Guardian's Name: Green_Eyes
Criminal's Name: Xerxes Aimery
Criminal's Gender: Male
Criminal's Crime: Burglary, murder
Xerxes was the ring leader of a gang that was very much feared amongst the people of Yurup. With the help of his friends and fellow gang members, Xerxes managed to break into and steal from a large majority of buildings with the highest security and safety measures.
Xerxes, who had always been exceptionally intelligent, was exceedingly careful about avoiding capture and his (seemingly) unlimited connections provided him with a proper means of escape at all times. The news of his arrest (after attempting to steal the King's crown) spread through Yurup like wildfire and rumors escalated uncontrollably. Some Yurupeans claimed that Xerxes had grown arrogant and sloppy because of his success and had mistakenly taken everything too far by trying to steal such a precious piece of history, others were baffled and talked animatedly about how Xerxes couldn't possibly have made an error.
The Authorities did not confirm or deny any of the Yurupean's speculations. Instead, they encouraged the rumors. They did not see any reason for demeaning their system by elaborating on Xerxes's arrest. There was no reason for the citizens of Yurup to know that Xerxes had turned him self in. The gang-leader was thoroughly impressed by The Authorities after he discovered that they had managed to link him to the murder (committed decades before) of the famed scientist, Kaspar Namazzi
Dr. Kaspar Namazzi was well-known for his studies of Yurupeans that showed exceptional skills. Ipo Aimery and Tyee Aimery, Xerxes's parents, were forced to hand the toddler over to Dr. Namazzi where he tested and monitored the child. As Xerxes grew older he became increasingly disgusted with Dr. Namazzi's work and he plotted and executed the Dr.'s murder at the tender age of fifteen.
Name and Brief Description of Home Planet:
The planet Yurup is a moderately small place with little land. The planet consists of water, for the most part, and the Yurupean's are well-adapted to the rain that endlessly pours down on their planet. The sun never shines and the moon never glows and therefore, there is no day or night. In fact, Yurup is a colorless, wet planet where time would not seem to exist if it weren't for the people that grow and die there. Contrary to their planet's depressing atmosphere, there Yurupeans are generally fun loving individuals with very colorful personalities. For the most part, they go about their daily lives without a care or a worry and abide by the rules that the royal family set in place thousands of years before.
The royal family is highly revered amongst the people of Yurup (save for a few) and there is little the Yurupeans wouldn't do to be recognized by a member of the royal court. The royal court has full reign over the citizens of Yurup. However, members of the royal court tend to dislike associating themselves with the 'lower classes' and so; to help them keep the Yurupeans under control are The Authorities, a large group of able Yurupeans that enforce the rules of Yurup. Yurupeans are owned by the rules of their world and can't make many decisions of their own. In other words; they do what they're told, when they're told.
There are those few (Xerxes and his gang, for example) that are brave enough to dangle on the edge of their world, challenging The Authorities and causing disorder wherever they go. Their lives are dangerous and isolated as they do not venture into public very often for fear of being captured by The Authorities.
Full Description of Criminal's Personality, Powers, and What Makes Them Awesome:
Xerxes is a genius with a love of adventure and a wild side. There's nothing he wouldn't try at least once, and he'd be the first in line for whatever it was. Climbing to the top of Mt. Everest? Going shark diving? Planning a high-tech assassination that promises to be challenging? Well, then, Xerxes is most definitely your man.
He enjoys tinkering with things and taking them a part and he (almost always) manages to piece them back together. This habit, along with the wide range of knowledge Xerxes exhibited as a toddler is the reason for his placement under Dr. Namazzi's care.
Open and friendly, one can't help but feel special when standing beside Xerxes who goes out of his way to make everybody feel welcome and at home. That is, as long as you don't have anything to do with a sort of authority. He's always despised authority and tries whatever he can do beat it.
In spite of his energetic, flirty and open persona, Xerxes is emotionally unavailable, particularly in the matters of the heart. He sees love as a weakness and avoids any relationships with the potential for 'getting out of hand.' It would take a soul equally as stubborn and hard-headed as he to make him change his mind on the subject.
Also, he's incredibly honest and if he's impressed with somebody he'll reward them in some way. For example; Even if it had been his first crime, Xerxes was positive that there had been no hints left behind and he was humbled enough to turn himself in when the Authorities discovered that it was he who had killed Dr. Namazzi.
Prompt Letter and Response: b
Curse the day she'd decided it would be a good idea to put a phone in her room. Green groaned and held a pillow over her ears, vainly trying to mute the noise. Needless to say, it didn't work very well at all and after a few very angry curses spewed out of her mouth, she picked up the phone and slammed it back down.
The ringing had stopped.
Content, Green gave a small, satisfied nod and rolled onto her side. She was just beginning to drift back to sleep when the shrill and unwelcome ring of the telephone started up again.
Finally, succumbing to its call, she answered the phone and held it up to her ear.
"What?" she snarled angrily and cast a sideways glance at the digital clock that sat on her bedside table. The numbers blinked 2:00 am. Damn. Who in their right mind would be calling her that early in the morning? A cool, female voice came from some place near her chin and with a roll of her eyes; Green flipped the phone right-side up.
"Sorry," she grumbled, "Could you repeat that, please?"
"Ma'am," the woman's tone was one of slight annoyance, "This is Agent Johnson of the Durem police. We have your son here at headquarters and we were wondering if you would come and speak with him."
Suddenly wide awake, Green gawked at the phone. Her son was at headquarters? POLICE headquarters?
"Gage?" she gasped.
"So, that's his name?" Agent Johnson sighed, "He wouldn't tell us. The only piece of information he gave us was your phone number and of course the fact that you are his mother."
"Stay where you are," Green hissed, "I'm coming."
After stumbling into Nika's room to tell him where she was going and slipping on her emergency shoes (they were very easy to get in and out of) Green made her way, clumsily, to her car. Coffee sloshed over the rim of her mug and burnt her hand. She paid it no mind, desperate to get to her child.
She clambered into the vehicle, downed the coffee in one gulp and burned rubber.
~
"I've already told you," Gage shrugged and blinked up into the angry blue eyes of the portly detective that had arrested him, "I didn't do it."
"I've had enough of your lies, boy!" the detective shook a fat finger in front of Gage's face. Perturbed, the teenager leaned backwards in his chair and eyed the offending finger with distaste.
The detective let out a frustrated growl at the look on Gage's face and stalked out of the small, plain office. The teenager took a moment to study the room. It was obvious from the cop's lack of taste that Gage's adversary wasn't very intelligent.
"What do you mean?" the familiar sound of his mother's shrieks drifted through the door the detective had forgotten to close and into the office, "Graffiti? That's insane! I know, Gage and he wouldn't do that-
His mother's infuriated cries were interrupted by the female cop. Gage leaned backwards in his chair to get a better look at the quarrelers, frustrated that his mother was the only one speaking loud enough for him to hear.
"Considering his former crime?" Green hissed through her teeth. Gage couldn't help the snicker that escaped him at the site of her. Only she could pull off looking so formidable in a pair of care-bear pajama shorts and an oversized shirt that had the words 'I love kittens' written across the front. Yes, he smirked to himself; getting the police to phone her at two in the morning was the best thing he could have done.
Gage sighed and rubbed his neck. His mother was one of the most predictable people he knew. That was one of her many weaknesses. In this case, however, her predictability had played a key role in his plan to get himself out of there. There was nothing she wouldn't do for one of her children. He knew it and didn't care if he abused it.
A loud bang shook the entire room and slightly alarmed, Gage spun around in his seat to face the source. Green stood in front of the door she'd previously slammed shut; her usually pretty face was almost unrecognizable. Gage restrained himself from letting out an impressed whistle. He'd never seen her look so livid.
"They've agreed to let me talk to you alone," she grumbled and slid into the detective's chair.
Gage didn't reply. Instead, he busied himself with rearranging the books on the detective's desk. He wondered why he couldn't look his mother in the eye.
"Would you like to tell me what, exactly, you were doing out so late in the first place?"
He reigned in his emotions and forced himself to remain unaffected by the acid in her tone. He'd readily predicted her reaction and was prepared to handle whatever she tossed at him
"I was out with boys," he said with a straight-face, still incapable of looking her in the eye.
"I'm not in the mood for your little games, Gage," Green hissed, "The truth. Out with it."
Damn. As his adopted mother, she'd always been exceptionally talented at reading him.
"I was with Sara," he shrugged indifferently and finally managed to look Green in the eye. It wasn't like he loved the girl or anything. Hell, he didn't even like her. He was far too good for that. It was just sex. Good sex.
"We'll talk about that later," Green's nostrils flared with rage and an emotion he didn't know the name of flashed in her eyes, "Right now, we've got to figure out a way to get you out of here. What were you doing when they caught you?"
"Explaining to a group of immature boys how tasteless graffiti is," Gage scoffed, "Spray-painting the sides of buildings? There are so many other, more constructive things they could be doing."
"Breaking into buildings, for example?" Green snapped. For a moment, Gage wondered if her nose would get stuck that way.
"Precisely," he nodded, "That is, as long as they did it with style."
"Call Sara and tell her to get over here so that she 'explain' to Agent Johnson and Detective Connors what you were doing in town so late," Green demanded and chose to ignore Gage's previous statement.
"But it's almost three in the morn-
"You didn't seem to have a problem with the police phoning ME at two in the morning" Green snarled and gave her youngest son a look that could only have meant one thing, "as far as I’m concerned, Sara's slept for an hour too long."
"Alright, alright," Gage rolled his eyes and fished around in his jacket pocket for the cell phone he always carried with him. Just in case.
~
The sun was just beginning to peek over the hills as Green, high on caffeine, drove home. She took a second to examine Gage through the rear-view mirror. The white-haired boy was curled up in the back-seat with his hands tucked behind his head. He looked the same now as he had when he was a baby, peaceful and innocent. Green snorted at that thought and tried to shake reason into her head.
Gage had never looked innocent.
Yet, it was so hard to believe that he was taking part in activities she rather wished he wouldn't. The image of Sara strutting into police headquarters wearing nothing but a tummy-bearing top and a mini-skirt would be there every time she closed her eyes and Green would be cursed to feel it burn into the delicate flesh of her eyelids.
Her little boy was already having sex. With women who were older than her, no less.
The thought was enough to make her cry and indeed as she studied the teenager in the backseat, tears began to slide down her rosy cheeks. Green let out a choked sob and rubbed at her eyes with one hand. Later, she would remember that moment and wonder how she'd managed to stay on the road.
Months ago, when she'd taken Gage under her wing and knowingly agreed to raise the criminal as her own, she'd held such a high hopes for his future.
"I was going to change him," she whispered aloud. The words seemed to echo throughout the steel frame of the vehicle and they taunted her.
Suddenly determined not to let the sound of her own words defeat her, Green felt confidence pour into her soul from an invisible source and she spoke with all of the determination she could muster, "This adventure's not over, yet, muffin."
Gage snored loudly, and Green couldn't help but wonder if he was unconsciously responding to the use of his childhood nickname.
