In fair Verona, our tale begins with ODESSA VERNON, who is TWENTY-FOUR years old. She is often called OPHELIA by the MONTAGUES and works as their EMISSARY. She uses SHE/HERÂ pronouns.
She was everything her mother and father prayed for and everything one might expect a lady to be. Intelligent enough to make her own way in the world but passive enough to let her father and brother make it for her, Odessa Vernon was the image of the perfect daughter incarnate: a pretty little PUPPET with velvet strings. Born two years after her half-brother and no less capableâif not more capableâof learning the same things he did, she was instead taught the importance of using the right fork at dinner so as not to appear uncouth, of being humble so as not to threaten her male peers, and of knowing when her opinion was welcomed and when it was not. In the Vernon household, women were to be seen and not heard, regardless of what to bring to the table, and it was due to this upbringing that Alvise Vernonâs daughter came to be known as coy, soft, passiveâjust like her mother, when in fact, she had the potential to be anything but. Her gentleness was learned, a BYPRODUCT of being told that was the only thing a young lady should be.
It was for that reason alone that, rather than allowing her to join the mob as soon as she was of age, her father chose to send her to university. Ladies donât get blood on their dresses; they donât lie, cheat, stealâKILL, but the only way a young woman could expect to be welcomed into the fold without doing any of those things was if what she could do with her mind was far greater than what she could do with her hands, and for once in his life, Alvise Vernon let himself be contradicted. He would much rather an INTELLECT for a daughter than a weapon, so he allowed her to pursue a degree at the university of her choice, and she welcomed the opportunity with open arms, thrilled to get awayâto prove her worth. The four years she spent away from home saw her become the woman her father and brother had long suppressedâas smart as she was beautiful, assertive but unfailingly well-mannered, the farthest thing the pretty little doormat theyâd raised her to beâbut that freedom was terribly short-lived, and it wasnât long before she was again told to lower her voice at the dinner table and let her elder brother speak.
She became a Montague emissary at twenty-two, a fitting position for a child of one of the most prominent families in Verona that sought to keep her hands relatively cleanâor who had a father who insisted that she do soâand despite having it chosen for her, Odessa found she rather enjoyed the work. Negotiating and closing deals with some of the cityâs most elusive dealers made her feel the kind of POWERFUL that even her father could approve of, and for two years, it was enough. For two years, she was content to be the brains of the operation, to look pretty and speak only when asked to and squash the tickle of indignation in her stomach when someone remarked that she was awfully quiet. And then her father was found shot to death in his apartment, and for the first time in her life, she wasnât told what to doâhow to act. The strings that had guided her every movement for twenty-four years had been severed, and the only daughter of Alvise Vernon was left grieving with eyes wide open, set free and inexplicably ALONE.
Hers was a revelation not only of what sheâd lostâa father who had loved her, raised her, damn near drove her mad with his expectationsâbut of what sheâd gained: a CHOICE. Waking up the morning after he was killed was like coming up for air after being held underwater for far too long, and sheâs found, with quite a bit of guilt, that she doesnât mind the deafening silence thatâs replaced his once-overbearing guidance. Worse still, sheâs not afraid of the voice in her head telling her to get even, to show the world that the gentle, unimposing girl she once was DIED with her father. One day, theyâll say this was her breaking point, the thing that drove her over the brink of insanity, and once again, theyâll be mistaken. Her mind has never been clearer, and she knows what she wants: blood. Retribution. Revenge. This is the story of a rose learning to embrace her THORNS.
LILLIAN WEN: Enemy. Every time she comes across the woman, Odessa canât help the way her stomach curdles in resentment and â oh, how she detests this deadly sin â envy. Here she is, bound to a world everyone proclaims a princess like her does not belong to, embracing it but not without the struggle of balancing who she is and who she has to be. And then there is Lillian, thriving in the position she has and harnessing it for a cause. A good cause. She is stagnant, all while watching Lillian soar. What a befuddling sight it was; like watching a free, boundless flock of birds, starkly white and beautiful, taking flight across a grim, moonless skyline. She knows she deserves nothing less than such degree of untainted achievement and yet, can she reach it? The apprehension â guised in traditional Montague hatred âtells her she is loathed to find out.
LAWRENCE VERNON: Brother. She envied him once for his freedom, for his value as more than just a pretty thing to own in the eyes of their father. But for all that heâs just like Alviseâfor all that he, too, had a hand in clipping her wings and keeping her in a cage, sheâs never loathed him, never wished him ill. He meant well, and in the purest corner of her heartâthe part unmarred by tragedy and bitterness long suppressed, she knows her father did, too. But the days of letting her brother decide who she is and who sheâll be are gone. He may be the only family sheâs got left, but heâs not all thatâs left of her. She loves her brother, blood or not, and sheâll defend him to the death, but she intends to make it clear she no longer needs his permission.
GENEVIEVE & HENRY ZHANG: Superiors. Three days after they laid her father in the ground, she strode into Genevieve Zhangâs office, and in a voice that didnât dare shake, announced, âI want to be lethal.â The older womanâs response came, âDarling, you already are.â Taught only basic self-defense in case of a negotiation gone wrong, the Vernon woman wants to learn more, to become a force her fatherâs enemies lose sleep over. She wants to be a soldier, and the woman who watched her grow will make her into just that. Odessa and Henry grew up together, two children raised in the throne room of the empire their fathers helped to rule, but four years his junior and reminded constantly by her brother to make herself scarce, she often found herself falling through the cracks. Theyâve shared many a conversation about tact and negotiation, and sheâs closed many a deal for him, but sheâs loath to regard him simply as one of her captains; truly, heâs something of a friendâa reminder of simpler times. The recent death of his father has seen a change in him, but sheâs got her own storm to weather, and they both know the Zhang heir needs no coddling, least of all from her.
CRISTIAN DE LUCA & CELESTE DUVAL: Fellow emissaries. Thereâs an unspoken agreement among emissaries, a sort of understanding that begs no real explanation. Itâs not that theyâre not good with wordsâtheir skill in that aspect is what made each of them far mightier with a pen in their hands than a gunâbut that, of all the things theyâve brought to fruition and continue to accomplish, their understanding is by far the simplest. Cristian acted as a mentor to her when she first joined the mob, but though sheâs long since become his equal, she still holds him in high regard and values his guidance. Much older than the rest of them, heâs always been a bit distant, but heâs good at what he does; formalities arenât part of the job description. Celeste joined their ranks mere months after declaring loyalty to the Montague cause, Â effectively replacing Odessa as the youngest among them, and sheâs found something akin to a kindred spirit in the Duval woman. Their ranks have been scattered since her fatherâs murder, but Odessa knows it wonât be long until they recoverâthey always do.
Odessa is portrayed by LAURA HARRIER and was written by BREE. She is currently TAKENÂ by ALYX.
