Abilities:

Compulsion & Empathy: While these exist in most as two separate powers, they seem to present as one in the same for Ava.  They are both something active and inactive within her.  Her paintings have been known to incite intense emotions in some who view them and she possess the ability to influence those around her, which she does gently and sparingly.  She values her own free will and doesn't wish to rob others of their own but at times she can't help when a thread of this power slips out, instilling her own emotion into someone around her. When she focuses she can pick a specific person or small group to influence but, as this is something she doesn't do often, she is still learning to grasp the ability and completely rein it in.  (Power rating: 7 )

Clarifications on Artistic Empathy: this part of Ava's ability is beyond her control at this time.  She can purposely pour herself into her art but she cannot seem to turn off the ability.  When she paints she easily gets caught up in her craft and as such, the emotions she feels while painting become embedded in the canvass.  To protect other character's free will, this ability is something that varies from person to person when they view anything of her own creation.  For a person wholly open to compulsion they would feel the full weight of the emotion that a painting reflects where as someone absolutely closed off to external influences would simply see the painting for what it is: an image on canvass.  This leaves varying degrees that a patron of The Mystique can experience Avaline's artwork.

However, a downfall of not being able to turn off this ability leaves her victim to her own 'charms'.  Of course, this largely depends on Ava's own mood at the time but it isn't uncommon for her to walk away from her own paintings with a smile on her face or a sense of guilt, sadness or unfounded doubt.

As it also frequently takes more than one sitting to complete a piece of work her paintings often encompass more than one emotion.  What may make one person smile could leave another with a sense of sadness.  It is these powerful emotions which makes her gallery and artwork so popular among the locals and collectors alike.

Clarification on Active Compulsion: Avaline does possess the strength to influence people with her compulsion, however this is not something so would do unless it was necessary.  With her strong value of free will, unless provoked, Ava would frown upon forcing someone to do something they wouldn't typically do on their own.  Of course this again largely depends on how open a person is to compulsion and their own ability to block out the psychic abilities of others.  The few times which Ava has attempted to compel a person it has left her utterly exhausted afterward with a dull throbbing ache in her head.

The more apparent flex of her active power is the ability to resist the compulsion of psychics with a lesser ability than she possesses and the struggle those more powerful than her would feel.  This, of course, doesn't necessarily apply to vampires since the power base is likely different than that of a human psychic yet it would still require more focus for her to be completely rolled by a vampire.  This, unfortunately, would alert those around her that she herself is able to compel others.

Precognition: An ability that Asa has worked less with and her sense of precognition is fickle at best.  Occasionally she will capture what she calls "true glimpses", when her visions are clear and dead on for what will occur but typically her visions leave her questioning what she has seen.  If someone were to come and ask her a question they may not get the answers which they wish to receive, instead getting a general round about answer instead of something pin pointed and specific.  (Power Rating: 5/6)

For the most part, having learned from her past, Ava does not believe in altering the outcome of events unless the situation is dire and she knows for sure that what she changes will do more good than harm.  Typically the flashes of the future she Sees are minor things and things that she doesn't understand until they come to pass.  Destiny is not a word that she would use for the things that she Sees since she doesn't believe in it.  She believes that every person has a set goal for their life but how they get to that goal is up to them.  This, of course, is CLOSE to a set destiny but incorporates a person's own will into the equation.

She no longer actively seeks Seeing the future.  It isn't a matter of her thinking it to be 'cheating', it is that she is afraid of what she might find.  She doesn't ever want to find herself in a situation where she needs to make a decision that could be life or death for someone.  If she doesn't See it then she can comfortably sit in her ignorance.  But trying to change something and failing... again... she would find that unacceptable and the failure would haunt her.

Pyrokinesis:  Largely tied to her emotions, in her youth, Avaline learned that great fear or anger seemed to ignite her body.  At first she simply felt warm, like her skin was burning, but in time she was able to push that heat outside of her in a wash of hot blue flame.  The sensation terrified her as a child and eventually she was able to tamp the ability down so deeply that it has gone dormant.  (Power Rating: Dormant)

Overall Appearance:  She is slender for her stature, a waif of a woman even with the lean long muscles that protect her frame.  She has embraced modern society, though often feeling as if she were born into the wrong era. Her hair is frequently dyed in an array of colors but currently her tresses are two-toned with a vibrant crimson overlaying a dark shade of ebony.  Her eyes are swirling shades of brown, ranging at their darkest a color reminiscent of pure dark chocolate and lightning to a warm brick color that encircles her pupil.

Ava has multiple piercings on her body.  Lip.  Navel.  Tongue. Ears. She has the start of a sleeve tattoo on her left arm which tells the tale of a story which frequently haunts her dreams.  The darkness which fell for the light. The ink is predominately black and encircles her upper arm. There are hints of red and blue within the design. A woman with a flowing blue gown dancing under a shower of cherry blossoms. It looks mythical and solely a creation of Ava's mind. On the inside of her right thigh is a beloved figure from her childhood: a fairy, though this fairy is a far cry from what Disney deems them to be.

Aside from the tattoos and piercings, her skin is flawless.  Not a single freckle, scar or birthmark can be found upon her body.  Milk and honey, her flesh is smooth and pale.  She has a natural sweet scent to her, floral, like honeysuckle.

Height: 5'3
Weight: 110
Eye Color: Multihued brown ranging from a deep dark chocolate to a lighter shade of brick which swirls around her pupil
Hair color: Varies, currently a vibrant red with black on the under portion of her hair
Hair Style: Dyed, very little body to it and it falls below her shoulders when worn loose but her hair is typically pinned up in a messy but stylish fashion
Complexion: Pale, she can never seem to hold a tan though that may simply be because of the climate she lives in and the fact that she rarely lays in the sun
Body shape: slender, almost boyish as if she hasn't fully gone through puberty
Clothing: She dresses for comfort usually. Jeans. Tank tops.  She has a collection of different hoodies.  She does dress up occasionally and enjoys doing so though her wardrobe doesn't include many dresses or skirts.

Character Model: Primary: Some random internet chick.  Secondary: Ariel Piper Fawn

Basic Personality: to sum up Avaline in one word it would be: secretive. She tends to keep to herself more often than not and holes away in her art studio. When she isn't elbow deep in pastels and oils she is busy setting up in her gallery, The Mystique, showing off other peoples' work that she believes in.  She has poured herself wholly into this craft and truly loves what she does.  This passion is apparent in the pride she takes in her work and the rooms where she hosts events. She can often get lost for hours, becoming oblivious to what is going on around her.

When she isn't at the gallery, Asa can often be found in the state park.  She feels at peace here and her persona takes on a more serene vibe.  She sits with an easy smile, and is far more approachable than when she's brooding at a coffee shop.

She is not the kind of woman to approach a stranger for conversation outside of her business unless necessary.  When with a client she is full of warm intentions, occasionally falling victim to carnal desires if a client finds her on a good day.  Her physical, and most emotional, relationships rarely exceed past the front step of the gallery and never extend to her personal living space.  She has dated prospective clients in the past, something that likely would be frowned upon business wise but Ava is anything but traditional.  She's always felt that she's holding out for something, someone, better but occasionally there is an itch that needs to be scratched.

Merits: artistic, respects personal space (metaphysically), trustworthy, passionate in her art

Flaws: less than ideal control being pyrokinetic when it was active, can have tunnel vision when it comes to her work, occasionally cocky, strong sense of self that can be off putting to others

History:

Ava's childhood was as happy as most children's despite the differences she was faced with in her youth. To her parents credit they dealt well with all of the idiosyncrasies Avaline embodied.  The onset of her abilities came gradually and innocently for the most part. Things started out as 'gut feelings' for her, which as a child, translated into fears.  She had a difficult time expressing the things she saw or felt and more often than not ended up in hysterics when pushed toward something which she felt would go wrong.  It seemed that she only got glimpses of the bad things.  Nightmares.  Daydreams.  It was only after a series of fits that her parents finally began to understand that there was something behind it all, some underlying issue with her fears.  As she got older and learned to express herself, Elena, her mother, encouraged Ava to tell her about the dreams, and each true instance chilled her to the bone.  There was something special about her daughter and regardless of the unconditional love, Elena feared her.  Feared what she might see.

It wasn't until Ava was a teenager that her ability for compulsion began to present itself.  By this time she had began to grasp a semblance of control over the precognition, hiding what she occasionally was privileged to know unless there was dire reason to speak up.  She understood that life had to take it's own natural course.  Sometimes interfering would only cause more pain.  There was a natural order to things and disrupting that balance could set things awry.

Her compulsion began quietly.  When she would draw things and she was happy doing so she found that the sketches made others around her happy.  When she drew and was sad them were gripped with an unprecedented sniffle.  This was something she kept to herself, an ability she rarely actively sought to bestow upon others.  Of course, she couldn't help but try to cheer people up when they were sad... the compulsion was just an easy way of doing it.  Cheating.  A momentary band aid.  When she would part company their pain would return though perhaps she had dulled the brunt of their woes.

It wasn't until her later teens that she progressed in her abilities, that she developed the ability to manipulate an element.  Fire.  This was something she had found peculiar at first, something she couldn't help but play with when alone.  It was addictive.  She could hold the blue flame comfortably in the palm of her hand.  She could let the fire dance along her body and not get hurt.  It made her complacent.  She felt invincible.  So when the dream of her parents burning in a car full of flames came to her, she didn't worry.  Fire couldn't burn her.  She knew she could save them and she would save them.  If she could touch them then they wouldn't burn.  Or at least that was what she thought.  But what Ava didn't understand was that her ability could go out of control... that those around her as well as herself, could perish within the inferno.

She had been riding back from the movies with her parents, their monthly family night out.  At sixteen she had began to loathe spending time with her parents like this, especially on a Friday night when all her friends were out at a party, or worse, the same movie she was at with her parents.  She was curled up in the backseat, nodding off, when the car hit a patch of black ice and began to spin.  In the blink of an eye the car pitched through the guardrail and began to plummet down the embankment to the river below.  Never, in her entire life, had Ava been so afraid.  Her screams blended with those of her parents and in those helpless moments her powers were beyond her grasp.  The car filled with blue flame, her parents' cries deadened to her ears by the deafening roar.  Her seatbelt melted from her body and as the car flipped one final time, Asa was ejected from her seat, through the windshield and was rendered unconscious as the car continued down the embankment to the river.

She awoke a week later in the hospital with her grandmother there to bear the news of what had happened.  It was written that the car had pitched through the guardrail and caught fire on it's way down the hillside.  At some point, which had been documented as occurring early in the accident, Asa had been thrown the from the car.  It took two days for the search and rescue to dredge up the car through the partially frozen river.  Her parents had sustained burns over their bodies but ultimately it was the cold water which had ended their lives.

Her dream hadn't prepared her for the gravity of the situation.  She had assumed that she could save her parents from the fire within the car.  That she could have battled the fire with her own ability and protect them.  Never, not once, did she think that she would be the cause of the chaos.

She became withdrawn after the accident, moving in with her grandmother and severing all ties with her friends. Initially her grades suffered but somewhere along the line Ava found that she was beginning to care again.  But it was as if the ice water which had filled her parents lungs now ran through her veins.  She had tamped down her abilities, the chill of reality dousing the pyrokinetic ability.  But while it was easy to turn on that one aspect of manipulation it seemed to turn up the intensity of compulsion.  She took to her art as a form of therapy, her paintings expressing her internal pain - often reducing those around her to tears.

As with many wounds, with time she began to heal.  Simple things brought her joy once again and she found her smile again though she was wary to let anyone close to her.  With a degree in business and a second in art, Ava traveled north to strike out in the art world.    She had been encouraged to try life in a large city, New York or Boston, but the art world was too competitive there.  She wasn't out for wealth but contentment.  She has found simple pleasures in things.  Her art.  Her vinyl collection.  The small rag tag apartment she maintains over the gallery. And she loves the life she has begun to build for herself in Michigan.


Living or dead Family:

Father: Patrick Montgomery (deceased)
Mother: Elena Montgomery (deceased)
Grandmother: Roza Thompson (Alive)