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orena noted the stutter in her younger sister's words with the conversation switch but chose to let it be. It amused her, among all else, just how important and attractive flora were to Jezebel. She spent so much of her time fawning over them as though they felt something. Then again, from what the young woman described, they did feel which led Lorena to take especially good care, if only for Jez's sake. After all, too see her in the presence of a dying plant was heartbreaking. "Well, Thank you!"
Lorena remained conscious of the pies that sat in the oven, still too early in their cook time to have given the room the noticeable aroma. She waited eagerly, but now that Jezebel came around, the pyrokinetic had someone to share with. "I'm doing well. Still trying to get used to where things are," Lorena did not hide the difficulties she faced in the foreign town, "But I bought some things and now I'm making some small fruit pies!"
Surely, the words implied an invitation to stay. She hardly needed to utter it, "And you? How is school?"
he nodded lightly, but her eyes glazed over in thought, "We always could, but how do you think she'd react to all of this?" Comparatively speaking, they lived modestly and in tighter quarters. Her cheeks reddened at the thought of her coming into their apartment and seeing the mess that started accumulating in her bedroom. She could hear the woman's tight lipped scolding as if she were next to her. No matter the situation, she doubted the woman would ever do anything except mother them, to which she'd not be adverse to at all. She missed it.
When Lorena realized he laughed at her for her comments on his ambition, she responded with a turn of her lips to a pout. It always hurt knowing that her brother still felt abandoned, lost in a family he didn't feel he belonged. Lorena felt guilty for letting him go so easily on his own; they did everything together, but the moment when it mattered most, she let him go. The brunette shook her head, "You could do anything you wanted on your own," Just because he didn't see didn't mean she didn't speak truth.
Lorena watched him carefully while his eyes remained downcast, noting the way his jaw clenched tightly. The young woman wished to extend her hand out and wrap her fingers around his hand but she refrained, well aware of the reaction if she did. It could be considered comical how ironic their developed abilities became, where they kept two siblings so close at an arms length away at all times, but to Lorena it all felt tragic. She nodded her head, knowing the words he gave were words that were meant to offer consolation, though not necessarily truth. "I'm sure," She said, "Time is a very unforgiving thing."
ausicca. The name in his mouth reminded her of a time of innocence, a feeling of overwhelming love, but also heartbreak. She missed the woman's smile and presence, the way she could walk into the room and scold them one minute, but succumb to their antics in the next, and Lorena certainly missed the way that Nausicca just felt like home. "You know, I wonder if it's possible to ship in some treats, too." She offered a laugh then, but the smile barely reached her eyes.
Whether Luca cared to admit it or not, ambition ran in their blood. To be an Ivaskov meant that he had an ambition and a drive for success within them, but whether they tapped that potential or allowed it to simply remain under the surface was up to them. It took an ambitious man to do everything he could to be happy, even if it meant leaving the people you cared for behind. In reference to herself, however, she felt herself move forward with her father always in the background, unlike Luc who made his own. "I'm not the one who started The Green Fairy," Lorena said, pressing the cup back to her lips for another sip, but despite her wish for it to get better, it did not. Another grimace followed, "A girl can hope that one day soon, maybe this little town can hold its own. But they really need to learn to fix this."
What Luca said next made her fingers twitch, and she could feel the skin of her palm warm from the tips down. "Of course I miss it," Unlike Luca, she called Romania home for the entirety of her life. Sure, life in Oregon was so much more carefree and lax, with work being put into the club but no real expectation except to do what she could. Luca never pressed her unless absolutely necessary for things that needed to be done because she always got them done, which she appreciated tremendously, but how could she forget her roots so quickly? "All I've ever known was Sibiu," Lorena offered, "So of course I miss it, brother. It's hard not to."
t least Luca never lied, even if his truths were far from what she wanted to hear. "Months?" Lorena said incredulously, momentarily pushing the cup away from her. Again, she'd finish it, but she knew that she couldn't handle another sip so soon. If it took months for her to grow accustomed to something as simple as coffee, Lorena's hope dipped for a fast integration on anything else. Then again, she grew up knowing pure quality, as did Luca, so it'd only be natural for it to take time to grow used to anything else.
Lorena felt it was worth it, though. Anything that allowed her to see her brother laugh the way he just had was worth it.
Her subdued smile turned to a full out grin, and the notion of a spiked coffee bar did not fall on deaf ears. "Being ambitious never hurt anyone, Luc," Lorena sheepishly shrugged a shoulder. Luca proposed the idea of the club with enthusiasm, and while the scene didn't align with Lorena's passions too well, how could she deny her brother such a thing? His words were laced with an affection that she never saw when he worked with their father back home. Maybe they could have a happy medium in the future, once the club surely thrived. She knew it would. "Stagfort would finally have a true good morning." The young woman laughed, "They would finally see what they're missing."
ingertips circled around the edge of the cup of coffee. Plenty of cream, two sugars. She still had yet to find a mixture that she preferred, but she never let things go to waste, so even if Lorena Ivaskov had to reheat the coffee after it turned cold, she would. She pressed her lips against the side and took a sip. The still bitter liquid slid down her throat and she grimaced. More sugar next time, she decided.
"How long did it take for you to get used to this?" Lorena directed the question to the man who sat across from her whose blue eyes mimicked her own. American coffee seemed overly watered down, but especially bitter in a way that the coffee at home never felt. Despite the time she spent here, the culture shock still remained pretty evident, and in moments like these she missed the morning coffee at home. She knew that Luca didn't hold the same sentiments, so she kept her thoughts to herself on that. "Maybe we should make a coffee shop of our own," She mused then, her finger circling the cup once again, "I bet it would be great."
he day passed slowly in the small little town. She tried not to be holed up in the apartment for many reasons, some of which include the base temperature the apartment had to stay all year round, but it proved difficult when Lorena didn't have many people to interact with. Unlike her two siblings, the pyrokinetic had absolutely no connections in Stagfort, which made it difficult to do much of anything at all. Certainly, she appreciated the new culture, but everything was so different. She felt she stood out in some of the worst ways, down to the way her words came from her mouth. In Sibiu, she had no accent. Here, she had to repeat everything almost twice.
So after Lorena braved the outdoors for a short portion of the morning, she returned back to the apartment to make herself some tea and other treats. The young woman had been working in the kitchen when she heard her sister call out to her. She stepped away from her pies and greeted the girl at the door, only to have a flower handed to her before she could even utter a hello.
Lorena grinned and took the pot only to place it on the table nearest them. After all, she knew it'd be far easier to admire when her hands were not full. "It's beautiful, Jez" She said genuinely, gently brushing her fingers against the petals as she observed the colors. "Where did you find this?" It certainly didn't surprise Lorena to know that Jezebel randomly picked up a flower somewhere on her adventures. She turned her head towards her younger sister as she still leaned over, lips pulled upward into a gentle smile, "Did you make another side trip on the way back home again?"
AGE: 24 GENDER: Female ORIENTATION: Unsure - Assumes Heterosexual at this point POSITION: Business Partner in The Green Fairy
♦ THE ABILITY ♦
POWER: Pyrokinesis To summarize, pyrokinesis is the ability to create, manipulate and control fire. The strength and longevity of the flame is dictated by a number of classic factors (oxygen, fuel, and heat). Appearance is also subject to change. This change is dependent on presence of particular elements. For example, if there is an abundance of potassium in whatever is burning, the flame will turn a lilac or purple rather than the classic red.
LIMITATIONS:
+ Restricted to fire's holy trinity - oxygen, fuel, and heat - to properly manifest. +Control is key. Things can go terribly wrong without control during emotionally trying times as with many pyrokinetics. +She can only maintain the flames for a certain period of time before she will collapse from heat exhaustion. +Lorena can only maintain flame from a certain distance - 30 to 40 feet maximum, though the latter is if her concentration is spot on, which usually doesn't happen. The farther away, the more concentration she requires to keep it going. It will simply fizzle out otherwise.
SIDE-EFFECTS:
+A higher body temperature. +A susceptibility to heat stroke/heat exhaustion from her already high body temperature +During especially emotional times, her hands and body are notorious for heating and she has accidentally burned people and things.
♦ THE FREEFORM ♦
Once Upon A Time…
There was a princess who lived in a beautiful castle with beautiful parents and beautiful siblings. Many people envied this perfect family in the city of Sibiu. They became the epitome of high class, the center of sophistication, and all the wishful thinkers saw them as hope. The young princess saw the looks, and she had to wonder how they even got there.
Routine came naturally, and every step they took always remained calculated thanks to the patriarch. They had to keep up this family façade of perfection because, after all, they were royalty and what example would they offer the world if things weren’t perfect? This calculation even fooled the princess, but she couldn't speak for her twin, the youngest prince. Where she saw no issue in the early years, he very well could have.
Regardless, Princess Lorena Ivaskov always loved her life; she specifically loved the way they were groomed to be something amazing, loved the way they appeared to be a cohesive family unit until they weren't. She held onto the love of her entire family like a lifeline, but the prince most of all. They were birds of a feather.
They played and played and played every day. When anyone tried to hurt her, the handsome prince would defend her with all his might, even if the aggressor happened to be twice his size. In return, the young princess would do the same. Despite her generally small size, she never backed down from a tricky situation and always tried to diffuse it.
The two went everywhere and did almost everything with one another if they could help it, but it didn’t always work out that way. The King believed in princess things and prince things, and he already raised their older siblings to act in such ways. The princes learned archery while the princesses learned to be ladylike. This, as it so happened, is where the problems began.
...There Lived a Girl With a Gilded Life
At around 8 years of age, the kingdom her family built up took a turn for the worst. The Queen passed away due to complications during childbirth, and the King was left to mourn while he had another child to care for. The King had never been a particularly gentle man, nor did he hold an affection and tenderness that the Queen had, but it only worsened after her passing. In order to keep his mind away from his lost love, he pressed for near perfection from the boys in the household, especially since they were only further in the public eye than before. He sheltered the girls as best he could, perhaps because they reminded him of his lost Queen, but something about Lorena in particular he desired to coddle. Conversely, the King's harsh focus cemented on the youngest prince for reasons the princess couldn't comprehend, but every interaction between the two felt increasingly more hostile as the years went on.
Eventually, when the eldest princes and princesses all but left the castle (for a multitude of different reasons, some of which included 'deviant behavior'), something happened to the twins. At age 12, Prince Luca manifested an ability and, despite the protest of both Princess Lorena and the five-year-old Princess Jezebel, was removed from the home to attend to school. The two girls clung especially tightly to one another after that, and even moreso on their housekeeper, Nausicca, who became another mother figure from even before the Queen passed.
Princess Lorena didn't attend to her sorrows of losing her brother for too long, because about a week after Luca left, she developed a fever so high that she found herself in the hospital. For about two days, her fever remained at about 39.4 to 40 degrees Celsius (103-104 degrees Fahrenheit), and she certainly could not hold food down, nor could she remain coherent. However, as quickly as the fever came on, it nearly dissipated. Instead, it went down to around 37.7 Celsius and remained consistent after that. However, the princess returned to her generally normal self, eating, drinking, and being a generally happy-go-lucky child. This brought recruiters to her hospital bed, and after the doctors cleared her, the recruiters whisked her away to St. Cadou to begin to harness this power that developed overnight.
Who Wished to See Beauty in Everything...
The first year spent at St. Cadou continued the part of life that Princess Lorena grew accustomed to, her brother nearby and her father's loving guidance in her ear. The only difference involved the separation from her castle, her remaining family (Jezebel in particular, her youngest sister) and, as strange as it may sound, her brother as well. They spent years being so close, neither of them wanted to be away from the other. However, the powers that developed shortly after one another forced distance in a way they could never remedy. Luca developed Cryokinesis, dropping his body temperature and making him entirely heat intolerant. Lorena developed Pyrokinesis which raised her body temperature, and made it almost impossible for her to come too close to him without repercussion.
She made friends with so many during her first year at St. Cadou, but once Luca left for America, all that changed. The Princess never lived a life without her twin, but he left to run from the 'dictator' that was their father. Even if Luca confided in her, she could not comprehend why or how he could consider leaving their kingdom willingly. Lorena still wished to go back, but Luca wanted nothing more than to be free.
To Lorena, she didn't know how to handle the loss of her closest brother except to push herself further into her studies and focus her energy on keeping in contact with her remaining family. She tried desperately to keep the ties together and inadvertently became a liaison between the King and the children. Lorena tried to remain as happy-go-lucky as a Princess could with so much on her plate, but it came at her detriment. She placed so much emphasis on maintaining a cool and collected persona along with keeping the peace that she stopped focusing on her loves and desires. Music remained a constant throughout her life, but she didn't necessarily create for the sake of herself. She created for the sake of keeping her father happy, as he felt women should be as cultured and capable as possible.
Regardless of how pressured she felt (even if she didn't realize it) to maintain this persona, she tried to hold onto the beauty of life. Her power was inherently destructive, so much different from the girl who desperately sought peace through love, but it led her to appreciate the beauty in destruction and life. She saw the way flames could harbor positivity, if only controlled, so Lorena fought to ensure she could control her gift.
In the beginning, her ability to control the flame that she created didn't come naturally. She spent years learning to condense the fire she created, and focusing it in small, controlled spaces. By the time she graduated St. Cadou, she had a steady hold on the fire in her body, and rather than allow her pyrokinesis consume her, she worked alongside it.
...But Lost Herself In The Process
The two remaining princesses stayed particularly close, with Princess Lorena attempting to guide Jezebel in a way that she hoped her mother might. Certainly, she attempted to shelter the young girl from as much as she could, but Jezebel wasn't naive. She saw the issues present in her kingdom regardless if they were acknowledged behind closed doors, away from her ears. Her general possessiveness of positivity and dedication to family ensured the young woman would become the regent matriarch for years to come.
Alongside the King, Lorena attended social functions and mingled with the elites of the area. Most, if not all, of the people Lorena came across enjoyed her company. However, as time went by, it became increasingly more difficult to discern whether people only spoke to her for her influence, or her being. She loved her father, she loved her life in Romania, but as time went on, it grew more difficult to find a genuine connection with anyone. As a young girl, she intentionally disillusioned herself to how perfect her life was. She held onto it like a lifeline, especially after her mother passed away. By the time she hit 22, that childlike wonder faded and she acknowledged the issues that she faced. Intimacy with anyone became nearly impossible, be it physical or emotional, and her life became completely intertwined with her family name. Lorena became the Ivaskov heiress instead of Princess Lorena Ivaskov. She became the glue that held the crumbling kingdom together. This change left the young woman wondering who she was outside of all this.
So when Jezebel requested to return to the United States for school alongside Luca, Lorena decided to leave. She figured she'd have Luca and Jezebel, which would comfort her in the inevitable adjustment period, but it'd also give her a chance to be Lorena Ivaskov - not the Ivaskov Heiress, and not the Princess. Just Lorena.
So, with a heavy heart, she left Sibiu for Oregon and is currently living and working alongside her brother in Stagfort while Jezebel attends school. She simply hopes that this risk won't end up crashing and burning. She already has enough fire in her being as it is.
