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information sheet
ALEX CHEN
For the first time in years, I really let myself believe.
AGE:
22
DOB:
july 10 1997
PRONOUNS:
she/her
SEXUALITY:
bisexual
HOMEWORLD:
oregon / colorado, earth
TIME PERIOD:
2019
MORE TEXT:
Canon point is Chapter 5, before she wakes up from her memories.
APPEARANCE
Alex is a young, Chinese-Vietnamese American woman of average height and slightly larger than average build. She wears large, round, red glasses. Her hair is cut mostly to pixie length but with a longer, sweeping bang on the left.
Each ear has standard lobe piercings and the right has two helix piercings; she also has a simple nose stud in her left nostril. On her right hand, she has two tattoos: a shooting star above her thumb and a shield on her middle finger. She paints her nails black and dresses in a broadly alternative but comfortable style, favouring multiple variants of the same basic outfits.
PERSONALITY
+
empathetic . creative . responsible
=
dorky . stubborn . snarky
-
emotionally volatile . repressed . secretive
SUMMARY
The key word to describe Alex is 'empathetic'. It's more than just her abilities, it's the way she processes the emotions she absorbs as a result of them, and how she learns to use her abilities to help people. She truly understands people—something that can be a curse as much as a blessing, but one that she's come to appreciate more with time.This doesn't stop her from being rather shy and awkward when she's in a new place. If anything, her abilities have made her social life infinitely more complicated over the years, leading to her accidentally saying something she shouldn't know, or making people who feel strongly hard to be around, or just from the pressure of keeping the secret. But beneath the initial awkward surface she's a dorky, goofy, snarky girl with a confidence that grows with time.
It also doesn't stop her from being deeply emotionally repressed in her own special way. Being aware of other people's emotions all the time, to the point that they've often overtaken her own, gives her a convenient excuse to not really unpack her own trauma and emotions in any meaningful way. She's not unaware of how she feels, most of the time, and might even be able to articulate it quite well in the quiet of her own head, but that doesn't mean she deals with it!
She's also creative, stubborn, responsible, and a quick thinker. She's pulled herself through remarkable hardship on the power of her own resilience and through her music.
BACKGROUND
FAMILY
Wendy Chen. Mother.
Died of cancer when Alex was 10 years old. Told Alex that she was strong and had to be strong for her father and brother after Wendy died.
John Chen. Father.
Abandoned Alex and Gabe when she was 11 and he was 15, after failing to cope with his wife's death. Noted as 'only kind of' an asshole before this.
Gabe Chen. Older Brother.
Sent into the system with Alex, but was arrested at 16 for stealing a car and went to juvie. Didn't see Alex again for eight years, where he finally found her and invited her to live with him in Haven Springs. Died tragically the same day she arrived.
Died of cancer when Alex was 10 years old. Told Alex that she was strong and had to be strong for her father and brother after Wendy died.
John Chen. Father.
Abandoned Alex and Gabe when she was 11 and he was 15, after failing to cope with his wife's death. Noted as 'only kind of' an asshole before this.
Gabe Chen. Older Brother.
Sent into the system with Alex, but was arrested at 16 for stealing a car and went to juvie. Didn't see Alex again for eight years, where he finally found her and invited her to live with him in Haven Springs. Died tragically the same day she arrived.
1997 - 2007
Alex is born and lives a normal enough life with her family from the ages of 0-10. She and her brother are close, and though her dad's kind of an asshole, she still loves him. At age 10, her mother is diagnosed with cancer and ends up in hospital; the family spends a lot of time with her there until her death.
2008
When Alex is 11, her father loses his job yet again. They've had a string of bad luck like this that's left the family broke and tensions are high, Gabe and John fighting constantly whilst Alex tries to defuse them. One day, John goes to hit Gabe but elbows Alex by mistake. Ashamed, he storms out of the apartment and never returns, leaving the kids to be taken by CPS.
2010 - 2018
Alex and Gabe are in the system together for about a year, before Gabe is arrested for stealing a car and sent to juvie, leaving Alex alone. Alex spends the next eight years bouncing around orphanages, foster homes and group homes, going through all the standard trials of being in the system... whilst also developing her Empathy powers. Trying to tell people what she's experiencing leads to her being labelled delusional and difficult; she's diagnosed with various conditions (autism, ADHD and bipolar) and medicated. She is never adopted, nor stays with one family for long.
When she comes of age, she stays in the half-way house Helping Hands Group Home. Here she is expected to talk to a therapist about her issues as a condition of staying here, but she regularly crashes with other people to get away from the place. She stops telling people about her abilities altogether after numerous bad experiences, including the loss of a valued friendship.
When she comes of age, she stays in the half-way house Helping Hands Group Home. Here she is expected to talk to a therapist about her issues as a condition of staying here, but she regularly crashes with other people to get away from the place. She stops telling people about her abilities altogether after numerous bad experiences, including the loss of a valued friendship.
2019
Gabe finds Alex after a long search through the internet and phone books. They talk for a while over text and phone calls before he invites her to come join him in Haven Springs, the small Colorado town he's settled in. Alex takes him up on this and feels that she might finally be free of the system, free to have a normal life. Gabe even believes her when she tells him about her abilities after an awkward incident caused by them.
And then Gabe is killed by a rockfall caused by the local mining company setting off a blast despite knowledge of people in the area. Alex is left alone again, to befriend Gabe's old friends and to try and figure out what really happened that night and why.
And then Gabe is killed by a rockfall caused by the local mining company setting off a blast despite knowledge of people in the area. Alex is left alone again, to befriend Gabe's old friends and to try and figure out what really happened that night and why.
ABILITIES
EMPATHY/TELEPATHY
Alex can sense people's emotions and sees coloured auras representing four major emotions (fear, sadness, anger and joy). This happens whether she likes it or not—the stronger the emotion, the more clearly Alex can see/feel it. When she focuses on someone like this, she can hear their thoughts as they relate to and explain their current emotional state. The drawback of this is that she can be so affected by someone else's emotions that she starts to feel them too, leading to depression or violence etc.
PSYCHOMETRY
Empathy, but on objects. Alex can sense strong emotional memories left behind on objects and can tap into that energy to get a glimpse at that memory.
NOVA
An enhanced version of her typical empathy abilities. By deliberately embracing someone else's emotional state, she can see the world around them the way they see it/through a metaphorical lens. In this state, she can examine her surroundings and figure out what's bothering someone, then use it to help them.
EMOTION ABSORBTION
Alex can completely remove someone's emotional response to a specific situation. This isn't necessarily permanent, if the person is given reason to feel this way again they likely will, but in some circumstances it can cause lasting damage.
OTHER
INVENTORY
• Starter outfit
• ???
GAME STATS
deaths. 0
kills. 0
job. undecided
bank. here
arrival. july 2025
goddess. kora
demon. ???
• Starter outfit
• ???
GAME STATS
deaths. 0
kills. 0
job. undecided
bank. here
arrival. july 2025
goddess. kora
demon. ???
OOC: blue . GMT/BST . bluecitrine@plurk / artisticblueteam@discord