D I S T G U I S H I N G F E A T U R E S : pure white iris, multi-colored extsions, a heart shaped scar with clawmarks through it over her left breast.
F L A V O R : wolf
D E S C R I P T I O N : dusty red wolf, no bigger than an average husky (about 26' in height)
S C E N T : japanese cherry blossoms
S K I L L S :
* Skill : Cosmetology for the Dearly Departed * Skill : Coroner * Skill : Speaks over half a dozen languages fluently including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, and some lesser known dialects smaller countries.
* Ability : Control w/ Sex * Ability : Control w/ Blood * Ability : Comforting Touch
* Ability : Commanding * Ability : Command Beasts * Ability : Commune with the Beast
* Ability : Shifting: No Coma Shift: The ability to shift without having a coma like sleep afterwards. The shift itself can still be painful and slow.
* Ability : Munin: The ability to communicate with those of your kind who have died and been consumed by the group. A way to use their powers and wisdom.
* Ability : Healing w/ Sex (This is kept hidden): Can heal by having sex with the injured party.
* Ability : Moon’s Power: The werewolf draws his/her strength from the night, toughening his/her muscles and growing even taller as the moon feeds his/her rage and anger. He/She is now twice as strong as before.
W E A P O N S C A R R I E D : silver plated pocket knife
W E A P O N S O W N E D : silver bullets (no gun)
A C C E S S O R I E S : keys, wallet, the mundane things, closet full of PVC clothing, fishnets, boots high heels and mostly gothic lolitta/ gothic inspired clothing
H O M E : Lives with Ash in Alex's house.
O C C U P A T I O N : Coroner, Runs her own e-bay page selling paintings, grave rubbings and other oddities as well as publishing a book on her grave rubbings.
E X T R A D E T A I L S : Death Dealer : 2005 Cadillac Superior Statesman Funeral Coach
B I R T H P L A C E : N/A
F A M I L Y: Ash and some of the Pack
H I S T O R Y : Growing up as the child of hippies was not always what it was cracked up to be. There was always a mission out there, someone who needed saving and most of the time the job was thankless. Cypress grew up a child in a Sutemi Pack on her mother or fathers back. Watching a colorful world unfold around her. From the mysteries of the Far East to the lush darkness of the jungles of Africa she grew and developed with no lack of adventure in her life. Her father was a world renowned doctor from a humanitarian family, and her mother was a nurse. Always at his side, ever eager to aid those in need.
By the time she was thirteen Cypress spoke over half a dozen languages fluently including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, and some lesser known dialects smaller countries. It was the summer of her fifteenth year that her father passed away from a sweating sickness while doing work in Varanasi on the banks of the Gangi River. There was a gaping hole in her soul where her father had once been, but for her mother it was even worse. As though in some way a part of herself had drifted off to the cradle of the Gods along with her husband. Through business contacts in Tokyo Miss Harmon found a job, a way to support her and her only child. For Cypress the adjustment was difficult. Traveling no more and being stuck in a regular classroom rather than home school, she began to act out.
By the time she graduated at eighteen she decided not to go to the University. There was an artist colony in the Chiba district of Tokyo. That was where she met Tenoh Haruka. Haruka was unlike anyone Cypress had ever met, and they quickly became the best of friends. Haruka was the daughter of a viscous Yakuza mob boss. That was one secret Cypress learned early on, but even more disturbing was when she discovered that the Yakuza had a secret. They were were-wolves. It was part of their indoctrination to be turned. Haruka, her best friend in the world was a monster.
When you are young, and you have a friend that you love that much it is not difficult for lines of conduct to be skewed. Neither girl was gay, but their love for each other was more romantic than mere friends. Cypress wanted to be what Haruka was, so when her friend offered; Cypress was willingly infected. That was the beginning of a terrifying series of events. When Haruka's father discovered that she had willingly given their gifts to someone outside the Yakuza, and not only that but someone who was not even Japanese, he was enraged. He swore to kill Cypress, but Haruka moved quickly giving her money and a fake passport and in the middle of a the night she put her on a boat for America. The good-byes were tearful as they clung together on that dock, and when the ship left the docks Cypress fell into a horrible fit of depression. She was lucky in the days that followed that the captain of the freighter was an honest man who kept his crew from harming or molesting her. When they docked in the States she was utterly alone.
The major cities drew her, but she never stayed long. It was too hard to try to settle down and make friends again. Phone calls to her mother were infrequent and worried. One day she was speaking to her mother and found out that Haruka had been joined in an arranged marriage, Cypress cried for a week. It finally hit her, she would never be going home again. The sleepy town of Salem Massachusetts had been where her father was raised. She wanted to see it, to walk the places he had been in his youth, to remember him awhile before she herself died. The sadness that consumed her ate at her soul and all she could see was darkness.
In Salem she had joined the local pack for protection and because of need. It was in the Crimson Snow Pack that she learned what a family truly was. Belonging to a group of people that did not shun you or hate because you were different. The pack in Salem had been something completely brand new for Cypress. There she grew into a slightly more open person. Arriving in Salem she had been empty, hollowed out by the constant nights of tears she had shed for Haruka. Haruka, had been the only person that Cypress loved more than life in that time. Two girls that were as different as day and night. They were the ying and yang of one another.
Haruka had revealed that she was were-wolf to Cypress, without thinking when Haruka offered to turn Cypress, she took the offer. The events that followed sent Cypress into depression. She was forced by Haruka's father; a leader of the Yakuza, to run away from Japan and from Haruka. Her best friend gave her a fake passport, money and put her on a shipping boat headed for the states.
Cypress traveled around the states. Bouncing from one major city to another until she decided to head to Salem. There she would see where her father had lived and later she would offer her life to the town. It was in Salem that the fates changed her course in life.
He was darkness in a pale body. Tattoos riddled his arms and upper body. Hair inky black and eyes the color of a blue neon high lighter. Something in Cypress moved her to stand at his side. Her wolf had never reacted so passionately by such a being. He commanded loyalty with a softly spoken word. It was love at first sight. Her love for such a man was what lead her to be his Skoll. The protector of the Ulfric, which was what Ash Redfern was; Ulfric of the Crimson Snow Pack. She became his Dark Doll, his Skoll and right hand.
However, it was not a fairy tale come true. Ash was with another. A wolf that cared nothing for him but having him as a possession. An object to raise her status in life. Cypress knew this woman would be the end of her Ulfric one day. Even still, she protected him and the pack. Especially, Lyric O'Riely the pack songbird and Cypress' close friend.
It was this pack that healed the wounds in her heart. Without her knowing Cypress came to rely on them, love them and protect them. Wherever Ash went, she was there at his side. His dark dreaming doll. It was the only reason she had packed her things and traveled with the pack to Hawaii.
Hawaii was far from paradise. There she lost Ash. He did not die. He started to vanish from the man he had been in Salem. It hurt Cypress to watch him dissolve. That wolf he loved betrayed him, and later he soiled himself by sleeping with another poor excuse for flesh. Those two women who claimed that they loved him, needed him and wanted him... did nothing but rip apart his soul.
Cypress had thrown herself at him only once. She wanted to show him how she felt. How she could be everything he wanted in a partner, in a true mate. Yet; Ash threw her, beat her and when she believed she could take more he sent a verbal knife into her heart. It was the knife in her heart that showed Cypress how truly lost he was. She could not stand at his side after that night. With one last look she had departed from his life.
Hawaii later sank partly into the oceans that birthed the islands. She was far from there when it finally happened. The only companions she had now were Jasper the five foot albino python and Charlotte a de-fanged red-toed tarantula.
Over time Japer grew ill and later so did her spider Charlotte. On the day that she was making a funeral pyre for both of her beloved pets, she read of the great purging in Rome called by the Pope. A deeper sorrow formed in her heart, more so than just by the loss of her two companions.
Her nearly white hues reflected the fire as she watched her pets burn. Cypress had gathered the ashes and stored them in a box. Upon Devil's Head in Colorado she had watched the dust dance in the wind. Saving only a little in a vial. The small glass was placed around her neck, where it hangs close to her heart. It was that night that she packed once more and left Colorado.
She felt lost, unsure and her heart she felt was finally empty. There was no love, no joy in the depths of it, only sorrow. With this feeling she traveled in her Hearse towards the unknown. It was in New York that she found herself; broke and jobless. Cypress lived in Death Dealer for months, begging on the streets of New York. In her depression she had chopped off all her dark black hair. To close it was in color to the man she had lost in Hawaii. She could not bear life any longer, and yet she could not end it either.
Wondering aimlessly one night she had found the hidden treasure trove that was the cemetery on 11th and 6th. Such wild foliage that grew, a wilderness that reminded Cypress of different times. Sneaking in past the locks that night, she found a semblance of a peace she had known only once before. Tucked away in the chambers of her heart she felt connected to this forgotten grove where the dead were all but dust within the wooden boxes that at one time held flesh.
It had started as a hobby, coming at night and making grave rubbings with what little money she had collected. After selling a few from her car, she gathered enough to rent a room in the slums of New York. There she bathed and slept for what seemed like years. It was merely less than two weeks. Cypress knew she needed a proper job if she was to support her hobby. After a string of odd jobs she ran across the Medical Center. They were hiring for a certified autopsy technician. After applying, they called her a day later asking her to come in for an interview. A week later she was working alongside Mr. Alessan. Saving enough money Cypress moved out of the cramped motel room and into a small one bedroom apartment in the Bronx.
A year later, Mr. Alessan came up to Cypress one night after work, asking if she would like to be in charge of the Vampiric Clinic that was opening up in Manhattan. He said it would pay more than what she was earning now at the Medical Center. She thought it over after gathering all the details and later agreed. The extra money helped when she moved again into her current home; a studio apartment in lower Manhattan.
Cypress did not think it was a coincidence when she noticed how close it was to the cemetery she had found that night. In return she kept that cemetery clean and offered the spirits a much nicer place of rest. Although the front of the gates still held the wild foliage to keep those posing teenagers and any bums that dared make this heaven a camping site. This was her heaven, the source of her hobby and side income that was earned by selling the grave rubbings that she made. It was here that started her on the journey of living in New York. It had been years since that fateful night. The sorrow was not such a heavy stone any longer, yet the weight still was a reminder of her loss. Her dark hair had grown out and was longer than it had been when she had left Hawaii.
A L I A S : Mel, Mistress Mel, M, Mel Bell, Hells Mel, Mel-icious
P L A Y B Y : Amy Lee
C H A R A C T E R S I T E : http://melsmadworld.moonfruit.com
-- Edited by CYPRESS HARMON on Friday 12th of August 2011 05:05:17 PM
