Alex Jennings
From Changeling Venue
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| Seeming | Beast Hunterheart |
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| Court | Summer Court ••• |
| Freehold | Gainesville, FL |
| Player | Amanda González |
Name: Alexandra Jenning
Seeming: Beast
Kith: Hunterheart
Freehold: Youthful Springs, Gainesville, FL
Motley: With Aaron, Brand, Tawny, and Adonis
Appearance: Sable wolf ears poke through a mass of lustrous ebony curls, set off by bright yellow summer blossoms. Black eyes sparkle both with a warmth and fierceness rarely found together. Though her skin is pale and fair her defining color is black - but it is a burning black, one that feels alive. After all, she often says with a striking smile, black is the color that most readily absorbs and radiates heat. Whenever Alex walks past, a wave of sweltering heat follows, even in the darkest cold of the night. Flickers of flame on the wind follow her steps. Occasionally nearby plants wilt for no apparent reason. A faint aroma accompanies Alex; it is hard to place but it reminds one of green fields and forests on a beautiful summer day.
Relevant Mechanics: Striking Looks 4, Summer Mantle 3 (USA-SE-LC-0804-89377)
Contents |
As a Pup:
Alicia Jenkins always considered herself to be extremely blessed. She was born into a middle-class family with two loving parents and a younger brother who was far more like a best friend than a sibling. The Jenkins family lived on the outskirts of Atlanta, the perfect place for an idyllic, sugar-sweet childhood, which Alicia enjoyed in stride. Her parents spoiled her sweet but still raised her properly so that Alicia was grateful for what she had and grew up with a desire to share it with others. A bedroom overflowing with stuffed animals, frequent family daytrips to the zoo, everyday walks in the woods, and the family dog nurtured her love and affinity for nature, particularly for animals. Even at a young age she dreamt of becoming a veterinarian just so she could spend most of her time with those wondrous creatures.
Throughout her schooldays Alicia was a sweet kid who played well with others and also watched out for them. She struggled a bit in class but did well in everything she attempted simply because she worked hard. Teachers, coaches, and mentors were enchanted with her charm, manners, and kindness. Alicia loved being involved in a wide variety of activities and participated in many extracurricular activities. Drama, cross-country, and martial arts were her personal favorites. Beautiful, engaging, compassionate, and charismatic, Alicia was a natural leader, and as she developed her skills she was elected to positions of leadership within those organizations. Always by her side supporting her was her younger brother Adonis, of whom she was both very fond and very protective.
In high school she maintained her involvement in extracurricular activities but also explored a new avenue: animal rights activism for Greenpeace. She set out to literally save the world but her youthful hopes were smashed as she became acquainted with the world’s indifference. Then her shock changed to fury: why didn’t anyone care? Well, when people stop caring is when the world goes to heck, she decided, so she would make them care. Somehow, anyways. However, it became noticeable at this point that Alicia had developed a bit of a temper. Fortunately, she rarely let it get out of control, and her brother was usually around to help calm her down if need be.
Animal Control:
Things could not have looked better by the time of high school graduation. Alicia was near the top of her class, she was president or captain of multiple organizations, her family had never gotten along better, and all her friends were planning to go to the same nearby university as she was. Perhaps all that was missing was romantic love, but then, as Alicia told herself, she hardly had a moment to spare anyways. There was always college.
A week after graduation, Alicia went on an early-morning cross-country run in the familiar woods with her brother. Both siblings were pushing and encouraging each other, as they always did in everything. About halfway through the two encountered a powerfully-built runner, passed out on the trail. Alicia immediately took charge of the situation, instructing Adonis to call 911 on his cell phone as she rushed to attend to the runner. She began taking the runner’s pulse and softly called out to him. Though the runner was unresponsive his pulse was strong. Alicia sighed in relief and shut her eyes for only a moment. Adonis’s yells startled Alicia back into awareness. Before the sister and brother where the runner had just been was some sort of monstrous troll, right out of Alicia’s childhood storybooks. The troll grabbed the shocked pair before they had time to really react. The siblings fought with tooth and nail, skill and desperation but the Loyalist overpowered both of them, though not without taking some damage. The last thing Alicia remembered was a swift blow to the head, followed by nothingness.
A Truly Dog-Eat-Dog World:
The Loyalist dragged the siblings through the Hedge to a magnificent estate ruled by a Fae Lord and Lady. At the time the Fae Lord and Lady needed more guards to patrol the inner courtyards of their estate – and few animals work better in packs than wolves. So despite her considerable other talents, Alicia was trained to be a fighter. The siblings were assigned to different patrols to ensure that one would never risk leaving the other behind and to force each to behave and obey. The Fae Lord and Lady wisely allowed for the siblings to meet once a month in order for that obedience to remain.
Some collapse under constant strain, others rise above it. Alicia surprised even herself when she reached deep within and did the latter. Alicia set all of her fiery passion to each and every one of her tasks in order to ensure Adonis’s safety, and excelled in both physical might and magical prowess. Moreover, she had the knack of skillfully combining the two in battle. As in the human world she proved a natural leader and quickly rose to pack leader of her patrol, fearlessly guiding and encouraging those other Changelings. Her masters rarely beat her because she was so good at keeping the estate safe from jealous Fae; in fact she was treated as a prize and the Ogre Loyalist who captured the siblings was duly rewarded.
Of course, one could not truly expect Alicia to remain the same chipper, easygoing teen she was in the human world. Over the months Adonis noticed that she became darker, more serious, more short-tempered. The sweet teen was still there, but it was getting more and more difficult to find her. Alicia even changed her name to Alexandra Jennings to reflect this new self and further dissociate herself from her previous life. That life seemed so much like a fairytale, she remarked to her brother when he questioned her decision. But perhaps most frightening to Adonis was that Alex cared not for her freedom or for her happiness, rather just for knowing that her brother was safe; she was content the spend the rest of her days guarding both the estate and her younger brother. Her angry passions were not quite where they should be, and she was slowly losing herself. It was left to Adonis, the only person she had left in either world, to draw her back to clarity.
Dogfight:
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A year of monthly visits, desperate threats, and heartfelt pleadings could not persuade Alex that risking freedom was better than living in this captured, uneasy safety. So Adonis decided to take a more direct approach. To save his sister, he would have to sacrifice himself. It was completely worth it. He knew.
He started out slowly, so that the Fae would not realize what he was attempting to do. At first Adonis undermined his tasks by making simple errors that were nevertheless destructive to his patrol’s performance. His pack leader was forced to beat him severely for this. Then he began making larger and larger mistakes. Adonis was dismissed from his patrol and assigned to one guarding the outer edges of the estate, where there was a far higher rate of death. And anytime he blundered again, the Fae Lord and Lady took much pleasure in personally carrying out his cruel torture.
News of her brother’s punishments snapped Alex back to clarity. In complete horror she realized that she had been the cause of it all. But Adonis had been counting on a few things when he had made his decision, one of which was that Alex would not be overcome by sorrow or regret. And he knew his sister well indeed. Alex’s horror swiftly transformed into pure rage, and she began to plan not only the siblings’ escape but the escape of every Changeling on the estate. She would make their captors pay and realize that not every slave had fallen completely under their spells and tricks.
Her own patrol would have followed Alex anywhere. Now that she was talking of a better life for them all, they were easily convinced to live free or put up one hell of a damn good fight trying. With her patrol’s aid she secretly convinced, wheedled, bribed, or bullied the other Changelings on the estate into following her. Soon the entire slave population was loyal to her, all waiting for their opportunity.
One night the Fae Lord and Lady were hosting a fantastical party for others of their kind. Alex knew that this was their chance. Some hours into the party, when much alcohol had been passed around the Fae, the grand clock tower struck midnight. The Changeling slaves held their breath, trying not to tremble or give themselves away. The Fae continued in their mad revelry. On the last stroke, every Changeling on the estate made a run for the wilds of Arcadia. The suddenness of the mass bolt caught each of the Fae completely off-guard. Though some of the Fae tried to stop them, Alex and the stronger Changelings were easily able to protect both themselves and the less combat-inclined slaves from those drunken nightmares. Alex managed to find her brother amidst all the chaos with her sharp senses, and together the siblings took their place at the head of the group. The Fae Lord and Lady’s screams of fury could be heard far beyond the gates of the estate. Alex was more than satisfied.
The group’s desire for freedom and loyalty to their leader carried them from Arcadia back towards the Hedge, and they all pressed through to the other side. As she and Adonis returned to the human world, Alex felt a pang of guilt for leaving countless other Changelings behind, damned to slavery and torture. Then she shook her head and cleared her mind. Alex inhaled the air of the human world for the first time in almost two years and looked at the Hedge behind her. She would be back, and from this time on, it would be on her own terms.
A New Territory:
Alex, Adonis, and the group of former slaves emerged from the Hedge in Pensacola, Florida in Autumn 2002. There was already a small group of Changelings there, so the ones Alex had led to safety settled there temporarily to readjust to the human world. Though eventually most of them left Pensacola, thanking Alex on their way out, she, her brother, and her patrol remained to forge new lives there together as a motley. In both joyous celebration and solemn reflection, Alex and Adonis took an Oath to each other to forever be loyal friends and comrades, to be siblings in arms wherever life would take them.
Alex picked up a part-time job at a local veterinarian’s office that specialized in canines, which was as close to her previous dream as she knew she would get without any proof of a high school degree. But her captivating personality, unnatural good fortune, and Arcadian talents with animals caused her to rise to a decent management position within a year. Alex also continued her animal rights activism, though on a more subtle level than before so that she and her fetch would never cross paths.
But both Alex and her brother found their true calling in the Summer Court. The Crimson Court was perfectly aligned with their deep belief in fighting for all Changelings’ safety and with their sense of righteous wrath at their captors. Alex particularly felt her tendency to change her emotions into fury could be put to good use within the Court. She learned new magic in order to both incite wrath in others and to calm this emotion, and she successfully applied this magic to her animal rights activism as she manipulated people’s apathy into anger. Her magical talents also proved useful as she fearlessly and frequently led patrols into Arcadia to rescue other captive Changelings. With her strong and practiced leadership skills, her superior understanding of wrath, and her prowess with combat and magic, Alex was the prime candidate for the Crown of Summer in 2004.
Gainesville and the Lost:
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However, an unexpected opportunity presented itself in early Spring of that year. A newly freed Summer courtier was able to provide Alex with a forged high school transcript and diploma, so that Alex was able to apply to colleges and hope to pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. In late Spring Alex discovered that she had been accepted with scholarships to the University of Florida Class of 2008, the most prestigious school in Florida and the only one with a veterinary school. Alex debated with herself for some time. Would she be abandoning her Court and her motley? Would she be forcing her brother to accompany her? Could she even be accepted into veterinary school?
It was Adonis who finally convinced Alex to chase after her dream. The Summer Court, the motley, and the Changeling society in Pensacola would miss the siblings, but all would survive and thrive. The two made plans to move to Gainesville, and the same Summer courtier provided her brother with a high school transcript placing him right where he left off. Alex and Adonis easily fell in with the local Changelings in Gainesville. The Summer King was a wise and witty Fairest who quickly earned the siblings’ respect. Another fellow courtier was a handsome and noble knight who shared the siblings’ passion for rescuing enslaved Changelings. The Spring King gave Alex a job at his veterinary clinic, and she and Adonis continued their studies and rescuing ventures into Arcadia.
Four years came and went. Her brother graduated from high school and started at the same University, and through her hard work and help from the Spring King, Alex was accepted into UF’s veterinary school.
She was extremely blessed indeed.
Parts of the Pack:
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Adonis Alex's younger brother and brother-in-arms. Rarely found without each other, the two are always willing to venture into the Hedge to rescue unfortunate Changelings. Sometimes others think the siblings are really twins.
Aaron Her motley-mate and veterinary advisor. Faced with difficult classes and impossible odds, Alex had at times lost sight of her dream of becoming a veterinarian. Aaron taught her to never give up Hope and helped her along the way.
Brand Her motley-mate and protective guardian. A chivalrous knight of unequaled skill and honor, Brand is a close friend and excellent dance partner.
Tawny Her motley-mate and feline friend. The two do not fight like cats and dogs, though they do gently tease each other often.
Quotes:
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Quotes by Alex
"GRR!!"
"RAWR! Haha, just kidding Aaron. Aw, lighten up..."
"What do you call a Lost wolf? A where-wolf! Hahahaha! Sorry..."
"What's worth keeping is worth dying to keep."
Quotes by Others
Rumors:
Like Aaron, Alex has a tail that she finds embarrasing and so she keeps it hidden. She's very fond of her ears though.
Alex secretly wants to be the Queen of Summer in Gainesville, but she likes Brand too much to oppose him.
The real reason Alex wants to be monarch is so she can wear a pretty crown.
