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theaspiringwanderess · 3 years

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The West Coast Trail; A Vancouver Island Adventure Of A Lifetime

The West Coast Trail is one of the most, if not the most, iconic Canadian west coast adventure a hiker could ask for. It is a 75km test of both physical and mental endurance in one of the most stunning environmental settings you have ever seen. Not everyone that sets out for this great journey completes it, but those that do have a tale to tell for a lifetime and a forever bond with those they meet along the way.

Having completed this epic trail twice now, my approach is to blend a little bit of old and new into a (hopefully) wondrous tail that offers context, wisdom and insight to the journey, while describing the magical things you will experience and the challenges you will face. I’ve also prepared additional posts for your reading pleasure on Packing: Food/Clothes/Essentials and Booking: Reservations/Transport. So please, grab a hot cup of tea, throw on those comfy pjs and sit back and enjoy the read.

Handy References and Information Material

Every great hike starts with research, especially this one! If you haven't heard of it yet, look up the famed book Blisters and Bliss: A Trekker's Guide to the West Coast Trail by David Foster and Wayne Aitken. This awesomely 80′s comic styled guide adds a little light-hearted humour to a highly detailed account of the WCT which is revised roughly every couple years. It offers both trekking options (north to south AND south to north!) and gives you all the step by step nitty gritty deets in between including history, objects of interest, geological features and safety tips! I suggest taking it with you and read about the section ahead each night. Also, opt to keep it in a safe pack pocket, don’t put it in a plastic bag (I did this my first time and sadly lost my copy to the inescapable moisture and mold).

Check out the West Coast Trail Facebook Page! This page is not manned by Parks Canada. However, it is a great place to meet other hikers, find someone looking to ride share, ask questions and for advice, learn about recent developments and important information (washed out bridges, danger sections, wildlife sightings or concerns... even hear about annoyed hikers picking up others garbage...not kidding lol).

Oh! And there is also a Women’s West Coast Trail Page!

Parks Canada Website. Duh, right?! But you may not realize that Parks Canada has some handy info regarding what to pack (and what not to!), emergency items, wildlife warnings, necessary fees, maps, tide tables, tips and more to make your hike a happy one. Check out the Planning For WCT page here.

You'll also find online a plethora of websites, blogs and articles dedicated to WCT info, tips, advice, and more. I encourage you to read a few personal accounts to get a real life feel of what others experience. Here are some of my favourites (don’t let the names scare you!), plus a very cool and scholarly article from UofBC on the effects of colonial-style tourism in the area and on the local indigenous tribes written in 2020. Fascinating read.

Hike The WCT (website)

Walking the wild coast : territory, belonging, and tourism on the West Coast Trail (UofBC Open Collection)

Lost On The West Coast Trail

How Not To Die On The West Coast Trail

The Facts

The West Coast Trail is 75 km long. That's on the map and, best as I can figure, relatively "as the crow flies". It does not account for the extra steps, the ladders, the climbing, the crawling, the descending, etc, you get the picture. Both times I've gone my fitbit has read almost double or more the distance in 'real ground covered'. For example, when they say its 5km from the Gordon River Trail Head to Thrasher Cove, my fitbit in both cases recorded over 12 km when all was said and done. When they tell you it takes on average 5-6 hours to do that stretch, and you're only covering 1km or less an hour, this is why. You will chuckle in the orientation, as many have, and think, "ya, if you're a SNAIL!", but you will soon realize it’s about the terrain and that you're essentially doing double or more the physical effort to cross it. The same is true for nearly all the trail, even the "easy parts".

Safety First - the majority of accidents and injuries occur in the first 13 kms on the south side of the trail, from Gordon River at km 75, to Camper Bay at km 62. The trail accommodates just over 7500 people a year. Of that, Parks Canada evacuates roughly 80-100 injured persons annually and Nitinaht villagers have claimed to ferry out 100-200 additional hikers off the trail as well, due to injury, misery, etc. It won’t be a bear or cougar that takes you out, it’ll be the wilderness itself. A fall from a wet log or slimy stone is the most common culprit, and it may not even be the fall itself, but what you land on. Sharp rocks, jabbing sticks, etc all cause serious injury. And it always happens when you're TIRED. Don't push yourself. Take a break, have a snack, don't go farther in a day than your body can handle. Better to be a day late than waiting 24 hrs in the bush with no morphine and a broken leg for a boat ride that surely will be agonizing. Just sayin' here...

The WCT historically was maintained for shipwrecked mariners. Many have lost their lives along this trail. I don’t understand how it doesn’t have its own ghost story yet! It has an amazing history with lots of ship wreckage to see along the way if you time the tides right.

Lastly, the temperate rainforest that engulfs the WCT is not only stunning but globally very rare, encompassing less than 1% of ecosystems across the earth. Here you will see plants, trees and animals that may not exist anywhere else on our planet. The Sitka Spruce for example is among not only the tallest trees in the world, but also the oldest, some 700-1000 years old. This means they have seen North America as it was before European Settlers touched it. They are revered by many and highly sought after by loggers, which often leads to conflicts. Many extremely unique animals also reside in the WCT, like the islands' black bears which are actually larger than mainland black bears with massive skulls and only one unique colour phase. The island is also home to cougars, Victoria's famous mini-deer and sea-wolves, the only wolves in the world that have adapted to life on a coastline, they call the Pacific Coast home. With a completely unique diet of seafood they are genetically different from mainland wolves and have also been known to swim in the ocean for many kilometers.

My West Coast Trail Story

Now, before we begin, I'll preface this by saying, don't mistake me for a pro; I am simply someone who has made it off the WCT twice [relatively] safely and lived to share my tale. If you are looking for expert advice I'd say check out the Parks Canada website or the Blisters and Bliss book. But if you are looking for a heartwarming and informative, real life account of the experience, you've come to a great place.

I am now amongst a lucky few that have had the enormous privilege to have hiked the West Coast Trail not only once, but twice in my lifetime thus far. I say thus far because this trail has such a special place in my heart I expect at some point I will likely attempt it again. It changed my life and has had an everlasting impact on the lives of those around me. I learned a lot about myself and even more about those closest to me. What I am capable of, the importance of preparation and planning, the bonds you create with people you meet along the way and the love of those that support you going and take care of things while you're gone. I simply couldn’t have done this without the support of my amazing husband, friends, parents and sister and my wonderful sister in law whom we stayed with this time. But most importantly I missed the encouragement and support of my mother-in-law who lived on the island and sadly has passed since my first trip. She and her friends played such an instrumental role in my first journey with my sister, buying us foods, housing us, driving us, and just overall being so excited to see us off, I truly missed her this time but I know she was there with me in spirit.

In this way the West Coast Trail is a life-shaping experience like no other. You will learn much about yourself, be in awe and hopefully inspired by the incredible natural world around you and you will meet fellow Canadians and global trotters and, in turn, become a part of their WCT story. Let me be amongst the first to congratulate you on this epic endeavor and wish you the happiest, and safest, of journeys and hopefully I can send you off a bit more well prepared for the adventure.

First Timers VS Second Timers

My experience as a first time WCT hiker was extremely different from my second expedition in every way possible.

The first time I hiked the WCT I went with my youngest sister Jenna. We had both hiked and camped before but this was a new experience and everything was raw, a bit scary, amazing and beautiful all at once. I think it just hit us both like a ton of bricks when we landed at the base of that first ladder across the Gordon River. Although Sharon had talked to me for months, mentally preparing me for the hike, when Jenna and I both looked up at the rest of our start group scaling that first beast, looming up from the small beach landing, I know we both had the exact same thought, like, "oh shit, this is for real...".

Why the WCT? Sharon, my good friend and co-worker, had previously attempted it before turning me onto it. Due to an unfortunate incident with her hiking companion, they had to turn in the towel. She has since rocked it twice more and was an absolute wealth of information, support and the wisdom that only an experienced female hiker, mom and athlete can be. Much of what I am sharing with you today began with her. She continues to inspire me every day with her ferocity and determination and boundless want for adventure.

At the time of my first hike in 2016, my mother-in-law lived on Vancouver Island and she and her best friend Jill had kindly arranged for us to stay at another friend's cottage just outside Port Alberni. The friend and her husband fed us well and the beauty of the setting was unimaginable. But the anticipation of what lay ahead weighed heavily on both Jenna and I and neither of us barely slept a wink. The next morning we had our last hot shower and flush toilet experience for the next 7 days and the 4 of us set out for the Gordon River Trail Head.

We piled into Jill’s car the following morning. The ride was long, on gravel switch back logging roads, but the supportive company made the nervous anticipation bearable. I feel like I did not appreciate the ride as much as I should have at the time, but a few 5 am bus rides (and much experience) later, I certainly cherish the thought my mother-in-law and Jill had put into making the beginning special for us both.

Since then, I've booked my island hike transports with the West Coast Trail Express bus. The folks there are super helpful and the experience has always been a good one. In 2018, a WCT facebook group was created which has made connecting with others looking for ride shares and doing the trail much easier AND more informative! You can read about this page and other research options at the top of this post if you missed them ;)

When 2016 saw Jenna and I land at Gordon River's Information Station, I was greeted with an amazing surprise... Sharon and Jackie (another friend) had pre-purchased for me a WCT t-shirt. I cried, there were no words. When 2021 saw Krista and I land at Gordon River's Information Station, I was greeted with a sense of the familiarity of the adventure and vicariously enjoyed the wonder of someone else now experiencing the trail for the first time... READY?!.. and INHALE... can you smell it..? the Adventure?! It's like greeting an old friend again, for the first time.

It's Like Those Choose Your Own Adventure Books, Where You Pick Your Ending...

Remember those..? Maybe..? When Starting the WCT, you can plan to start at either entry point, Gordon River to the south or Pacheena Bay to the north, or now even halfway at Nitinaht. There are advantages to all, so it just depends what is most appealing to you. Most people do the trail within a 6-8 day time frame. This gives a good balance of time vs pack weight. I always try to plan for an extra emergency day, just in case. Things happen here... Long stays requires more provisions and a heavier pack. Shorter stays (in my personal opinion) are extremely challenging, unless you have done the trail before, are very skilled in lightweight packing and are an expert hiker. I still wouldn't recommend it. Plus, if you're going that fast, you're rushing by so much, what's the point? If you've paid and taken the time to be here, enjoy it! That being said, when Jenna and I did the trail we were treated to watching marathoner and athlete Jen Segger run it in one day. ONE DAY. She currently holds the women's record for WCT completion at 13 hrs 44mins (as posted here on her page under 2016). Of course she had no pack and support runners with her and a camera crew. But as she ran by us I think both our jaws dropped. It was like watching Super Woman run by you and you were just lucky if her sweat spayed you as she passed by.

When you start out, keep in mind your pack is at it's heaviest. Starting at Pacheena Bay entry point means you'll be hiking the easiest parts of the trail first. You'll make excellent time here and cover the most distance over the shortest number of days. Although all areas of the trail offer exquisite and unique beauty, in my opinion the north end is the most magical. Maybe because by the time I reach it Im half delirious and most certainly exhausted so the easier hike is a much welcome break. Both times I've hiked the WCT I have opted to start at the southern trail head point known as Gordon River.

Starting at Gordon River means that you get through the most difficult terrain right at the beginning, when you're freshest, well rested and eager to set out. You also have the added benefit of anticipating the terrain getting easier (rather than harder). To me, this is the most logical approach and why I prefer this route and honestly, there is just something that seems slightly disillusioning about expecting something to get harder along the way. When Jenna and I first made it up that initial ladder we came across several groups finishing their hike. One in particular stuck out, a group of three female friends. We passed the first two who were happy and chatting and weirdly gave us a (mild) warning to disregard their companion, who was somewhere behind them. Ok... sure, we thought. Then along came the third girl... muttering, swearing under her breath, we contemplated what she might do to her companions if she caught up to them and we joked about how that likely was the end of that friendship. 2016 was a much busier year, pre-covid and all, and we met so many more people, Canadians, Germans, Chinese and Auzzies!

2021 though is the year of the Canadians! If you happen to head out on the WCT this year, although you will still experience a wide range of people (Canada is an extraordinarily diverse nation!), rest assured most currently reside within Canada. Hello Homies! It was, however, a much more muted WCT experience than my past one. Although the Parks staff assured me they have had lots of people come through (I asked!), and the online bookings are sold out, it seemed so much quieter day to day. At the time Krista and I arrived, Parks staff were still only doing outdoor basic debriefing, prior to which we were expected to watch an online information video covering the basics. This was in stark contrast to the very in depth orientation Jenna and I had to attend back in 2016.

Fellow Canadians, Tsk Tsk...

The biggest difference I noticed that could be as a result of the minimized debrief is the amount of garbage. There is NO garbage removal on the trail. Parks staff DO NOT haul garbage out (its a remote wilderness, do you really expect garbage men??). The WCT is accessible by foot (as in, you hike in... for 75 km) OR by boat, the latter being weather and safety dependant in extreme occasions (ie emergency evacuation). At each campsite we stayed, hikers THIS year (the trail was closed 2020) have left copious amounts of garbage. It’s in the bear bins, on the trail, the beach, in the outhouses... it’s EVERYWHERE. The worst by far was Camper Bay with stinking tuna cans and bags in every bear bin and Cribbs Creek, where the garbage pile extended to a massive bottle collection BEHIND the bear bin.

Why do sites have bear bins in the first place? Because human food and waste smells amazing to BEARS! So we lock it away to keep it, and us, safe. This does not mean a bear can’t smell it, it just means they can’t access it. Now, what happens when food rots and gets stinkier...? Of course it's more enticing. This draws bears, and other animals, to the campsite, which puts your safety, and the safety of each camper, at risk. I have to give Krista major kuudos here because that girl dug in deep, cleaned someone else's mess at each site we stopped at and even hauled out other people's stinky gross trash. Please give her a round of applause for thinking about you because she deserves it. And as Canadians, seriously, we can do better right??

Da' Debrief

Apologies, now that’s out, let's get on. During our debrief we learned some important key points.

2021 has seen unprecedented amounts of animal sightings and encounters. Primarily bear and cougar. There has also been more daytime sightings of wolves, which is considered extremely rare. With the trail closed in 2020, lack of human presence has caused a larger wildlife presence. Be aware, practice safety, travel in groups. Groups are also being asked to accommodate single hikers to reduce risk.

There is a lot of maintenance to be done that wasn't able to be accomplished in 2020 due to the pandemic. Be prepared for washed out boardwalks, bridges and rotten boards. There is also fewer Parks staff to help with this upkeep. Luckily, local members of indigenous tribes, called the Trail Guardians, historically help in a huge way with this and you may even run into them on the trail! We saw their team arrive in their new boat leaving Walbran and at Pacheena we spoke to a Parks staff who's uncle is on the team. It's a small world here.

Following the debrief, the Parks staff escort you to the Gordon River ferry. The fellow here takes you across and plops you down on the small sandy beach, gathers up any hikers waiting for a ride back and heads off on his way. And there you are, left to stare at a huge ladder, really, the first of many.

up, Up, UP You Go!

In 2016 Jenna and I patiently waited at the end of the line to be the last two up the ladder and I tackled the climb with my 50lb pack in tow (phew!). In 2021 Krista and I were the only two standing on the beach, me revelling in my 'barely there' 38lb pack. The trail was our oyster!

The trek from Gordon River to Thrasher Cove is the most challenging and physically demanding on the trail. We left on the 11:30 ferry and finally walked into Thrashers Cove at 5pm - Yes, it DOES take that long. You actually don't see many ladders, a few here and there, but best believe you are still climbing! You scramble up rock faces, you squeeze past trees, you choose your footing extremely carefully and all the while up, up, UP you GO! Even over rocks and hard ground the trail is fairly well worn and easy to follow... most of the time. A short while in you come to the first bridge over the first creek. I have stopped here both times to fill up water bottles, but beware, the scramble back up is more difficult than it looks this year due to the fallen trees. Mountain Goat level scuttling expertise is advised! Much further along, not far from Thrashers, you'll eventually comes across the famed Donkey Engine! This year you will find it to be directly in your path, where as in 2016 I’m quite sure we looked down on it somehow from a higher elevation. Either way, it’s epic and makes for an amazing photo op! To think that thing was hauled by beast and hand up that hill still blows my mind.

Along the way we met a very nice gentleman named Wilson who had intended to hike the WCT with his son. Unfortunately, due to a graduation re-scheduling mishap his son was unable to come, but Wilson decided to soldier on. He was incredibly happy, thoughtful and polite and asked if we minded if he tagged along as we hiked. He regaled us with tails of his trails, immigration to Canada, his wife and family and much more; he was a fascinating fellow! With the wildlife warnings this year, Parks staff request that no one hike alone, if you can, allow a solo hiker to tag along so everyone can stay safe. We graciously obliged and enjoyed his company and great conversation for a couple more days until we parted ways at Nitinaht comfort camping.

Thrasher's Cove is an amazing, but small, campsite. I recall vividly in 2016 the trail down to the beach being extremely treacherous, with steep and slippery embankments and so many ladders! By comparison our 2021 descent seemed like a cake-walk. Here I was, boasting to Krista the challenge that lay before her, but when we got there it was literally a quick hop and skip down. She found anything I said after that to be hard to believe and was convinced I was totally embellishing. It really made me realize how MUCH the trail changes and what dynamic metamorphosis must have occurred in 6 years! I also realized how hard Trail Guardians and Parks staff must work to maintain all this constantly worn out infrastructure. It must a BEAST. Be warned, if you arrive to Thrashers too late in the day it will be tough finding a spot. If this happens to you, check out the south side of the beach, sometimes there's a bit more space there. Ironically, I have set up my tent in the exact same spot both times, right in front of the tiny triangle cave around the rock wall on the south side of the beach. I have claimed this spot now.

Knock, Knock, It's The Ocean!

This is also where knowing how to read your tide tables is extremely important. While camping on the beach you must pitch your tent above the high tide line. The high tide line is where you can see the sand was last wet on the beach. It's not where the water is when you arrive. Look for the wet point on the sand and keep your tent a few good feet above that. When Jenna and I first arrived at Thrashers, I was confident in my tide table reading skills; being from Alberta, I took the time to learn how to read them in advance. But, during the orientation the Park staff had warned our group that our first night was due to be the highest high tide of the year - intimidating to a couple prairie girls! And, which is also a thing if you read up on the moon cycle! (Actually there is a lot of news this year on the effects of the moon's impending orbital wobble on tides, its a fascinating read if you're interested!). So, naturally a bit cautious and overly leery of the horror stories of campers waking up to soaked tents in the middle of the night, my poor sister was worried sick. Exhausted but too afraid to sleep, I promised her I'd stay up till high tide to make sure we were safe. She soon passed out and I settled in reading my book. But the surf was loud and near, a thundering, crashing rukus with each wave and about 2 hours in my sister jolted straight up in her sleeping bag, scaring the ba-geezus outta me crying out 'IS IT HERE?! IS THE OCEAN HERE YET?! ", big-eyed I just stared, then broke out laughing; I settled her back down, reassured her we were safe, now passed the time of concern, and wiggled down into my own sack to drift off. It's still an inside joke to this day and once in a while we chuckle to each other about the time the ocean came knocking.

2021 brought me its own surprise when at 4am I awoke to an unusual scratching noise against our tent next to my head. We had wrapped our rain covers around our [empty] backpacks and snugged them up against the tent to stay dry and save space. Apparently the local otter family found them fascinating and decided to check them out on their morning stroll. An alarm clock certainly fit for the WCT.

It's A Beach Walk, Not A Cake Walk

Leaving Thrasher's Cove you have two options! You can take the beach route if you time the tides carefully OR you can take the inland route. In 2016 Jenna and I sojourned the inland route. Although the inland hike was pretty, if I'd found the trek down to Thrashers tough, the trek back up would've been classed insane. Sharon’s favourite saying is, what goes down must go up. In 2021 Krista and I timed the tide, leaving at 7:30am, to take the beach route. Although we'd planned to avoid what turned out to not be a bad climb, I'd really wanted to see the famous sea caves! The sea caves themselves were nothing short of AMAZING. There is just no other word. I was so in awe that in my mind they seem to take up almost 3 days of our trip, not just half an hour on the second day.

Although we'd planned to aim for Cullite Creek Campground day 2, we hit a major snag. As we traipsed along, well after the sea caves, we came to a rocky sea shelf that rose high out of the water. As you look up, you might catch a glimpse of some buoys, which commonly mark the beach access to the trail and campgrounds. Thinking this was our access back onto the trail, as you must go inland from here to Campers, we headed up along the higher shelf. We passed an unusual 'Danger' sign. We looked around, but could not identify anything that seemed out of the ordinary for where we were. We kept on. We came to a similar sign on the rock, but again, failed to see what was obviously dangerous. Wasps? Bear den? Surge Channel? There was no fallen bridge, no down ladder. Everything seemed ok. We reached the buoys, and Krista lifted her leg to step over a small trickle of a water... That's when it happened.

Danger on the Trail...

Before she could even complete her step, both feet flew out from beneath her and her whole body, pack and all, smashed onto the rock shelf. She began rocketing like a she was on a pro waterslide down the embankment towards a 9 foot drop into the water pool below. I had the wherewithal to shout out 'grab a rock!', and in the 3 seconds that seemed like 3 hours, I had the presence of mind to ponder how I might explain this to her mother back at home and 4 year old son if things went sideways... but with a 38lb pack on myself and being a few feet behind, there was no way I could move fast enough to do anything but yell.

Luckily, mid-slide, she managed to grab a handhold just long enough to stop and get some footing. Crisis averted, but the damage was done. Wearing shorts, she was sporting some nasty road rash on her cheek and arm, but most of the damage was buffered by the hoodie she'd had tied around her waist. She was bruised, but she was lucky.

Feeling pretty roughed up, we opted to stay at Camper Bay instead and rolled in about 1pm where we washed and treated her ailing buttocks and gave her some much needed pain meds. Along came a few more groups and we felt a bit less sheepish learning 2 of them had also had the exact same experience. Pride slightly less wounded, we made some new friends for the chatter and laid back and chilled for the afternoon. On your parks provided trail map, you will see a small note in red pointing to BA 'B' (beach access B) that warns about a dangerous slope just past the surge channels after Owen Point. It's not kidding.

If you stay at Camper Bay, it's a lovely and large campsite with lots of room for everyone. However, it has a habit of getting very windy, like all the time, and the only time it's not is when the sun goes down. If you're early enough, grab one of the sheltered tent spots in the woods/taller grass along the creek side. It also has a rep for early morning rain and fog. Something about the geography here seems to create its own micro-environment. If you walk out along the beach at low tide and cross the creek to the north, you'll see some neat tidal pools and caves in the rock wall. In the one with the small pool of water you might see a single lonely fish with the pool all to himself. I hope one day the tide washes him in friend.

Reminiscing...

Ironically, day 2 in 2016 was also the day I had a mishap of my own. Tired and worn down, toddling after Jenna across a log bridge the width of my car, I misstepped. My feet were somehow gone and in a second I found myself sitting on my ass, straddling the log instead of walking on it. I peered down into the 6 foot drop below. Completely in disbelief I suddenly realized Jenna was yelling at me "Are you OK?!" ... Yes! I was! I was ok. Nothing was broken, hurt or otherwise. But it was a wake up call. If you are tired, take a break, don't push on or try to keep up with someone faster. Only hike as fast as your slowest hiker and be patient. Take a breath and remember, the goal is no one dies out here... hopefully.

Gone Are The Days Of Legendary Mud And Tilting Ladders That Make You Poop ... Just A Little

The few days that followed are a bit of a blur. There's so much to see and so little blog space to include it all! We left Campers Bay on a foggy, rain mist morning at about 10am. Since we had to take the inland trail there was no worry about racing the tide on this stretch. We chatted with the couple we met the night before (Mat and Lauren from Calgary!). Everyone was a bit tired that morning.

Although we saw some mud, with a historic heat wave just prior to our trip in 2021, the legendary mud pits that the WCT has typically been known for were non-existent. In 2016 Jenna and I spent most of our inland trail time figuring out how to cross mud-holes, watching where each other stepped and trying not to fall in up to our armpits (I kid you not). This time, there was no mud and if you disagree with me, go again after it rains. I dare you.

This is also the section where we saw the most ladders, most notably through Cullite Creek, which was sadly such a trickle there was no need for the cable car, we just rock hopped across (with ease). We saw some really cool art done along the trail by the Guardians in the new bridge and log cuttings, some even signed their names! Have you tried making a curve with a chainsaw? I was impressed.

This section also has a neat and unique stretch of boardwalk that goes through a fragile wetland. Sections of the boardwalk were out, it looks easy, don't let it fool you!

A brand-spank'in new suspension bridge calls Logan Creek home! In 2016 Jenna and I had to climb a harrowing series of crazy, half-tilted ladders to get to the bridge. I recall my favourite as being the third ladder in a tower, that was so amazingly on a 10 degree angle sideways, and scaling it with my 50lb backpack. It was all I could do not to roll off and meet a perilous end at the bottom of the gully. Today the beautiful new bridge almost disappointed with the ease it took to cross it. NO more ladder climbing, you just walk up the stairs and off you go!

We arrived in Walbran Campsite at 5:30, the creek is perfect for swimming if it’s warm enough. Several groups had a run-in here with a couple breaking the fire ban policy. People on the WCT take this seriously, keep in mind if you start a forest fire here, there’s no where to go and it puts the homes of indigenous peoples at severe risk too. We all simmered, had a tasty meal, chatted with our travel companions, explored the beach a bit and turned in for the night, thoroughly exhausted.

We spent the next two days going from Walbran Campsite to Cribbs and then to Tsuisiat Falls. Due to a problematic and confrontational cougar in 2021 there is no camping permitted along the trail between kilometer 34 to 38. So, naturally, your last stop prior to Nitinaht Narrows is Cribbs Creek.

The Stretch from Walbran to Cribbs is basically all beach walk. The beach is lovely, but don’t let 'beach walk' fool you. It’s just as challenging to walk in sand as it is through forest... and you thought it was going to be easier, didn’t you?! It's like walking through snow without snowshoes and being 30lbs heavier...what a Canadian thought. But! Fear Not! along this stretch is also the famed Chez Moniques burger stop and the Carmanah Lighthouse! The lighthouses are closed to the public this year due to covid, but it’s still a sight to behold as it beams brightly through the fog.

The Legend That Is Chez Moniques

In 2016 Jenna and I made a critical, but common, food planning error. We packed meals based on what we felt was healthy and would give us energy, without accounting for taste. In other words, we packed a lot of dry lentil-based meals that tasted awful and took forever to cook and I couldn't have forced down my throat if you had paid me. I love beans, but dried lentils on the trail... yech! You can read more about our cautionary tale in my food section, and if you're uncertain about foods to pack, it’s worth the read!

So, sufficed to say, that year we had the absolute pleasure of experiencing Chez Moniques in it's prime. It was incredible. Here we were, in the middle of nowhere, exhausted, starving (I was anyway lol), and run off our feet. And out of nowhere arose this mirage of a tent with burgers, fancy meals, peach ciders and more! My god it was intense. We kicked off our boots, stuffed our faces, chatted with Monique, the legend herself, and I protectively cradled the best Okanagan Cider that had ever touched my lips while we waited for the tide to recede. It was magical.

Sadly, between 2017-2018 both Monique and her husband tragically passed away. It was a blow felt around the world by all those who had passed through their doors and experienced their generosity. There is a lovely documentary attributed to their memory here. Today, in 2021, following a devastating 2020 with no business, Monique & Peter's grand-daughter, Katrina Knighton is trying to carry on the dream though the restaurant will be renamed as Nytom. We heard lots of chatter and some hikers did actually see her in person, but unfortunately there are some struggles, including keeping up supply levels, which they are walking in for 1.5 hours (!). We missed them this year, as did many hikers, and I was so sad Krista would not experience it. But! They are rumoured to have services most often morning and around 5pm. Katrina is also very active on the WCT Facebook page, so feel free to drop her a line there for more info!

We arrived in Cribbs Creek at about 2:30pm. It was the end of our Day 4 and what a campsite it was. Lovely soft sand under your toes and beautiful beach. There is nothing here for swimming but we had the most amazing sunset view on the rock shelf that night. Although it didn't rain while we were on the trail, this was the first time we'd seen the sun since we left Victoria.

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The Magical Beauty Of Nitinaht And The Crab Shack Of Your Dreams

We left Cribbs Creek about 9am and stuck to mostly inland trail. Other hikers going the opposite way had warned it was very overgrown but we honestly had no problems with it; it was a little underused, but keep in mind they hadn't seen the south side yet. We made excellent time and arrived in Nitinaht Narrows at 1:09pm. The journey is absolutely stunning. There is a new bridge over the creek at Dare Beach and the forest walk is lovely. The bridge over the Cheewhat River offers great views also. You cannot take water from the river itself but after the bridge there is a freshwater stream marked by a wooden sign if you need it and soon you will come across an old Cabin. When you arrive here, turn around and see the new and amazing Ditidaht home across the river. It has changed a bit, likely with the drought, but in 2016 Jenna and I referred to this stretch as "the place that Disney films are based on". Ivy clung all the way up the trees and just as you wrapped your head around that, the trail winds it's way through a silent coniferous forest where you could almost hear a pin drop, followed by a magical wetland lake with flowering lilly pads the size of your head. But none of this compares to Nitinaht Narrows.

As you walk along the trail, just a few short minutes past the lake, the path will turn from boardwalk to dirt and as you round the bend you will suddenly walk, with no warning, right into Nitinaht! It has caught me by surprise each time. We strolled down the walkways to the dock, left our packs safely on the bench and made our way to the Crab Shack. The blue-green waters of Nitinaht Narrows is something to behold. When you peer over the side of the wharf you see schools of small fish so thick you could almost surely touch them. When I dream of paradise, I dream of here.

Nitinaht Narrows was only recently made an 'official' entry and exit point by Parks Canada in 2014, you can read more about it here. But prior to this, older community members witnessed the inception and rise of the WCT as we know it today and watched it grow. Ferrying hikers across the narrows has become a task handed down from generation to generation. Connected to the ocean, it has tides about 10 minutes apart and historically, many years ago, hikers did drown trying to swim across before getting swept out to sea, naively misjudging the calm-looking waters. About 3 kms past the narrows, the Ditidaht band offers comfort camping options to those looking to settle and day hike the trail or in need of a break from the grind. This is marked with a sign and you will see it on the trail. The crab shack itself has also recently built new cabins as well which start from roughly $100/night (houses 4 bodies and you use your own sleeping bag) and goes up to ($200 and $300) where bedding is provided. They also offer tent platforms for a modest $30/night fee.

The Nitinaht Crab Shack is owned and operated by the Edgar family. They are kind, light-hearted, hospitable and will make you the best meal you have ever had. They work extremely hard and have a great sense of humour. A family member told me the previous day they had served a group of 20 lunch all at the same time! Hippie-Doug was their ring leader that day and he manned the ferry, that took us across the narrows to complete our journey, along with a sweet old chocolate lab you will see in many a hikers' photos. If you catch him at a slow moment he might share a joke and and story with you. But don't leave until you have warmed yourself thoroughly by the wood stove, had the best meal this side of Canada and picked up some treats for the road. The ferry finishes for the day at 4:30pm and then Hippie-Doug settles in for a much deserved break, a meal, and maybe a drink, so don't be late!

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Tsu-Tsu-Tsusiat!

We left the warming comfort of the Nitinaht stove at about 3pm and headed on our way. We saw our new friend and traveling tag-along Wilson off at the Ditidaht Comfort Camping site and continued on, arriving at Tsusiat Falls by 6:30pm. You can't see the falls from the beach, but if you reach the hole in the wall at Tsusiat Point, you're just minutes away.

In 2016, the first 5 days of our hike Jenna and I had the most amazing weather. On our 5th day, after the crab shack, while the sun beamed a balmy 25+ C, we ditched our packs on a slope of sand with gentler waters between Nitinaht and Tsusiat Point and ran into the ocean up to our knees, jumping the waves and being astonished at their strength. We laid on the beach afterwards and soaked in the sun. When I think of my little sister, I often think of this carefree day and smile. Enjoy the journey as you go, or you’ll miss the best parts.

Tsusiat Falls is a popular campground. When we arrived the beach was packed. According to 2021 Parks regs, you can only stay one night here to minimize environmental impact. The beach was very different from what I remembered, but the falls were ever glorious. We threw on bathing suites and while Krista enjoyed the brief sun, I took a dip in the beckoning water.

The next morning, with Krista not feeling hot, I'd aimed to get up early and walk back to the Hole In The Wall with my Nikon DSLR camera. When we passed by the day before it was high tide and the Hole was under sea water. However, after a delay, Krista decided to come with me. We packed up, left our bags at Tsusiat and strolled back to the hole together, and a better decision it was. I’d watched a group ahead of us pass through an hour ago, but beneath their tracks you could make out a fresh set of cougar prints. Since low tide was at 10am that morning, that means the tracks were very recent and could only have been made since the water receded. Food for thought.

Darling Bears You Might Be Cute, But I Don't Want To Snuggle

The last 2 days on the WCT (or your first two, depending where you start) are the easiest to hike and where you make up the most ground. We'd intended to land at Darling River Campsite (approx km 14), which from Tsusiat (approx km 25) would make it about an 11 km day. Most of our fellow travellers whom we had become familiar with were aiming for Michigan Creek though, which would add 2 km to our 6th day, but save us that on our 7th and final day out. We decided to see what the day held and if we arrived at Darling early we might continue on. WELL.... what the day held was not entirely what we expected.

In 2016 Jenna and I walked the beach hike between Tsocowis Creek and Michigan Creek. It had started to rain the night before and by morning was a light, but steady, downpour. We donned our rain gear but by noon, and halfway through our distance, it was clear that Jenna's rain jacket was not waterproof. Though she had tested it prior to leaving, it turned out not to be up to WCT-level rain. As we continued on poor Jenna got wetter and wetter and by the time we reached Michigan, she was soaked through to the bone. Water pooled in her boots, and she shivered so hard she couldn't help me with the tent. Realizing this could get worse quickly, I popped the tent, got her changed and snugged into her sleeping bag ASAP. Then I worked on adding a tarp. When the shivering stopped we got a warm meal into her and passed our time taking turns winding up our emergency radio and trying to maintain the faint signal from a long forgotten US talk station till darkness fell. It poured the entire next day as well for a total of over 24 hours straight and our photos at the Pacheena lighthouse are in plastic emergency ponchos.

In 2021 Krista and I opted for the inland trail as we'd previously made better time this way. There is lots to see here, another Donkey Engine and a rusty old grader, and I absolutely love the Billy Goat Bridge. The trail threw us for a bit at Tsocowis Creek, there, phantom branch-offs seemed to lead off and abruptly stop. You have to go down the ladders to continue the inland trail portion (OR access the beach). However, just passed Orange Juice Creek, it was quite clear this section of trail was not well used recently... by people anyway. It was eerily dark, overgrown and passed by what looked like long lost abandoned campsites in caves along the rock wall. As we passed by we heard something stir in the dim light, knocking over an old cup, and we nervously quickened our pace. We began to see pile after pile of fresh bear scat, some so fresh that by the time we reached Darling we figured we must be just behind it. Making a lot of noise we made our way to the beach and relief washed over us as we recognized people half a km ahead... our fellow Albertans, Mat and Lauren! But when they stopped suddenly and started to back up we knew something wasn't right.

Just ahead of them on the beach was our bear. And big guy he was! They figured a lone male. They managed to scare him off and once we caught up the 4 of us made our way as a group to Michigan Creek just down the beach where we figured there was relative safety in numbers.

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Bitter Sweet Goodbyes

Our last day from Michigan to the Information Station at Pacheena was a super short one. We were the last hikers to leave Michigan at 8am and among the first ones (ironically) to reach the Parks office at 11:01am. The path is very well maintained and an easy hike. You'll also see a lot of day hikers here, many with dogs. Along the way are some cool sights you won't want to miss, so don't be too quick to rush out. The abandoned dirt bike isn't going anywhere fast anymore, but be sure to check out the sea lion rock just passed km 10. You may even hear them from the trail! Just before the sea lions you'll also pass by the Pacheena Lighthouse. Again, due to covid, you cant access the grounds but you can totally snap a quick pic! The area has so much bear activity Parks Staff joke about running 'bear daycare' here so be vigilant. Two wonderfully enthusiastic young ladies we met along the way carried an amazing tune; Im sure they must've charmed away any "would be" encounters.

In 2016 there was no km 1 sign on the trail and in 2021 there was still no km 1 sign lol. Both times I raced past km 2 and then later wished I'd taken a pic with it. You'll want it as proof! We walked the very last km along the beach, where firm sand makes for easy going. There were bear sightings of a mother and cubs here just before we arrived. We missed them, but were lucky enough to get some great foot-print photos. The very last bench you'll see on the trail is emblazoned with the word 'PARKS'. We sat here for an eternal minute and took some photos. As we strolled towards the Information station I couldn't believe it was over again so quickly.

Looking back, even after time number two, it feels more like a dream. The first time I walked off the trail in 2016 I eagerly anticipated a hot shower, was thoroughly disappointed at finding I had no quarters for to pay for one and I spent the 5 hour bus ride home starving and trying to sleep on a roller coaster. Perhaps not such a glorious end, but I realized I had achieved something few people would in their life time and of that I was SO proud of Jenna and myself. We did it.

When I arrived back at work Sharon had the most glorious little bouquet of flowers for me and she glued tiny cut out flags of all the major trail milestones to skewer sticks throughout. It brought tears to my eyes.... she told me this, "for a while, you will think to yourself, I am NEVER going back to that EVER again. And then, slowly, you will forget all the bad parts and the thought will creep in... maybe, perhaps, I might try it again... and you will find yourself looking it up once more". And she was right, I did. And I am so glad I did... I might even do it again.

#WCT #West Coast Trail #hike #hiking #nature #british columbia #travelbc #hike2021 #vancouver island

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raleigh-ocean · 6 years

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[the original archives]

American Horror Story

Dara Ann Lynch

Dara is a medium, expert in both tarot and reading hands, that isn't really a fan of her 'powers' or at least she isn't fond of them at all. Her personality is the thing most of the people are curious of, because she is really secretive and gives that sultry vibe thanks to her low voice; but in reality she is a really down on Earth person, calm, patient and positive half of the time, with some antics that got their way into her after being with Billie Dean Howard for almost such a long time.

Since her mid-20′s, her clothes and her habits always made her seem older than she was, but all of that is just a combination of Billie's lifestyle rubbing off on her. She also seem to held a secret, but this isn't something anyone can notice.

Dara an Billie met through mutual friends at a cocktail party and ever since they found each other comfortable and overall loved in the presence of each other. They have never addressed their relationship, however, not even when Dara moved from her tiny studio to Billie's apartment after four years into their 'affair'.

Billie tries to put her on her show, but Dara often refuse since she doesn't really like any kind of fame. However, she appeared there a couple of times as an assessor of some sort. She also is specialized in the 'white spirits light'.

During Murder House’s events, Dara accompanied Bilie most of the time, being her like an ‘item’. She is interested in the house, but it scares her to no end and she doesn’t want Billie to go there alone. Nora and her met while Billie was busy helping Violet and Costance, talking to her here and there about what’s going on in the house but also bonding over their experiences.

At some point she takes in her cousin Dahlia, hearing from her about the Roanoke house and trying to talk her out of the idea of going back there.

From this on wards, Dara and Billie started to see Audrey as their new lover thanks to Billie, also helping her get through the rough patch that was Roanoke’s trauma and becoming quite close. Once Billie and Dara eloped, Audrey remained as a close friend and eventually, she would meet Danielle, one of Dara and Dahlia’s cousins, and started to think she deserved to love again.

Age: 25 (before Murder House, 2010), 30 (Hotel, 2015), 35 (post Cult/Roanoke, 2020)

Birthday: May 22nd

Description: 5'9, with heavy brown eyes and dark brown hair, wavy and styled short (under her chin). She has several moles all over her body but have a couple of beauty marks in her face: a little mole in her lower left eyelid and in the right side of her nose. She also has a double scar that go up her chin to almost the left corner of her lips in two lines, Dara got it when she was a teenager. Her complexion is a bit strong, broad shoulders and strong thighs, and natural tanned skin.

Relationships: Billie Dean Howard (wife), Nora Montgomery (Billie and Dara's lover, close friend), Constance Langdon (acquaintance), Violet and Vivien Harmon (friends), Dahlia Deen (cousin), Shelby Miller (sister-in-law), Danielle and Danna Bishop (cousins), Damien Bishop (niece), Audrey Tindall (Billie and Dara’s ex lover, close friend), Ally Mayfair-Richards (sister-in-law), Oz Mayfair-Richards (nephew-in-law).

Powers: Mediumship: Sixth Sense, Clairsentience, Divination, White Spirit Light, Empathy (ability of swifting the mood in a room with her own feelings, unknown by herself).

Karina Sväre

Adopted and raised by a Swiss couple, Karina grew up being the eldest sister of four. Since young age she is strongly opinionated and very vocal about social injustices, which gets her in trouble more often than not. During her childhood the only one that seemed to not be backed out by her personality is the youngest McKee, Mary Eunice, and both become best friends.

After Mary Eunice decided to devote herself to God, Karina got terribly mad at her because in her words ‘she couldn’t let some fucking posh hicks ruin her life’ and she was sure her aunt brainwashed her.

She took that chance to put not only distance between them because she was disappointed with her but also because she was in love with Mary Eunice and didn’t want to hurt her. They kept in touch while Karina was in college trying to become an athlete and afterwards, but when Mary Eunice stopped from replying to her letters it worried her that something could have happened to her.

Karina went back to their hometown just to learn that her friend was in Briarcliff and she set her mind in ‘rescuing’ her from there. It took her a couple weeks to go ‘undercover’ as a new novice, but she never felt more relieved than when she saw Mary Eunice fine. Karina really tried to talk her out of there, telling her that she could help her to escape and that she could live with her if Mary was afraid of going back to her family.

However it only lasted a few days until The Devil took over Mary Eunice’s body and everything went downhill. Karina learned about Kit and Lana and, as much as she wanted to take her friend with her too, she set herself the goal of helping them out as much as possible. As time pass and she sees how much Mary Eunice has changed, Karina start to lose the will that first drove her there, being her sudden death the last straw. Mother Claudia caught her trying to leave and also knew that she wasn’t really a nun, so when she helped Lana flee from Briarcliff the mother superior put Karina as Lana’s guardian so she could get out of there safely.

Time eventually healed Karina, but she still blamed herself for not being able to help Mary Eunice. She found in Lana a good friend, setting aside her athlete dream to help her with her journalism career. It put her in contact with the second-wave feminism and Karina redirected all her pent up feelings into it, standing up for it and also dedicating her life to it. She never married, but she usually engaged here and there with women (even with Lana, both turning to each other for over the years but always remaining as good friends) and devoted her life to help young girls in need.

Eventually she moved to Michigan’s suburbs, wanting to rest and finally mourn for Mary Eunice’s loss. She became the Mayfair-Richards family’s neighbour at some point and took a like for Ally quickly, being both their emergency nanny for Oz and a friend. During the events of Cult she tried to help Ally with her phobias and talking her through it, being the one to be Ally’s confident during her hospital stay. Karina spent the end of Cult at Lana’s, only coming back to Michigan when Ally called her to ask if she wanted to be her counselor in her political campaign.

Age: 25 (Asylum, 1964), 73 (Asylum, 2012), 77/78/79 (Cult, 2016/17/18)

Birthday: April 4th

Description: 5′7, black long hair when she was young, short when she is old; and green-hazel eyes. Freckled, a little mole under her eyebrow, where she has a scar from her teens when she punched a guy for catcalling Mary Eunice. People used to pick at her for having a more boy-ish complexion and she had some troubles with coming to terms with her body, but as she grew older she started to appreciate herself more. She was going to be an athlete, so even when that goal changed she still trained and was in a very good shape for almost all her life. Karina always had this half-annoyed expression, frown and all.

Relationships: Mary Eunice McKee (former love interest, best friend), Lana Winters (friend, casual lover), Ally Mayfair-Richards (friend, counselor in Ally’s political campaign); Gabrielle Summers (grand-niece).

Raleigh Ocean

Raleigh is a witch the same age as Cordelia, knowing each other since they were 12 or so. She has been missing since 1998, only appearing again in 2013. Coming from a long line of witches with the Future Sight, Raleigh seemed the first one to skip such power but Fiona put a hex on her, triggering that magic, to use her powers for her own benefit. As magic is something that doesn’t like to be contained, the power overgrowth with such strenght that put Raleigh into a trance and made her body flee away without her mind being conscious of it.

After nine years in trance, Raleigh woke up in 2007 to find herself at a sanitorium in Vancouver. After a few weeks awake, her power took over again and repeated the process from the first time after six years just for her body to find its way back to the Academy. During that time, Raleigh saw what was coming and when Queenie and Cordelia woke her up, she begged her best friend to put an end to it. Cordelia, as the years passed by, improved a concoction that would put at ease her friend for short periods of time, nothing ever-lasting; and Raleigh took advantage of that concoction to research for a definitive way to stop it.

During her new stay at the Academy she forged a strong bond with Zoe, which she took under her wing and became her favourite; and she found herself involved with Misty in only a sexual way that ended turning up in romantic feelings, but they never got to address it due to Misty’s death at the Seven Wonders. Cordelia and Raleigh’s relationship kept growing over their past feelings, still loving the other to pieces but having the situation with Hank and Raleigh’s disappareance as something they couldn’t move past on.

Before the trance, Raleigh was quiet young woman with dark humor, methodic, intuitive (thanks to the dormant Future Sight) and an admirable hunger for knowledge. Cordelia’s happier demeanor rub off and she started to be more open and less anxious when she was around. However, after being on and off of the trance for fifteen years, it’s hard to say that there’s something left from that persona. She became more quiet, shameless thanks to being in pain and being tired; and also sadder and kind of selfish. As much as her body grew, her mind grew up slower, sometimes showing a demeanor of a younger person than she physically is (she may look like 33 but she behave as someone in their early 20′s). Thanks to Zoe, Cordelia and Misty she started to crack that toxic shell, only to be completely broken when she got stuck in the Hotel Cortez with Saly.

Thanks to Fiona’s blood and magic heavily involved in the hex, Raleigh couldn’t kill her herself out of fear that everything could backfire; when Cordelia became the Supreme, she broke unknowingly the hex and gave Raleigh her cue to leave in order to find a way to heal and also a way to help the Coven in what was coming for them.

She went to the Hotel Cortez to use all the power within its walls to trigger and speed up her Future Sight (now more bearable, only taking her away for days), Sally nursing her and both developing a strong bond with each other. It also helped her to find the right spells and potions to lock the Future Sight. During that time, Raleigh started to grow more powers thanks to being free of Fiona’s hex, which made her powers stop blooming so the Future Sight could burst more powerful at the expense of everything else, making not only her Future Sight but her Elektrokinesis and Power Supression too; but both her new founded telekinesis and Destiny’s Touch are much weaker.

Raleigh was the one finding Mallory, full knowing she would be crucial for both the Coven and herself, and sent her to the Academy with a hidden memory spell which only could be broken after using Tempus Infinitum. In that hidden ‘memory’, Raleigh explained Mallory what she had to do in order to help her lock her power and apologizing for putting her through all that.

From 2015 to past the Apocalypse, Raleigh spent it all buried in the backyard of Misty’s shack, trapped inside her Future Sight as to not lose her knowledge and see if she could be strong enough to heal herself; but she also saw everything display and suffered from it. She set concealment charms around the patch so none could find her. When Mallory used Tempus Infinitum, it was clear that she needed her to heal, and Raleigh spent three years hidden in Misty’s shack (again) until she herself woke up when both Mallory and her magic locked the Future Sight. That day also marked the day for Madison to come back from Hell.

After that, Raleigh still is a quiet woman but her tiredness and anxiety skyrocketed, making her behave always like she is walking in thin ice. She got more confident than she already was, except when it came to Cordelia and Misty. She knew that she couldn’t have them back, as much as her love for them has reached its peak, so she prefered to have them as friends than not having them at all. It took her by surprise knowing that both still wanted her in their lives as more than ‘friends’ and Raleigh found herself trying to be the best for their sake. It becomes a hard task, but she promised herself that they were the only thing worth to not give up for.

Cordelia put the younglings at the Academy under Raleigh’s care as their History teacher, which helped her greatly to heal and come to terms with what she wanted now that she wasn’t going to leave. Raleigh also becomes a ‘teacher’ for the eldest members of the Coven (Misty, Zoe, Queenie, Mallory, Madison) under Cordelia’s supervision to help them develop their powers since Raleigh’s vast knowledge of magic comes in handy for it.

Cordelia also sends Raleigh to meet with possible witches outside of Louisiana, those which are more in trouble, to use her powers to help them get to the Academy. In one of these trips is when Raleigh meets Wilhemina, which with she has a relationship for almost a whole year before things got serious and the option was obvious: Wilhemina or Cordelia and Misty. With Wilhemina, Raleigh learnt that she deserved not only to be loved, but also respected and after all this time she decided for herself what was best. It all ended with Raleigh and Wilhemina leaving the main house, moving out to the second house the Coven bought to host more students, along with Queenie and Madison.

Raleigh also took a more ‘maternal’ feelings for Mallory, seeing her as the child she could have had with Cordelia and helping her to carry with the burden of the Apocalypse’s memories. Soon she realized that Mallory wasn’t their love child, but Misty and Cordelia’s; only to later see that Zoe, the only one that was there through thick and thin, was the real love child.

When she discovered that she had a half-brother, it made her rethink a lot of things, but in the end she only wanted to spend all the time they had left on that Earth with him, the only bit of family she had left and could fill for her years of void.

Age: 18 (Academy Days, 1998), 33 (Coven, 2013), 35 (Hotel, 2015), 38 (post-Apocalypse, 2018)

Birthday: May 1st

Description: 5′11, dark auburn hair, shoulder length until 2018, then mid-back length; and brown-hazel eyes. Raleigh has a scar that goes from the left side of her forehead to the right corner of her lips, she also have a couple beauty marks in her right cheek along some other moles in her neck and chest area. When she arrived again to the Academy she was underweight for her height but it isn’t till 2018 that she has a stable weight. She has strong hands and usually a pensive expression, as if she isn’t really there thanks to her power.

Relationships: Cordelia Goode (ex-lover, best friend), Misty Day (ex-lover, friend), Fiona Goode (frenemy, aunt), Zoe Benson (protégée, favourite student), Madison Montgomery (protégée, friend), Mallory Prince (protégée), Sally McKenna (best friend, lover in 2015), Wilhemina Venable (best friend, girlfriend since 2018, wife since 2032); Eric Ocean-Venable (son); Kaya (neé Ramírez) and Eric Ocean (parents); Rowan Ramírez (half-brother); Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt (friend, sister-in-law); Abigaíl Prince (aunt).

Powers: Elektrokinesis, Power Suppression, Telekinesis (unlocked in 2015), Destiny’s Touch (able to see and manipulate social links, unlocked in 2015), spellcraft (high ranked), Future Sight (triggered by Fiona Goode in 1997; locked in 2018 by Mallory and herself).

Cold-hearted Severa (neé Selene Regnault)

Severa is part of Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities, considered as part of the ‘staff’ most of the time but performing here and there thanks to her capuchin monkey, Mr. Mumbles, which knows how to juggle and mostly behave like a human being.

Knowing Elsa from a young age, Severa respect her the most even when she disapprove most of the time her bad behaviours. The older woman took her with her to the States with her, becoming one of her first ‘freaks’. Severa got caught in crossfire, not only mutilating and scarring her for life but also agravating her PTSD to the point of not remembering much before Massimo Dolcefino found her and made her his apprentice.

Once in the States with Elsa, she learnt english to communicate if necessary but as time passed by she took a like to being in silence, so many think she is mute. Elsa took advantage of this and found her the monkey, becoming like that a mor active part of the show. Mr. Mumbles helped her get better with her PTSD somehow and most of the time she is in charge of the animals at the Freak Show, finding their presence more comfortable than people.

Jimmy and her developed somekind of sibling bond and he respect her highly, always trying to step up for her when in need. Evie and her started to be friend after having an act together, so it isn’t weird to find them together spending time over a cup of tea or a whiskey.

It isn’t till the Tattler twins arrived that Severa didn’t show more emotions, that behaviour earning Severa her nickname. She really is stunned by them and push herself out of her insecure shell to win them. However the twins doesn’t show much interest in her aside of becoming friend and Severa ressigned herself to that, becoming a fierce protector when it came to them.

She isn’t afraid to confront Dandy and over the events of Freak Show, she keeps proving to the twins that she is going to be by their side no matter what. That demeanor makes Bette fall for her eventually, but not Dot. When the show is sold to Chester, Severa refused to act and considered flying away; but she stayed when Dandy takes over in order to have an eye on him in case something happen.

After discovering Mr. Mumbles’ body along Eve’s, she ran to the twin’s tent to check on them. She gets to fight Dandy a bit before being shot too in front of them.

Age: 38/39 (Freak Show, 1952/53)

Birthday: April 1st

Description: 6′4, auburn hair with patches of white hair, waist length; and black eyes (only one). Severa has a scar that covers the right side of her face and goes all over her right shoulder; she doesn’t have any beauty mark now (she had one under her right eyelid) but she has vitiligo. She is tall and slim and her right arm is also missing. All her wounds/scars are from WW II, she was a collateral victim from crossfire.

Relationships: Amazon Eve (best friend), Mr. Mumbles (best friend), Elsa Mars (saviour), Jimmy Darling (non-blood little brother), Bette Tattler (unrequited love at first, returned feelings at some point), Dot Tattler (unrequited love, friend).

Adriana Girardi

Adriana was afflicted by mistake at a party, condemning her to that life. At first she had a really hard time coming into terms with her immortality, but after a few years she decided to migrate from Italy to the States, wanting to start a new life away.

Cunning in all its meanings, Adriana used it to survive and then, through a fianceé she procured herself arrived to the Hotel Cortez. She met James and Elizabeth there, becoming friends pretty quickly with them. Discovering that Elizabeth was also an afflicted like her, Adriana found that maybe she could have a future.

Keeping in touch, even after James’ death, she learned how to find something to live for. Eventually she found someone and she moved in with her, considering in afflicting her too but the woman fell sick and died not long after. It took a toll on her, throwing her into a depressive episode and back at the Hotel Cortez till she got better.

Adriana spent the last decades of the century amassing money, focusing in finding someone that could make her feel whole again, but each year that it passed put her closer to giving up.

She eventually did, coming back to Elizabeth one last time during the events of Hotel. The woman wanted to put an end to her life, but stayed around as support for her only friend and making some acquaintances with the guests. Meeting Alex Lowe after Elizabeth afflicted her, Adriana start to think of giving another chance to life since the woman looked almost exactly like her past lover and maybe, only maybe, she could get the life she dreamed of.

However it didn’t work at the end and Adriana ended up as the main investor of the Hotel to her dismay, trying to contain the ghosts from time to time, playing cards with James and sometimes getting some drinks with Sally. She also made friends with Queenie, at least in the erased timeline.

Liz will say that she is still around for a certain blonde that appear every Devil’s Night.

Age: 27 (afflicted, 1917), 125 (Hotel, 2015)

Birthday: March 31st

Description: 5′8, long brown hair, styled with californian wicks; and deep amber eyes. Adriana’s beauty mark is placed near the corner of her mouth and another one in her chin. She has a scar that cross her lips obliquely from right to left. Her natural tanned skin faded as the years passed and settled as an olive skin, showing the lack of sunlight. She always has a quick smile quirking her lips but her eyes show how empty she is, lacking any kind of emotion.

Relationships: The Countess (old friend), James March (friend), Sally McKenna (acquaintance), Alex Lowe (unrequited love), Liz Taylor (acquaintance), Queenie (acquaintance).

Dahlia Deen

An intern at ‘My Roanoke Nightmare’ production, Dahlia handled props and ran errands most of the time. She was just trying to pay her bills someway, not finding a job in her career path: biology. Dahlia is a happy-go-lucky woman most of the time, always finding a way to make the people around her smile just with the silliest thing and having an overall positive attitude.

While being there she started to listen voices and seeing ghosts again, her mental health getting worse but also her powers. Dahlia comes from a family known by having mediums but she didn’t want to be like them, like her cousin Dara. She just wants to live a normal life.

Sometimes she helped at the filming location with the actors, but other times she helped at the interview setting, where she met Shelby and became friends with her. Dahlia was always compliant with anything they asked her to do. Audrey and her became friends after the actress helped her through a panic attack, triggered by one of the ghosts there. Dahlia thinks that both Audrey and Shelby could be friends if both weren’t that self-centered, but she is happy that she can have them as her friends.

That was until Shelby played the affair card with Dominic and then she played it with Dahlia, however it seemed that being with her was more than a simple affair. Thanks to that they start this on and off relationship for a little while till she hear Shelby speaking with Sidney about the reboot. Both have a heated discussion in which the blonde woman tell her the truth: that she wanted to get back with Matt.

The only one Dahlia could turn to was Audrey. They got drunk and slept together out of spite, Audrey being in a really low point of her confidence just gave in. Both promissed not to tell anybody and keep their friendship, stronger than ever; even Dahlia attended Audrey and Rory’s wedding, dancing with the bride and all.

When both Shelby and Audrey decided to do ‘Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell’, turning a blind eye to Dahlia’s warnings of not going back because she knew something was off with the place; Dahlia called her cousin Dara and stayed with her for the week of preparation.

But when she received a message from a panicked Shelby, she set off as fast as she could to get there and pick her up. Dahlia do arrive on time and Audrey survived, only a gun shot in her arm from Lee. Shelby managed to make it alive too, but she lost a lot of blood and is really weakened.

They three try to keep going, but obviously Shelby and Dahlia have a lot to talk too before being able to be in a healthy relationship. Eventually, they engaged a few years later and started to live together, moving to a better future for both now walking hand in hand.

Age: 28 (Roanoke, 2015), 29 (Roanoke, 2016), 33 (post Cult/Roanoke, 2020)

Birthday: May 5th

Description: 5′10, dark brown hair and brown eyes. Dahlia is of strong built thanks to her rutine. She needs glasses to see. She has a scar in the middle of her nose and another one in her jaw, both from an incident she had as a kid. She has a beauty mark under her lower lip and another one in the right side of her nose. Her dimples are her signature mark.

Relationships: Shelby Miller (fianceé), Audrey Tindall (best friend, sister-in-law), Dara Ann Lynch (cousin), Danna and Danielle Bishop (cousins), Damien Bishop (niece), Billie Dean Howard (sister-in-law), Ally Mayfair-Richards (sister-in-law), Oz Mayfair-Richards (nephew-in-law).

Powers: Mediumship of some short: Sixth Sense, Clairsentience (both suppressed by antidepressants)

Gabrielle Summers

Coming from a big family, Gabrielle always felt like the outcast of it.

Moving from that, dropping out of college made everything worse at home with her father: a heavily old-fashioned man that’s been controlling her life in ever possible aspect. Not only her suffer of this, but also her mother till the point in which she just flee letting the divorce papers over the kitchen table.

After this, everything got worse and worse and Gabrielle took all what she had and ran away from Phoenix to the only place she knew she would be completely safe: her great-aunt’s house in Michigan.

She always heard and knew stories about her, how she devoted to help the youth and how much of an outcast she was too; that’s why she dug up in her grandpa’s dresser to find whatever address he had of her before buying a plane ticket.

Gabrielle showed up in summer of 2016 at Karina’s doorstep. Karina knew every one of her brothers and sisters’ offsprings, so it took her by surprise to find the young woman in Michigan. Upon hearing about what Gabrielle left behind and why she was there, Karina took her in without much question. After that they both tried to sort some stuff out to help Gabrielle to start a new life there, Karina feeling like she was having another chance to help her family.

Soon the girl started to show her true colours, showing Karina that they both were pretty much alike but Gabrielle is much softer and gentle than her when she was young. Gabrielle also took interest in Karina’s life, more than before if possible, wanting to get closer to her in someway. Before the events of Cult, pretty much a few days after she arrived to Karina’s house, she met Winter Anderson at the hair salon and some kind of friendship started after having a one night stand.

Gabrielle met the Mayfair-Richards family when Karina babysat Oz, not liking them very much aside of their son, which she helped babysitting. However she starts thinking something is going on between Winter and Ivy after she found them in front of Winter’s house talking.

During the events of Cult, Winter and Gabrielle start to get closer more and more, making the former start to ‘protect’ her from the cult but as stubborn as Gabrielle is soon she picks up in her antics and tries to help her get out of there. At some point Gabrielle fight Ivy, not only because of Winter but also defending Ally (even when the woman is not her most liked person).

Karina encourage Gabrielle to resume college and help her with it if she decide to do so, since she’s been reading a lot of books and decided she wanted to be a journalist/writer. When Karina offered Gabrielle to spend some time at Lana’s house with her in the end of Cult events, she decided to stay for Winter (her now girlfriend) and get her out of there together finally.

The day Kai allegedly killed Winter, Gabrielle witnessed it since she went to the Andersons’ house in order to get her and flee. However, she finds that Winter is still breathing and beg to be the one carrying her out of the basement as a last favor. As the rest aren’t paying attention to her, Gabrielle takes advantage of that to escape with Winter and hide in Karina’s house.

Gabrielle and Winter move with Karina and Lana for sometime after that, helping Winter to recover from everything. At the time Ally calls Karina to help her with the campaign, both decide to went back to college and live together not going back to Michigan. They watched Ally’s speech together and when Kai died, both felt as if a huge weight was lifted from their chests.

Her story is somewhat similar to Karina’s but she did manage to save the person she loved in the end.

Age: 22/23/24 (Cult, 2016/2017/2018)

Birthday: May 28th

Description: 5′9, black hair (mid-back length before moving out of Phoenix, really short once in Michigan) and hazel eyes. Slim for her height, but she start to get stronger thanks to Karina’s excercise routine. She is always seen as someone slummy but with a soft smile on her lips, instead of a scowl. Her face features are a bit similar to Karina’s, luckily since they aren’t remotedly ‘blood’ related, but she only have a few of beauty marks instead of being freckled: one near her left eye corner, other under her brow and another in her jaw. Gabrielle has a a scar that mark her across her right eye since she was a child, her cello bow broke and hit her in the face, luckily not taking her eye and leaving only a scar.

Relationships: Karina Sväre (great-aunt), Lana Winters (acquaintance), Winter Anderson (fling to friend to girlfriend), Ivy Mayfair-Richards (dislike), Ally Mayfair-Richards (frenemy).

Rowan Ramírez

Rowan’s story is a bit detached from everyone else, to begin with. After Raleigh disappearance, Kaya tried to rebuild her life on her own and that eventually led to meet a man two years later, who seemed to love her. When she told him she was expecting a child, the man went away over night, leaving her alone.

Kaya found shelter in Abigaíl’s house, an old friend of her family, and there she’d spend the rest of her days. Once Rowan was born, Kaya’s Future’s Sight started to drift more and more, worsening her state as the years went by but the only constant that she didn’t seem to forget was the love for her children. As result of that, Rowan grew up knowing of his long-lost sister and at the same time made him grow up a bit faster than a kid should. But it didn’t make the happiness that he carried inside him go away, it only make it grow more and more, becoming Kaya’s only will to live in the end.

Around 2010, Kaya got completely lost in her power and passed away in her sleep due to a heart attack, leaving Rowan in Abigaíl’s care. Through his childhood, Rowan grew up with Mallory (Abigaíl’s grand-daughter) and the two consider each other cousins and best friends.

Eventually Behold Chablis was called by Abigaíl herself, since he started to show up his magic abilities in a wider spectrum, and found himself at Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men, living among the warlocks as one more. In the beginning Rowan had a hard time adjusting, not having many friends around, but he made room for himself just by demonstrating his abilities. Behold, along John, kept an eye on him in case he developed a late stage of the Future’s Sight as his mother and sister, but both started to not worry when after a few years didn’t seem he was going to get it, trying to help him in improving the skills he already had.

When Michael Langdon arrived at Hawthorne, Rowan saw him as rival, without caring about whatever the rest could say about him. Even more when Michael, using his Clairvoyance powers, started to try and make him take his side by just trying to scare him with every single doubt he had in his mind. But as her mother, and sister, Rowan had a too strong sense of freedom and his own persona to actually fall for that. So the only thing he decided was to surpass him.

This would lead to try to stop Michael when the Hawthorne’s massacre happened. Michael considered in forgive his rival, let him live by his side to watch everything burn to ashes, but Rowan didn’t want to live nor be the companion of Satan’s son. Michael killed him with his own hands instead of his powers, giving him that last respect in his end.

After Mallory restored everything with Tempus Infinitum, Rowan kept honing his skills as warlock and Behold took him under his wing to make him a teacher at Hawthorne eventually. It wasn’t till 2022, when the Council payed the warlocks a visit, that he finally met Raleigh. He, that heard of his probably dead big sister for all his life, froze in the spot and Behold was the only one to act upon clearing his suspicions about the witch. He called Rowan to his office to talk with him about what he wanted to do and the, now, young man just burst into tears after twelve years of not shedding one, telling him that he really wanted to eventually search for her, having it promised over his mother’s grave, and just pull the pieces of what’s left of his family together.

As the years passed by, Rowan and Raleigh grew close to each other, which lead him to spend some months here and there learning from his own sister and he eventually developed a huge crush over Coco, that fortunately ended up in them starting a relationship.

Age: 13 (Coven, 2013); 22 (post-Apocalypse, 2022)

Birthday: May 12th

Description: 5′10, dark auburn hair, mid-back length; and green-hazel eyes. Rowan shares the same tanned skin as his sister, Raleigh, but the only difference is that the only scar he has is in his left brow from where he hit himself with a stone window border when he was a kid. He’s a tall man, but his frame is narrower than his sister, making him thinner just by constitution. Rowan always carry a happy demeanor, soft smile always tugging at his lips. He also have freckles here and there, making up for all the moles Raleigh has but they have the same one up in their cheek.

Relationships: Kaya Ramírez (mother); unknown father; Raleigh Ocean (half-sister); Wilhemina Venable (sister-in-law); Eric Ocean-Venable (nephew); Coco St. Pierre Vandelbit (friend, girlfriend since 2027); Mallory Prince (cousin, best friend); Behold Chablis (teacher, guardian, colleague since 2022); John Henry Moore (teacher, colleague since 2022); Abigaíl Prince (guardian, aunt); Michael Langdon (rival).

Powers: Hydrokinesis, Atmokinesis, Telekinesis, Deflection (can deflect others powers, but not making them disappear), spellcraft (high ranked).

Danna and Danielle Bishop

The story of these two is long in their own parted ways.

Born in a large loving family of ‘mediums’ as the oldest of the new generation, the twins grew up as pillars for their cousins, especially Dara and Dahlia, which respect them as much as they were their older sisters.

Danna was always the happy-go-lucky one, mischievous, hot-headed at times and having a plan for everything except what she was going to do in the future. More like the party girl, the outgoing twin that was always ready for everything and nothing.

Danielle, in exchange, was the more down on Earth of both, her life goals clear and probably the overachiever of both twins. She was going to be a lawyer, she was class president, the whole nine of the studious one plus being the more maternal one of both.

Despite their differences, they were always side by side, even when they did argue (and still do) a lot. None loved Danielle as much as Danna does, and the feeling flows the other way too. But before they started college, they had a big argument and it made them split to follow what their hearts wanted.

For Danna, life took a chaotic spin that she took gladly and followed the path that revelead itself before her. She skipped college altogether but manage to get in a chef’s school somehow later than intended. She wasn’t the best at studying but her passion for food and enjoying herself made up for it, taking her to decide she was going to enjoy her life as much as she wanted. While she was at it, at some point, Danna met Audrey and had a brief relationship while the latter was trying to do castings and get big in the States. They met at New Years Eve of the first year of Audrey in the States, and they parted when the summer hit and Danna decided to start travel to keep honning her skills and because better offers were made to her. She kept travelling, living, enjoying herself until she fell ill and had to go under heart surgery, which brought the twins together again and promise each other they won’t ever part. Danielle and Danna kept in touch, she even visited her sister in Canada for some time, until Danna’s life took her to Michigan and met Ally there. Eventually, Danna and Ally became friends and one thing led to another and maybe the Senator taught the crazy twin that maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to finally settle.

For Danielle, every spin was carefully calculated and her attitude took her wherever she wanted. Fresh out from lawyer school, she landed a job in Canada and moved there to start a her new life. It was pretty normal though, she eventually got married to this other lawyer, their life going smoothly and soon finding herself about to have a baby that, after too many troubles, was born healthy. After that things started to went downhill for Danielle, which for her started with Danna’s heart problems not long after Damien was born and then went on and on for years until she divorced her husband. When that happened, Danielle took the best decision for her daughter and her, which was moving back to the States to be close to their family and start a new life. For her was easy to slip into ‘work mode’, which was the easiest way for her to not think about how she maybe wasted some of her younger years being too worried but she had the will to keep going on in the for Damien. So with all this turmoil, she packed up their stuff and flew home for Christmas with a broken heart and soon to be an annoyed teenage daughter.

That way, the twins reunited finally together not only both of them, but also with Dara and Dahlia, which were there with their arms open for her to fall and cuddle.

However, that same Christmas, Danielle met Audrey at the big family gathering and maybe they found in each other what they were truly looking for.

Age: 40 (Cult, 2018), 42 (Roanoke/Cult/Murder House, 2020)

Birthday: May 20th

Description: 6′, black hair + white hairs, past shoulders length (both); and light brown eyes; Danna and Danielle are quite similar, making difficult to tell who is who from a bit afar, but up close the differences are visible: Danna is a bit plumper, Danielle a bit bonier; Danna has always a permanent happy demeanour, Danielle gets a more serious one; the way both have moles here and there, but Danna has a specific one near her eyelid while Danielle have it almost in the tip of her nose; Danna has more ‘happy’ lines in her face while Danielle have the ‘stress’ lines; being quite tall, Danna always fight that she’s the tallest because she walks a bit more care-free than Danielle, but there’s barely any difference; and, of course, they are tanned like Dahlia and Dara, and pretty much everyone in their family. They also have their share of scars, but the important ones are: Danna has a big ass scar in the middle of her chest from heart surgery, while Danielle has a vertical c-section scar. They both have some similar traits, like having a good heart and being quite the jokesters, but as I said before they grew to be the balance of ‘happy go-lucky gentle woman’ and ‘serious yet tender woman’.

Relationships: Dara Ann Lynch (cousin), Dahlia Deen (cousin), Shelby Miller (sister-in-law), Billie Dean Howard (sister-in-law), Ally Mayfair-Richards (Danna’s girlfriend), Audrey Tindall (Danielle’s girlfriend, Danna’s past lover), Damien Bishop (Danielle’s daughter, Danna’s favourite niece).

Powers: both have some sort of Mediumship, mostly the Sixth Sense, but they aren’t bothered by this because it never got serious to them as with Dara or Dahlia. They feel the ‘bad jujus’ as Danna say, and she’s the only one of the two that actually think the ‘Mediumship’ in their family is real. Danielle just doesn’t vibe with it but she respect it.

Marvel

Astrid Winters

Growing up in Skagway, Alaska, Astrid lived a pretty normal life with her parents, Sven and Dinah, and her older brother, Isaiah. Most part of her childhood was spent running around the decks with Isaiah, always at his tail as if he was a comet, and being loved by their parents. It wasn’t until she was eleven that her mutation flourished completely, using her telekinesis to save Isaiah from falling into the ice cold water of the port.

At first she was confused about it, but after her brother’s mutation was presented as well as a control of psionic energy, they drew attention from the ‘Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters’. Their parents weren’t mutants so the shock came in pretty hard, however they were supportive of their children nonetheless. Isaiah, as they grew to control their powers under the institution, started to resent having them at all since he was old enough at the time to remember how their mother left them in the care of the Winters, quickly discerning that that was the true motive behind both being abandoned like that. Astrid tried to persuade her brother that now they had somewhere to fit and belong, but Isaiah only went on with it even when he excelled with her powers while Astrid only had trouble with hers.

It wasn’t until Isaiah was sent to a mission with some others for some time that Astrid managed to get a grip of her mutation…but discovering, along the way, her telepathic powers which were much stronger than those she thought were her primes. Ororo took her under her wing right away, being reminded of Jean’s powers and the shadow of her best friend still hunting her to this day, and started to train her so she didn’t end up like Jean.

However, Isaiah never came back from the mission and sent Astrid into a spiral that made her unable to control her powers at all. In that haze, messing even more with her weakened psique, she decided to escape the school, wanting nothing else but runaway from what took away her brother. She managed to go back to Skagway, into her childhood home, and was taken in with all the bad news, memories and grief. All of that was enough to block her powers, creating some sort of bubble surrounding them and locking them away for the years to come, greatly helped with antidepressants and other pills that muted the buzzing feeling of her powers trying to come up. None came looking for her, as if she just vanished even from the view of Cerebro, and that helped to her hiding a great deal.

Six years later she would met Bobbi, who was in an undercover mission for S.H.I.E.L.D in Alaska, and during the months she was stuck in Skagway they developed feelings for each other being just them, without telling the other their real truth. It wasn’t until Bobbi got discovered while being with her that Astrid’s powers didn’t flourish again, destroying a great part of the decks in the process as a result of bottling up everything for so long. That not only put Astrid in the position of telling Bobbi the truth, having Bobbi to do the same as well, but also put her under the X-Men’s radar again. Two days later of the incident, Storm arrives to Skagway to try and coax Astrid to go back with her to the school, which only prompts Astrid to follow Bobbi to the States.

Storm takes that as leaving her alone, but keeping an eye on her from time to time without interfering in her life. Astrid managed to lie low after that in her own, working through the first steps in her and Bobbi’s relationship, but always tries to stay as far away of Bobbi’s line of work as possible. When Bobbi told Astrid how S.H.I.E.L.D had gathered the Avengers, and was starting to be more proactive on searching people with special abilities, it only sent her in panic taking in count her own abilities which only made Bobbi promise to her that she wasn’t going to let them get near her.

For a few years everything manage to go well, calm even, until the chaos after S.H.I.E.L.D being compromised ensues and, in between all the files that are put up for the world to see, Astrid’s information ends up visible for Coulson’s team. That information was gathered by HYDRA along the years, because they were the ones behind Isaiah’s disappearance and it also uncovered what happened not only to him but also with their biological mother: Emma Frost.

Astrid was unaware of this, still caught up in the bliss of living a normal life as much as she could, until she got a panicked call from Bobbi telling her what was truly going on and that there were both S.H.I.E.L.D and HYDRA agents going her way, which only made Astrid to use again her powers in order to protect herself from the latter but she decides to be caught by the her girlfriend’s ‘comrades’ is way better than fall into the hands of God knows who they are.

During the war between S.H.I.E.L.D’s factions, Astrid is kept as a ‘prisoner’ once Robert Gonzales discover the length of Astrid’s abilities and put her under severe vigilance. Astrid is dragged to the Inhuman’s front, trying to help as she can and only making her starting to understand why Isaiah didn’t want to have anything to do with being a mutant and also being very upfront when it comes to the relations between mutants and inhumans.

Astrid has a major breakdown that make her unstable and Storm have to take her back against her own will back to the school in order for her to retake control of her powers, which went under a secondary mutation due to the trauma upon Bobbi’s kidnapping. There, Isaiah is waiting for her along with Emma, bonding and learning from both her brother and their mother for a few weeks. However she leaves once again everything behind and decides to stay with the team to take care of Bobbi.

During this time is when Astrid and Bobbi’s first clashes happen, taking in count they spent much more time together and it makes them open up but at the same time let go all of Astrid’s fears. The bottling up only strains their relationship, which makes Astrid to grow more and more tired and hurt - since much of the Inhuman conflict is still affecting her - until she decides that she can’t do this in her current state and tells Bobbi that they need a break. She decides to go back to the school and stays there, honing her powers and finishing her training in order to live the ‘normal’ life she always wanted, as much as it pained Isaiah, Emma and Ororo.

Jemma calls Astrid to tell her what happened with Bobbi and Hunter in Siberia, which leads to Astrid going to get them, making that the point in which both women decide to rebuild their relationship while Astrid finish her own training.

After Astrid finish it, she and Bobbi take their lives to Europe as a married couple, settling there comfortably with some visits from Hunter here and there. Eventually Emma and Isaiah disappear fully, which leaves Astrid broken and confused, but focusing in her life with Bobbi is what helps her get through everything.

In those years her powers seem to increase little by little until one day Esme, Phoebe and Sophie show up in her door, claiming not only who they were but also what had happened to Emma and Isaiah: both died trying to take down the facility that created the triplets. With the news at hand, Bobbi doesn’t trust them but knowing Astrid’s mental estate isn’t the best allows the triplets to move in with them, mostly in order to restore Astrid’s health and faith in everything.

Being around the triplets only made Astrid’s powers to grow even more, the influence and constant crash of their powers being the principal cause. Little by little, the triplets and Bobbi got along and that was what helped her the most in her recovering.

When the snap happened, however, it took Bobbi and the triplets away from Astrid, leaving her in the house in a near shocked estate. It wasn’t until Natasha called to Bobbi’s phone, trying to contact any possible agent out there that was still there, that Astrid wasn’t pulled out of that. She went to the compound because she had nowhere to go and stayed there with Natasha until, after a year or two, she became close to Carol through visits and all and decided that there was nothing in Earth for her anymore, following Carol to space.

She found solace there, managed to finally unleash her true potential after being found by Jean in her Phoenix form and eventually the call from the Avengers came. Carol and Astrid went back immediately to help them, arriving in time, and among the million voices in the battlefield Astrid heard Bobbi and the triplets’ thoughts and went directly to them. At first they didn’t recognize Astrid but when her voice boomed in their heads, it was obvious.

After the battle, Astrid and Bobbi decided that this time was truly their time to settle once and for all. Declining Storm’s invitation for Astrid to teach at the School, the triplets go in her place, letting the couple finally go to live their lives back where they started.

Age: 23 (2006, X-Men new timeline); 29 (2012, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S1); 31 (2014, Captain America: The Winter Soldier); 35-40 (2018-2023, Endgame)

Birthday: May 13th

Description: 5′10, dark brown hair, mid-back length in waves; and ochre eyes. For a great part of her twenties she has her hair dyed white, roots showing, and her skin is tanned and freckled, except for some parts in her body that have some sort of discoloration. She always has an eternal soft smirk in her lips and most of the time Astrid keeps a natural upright position, as if it was engraved in her brain somehow, in comparison with her ways of talking, walking and dressing which are more relaxed. She has a distinctive beauty mark in her lower left eyelid and another in her left cheek.

Relationships: Emma Frost (biological mother); Isaiah (Winters) Frost (biological older brother); Esme, Phoebe and Sophie Frost (younger half-sisters); unknown biological father; Dinah and Sven Winters (foster parents); Ororo Munroe (mentor); Bobbi Morse (girlfriend/wife); Alphonso Mackenzie (friendly); Lance Hunter (dislike-friendly); Natasha Romanoff (acquaintance); Jemma Simmons (dislike-acquaintance-friend); Carol Danvers (best friend); Coulson’s team (acquaintances).

Powers: Telepathy (featuring most of her mother’s related powers), Telekinesis and Psionic abilities.

#original character #american horror story #marvel

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