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[gildedworld]

Accidents Happen, part 2

Summary: Not knowing what to do, Rosaria calls Alex. Alex immediately starts piecing together what is going on by talking to Rosaria and starts preparing to leave the Academy to fly to Greenwich in the X-Jet. Parallely, Rosaria is unconsciously in the middle of a power surge - she unknowingly erases the memory of the police officer giving her a ticket and telepathically hears Alex, despite Alex being well out of her telepathic range.

Vacations never mattered to Alex, really. Perhaps they did when he was younger, but since his mother died, it really made no difference. After all, vacations didn't really exist if you were homeless.

So when most students went back to their homes from the Academy, Alex and a handful of other students would stay back with the Professor and the other teachers. These students had no home to return to for a variety of reasons and had made the Academy their home instead.

During vacations, Alex's routine remained the same- he'd wake up before dawn and go for a run around the Academy grounds, head to the library after breakfast, pester any remaining teacher or Professor into teaching him advanced level topics in their subject area after lunch, and spend the rest of the day training in the danger room in advanced simulations.

He honestly liked it like this as well - no distractions, he didn't have to share the danger room, the library was empty, the hallways were quiet- if anything, this was his vacation.

Today was no different either.

Having recently finished his danger room simulation for the day, Alex headed to his room for a quick shower and then headed down to the library.

By now, he had finished every single book in the Professor's expansive collection at least once and was on his second round. Currently, he was making his way through a rather fascinating read on mutant genetics and how the ranking and classification system was established.

Flipping through the pages, Alex felt the table vibrate - his eyes skimmed from the pages of the book to his blinking phone screen. That itself was enough to catch his attention. After all, no one called him and the phone really was just for emergencies.

Furthermore, it was the called ID that really caught his attention - Rosaria. She never called him. If she was at the Academy or nearby, she'd communicate with him almost exclusively via telepathy or in person. But never via the phone. So if she was calling him now, it meant something was very wrong.

Immediately, Alex answered.

"Hi," he heard Rosaria speak - her tone was different, uncomfortable, and awkward.

"What happened?" He asked bluntly.

"Well-" Rosaria began with a light chuckle. Only her tone was not amused. It was uncomfortable. He knew her well enough to know that she used humor to deflect from uncomfortable topics, and the laughter was not amusement. Moreover, he could hear quite a bit of background noise.

"Are you hurt?" He asked instantly, cutting her off and not waiting for her response.

"No," she replied. "Well, I don't think so anyway, '" she admitted.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"It means I don't know," Rosaria snapped, frustrated.

"Where are you now?" He asked. Alex knew she had gone back to Grewnwich as she usually did every vacation, but he had to be sure. From the background noises, she was not at her house but was somewhere outside.

"Rosaria, where are you now?" He asked again, this time his patience starting to slip at her unwillingness to respond.

She was definitely not okay, he thought to himself silently.

"Downtown, " Rosaria replied quietly.

"With who?" He asked quickly. "Where are your parents?" Alex followed up.

"At work, " Rosaria admitted sheepishly with another chuckle.

Alex slowly pieced things together based on her responses - she probably snuck out of her home to Downtown Greenwich because she was bored.

"Let me guess, they don't know you're there, do they?" He asked dryly. Rosaria chuckled sheepishly in response. She definitely snuck out, he thought to himself silently.

"Ma'am, please step out of the car," Alex heard a man's voice in the background, followed by the opening of a car door.

"Are you injured?" He heard the same man speak, followed by silence. Alex assumed that Rosaria had responded by shaking her head as opposed to verbally.

"Well, we have the paramedics here just in case and they can get that cut treated for you," Alex heard.

Cut, he thought to himself silently. She hadn't mentioned anything about a cut. Alex assumed that either Rosaria hadn't seen the cut herself or she had intentionally left it out, dismissing it to be a trivial injury.

"Please provide me with the registration, insurance, and your driver's license, " Alex heard the man speak - by now Alex had pieced together that this was a police officer.

"Will a learner's permit do?" Alex finally heard Rosaria's voice. He could hear the quietness and sheepish tone in her voice.

Alex couldn't help but roll his eyes as he hung up the phone. Now he knew exactly what had happened - she drove her dad's car to Downtown Greenwich without telling anyone and got into an accident.

Closing the open book on the table, Alex stood up and plaved the book back on its shelf and left the library, heading to the Professor's office.

"Don't move. Don't say anything. Get the cut treated. I'm on my way, " Alex said telepathically. He doubted that Rosaria would hear it - she was too far, and he range was about 300 miles.

---

"Would a learner's permit do?" Rosaria asked the police officer standing in front of her with a sheepish smile.

The police officer glanced up from his notebook at her and looked rather unimpressed.

"Ma'am, you need an adult in the car with you ," he replied bluntly. Rosaria chuckled nervously in response.

"Don't move. Don't say anything. Get the cut treated. I'm on my way, " Rosaria heard Alex's familiar voice telepathically. That confused her - as far as she knew, he was at the Academy, well over 300 miles away from her. He should have been out of range.

"I'm afraid I'm-" he began, snapping his notebook shut, snapping Rosaria out of her thoughts.

And just as he was speaking, the police officer's eyes glazed, and his expression changed - he now looked strangely peaceful as if he was staring into the sunset on a beach.

"What am I doing here?" He muttered, confused. His eyes glanced over the scene of the accident and an equally confused Rosaria.

"You were giving me a ticket, I think?" Rosaria replied, equally confused at his sudden change in behavior.

"I was?" The officer asked, still disoriented and confused.

Rosaria nodded quietly in response.

"For what?" He asked.

That's when a thought occurred to Rosaria - he didn't remember what she was in trouble for. She didn't know what happened to make him forget, but the fact was that he did forget. That meant that unless Rosaria reminded him explicitly, she would get no tickets.

Rosaria shrugged her shoulders in response and offered a sheepish smile. She hated lying, and she hated liars. But she also didn't want to get a ticket and get grounded until her funeral by her parents either.

The officer glanced around once more. "Whoa, what happened to your car?" He asked.

Rosaria shrugged her shoulders again silently in response.

"Man, that's wrecked," the officer remarked. Rosaria winced slightly as she saw the sight of her dad's car - it was totaled in the back, completely crushed. The car that had driven into her by now had been completely removed from the scene - only broken class from its windows and windshield remain strewn across the busy street that had now been completely sealed off by the police.

He's going to be so mad, Rosaria thought to herself silently, dreading her father's reaction. How was she supposed to fix this now?

"I hope you have good insurance, ma'am," the police officer began as his eyes returned back to Rosaria. "Because that's going to be one monster of a job to fix," he remarked.

Rosaria nodded, a sign escaping her lips. "I hope I do too," she agreed.

She might have gotten out of a ticket somehow, but her dad was definitely not missing this.

[gildedworld]

Accident Happen, part 1

Summary: A 16 year old Rosaria recently got her learner's permit during the summer vacations and sneaks out of her house in Greenwich, Connecticut, in her dad's Audi A7 and unfortunately gets in an accident in downtown Greenwich.

Rosaria had a love-hate relationship with summer vacations. On one hand, she loved going home to see her friends and family. But that meant being away from the Academy and her friends at the Academy. This cycle always repeated itself every single year - she'd long for summer vacations to visit Connecticut, and when she would be back home in Connecticut, Rosaria wouldn't stop thinking of her life and friends at the Academy.

This year was no different. Rosaria was back in Greenwich. For the first few weeks, she was excited- she frequented coffee shops and the mall with Jimmy and her friends, watched movies, went to the spa, went swimming at the country club, finished two marathons. And now, the familiar lull of boredom was starting to set in.

At the Academy, Rosaria had no time to be bored - she was always occupied with something or the other. If it wasn't class and homework, it was training in the danger room. And there were always people around- other mutant students, teachers, the Professor. There was always someone to talk to and things to do.

On this fine summer afternoon, both her parents were at work, and Jimmy was occupied by an Age of Empires tournament. That left Rosaria all alone - something she detected. Rosaria loved staying occupied as much as possible because it meant that she wouldn't have to pay much attention to her thoughts. Specifically the voices and shadows that seemed to have made her mind their permanent home. Keeping herself as occupied as possible meant that she was only confronted with their existence at night. Ideally, she'd prefer never to deal with them but if she had to choose, dealing with them at night was probably the best as opposed to dealing with them every waking moment of the day.

But today was different. There was a moment during vacations, after which all the excitement dialed down and people slowly returned to their routines. That usually left Rosaria all alone. In her younger days, she'd ask to be dropped off at the library and would simply spend the rest of her vacation gazing through books to keep her mind occupied. This year, though, Rosaria was finally old enough. Earlier in the vacation, she'd obtained her learner's permit. And so, an idea popped into her head.

How about Downtown, she thought to herself, a smile slowly creeping across her lips.

A moment later, the smile was gone as Rosaria furrowed her eyebrows. But I need an adult to be with me in the car, she thought to herself. After all, she was only 16.

But then again, Downtown Greenwich was only a 20-minute drive from her house. What could possibly happen, she thought to herself excitedly as she lept out of the sofa and rushed to get ready, quickly grabbing her bag with the keys to her dad's black Audi A7, locking the door behind her.

Immediately, a grin extended across her lips as she placed her hands on the steering wheel. Oh, this was fun, she thought to herself as she opened the garage door and slowly drove the car out of the garage.

Rosaria grinned as she began to drive her dad's car on the roads of Greenwich, mindful of the stop signs and signals. She knew these roads at the back of her hands and even know she'd been at the Academy, she was still just as familiar with the roads as she had been before she had left for the Academy.

And sure enough, she began to see the familiar streets close to Downtown Greenwich. As she approached Downtown, the streets grew narrower and busier, framed by a row of parallely parked cars. The number of pedestrians also increased dramatically - people were walking and crossing roads paying no attention to oncoming traffic at all.

In the midst of of this, Rosaria's carefree grin was soon replaced by a pensive expression as her eyes scanned for an available parking spot and avoided pedestrians at the same time.

After what seemed like eternity, she finally found a parking spot - a car was pulling out of its spot, and Rosaria knew that it was now or never. If she didn't get this spot , she'd have to circle around once more trying to find available spots again, and she was definitely not interested in doing so, having already circled around a fair bit.

As soon as the car pulled out, Rosaria quickly accelerated towards the now available parking spot, steering the car towards it. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a couple deep in conversation crossing the street, walking through the available parking spot, paying no attention to Rosaria's attempts to park. Immediately, she slammed her right foot on the break pedal bringing the car to a sudden halt.

A moment later, Rosaria heard a loud crash and felt her body being pushed towards the front of the car - the steering wheel digging into her ribcage and the side of her head hitting the dashboard of the car.

It took a moment for Rosaria to realize what had just happen. There was a dull ringing in Rosaria's ears as she slowly opened her eyes, still slightly disoriented. She slowly took in hed surroundings- a white airbag had deployed in front of her, a street filled with onlookers whispering and taking pictures with their phones, the distant sounds of police officers taking statements.

It didn't take a genius to put together that Rosaria's car had been rear-ended. Still a little disoriented, Rosaria couldn't help but feel overcome with dread and panic - this really happened. Her father's car had been in an accident, and she was driving on a learner's permit with no adult around. I'm so grounded for life for this, she thought to herself with a pensive sigh.

Slowly reaching for her phone on the car console beside her, Rosaria did the only thing she could do in this moment- she called Alex.

[gildedworld]

Lady Delphine

Overview

Name: Selike, (real name unknown), currently assuming the identity of Lady Delphine

Nickname(s) :

Current Alias: Lady Delphine

Title(s) : High Priestess of the Order of the Phoenix, Lady

Species: Homo Primus

Birthday: unknown

Ethnicity: southern European

Affiliation : the Order of the Phoenix

Base of Operations: Kringala Hemsins

Appearance and physical features

Appearance :

Lady Delphine appears to be a tall woman of regular stature with dark brown hair down to her waist and dark brown eyes. Physically, Lady Delphine appears to be a regular woman, except she hasn't aged a single day since the day she died.

Unusual features:

Perhaps the most unusual feature of Selike is that he has no features - his true form is just a pool of black goo with no limbs, appendages, or face. Over the years, his physical body has deteriorated beyond repair, and thus, Selike always maintains the outward appearance of one of his victims, at the time when he consumes them - currently, it's Lady Delphine.

Powers and Abilities

Personality

Selike has no personality of his own - he is solely motivated to be immortal and will do anything to achieve this goal and destroy anyone who tries to stop him in achieving it.

Lady Delphine herself was a powerful telepath who also exhibited telekinetic abilities. As one of the victims of Selike, he has also been able to adopt these abilities and use them himself. It's through these abilities that he was able to shroud himself and insulate himself, despite infiltrating and manupilating the Order to fulfill his own agenda.

Selike himself is a powerful shapeshifter who has the ability to molecularly shift the formation of his biological cells at will to change his appearance and thereby assume the form of other humans, mutants, and animals. Selike is able to do this by "consuming" his victims, thereby absorbing their entire organic matter, memories and consciousness, and abilities into his own being. Once absorbed, Selike can call on these victims at any point, physically shape-shifting into their form and utilizing their abilities as his own. Some of the absorbed abilities include:

DNA duplication, spontaneous cell regeneration, Intangibility, cosmic fire and infernal control, immunity to magic and mimicry, premonition, mind and body exchange, Mind Control, Soul gathering, Dematerialization, telepathy, telekinesis, and flight. Because of this, Selike is one of the most dangerous mutants to walk the earth.

Relationships

History

It's unclear how old selike truly is or where selike's origins are from. Based on the degeneration of his true physical form, it's believed that possibility could have been one of the earliest mutants to exist on Earth.

Despite this, Selike is not immortal. Selike hunte his victims in order to continue to live and extend his own life, using his victims as fuel. It can be assumed that he has been hunting for centuries, even before Lady Delphine.

Selike met and consumed Lady Delphine in 1370, in a church somewhere in the Sicilian countryside. Lady Delphine herself had been a mutant with powerful telepathic and telekinetic abilities and was a part of a group of mutants who called themselves the Order of the Phoenix, believing that an ancient cosmic entity named the Phoenix manifested itself as a Viking Queen called Rhiannon and bestowed on those whom she favored. They also believed the abilities of the Phoenix were beyond normal mutant abilities- they believed that the next manifestation of the Phoenix would restore balance and order in the world, as Queen Rhiannon did during her time.

The Order mandated themselves with identifying the next manifestation of the Phoenix - this entailed categorizing and cataloging all mutant activity to identify potential manifestations. Once a manifestation was identified, they would "validate" by placing the unsuspecting mutant under strenuous conditions, often resulting in their death - if a manifestation revived themselves beyond this, that would confirm to the Order that they wrote the true manifestation of the Phoenix.

Selike quickly realized that the Order provided him with the perfect opportunity to hunt. In fact, they hunted for him - they identified the mutants, and he consumed them with the Order believing that there had been no true manifestation of the Phoenix since Queen Rhiannon, which of course, was true.

Over the centuries, Selike managed to hunt thousands of mutants through the Order, amassing their memories and abilities within his being.

In 2000, something finally changed. A scout of the Order confirmed the appearance of an infant Rosaria that seemingly appeared out of thin air. This infant had not been born in any medical facility, nor had it been sighted with any adult. Seemingly out of thin air, the infant appeared on the steps of an orphanage wrapped in a yellow blanket in the middle of a December night, absolutely unbothered by the snow and the cold. The infant was discovered the next morning by a Catholic nun who rushed to take the infant Rosaria inside the orphanage. A month later, Rosaria was adopted by the Huntingtons.

The scout kept close tabs on Rosaria and the Huntingtons, reporting back to Lady Delphine and the Order, until they finally lost her in 2014 due to an unexplainable lapse in time and memory seemingly.

Rosaria was finally identified again by the Order through increasingly powerful bursts of telepathic energy around 2018. By then, given the sheer strength of Rosaria's abilities, it was all but confirmed that she was the manifestation of the phoenix the Order had been searching for.

Moreover, the Order felt that the Xavier Academy and Professor X would not be able to help navigate and guide channeling the phoenix as well as they would. And thus, the plan was developed. The Order convinced high-ranking officials in the United States government of the threat of Xavier Academy and it's students, arguing that it would be better to neutralize the students and Professor X's growing "army of mutants " before it was too late. Lady Delphine of course was instrumental in this as she hunted a high ranking official, assumed his identity, and gave the order go invade the Academy. In conjunction to this, Lady Delphine in her assumed identity was also a part of the invasion as one of the soldiers and helped subdue Rosaria, placing her in a telepathic-induced Coma to allow the Order to transport her back go Kringala Hemsins.

At Kringala Hemsins, Rosaria was watched closely. Still in a telepathic-induced coma, her organic functions were suspended one by one , temporarily rendering her dead. Meanwhile, Selike, assuming the identity of Lady Delphine once more, was convinced of Rosaria being the manifestation of the Phoenix. Even when she was dead, Selike found that Rosaria's mind was still very much alive - he was unable to overwhelm it.

Eventually, Rosaria would channel the Phoenix and revive herself in 2022, breaking through the telepathic-induced coma. By then, selike knew that Rosaria was far too strong for him to consume. Thus, he resumed the hunt, now turning and hunting members within the Order itself to try to gain enough power to rival and overwhelm Rosaria in order to consume her. After all, the Phoenix could not be consumed in its natural state - it had to be done in its physical manifestation as Rosaria.

Selike felt one of the ways to deliberately weaken Rosaria was by isolating her , leading to a deteriorating mental state. He had hoped that she would eventually come to trust the Order and Lady Delphine enough to let down her guard and by doing so, he'd be able to consume her.

Of course, this didn't work out quite as Selike had hoped as Rosaria asked for her brother, James Huntington to be brought to Kringala Hemsins. After James arrival, it became clear to everyone that James was the only person she trusted. Selike had decided by then that the way to manupilate Rosaria then was through James - to ultimately consume him and assume his identity.

Selike had his opportunity in 2028, where James' controversial speech left him once again in the spotlight. Hoping to manupilate the Order against James, Selike assuming the identity of Lady Delphine, attempted to "neutralize" him by covertly consuming him. Only, Selike was stopped by Rosaria, who had negated a few members of the Order in the process as well.

Not wanting his own identity as Selike to be exposed, Selike assuming the identity of Lady Delphine, stood down and left James alone, hoping to recalibrate and identity another way to get Rosaria to drop her guard down enough for him to consume her. After all, after Selike consumes the Phoenix, he'd assume it's immortality to.

Other

[gildedworld]

Francesca Moreno

Overview

Name: Francesca Moreno

Current Alias : Gloria

Nickname (s):

Birthday:

Gender : Female

Sexuality : Heterosexual

Citizenship: Nationality

Species : Homo Mutatis

Affiliation: X-Men

Base of Operations: Leopold Estate

APPEARANCE & PHYSICALITY

Ethnicity: Italian

Accent : Long Island

Hair : shinny chocolate brown hair with subtle warm-toned gold highlights. Her hair is naturally straight and runs down her back, ending right above her waist. She does hate her hair though and desperately wishes that it was the "good wavy" - the effortless 'beach girly' waves.

Eyes : chocolate brown eyes

Body : Francssca is average in terms of height and is slim. Body-wise, she is athletic and lean, something she's extremely proud of and has well defined abs that she attributes to pilates and yoga.

Style : Francesca lives in Lululemon. Her style is basically athleisure - specifically matching legging and sports bra sets, with "belt bags" (they're fanny packs, let's be real), ponytail running hats, and Addidas sneakers. She has seemingly endless color coordinated sets with matching Yeti travel mugs - literally every single color combination under the sun. Occasionally, she'll switch it up for a tennis dress or a skot instead of leggings.

Unusual features: none

Faceclaim : Maddison Beer

PERSONALITY

Francesca is an airhead. She's vain, self-obsessed, and conceited. She's the kind of person who truly does believe that everyone in the room is looking, talking, and thinking about her at all times. Then again, why wouldn't they- she's Francesca after all. She truly believes that the sun revolves around her and suffers heavily from Main Character Syndrome. She can't stand having others in the spotlight as opposed to her and focuses her attention and energy in maintaining her spotlight through building her "brand" across social media platforms. After all, she is an influencer and influences must influence!

Despite this, Francesca is actually quite intelligent believe it or not, when her mind is not occupied with getting the latest athleisure wear and yeti tumbler drops, she actually does have moments of insights that tend to baffle the people around her. A fairly good judge of character, she knows how to read people and, of course, manupilate them to further her agendas.

Although it doesn't seem like it, Francesca does have a strong sense of morality and justice and isn't afraid to speak her mind and stand up for those who can't. That's why she's an X-Men, duh.

POWERS & ABILITIES

Francesca is a telepath and can read and influence the minds of those around her. In terms of power, she's probably your average telepath - with the ability to read and influence the minds of those closest to her.

RELATIONSHIPS

Family

Faith Moreno - mother

David Moreno - father

Francesca is very close to her parents, as italian-American kids usually are. She's the light of their lives, the apple of their eyes.

Extended Family

Francesca has a large extended family, most of whom live in Long Island in towns close to her own. Although large, they are very close-knit and meet up often. Francesca's father being the oldest son, is the family patriarch - that means that dinners and holiday celebrations usually take place Francesca's house with her mom cooking (it's usually lasagna or some sort of pasta)

Friends

Significant Others

Alex Mastronadi

Alex really was Francesca's longest and most significant relationship. She'd always had a crush on Alex. But prior to Rosaria's disappearance, she'd never seriously considered Alex at all because it was obvious to anyone with eyes that they were seriously dating. But after moving to Canada, Francesca started getting closer to Alex. It started out with Alex overhearing a call with her mom and remarking that Francesca's mother reminded him of his own in terms of temperament. They eventually got closer and started dating. But even when they were dating, there always was a distance with Alex - she could never get close enough to him. And it really didn't help that everyone around them knew Rosaria and knew that if she were to be here, Alex would still be with her without a question.

Rosaria Huntington

Francesca always hated Rosaria - she was everything Francesca was not. Her parents were rich and always showered Rosaria and her friends (Francesca included) with lavish gifts and presents that Francesca would have never dreamed of. And everyone seemed to like Rosaria too. She was naturally charismatic, and like Francesca, Rosaria too was a telepath - only significantly stronger. The worst part was that she genuinely was nice to everyone, including Francesca.

After the invasion and Rosaria's disappearance, things seemed to get worse - people either treated her as a diety and grieved her loss or villified her and blamed her for the invasion. The worst was that even though she was gone, everyone was still constantly talking about her. Francesca always felt that with time, things would change. And for most people, it did. But that did not include Alex . His obsessed with finding her soon transformed into years of deep-seated grief, resentment, and anger.

Francesca always knew that Alex loved Rosaria. But she had hoped that he'd get over her one day, too. Even though she wasn't physically present and was possibly dead, Francesca always felt as if she was an outsider - that Alex was in a relationship with Rosaria and Francesca was the one looking in. And that just makes Francesca resent Rosaria even more. Normally, girls would have to compete with ex-girlfriends or ex-wives. Francesca, however, was competing with a ghost.

HISTORY

Francesca grew up in Long Island in a large blue-collar Italian-American family. Her father owned a construction company, and her mother was a teacher at a local middle school. Francesca was their only child, and as a result of this, she was the apple of their eye - the child who could do nothing wrong.

Up till the age of 15, she lived in Long Island - she attended school , was a cheerleader, and actively worked towards building up her social media platform among her peers and community. She was known for her practical makeup tips and would go around offering free makeovers to those in need - the less fortune who had unfortunately not been blessed with style, unlike her.

At the age of 15, her telepathy began to manifest - she noticed it first when she seemingly was able to read her teacher and peers' minds during a test and got the highest test scores. Naturally, it made the teachers suspicious who attempted to find evidence of cheating but never could. When they asked her, she quite openly told them that she heard her peers think.

Her guidance counselor recommended Francesca as a candidate to the Xavier Academy - the next day, Francesca was tested, and it was identified that she was a telepath, having the X-Gene mutation present.

Francesca was quite upset to leave her friends and family at first but ultimately recognized that it was the right thing to do. Her true motivations, of course, were quite simple - cute boys.

At first, Francesca hated the Academy - not only did she actually have to study for once, but she also had to do stuff like training, which she hated. On top of that, all the cute boys she expected were either in a relationship or just plain boring.

The good news, though, was that she had the perfect settings to take beautiful pictures and videos for her platforms . Also, mutant teens with cool powers made for great content.

This soon changed with the invasion, of course. Several of her peers were either killed, disappeared , or were captured by the government. And to make matters worse, the Academy was destroyed, half her clothes were ruined, she was missing an entire case of limited edition Yeti tumblers, and she seemingly had to pack whatever she had left and move to rural Canada. Plus she had to sleep on the ground with bugs.

And the worst thing was that she was not allowed internet in the new estate in Canada and constantly had to find work arounds to get access to internet, which Francesca was sure was some sort of violation of a basic human right. But thankfully, Starbucks existed - she could get her Frappuccinos and internet too!

OTHER

Francesca LOVES lululemon and athleisure

She loves mocha Frappuccinos and loves cake pop

She hates vanilla as it's a basic flavor - chocolate all the way

Francesca loves salads and you won't find her without her Yeti - hydration, hydration, hydration

She has over a million followers across her platforms and is a lifestyle influencer known for her clean-girl aesthetic and healthy lifestyle

She is vegan and can not survive without oatmilk.

She has a secret internet extender through which she is able to connect to the internet and post across her platforms, buy her lululemon and yeti tumblers, and livestream her yoga and pilates classes

Her favorite holiday is Christmas, apart from her birthday, of course.

[gildedworld]

Sleepless Nights Part 2

Of late odd things had been happening. Odder than usual, that was.

Ever since Roasaria had seen Rhiannon's face, she seemed to see Rhiannon everywhere. She was fairly certain that no one else could see Rhiannon - humans and mutants included.

Rhiannon was everywhere, much to Rosaria's annoyance. She was there when Rosaria was awake, and when she slept and when she was awake. She never left Rosaria's mind, constantly hovering over her.

And that wasn't the worst part.

Of late, other things were happening, too. Rosaria seemingly was hearing the thoughts of everyone around her - humans, mutants, and even animals. She heard them thinking in their native language, and somehow, the thoughts were translating to Rosaria's native language within her mind. And these thoughts kept swirling around her mind.

When she was awake, it was annoying, but she could control it by anchoring her thoughts on a sepecific object or person - just as the Professor had taught her. But the problem was when she slept. She still heard their thoughts and they still swirled around in her mind.

What was worse was that depending on what Rosaria was dreaming of, when she awoke the next morning, it would take place. One night in particular, she wanted water and could feel herself drinking it from her bottle during her sleep - she could feel the water in her throat. The next morning, she awoke to find her desk had somehow been transformed into a pool of water, suspended precariously over Rosaria's head.

Rosaria wasn't sure what was going on. From what the Professor had hypothesized, she was going through a sudden surge in her abilities and that only served to scare her further. She knew in the day, it was not a problem because she was awake and in control. But at night..

So far, it was just a table turned into water, but who knew what it would be the next time? She couldn't afford to take that chance and find out. Because of that, Rosaria had resorted to not sleeping off late.

Some nights, Rosaria would lay awake, staring at the ceiling in her room. Other nights, she'd wander through the Academy halls, hoping to occupy herself and make the time pass by faster.

Most nights, everyone else would be asleep. But on some occasions, she would follow the lights to the library to see Alex flipping through another book in the Professor's collection.

Even though Alex wasn't her favorite person by far, she felt a strange kind of comfort with him. She could talk to him, like really talk to him. And he would just listen - he wouldn't judge her, nor would he peach. He would just quietly read, nodding as she spoke.

But at the same time, Rosaria knew he didn't just brush off her words either. She knew he took them seriously. But at the same time, he had never betrayed her trust.

It was hard for her to explain in words. But she felt comfortable around him. Comfortable enough to sleep.

And so, this had become their routine off late - Alex would wait for her in the library, knowing that she couldn't sleep. Rosaria would meet him in the library and inadvertently would fall asleep beside him as he continued to read a book from the Professor's collection.

And come dawn, everything would return back to normal - Alex would wake up Rosaria, and they'd return to their rooms to get ready for the day once more - both of them awake, both of them in control.

[gildedworld]

Sleepless Nights

Alex always had trouble sleeping through the night - his mind was constantly racing with thoughts. He would sleep for a few hours, and then he'd lay awake, aimlessly staring at the ceiling above in his room.

Of late, Alex's had decided to use his time productively and had resorted to heading down to the library when he awoke at night. He honestly preferred this as well - the whole Academy was asleep and the world was silent. There was no one to distract him, no one to annoy him. He could read in peace.

Like this, he had read through several books - history, biology, physics, astronomy. It was great. He had the time to explore the Professor's vast collection of books, absolutely uninterrupted. This was quite literally a dream come true for Alex.

Of course, he could quite literally picture other students' reactions to this - Freya would roll her eyes, scoff, and tease him for voluntarily studying.

But he loved it. He loved learning - be it through books or through training on the field. Alex loved to learn and strives to be a better version of himself every single day. After all, that was one of the core values he was raised with.

Currently, Alex was reading a book on his namesake - Alexander the Great - and his military conquests. Of all the topics in the world, Alex gravitated towards military history. He loved learning about how people fought and, more importantly, how they won.

Briefly, Alex paused, no longer reading but his eyes fixed on the pages of the book nonetheless.

"Couldn't sleep again?" He asked.

He could feel her presence. Even if he couldn't see her right away, Alex always knew when Rosaria was nearby.

Rosaria, on the other hand, looked a little caught off guard. She'd tried her best to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to wake the other students. Once again, Rosaria had heard the same woman speak to her in her mind. Once again, she had egregiously claimed that she and Rosaria were one and the same. Only this time, she'd spoken her name - Rhiannon.

There were other things, too, of course - recurring images of fire, the buring of homes in villages and cities, wailing women, ships siking amid violent waves. But what always bothered Rosaria was that these images always felt so real. It was as if she had truly been there herself, as if there were her own memories. But she hadn't. Rosaria grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the only other place she'd ever traveled to outside her home state had been the Academy.

This night in particular, she'd woken up startled and panicked only to find half the objects in her room floating above her head. And that panicked her even more - she was using telekinesis in her sleep again. Unable to fall back asleep, Rosaria wandered out of her room to get some water from the kitchen - that's when she saw the light on in the library and allowed her curiosity to get the better of her.

Rosaria shook her head lightly as she took a seat beside Alex, her eyes lightly skimming over the book he was reading. Alex could see her from the corner of her eyes - her face looked tired, troubled.

"Same lady talking?" He asked as he flipped the page of the book. Rosaria nodded quietly , her eyes fixed on the night sky outside through the window.

"What did she say this time?" He asked, glancing at her briefly again.

Rosaria shrugged her shoulders lightly. "That she was me," she answered quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Alex didn't know exactly how to process that. Everyone had bad dreams now and then. But in Rosaria's case, he'd stopped suspecting them to be dreams a while back. She'd told him that she'd heard voices and whispers all her life - when she was asleep and even when she was awake at times. Moreover, Alex had seen it himself - he had caught her seemingly speaking to herself when she believed she was alone. These were not dreams. But at the same time, he wasn't quite sure if what they were either.

"Did you tell the Professor?" He asked. Rosaria shook her head slightly. "I will," she answered. Her voice was tired, distant. This was the fifth night in a week she'd joined him in the library, unable to sleep after all.

Rosaria's eyes wandered across the library, briefly skimming over the titles of books on the shelves in front of her before returning to the window again. The night was so peaceful, she thought to herself quietly. So still.

Before she knew it, her eyes began to feel heavier and started to become harder for her to keep open. And before she knew it, her eyes were closed, and she'd drifted into a deep slumber, unable to stay awake any longer.

At first, Rosaria fell asleep sitting on the chair. But soon enough, her body leaned towards Alex, her head resting on his shoulder as she fell asleep, her red hair falling over her face.

Alex's body stiffened slightly as he felt the weight of Rosaria's body leaning against his right arm. She's really tired, he thought to himself silently. Otherwise, Rosaria wouldn't have just fallen asleep anywhere like this. Normally, she was quite particular about sleeping in her room as she would telekineticly move objects around her now and then in her sleep. So the fact that she fell asleep so easily here was concerning for Alex because it meant that she was truly exhausted.

Alex also made a mental note to ask her about this woman - this is getting out of hand, he thought to himself.

He was fairly sure that this wasn't a dream. But it could be anything - someone else telepathicly reaching out to Rosaria in her sleep, a ghost, a demon, her own overactive imagination after binge watching Charmed for the 20th time, anything.

Alex needed to look into this, and if Rosaria wouldn't tell the Professor, he would. Rosaria not being sharp and on point affected everyone after all - she was an incredibly strong telepath, and her telekinetic abilities were some of the strongest Alex had ever seen.

With his left index finger, Alex turned the page of the book in front of him, continuing to read, not particularly focusing on the words or the material on the pages.

Alex was in two minds - he wasn't sure if he should let her sleep like this or if he should wake her up. If he did wake her up, he wasn't sure if she'd be able to fall asleep again. But at the same time, he wasn't sure if it was best for her to be sleeping like this either.

Briefly, he glanced up at the clock - it was about 2 AM now. Even if she slept for another 3 hours, it was still better than nothing, Alex rationalized. So, he let her sleep as his eyes glazed across the words of the page in front of him.

[gildedworld]

Suspended

Rosaria had forgotten the last time she'd actually felt alive - she'd forgotten what it felt like to have her senses engaged. She couldn't remember what rain felt like on her skin or what coffee tasted like on her lips.

She'd forgotten what it was like to feel alive

Rosaria knew she was not dead, though. But at the same time, she wasn't entirely sure if she was alive either. She was somewhere in between - floating and suspended in nothingness.

She felt shapess and undefined. Rosaria couldn't remember the last time she'd even felt her own body - it was as if she had been severed from it. She could not speak, nor could she really even move. All she could do was float aimlessly.

Rosaria had no idea where she was. This place seemed to be beyond light and beyond time itself. She seemed to be the only one here - even Rhiannon was not here. For Rosaria, who had grown accustomed to sharing her mind with Rhiannon, this felt odd and uncomfortable.

But despite all of that, Rosaria continued to hear voices and see faint images pass her by. Unlike earlier, they were not a distinct entity. They seemed entirely random and would pass through her as if she were air itself. And the strangest part of all of this was that Rosaria could truly feel the images as if she was there herself- she could feel herself as the child blowing out his birthday cancels, or the old woman reading the morning paper. She knew the images and voices spoke a different language, but she still seemingly understood them - as if the voices were translating to her language in real time.

And it wasn't even just human experiences that she felt - she felt experiences of animals, the fish, the insects, the bacteria - every single being that was alive. They all passed through her, and she passed through them - floating and still suspended in this space beyond light and sound, where time seemingly stood still.

...

In Kringla Hemsins, three robe-clad figures walked through large, empty hallways, their footsteps echoing. Their faces were covered by the robes hanging over their heads, their eyes fixed on the floor as they continued to walk ahead.

It was the year 2021 - two years had passed since they had retrieved the current manifestation of the Phoenix from the former Xavier's Academy. Two years had passed since she had been placed in a telepathic-induced coma to allow her to connect with the Phoenix within her.

For them, time was of no concern. Rosaria Huntington could safely take all the time she needed to connect and channel the Phoenix within her - she was safe here, far from the distractions that came with human and mutant society, free to explore herself here.

After all, the Order existed for this, and they had been preparing for this moment for centuries now. There had never been a true manifestation since the time of Queen Rhiannon. At that time, the order did not exist. But today, it did, and it's members intended to serve the Phoenix in any way they could.

[gildedworld]

The Phoenix

The Phoenix itself is considered to be a primordial, sentient, celestial being. By nature, it is shapeless and can not be seen in its natural state. Because of this, there are fierce debates as to what it actually is. While the entity itself is shapeless, the name Phoenix is ascribed to it to describe its immortality along with the constant birth and death cycles of its manifestations.

Powers and Abilities

Shapeless and invisible, the Phoenix is said to have several abilities, including the manuplation of cosmic energies and cosmic fire, weather and climate patterns, geothermal and geomagnetic forces, time, and space. It can also absorb limitless amounts of energy and transform it into something entirely different. Similarly, Phoenix is also able to transmute objects at a subatomic level, fundamentally transforming them into something different.

It's unknown how old the Phoenix truly or when it was even created. It is said to have predate everything - universes, planets, empires.  As a sentient being, it is constantly listening to the stream of consciousness of all sentient beings - their thoughts,  dreams, everything.

Every few millenia, the Phoenix manifests into a physical being, assimilating with the society around it. These manifestations are not bilogically born - they are simply physical manifestations of the Phoenix. Because of this, they can not biologically reproduce, nor can their genetic matter be extracted.

In its manifested form, the Phoenix is also able to practice powerful forms of telekinesis and telepathy, allowing it to manipulate reality everyone around. These manipulations are exceedingly powerful and have led to permanent altered realities in some cases. Depending on the intentions of the user, these manifestations can have long lasting and often permanent damage on the victims,  often leaving the victims mentally impaired.

Another important aspect of the manifested form of the Phoenix is that it is able to heal sentient beings, returning them to their original states. And while the manifestations may eventually choose to die, the Phoenix itself does not. The Phoenix eventually destroys its own manifested form and returns to its original state, separate from the cycle of birth and death, effectively an immortal being. Moreover, while the manifestation might cease to exist physically,  they continue to exist within the Phoenix - all manifestations of the Phoenix are able to access the memories and interact with other manifestations of the Phoenix as well. While these manifestations may not be present physically, they do exist within the Phoenix and in the astral pane. Thus, the Phoenix continues to amaas its ever growing memory.

Another important distinction to make regarding the manifestations and the Phoenix is the question of intent - the Phoenix in its original form can neither be attributed to good or bad characteristics as it is simply a shapeless, sentient being. However, the question of intent comes in with the manifestations,  who often use the abilities of the Phoenix to further their own intentions and agendas.

One of the most important lores of the Phoenix is the one of its tears - it is believer that the tears of the Phoenix in its manifestations can provide the consumer with enhanced abilities including that of rapid regeneration and immortality. While most of this is lore, there is some truth to this - the Phoenix's tears have the ability to restore a sentient being to its original form, whatever that may be.

Empire of Scaldris and the Myreion Dynasty

Prior to the Big Bang, there existed an anicent universe, ruled by the Empire of Scaldris. For millenia, the Empire was ruled by the Myrenois dynasty, whose reigns tended to be relatively stable and peaceful. However,  that ended with the reign of the 120th Myrenois Emperor, Emperor Daeron who had no interest in ruling the Empire and left the administration of the Empire in the hands of his advisors in the Myreion Council.

The Destroyer of Worlds

This soon set a dangerous precedent where the Myerion Emperor or Emperess was treated as simply a figurehead and the real power lay with the Myerion Council. Under the reign of the Council, the Empire soon descended into war, famine, and poverty. As the Council became increasingly corrupt, they also became increasingly authoritarian. Pockets of rebellions were suppressed swiftly and brutally by the Council. One of the reasons as to why the Council was so successful in suppressing rebellions was because of their control over the military - specifically, General Khydros.

General Khydros was a formidable war hero who rose through the ranks and quickly became the Council's shinning star. One of the manifestations of the Phoenix force, the General's thirst for war and glory soon earned him and the Phoenix the grim title of the "Destroyer of Worlds" as he often negated entire planets from existence.

The last Myerion Empress

Emperess Irulan was also believed to be a manifestation of the Phoenix. By her time, once great Scaldrisian Empire had been reduced to a single planet as the rest of the former Empire had disintegrated into smaller kingdoms and federations. Emperess Irulan was manifested in a time that was defined by war, death, and political instability. In the wake of the Council, Emperess Irulan quickly assumed the litte power she had and attempted to revive the once great Scaldrisian Empire, selling the only thing of value she possessed - her tears.

Unfortunately for her, this did not go the way she expected and thus time, the Scaldrisian Empire found itself at the heart of another war, one that consumed the entirety of the universe with the exception of the Phoenix. In fact, it is widely believed that Emperess Irulan as the manifestation of the Phoenix consumed the entirety of the universe in an effort to stop the war and imploded it, leading to what we know as the Big Bang today.

The creation of our present universe  begins with the big bang. And even though Empress Irulan did not survive, the Phoenix did.

Phoenix on Earth

The truth of the Phoenix's origins continue to remain mysterious on earth.  Having said that, there have been two known manifestations of the Phoenix - Rhiannon, Queen of the Thorvi,  Rosaria Huntington.

Both cases have been thoroughly examined by the Order of the Phoenix - an organization devoted to the study of the Phoenix and devoted to the idea of the Phoenix restoring balance and order in the world again. To that end, the lore of the Phoenix , although admittedly incomplete, has been documented by the Order and passed down from High Preistess to High Priestess, persevering the test of time.

Channeling the Phoenix

It's hard to say how exactly the Phoenix is channeled through its manifestations  as each case is so unique and different.  Usually, a traumatic event is required to "awaken" the dormant Phoenix within. In the absence of this event naturally occurring, it can be induced artificially via traumatic telepathic illusions, and in extreme cases, the suspension of the bodily functions resulting in death. True manifestations of the Phoenix never die - they will always restore themselves - mind, body, and soul.

[gildedworld]

The Order of the Phoenix

Overview

An organization that believes that the Phoenix, a primordial force, will restore balance to the universe through its physical manifestations. It's objective is to find and protect the manifestations. They operate from the North Jutland region in Denmark - the former kingdom of Thorvi, the kingdom ruled by the first known manifestation of the Phoenix - Queen Rhiannon. The leadership and membership of the Order of the Phoenix is obscure - members occupy highly influential posts in the world, allowing them to manupilate events around the world in their favor.

Founded : 1310

Headquarters: Northern Jutland, Denmark - Kringla Heimsins

Today the Order occupies the land of the former Kingdom of Thorvi in Northern Jutland, Denmark. In the old Norse sagas, this land is also referred to as the Kringla Hemsins, roughly translating to "the Orb of the World" , denoting the Jutland peninsula that is enclosed by the North Sea and the Skagerrak Strait in the North and the West, and to the east by the Kattegat Strait and the Lille Strait.

The lands itself are privately owned and are usually cloaked by the Order's telepaths, making it incredibly difficult to access and identify.

Founder : unknown

Current Leadership : unknown

Notable Members : Lady Delphine, High Priestess

Books/manuscripts/texts :

Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna, Hryggjarstykki are sagas written about old Norse Kings, featuring specifically the rule of the legendary Scandinavian Scylfings dynasty whose origins begin from the Kingdom of Thorvi and whose lineage is claimed to have traced back to Queen Rhiannon. In these sagas, Queen Rhiannon is depicted as a formidable Queen who was thought to have been blessed by the Norse Goddess Freya and weilds considerable influence over the King, his advisors, and the Kingdom itself. She is able to outsmart her enemies and defend her people, emerging victorious in war and helping ensure the Kingdom of Thorvi survives and thrives.

These are also the only texts that specifically mention Queen Rhiannon's channeling of the Phoenix and destruction of her enemies' kingdoms and fleets. The eye witness accounts describe this as miracles where Queen Rhiannon prays to the Norse Gods and Goddesses to protect the people of Thorvi.

Queen Rhiannon's contemporaries also discuss her death, noting that the Goddess Freya invited her to join her Valkyries in honor of her bravery and military victories.

While many of these accounts incorrectly attribute Queen Rhiannon's abilities to being blessed by the Norse Gods and Goddess as opposed to her being the manifestation of the Phoenix and channeling the Phoenix, they do provide fairly well documented insights into the Phoenix, it's abilities, and it's manifestations.

[gildedworld]

ALEXANDER MASTRONADI

OVERVIEW

FULL NAME: Alexander Mastronadi

CURRENT ALIAS: Kreios

NICKNAMES: Alex

BIRTHDAY: December 12th

GENDER: male

SEXUALITY: heterosexual

PRONOUNS: his/him

CITIZENSHIP: Americans

SPECIES:

AFFILIATION: X-Men

BASE OF OPERATIONS: Xavier Academy, Leopold Estate

APPEARANCE & PHYSICALITY

ETHNICITY: Italian-American

ACCENT: New York City, Manhattan

DOMINANT HAND: Right

HAIR: wavy, dark brown

EYES: cerulean blue

BODY: Alex is quite tall, lean, and agile. H

UNUSUAL FEATURES: none

STYLE: Alex's style always was on the edgier side - dark colored shirts, dark jeans, rock/heavy metal band shirts - that sort of thing. Ever since the invasion, he seems to gravitate specifically towards black clothing.

FACECLAIM: James Norton

PERSONALITY

Alex is reserved - he is quiet and observant and keenly aware of his surroundings at all times. Alex truthfully, is not someone who is easy to get to know. Rarely trusting people, Alex prefers to keep people at an arms length, not wanting to get specifically close to anyone. Of course, this means that he comes off quite cold and aloof, which he absolutely is.

He is also a massive control freak, constantly needing to control every aspect of everything that happens around him. Part of this stems from the fact that he doesn't trust people easily, and the other is the fact that he believes that no one else can do things the way he wants them done and it's easier to just do it all himself as opposed to delegating or asking for help. Of course, this has slowly changed for the better over the years.

In general, Alex is also exceedingly organized, very sharp, and a quick study. Exceedingly precise and methodical, he is definitely a higj achieving perfectionist who will not be satisfied with anything less than perfect. While Alex's perfectionist tendencies do tend to rub off on his team mates, he is careful not to put the burdon of perfection on their shoulders and tends to keep it to himself - he holds himself to impossibly high standards. This is a big part of why he's so driven as well. He is also exceedingly competitive and absolutely detests losing.

Another aspect to Alex is his morality - he has rather rigid views on morality. Everything is black and white - good or bad. Nothing is grey. Because of this, Alex tends to unintentionally put the people closest to him on pedestals, often refusing to see and accept their flaws. So when these people do fall from his graces and make mistakes, Alex essentially cuts them off entirely. It's hard for him to accept that these people are fundamentally flawed. Naturally, this has gotten him into several fights with his friends and fellow team members. And just as he is quick to anger, he is equally quick to forgive and forget as well. Of course, that is only if you're already on his good side.

On the flip side, it's very difficult for him to accept that people can change for the better. Again, this is rooted in the fact that Alex does not trust people. However, his time at the Academy has helped him overcome this a little - he now trusts his team, and his notion of morality has become a little more flexible with time as well.

While he's not the easiest person to get to know, Alex is extremely loyal and exceedingly protective of the people closest to him - he will quite literally burn down the planet if it meant saving them.

POWERS & ABILITIES

Much of Alex's true abilities still remain unexplored. It's believed that his mother's line carried the X- Gene that would have resulted in mutations that allowed them to channel the sun's energy through their bodies, essentially becoming solar conduits.

Similarly, Alex is able to channel the energy of the sun and release it via his body, primarily through his eyes. The way this works is that the energy and heat of the sun are channeled through his body and become increasingly condensed and released through high-powered laser beams.

To take it one step further, Alex is also able to release the sun's energy through his body in other channels - he can raise his body's temperature to dangerous levels affecting, enough to melt physical objects and metals, and also ultimately altering the climate patterns locally temporarily. Additionally, he can also release the sun's energy through his palms via high-powered laser beams.

RELATIONSHIPS

MATERNAL FAMILY

Mother : Isabella Mastronadi

Alex was extremely close to his mother prior to her death - he seemed to have inherited the x-gene from her. Isabella, while possessing the X-Gene, had no visible mutations or abilities, and it's widely believed that any abilities she may have had were dormant.

PATERNAL FAMILY

Father : Derek Mastronadi

Alex had always been close to his father and idealized him as he grew up. After the death of his mother, Alex's relationship with his father changed and deteriorated drastically. Alex learned that his father was an executive on a pharmaceutical company's board who had been involved in a series of drug trials gone horribly wrong and was involved in covering it up. Furthermore, he also learned that his father had been cheating on his mother with his secretary for years. Since then, he lost all respect for him.

FRIENDSHIPS

Freya Sieger

ROMANCE

Rosaria Huntington

Rosaria Huntington means everything to Alex. She was and is his first true love. Their relationship started out as rivals as children, but soon grew to friendship when they realized that they were more alike than they'd like to admit. Rosaria was the only person who was able to knock his walls down and get close to him - she was also the only person who didn't seem to be bothered by his aloofness.

They always shared a special relationship, often communicating via telepathy with one another. Because of this, Alex could always "feel" Rosaria - he knew exactly where she was and what she was feeling.

When she went missing during the invasion, Alex never stopped blaming himself for what happend to her and spent the next few years in an obsessive state, doing whatever it took to find any information on what happened to her.

Francesca

Alex began dating Francssca, a fellow survivor in 2026. No one really understood how they were dating because they were exceedingly different in terms of personality and priorities. However, people were happy to see him move on or try to at least. But even though he dated her, his mind was almost always preoccupied with finding Rosaria.

HISTORY

Alex was born to Isabella and Derek Mastronadi in New York City, and was raised in Manhattan. His mother's family ran a pizzeria and his father was a pharmaceutical executive.

Growing up, Alex was the kind of kid who was always in trouble - not for instigating problems but for defending and standing up for those he perceived to be victims.

At the age of 12, Alex's mother was killed in a mugging gone wrong- she had been on her way home after closing up the pizzeria and was only a block away. Her death devastated Alex and changed his life forever. Alex began to spiral in all aspects of his life - he lost his motivation to do anything really and was exceedingly angry and depressed, unable to process her death. To make matters worse, he also found out that his father's company had been involved in several lawsuits for poorly managed drug trials and that his father played an active role in suppressing the lawsuits. Alex also learned that his father had been cheating on his mother for years with his secretary and had been planning to divorce her.

Disillusioned and angry, Alex decided he wanted nothing to do with his father and ran away from home. He spent the next few months bouncing between homeless shelters and sleeping at the local library. One night, Alex felt extremely unwell and resorted to taking some pain medication to soothe the pain. What he didn't know was that he had accidently taken one of his father's company's medications. For humans, it worked as it was supposed to - it relieved fever and surpassed pain. But for mutants, it seemingly activated the dormant X-Gene.

Alex soon after began to shoot laser beams from his eyes, virtually destroying everything in his pathways. Given the widespread damage, the officials at the homeless shelter reached out to Professor X and urged him to take Alex to the Academy. Shortly after, Alex met Professor X, who enrolled him in the Academy alongside other mutant wards. By then, Alex's eyes had been so damaged by the laser beams that he was forced to wear specially designed glasses that suppressed the laser beams.

Alex was weary of the Academy at first but soon grew to enjoy his time there and became fast friends with his fellow peers. He also found himself idolizing Professor X and wanted to prove himself to the Professor by winning his favor. This was of course to be achieved by being at the top of his class . And thus began his infamous rivalry with Rosaria Huntington.

Eventually, his rivalry with Rosaria became a friendship, and before he knew it, he had seemingly fallen in love with her. Now, this was exceedingly obvious to literally anyone but Rosaria. At the age of 18, Alex finally got the courage to ask Rosaria to be his girlfriend officially.

In 2019, the Academy was invaded by American armed forces. This not only resulted in the destruction of the Academy, but also in the death of several mutants including Professor X and Rosaria. While Alex never quite accepted that Rosaria was dead, he was distraught by the fact that she was missing.

For the next few years, Alex obsessively looked for Rosaria, often going through questionable means to find any information he could about her. He seemed haunted by the fact that he could not feel her presence.

Around 2026, Alex began dating a fellow mutant survivor - Francesca. Later that year, Alex awoke, and for the first time in years, he found himself not using his glasses. His eyes were healed. Unable to explain how this happened, Alex devoted his free time to learning more about his own abilities and mutation, furthering his abilities to channel solar energy. He'd eventually learn that Rosaria had unknowingly healed him through the tears of the Phoenix while she was astral projecting one night.

TRIVIA

Around this time, Alex also started to "feel" Rosaria again, often telling his closet friends that he would see her often in his sleep or that he could feel that she was still alive.

Alex loves black coffee and rock music.

He also obviously loves the sun and loves beaches.

He hates winter, and the snow

[gildedworld]

Shopping

Alex hated everything about shopping and the mall. But most of all, he hated how crowded it was. Alex had absolutely no issues with the fact that most of his peers were regular humans - what made him uncomfortable was that there were so many of them.

Crowds had always made Alex nervous. He knew that even for a moment if he were to lose control, he could very well blow up the entire building. Of course, if he could turn off his mutation and the laser beams that shot out through his eyes, that would be ideal. But it wasn't the case unfortunately.

"I didn't realize that we were at a funeral." Rosaria's familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

"We aren't," he replied curtly, gesturing for her to get into his car.

"Then why do you look like you're going to one?" Rosaria countered as she climbed into his car, her eyes quickly skimming the interiors.

Alex's car was exactly like his room - neat, orderly, and without a single thing out of its place. Although he'd had the car for over 2 years now, it still looked as new as the day they'd bought it at the dealership.

Alex refused to answer the question and reached for the GPS, typing in the mall on its screen, watching it calibrate.

Rosaria watched Alex from the corner of her eyes as she ran her fingers through her hair. God, he's so stiff, she thought to herself silently.

"You know...," Rosaria began, reaching for her phone from her bag. "You don't have to come - I can go by myself," she added.

Alex shook his head slightly. "You can't drive - you don't have your license yet," he commented as he turned the car on, getting ready to drive.

Rosaria shrugged her shoulders lightly. "I could take the bus, or I could ask someone else to drop me off at the mall if they're going that way." she replied.

Alex rolled his eyes behind his glasses - Rosaria couldn't see it, but she could feel it.

"Terrible idea - that is how horror movies start," he commented dryly.

"The bus?" she replied, confused. "No - getting into a stranger's car," Alex responded dryly. "And as for the bus - you don't know who you'd be traveling with. For all you know, there might be crazy," he added.

Rosaria rolled her eyes at that. "Millions of people take the bus everyday Alex," she responded dryly.

"But not you," he countered, his eyes focused on the road as he drove. Rosaria's lips curved into a small smile at his response as she turned to look outside the window.

Alex hated the mall, and he hated shopping. He hated the crowds, he hated the idea of browsing, and he hated the traffic on the roads. But if he had to go, he'd go with rather Rosaria.

[gildedworld]

Character Form: Rosaria Huntington

CHARACTER FORM

OVERVIEW

FULL NAME: Rosaria Huntington

CURRENT ALIAS: Phoenix

NICKNAMES: Rose, Rosa

ADDITIONAL ALIASES:

BIRTHDAY: August 10th

GENDER: Female

SEXUALITY: Heterosexual

PRONOUNS: She/Her

CITIZENSHIP: American

AFFILIATION:

BASE OF OPERATIONS:

APPEARANCE & PHYSICALITY

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

ACCENT: Transatlantic

DOMINANT HAND: Right

HAIR: Dark Auburn hair, currently cut into a Bob right above her shoulders

EYES: Hazel

BODY: tall, slender with pale white skin

UNUSUAL FEATURES:

Outwardly, Rosaria has no unusual features. In fact, she does look extremely humanoid, allowing her to blend in quite well. Perhaps the only thing really unusual is that when channeling the Phoenix, Rosaria's physical features do change - her eyes turn a pale purple and strands of her hair are replaced by strands of cosmic fire- literally her hair burns.

STYLE:

Rosaria's typical style would be relaxed, classical, and elegant. In her younger days, she loved fashion, but these days, she'd rather opt for something comfortable - after all, her clothes don't last very long on the account that they tend to burn.

FACECLAIM: Anya Taylor-Joy

PERSONALITY

As a child, Rosaria was bright and full of life - sassy, outspoken, and perhaps even a little brash. She never hesitated to speak her mind and had a reputation of being exceedingly loyal and honest. Optimistic by nature, Rosaria was always the first to lend a helping hand, truly believing the Professor's philosophy to see the best in people. As a result of this, she was always surrounded by friends and rarely ever at the institute as she was more than often at a friend's house or a party. She was the definition of a wild child, living life to its fullest without a care in the world - all while giving those around her a consistent stream of heart attacks due to her recklessness.

However, after the invasion and being kidnapped by the Order, Rosaria is extremely different . Channeling the Phoenix fundamentally changed her. A lot more reserved and cynical now, Rosaria often comes across as aloof and apathetic. Quiet, calm, and controlled, she rarely lets her guard down - not so much because she doesn't trust others, but more so because she doesn't trust herself.

POWERS & ABILITIES

Rosaria is the physical manifestation of the Phoenix and, because of that, can channel the Phoenix and its abilities as well.

The Phoenix itself is understood to be a sentient cosmic force. Perhaps one of the most well-known abilities of the Phoenix is that it can manipulate the cosmos via cosmic energies. In simple terms, this means that Rosaria is able to manipulate the very composition of objects at a subatomic level. This, of course, extends to a number of things - manipulation of the weather, natural elements, physical objects, and dangerously, even sentient beings such as plants, animals, homo sapiens, and mutants. Today, this is known to be transfiguration, transmutation, and alchemy. Furthermore, this ability also extends to the manuplation of fundamental forces such as gravity, weak and strong forces, allowing her to fly.

Another notable ability is that of breaking the space/time continum. Rosaria most frequently does this via astral projections both within her own mind - astrally projecting to Rhiannon's time , and Rhiannon astrally projecting all through out Rosaria's life to astrally projecting to other locations as well outsidd her own mind. In rare situations, Rosaria can physically teleport so to speak - her astral projections can become physical, allowing her not only to physically change the location of her body but also to channel the Phoenix's abilities as well.

Apart from this, Rosaria also skilled at telekinesis and telepathy - after all, those were the first abilities she manifested. Over years of rigorous training at the Xavier institute, Rosaria's telepathic and telekinetic abilities have grown exponentially , earning her a fearsome reputation of one of the most powerful telepaths in the world. But when channeling the Phoenix, Rosaria's telepathic abilities extend far beyond what anyone could ever imagine, including herself. She can telepathically communicate with any sentient being , often transalting her thoughts to their native mode of communication- this extends to plants, animals, insects, anything. Naturally, this is incredibly overwhelming - and it's lead to a fair share of mental breaks.

Another notable ability of the Phoenix is that it can negate - essentially absorbing cosmic energies within itself. On the other end of the spectrum, it can also manupilate cosmic energies to create - as most notably seen with Rosaria's regeneration. Even if her physical body is chared to ashes, she will still regenerate herself, effectively making her immortal if she chooses to be.

Of course, Rosaria does not and has not channeled the full extent of the Phoenix's abilities. Nor has Rhiannon. Both have channeled aspects of it, making the true abilities of the Phoenix rather vague.

Having said that, all of this does come with significant limitations - while Rosaria may look human, she can never truly have a typical human life. What that means is that she can never have biological children, nor can she fully express herself. After she began channeling the Phoenix, Rosaria often has to consciously make an effort to feel emotions in an effort not to be completely detached and ambivalent of human existence. And even when she does, she must make a very conscious effort to mute her emotions and police her thoughts - any slip of control can have untold disastrous consequences.

RELATIONSHIPS

FAMILY

Father : Steven Huntington

Mother : Diana Huntington

Brother: James "Jimmy" Huntington

FRIENDSHIPS

ROMANCE

Rosaria's relationship with Alex is probably the strongest connection she has to the sentient life of Earth. Having grown up together at the Academy, Alex and Rosaria started off as rivals vying for the favor of the Professor and, somewhere down the line, became friends.

They had always shared a special connection - one that could never be put into words. They always seemed to be in each other's orbits somehow - keeping an eye on each other from afar.

When Rosaria turned 17, they started to officially date - something that none of the other students or their friends found surprising.

For Rosaria, Alex brought discipline, calmness, and stability - something she had longed for. He grounded her. Despite them dating, the rivalry between them never died - they always challenged each other to be the best versions of themselves.

All of this changed with the invasion, of course. Like other mutant wards at the Academy, Alex and Rosaria both fought the soldiers. Normally, they would always fight side by side, but that day, they decided to separate, wanting to make the best of their abilities and save the other wards and the Academy. Alex never forgave himself for this, blaming himself for Rosaria's disappearance, never accepting her death either.

As for Rosaria, during the worst of the transition and channeling the Phoenix, Alex served as her motivation to pull through. She'd often astrally project herself into Alex's room at night or be close to him when he'd be alone, craving his company.

However, the longer she spent with Order, the more she feared the intesity of her feelings for Alex and vice vers. Just thinking of him makes her control over the Phoenix slip, and that terrifies her.

HISTORY

Rosaria was technically not born. She was manifested. Because of that, she has no birth family at all. Of course, she only learned of this after she had channeled the Phoenix.

As an infant, Rosaria was found outside a Catholic orphanage in Greenwich, Connecticut and was taken in by one of the Sisters. Shortly thereafter, she was adopted by Steven and Diana Huntington and raised as their daughter. 2 years after she was adopted, the Huntingtons had a biological son - James Huntington.

Growing up, Rosaria and James had wants for nothing- Steven was the managing partner of a large hedge fund and Diana was an executive at a pharmaceutical company. Both children attended a private catholic school and lived an affluent childhood.

Rosaria and James were incredibly close. As they started attending school, both found that they never really fit in with other children- James lived in myth, legends, and comics while Rosaria struggled to bond with other children. Eventually, Rosaria would learn that this was because of the Phoenix - as a child, she never truly expressed emotions herself but rather mimicked emotions from those around her.

Rosaria always knew she was different. At the age of 3, she started hearing voices and seeing shadows. As the years went by, the voices became louder, and she found herself understanding them much to her horror. And when she expressed this to her parents, they took her to multiple psychiatrists, all of whom correlated the stress of schooling to this psychosis. Ultimately, Steven and Diana decided to homeschool their daughter. Unfortunately, this did nothing to stop the voices.

At the age of 11, Rosaria experienced a very realistic dream of her combusting into flames - the result of that was altering the gravitational pull of her entire street - everything up was suddenly down and everything down was suddenly up. Shortly thereafter, the Huntingtons were visited by Professor X, who explained that Rosaria was a mutant and encouraged them to send her to the Academy to learn how to control her abilities. Even though the physical location changed, the voices in Rosaria's head never stopped. Over the years, other mutant wards joined the Academy as well as the Academy grew in popularity.

Rosaria thrived at the Academy - she was bright, curious, hard working, and really a star pupil. It also opened her eyes to a whole new world as she met and interacted with othet Mutant wards. Very quickly, she became the top performer of her classes rivaled only by another mutant student , Alexander . This would lead to years of a very, very competitive rivalry between the two.

Unfortunately, the more Rosaria learned about her telepathic and telekinetic abilities and how to control them, the clearer the voices and shadows got as well. At the age of 16, for the first time, she saw the face of the shadow in her mind - it was a woman who looked remarkably like her physically. The woman introduced herself as Rhiannon. Rosaria would later learn that Rhiannon had been a formidable Warrior Queen in ancient Denmark. Rosaria would brush Rhiannon off to be a ghostly spirt who, for some reason, was haunting her.

Around this time, the Professor also started to notice fundamental changes within Rosaria. Her abilities had always been strong, but he had started to notice a rather rapid growth in her telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Specifically, one afternoon where Rosaria seemingly described astral projecting herself to ancient Denmark - to Rhiannon's time. She spoke with vivid clarity of Rhiannon's court and attending the funeral procesions of Rhiannon's husband, the King. This prompted the Professor to start looking into her mutation in greater depth. Eventually, he found that Rosaria's abilities were fundamentally different from other mutants, leading to suspect that the source of her abilities was something else entirely.

Unfortunately, by then, others had noticed it too. The Order of the Phoenix, who had been monitoring Rosaria as a child and had lost contact of her when she was sent to the Academy had finally found her again due to the rapid growth of her telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Believing that the Academy was not a safe place for her, they took advantage of rising human - mutant tensions and manipulated the United States Armed Forces to invade the Academy under the guise of taking her to their headquarters in Denmark. As a part of the invasion, she was kidnapped, drugged, and induced in a telepathic coma and forcibly removed from the Academy during the invasion. She would awaken in Denmark, 3 years later in the headquarters of the Order.

While in the induced coma, the Order also forced her to channel the Phoenix - this was done by artificially suspending her heartbeat and bodily functions, effectively killing her temporarily. As the manifestation of the Phoenix, however, she was able to heal herself and eventually awoke from the induced coma - this confirmed to the Order that Rosaria in fact was the manifestation of the Phoenix that they had been searching for.

When Rosaria awoke, she found the world to be a very different place. Rosaria learned that the Academy had been destroyed in the invasion, and she had been declared dead as a result of it. Interestingly enough, she also found herself villified - humans had justified the invasion by painting her as a threat to humanity that needed to be destroyed.

Unsure of who survived the fall of the Academy or where the survivors were located, Rosaria sent for her brother James to be brought to Denmark. A day later, he was kidnapped from his office and brought to the Order's headquarters in Denmark.

James's presence not only significantly raised her spirits but also helped in her transition to accepting herself as the manifestation of the Phoenix, like Rhiannon, who also was a part of her. It also helped her in gaining a deeper understanding of the Phoenix itself and its abilities. Of course, this also meant being constantly in pain mentally and physicaly.

Apart from James, Rosaria was completely isolated from the world around her and the result of that was her developing an extreme apathy and detachment for anyone other than James essentially.

TRIVIA

Loves dark chocolate and lives for Ikea.

Can not and will not function without coffee.

Secretly a huge daredevil who loves sports cars and street racing

Rhiannon, Queen of the Torvi

FULL NAME: Rhiannon

TITLE : Queen of the Torvi

BIRTHDAY:  unknown

GENDER:  Female

SEXUALITY:  Heterosexual

SPECIES: 

AFFILIATION: Rosaria, the Phoenix

BASE OF OPERATIONS: In Rosaria's head, ancient Denmark

APPEARANCE & PHYSICALITY

ETHNICITY: Caucasian

ACCENT: Danish

DOMINANT HAND: right

HAIR: Wavy, Dark auburn hair down to her, right above her knees

EYES: Hazel

BODY: Rhiannon is quite slim and slender in stature and has pale skin, almost translucent in the sunlight.

UNUSUAL FEATURES: Perhaps the most unusual feature of Rhiannon would be her hair. For her times, red hair was quite rare and thus, she often stood out among her court and her people who typically had extremely light blonde hair. Apart from this, when she actively channeled the Phoenix, her eyes too turned a pale purple, and strands of her hair were replaced by stands of purple cosmic flames.

STYLE: While most high-born ladies of her court preferred thick, wool and fur-lined dresses, Rhiannon was known for being seen most often either in a modified version of her husband's clothing - a loose cotton shirt accompanied by wool and fur-lined pants, or wearing her husband's armor. Naturally, this was quite memorable, further cementing her reputation an unusual Queen.

FACECLAIM:  Jessica Chastin

PERSONALITY 

Rhiannon in many ways, is the opposite of Rosaria in terms of personality. She is sarcastic and ruthless when it comes to achieving her goals. Apart from that, Rhiannon actually has quite a temper and is easily angered and impatient as compared to the more temperate Rosaria and often is cruel when it comes to those who have the misfortune of being on the receiving end of her furry. Moreover, Rhiannon does not forget, nor does she forgive. Extremely decisive, Rhiannon also proved herself to be an excellent strategist - most of the Thorvian victories can be directly attributed to her. Like Rosaria, Rhiannon to is extremely loyal - to those who have won her favor, she will literally do anything to protect them. This is seen most accurately during the Thorvian wars when she channeled the Phoenix and destroyed entire enemy fleets and cities to protect her people.

POWERS & ABILITIES 

Like Rosaria, Rhiannon is the physical manifestation of the Phoenix and, because of that, can channel the Phoenix and its abilities as well.

The Phoenix itself is understood to be a sentient cosmic force. Perhaps one of the most well-known abilities of the Phoenix is that it can manipulate the cosmos via cosmic energies. In simple terms, this means that Rhiannon is able to manipulate the very composition of objects at a subatomic level. This, of course, extends to a number of things - manipulation of the weather, natural elements, physical objects, and dangerously, even sentient beings such as plants, animals, homo sapiens, and mutants. Today, this is known to be transfiguration, transmutation, and alchemy. Furthermore, this ability also extends to the manipulation of fundamental forces such as gravity, weak and strong forces, allowing her to fly.

Another notable ability is that of breaking the space/time continuum. Rhiannon most frequently does this via astral projections within her own mind - astrally projecting to Rosaria's time. In rare situations, Rhiannon can physically teleport so to speak - her astral projections can become physical, allowing her not only to physically change the location of her body but also to channel the Phoenix's abilities as well.

Another notable ability of the Phoenix is that it can negate - essentially absorbing cosmic energies within itself. On the other end of the spectrum, it can also manipulate cosmic energies to create - as most notably seen with Rhiannon's regeneration, and the desecration of her enemies during the Torvi Wars. Even if her physical body is charred to ashes, she could still regenerate herself, effectively making her immortal. Even today, while her physical body no longer exists, Rhiannon still very much exists within the Phoenix.

Of course, Rhiannon never channeled the full extent of the Phoenix's abilities. Neither has Rosaria. Both have channeled aspects of it, making the true abilities of the Phoenix rather vague.

RELATIONSHIPS

Husband : King Haraald of Thorvi

Rhiannon's relationship with her husband is rather unknown. She rarely speaks of him and when she does, its never long enough to ascertain anything consequential. Little is also known about King Haraald historically.

Nephew : King William of Thorvi

Rhiannon greatly disliked her nephew, whom she found to be a cowardly womanizer who was far more interested in bedding the ladies of her court as opposed to defending his people. She often attributes the decline of her Kingdom to him.

Rosaria Huntington

It might seem odd to discuss Rhiannon's relationship with Rosaria separately, given that they are the same person. Rhiannon has played a dominant role in Rosaria's life, right from her childhood. Rhiannon was the shadows and the whispers in Rosaria's mind. As a child, naturally Rosaria was terrified and continued to be until she matured into a teenager and seemingly heard Rhiannon's point - they were one in the same. Rhiannon has been shown to often step in and "take over" Rosaria, doing what Rosaria is unable to do. In this manner, Rhiannon has succeeded in protecting Rosaria when she has been paralyzed by incisiveness or fear.

James Huntington

Rhiannon finds Rosaria's adopted brother, James to be quite annoying. But she doesn't dislike him the way she did William - she just finds him irritating like a little brother.

HISTORY

Rhiannon, like Rosaria manifested in 910 as the physical manifestation of the Phoenix. Little is known about her childhood. She was married to King Haraald of Thorvi and named the Queen of Thorvi through marriage. Even prior to his death, she was found to be a controversial force in the court, often joining his advisors to discuss matters of the Kingdom and defenses - something highly unusual for the women of her time.

After his death, she ruled Thorvi in her own right. Early years of her reign prompted the attention of rival Kingdoms who were envious of Thorvi's proximity to the seas and the large number of ports under its Kingdom. This prompted the Thorvian wars - nearly a decade of turbulence and instability across the region. The Wars eventually came to an end when Rhiannon channeled the Phoenix and destroyed her enemies - she desecrated entire fleets of enemy ships and reduced their cities to dust. Till today, not a single trace of her enemies exists. The end of these wars led to a period of peace, prosperity, and stability across the region during which Thorvi flourished and grew.

Eventually, in 963, Rhiannon seemingly vanished and was declared dead. In truth, she chose to return to the Phoenix's natural state and gave up the humanoid manifestation. As the Phoenix, Rhiannon continued to live - seeing empires rise and fall through the centuries.

Almost 3 centuries later, the Order of the Phoenix would be established, and they would identify her to be the first known manifestation of the Phoenix - a title she quite enjoys.

TRIVIA

Rhiannon finds Rosaria's obsession with Ikea disturbing. In general, she hates Ikea due to its expansive nature.

She also greatly dislikes dark chocolate and coffee and does not understand why Rosaria likes either.

Rhiannon loves archery and longs for the day to pull the trigger of a gun - a weapon that is unknown to

[gildedworld]

Sleep

July had always been a difficult time for Alexander. Exactly 7 years ago, the academy was invaded by the military forces of the United States, leading to the destruction of the Academy as Alexander knew it and the unfortunate death of so many mutants in the process.

While that did fundamentally change how Alexander and several other mutants also approached the topic of acceptance and co-existing with humans, it was only part of the reason. The real reason was that it was the day that he lost Rosaria.

Well, the world did.

He had always loved Rosaria. She had been the first mutant of the academy, and Alexander the second. They always had shared a special bond that developed into friendship and, eventually, something more as well.

He couldn't explain it in words, but he had always known that she was the one for him. If he believed in soul mates, she would be his, and he would be hers.

That is why it hurt him the way it did to lose her. Alexander refused to accept that she was dead. She couldn't be. After all, Rosaria was perhaps one of the strongest mutants he had ever encountered.

Equally, he refused to believe that she had any part to play in the invasion. Few knew Rosaria the way Alexander did - he was certain that she could never be a part of a sinister plot like that. It's why he had never entertained such garbage - and he had never been shy to make his point known to the people who did propagate it.

Even after 7 years, he remembered every minute of the invasion clearly. And he remembered-

“Alex how about this?” Francesca asked, snapping Alexander out of his thoughts.

“It's great,” he replied. Not that he knew what he was referring to.

“Really? I like the white one,” she replied, holding up what seemed to be a pair of white leggings to her waist, admiring them in the mirror.

“Great,” he answered, not knowing why the leggings she was holding up were not white. But he really didn't want to get into that at the moment.

“So you like the white ones too?” She asked, spinning around to face him, holding up yet another pair of seemingly white leggings.

Alexander nodded quietly.

“Are you sure because you said you like these ones,” Francesca pointed, holding up the first pair of leggings.

And at that, Alex sighed. He was starting to lose his patience now - both of them looked the same.

“Just pick one Francesca, “ Alex said, exasperated by the situation. “No one is going to be looking at your leggings anyway,” he added dryly.

Francesca's eyes narrowed at that. “Excuse me, but I have over a million followers and they wait to see what I wear every single day,” she began gesturing over her present outfit - a Lululemon cropped top, matching Lululemon Leggings, a pair of Adidas Samba sneakers, and a Lululemon crossbody bag around her waist to complete the look. “Besides, these are the latest leggings,” she added, scoffing lightly as she rolled her eyes and flipped her long brunette ponytail over her shoulder.

“I mean, you always get like this at this time,” she continued, throwing her arms up dramatically. “It's like your body's here, but you aren't, “ she added.

“Like,” Francesca began before sighing dramatically and storming out of her room, leaving Alex alone.

Alex, on the other hand, sighed. He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. She's not wrong, he thought to himself. Every year around this time, he was the same - spaced out, distant.

Yes, it had been 7 years, but he just… couldn't. Even if the world had given up on her, Alexander never would. She had to be alive somewhere. He just knew it.

Sighing again, Alex opened his eyes and proceeded to walk out of Francesca’s room, locking up after himself.

The plan was to meet a few others for lunch but Alex really was not in the mood. So, he headed back towards his room, locking the door behind him and collapsing on the bed. Grabbing his phone, he shot Freya a quick text telling her that he wasn't going to make lunch after all. Sighing once more, he closed his eyes.

---

Rosaria stood still in the corner of the room, watching a very frustrated Alex try to fall asleep. He couldn't see her, of course - no one could because she wasn't physically there. But she was.

All she had wanted to do since when she was taken by the Order was to come back. But she knew it was too dangerous at the moment - half the world hated her and wanted her dead, and the other half thought she was dead.

Rosaria's lips curved into a small smile as she watched Alex sleep - his expressions and mannerisms were all the same. Quietly, she walked over to the bed and ran her fingers across the side of his face. Even if she was not physically there, she could feel the warmth of his skin. She could hear his heart beating - slow and calm and all of a sudden rapid.

Almost instantly, Alexander's left and moved to grab her wrist, and his eyes snapped open.

Rosaria's eyes widened - as she instantly stepped back, her wrist slipped through his fingers- literally. It dissolved into air as she stepped back, ultimately dissolving into air herself. After all, she was just astrally projecting- her physically body was still very much in Denmark with the Order.

---

Alexander, on the other hand, saw nothing - no one was there, and his fingers had curled into a tight fist, unable to grasp anytime but air.

Slowly propping himself up on the bed, Alexander leaned against the wooden bedframe.

What had just happened, he thought to himself silently as his eyes scanned the room for any signs of irregularities. But there were none.

Closing his eyes, Alexander sighed. None of this made any sense - no one was in the room, but for a moment, he could feel her. He could feel Rosaria with him, but he knew that made no logical sense.

Sighing once more, his eyes snapped open and he reached for his phone, quickly texting Freya to meet up.

Maybe Francesca did have a point after all, he thought to himself silently.

[gildedworld]

Good Night

Rosaria hated the night. To be fair, the day wasn’t too much better either. But the night especially she hated.

When other kids told people that there were monsters under their bed, or voices in their heads, the adults around them would take them somewhat seriously. But every single adult around Rosaria would just nod and ask her to be patient. She is dead, she has all the time in the world, Rosaria thought to herself silently as she stared up at the ceiling of her room blankly.

It was because she was a mutant - voices were expected. The adults would say, it was just the voices of other people around her - the inner thoughts and workings of their minds that lay exposed when they slept. But she knew that wasn’t the case. This voice was different. It was constant - it had been with Rosaria her entire life, constantly lurking at the back of her mind. 

It was hard for her to explain it in words. It was as if she had two people inside her - one being herself, and the second was her. She had a name - Rhiannon. She too had been alive at one point from what Rosaria had gathered - some sort of warrior queen in ancient Europe. And that in itself was never the problem. It was Rhiannon itself - her words, her mannerisms, and most of all, her looks. She was tall, slender and bore a striking resemblance to Rosaria herself. It wasn’t just the hair and eyes, it was everything about her.

“You won’t find me in the books your less than adequate tutor preaches from,” Rhiannon spoke calmly.

For others, at least their thoughts were private. But that was not the case for Rosaria - she shared a mind with Rhiannon. Rhiannon heard every single thing she thought of. Even the things she hadn’t told anyone about. Rhiannon knew it all. And then some.

“Maybe because you never existed,” Rosaria whispered calmly.

It wasn’t always that she saw Rhiannon. But she certainly heard her often.

“Then how do you hear me?” Rhiannon asked dryly. Rosaria could feel her rolling her eyes. 

“How can I hear you?” Rosaria asked, with an equally dry tone. “Maybe I am crazy,” she added.

“Are you?” Rhiannon questioned. 

“You tell me,” Rosaria answered with a sigh, as she closed her eyes. “It’s not like I have a large circle of friends to consult anyway,” Rosaria added. 

“What you need are allies, not friends to engage in idle chatter with,” Rhiannon responded, scoffing slightly.

“I’m 16. I’m not going to battle anytime soon,” Rosaria responded dryly as she turned on her left side, preparing to sleep.

“That is unfortunate,” Rhiannon replied.  

“Although, I’d probably choose battle over going to class tomorrow,” Rosaria replied with another sigh.

“I can not disagree with that. Your tutors and peers are most unimpressive,” Rhiannon replied, scoffing slightly again.

“Not all of them,” Rosaria replied softly. Of course, she had a specific peer in mind - he was the most impressive to her.

Rosaria could feel Rhiannon roll her eyes again and that just made her smile. She knew Rhiannon could never understand. Alexander had been the only person to take her seriously when she told him about the voices. Of course, she had still yet to tell him that she had seen Rhiannon. After all, Rhiannon was not a figment of her imagination - she was annoyingly very real.

“You should get rest - it is important for recovery,” Rhiannon marked, and this time, Rosaria couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“I would - except someone keeps talking to me,” Rosaria replied dryly.

“Who?” Rhiannon asked, and Rosaria refused to engage with that. She knew where Rhiannon was going with this. 

Rhiannon had brought it up a couple of times now - that Rhiannon was Rosaria. Or something like that. Rosaria didn’t fully understand it, nor did she have any interest in doing so. All she wanted to do was get at least a few hours of sleep and for once, wake up on time.