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The Empress of the Underground

Sorry that my post took a while. I was having a hard time pinpointing Alexander's reaction. I don't think I quite pinned it right, but ah well.

Your post was fine, no worries there :) I loved the twist at the end when the empress sparked up those flames. Shit's about to get real, haha! And you keep aware of the setting when you write; this is good :)

The Empress of the Underground

At first, the police and paramedics had thought the building had exploded with the sudden appearance of blue flame lining the inside of the building. Everyone jumped back, including the shop owner who half-stumbled away. Screams punctured the steady call of sirens.

However, no knock back followed the explosion. No force of energy cracked more walls, shattered more windows, or knocked anyone off their feet. It was as though someone switched on a rather large gas fireplace, utterly uneventful except that these pillars of flame were huge, lining the inside perimeter of the building.

Alexander also startled, not any more prepared for the sudden supernatural event than anyone outside. There was no denying that this woman somehow summoned these flames; that wave of her hand was no coincidence. With new resolve, he tightened his grip on the metal bar, doing his best to appear angry and fearless. Fuck chivalry, he should have hit her after all. With all of the things she had done already, how could he have not defended himself more properly sooner? As he backed away, he inwardly chided himself for his foolishness.

Then she made the comment that chilled his blood. He froze dead in his tracks, sweat beading on his skin, as he realized that this woman, this creature had come exclusively for him.

"I'm just a man," he said, and paused to swallow, not liking how shaky his voice had become. A little voice in his head reminded him that this wasn't true, not entirely, though he didn't know what he really was or what was going on. He pushed his ignorance forward. "I'm broke, I'm broken, I'm nothing. Fuck, of all the people in Vegas you could have picked, any one of them would be a better choice than me."

He inched towards the flames as he spoke, unable to feel their heat. Stepping backwards over debris slowed his progress.

Questions hung at the tip of his tongue. Where did she come from? Why did she choose him? What did she want him for? These were questions he was not yet prepared to ask, afraid that they would all lead to only one conclusion: he was going to die.

Rising Winds and Shifting Sands

Hi!

Went *poof* for a few days due to housing shenanigans.

Well, I think if we wish to continue the story how we planned it, Miria would have to return to Renna and somehow get Curdle out, unless you have some ideas regarding the other options. If so, do tell!

Besides, what would happen to Curdle's body if his spirit does not return to it? Would the body eventually wither and die, leaving Curdle stranded from the physical world? Would he need to take up a new body? If this is something you want to do, then we can piece together how to do that :)

One thing to keep in mind, though: As of now, Miria would not know that she would need to go back. She doesn't know what the hell is going on right now, haha. So until she realizes that she must go back, she'll continue moving forward. But even if she knows, she'll have to make arrangements for safe passage; traveling that desert alone will be very dangerous. Then again, perhaps that's what would make the RP more exciting :)

Gah, so many choices!

Right now, I'm taking this opportunity to build character development with and between the two characters.

Also, very intrigued by the glimmer of Curdle's backstory--he used to be a guard! Cool.

The Empress of the Underground

Hi!

No worries, I went *poof* for a few days myself. Turned out to be a really, really hard and very depressing, stressful week. I'll respond sometime today, though :)

The Empress of the Underground

No problem, take your time. Good luck and thanks for the heads up :)

The Empress of the Underground

No worries :) It was probably messy writing on my part. I'll try to be less cryptic with my flashback scenes in the future :)

The Empress of the Underground

Alexander paused, frozen by the contradiction between the woman's honeyed voice and her invitation to violence. He could see it now: he would hit hurt, she'd form a bruise that could be seen clear across town, she'd scream assault, he'd find his ass in jail in no time. What kind of a woman insisted on getting the shit beat out of her without some sort of setup?

With a grim expression, Alexander slowly lowered the pipe, though every last scrap of instinct screamed at him to keep his guard up. As such, he at least did not loosen his grip on his weapon.

"Lady, I don't know what you did," he began slowly, unable to shake the fear from his voice, "how you did it, or why, and it looks like you're not gonna answer, so I'm just gonna walk away, alright?" He made a brief gesture towards the door with a jerk of his head and a shrug of his shoulders. "Walk away, take that poor man with me, and you are just gonna turn around and go right back to wherever the hell you came from. Alright?" He swallowed the growing lump in his throat.

The Empress of the Underground

My original intention was for Alexander to first learn of his powers while in the war--specifically, that flashback scene in which he was caught in an ambush and somehow survived while his comrades did not. I suppose, while writing the bio, I toyed with the idea that such self-regenerative powers manifested earlier. I'll tweak the bio to make it more clear when they first emerged (at the war).

Sorry for not answering your question sooner. It's been a loooooooooooong day and I'm flat-out exhausted.

The Empress of the Underground

Alexander "Xander" Valencia

PLEASE NOTE: The pictures below are merely inspiration for Xander's look. He is a blend of every image (but with a bit darker skin and no dreadlocks), captured in the accompanying description. I'll add more pictures as I go along.



Full name: Alexander (Xander) Valencia

Age: late 20s to early 30s

Height: 5'10"-ish

Hair: Straight dark hair

Eyes: Blue

Skin tone: A deep, natural tan. Ignorant strangers assume he's half Latino, Indian, Filipino, etc.

Occupation: Unemployed

Parents: Alive, but he doesn't know them

Siblings: none

Heritage: Biracial (will get more specific later)

Religion: Atheist, but was raised Catholic

Background: Xander had a turbulent childhood, raised through the foster care system. Somehow, he managed to keep himself from too much trouble, with dreams of obtaining a better life for himself. When he turned 18, he sought that solution through the military, thinking he could do a couple harmless tours then return home with some skills, some support, and a plan. Then the war on Iraq happened.

Following the war, strange dreams plagued Xander almost every night, intense visions that had nothing to do with the war but brought out every familiar feeling of fear, dread, and rage in him. When these dreams began to bleed into daytime visions, Xander gradually lost the ability to keep friends and a stable job. Therapy for PTSD wasn't helping. Despite this, Xander pushes on, never one to give up on anything without a fight.

Wants: Stability in his life.

Problems: Xander holds odd jobs in construction, retail, food service, whatever he can find, which means he's almost always broke. He is consistently on the verge of being evicted from his crummy studio apartment. His involuntary outbursts, caused by his supposed PTSD, drive anyone that gets to know him away. Then there's the peculiarity of having never been sick and being able to miraculously recover from almost any injury....

The Empress of the Underground

I've been making up stuff for Alexander as I go along, so I won't argue if you do the same. What did you have in mind in terms of powers for her? Regarding Christian theology, I'm thinking of her bringing locust plagues, famine, earthquakes (done lol) and other natural disasters, disease, etc... But much of that would seem a bit overkill right now. Maybe if (and only if!) Alexander escapes and it ticks her off, haha...

Perhaps you can meet half way between her being serious and toying the man? Toy with him just enough to get that real sense of being otherworldly, say just enough to be mysterious. I don't know if I'm making any sense.

Hope this is at least a little helpful?