i. “man with the hex” - the atomic fireballs // ii. “the raven” - edgar allan poe // iii. “hotel california” - the eagles
( SIMONE KESSELL, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER ) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that LENORE ANARO-DELACROIX is a ~242 year old BOOKKEEPER AT PANACEA/FOUNDER OF MOONSCAR that’s been in Chicago for FORTY-FIVE YEARS. According to the file, they’re a mutant on LEVEL THREE with the power of WERECAT PHYSIOLOGY + RITUAL MAGIC. That must be why they’re MAGNETIC and SELF-SERVING. If you ask me, they remind me of a pendant placed beneath the harvest moon, the grandfather clock striking midnight, vultures hovering around the remains of a black cat. They are affiliated with MOONSCAR.
QUICK FACTS:
full name: lenore desiree anaro-delacroix
date of birth: january 18th, 1781
zodiac big three: capricorn sun, leo moon, scorpio rising
gender & pronouns: cis woman & she/her
sexual orientation: bisexual
ethnicity: ½ white, ½ māori
nationality: us american
religion: wicca-adjacent
languages spoken: english (5), māori (5) french (5), latin (4), spanish (3)
enneagram: 3w4
mbti: intj
temperament: melancholic-choleric
alignment: true neutral
ability: werecat physiology + ritual magic
affiliation: moonscar
alias: la lune
BACKSTORY
triggers: violent religious extremism ( brief ), death/murder
a long, lucky line on her father’s side of the family: some centuries ago, a man got on the monarchy’s good side. a few years after that, that man’s son used the plot to become a land owner and make money off the backs of renters. some centuries after that, having amassed more than decent wealth, a man sailed to the usa and settled. and some years after that, her father took his inherited wealth and uprooted his new england life to be with a woman he had met in what would soon be the state of louisiana.
her mother could not say the same. she had been the first person in her family to have a halfway happy tale. a man she believed she could say she loved, a daughter she believed she could say she loved -- but, more important, a new home. she had moved by choice. she had gotten the opportunity to choose.
where she had chosen ? it was quiet and remote and home to The Othered. home to the men in the swamp, home to the women in the cypress trees, home to the group that looked to the sun for questions and the moon for answers. ( the white, rich, non-mutant ex-christian guy was the odd one out for once ! )
it was luck of her father’s side, and the freedom of her mother, that allowed lenore to grow in the society they had formed. were things always roses ? no, of course not ! her father’s gradual anger at being the outsider... her mother’s gradual distancing... but it was made up for when all else was taken into account.
although remote, the occasional passerby or hunter was not unthought of. with their proximity to the bayou, fishers stumbled by often. but it never seemed to matter much...
...until it did.
word eventually made its way to a group of religious extremists. between their worshipping practices and the ~20% of the population that did not look human, all who were drawn there were drawn by the devil ! they launched an attack, unforeseen by the population. they pillaged and drove folks away at best, they absolutely slaughtered at worst. even the alligatormen could do nothing with their lack of preparation.
in the cacophony of it all, lenore and one other managed to get to one of their underground temples. a moon pendant placed below the orange glow of the harvest moon, an agreement that there would be an offering in return for safety, the unexpected turn came along: she became something halfway between cat and human. a fluke.
it had been blinding after that. blood. mummifying bodies. decomposition. quick. some of them came back -- but they didn’t come back right.
when all was said and done, the blindness done away with, the only people still standing were herself and who she had snuck past the attack with. it couldn’t happen again, a silent agreement. the ones that had come back, but not quite right, did what lenore and her friend needed them to do. they kept trespassers away. and they directed them when the harvest moon was nearing, fearing that it would all come back if they didn’t keep it up.
some years later, louisiana was in more turmoil than she had seen it in in a long time. not content to let sleeping dogs lie, everyone who could have once fit in with their community was offered seclusion. the only catches ? 1) no one could know where they were, and 2) participation in the rituals that would protect them all.
sooner rather than later, it had become home to more than just two ( plus a hoard of zombies ) again. dubbed ‘moonscar,’ they were up and running in solitude.
but, in complete solitude ( now more important than ever ), how were they meant to take life force ? it started as drawing straws... and, perhaps it was luck, perhaps it was the unconscious desire, perhaps it was the dedication they had offered, but when those who sacrificed themselves in the name of immortality, they came back the same. they were simply... dead. slower, more one-track-minded, but not under the curse of only being able to do what lenore and co. wished them to.
however, as everything trudged forth and life became longer, lenore grew more empowered... whereas the one companion she had had in a century grew more tired with each passing day.
she volunteered that next harvest moon. a vicious back-and-forth followed -- immortality and protection and, dare she say, friendship ? but it ultimately fell upon deaf ears. she had been waiting.
so lenore sacrificed her. and she came back as a... ‘follower zombie.’ and lenore’s first instruction, the curse she laid upon her ? to stay.
a turning point, maybe, pivoting from self-preservation to self-serving. but who would she be ? totally alone. despite the number of members, she would be totally alone.
i’d love to angst about this more, but the intro is getting long already, so let’s go over to this:
1845, edgar allan poe wrote ‘the raven.’ it was not until 1870, when the state had had time to cool off, that lenore read it. she disappeared, read it over time and time again. and she released her friend from the curse.
and she left louisiana. some followed her, keeping the sense of protection and belonging. some stayed behind, clueless as barely any word had been given.
and she traveled to different states. and one trip to europe. and one trip to asia. one trip to oceania. one trip to zealandia to see her mother’s origins.
the years finally began moving again when she landed in chicaco, illinois. 1978. the wealth passed down to her covered the move. and she and the few people left with her officially re-established moonscar, always keeping an eye out.
it may be worth noting that she had never considered herself a ‘mutant.’ she had seldom heard the word. it was only after some tests performed by james ‘starcaller’ baird, at her request ( see: trying to figure out if there was a way to make her immortality permanent ), that she learned it was all genetic. that she was a ‘mutant.’
a word she would seldom use ! she was part of the supernatural world, of kids’ nightmarish folklore.
but, to keep the human guise, she picked up work at a local new age shop... after a little too long. she kept the books. to her, it was easy. to her, it was mindless.
you know, i’m never very good at finishing intros.
TIMELINE
1780s: lenore is born in nowhere, louisiana. the community is very communal. the odd one out is the rich white guy who’s human and used to identify as christian. most have been drawn for one reason or another. there are alligatormen in the swamps, women in the cypress trees, questions asked of the sun and answers given by the moon.
1810s: the community is attacked by a group of christian religious extremists. everyone is slaughtered or driven away to god-knows-where. lenore and a friend are able to sneak into an underground temple and make an offering to the harvest moon: a person in return for protection. and lenore is unaware of her ritual magic. they turn into creatures of the night, a complete fluke, and the assailants got fucked ! initially believed to be dead, many of them resurrected... as zombies who were forced to do what she and her friend said. so they used them to keep people away -- up until each harvest moon came, that is. they couldn’t risk another attack, after all ! and they didn’t seem to be aging much ! ...if at all !
1840s: upheaval in louisiana and a sign of worse things to come, the outside world was braved to house and protect the vulnerable. they had to keep it a secret, they had to participate in the rituals... but that was about it. harvest moons were dreaded, though. with complete seclusion came the inability to draw outsiders without setting off any alarms. so everyone, save for lenore and her friend, drew straws. some came back similar to who they once were, some were only as bright and autonomous as those assailants.
1850s: lenore’s friend has grown tired of immortality. she’s grown tired of having to kill to live. she’s grown tired of living. so she volunteers to be the sacrifice, something unheard of ! -- and, after plenty of desperate back and forth, lenore accepted it... but not really. when her friend came back as a follower zombie, a la the assailants, lenore’s command -- the curse she laid upon her: stay.
1860s: the state is in upheaval, and then it’s starting to settle. lenore is in upheaval, but settle ? she’s never done that a day in her life ! so she has her very own frankenstein following her around -- only the frankenstein who didn’t travel to the arctic and learn how to read a bunch of books... i think... i’m going off of memory from eight years ago...
1870s: after nearly 30yrs of it having been published, lenore reads ‘the raven.’ and reads it again. and again. and again. she resolves to finally release her friend and put her to rest. she gets a proper burial, and lenore leaves with nary a word. few are able to come along with such short notice.
1880s-1960s: she travels. the united states. europe. asia. oceania. zealandia. some stick around for protection and company. some leave. some die.
1970s: she ends up in chicago, illinois. louisiana has been so industrialized and deforested, she doesn’t return. nope ! she sets her roots in chicago -- also industrialized and deforested, but she’d never seen it any other way ! she re-establishes moonscar.
1980s: she learns she’s a ‘mutant,’ a label she will not carry with her. for two centuries, she has considered herself supernatural -- something of the arts, something of folklore. it’s too late to accept this label... ew.
PRESENT: she’s continuing moonscar, finding new ‘mutants’ everywhere. she works as the bookkeeper of kinevart’s shop, panacea, to keep an income... but the wealth passed from her father... and really half of the community ! -- has yet to run out. makin zombies <3
HEADCANONS
has so many cats, you could drown in them.
“stevie nicks stole my style :\”
struck a deal with santiago that she’ll bring him any undead who actually have even a sprinkle of autonomy -- gotta get rid of them ( but she’s keeping the follower zombies ! ). a pact has been formed between the two to not go after each others’ affiliations... even though their motives are the complete opposite of each other ( see: moonscar -- stay alive as long as possible, preferably hundreds of years ! // cult of the blessed -- fuckin die ).
always wearing a long necklace with a moon pendant. but the pendant she uses on harvest and wolf moons is a different one and changes with the phases of the moon.
pay no attention to the colors in the gifs ! the style, sure ! but the colors ? pretend they’re black... occasional gold, maybe white once a month. but that’s about it !
still doesn’t actually know that the ritual magic is a part of her mutation. ( btw, how that’s a mutation and not something supernatural is explained in her task :elmo: ) -- she just thinks the werecat part is.
on that note, still fully believes that there are some things science -- even mutations -- can’t explain. for that reason, if something parallels a creature in folklore enough, that’s what they are! for example (bc we have a lot of them rn), all undead physiologies are just zombies!
on the topic of zombies, kinda hates them... but, yk, that goes back to everyone in the massacre having turned into one.
^ for that same reason.... very wary of christians....
she legally changed her last name to hyphenate with her mother’s maiden name after traveling to new zealand and getting to see -- and eventually participate in -- her māori heritage. had it not been for the fact that she’s gotta :\ basically kill someone every harvest moon and fuck around during wolf moons :\ she may have stuck around longer than a few months...
year round, she has gold cat eyes, retractable claws, and sharp canine teeth -- a bit fang-like ! wolf moons and harvest moons, she’s... full werecat. fur. sharp fangs all around. tail. cat ears. etc etc etc.
CONNECTION IDEAS
the aforementioned friend !!! listen, listen... so i do have some ideas... but it would involve her being... so undead.
long-term members of moonscar !!! have been through the thick and thin ! the highs and lows ! the epic triumphs and defeats !
family !!! either part white or part māori, she’s been more ~free love, baby~ than ameline :elmo: could know, could not. could be close, could be far. we can chat !
members of moonscar !!! self-explanatory, really. best if their mutation is based on some typical halloween creature ( demons included ), but will accept whatever ! the only thing that may be iffy... is anything... undead... unless we’re talking undead as in, like, vampires. so, like... anything that could be likened to a zombie !
exes / flings / etc ! i’d make a joke about love spells, but she ain’t that desperate for anyone ! nonetheless, some exploration on this side would be fun !
little_drop_of_poison.mp3 ! lover_lies.mp3 ! it’s the vibes....
all the rest ! brainstorming is nice n fun <3
MOONSCAR
the snack-sized synopsis is on the main ! but, for a short history... moonscar began in 1814, though it would not become big or official for nearly 25yrs. when it started, it was simply the leftovers from the attack ( see: lenore and friend ) and the occasional ‘mutant’ in the wild. however, as the state began reaching turmoil, lenore and others would reach out to the othered -- not rich, not white, not christian, not fully human, and seldom a man -- and invite them to their sequestered home... so long as they would: 1) tell no one, and 2) participate in all the rituals. it was largely a place of safety, although some among them -- lenore being one -- could not continue without having to commit one atrocity or another. but they were fair. no nepotism. straw-draws only -- unless there was a volunteer. the group did not entirely disband, but it became marginally smaller when lenore left following the death of her co-founder. some followed along... some stayed... some eventually gave up... but, in 1978, lenore and the few left landed in chicago. weary travelers, they finally decided to rest their feet and set up shop in the city -- and moonscar officially re-established itself. however, with the changing climate, it became less about protection and trust ( still a large part, yes, but... no longer as necessary as it once was ) and more about camaraderie ! some girlies ( and enbies, and the occasional fellow ) to drink a glass of wine with after going to kill someone or suck out their life force in the name of self-preservation... usually. #JustGirlyThings. in addition, because of the newfound ‘safety,’ residing in the same place was no longer needed. just show up to the coven club, perform a couple rituals, and gossip around a fire !
