Lissa
Melissa "Lissa" Rosemary Lane
Lissa1.jpg
Portrayed By Amber Benson
Gender Female
Date of Birth February 24, 1983
Age 24
Zodiac Sign Pisces
Aliases Liss
Place of Birth Boston, MA, USA
Current Location New York City, NY, USA
Occupation Artist/Bookseller/Barista
Known Relatives Roger Lane (father), Emily Hall Lane (mother)
Significant Other None
Known Abilities Pattern Interpretation (The synesthesia-linked power to sense the presence of other Evolved, to vaguely identify their powers, and to pick up on strong emotions)
First Appearance Stirring the Crazy

History

Born 24 years ago, Melissa "Lissa" Lane is the only child of Roger Lane, a financial advisor, and Emily Hall Lane, a research librarian. She grew up in Boston, and was diagnosed very early on with synesthesia, a neurological condition in which the brain crosswires sensory information (to put it lightly). So all her life, she's struggled to cope with this condition, alternately reveling in it and trying to hide it from those who'd make fun of her, quite often the subject of various medical studies and tests. Luckily, she was able to get the help needed in order for her to cope in school; despite having a strange perspective, she was able to get a good education, and become reasonably socialized.

As Lissa grew older, she discovered her artistic talents, and wholeheartedly threw herself into painting and drawing as a way to express herself, managing to imbue even the most mundane of objects with a fresh, new power, thanks to her vivid use of colors and light and shadow. Interpreting numbers, letters, words and symbols into her art, she became rather proficient, especially as she matured and honed her focus. In high school, she started taking aikido lessons as a way of helping to focus her mind and hone her body. Her personal life wasn't always as exciting as it could be; she had a habit of saying the wrong things or making the wrong observations, and very few people wanted to get that close to someone who acted that odd. Add to that, she had her own set of criteria for how she dealt with people, and it was easier to remain a little apart from people. You can bet that dating wasn't exactly much of a joy either.

When Lissa graduated high school, she went off to Boston University, College of Fine Arts, where she ultimately recieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts. Again, she kept to herself a lot, spending more time with the doctors who wanted to study her synesthesia as she grew older than she did with most potential friends or lovers. She picked up a variety of knowledge and experiences, and read a whole heck of a lot, giving her a well-rounded background in all sorts of things. She learned to help put together refurbished computers from a friend's cousin, took shooting lessons, tried driving and decided that as a city girl she didn't need it, and so on. Finally, she graduated college, and, having had more than enough education, and wanting a change of pace, packed her bags and headed to New York.

In New York, Lissa found a cheap apartment with several roommates, and settled in to make a life for herself. Tired of doctors, tired of overprotective parents, she made a near-complete break from them, refusing to undergo any more studies. She's been working on her art, putting together an impressive portfolio that occasionally gets shown at local galleries, but most of the time, she makes ends meet by working in a bookstore in the daytime, and at a coffeeshop at night, changing jobs whenever people get tired of her unusual behavior or oddly noted word choices. Life has been… fun. For her. Mostly.

But something strange has been happening in the past year or so. Her perceptions have been changing, expanding, growing, and she's been experiencing unusual sensations around certain people. They make her skin buzz, and then she feels other things. Hot, cold, prickles, cotton, and so on. For a while, she couldn't figure out why random people made her feel weird. And then she followed the one guy… and watched him take off into the sky, flying. She followed another odd feeling, and could have sworn she saw a woman light a fire without matches. Another man… was he really -talking- to a dog, and acting as though he understood the replies? And over time, she's become absolutely convinced that she's able to detect these strangely superpowered people, and associated certain feelings to certain powers. But she's been extremely hesitant in revealing herself, because she knows that where unusual people are, there are also those wanting to study them. She's read Firestarter and Carrie, seen movies and television shows, and there's always people to hunt the unusual. And deep in her heart, she's is absolutely terrified that they might come for -her-, use -her- as a tracking device… and she knows she'll need friends, but who? And how can she convince them she's safe? The emergence and acceptance of her power has given her a lot to think about, most of it deeply unsettling, and she'll have to do something soon…

Timeline

  • Soon after arriving in New York, Lissa started sensing the presence of other Evolved.
  • In early-mid March, her contact with other Evolved has increased exponentially for some reason.

Quotes

  • "You make my skin buzz all over, but it's like walking on hot coals around you. Can you turn it down? Also, your name is like chewing tinfoil. Do you mind if I give you a less spiky nickname? Thanks."
  • "I'm having a Very Confusing Day."

Trivia

  • Lissa prefers even numbers to odd.
  • She also prefers blue, green, and purple to red, orange, and yellow.
  • She's almost compulsively honest when people ask her questions, but will obscure or lie through omission if she thinks it's better for all involved.
  • She's a compulsive reader, and is familiar with all sorts of odds trivial bits of pop culture.
  • Lissa sometimes refers to normal people as "monochrome."
  • Lissa has two forms of synesthesia: Grapheme-Color, in which words and letters and numbers have colors associated, and Ordinal Linguistic Personification, in which letters, numbers, and words all have personalities associated. Her growing powers have affected her condition somewhat, but it's unclear to what extent, especially since she refuses to undergo more tests.
  • She actually doesn't need glasses at all. They're an affection she adopted to 'protect' her eyes without wearing sunglasses. Yes, it's odd.

Powers

  • Lissa's power is sensory-based, and manifests itself by conveying physical/emotional feelings. Other Evolved always give her the sensation of "buzzing" against her skin, which she calls That Feeling when she calls it anything. Every power is unique, and often hard to interpret without collaborating information.
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