deerington app.

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Alex Russo
Canon: Wizards of Waverly Place + CRAU
Canon Point: S4E17 plus her time both in Paradisa and Drift Fleet, detailed below

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Left hip
Current Health/Status: Healthy and uninjured
Age: 21, but physically 17
Species: Human (wizard)

History: Alex was born in the backseat of a New York taxi, and was raised in heart of the Manhattan. Her parents, an eccentric Mexican-Italian couple, owned a kitschy little deli, fully operated by themselves and their three children. They had one unusual secret, however – Alex and her brothers were wizards-in-training, taking magic lessons from their father. Once a week they would meet in a hidden lair (also known as their walk-in cooler) to practice turning bricks into bunnies, similarly harmless tricks. Aside from magic, however, Alex’s life in canon was fairly normal. She attended the occasional high school class, served fairly adequate sandwiches to Tribeca’s foot traffic, reluctantly waved pompoms at school basketball games, and sometimes rode over NYC on a magic carpet or turned her parents into guinea pigs (#justgirlythings).

CRAU History and Impact:
In the middle of her junior year of high school, Alex walked through a magic mirror in her family's lair, and didn't come back out. She found herself instead in Paradisa, a pocket-slash-possibly-sentient-castle where anything could be acquired with a wish, at a small cost. For an independence-hungry teenager constantly at odds with her parents, the lifestyle in Paradisa was at first plenty appealing. Anything she wanted at any time, and no rules? Sign her right up. But before long, Alex grew less and less enthusiastic about her little vacation. The castle took things from its residents - Alex, a renowned sloth, could no longer sleep past dawn - and subjected them to routine frustration and terror. She had been chased by dinosaurs, given false memories, thrown into pirate battles. One year passed, and then two; she became bitter and complacent. Then, in her third year, Alex's careless nature got her brutally murdered. A group of demons known as the Gentlemen ripped her heart out, and she wasn't ever quite the same. She was now moody and tense, nearly sullen.

Once Paradisa had gotten its fill, Alex awoke one morning to find herself in an entirely different place - a vast starship known as the Marsiva. She was told she would be a part of a reality TV series known as Drift Fleet, where unsuspecting participants were stuck on small starships and forced to cooperate and survive. Initially a lazy and disruptive communications officer, Alex found herself in an unexpected pickle when she was promoted to captain of her own ship. Over the next year and a half, she slowly grew into the position, coming to care deeply for her ragtag crew and think of them as the first family she had had since New York. While she still carried the trauma of her death daily in depression, anxiety, and a nasty scar, her twentieth birthday found her a much more functional young adult than she had expected to become. After a year in the Fleet, the little wizard from Tribeca could command a crew, pilot a starship, and actually speak to others about her feelings instead of covering them up with insults and jokes.

When Alex was first taken to Paradisa, she was sixteen, painfully unmotivated, and constantly battling her parents over her own lack of maturity. Getting trapped in a castle that will fulfill one’s every wish instantaneously did nothing to alter her pajamas-and-gossip-magazine habits at first, though it took the first small step when it made her physically unable to sleep while the sun was up. This just worsened her generally irritable personality, and for her first year in the castle, Alex spent most of her time lounging, sulking, and snarking, taking everything the castle had to offer and offering nothing but jokes to those around her. She was a scared child who missed her family, but by her second year she had begun to notice that that no longer felt like an excuse. All around her, scared children who missed their families were taking an active part in protecting each other and keeping the castle safe, while Alex was hiding away in her room and eating popcorn. The castle threw her and her friends into danger time and time again, and she never seemed to be able to make a difference, even with all of her spells. She started feeling deep guilt and dislike for herself and her laziness, though it was still all hidden beneath pranks and raspy laughter.

In her third year, the façade finally broke for good with her murder. After reawakening, Alex was traumatized. She was scared, in pain, running on fumes, and several of her closest friends had left while she healed. It had taken three years in a horrifying place, but she had finally met her vulnerability, the one thing she couldn’t shake her wand and a middle finger at. She was no longer an untouchable teen wizard, loafing through life by the tip of her wand, but wasn’t sure who she was. She was frail and raw, and she went into Drift Fleet with this knowledge.

If Paradisa broke her down into a scared child, the Fleet built her back up into an adult, but it was a slow process. She still hid behind jokes and long naps in her bunk, but her bad girl mask was too cracked to do much good. And without that mask, everyone could see and like her for who she was - not a carefree teen wizard, but a young woman who had a lot of fear and a lot of good in her heart. With the help of close friendships and a crew who depended on her, she grew kinder and more mature, starting to let her sense of justice outweigh her sense of pride. Her hatred of hard work was difficult to shake, but she at least grew easier to coerce into chores, especially when it came to taking care of her small, junky starship. She still posted dumb jokes and annoying song on the network, and most of her chores were still done by spells, but she grew into her shoes as captain. Unlike the irreverent truant who was pulled into Paradisa, the former-Captain Russo knows how to show and deserve respect, how to at least begin to confront her feelings, and how to be a person instead of a bundle of insecurities held together by magic and lies.

Well, mostly. She's still kind of an asshole.

Personality: On the outside, Alex can be a self-centered, manipulative, obnoxious, irreverent, lazy- … wait, where was this going?

Ask anyone about Alex, and they would likely reply in one of a few ways - an irritated groan, an exasperated palm to the face, a look of distant horror as they remember her last prank. At first glance, she’s a nuisance and a clown. Her general manner is 75% sarcasm and 25% outright insult, even with those she cares most about. At heart, though, she’s more accurately summed up as a rebel with a strong sense of justice and a deep need to be liked; she just does an excellent job of covering that bit up with her caustic, narcissistic attitude. She’ll skip school without a thought, then go help an elderly neighbor carry her groceries. She’ll lie and cheat and disregard anything society says she should do, but never to harm someone who’s in need. Her moral code a concept of right and wrong that goes by her gut, rather than by anyone else’s rules, and she would never admit to it, lest she crack her precious "bad girl" façade, her utmost defense. Underneath the barbed wire and false confidence, she’s deeply insecure and fearful of pushing away her loved ones. She has a self-serving, “stick it to the man” outlook, and can give the occasional motivating speech in a time of need, but in all honesty she would rather read a fashion magazine than lead any revolution. In fact, she would rather read a magazine than do most things, especially if they involve physical activity. Her laziness is almost impressive; near-Olympic, really. She once spent an entire month on the couch for the “sense of accomplishment.” Most anything she doesn’t want to do is either avoided entirely, or breezed through via magic.

That isn't to say, however, that she prefers to be a completely passive participant in life. Growing up with two brothers back home gave a lot of practice at keeping people under her thumb. Whether she was playing pranks on them or cheating to get ahead, she became adept at using magic to manipulate events into her favor, often creating chaos. And even without magic, Alex can be a quick thinker and a clever talker, coming up with creative solutions using words and slapdash ingenuity instead of a wand. She works best on the fly and alone, with minimal planning and pressure, but she isn't prone to acts of heroism or great courage. She very easily gets in over her head, taking actions without looking at the rapidly building consequences, and refusing to actually take advice anyone else. This can very easily lead to monumental mistakes, and if there's one thing Alex is bad at (aside from academics, athletics, board games, cooking, driving, and getting up on time), it's taking responsibility for her own screw-ups. She would much rather cover them up with even more magic and lies, which only makes the disaster grow. Even her lies have lies, until they get to be too heavy and all tumble down.

Her inner demons spawn primarily from her five years between other realities. She struggles with deep-seated self-worth issues, after years of feeling like the weak link in a world of more heroic, powerful individuals. The trauma of her death and the loss of so many friends and found family members has left her with undiagnosed PTSD and depression, respectively. Beneath all of the terrible jokes and laid-back apathy, this girl is a complete mess.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Alex is a wizard (in training), and to quote a character in another game, "So you just say a rhyme and bend reality?" That is essentially how it works - she says magic words or comes up with a little rhyme, and bam, she makes something happen. With a powerful wand, her magic is strong enough to alter history, though she more frequently uses it to complete chores, cheat on tests, or transfigure small objects. In daily life she might use it to turn a breakfast muffin into a cupcake, or to change the color of her shoes.

In Deerington, her power will be both in scope and accuracy. She can't affect (1) the world at large (i.e. reversing time) or (2) other people (including any monsters). Her spells will also often backfire. If she tries to transfigure an object, for example, it may only obtain some aspects of the desired result. Instead of changing the color of her shoes, she may accidentally turn them into ice skates.

Inventory: Her wand, her Walkman with her Space Jam cassette tape inside, her defunct communicator, and a painting she did of her spaceship

Writing Samples:
One.
Two.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Giz
Player Age: 28
Player Contact: gizmatico

Other Characters In Game: Clara Oswald and Mike Wheeler
In-Game Tag If Accepted: alex russo | giz
Permissions for Character: Here.
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Survival horror, i.e. Until Dawn, and memory loss
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Seizures
Additional Information: