Name: Alexandra Thorne
Nickname/s: Lexy
Species: Human
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Hometown: Ashland, OR, USA
Current Residence: Ellen Apartments
Studying: Biology, going into first year of Master's
Employment: Full time student, part time hunter, no time for a job
Family: Mother: Beth Myers, Father: James Morris, Sister: Jessica Morris, Mother-in-law: Miriam Thorne.
Friends: Only her roommate, Olivia, who is also remarkably intelligent, if rather underachieving. Lexy works with Charlie and his team, but doesn't yet exactly consider them friends.
Relationship: None
Player: Jennifer
Contact Email: The.real.jen@gmail.com
Model: Anna Osceola
Background
Born in Medford, Oregon in 1982 and raised in the quiet and picturesque town of Ashland, Alexandra's life was a fairly placid one. Her mother managed a popular restaurant and her father was a professor of Sociology at Southern Oregon University. She was a quiet child--her younger sister Jessica was always the loud one. Alexandra was considered by those who knew her to be sensitive, subtle and unassuming. In elementary school, Lexy was an honor student while Jessie got detention. In high school, Lexy took college prep classes while Jessie was expelled for bringing marijuana to school. Lexy could have attended a better college, certainly, but opted to stay close to home instead. It was just before she got her bachelor's in biology that she met Mark Thorne.
Alexandra had always avoided the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Not really on purpose, but she felt that it was a little overdone. She didn't have anything against Shakespeare, in particular. She had seen the plays, been to the Elizabethan Theater time and again with school trips, but it just wasn't her thing. It was only by chance that she met Mark in Lithia Park. He was smooth, friendly and engaging. And English, to boot, which she found surprisingly appealing. He was an actor, traveling because "why do at home what you could do abroad?" His philosophy was so divergent from hers, and yet he was remarkably compelling. Within days they were inseparable. Within months, they were engaged to be married.
Their wedding and subsequent honeymoon were bliss itself. And then they began to make a life together-- Lexy attending school, and Mark employed full time by the OSF, they were happy.
It wasn't long before it all fell apart.
When one otherwise quiet January night a loud noise issued from the couple's living room, Mark reached for what Lexy had always thought was a prop sword and, after pressing a silver letter-opener into her hand, bade her hide in the closet. She did so, and there she stayed as a fight erupted in their home. She listened as Mark fought, and she listened as Mark died. When they came for her, and she saw them for the lupine beasts they were, she was cornered and fought back and, against all odds, escaped. She didn't know what had happened, or why, only that the killers had known Mark's name, and called him "hunter." And they weren't human.
Of course, she couldn't tell the police all that happened. They certainly would have thought her mad, or guilty, or both. Instead she said only what was normally believable. She was never a serious suspect, but the process of the police investigation was unsettling. Without Mark, she felt lost. Her family tried to console her, but she couldn't tell them everything, and that separated her from what could otherwise could have helped.
She was at her wits' end when Miriam called.
Mark's mother was the kind of woman that Lexy wished she could be. Strong and uncompromising, but at the same time clever and kind. She invited Lexy to her home in Manchester, England. She was welcome to stay after the funeral, Miriam said, for as long as she needed.
She hadn't planned on staying long, but Miriam was so solid a friend that Lexy didn't want to leave. Slowly, Miriam coaxed the truth of her son's death out of her, and, amazingly, wasn't surprised. She knew about these monsters, as had her son. What was more she and Mark had both made a habit of hunting them down when they could. Miriam had stopped doing little more than tracking them, and Mark, it turned out, had tried to quit when he met Lexy. Now though... now Miriam had a new protegee.
Lexy took to monster hunting with some reservation which, Miriam contested, was all to the better. Better to study and understand before attacking. They began to study a local group of tiger-beasts, noting their habits and mannerisms. Most seemed benign, but one had become dangerous. It was this one in particular that Lexy and Miriam concerned themselves with. It was around this time that another group of hunters moved in on Manchester. Lexy had never dealt with other hunters before, and held herself aloof from them, instead continuing to track her subject. She regarded the interfering team almost as if they were monsters themselves. Finally, one soggy evening, one of the new hunters got stupid and cornered the particularly volatile shifter in an alleyway. From her vantage point on a nearby balcony, Lexy was near enough to see what was happening, but far enough that by the time she got there, it was too late. The hunter was dead and brutally dismembered, the beast crouching over the body wearing the shape of a tiger. It was easily the largest creature she had faced, but she didn't waver. It was so engrossed with its kill that it barely had time to react to Lexy's attack. Silver crossbow bolts saw the beast incapacitated, and Mark's sword finished the job, though the head didn't come off neatly as she had imagined. Hacking it off was a gory affair.
It was while she was ridding her stomach of it contents that Charlie and the rest of his crew finally arrived.
They were shaken by the loss of their man, but also impressed, if only grudgingly. Enough, though, that he asked her to join his team right there. Pulse still racing and bile still in her throat, Lexy accepted. When the team moved to reading and enrolled in the University, she jumped at the chance to continue her education. While Mark's death still haunts her, she has finally begun to move forward with her life.
Physical Appearance
Tall and deliberate in her actions, Lexy's comes across as a purposeful, intelligent person. Her moss-green eyes are sharp, taking in all that happens around her, but also sometimes haunted by the ghost of past trauma. Her long, vibrantly red hair is usually bound into a braid when she is expecting danger, but allowed to fall freely in those rare times she feels relatively secure -- usually in her evo-devo class, and sometimes at home. Willowy and slender, she certainly doesn't look like a person willing to separate a shapeshifter's head from its body.
Personality
Once quiet and reserved, Lexy's experiences have changed her. "Quiet and reserved" has become cool and calculating. She still exhibits passion for some things; science, nature, the idea of saving innocent people... but when things come to blows, it help to think of her supernatural foes as things rather than people. Among other humans, though, she comes across as a person who is thoughtful and intelligent, with a fierce commitment to science.Once quiet and reserved, Lexy's experiences have changed her. "Quiet and reserved" has become cool and calculating. She still exhibits passion for some things; science, nature, the idea of saving innocent people... but when things come to blows, it help to think of her supernatural foes as things rather than people. Among other humans, though, she comes across as a person who is thoughtful and intelligent, with a fierce commitment to science.
Talents & Weaknesses
Lexy prides herself on her observational skills and scientific mind. She is good in her field and knows is, though she doesn't allow herself to become arrogant about it. Her particular interest lies in evolutionary biology, but she possesses a solid understanding of most scientific fields. While never overly fit before coming to England, Miriam insisted that Lexy be in peak physical condition. Now, Lexy is lithe and strong, a far cry from the soft girl from Oregon. When not studying or hunting, Lexy often relaxes by playing the piano (or rather, keyboard), though rarely in the company of others. She has a passable voice as well, though it's been some time since she has lifted her voice in song.
She finds that she falls short when confronted with personal conflict. She hates loosing an argument and as such is often seen as somewhat anal in her attention to detail, as a defense against inaccuracy. Also, against her better judgment, Lexy harbors a soft spot for Charlie, though she would never admit it: he is so much like Mark that association with him, let alone affection, feels painfully like betrayal.
In her role as a hunter, Lexy relies primarily on her observational and analytical skills. She never seeks confrontation with the subjects of her research, acting directly only when there is no other course of action. Gathering samples and trying to solve the puzzle of what creatures really are is her primary focus, and helps her avoid thinking of the horror of the large-scale situation, at least sometimes. She dislikes actual interaction with the subjects and fears meeting them face-to-face.
