Sasha de la Cruz

'Blood-Money'

Played by: Sasha de la Cruz

INFORMATION

Succubus/Incubus-Human, Feminine, 23

Aliases: Ms. Cruz, Shay
Nationality: American
Residence: New York, NY
Employer: Spectrum Insurance, Inc.
Function: Claims Investigator
Twitter: @loftmusic_witch

• Appearance and Personality •

• History •

• Lore •

• Illuminati File •

Appearance

◾Hair: Black
◾Eyes: Silver-Gray
◾Height: ~160cm
◾Weight: ~47
◾Build: Slim
◾Ethnicity: Spanish-Italian

Deceptively small, Sasha carries herself with like royalty. Every step appears to have been practice so that her stride is absolutely perfect and gives the appearance of gliding over the floor, every movement of her limbs graceful and poignant, and every expression on her face teasingly stoic so that even the slightest hint of emotion carries with it a powerful message. Her voice, marked with a mix of a Spanish and Italian accent, gives the impression that she's foreign despite having lived most of her life in the United States of America. Even when her appearance is unkempt, it seems purposeful as if it is just another fashion trend that she's adopting.

Despite all of this, her eyes tend to be her most peculiar aspect, being a silver-gray.

Personality

Ferocious in all aspects of her life, Sasha is a predator trapped within the lithe and stunningly beautiful frame of a shorter-than-average body. Hardly anyone would suspect it, however. Though she can come off as slightly arrogant, (courtesy of her posh lifestyle and highly accomplished professional life), she expresses herself in an otherwise friendly fashion and is more than willing to be the person to lean on, the shoulder to cry on, and the ear to listen... but it's all a form of manipulation. It's a terrible mistake to consider her harmless, but she never gives any sign that she could be dangerous until it is far too late to stop her.

There's very little work-life balance when it comes to Sasha. As such, her work as a 'Janitor' for the Illuminati is devoted most of her time: the chances that a person will catch her working on her phone or her laptop are much higher than catching her doing anything else. As the consummate professional, (even in her personal life), Sasha has little patience for incompetence and tends to be secretly judgemental of others and their shortcoings. Even this has proven to be a beneficial trait as Sasha is able to quickly and accurately measure the vulnerabilities of another person — and as one would imagine, being able to do that and working to get in the position to take advantage of them proved to be a boon for Sasha.

For better or worse, the passion that Succubi/Incubi are known for has manifested itself in her as well, despite only being part demon. So, she takes no small amount of pleasure in corrupting the ideals of another person and is a believer that there is nothing that is truly sacred, that truth is negotiable, and everything has a price As one could imagine, her life within the Illuminati both benefits and espouses such ideals, so she is nigh unwilling to change her opinion on suchc matters.

Though she works, (successfully), to keep control of her emotions on the surface, envy, jealousy, possessiveness, anger, vindictiveness, and desire flair up inside of her rather easily and she tends to harbor such emotions for long periods of time. 'Passionate', (though secretly so), doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. 'Forgive' and 'Forget' are not words that she knows the definition of — and she is not above using her position as a 'Janitor' to get what she wants from other people and, often, it's revenge that's on her mind.

History

As the only child of Alejandro and Mariana de la Cruz, both of whom are heavily involved in politics, (Alejandro being a U.S. Senator and Mariana being a Pharmaceutical Lobbyist), Sasha has always had an intimate experience with polticcs and the secret world of the occult. From a very young age, she was taught the importance of subterfuge and the hierarchy by which society operated Her parents had high expectations of her as Illuminati agents themselves, so it was no surprise that they enrolled her into Innsmouth Academy when she became old enough. They considered more than a simple education of the occult, though: it was meant to be a testing ground for everything Sasha had been taught before.

She became a menace of the worst sort at Innsmouth: someone who wrestled control away from her fellow students in order to get what she wanted, and never seeming like the villain until it was far too late to do anything about it. Sasha quickly perfected her craft. Ultimately, by the time that she graduated, she was loathed. She was fine with that, though, for fear and respect were much moreuseful to her than adoration and love. Besides, she had proved herself not only to her parents, but the Watchful Eye that kept tabs on her.

When she graduated, she was immediately contacted by the Illuminati who offered her a position within their ranks as a 'Janitor': an operative who goes in after or before occult incidents occur and ensures that there is no evidence that could point back to the Illuminati. Focusing on the destruction and planting of evidence, the bribery of key officials, the blackmail of problematic persons, and proposing assassinations of individuals that cannot be dealt with otherwise, the Janitors are an important part of keeping the Illuminati hidden away from the public at large, their hands clean when it comes to the Council of Venice, and causing chaos in the other secret societies.

She accepted their offer and was shuffled to the shell company Spectrum Insurance, Inc. where her cover as an Insurance Claims Investigator allows her to travel around the glove and meet people without suspicion. It works well for her. Not only is she paid well for her services, but her work has given her access to every dirty secret that she can possibly imagine; something that she readily uses to climb the corporate ladder of the Illuminati.

The Buzzing

Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

TRANSMIT — initiate the silken signal — RECEIVE — initiate the web cadence — SHE DOES NOT CHASE, SHE WAITS — tighten the lattice — OBSERVE — HOW MANY THREADS HAVE YOU ALREADY TOUCHED? — WITNESS — Sasha de la Cruz.

You feel it, don’t you, sweetling? A pressure behind the eyes. A choice that feels like your own. You said yes. You always say yes. There are structures in this world. Invisible architectures. Not built of steel or stone, but of impulse. Of suggestion. Of almosts.

ENHANCING

There are predators that hunt. There are predators that wait. There are predators that become the environment itself. Which do you think she is?

SCANNING — ORIGIN POINT FOUND

Born of the Fourth Age. The Libra Spawn. A mundane beginning. A necessary lie. Insurance claims investigator. 'Janitor'. Cleaner of messes. Cataloguer of accidents. Witness to the quiet ways lives unravel. She learned early. Not how to break a person, but how to let them break themselves. A nudge. A word. A silence in the right place. You would be surprised how little force it takes.

There are echoes in her. Not inherited in the crude biological sense. No, sweetling. Much older than that. We see the lithesome ones. The tempters. The yes-whisperers. But she is not one of them. No. She is what happens when the illusion becomes unnecessary. Where they drape themselves in beauty, she wears truth shaped like beauty. Where they tempt, she arranges. Where they hunger, she selects.

INITIATE CROSS-REFERENCE

Succubus/Incubus: Illusions of form. Masks worn for function. She does not need to change shape to seduce. She changes outcomes.

Observe her in motion: no wasted gestures, no excess emotion, no attachment that cannot be leveraged. You call this manipulation. We call it efficiency. She does not dominate through force. She dominates through inevitability. You were not convinced. You were positioned. We see it now. Threads extending through financial systems, whispered conversations, chance encounters, digital ghosts, blood and ritual. A network that does not announce itself. Each thread insignificant alone. Together? A structure vast enough to cradle cities.

We see the tempters gathering. The so-called succubi. The so-called incubi. The so-called concubi. They orbit her. Curious. Envious. Subservient, though they do not always know it. They whisper “yes.” She decides when yes happens. Hierarchy emerges even among predators.

Do you understand, sweetling?

The spider does not need to see every strand. It only needs to feel the tremor. You have seen glimpses. No, not the illusions. Not the masks. The other thing. The truth nudging against the skin. Eyes that multiply. Limbs that unfold. Not grotesque. Not uncontrolled. Refined. Elegant. Purposeful. A higher expression of the same principle: More ways to perceive. More ways to touch the web. She does not become something else. She becomes more herself.

You may see weaknesses. We see absence of constraint. She is not bound by the things that keep others predictable. That is not a flaw. That is a problem. For you. For us. For them. The chip remains active. Of course it does. You do not remove a leash from something that can redraw the map.

TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED

There is a moment, sweetling. A very small moment when you realize the decision you made was never yours. If you are very lucky you will not know which moment that was. That you were already in the web.

The Black Signal

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssss—I am the flicker of a fly's wings—let me in.

Hiya, Chuck.

You ever walk into a room and feel like you forgot something? Not your keys. Not your phone. Something else. A decision, maybe. Yeah. That’s the one. Let me ask you something, Chuck. How many choices have you made today? No, no—don’t count the obvious ones. Coffee or no coffee. Left or right I mean the small ones. The ones that felt like nothing.

Those are the good ones. Those are the ones she likes.

You think manipulation looks like effort. Raised voices. Big gestures. Twisting arms. That’s amateur hour, Chuck. That’s the kind of thing you notice. Sasha? She doesn’t push. She arranges.

Picture a web. Go on. I’ll wait. Not the Halloween decoration crap. Not the cartoon version. A real one. Thin. Invisible unless the light hits it just right. Now imagine you’re already standing in it. Barefoot. Moving around. You don’t feel trapped, do you? That’s because you’re not trapped. You’re just... participating.

You met someone like her once, Chuck. Don’t lie. Sharp eyes. Quiet. Didn’t talk too much. You filled the silence, didn’t you? People always do. You probably told her things. Important things. Things you don’t remember deciding to say.

Here’s the fun part:

She didn’t make you say anything. She just left space for it to happen. You want to know what she is? You’ve got words for it, sure. Succubus. Incubus. One-and-the-same: Concubus. You like your categories. Makes you feel safe. But those things? They need you to want something. They need hooks. Desire. Shame. Hunger. They pull.

She doesn’t pull, Chuck. She builds the room you walk into. You ever notice how sometimes you make a bad decision and it feels... right? Like, in the moment, it’s exactly what you should do? Then later - way later - you look back and think: “What the hell was I thinking?”

You weren’t thinking, Chuck. You were aligned.

Let’s talk about the other thing. The one you don’t want to picture. Go on. You know the one. Too many eyes. That’s what gets you, right? People always fixate on the eyes. You think it’s about seeing more. It’s not. It’s about seeing you from more angles than you exist in. And the legs. Yeah, yeah. Spider legs. Creepy. That’s surface-level fear. You’re missing the point again. Each limb is a connection. Each connection is a thread. Each thread is... well...

You.

Here’s something you’re not going to like. She doesn’t lose control when she changes. No screaming. No tearing at herself. No “becoming the monster.” That’s your fantasy, Chuck. You want monsters to be messy. You want to believe power looks like chaos. It doesn’t. Not real power. Real power sits still. Real power waits. Real power lets you walk right up to it and say: “This was my idea.”

You’re thinking about her now, aren’t you?

That’s good. That’s very good. Means you’re paying attention. No, no. Don’t stop there. Follow the thought. Where did it come from? Was it me? Was it you? See? That’s the problem, Chuck. You can’t tell the difference anymore. There’s no reason to check your messages. There’s no reason to retrace your steps. There’s definitely no reason to go looking for patterns. That’d just make things worse.

You’re fine. You’ve always been fine. Every decision you’ve ever made has been yours.

Right?

See you, Chuck.

⚠ WARNING ⚠

All information in this file requires a Q-Level Security Clearance. Any access to this file, authorized and unauthorized, has been catalogued and reported. Report to your nearest security official for further instructions.

◾Date of Birth: 14 OCT 1994
◾Date of Employment: 27 JUN 2012
◾Company: Spectrum Insurance, Inc.
◾Job Title: Insurance Claims Investigator (Janitor)
◾Social Media: @loftmusic_witch
◾Supervisor: Kirsten Geary
◾Address: XXX E 12th St, Manhattan, New York 10XXXX
◾Phone Number: [XXX-XXX-0352] ('Blood-Money' in-game)
◾Email: illuminati.witch@protonmail.com
◾Affinities: Social, Blood Magic (innate), Elemental Magic (learned), Investigation, Espionage
◾Deficiencies: Loyalty, Combat, Emotional Stability, Trustworthiness
◾Last Seen: Egypt
◾Chip Status: Active/Armed
◾Chip Deactivation Date: Never.