#psusage

SAGE SUE SYLVESTER

AGE: 30

BIRTHDAY: October 13th, 1994

RELATION: Adopted sibling

TYPE: Twin (non playable)

GENDER: Nonbinary

PRONOUNS: They/Them

ORIENTATION(S): Pansexual

FACE CLAIM: Vanessa Morgan

JOB/SCHOOL

JOB: Gallery Owner of The Robin Sylvester Art Gallery at PSU, Podcast Host of Beyond the Veil

ALUMNI?: Alumni

ABOUT

TW: Chronic Illness, Family/Sibling Death, Spooky Shit, Child Abduction

Alessandra Sage Mannox was born as the second of the twins. Her older sister, Alison, never let her forget it– and Alessandra never did, even if she wanted to. She took her role as the younger twin with a grain of salt and half a smile. Her father, Troy Mannox, was a semi-famous jazz trumpeter in New Orleans, despite never really catching a break in mainstream music. Her mother, Natalie, worked as a private chef for local families. Alessandra was always known as being too smart for her own good. She was sharp, both in her mind and in the words she used. Alessandra was obsessed with reading as many books as she could get her hands on, which meant that her vocabulary was advanced even from a young age. She was reading by three, and stayed reading two grade levels above whatever she was supposed to. Her family had a nice house, and a happy home. Alessandra’s childhood was idyllic– until it wasn’t.

New Orleans is known for its paranormal activity– among other things– and Alessandra would swear to you and anyone else that the house she grew up in was haunted. Pretty harmless stuff, really, and nothing too terrible happened until the day the girls turned eleven. The Elder invited the girls over to her home for a weekend, and that’s when everything went wrong. That weekend, several things happened that could not be explained easily. Sure, it’s possible that when they walked into the Elder’s room, there was a stray wind that blew out all of the candles. But really, it seemed more like a warning. Also, there wasn’t a window open. Later that night, blood started pouring from the eyes of a holy figure’s statue in the bedroom they were sleeping in. Terrified, Alison called their mom and begged her to come and pick them up. But, it would have been disrespectful to leave the Elder’s home in the middle of the night, so their mom insisted they stay. Alessandra quickly decided to will herself to sleep, until they both heard scratching at the door. Alison swore she saw the door open and a shadow figure floated over to her bed, but Alessandra was half-asleep and swore it was some kind of night terror. Whether it’s possible to believe in the paranormal or not, it was clear that Alison was cursed after that weekend at the Elder’s.

Not long after, Alison was supposed to walk home from school after lacrosse practice, but she never made it home. Video footage showed her being taken in by a stranger, and she was never seen again. The Mannox family set out on a wild hunt for her, but it was the Elder who delivered the heart-stopping news. An entity, of whatever kind, had decided he wanted Alison, and that was that. Now, until her sister’s disappearance, Alessandra would have chalked all of this up as a bunch of hocus pocus, but to watch someone else so vehemently believe something could be true with little to no proof? It was astounding to her. She very quickly realized that religion– organized religion– wasn’t as much of a lie as she’d thought her entire life. Clearly, there was some truth to the beliefs that her family shared, if only because she herself could not believe the total certainty in which the Elder spoke. It was like watching someone comment on the weather, or the shape of the moon– it was a fact. Alison hadn’t been part of a tragic accident, she had been taken. She was part of the grander design of the universe, and one in which she had to be separated.

It would have been easier to believe that Alison had been taken by aliens, and Alessandra really did think that was a potential theory. She became rapidly obsessed with voodoo culture and the occult, trying to find and understand what had happened to her sister. The more she read into it, the more she attempted to speak with psychics and mediums, the more she even tried to summon her own demons– nothing gave her any clarity. Nobody could tell her what exactly had happened. She had no more answers and no closure. Her family was in shambles, and there was nothing she could do to make it any better.

Six months later, Katrina hit, and it took Alessandra’s parents with her.

Sue Sylvester swore that she literally flew down to NOLA in the post-hurricane insanity, plucked a tweenage Sage Sylvester out of the rubble of what had become her home and adopted her from the streets. But it wasn’t like that– Sage lived in the foster system for two years, and one day decided that her old name was going to die with the rest of her family. Sue Sylvester decided to bring her Cheerios down as a part of her “Cheerio UP!” program for disaster relief. Sage sat in the back, rolling her eyes, and immediately marched up to Sue Sylvester in the Sue-Sponsored Happy Hour (that was literally an attempt at making everyone happy) and asked why the fuck she thought a bunch of assholes in pleated skirts could bring any kind of cheer to families who had lost everything. Sue, thinking that adoption agencies worked like animal shelters, asked if she could take the bratty one home with her.

As a Sylvester, Sage didn’t ever really get by in her athletics, but she certainly got by in being as cutthroat, blunt, and ruthless as Sue herself. If Sue could imagine herself as a tiny, pink-haired person who could draw like none other, then she might have seen Sage reflected in a mirror. But, Sage’s athleticism stopped and began with hiking. Sue’s adoption was when she started going by Sage instead– new life, new name, right? Any hope of making something new for herself faded away, unfortunately, when they moved to a community where children had been friends since they were in diapers. A sullen, moody, pink-haired middle schooler wasn’t exactly on top of everyone’s list to be friends with. Sage hated LA because she couldn’t stand the sun. Sage didn’t make friends easily– or at all, really– and felt much better that way. After all, her best friend and greatest friend was watching out for her on the other side, right? She had every kind of protection from the supposed spirit realm, but it all seemed to completely dull her.

The only solace she truly found was in her art. With so many horrendous experiences in her life, Sage knew that the only way she could get everything out of her body was in putting it to paper. While she explored quite a few mediums over the course of her life, she found that painting and mixed media was her niche. Anything creative was where Sage thrived, and she finally was able to start to heal the trauma of her past. Sage got her Bachelor’s in Studio Art at PSU, but then– Twilight jokes aside– Sage had the opportunity to go off to college in Portland, Oregon, and got her masters in Art History. Originally, Sage’s podcast started out as a way to tell the story of their sister, but it quickly took off and became a sensation.

@sagesylvester

So we didn't get a lot of time to talk properly before the crazy shit went down. I just want to make sure that you fully understand what I said and who I am. Not that I'm calling you an idiot or anything, just it's a lot and sounds fake.

Also to sweeten you up a little, your presents survived and I have them here waiting for you.

@sagesylvester