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Mun
Name: Cata
Livejournal Username: icarused
E-mail: renkruia(AT)gmail(DOT)com
AIM/MSN: AIM: geminiisbipolar
Current Characters at Luceti: N/A
Character
Name: Ginia Solana/Alice
Gender: Female
Age: 30
Wing Color: Dark blue with black flecks.
Physical Appearance: Standing at 5'6”, Ginia is a woman of average height with an athletic frame from regular exercise and an often physically-demanding profession. Her hair color is dark brown and usually shoulder-length, her eyes are dark blue. Her upper back and shoulders are heavily scarred (burns and cuts) and other assorted scars cross her body. There's no change in appearance between Ginia and Alice. (Her played by is Michelle Monaghan.)
History: The world is Earth, but not one we would know or recognize. Aside from small changes in names, history follows the same path up until about the 1960s. During a meeting in Washington D.C. where many of the world's leaders and speakers rallying for peace and seeking an end to the Vietnam War were present, a large and sudden explosion occurs, killing and injuring many of the leaders present (the president of the United States and vice-president are both killed in the explosion) and civilians. While many terrorist and criminal groups begin to take claim for the event in the following days and weeks, the reality was the explosion occurred due to a gas leak, faulty wiring, and people smoking where they shouldn't have been. But the damage had been done and many countries were left in a sudden state of chaos without their leaders and with everyone blaming each other and demanding action, the Vietnam War only worsened.
With the death of the president and vice-president among other key figures and speakers, the US government was left in a state of chaos. Through the presidential rite of succession, Speaker of the House Andrew Locke was appointed as president. With his focus and interests being more on the war and American safety and with riots and chaos beginning to spread across some of America's larger cities (Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit), Locke took advantage of the situation to introduce drastic measures. Police were given more power and support in order to put down riots and in the worst areas, military patrols were introduced to keep the streets safe at night. Strictly enforced curfews were established and more security cameras were placed around the cities. While this worked to some degree, the presence of military troops and the feeling of being oppressed only served to further fuel anti-military sentiment. Local gangs and organized crime groups saw this as a chance to win civilians over onto their side and began fighting and pushing back against the military and police. Others who just wanted to keep their families safe and realized the danger of military or crime groups taking over also began fighting.
This resulted in three distinct factions; the military, organized crime and gangs, and self-made vigilantes later termed as “hunters”. Chaos and war raged through the United States, eventually spreading to the west coast as people began fleeing the fighting on the east cost states. The military response was to create specialized units to curb violent outbreaks and to deal with “domestic terrorism” through heavy force and even assassinations. Some members of these specialized units, disgusted with the actions of the military, fled and began passing information (and weaponry and training) onto the other two factions. By the 70s, the Vietnam War had ended with the communists successfully taking over South Vietnam. In the US, a full war was raging between its civilians and military, one with seemingly no end.
For those born in the 70s and 80s, violence became a way of life. Fights often broke out in the streets and the distinction between the lower, middle, and upper classes grew with the upper classes living in safe gated communities or well-guarded skyscrapers. While the military presence kept most of their focus on the larger cities, in small cities and even towns things were practically run by hunters or gangs/organized crime. Hunters also began taking on wide roles, becoming more guns-for-hire or jacks of all trades in some areas, willing to do any job for money. It wasn't uncommon at all for the wealthy elite to hire hunters as personal bodyguards or for members of congress to hire hunters as spies and even personal assassins. Corruption had eaten through the country and now all that mattered was finding a way to survive.
Ginia Solana was born May 7th, 1981 to Christopher and Amestia Solana in the city of Davenport, a city a few miles outside of Boston and with heavy hunter and Irish Mob presence. The youngest of three, (older siblings Avery and Amelia were fraternal twins six years older), she was born mute though it wasn't discovered until she was around two years old (everyone thought she was simply a very quiet baby). While she had already learned some baby sign language, after discovering she was mute and realizing surgery to fix her vocal folds wouldn't be possible or affordable, they all began learning American Sign Language as a way to communicate. She went to public school from kindergarten through first grade before she was pulled out due to immense teasing and teachers not wanting to deal with her inability to speak. When the deaf school in Boston stated they couldn't take her, her family set upon home-schooling her, using all the resources available to them in order to assure she had a well-rounded education. It was fortunate Ginia herself turned out to be quite the bookworm, happily reading book after book and sometimes even having to be forcibly dragged away from the library.
In addition to the usual lessons in English, mathematics, history, geography, and science, Ginia also learned how to play the piano from her mother and began dance lessons when she was 8. Ginia developed a deep love and passion for the arts, enjoying the new way of expressing herself through music and dance and began performing with the local dance and theatre companies. However, as much as she loved dancing and playing the piano, bartending became one of her biggest passions and her self-declared job of the future. As the family owned a bar (Christopher was the bartender and Amestia managed the paperwork and occasional sang for entertainment, and three Solana children cleaned and served drinks), some of Ginia's earliest memories was sitting behind the bar and watching her father mix drinks and keep a friendly rapport with the customers and the passion and friendliness he had with everyone was something she wanted to emulate. Her father, more than happy to pass down his knowledge to his youngest daughter, began teaching her in the ways of bartending and mixing drinks, adding in his own philosophy in the process. By age 18, Ginia was already working as a bartender alongside her father and everyone knew she'd eventually take over the bar.
When Ginia was 16, her brother Avery, now 22 and finished with college, began to grow distant from the family. While they reasoned it was because he was in the process of settling into his own career as an actor and trying to make ends meet, the reality was while attending Boston University, Avery fell into the lifestyle of a con man and the allure of being a hunter. He found a group of hunters to work with and began to make quite the name for himself. Most of the money he made was given back to his family to give them a comfortable life; remodeling the bar here, paying for vacations there, covering any loans or debts, buying presents for his family, everything. Though he tried to explain it was because he'd landed some very well-paid acting jobs, the truth eventually came out. While his family was furious, they knew they couldn't change his mind and he was an adult now. While they made it clear they didn't approve, they also promised he'd always have a home with them.
Around age 18, Ginia met Thomas "Hatter" Thompson, a bounty hunter mentoring Avery and someone who quickly became a family friend; Erika Rosenfel, a fireball of a hunter at age 16; and Lettie, an introverted computer hacker adopted by Hatter. As many close friendships tend to go, Erika and Ginia hated each other due to a complete personality clash (Erika thought Ginia was too serious and rule-abiding and Ginia thought Erika was too reckless and insensitive), but after several long arguments and one fistfight that left both of them bruised and a little bloody, the two came to an understanding and became very close friends after that. Hatter and Erika often visited the bar, entertaining them with stories and the latest dealings in the city, while the Solana family repaid them with friendship and free drinks.
Ginia was 22 when her life came crashing down. On November 4th she remembered a panicked phone call from her brother and him telling her how much he loved them all and that he was going to be away for awhile, but he'd get back in touch when he could. On November 5th, an envelope containing almost 50,000 dollars arrived on their doorstep with a note inside from Avery (“I love you all. I hope this helps.”).
On November 7th, four men came into the bar and dropped a body on the floor. It was Avery Solana.
(Disclosure: What had happened on the previous nights was Avery and his group of hunters were betrayed on a job involving the Irish Mob. With their identities compromised, they all split up and fled the premises. As a bit of security, Avery found a man who looked enough like him and offered him several thousands to assume his identity. The man accepted and Avery fled. The man killed and brought to the Solana family on the 7th was the other man, but no one realized it at the time. Ginia is unaware of is Avery is still very much alive and leading a new life under a different name.)
After the delivery of the body, the men, serving on behalf of the Irish Mob, decided the family had to pay for Avery's mistake as well and brutally tortured the Solana family before setting the bar on fire. Ginia herself was raped and smashed repeatedly against the bar wall, leaving her back badly cut up from broken glass and wood and with burns on her back after the fire.
The only survivor of that night, Ginia spent a week in a coma. Hatter and Erika often visited the hospital to keep her company and take care of her hospital bills. When she woke up, the news of her family's death sent her into a bad mental breakdown and she was kept in the hospital for six more months for both physical and mental/emotional therapy. It was during this time a second personality began to develop, one that called herself 'Alice'. Alice was very angry and very defensive of Ginia, lashing out at doctors or anyone else who tried to hurt her. While Ginia was out, she would be unresponsive and withdrawn, spending most of her time staring out the window or reading a book and ignoring the world. Due to the appearance of Alice, Ginia was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID) and they tried to treat the presence of Alice with drugs, therapy, and sometimes even isolating her in a room, but Alice only grew more vicious and Ginia even more withdrawn. It was reasoned Alice was a defense mechanism and Ginia's way of reasoning and dealing with everything that happened. Instead of trying to subdue her with drugs, they instead began treading Alice as another person and cultivating her into a controlled guard for Ginia. In this way, Alice became relatively controlled and approachable and as Alice calmed down, Ginia began coming out of her shell and eventually coming to terms with what happened. While still deeply affected by the tragedy, Ginia began slowly pulling herself back together and was eventually released into Hatter's care.
She lived with Hatter for a few more months, recovering on his ranch in the countryside. Under the quiet and peaceful environment, she began to show more of her usual self and Alice appeared less and less. Eventually she moved in with Erika and out of a need of something to do and being the kind of person that enjoyed organizing and compiling things, began organizing all of Erika's paperwork for her past jobs and completely cleaning up Erika's makeshift office. Erika, while quite surprised, was not at all displeased and began to employ Ginia as a personal assistant of sorts. Ginia was happy to compile information, pull jobs, and serve as a sort of liaison between potential clients and Erika (through text messages or emails). During this time, Erika also began training her how to fight and shoot a gun, figuring it was good for her to have some self-defense skills in the event of something happening.
As Ginia worked for Erika, she began looking into the events of her family's death and was quite dismayed and angry to find out the whole thing had been covered up as a tragic fire. Deeper research pulled up the identities of the people involved. While three were regular guns-for-hire, one man, Daniel Braddock, much to her dismay, was a prominent police officer in the Davenport police department (which was now overrun with corrupt cops for the Irish Mob). Knowing she wouldn't be able to get vengeance against Braddock, she settled for tracking down the other three men. She spent the next few days planning how to carry out her own brand of personal justice (i.e. vigilante justice or murder) toward the men that had murdered her family. However, before she could do anything, she was stopped by Erika. Concerned for the potential path her friend was moving down, Erika talked her out tracking down and killing the men, explaining she wouldn't be able to protect Ginia if she became a murderer and that senseless killing wasn't the answer either, but there were other means of bringing the men to justice.
That was when Ginia asked Erika to train her as a hunter. Erika agreed and the two began to work together as a proper pair (much to Hatter's chagrin). Ginia's careful and calculating nature balancing out Erika's impulsive and fiery personality. They began with simple jobs such as guarding a person or an item or retrieving items and information. As Ginia gained more experience and grew more confident in their skills, they began to travel around more, taking on bigger and more dangerous jobs. They began making a name for themselves in tracking down serial killers, rapists, human traffickers, drug lords, and other scumbags, doing their part to clean up the city. As it turned out, over their years of working and service, Ginia ended up getting the justice she wanted against the three men; while one of them was killed in justified self-defense, the other two were captured for other crimes and turned in.
When Ginia was 29 and Erika 27, the two were out vacationing in Los Angeles when a sniper shot Erika through the chest, resulting in her death. The death of her best friend made Ginia crack and she went into a period of isolation, devoting all her resources and time into tracking down the person responsible for her Erika's death. She never found her answer.
(Disclosure: Erika's death was the result of some side work probing into work involving the military and secret programs involving building “super soldiers”. With the risk of top secret information being leaked to the public, the easiest solution for the military was to assassinate Erika and cover their tracks.)
Eventually coming out of isolation, Ginia turned to life as a solo hunter, traveling from place to place, job to job, never forgetting everything Erika had taught her. Now 30 and disillusioned from her work and lifestyle, she's beginning to question where her life is going and wondering if it's time to make a change.
Personality: Ginia is a highly focused and dedicated individual that is largely ruled by precision, order, and careful planning. She's an excellent strategist with a fondness for planning and exploring situations. Give her a task and she'll deliver no less than three sound plans with back up ideas and branching alterations for each one. She likes order and likes things when they go as plan, understandable considering how many things in her life have spiraled out of her control. However, a need for order does not mean rigidity and Ginia is not so dedicated to rules and orders that she would follow them blindly and without question. Following orders is not the same as servile loyalty and she will make her displeasure known if the orders go against her own moral code and beliefs. This can make her a very stubborn person, for better or worse. While she rarely gives up on things and always tries to find some way to success, this can also make her narrow-sighted on some subjects, especially if it's more personal.
Because even if she is a hired gun, there are some beliefs Ginia follows. Not harming innocent people is the biggest thing and she will do whatever she can to minimize any damage. She also tries to avoid killing whenever possible and when taking on an assassination job, she does thorough research to make sure the target is worth killing. Also important is not leaving anyone behind (“No one is expendable, no one gets left behind.”) While she knows there is merit in the saying “the lives of many outweigh the lives of a few”, she also recognizes sometimes the lives of a few or an individual can be someone's entire world.
Ginia is fully aware of the hypocrisy of her job and life. She knows even if she does kill people that are utter scumbags, everyone has a mother and those that care about them. She's the rock sending ripples through otherwise still lives. However, this is also the side of “the lives of many versus the lives of a few” that she believes in. Because her main targets tend to be serial killers, rapists, human traffickers, crime lords, or people that would otherwise harm or restrict others, by taking them off the streets then the world becomes a safer place. Her actions are with the overall good in mind, but good is not always synonymous with nice. She'll play the part of the villain if it keeps other safe.
Good is not nice is a curious thing. Ginia was taught by her parents to be polite, composed, and civil to everyone in addition to strong-willed and to never start fights (but certainly be the one to end them) and she takes all of those to heart. She always says please and thank you, sir and ma'am, rarely interrupts, and is very patient and a kind person at heart, but she doesn't hesitate on her jobs, is certainly not above killing, and can be ruthless if the need calls for it. Some topics tend to hit her harder than most (child abuse, human trafficking, rapists) and she's been known to act with a bit more cold vengeance in those cases. Having gone through the murder of her family, she'd rather not have anyone else go through that.
But for all she's seen in the world, Ginia still likes people and has faith in humanity. She's an realistic optimist, knowing not everything is peaches and cream, but believing things will get better and there's still good in the world. This is one such reason she can be quite personable and friendly and isn't entirely jaded (though she certainly can be sarcastic or blunt on some things). Cautious and careful what information she gives out, but usually quite friendly. To those she gets to know and feel comfortable around, she lightens up a little more, smiling and joking around. She's a nurturer by nature and will take time to check up on people and make sure they're doing okay. Even if she's the kind of person to neglect her own health, for example forgetting to eat or sleep in order to finish her work, she makes it a point to see others are well-fed or rested. She's also very big on honor and returning favors. If someone does her a kind turn, she does not forget it and will do what she can to return the favor to them. In many ways she's much like a mother bear or tigress; she'll give some annoyed swats and keep people in line, but god forbid anyone try to hurt the people closest to her.
But there's no denying Ginia is a mentally unstable individual. The murder of her family, her best friend, and some of her past jobs haunt her deeply, and she suffers from PTSD, apparent through her general inability to sleep, growing distant and cold at times, and being very uneasy around fire. When her patience snaps or something sets her on edge, she can be quite cold, nasty, snappish, and defensive. Even knowing there are people around who care, she tries to keep things to herself so as to not bother or worry others. Then there is the fact she was diagnosed with DID and the presence of Alice. Alice is a personality developed as a result of Ginia's trauma and while sometimes seen as a manifestation of Ginia's anger and rage or Ginia's darker half, Alice is a little more complicated than that.
Alice isn't Ginia's darker half as Ginia has her dark and violent moments without Alice's interference but Alice is far more violent and dangerous than Ginia. She thrives on trouble and danger and while she wouldn't put Ginia (or anyone else Ginia would care about) in harm's way (intentionally), she can be a loose cannonball or a raging tiger when allowed free reign. She'll torture, main, destroy, mutilate with a grin on her face and a mad twinkle in her eye. While Ginia has reservations about killing and tries to avoid it, Alice feels little such guilt over it. Some of Ginia's most violent actions have been attributed to Alice or at least influenced by Alice. Ginia sees the world in shades of gray while Alice tends to be a little more black and white. Things are or they aren't.
Alice is also much more physical and fascinated with touching people. It's never outright groping or molesting, but light gestures like petting someone's face or hair or brushing her fingers over their chest or shoulders. She likes contact and tends to push the boundaries of what would be considered appropriate, though she will back off if told to do so and she does behave around children and teens.
Where Ginia tends to be more reserved and respectful, Alice is a button-pusher. She takes some enjoyment in pushing people to their limits and pissing them off and has a tendency to get into trouble or start trouble with her mouthy ways. However, while she may be more forward and blunt about things, Alice does take Ginia's feelings into consideration, for better or worse. Sometimes she'll be a little more flirty with someone Ginia genuinely likes to get things rolling, other times she'll push away someone that's bad for Ginia's health. She's a troublemaker at her very best, but she's also security for Ginia and has a fondness for her other personality. This fondness also extends to any friends of Ginia's; she'll be the first to extract revenge on anyone that hurt a friend of Ginia's.
An interesting thing about Alice is she cannot lie. While she can avoid saying the truth and dodge subjects, lying outright is not something she's capable of doing. This means when she says something, she absolutely means it.
Because they're two personalities in the same body, there is a disconnect that's created. Ginia has no memories of anything when Alice is out and is prone to headaches and disorientation that can be managed with rest and painkillers. At the inverse, as Ginia's guard, Alice has some more awareness about things and for the most part knows about the people Ginia associates with. However, her memories are also blurry and she doesn't know exact details, just vague ideas. While she's since been told about Alice by her friends and has seen footage of Alice in action and accepted that other side of her personality, it is something that bothers her at times. The feeling of losing control terrifies her and she has a silent fear of losing herself completely. The two personalities aren't at odds and Alice always cedes control to Ginia, but that fear is there. Ginia is also afraid of how people will react to her if they know she has two personalities so Alice is often kept a secret.
Strengths: With a very physical job, Ginia has to have a skillset that matches. She's a fighter and has been trained in Krav Maga and kickboxing with some streetbrawling thrown in. She's very fast and limber due to a past history of being a dancer and going running on a regular basis. She's been trained in knife-fighting and is proficient in small handguns. She's definitely not a sniper, but she does have very good accuracy and is comfortable around weapons. Her tolerance for pain is also quite high, having already been tortured and beaten once and having received her share of bumps and bruises through work. This isn't to say she'll shrug off gunshots like it's nothing or won't feel the affects of a broken spine, but she can take punches and kicks and keep on going. Having a very stubborn nature also helps.
Ginia is also a very intelligent woman. She thrives on learning new things and quite enjoys reading and researching and was a bookworm before she was ever a brawler. While she can fight, she'd much more comfortable as a tactician or planning things out. When working with Erika, she was the person that worked out all the details of how their job would go, putting together plans and back-up plans that could be easily adapted, and getting everyone on the same page before the two of them carried things out. While her field of knowledge is deeply rooted in modern reality and she's skeptical about things like ghosts, magic, or other things that would be seen as “supernatural”, she does try to keep an open mind about things.
She's versed in a variety of languages; English, American Sign Language, Spanish, and Italian (writing, reading, and listening; obviously can't speak any of it), and a lot of swear words and dirty phrases in German due to Erika. She's also a fairly fast reader with a good memory, though her memory is better on things she's seen and/or read rather than things she's heard.
On the entirely mundane side of things, she's an excellent bartender and cook and still enjoys serving up drinks and cooking for people. She's also an excellent piano player and tries to practice when she can. That side of her that performed often as a child is still a part of her and while she's fairly modest, she'll never pass up the chance to show off either.
For the most part Alice shares Ginia's physical strengths and is just as intelligent as Ginia, though she's much less a planner and more a doer. Alice is a much more physical and active person, much more likely to settle things with her fists (or a knife or a gun) than to talk things out. When enraged, she's like a bull running on pure adrenaline and likely to keep going even after taking a few blows that would normally down Ginia (though ultimately it results in greater pain for Ginia).
Mentally, because she's supposed to serve as a defense mechanism for Ginia, she can take a lot more abuse. She's the one that steps in when Ginia is at her limits in order to spare Ginia any more pain or memories that might haunt her down the road. While this sometimes occur in a very strange disconnect for Ginia and the deep fear of what she might have done while she was out of control, Alice always means well.
Weaknesses: For as put-together as Ginia seems, there's a host of instability about her. She's been heavily traumatized and while she's gone through therapy, there's still a lot that's been bottled up inside. She suffers from PTSD and has difficulty sleeping at night and detached and distant at times (birthdays and the day her family were murdered are still difficult days even eight years later). Fires make her uneasy (small flames like on a candle or matches are okay, but larger things like bonfires and definitely burning buildings have a way of triggering her flight/flight response), and being pinned down or restrained makes her lash out violently. She's not a person who likes to share how she's feeling either, much preferring to hide things behind a mask so people aren't worried. She'll tend to be more open with people she feels comfortable and trusts deeply, but even then she has a way of shrugging things off. There's also the fact Alice exists, and she tends to come out when Ginia is at the most stressed (emotionally or mentally) and Alice's default response is to usually eliminate whatever the source of stress is.
Her need for organization and control can also make her difficult to work with at times as she likes having things a certain way. While she will cede control to those with more experience and knowledge, if she's in control or in charge of something, she can become demanding and difficult to work with. Add on top of a headstrong person and you have the potential for trouble. It's also very true Ginia is a workaholic. Good when results are needed, bad when it begins impacting her health. As it tends to go, Ginia is the kind of person that will work tirelessly on something and neglect her own health in the process or use work as a way of avoiding other things.
The fact she's mute is something she doesn't see as a weakness, but it is something to be considered. Not being able to speak does slow down communication and while she's adapted to writing (and signing when possible), it does require patience on the part of the other person. Her own communication can also be restricted if her hands are full or otherwise injured; a broken hand tends to be the biggest setback for her.
She's also completely human. No super speed or strength, no robotic modifications, no magical abilities or other supernatural abilities. Completely human. Putting aside the possibility of connecting with a spirit and learning some spells, this does put her as a disadvantage as far as fights and such go. It also means she'll be picking her battles wisely.
For Alice, her greatest weakness is the fact she's another personality sharing a body and not her own person While Ginia may not remember what Alice experiences, any effects left on the body will definitely be felt in the morning. This can also lead to lots of problems when Alice does something and people believe Ginia is the one responsible. Sometimes the situation is absolved by revealing the fact Ginia has DID, other times things are worsened (because clinical insanity is something generally frowned upon). Also because Alice does everything in order to protect Ginia and would never deliberately hurt her, this can put Alice into situations where she's forced to give up in order to protect Ginia (and herself).
The fact Alice cannot lie about things can mean sometimes she'll give up information better kept a secret. She'll do everything she can to avoid telling the truth and talk the person in circles or otherwise stop talking, but at the base, she can't lie.
Samples
First Person: Requesting a Q&A for Alice, Ginia's sample is below. (Though I'll also gladly answer the Q&A for Ginia if you want a comparison to how the two react to the same question.)
My name is Ginia and I am a... recent arrival seems to be accurate. I've been trying to go through all the recent and previous entries for information and to gathering my bearings, but I still have some questions I'd appreciate clarification on. If there are any guides or libraries around where I can gather further information, I can do so in that manner. Otherwise, any assistance or answers that can be offered are greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance.
1) How and why were were we brought here? Any further information on “here” is also welcome.
2) I've heard a mention of two of a barrier or being unable to leave this place? What is the nature of this barrier and how far does it extend? What kind of attempts have there been in regards to leaving and were they successful or not?
3) How long has this been going on?
4) Is there some sort of government in existence? Monarchy, self-established government, councils, etc.. Lacking any sort of government, who are the people or factions one should be aware of?
5) Do the wings serve any purpose? Is flight possible?
6) Where can I find the nearest bar or other public gathering place?
Once more, I thank you for your time and any information you can provide.
Third Person: Sample for Ginia:
Wings. Of all the ideas and information Ginia found herself having to accept or at least wrap her mind around and further process later, accepting the fact she now had wings came the easiest. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she looked over her shoulder at the full-length mirror in her room. That this room was now her's was a concept she also found difficult to accept. Having a place to stay provided a safe base of sorts, but it also implied some sense of permanence. Days into weeks, weeks into months, months even into years? No, she didn't want to think about that. There was unfinished business back home, there was a home back home.
But the present room was nice. Simple, tidy, nice. Just as she liked it. Ginia's attention went back to her wings. She attempted to move them, pausing at the sharp jolt of pain. Her shoulder and back and her wings still ached, but it was no longer the sharp stinging pain akin to someone scraping a knife on her bones and grafting on a new limb. Now it was closer to putting weight on a sprained ankle or aggravating a pulled muscle.
Ginia contended herself with looking at them. They were pretty, especially when compared to the patchwork of dark brown and purple mess of scarred flesh that was her back, and reminded her of the wings of some kind of bird of prey. She reached over her shoulder to gingerly stroke through the feathers, all of them light and soft to the touch, and smiled a little. It could have been worse; of all the physical changes one could go through, wings weren't the worst. No changes would have been the most preferable, but so things went.
So things went. God, she hated inaction. What was she doing sitting around and doing nothing where there was still so much to learn and see? Ginia glanced out the window. It was growing dark outside, but she was comfortable in the night and those that came out in the dark always provided a different perspective to those out in the day. She wasn't unprepared either; a trip to the market had uncovered her original clothing and personal belongings - never mind the fact her cellphone was worthless as a communication device here, the pictures and information on there were priceless - and a compass, flashlight, a few plain notebooks and pens, and a plain leather satchel to keep everything in for good measure. She got to her feet and stretched, careful not to aggravate her wings, grabbed her journal and satchel off the bed, and head toward the door.
Time for more exploring and research.
Sample for Alice:
Fucking hell.
Alice looked down at the restraints strapping her down to the examination table with a sour grimace, tugging experimentally at her arms and wiggling slightly with her torso and legs. The straps were secure and strong and she knew it wouldn't budge, but she was also too stubborn to not try. Who knows, maybe they'd get sloppy at some point. It was the fourth day of experimentation, though she'd taken over sometime during day two to spare Ginia any further pain. Probably for the best; the second round of experimentation on day two had involved an experimental drug that resulted in scaly growths that were cut and scraped off the next morning; rough patches scarred skin still covered her arms and legs in varying states of healing.
She knew she wasn't the only test subject around. She'd heard the screams and cries coming from other rooms in the brief moments when one Malnosso passed into the room, saw the figures huddled in cells similar to her's. Six or seven others, maybe, was her estimate though it was difficult to tell due to never seeing any faces clearly. Who knew how many Malnosso were around; she'd seen eight at the most when they were experimenting, all of them covered up in surgical scrubs and face masks. Indistinguishable, almost faceless behind their sanitized coverings.
Alice sneered as the first Malnosso entered the room, followed by another and another. She tracked their movements best she could, eyes and head snapping center as one moved over to clip a head restraint over her forehead. Ah, today they were bringing out the big guns it seems. A covered face leaned over to check all her restraints and her sneer grew as she gathered up all the saliva in her mouth and spat it at her captor.
A needled filled with the test substance of the day was promptly jammed into her arm and the plunger depressed. It felt like molten metal coursing through her veins and she jerked in pain, gritting her teeth and glaring back as pain spread throughout her body, leaving her aching from the tips of her toes to the top of her ears.
Well. At least she'd pissed one off. That bit of satisfaction brought a twisted grin back to her face.