when you routinely light your smokes with magic, does it?"

- with Ricochet, November, 2014.

"Sash, you've got two choices; gracefully bow out now, due to 'family issues', or you can have the entire panel of judges rip your act to shreds in front of a national audience."

"Jesus Christ, g-man, you had me at 'end of the world'."

- with I. P. Smith, on her brief reality TV career, August, 2012.

"Whoah, there, Captain Bigotry! Let's just pump the breaks on the Prejudice Train, shall we? We have no evidence that vampires are universally awful."

*later that night*

"...okay, so vampires are pretty much universally awful."

"Cool. Do I get a prize?"

"There are no prizes for racism, Tommy."

- with a former Cabal mate, alt. timeline, January, 2009.

"Oh, Elder Gods from the outer reaches, hey? It must be Tuesday. Also, terrific, I'm famished, I could murder some squid-rings. Sorry, I needed a smart-arse one-liner and I couldn't choose."

"It is intolerably irritating that you do not appear to be treating the situation with appropriate severity."

"Are you kidding? It takes real effort to be this irreverent in the face of OHGODWE'REALLGONNADIE."

- facing down her first apocalypse scenario with Damocles, alt. timeline, May, 2004.

Rumors

"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up." - Hunter S. Thompson

• Has no real magic, only tricks.
  • Has no tricks, only real magic.
    • Even the Guardians aren't sure, which is why she's such a source of vexation to them.
• Attended a Free Council meeting while deathly hungover, during which she pulled a rabbit out of her hat. Then turned it into a sandwich. Then ate it. To say nothing of the detox smoothie she conjured from thin air...
  • And still managed to have Dresden asking her counsel. Now that's magic.
• It's all an act. She's a plant for the Guardians.
• Will be heading up "Running Away Classes" for the Free Council

Inspirations and Soundtrack

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios." - James T. Kirk, Star Trek

• Dave Franco as Jack Wilder, Now You See Me
• Ruta Getmintas as Dutch Velders, The Strain
• Zatanna, from DC Comics.
• Fame by Mree: You ain't seen the best of me yet; give me time, and I'll make you forget the rest
• Ladies And Gentlemen by Saliva: Welcome to the show, please come inside...
• These Days by Bon Jovi: She came looking for some shelter with a suitcase full of dreams, to a motel room on the boulevard; I guess she's trying to be James Dean
• Kansas City Shuffle by Joshua Ralph: You look left, and they fall right into the Kansas City Shuffle. It's a they-think-you-think-you-don't-know type of Kansas City hustle, where you take your time, wait your turn, and hang them up and out to dry
• Dream On by Depeche Mode: Feel the fever coming, you're shaking and twitching; you can scratch all over, but that wont stop you itching
• Arms by Christina Perri - Ricochet: How many times will you let me change my mind, and turn around? I can't decide if I'll let you save my life, or if I'll drown
  • Never Too Late by Three Days Grace - Ric for her: I have left alone everything that I own to make you feel like it's not too late - it's never too late
    • Dust To Dust by The Civil Wars - both of them: You're like a mirror, reflecting me - takes one to know one, so take it from me; you've been lonely, too long
• All The Same by Sick Puppies - The Director: Wrong or right, black or white, if I close my eyes, it's all the same. In my life, the compromise; when I close my eyes, it's all the same
• I Can't Imagine The World Without Me by Echobelly - Awakened society: They said, 'Oh, shut your mouth; you don't know what you talk about.' I wanna know, if this is just a game, can anybody play? Can everybody win?
• Levitate by Hadouken - Magic: Heart in my mouth, but my head in the clouds; yeah, I can feel it rising - bound to the Earth, but we could ascend, yeah, I’m realizing
• Tokyo (Vampires And Wolves) by The Wombats - The Mysterium: Astrophysics; you'll never be my closest friend. I find no comfort in what my mind can't comprehend
• Already Lost Control by Grinspoon - Guardians of the Veil: Can we join an army of you, and help you out in battle to defend your point of view? Turned tables, it's just like you said; now I'm in the army, I'm probably better off dead
• You Will See Me by Dan Le Sac feat Scroobius Pip - The Silver Ladder: This book you discarded as a pamphlet will ignite shit. I will work ten times harder than before; I will create art, I will create beauty - I will create so many things that you can't ignore, but I will not do them in your name
• Sway by Julie London - The Adamantine Arrow: Like a flower bending in the breeze; bend with me, sway with ease. When we dance, you have a way with me - stay with me, sway with me
• Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park - The Free Council: I want to heal, I want to feel like I'm close to something real, I want to find something I've wanted all along; somewhere I belong

OOC Info

Member Information
Player:	P. Saunders
Number:	2003100615
Domain:	Sydney