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* TheOphelia: How both the Society and the Necromancer see [[BrokenBird Chloe]]. How much is ObfusticatingInsanity and how much is her actual [[MadHatter trauma and epilepsy]] is pretty debatable-- Chloe is certainly more functional that she lets on to anyone but [[SecretKeeper Lisette]] and her friends, but her health can be genuinely debilitating, as seen when she is [[HeroicBSOD captured]].
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* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Damon (Sanguine), Lisette (Chloeric), Chloe (Melancholic), and Aisha (Phlegmatic).
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* MadHatter: Overlapping with ObfusticatingInsanity, Chloe is perfectly self-aware of her mental state, takes medication and keeps regular contact with Dr Hussein to keep her mental health in check. Somewhat complicated by the PsychicPowers.
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* SafetyInIndifference: Her main FatalFlaw, until she meets [[PowerOfLove Aisha]].
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* CuluredBadass: A Parisian pseudo-aristocrat with a Classical education, her cover job is as a librarian.
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* MagicalGirlfriend: Delightfully gender-flipped when dissatisfied, [[UnluckyEverydude unlucky-in-love]] [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent student]] Aisha meets [[ByronicHero mysterious]] [[WaifProphet psychic]] Chloe.
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* TeasingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier: Aisha is the only main character who does not speak fluent French, which is [[TheRival Lisette's]] native language. She delights in this.
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* ByronicHero: A magnetic, charismatic young woman with a DarkAndTroubledPast which has left her [[BrokenBird jaded and traumatised]]. Whilst [[AvertedTrope not formally educated]], Chloe is a self-taught antiques dealer and restorer who reads Romantic poetry and uses her PsychicPOwers to study history. PlayedWith in the sense that whilst Chloe is TheDeterminator from the beginning, it is only after meeting Aisha that she gains the passion and drive to do good typically seen in the trope.
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* TallDarkAndSnarky
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* AloneInACrowd: Aisha becomes this when she tries to go back to her normal life after the [[{{Spoiler}} breakup with Chloe]].
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Strong shades of this towards Aisha, when not making an effort to pass for normal.
* LipstickLesbian: In comparison to [[ButchLesbian Aisha]], Chloe is shyer and more feminine in style, as well as working in a less traditionally masculine field as an antiques appraiser.
* LipstickLesbian: In comparison to [[ButchLesbian Aisha]], Chloe is shyer and more feminine in style, as well as working in a less traditionally masculine field as an antiques appraiser.
* WaifProphet: Physically frail from years of possession and neglect to her body, with mystical insight both from the voices of the dead and the strange prophecies she delivers.
* BiTheWay
* ButchLesbian: Dating [[LipstickLesbian Chloe]] throughout the series, Aisha is a sporty and active forensics student.
* BystanderSyndrome: The main source of her conflict with [[IJustWantToBeNormal Chloe]] is Aisha's belief that Chloe should be using her powers to help [[ComesGreatResponsibility more people]].
* ButchLesbian: Dating [[LipstickLesbian Chloe]] throughout the series, Aisha is a sporty and active forensics student.
* BystanderSyndrome: The main source of her conflict with [[IJustWantToBeNormal Chloe]] is Aisha's belief that Chloe should be using her powers to help [[ComesGreatResponsibility more people]].
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: To Chloe, especially when Chloe is out of commission.
* MOreDeadlyThanTheMale: Despite being the [[NonActionGuy Non-Action Girl]], Lisette is a lot more [[ManipulativeBastard vicious]] than [[TheMole her]] [[UnderstandingBoyfriend boyfriend]] [[NiceGuy Damon]].
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!!Dr Tamanna Suleiman
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!!Dr Tamanna SuleimanHussein
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* OracularUrchin: Modern twist on the trope: rather than living on the streets, Chloe is scraping by with rent and food money by working at the owner of her flat's shop using her powers. She remains isolated and disconnected from the world, thin and frail, and catches the attention of the Society just as a more traditional take on the trope.
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* MouthOfSauron: Mediums and necromancers, as a class, act as this for the dead. On a more human scale, [[TheMole Damon]] is frequently this for [[BigBad the Necromancer]], whilst [[TheChessmaster Lisette]] uses a range of allies, including eventually Aisha.
* MysteriousEmployer: Played with with Lisette-- she is this to pretty much everyone ''but'' the viewpoint characters. [[PsychicPowers Chloe]], [[TheConfidant Aisha]], [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Damon]], and Damon's sister Camille are the only characters who know who the mysterious Spiderwitch really is, aside from some nameless higher-ups in the Society. To all the other players in London, she is the Society's mysterious [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]], seldom heard except through the MouthOfSauron and never seen in person without a cowl or mask.
* MysteriousEmployer: Played with with Lisette-- she is this to pretty much everyone ''but'' the viewpoint characters. [[PsychicPowers Chloe]], [[TheConfidant Aisha]], [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Damon]], and Damon's sister Camille are the only characters who know who the mysterious Spiderwitch really is, aside from some nameless higher-ups in the Society. To all the other players in London, she is the Society's mysterious [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]], seldom heard except through the MouthOfSauron and never seen in person without a cowl or mask.
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* InsufferableGenius: Lisette, [[BadassBookworm literally]], and Chloe, through PsychicPowers, have shades of this. ''Especially'' to one another.
* CynicismCatalyst: The fire that killed her family.
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* HandicappedBadass: Suffers from epilepsy (as a side effect of her powers).
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* HandicappedBadass: Suffers from epilepsy (as a side effect of her powers).powers), as well as CPTSD.
* DeadpanSnarker
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* HumanNotepad: Like Chloe, she has sigils traced onto her arm, where they're covered by her sleeves, though hers are done iin carefully applied makeup each morning and sprayed neatly into fixed place.
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* HumanNotepad: Like Chloe, she has sigils traced onto her arm, where they're covered by her sleeves, though hers are done iin in carefully applied makeup each morning and sprayed neatly into fixed place.
* ManipulativeBitch: Tamanna voices her suspicion that Lisette manipulated Chloe and Aisha's relationship to ensure Chloe would work for her more often. While nobody knows for sure, the other characters agree that this is in character for Lisette.
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* SilkHidingSteel: Proper, well-mannered, ladylike and usually formally dressed, but is [[{{LadyMacbeth}} the leader]] of this specific splinter cell and the main proponent of the fight against the Necromancer. She's also not afraid to [[{{LadyOfWar}} get physical]] .
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* SilkHidingSteel: Proper, well-mannered, ladylike and usually formally dressed, but is [[{{LadyMacbeth}} the leader]] of this specific splinter cell and the main proponent of the fight against the Necromancer. She's also not afraid to [[{{LadyOfWar}} get physical]] .physical]].
* WorthyOpponent: To the Necromancer.
* WorthyOpponent: To the Necromancer.
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A modern prophet-- a girl with tangled hair and shadows under her eyes, with knowledge that might bring gods and nations to their knees and a body wracked with sleepless nights and failing limbs. A mortal soul, shadowed by eternal lights and cryptic voices hanging over her, long ago freed and left behind by the Necromancer.
By day, she is an apprentice antiques restorer, living in the flat above the shop with a cat and a ghost. She meets Aisha at the beginning of the first book, and falls in love.
By day, she is an apprentice antiques restorer, living in the flat above the shop with a cat and a ghost. She meets Aisha at the beginning of the first book, and falls in love.
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A modern prophet-- a girl with tangled hair and shadows under her eyes, with knowledge that might bring gods and nations to their knees and a body wracked with sleepless nights and failing limbs. A mortal soul, shadowed by eternal lights and cryptic voices hanging over her, long ago freed and left behind by the Necromancer. \n By day, she is an apprentice antiques restorer, living in the flat above the shop with a cat and a ghost. She meets Aisha at the beginning of the first book, and falls in love.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: The Society, and the Necromancer, think her too damaged to be of use due to the CPTSD and temporal lobe epilepsy she was diagnosed with by Dr Hussein. She plays this up to evade conscription by either party, maintaining a mask of detachment and incoherence when observed. Whilst she does suffer from both conditions, Chloe is entirely functional and extremely powerful. Lisette is the only society member who sees her as an asset, and puts her powers to full use whenever she can.
* BadassGay: Deeply in love with Aisha.
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* MagicallyIneptFighter: The only main character who doesn't have any magical abilities, but also the only one with real combat training (as a police cadet).
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* MagicallyIneptFighter: The only main character who doesn't have any magical abilities, but also the only one with real combat training (as (admittedly as a police cadet).teenager).
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* DarkIsNotEvil and LightIsNotGood: Chloe's powers, uncorrupted, are a rich shadowy black. The Necromancer's, having been used to drain energy and manipulate spirits, is glistening white. [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience When Chloe does exert her powers over spirits, they are tainted with little white flecks.]]
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* DarkIsNotEvil and LightIsNotGood: Chloe's powers, uncorrupted, are a rich shadowy black. black, like the night sky on a cloudy night or the depths of the ocean. The Necromancer's, having been used to drain energy and manipulate spirits, is the glistening white.uhealthy white of dead trees or stripped bones. [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience When Chloe does exert her powers over spirits, they are tainted with little white flecks.]]
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* FateWorseThanDeath: Possessions can be
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* FateWorseThanDeath: Possessions can be spectacularly horrifying.
* FirePurifies: One of the main ways of cleansing haunted objects is to burn them, though this will not work on all hauntings-- especially spirits fuelled by fire, such as the one that possessed Chloe. Other forms of cleansing include submersion in running water or immersion in smoke, blowing blessed ashes over something, burying in sigil-inked cloth, or ritual under a half-moon.
* FirePurifies: One of the main ways of cleansing haunted objects is to burn them, though this will not work on all hauntings-- especially spirits fuelled by fire, such as the one that possessed Chloe. Other forms of cleansing include submersion in running water or immersion in smoke, blowing blessed ashes over something, burying in sigil-inked cloth, or ritual under a half-moon.
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* ModelCouple: Lisette and Damon are noted to be very attractive by Aisha at several points.
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* SurrealHorror: Chloe's powers tend towards the... ''bizarre''.
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* SurrealHorror: Chloe's powers tend towards the... ''bizarre''. In addition to more traditional communications with ghosts, there are the other spirits she sees, the ones which have been changed by magic or were never human at all, with too-long limbs and rustling scales, following her in the street or watching from windows. She sees the world blanketed by a grey fog, the gauzy fabric of the dead layered over the city of the living, voices ever-present on the edge of her senses, phantom pains where she brushes against unseen ghosts. To those who can't see what she does, this makes Chloe seem jumpy and distracted, turning her gaze on nothing in particular or whispering words under her breath that nobody but she could hear.
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* TheBeautifulElite: A tall, pretty young woman with wide storm-blue eyes and perfect rosebud lips, nails a little too long and sharp, and white-blonde hair that seems to catch the light in a way that isn't quite natural. Lisette's clothing is noted to be expensive and often too fine for the setting, and her disappearances from workspace to workspace without ever seeming to do any work, add up to a perfect caricature of the idle rich with a supernaturally vicious edge.
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* HumanNotepad: Carries metallic sharpies around to scrawl on her arms and legs-- sigils on her palms, her collarbones, her abdomen, all over the pulse points, sleeves tugged down to cover the words of the dead and the thoughts of the future ticking over at the back of her mind all the time, almost unaware of them.
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* HumanNotepad: Like Chloe, she has sigils traced onto her arm, where they're covered by her sleeves, though hers are done iin carefully applied makeup each morning and sprayed neatly into fixed place.
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* ClockPunk: The dusty old grandfather clock that sits by the counter of The New Curiosity Shop is a major motif. Chloe pets it at several points, especially after interacting with Aisha, but never clears away the soft layer of dust or swathe of cobwebs. Despite the cracked face and untouched body, it continues to tick.
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->''I made me.''
A modern prophet-- a girl with tangled hair and shadows under her eyes, with knowledge that might bring gods and nations to their knees and a body wracked with sleepless nights and failing limbs. A mortal soul, shadowed by eternal lights and cryptic voices hanging over her, long ago freed and left behind by the Necromancer.
By day, she is an apprentice antiques restorer, living in the flat above the shop with a cat and a ghost. She meets Aisha at the beginning of the first book, and falls in love.
A modern prophet-- a girl with tangled hair and shadows under her eyes, with knowledge that might bring gods and nations to their knees and a body wracked with sleepless nights and failing limbs. A mortal soul, shadowed by eternal lights and cryptic voices hanging over her, long ago freed and left behind by the Necromancer.
By day, she is an apprentice antiques restorer, living in the flat above the shop with a cat and a ghost. She meets Aisha at the beginning of the first book, and falls in love.
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* BadassBystander: When he gets involved, since he's an executive assistant who happens to be a superpowered warrior.
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* GoodScarsEvilScars: Heavy burn scars, but on her arms where they're easily hidden by a shirt.
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* PragmaticHero: Of the {{Chessmaster}} variety.
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* NiceGuy: In contrast to [[GoodIsNotNice Lisette]].
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* IronWoobie: Chloe has [[{{MindRape}} been]] [[{{TragicOrphan}} through]] [[{{TraumaCongaLine}} a lot]], but she just [[{{Determinator}} keeps going.]]
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* IronWoobie: Chloe has [[{{MindRape}} been]] [[{{TragicOrphan}} [[SelfMadeOrphan through]] [[{{TraumaCongaLine}} a lot]], but she just [[{{Determinator}} keeps going.]]
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!!Dr Tamanna Suleiman
* TeamMedic: A doctor with magical potential working with Lisette's group.
* TeamMedic: A doctor with magical potential working with Lisette's group.
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** CastFromHitPoints: Using huge amounts of power, with or without a backup source, has a withering effect on the body. Whenever not actively using these powers the Necromancer is generally confined to a wheelchair.
** PowerStrainBlackout / FaintingSeer
** PowerStrainBlackout / FaintingSeer
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* SurrealHorror: Chloe's powers tend towards the... ''bizarre''.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The Necromancer. Implied to be the norm for psychics and necromancers in general, when they start stealing power.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The Necromancer. Implied to be the norm for psychics and necromancers in general, when they start stealing power.
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* JackTheRipoff: One of the spirits Chloe speaks to is ''almost'' definitely not Jack the Ripper. He probably was Victorian, and very likely a murderer, though.
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* ReligiousHorror: Downplayed, but a lot of spirits, and particularly older ones, can't enter holy ground. Chloe spends a decent amount of time tiding out in churches, but this applies to Aisha's temple as well.
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* ActionGirlfriend: To Chloe.
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* UnderstandingBoyfriend: To Lisette.
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* SquishyWizard: Psychics and necromancers are rendered seriously ill when they use their powers unless they steal energy from other spirits, making them fragile and vulnerable in the aftermath.
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* BadassBookworm: To an extent-- she [[{{BookDumb}} never went to university or college]] but works as an antiques appraiser and reads Romantic poetry for fun.
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* HandicappedBadass: Suffers from epilepsy (as a side effect of her powers).
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* BadassGay
* ByTheBookCop: Well, not ''yet''.
* ByTheBookCop: Well, not ''yet''.
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* BadassBookworm: She's a librarian.
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* LittleMissBadass: Not part of the team, but completely capable of looking after herself.
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* CastingAShadow: Having not used her powers to drain spirits, they manifest as rich black shadows.
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* LightEmUp: After centuries of feeding on spirits, his powers manifest as bright white light.
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* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Between hostile spirits trying to take over her body and her own powers tempting her to corruption, Chloe is ''constantly'' holding the line against evil inside her. She doesn't [[{{ThinkNothingOfIt}} charge for her help]] when people need it despite living on the brink of poverty, never falters when faced with [[{{MindRape}} mental]] or [[{{ColdBloodedTorture}} physical]] trauma, and even acts as [[{{TheChessmaster}} Lisette's]] moral compass from time to time. This puts her in good stead to serve as a foil to [[{{CompleteMonster}} the Necromancer]].
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* TheMole: Works as a personal assistant for the Necromancer and his [[{{TheDragon}} dragon]], but reports back to Lisette.
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* IronWoobie: Chloe has [[{{MindRape}} been]] [[{{TragicOrphan}} through]] [[{{TraumaCongaLine}} a lot]], but she just [[{{Determinator}} keeps going.]]
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Abrasive, judgemental, and rude, but ultimately one of the good ones.
* LovableAlphaBitch: An adult version, who's competitive and something of a primadonna, but a good friend and good leader.
* LovableAlphaBitch: An adult version, who's competitive and something of a primadonna, but a good friend and good leader.
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* BadPowersGoodPeople: Abilities ranging from [[{{ISeeDeadPeople}} psychic powers to [[{{DeathTouch}} necromancy,]] but is generally sweet, shy, and good-natured.
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* BadPowersGoodPeople: Abilities ranging from [[{{ISeeDeadPeople}} psychic powers powers]] to [[{{DeathTouch}} necromancy,]] but is generally sweet, shy, and good-natured.
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* BadPowersGoodPeople: Abilities ranging from [[{{ISeeDeadPeople}} psychic powers to [[{{DeathTouch}} necromancy,]] but is generally sweet, shy, and good-natured.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: He draws the line at killing children, leaving 15-year-old Chloe alive after exorcising her and saving infant Camille's life when his magic almost killed her. [[{{TheChessmaster}} Of Course,]] both of these situations put very powerful individuals in a position of debt to him whilst they were still young and malleable, so whilst both of them did turn against him it could be seen as ultimately self-serving. Nonetheless it is clear that even the spirits of children are safe from his hunger.
