¤ ][. ₪_Family & Friends_₪ .][ ¤
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₪ Alexander Hamilton Wicker ₪Alex lives across the street and one house over from Alden. He is a lawyer and Alden's friend. They have similar conversational natures, always quick with the put-downs, but Alex is much nicer than Alden and approaches life with a combination of caring, calm, and clarity. As a result, he tends to diffuse situations rather than exacerbate them. He has a lot of patience.
₪ Thane Magos ₪Living directly across the street, Thane Magos is a divine necrogolem as kind as he is magical. He's several centuries old and has learned to approach life with eyes open and hand ready to help. He rather likes Alden, and Alden sometimes works with Thane to assist with labeling and cataloging the many artifacts Thane uses in his magical research (an area where Alden's naming skills come in handy).
₪ Katherine Magos ₪Thane Magos's adopted daughter, she came from a cabbage like Hatshepsut and Spencer. She is very sweet and caring, but also fun and energetic, and she has a maturity beyond her age.
₪ Limue & Nicholas Baumgarter ₪Adjacent to Alex, Nick is a security agent and Lili is Thane Magos's assistant. They're so good to the core Alden can't stand them. Being so good, of course, they don't mind Alden's issues. They have three adopted children, Ursa, Nina, and Ella. Periodically Nick will try to put some sense in Alden's head, so far without success.
₪ The Enclave ₪On the other side of Thane Magos, at the corner, lives the Enclave, a vamprie coven. They are very quiet, and thus in Alden's book very good neighbors. There are at least five vampires living in the old house, but it's hard to say for sure, as most of their comings and goings are at night. Some of the vampires in the group are clearly not affected by sunlight, as Alden occasionally sees Lu Shem or Mary Aberfoyle, the two vampires he's met, around in the garden at daytime. Lu Shem is some sort of martial arts expert, and Mary is a lawyer who works with Alex. Mary's pretty, but a bit older than Alden's preference, and has never given him time of day, so Alden figures her for a lesbian.
₪ Terence Parsons ₪Terry doesn't live in the neighborhood or even anywhere close, but he and Alden are pals and designated drinking buddies. He turns up unannounced with six packs, Alden's favorite type of guest. Alex also drinks with them. Terry's the fun-loving type, especially if the fun involves a bit of mischief, and just rolls with whatever happens. He doesn't mind Alden's occasional insults and verbal abuse, it just rolls off his back.
₪ Matthew Barnett ₪Two doors down, Matt is a former police detective who hasn't figured out what to do with his life now that he's been disillusioned by the things people are capable of. Cynical, pessimistic, depressing, and really, really cute. Alden has a crush on him and would really like to help Matt figure out a few things to do, but suspects Matt's straight. Alas. Alden's basing the main character of the novel he's currently writing on Matt.
₪ Kenyon Lagrange ₪A friend of Alden's, they enjoy sitting around grumping about things together. Between the two of them, they have a lot to grump about. Kenyon is a former mercenary who had his ears torn as a punishment for trying to overthrow the (corrupt) government of his home kingdom. He's not really a good person, but he wanted to protect someone important to him. After he was captured and tortured, the person he was trying to protect was killed. It didn't seem like such a big deal to fight after that. Kenyon is still very handy with a sword. Alden dated Kenyon's twin, Philemon, for several months after his wife left.
₪ Cecil Lavanchy ₪Alden's neighbor on the right, they don't really get along. Cecil can be rather judgmental, and in every judgment he's made about Alden, he's been right. Cecil is conceited beyond all reason and can spend hours on his long, silky blonde hair. Cecil is a mage, but a bit of a frivolous one. He teaches at the Liberty Center and thinks he's always right about everything.
₪ Albemarle Grunsparwa Orvinque ₪Cecil's best friend. Marle runs a farm where he breeds magical beasts, but can often be found either at Cecil's house, Thane Magos's house, or Miguel's house. Despite his infrequentpresence on the street, Alden runs into Marle quite often. He knows from reputation that Marle was a traitor during the war. Almost everyone has forgiven Marlu for it, but Alden isn't everyone. He doesn't care enough to get worked up about it, though.
₪ Luke Grzeda & Victor Fox ₪Alden's neighbors on the other side, they're a nice couple, friendly, invite Alden over for drinks sometimes. Unfortunately, while Alden doesn't mind them (they're not all sugary and sweet like Nick and Lili), he finds their happy marriage a depressing reminder of his failed one. Luke is a journalist and Vic is an undertaker.
₪ Mia Angela (Moretti) Wicker ₪Alex's wife, sulky and vindictive and full of passionate fire, most of which is safely negated by Alex's diffusive nature, but there's enough left over to make for great sex. She has two children from a previous marriage which dissolved when she discovered her husband, Rammy, was cheating on her and fathered a child by another women. Her daughter lives with her and Alex. Her son, Terence Mackenzie Ramsay, lives with his father and stepmother (and half-sister Eleanor) in Florida and visits during vacations but never seems to enjoy it very much. Too much of Mia's time is spent badmouthing her ex-husband. She tends to think that her life is worse than everyone else's. She also tends to overlook the cruel fact that Sunset, the girl her husband cheated on her with, was killed and eaten as a result of their tryst.
₪ Antonia Maria Moretti ₪Mia's daughter from a previous marriage, the girl has some issues. She and Alden sometimes play a sort of staring game with each other from over the fence. Alden gets the sense Antonia is already as screwed up as he is.
₪ Bradley and Ginette Waterhouse ₪On the other side of Lili and Nick live Brad and Genie. Genie is the sweet housewife type, but she's into things like angels and crystals and psychics, so Alden considers her rather daft. Brad is curator of the museum wing of the Archive and sometimes works with Alden and Thane Magos. Brad's very no-nonsense. He doesn't like Alden's rudeness very much, though he can tolerate it for short periods. Eventually, Alden always manages to piss him off.
₪ Andie Harris & Melissa Wright ₪These fun, energetic girls are roommates. Andie is a data analyst and Melissa is an exotic dancer. Alden gets invited to all their parties, and finds them good company in moderation, as they think his comments are really funny. Also, Melissa always invites her dancer friends to her parties, and Alden's nailed two of them so far.
₪ Minerou Tanaka ₪Like Alden, Tanaka has guardian abilities, but his are on a much grander scale. His guardian guise is Helix and he has power over matter. He can literally shape the universe at whim. Tanaka is the sourest person Alden has ever met. They may have guardian powers in common, but that's it, and they generally avoid each other just because they can.
₪ Corasela & Roger ₪Alden "affectionately" refers to Corasela as the neighborhood drunken bike. An alien princess from a clay planet, she discovered Earth alcohol one day and that was it for her life. Her boyfriend, Roger, is a mean fellow, so mean that it actually triggers Alden to want to intervene sometimes.
₪ Miguel Laroux ₪Former swordsman turned chef, Miguel lives at the far corner across the street. He and Alden have an unspoken "keep to yourself" pact which works very well for them. When they do have to interact, they get along quite well, it's just not the sort of get along that friendships are based on. Mutual acquaintances is a good term for it.
₪ Philemon Lagrange ₪Twin to Kenyon, Alden's ex-boyfriend. They dated for several months after Alden's wife left him. Philemon is a quiet person, usually too deeply involved in his own thoughts to notice the rest of the world around him. He is a magic-user who can convene with spirits and is gifted with reflections. Though gay, he was married once to fulfill a family obligation. He used his magic to escape from his unhappy marriage into another world, which was how he found and rescued Kenyon.
₪ Berchenda, Xanythos, & Fig ₪At the far corner on Alden's side, across from Miguel, live Berchenda Dilos, Xanythos Arquetien, and Fig. Berchenda and Xanythos are mages of some sort, though they keep mostly to themselves so Alden isn't totally sure what kind. Berchenda is beautiful (due to beauty-enhancing sorcery) and aloof. Xanythos is focused and cold despite apparently consorting with fire demons. Fig is some of servant to them. He's half-goblin, half-troll, and didn't get brains from either side of his gene pool. Fig's sweet, though, and Alden pities him and helps him on the occasions when they interact. He genuinely feels bad that Fig is too stupid to understand when he's being insulted.
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