Full Name: Alina Volkov
Nicknames/Aliases: Strzyga
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Division: Strength
Powers: Alina’s power comes in three parts, the first of which being her prodigious strength and durability. Her physical abilities are higher than that of a normal human’s, though not by a lot.
The second part of her power is the ability to manifest an additional appendage from her mouth which, like the strzyga in the stories her mother used to tell her, possesses in a second mouth lined with rows of razor sharp teeth; this appendage does not appear to be a part of her natural body, being as it is composed of a dark and shadowy substance, that has a hint of translucency to it and seems to shimmer like an oil slick when it catch the light. The only thing about it that seems real is the inches long fangs at its tip. This extra limb is 6 feet long when fully extended and can extend and retract at blinding speed, often faster than the eye can see; it can bite with enough force to splinter bone and cut flesh, allowing Alina to snap up whatever it is she wants to eat before it even realises she has set her sights on it.
And snap things up she will, because the third part of her power is the
hunger. Alina’s appetite is insatiable, endless, in a way that food can never fully sate; no matter how much she eats, or how often, the hunger is never really gone, only diminished, and not for long. If she does not eat a lot and often, the hunger will continue to grow and grow and grow, until it becomes all that she can think about. It’s enough to drive her mad. It has done, a few times, and the results of that were never pretty for those around her. The only benefit of this is that the hungrier she becomes, the stronger she becomes; her inhuman strength and durability increase in proportion to her hunger, almost as if her power is making it easier for her to hunt.
Description: Alina is a little on the short-side, standing at only 5’ 2”, and has a petite frame; her shoulders are narrow and slope downwards, her arms are thin and her waist is slim. The clothing she wears is typically loose and baggy, which makes her appear even smaller than she actually is, and she’ll often wear multiple layers. Alina isn’t very fashion minded and so will tend towards simple clothing in black or other dark colours, though she does have a preference for clothing with lots of pockets.
Her skin is a pale white, as if she does not see much sunlight. She has several unusual features that give her a striking appearance; the most obvious is her vivid red hair, brighter and more colourful that what most people would naturally possess. Her eye, the one that is visible at least, is a similarly vibrant shade of red; her other eye is covered by a black eye patch, which she never removes.
Lastly, Alina’s teeth are not like human teeth, but are sharp and triangular like those of a shark.
Personality: Most of the time Alina has a lively and bubbly personality; she is friendly and outgoing and has an easy time meeting and interacting with new people. She is someone who doesn’t seem to let little issues get to her and her good cheer is pervasive, regardless of the situation; in fact it’s almost uncanny at times, like she doesn’t actually care about what’s going on around her. There’s a feeling like she lives in her own little bubble.
She does tend to become a little more irritable when she is a little hungry, which others should take as an immediate sign to back away before she becomes truly hungry, but otherwise she is easy to get along with.
There are times, however, where this façade falls away and the blank face beneath becomes visible; there’s only one thing Alina feels after all, one thing she cares about, and it consumed all other feelings long ago.
The nature of her power makes it so that she views other people as little more than a potential meal. Her friendliness is shallow and rarely indicates any actual connection for whoever she is dealing with; it is a mask she puts on so that she can live something like a normal life.
She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, one that doesn’t mind eating other wolves from time to time.
Crush: N/A
Skills: Alina has dedicated a lot of time towards learning how to cook, reasoning that if she has to eat a lot anyway it might as well be good food. She’s not willing to share though and the ingredients don’t always last long enough for her to finish what she’s cooking in any case.
Weaknesses: The hunger is both her strength and her weakness. The stronger she gets, the less lucid she becomes and eventually all hope of rational thought is gone until she claims her next meal; as she loses herself to her baser instincts, her lack of intelligence can be exploited.
Additionally, she cannot manifest her second set of teeth if she cannot fully open her mouth, meaning that a simple muzzle is enough to drastically limit her options.
Brief History: Alina is the only child of a Polish mother and Russian father, both living in America at the time of her birth. They were a family of small means, money was usually tight and both of her parents had to work long hours, often at multiple jobs, to put food on the table; luxuries were never a thing they could afford, but Alina was happy with what they had. Her mother, who had been born in Poland before immigrating to the US, would tell her stories she had learned in her home country and teach her how to cook, while her father would play with her and help her with her homework.
When Alina first developed her powers, a random mutation making her body stronger and healthier, it seemed like a blessing; once her hunger began however, it didn’t take long for those around her to think of it as a curse. Her old teeth fell out and were replaced with sharp, triangular ones instead and she was burdened with a voracious appetite that her family’s meagre earnings were not able to cope with.
The hunger was unbearable; the endless, maddening hunger. She could barely focus on anything else, her grades at school suffered as she couldn’t think straight and at home would lock herself away in her room and lie on the floor in a state of delirium; Alina was wasting away, mind, body and soul.
It was a few weeks after first developing her power that Alina found out about the long-toothed appendage she could create. She used it on instinct, while walking home from school one day at the height of her hunger; a passer-by walked past her on the street with a burger in hand, she wanted it and before either of them knew what had happened she had taken it. Alina was so distracted by the food that she barely noticed the man fleeing from her; she certainly didn’t notice the way he was clutching his hand while leaving a trail of blood behind him, just like she didn’t notice that she had taken half of his fingers when she had claimed her meal.
She felt full for the first time in what felt like months.
From them on, Alina didn’t go as hungry anymore. It took her a while to learn how to use her power, like learning how to use a new limb that you weren’t used to, but once she did she could find food anywhere she wanted; she could eat anything at all, if it was alive at least. It was all in her reach. She started with wild animals; birds, squirrels, rats, anything that she could find roaming the streets. Her parents grew concerned when she started to come home later and were even more concerned at the changes in her behaviour; Alina was… stranger now, not quite the same girl they had raised. That her hunger was also seemingly gone, while a relief, was also suspicious; they suspected that she had gotten herself caught up in something dangerous, but she reassured them that she was simply going on long walks to keep herself occupied and distract herself. They thought she had found a way to keep her hunger under control; in a way they were right.
She was fourteen when she first killed someone. He was a homeless man, a vagrant. Alina was hungry again and she wasn’t having any luck in finding anything to eat; the animals were learning to avoid her. The police found the pieces of him in the morning.
It wasn’t the last time she did something like that, but over time she learned to hide her tracks better. Her luck was bound to run out eventually however and when she was fifteen, almost sixteen, it finally happened. It wasn’t the police that eventually caught her however, or even a hero, it was a villain. Alina didn’t know if he stumbled across her in that alleyway by mistake or if he was looking for her specifically. She didn’t bother to ask. She just tried to eat him.
Alina lost an eye in the attempt, but earned herself a scholarship to the Lanius School of Villainy and Mischief in the return.
Other: Her alias, Strzyga, is a female demon somewhat similar to vampire in Polish folklore. They are believed to be people who were born with two hearts and two souls, and two sets of teeth; when they die only one soul dies and they come back as undead to prey on other living beings.
