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Post by Adalina Stregoni on Jun 11, 2012 18:03:52 GMT -5
adalina stregoni
biological information
Full Name: Adalina Emilia Claudia Stregoni.
Nickname: Lina, Ada, Mama Stregoni.
Alias(es): The Warrior.
Gender: Female.
Orientation: Heterosexual.
Age: Forty six.
Date of Birth: December 31st
Marital Status: Married.
Place of Birth: Sicily, Italy.
Race: Human.
Occupation: Public Relations Specialist/House wife.
Physical Appearance:
Adalina has a very distinct physical appearance that is both classic and alluring. Standing at a solid 5’9 height, she is most definitely all legs. She has a body most women envy with a 31.5 bust size, 23 around the waist, and 34 on her wide set hips by American measurements. In Europe, she is 80, 58, and 86.5. With these measurements, she has naturally achieved the slender hourglass figure, though she did have to work out profusely (she was heavily trained in military, espionage, and martial arts styles of combat) in order to keep the delicious Italian dishes from giving her one hell of a gut. She still continues to work out, not only to keep her shape but also to keep her combat skills sharp and up to date. Her muscles are lean and not overly toned, giving her a slender appearance and slightly concave abdomen. When it comes to Lina’s face, she has feline blue orbs which normally hold the smallest bit of mascara and cat eye-like eyeliner that gives of a sort of 1950’s resort vibe to her. She had high cheek bones that make her eyes squint when she smiles, as well as a tad bit of crow’s feet at the edges though she doesn’t mind these laugh lines and, unlike her husband, never used magic to keep her looking youthful. Like almost all the Lombardi’s, she simply ages gracefully and looking young is simply in her genetics. Her nose is that of a typical Italian woman: stately and aristocratic. It holds a bit of Rome in its appearance though it is probably one out of two things she dislikes about herself. Her ears are the first on her list of thngs she wishes she could change. When her hair is pulled back, they jut out a bit and make her feel like Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. She usually keeps her hair down because of this reason or, if she puts it up, pulls some wisps of her hair around the top lobe of them to keep them from being so noticeable. Her lips and jaw are the last noticeable things on her face. Her lips are very full so when she smiles, they don’t become thin. She had pearly white teeth which she takes care of obsessively. Her jaw is a bit strong and square but she likes that it makes her seem more defiant when she truly isn’t.
All this she takes care of daily in order to, in a way, keep her youth from running away from her. It is not an act of vanity but, actually, in order to look correctly at her husband’s side – and so his eyes don’t wander.
Her hair is a dark brown that seems lighter in the summer months. For a long time, before her marriage when she first met Vincenzo, she sported a short haircut that highlighted her facial features. It was a long bob that hovered between her shoulders and her jaw. When she was younger, she also had a large number of piercings. She had a nose piercing, only a stud on her left nostril (now removed), a few in her ears (all removed except one in each), her navel (removed when she was pregnant with Marco), and her nipples (only Vincenzo knows). She had only gotten the piercings for the fun of it, finding body jewelry to be a form of art and since she had a friend who was studying to become such a thing, she was essentially his guinea pig or test subject. She has no tattoos though, because she does not believe art should be permanent – it should be created over and over again – though she is not against tattoos on others – her family included. As for scars, she used to have a long one going down her spine that she acquired when she was seven during a bone marrow transplant. Now, it isn’t large but it is still visible and she simply covers it up with clothing since it isn’t often that she dresses in a very…haughty…fashion.
When it comes to her style, of course she loves her Italian designers: Dolce & Gabbanna, Gucci, Roberto Cavalli. She loves floral print and resort-wear the most, especially bikinis and large sunhats. Her outfits, when she isn’t working, seem to always be a bit over the top yet subtle, a contradiction that is hard to understand until one actually sees her. She enjoys empire pants, pencil skirts, figure hugging attire that enhances and outlines her generous curves. When working, she is often seen wearing colorful suits instead of the boring black, lots of lace and silk, chiffon and sky high Christian Louboutins. Her clothing are always designer and her closet would make any woman her age die with envy. At home, she generally wears a lot of sundresses, high waist skirts with bustiers, loose and comfortable button ups, and flats or kitten heels. When she is doing a mission, or at least when she used to since she hasn’t done one since returning from her last mission in Italy, she usually wears a spandex suit her father’s company manufactured. It is light but the fabric keeps knives from easily tearing into it. She’ll pair it off with straps around her thighs and hips where she normally places her knives, and knee high combat boots that are useful for any type of terrain. Leather gloves usually cover her hands and, when in this fashion, her hair it normally in some kind of pony tail – out of the way.
Celebrity Claim: Bianca Balti
special abilities
Powers: None.
Skills: - Acquainted with Stregheria Magic: Though she is married into the Stregoni family and the Lombardi family was always close to the group, Adalina was only good with basic spells since she was never truly instructed fully on the magical art. She was no master but was useful enough in battles where the opponents were not too much of a threat. She now has knowledge of the Italian magical art but can no longer use it or harness it. Though this may seem strange, she feels as if she lost some vital part of herself and almost feels almost as if not good enough for the Stregoni name since the incident. She didn’t know how to access the magical energy within her because her grandmother and father mostly focused on teaching Ambrogio, her older brother, how to become proficient in the art. This left Lina with only learning, mostly, about potion making and divination which she has grown extensively better at over the last ten years since she tended to put t to the side to focus more on her athletic abilities. She's learned more about the magical art but cannot actually do anything in regards to it since she lost all of her magical energy. She usually just helps in making potions and understands how to read tarot cards and such.
- Hand to hand combat: Since the age of thirteen, she was heavily trained in military, espionage, and martial arts more so to defend herself than to attack another individual. If there is a new fighting technique she does not know about, she usually tries to find a competent instructor in order to learn about it. Despite being a bit of a peacemaker, she does enjoy sparring and boxing. She has been known for taking down opponents much larger than her thanks to this training but she still cannot defeat demons and the like without magic. She is more of a defensive fighter than an offensive fighter and prefers assassinations over open fights when alone. She is stealthy and quiet in her missions and is able to move with such ease and grace during these fights because of a necklace her husband gave her as a wedding gift that helps enhance her athletic abilities to that of a vampire. However, she cannot do this for a long amount of time because she is still human and her body wasn’t meant to move at such speeds.
- Handling knives: This was more of a hobby when she was growing up. Her father used to have a collection of cheese knives and she used to play with them when no one was looking. She liked tossing them at walls and eventually taught herself how to handle them since she started around the age of thirteen. They became her weapon of choice and about 95% of the time, she hits her target. She has a large number of knives, including a Swiss army knife she always carries with her no matter where she is going and it is usually hidden somewhere on her body. Not only is she good at using them in combat but also in the kitchen while cooking.
- Painting and Cooking: Both considered a form of art in her eyes, she learned how to paint before she learned how to cook. Like Marco, she was considered a prodigy but not by the public – only by her family. She never sold any paintings or even wanted them out in the public eye. She prefers to keep them to herself as a hobby since being a Public Relations Specialist is something she does to, well, keep up her public image. Her passion for cooking came shortly after such a discovery, a few years on, and she tends to treat her cooking like she does her paintings. Usually they come out looking as epic as they taste and she is usually seen tossing her knives around as if it were a show, flipping them around and catching them with ease. When extremely upset over something, she usually ends up baking until she feels worn out and weary. The smell of cupcakes or cannoli cake helps ease her right on out of her upset demeanor.
Personal Possessions: - Paint and Brushes: She has a large assortment of expensive brushes most being gifts from her nonna. The all have ornate and elaborate handles in wood and the bristles are made out of fine horse hair. Her paint she usually buys on her own and she used to share it with Marco before he started getting his own supplies and went into graphic design. Her paint and her brushes are what helps keep her sane.
- Wedding Ring: Despite not seeming like something very important, it is the first piece of jewelry she ever really owned and it was Vincenzo’s great great grandmother’s, so she values the piece extremely high. It is stainless and pure silver with an intricate pattern glittered with diamond dust. The rock is an old diamond sitting within a silver nest shaped like a blossoming flower petal. She never takes it off.
- Her Antique Knife Collection: Let behind by her mother as part of her inheritance when she was married, it has the Visconti family emblem, a snake coiled around a skull, on the bottom of each handle in antique silver. It was the only thing within her mother’s possessions that her nona didn’t remember bringing with them to Florence. Adalina has kept it as a reminder of her mother’s existence despite never knowing her.
- Enchanted Necklace: The enchanted necklace, an artifact, was given to her by Vincenzo as a wedding gift during their honeymoon. It is a rustic silver pendant that sits on her chest on a thin silver chain. The pendant has a piece of jade within it with crackles of white. She never takes this off and being it is enchanted, even more so. It enhances her athletic abilities, making her as swift and agile, as strong as a vampire for extended periods of time. It cannot be used often, though, seeing as her body wasn’t created for such abilities. In many ways, it is what helps her be the “brawns” while Vincenzo is the “brains” behind the Stregoni operations.
Weapons and Equipment: - Bowie Knife: Part of her mother, Benita’s, antique knife collection, it has a skull at the base of the handle with a snake wrapping around the skull and the rustic silver handle. It is sharp, as any bowie knife is, and it is one of her favorites along with her daggers. It is usually placed on a belt in a sheath on her hips. This knife cuts through the soul, as well, but like her body suit below needs to be recharged after a certain amount of time has passed (usually about a month give or take depending on the amount of usage) by another mage. It cuts the flesh and does physical harm but also cuts the soul and does spiritual harm.
- Dagger:Decorative like the bowie knife and also part of the antique collection, this knife is usually hidden in a sheath on her outer thigh. She uses this one the most in combat and is considered another favorite. Like all the knives in the antique collection, Visconti is engraved in curly lettering on the handle’s side.This knife cuts through the soul, as well, but like her body suit below needs to be recharged after a certain amount of time has passed (usually about a month give or take depending on the amount of usage) by another mage. It cuts the flesh and does physical harm but also cuts the soul and does spiritual harm.
- Special Body Suit: Created by her father and his team of expert, a body suit was created specifically for her when she became more involved with the Mafioso after her marriage to Vincenzo. It is made of breathable, light weight spandex and clings to her body like a second skin. It helps her stay dry under wet conditions (even under water) and it was specifically created to help block off magical energy that can be potentially harmful to her. It needs to be recharged by a magical user (such as Vincenzo or Marco) after a certain amount of times it has been in use. It is also difficult for knives to penetrate it as well as bullets but not impossible. She has three of these suits, all in black.
- Silver Hunting Blade: The silver hunting knife was created specifically for hunting down werewolves. It is shaped more like a machete and is usually in a sheath on her back. It is large and pure silver right down to the handle. It isn’t enchanted, just a pure silver blade that helps tremendously when dealing with werewolves.
- Two T68 Pistols with UV rounds: Mostly, it is the bullets within the pistols that can actually harm the vampire. They contain liquefied uv rays within the bullets and, when they hit a vampire, tend to “explode sunlight” that is obviously fatal to them. These are usually kept on her thighs as well since they are easier to access and extra rounds are kept at her belt.
Limitations: Being human, Adalina has the same limitations as anyone else. She still ages, can still break bones, is still susceptible to illness, can still get killed by a fatal wound. She can no longer use Stregheria after the incident that happened ten year ago but she did learn more, with its absence, about potions and divination. Her Nonna taught her the majority of it while anything her nonna didn't know from experience was taught to her by experts in the fields. Also, her necklace gives her the limitation of being human. While she can be as fast and as stealthy as any other vampire with it on so close to her chest, it cannot be used for too much of an extended period of time. The longest she was ever able to use it without interruption was three hours before she felt sore and horrible and exhausted. She even had to spend the entire next day resting after exerting herself too much. Now, she only uses it in pieces here and there just to add an extra oomph to her punch.
Her suit also gives her problems. Though it is efficient in protecting her, an enchanted bullet can easily penetrate the fabric. Only normal bullets, without any incantations, or anything else extra added to it, can't pierce the fabric though it does depend on the incantation. If it is a very strong one coming from a strong mage, it cannot protect her b average to weak can protect her like a barrier. However, she still feels the blow of the bullet and it usually leaves a very nasty bruise in its wake. It also doesn't protect her head, wrists, hands, and feet. Gloves protect her hands and knee high boots protect her feet but that's the extent of it. And, being human, she has to rely on brute force usually to get the job done. Though she can fight in groups, she does better with one on one since it was primarily how she'd been trained. And as stated before, though she is acquainted with Stregheria, she can no longer use it and even when she had it, it was limited because she wasn't taught how to officially "tap into" the source of it as Ambrogio, her brother, had been. Therefore, when it comes to magic, she is completely vulnerable to it but it doesn't mean she won't kick your ass. She can rip you a new butt hole faster than you can scream.
She relies heavily on her weapons and her athletic ability.
psychoanalysis
Personality Description:
Have you ever heard about the Happy Tree Friends? They are cute, adorable forest creatures who seem cuddly and sweet on the outside but do outrageous and often murderous things with innocent intentions. In a nut shell, that is Adalina.
Lie those Happy Tree Friends, she has a two toned personality that can be both charming and fatal. Upon first meeting her, one would think she was the sweetest angel that fell from the sky. She is kind and professional, respectful and moralistic. She is a great listener and shows she is confident in all her decisions. This is true, to some extent, of who Adalina is. She does care about a great deal of people and she likes being respected just as she respects others. She is maternal in the sense that she always seems to extend her heart out to people and the fact she smells like pineapple, oranges, and coconut milk only add to her sort of whimsical appearance. However, as relaxed and calm as she may be, like said Happy Tree Friends, she has a very dark and nasty side to her people simply wouldn't want to mess with. Being passive aggressive, to her, is an art that she has mastered since girls were taught to be calmer and gentler than the boys. She was taught to use her feminine wiles to her advantage by her nonna. Sarcasm is a language she speaks fluently and if you pissed her off in anyway, she isn't one to hesitate in order to take action.
Before the incident in Sicily ten years ago, she was much more outgoing and, in a way, innocent. She was more dependent, as well, on the Stregoni and the Lombardi families and their "safety in numbers" ideal. She was much more carefree and more reckless. After the incident, and with age, she became more independent and more calculating. She also became more religious. Catholicism was something she'd grown up in, aside from the magical arts and lifestyle. She started going as a way to sort of repent for the sins that ran through her maternal bloodline and eventually just started going for herself, in a way it keeps her balanced and makes her feel better to confess to a priest - one she could kill should he try to use any of that information against her. With this comes her tendency to get physical and occasionally hot headed. Her independence has become a blessing and a curse as well as her physical abilities outshining her magical ones.
Whereas before the incident, she was simply a mage who was pretty damn good at fighting, now she was a human killing machine who probably shouldn't be as merciless as she is, but the knowledge of knowing what her maternal family is actually doing, how at any minute she could get kidnapped or the demon could show up to claim her, is all enough to put her on edge whenever she is alone. Around others she seems more relaxed and calm but on her own, she seems ridiculously paranoid. Still, she is strong willed and determined and despite her violent tendencies, passive aggressive behavior, and facial expressions that have won her many affectionate nicknames, she is still fairly down to earth when business is not involved. She loves to cook, to clean, to be a mother, to be a wife, to have her grandmother with her, to have the lifestyle she has. It is exciting and comfortable, in no ways boring, and despite the incident with the demon ten years ago, she's been prevailing and trying not to drown herself in the deep end of the pool.
Strengths:- Mysterious and Alluring: Upon giving Lina a first glance, the best two words to describe her would be alluring and mysterious. Most say it is her facial structure and stance that tends to give this away. She stands with confidence, usually with one hand on her waist and her hips jutting out. Her eyes give off the impression of a sly cat or like they hold secrets no one is allowed to try and decipher. Her lips, being as full as they are, give her a sense of natural sensuality without even trying and though she doesn't attempted to be this way, it is simply a vibe she gives off because of her natural appearance. Putting on feline inspired, retro eyeliner on her upper lids doesn't help her cause either.
- Maternal and Protective: Her family is everything - especially her husband and son. She treats all those closely knit to the Stregoni family like such, baking them cakes, inviting them over for birthday parties, and acting, really, like a normal human being despite how quickly she could probably cut off their circulation with her thighs. (There was a story once where, in order to pass a specific strength test as a teenager while training, she had to crush a watermelon with her thighs...let's say she succeeded and people haven't messed with her since). She extremely protective and will stop at nothing to keep those she cares about safe. Her biggest concern, usually, is Marco and it is usually normal for her, when she sees him, to want to fix his hair or straighten out his tie or anything along those lines. She'd even bake his favorite cookies for him and bring them to his school if it wouldn't embarrass him. She didn't have an actual mother of her own so truly, she is going off what her Nonna taught her and surprisingly, Marco's maternal grandmother is the one keeping Lina from chasing after him when she'd worried sick.
- Over achiever and Hardworking: One thing that always stood out about Lina was her ability to work under pressure. Because she missed kindergarten through fifth grade due to her being sick, she was very competitive in school and always wanted to be the best. This also stemmed even further into her athletic training which kept her in line and wandering off into thinking about doing drug or even boys. It was still a miracle she even managed to snag Vincenzo - or the other way around. She is very disciplined and hates to procrastinate unless suddenly feeling particularly lethargic.
- Calm, Cool, and Collected: Never having been hot headed, she was always a very calm person. Not necessarily cool in the form of relaxed because she simply isn't. SOMEONE in the family can't be as relaxed as the two boys after all. Cool in the sense that she seems like she would have been the popular girl at school (which she was) and she always had her life very much so put together. She doesn't follow a set routine but she knows how to stay composed and put together. She doesn't let herself go wild like when she'd been much younger, instead opting for a calm exterior.
- Creative and Imaginative: Being she loves to cook and paint, she is a fairly imaginative and creative individual. This usually helps her think outside the box in many tight situations and has helped her with planning and strategizing specific resources and situations. Her creative and imaginative thinking is something she'd inherited from the Visconti family and had been what led them into demonology in the first place. However, hers is usually more channeled in the form of painting and cooking though she can get creative with how she kills people.
Weaknesses:- Stubborn: Don't argue with Mama Stregoni unless you are Papa Stregoni or there will be hell to pay. Despite being calm, she is extremely stubborn. Though not entirely spoiled while growing up, she was overprotected by her father and her nonna which is obvious in the sense that her nonna came to live with her and the rest of the Stregoni family not long after Marco was born to help Lina out and keep an eye on them. However, when she speaks or gives a command, it is usually law and final unless she changes her mind and if someone were to challenge her, she would give them her signature death glare that would shoot lasers into your soul.
- Depressed and Emotional: For the past ten years, since the incident in Sicily, Adalina has had silent bouts of depression, usually characterized by her locking herself away in her studio for days at a time or sitting for endless amounts of hours in front of Grimaires trying to find a way to regain her magical "essence". It has caused her to be a bit emotional at times, though usually such emotions are hidden from others and only shown to her nonna (only because she can pick up on it while most can't). Her detachment to a lot of situations has become increasingly more obvious as her silent depression over not feeling "good enough" for the Stregoni surname has gone on.
- Grudge holder: Did something wrong to Mama Stregoni? She'll never let you live it down. Stole her cookie holder, lied about it, then she found it in your house? Oh it's on. On like Donkey Kong. She doesn't like being wronged or disrespected. It comes from how she was raised and her lifestyle. For example, if she serves you a mountain of food on your plate, you better eat every last bite or expect her to give you a death glare and lots of passive aggressive comments for disrespecting her in her own home by not eating her food. She can hold a grudge for as long as gravity can hold the earth in place around the sun and hey, that's a pretty damn long time.
- Distant: Lina was always distant with others though, superficially, she can make you feel right at home. He distance comes from how she was raised, always separated from society because of her illness, and thus she tends to have a hard time actually getting close to people other than on the surface. She is very close with three people: Vincenzo, Marco, and her Nonna but as of late, it has been narrowed down to, essentially, Marco, because her Nonna failed to tell her about her maternal family history that had devastating consequences on her psych.
- Passive Aggressive: No, she won't be mean like that to your face! She'll be passive aggressive about it through comments and, her most famous use of the emotion: facial expressions. She is well known for having a "face" for everything from her flirty I want you so bad face to her Get the fuck out of my house face. She tends to get very sarcastic when annoyed or impatient though that isn't too often seeing as she prefers to stay calm to blend in better with her two boys.
Fear/s:- Losing Vincenzo and/or Marco (physically or emotionally).
- Not having a peaceful death.
- Clausterphobic.
Goal/s:- To somehow regain her abilities.
- To help her husband and their family gain control of the Arc.
- To see Marco graduate college and have a family of his own (she wants to see grandchildren damn it!)
biography
Their Story: Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
Her heart raced ahead of her in her chest, speeding, and causing anxiety to hit her much too close to home. “Respirare in costante…” she reminded herself though breathing was just another thing she shouldn’t have had to worry about. The forty five year old woman pressed on as the sounds of the creature behind her drew closer, long legs pounding into the earth, arms pumping the air to propel her forward as much as possible. Her chestnut hair flew like a curtain behind her as bright azure orbs attempted to find an escape through the trees. “Idiota! Non avresti dovuto venire da solo!” But had she had much of a choice? It was either have her brother killed or this option and he would live, which he did. He was safe on a fisherman’s boat set out on the Tyrrhenian Sea. He would reach the homeland in a matter of a few days and all would be fine…Or at least she prayed it would be.
The black, spandex suit she wore clung to her curvaceous frame, keeping tree branches from cutting her as they whipped around her. All she had to do was make it to the shore. From what she’d been told of this…tribe…they could not enter water. Something about it just kept them from physically touching it. But this man, this creature, she’d seen before – she simply couldn’t remember where or when. It felt like another life, a time long ago, and she wasn’t herself but someone else. She’d tried to do research and only found snippets of information. By the looks of it, their leader had some strange ability to take certain kinds of energy from people. He’d done it to her mother – took so much of the magical arts that ran through her veins, absorbed it for himself, and in his own greed took her life energy, wanting every ounce of her and if her father hadn’t arrived in time, Adalina would have never been born. Her mother’s end became her beginning.
She could see the sand, see the warmth it could provide despite being drenched in moonlight, see the waves overlapping and kissing its many grains. But just as her boot passed that invisible line between the forest, sea grass, and beach, she felt the creatures presence rolling off her spine and a hand reach out at a ridiculous speed, wrap around the locks of her hair, and yank her back, tossing her like a rag doll into the forest. She skid across the floor, digging her gloved hands and boot heels into the ground to get some traction so she wouldn’t slam into a tree. She felt winded, like he’d sucked the air out of her lungs but as she blinked, the creature was before her, clad in a silky, white cloak with the hood pulled over his face but she could still see it whenever the moon’s ray appeared through the trees. He was painfully beautiful and all she could do was attempt to get up but her body ached from pushing it to such extremes. She was not as young as she used to be. Despite running marathons and fighting off idiots in Arc City, despite years of extensive training in espionage, military, and martial arts, despite being one hell of an expert knifeman, none of it could have prepared her for this man who couldn’t even really be called a man at all. His strength was unpredictable, his ferocity having no limits or bounds. As he drew closer, she forced her muscles to work and whipped out two daggers from her thighs but before she could even get close to him, he had her pinned against a tree and his dark eyes burrowed into her as if he were peering into her soul. He gripped her wrists tight enough that the knives dropped from her hands and she locked her jaw to keep from crying out.
“Il sacrificio deve essere fatto. Ogni figlia della famiglia Visconti in cambio di ricchezza, potere, status e protezione.,” the words came out like a hiss and she could already tell, at that moment, what this man was. She couldn’t tell from afar but here up close, the fires of hell burned within his eyes. A demon? Why would the Visconti family, her mother’s family, make a deal with a demon? Summon such a demon? Did they not know the consequences? Of course not. They’d been simple humans – or at least that was what she’d been lead to believe. The demon was strong, though, at least a nineth circle if she remembered correctly, but as he opened his mouth wide, slicing the tissue of the cheeks in order to open his mouth as wide as her head, she felt that tug toward death, as if her life had been full filled, her purpose served. It made sense. Her mother had been the last, before her, to be born a female in the Visconti family. But she wasn’t a Visconti. No, Lina was a Lombardi – not even. She was a Stregoni by marriage. Had it been her mother to do such a terrible deed? Sacrifice her only daughter so her own family could have wealth, power, and status? Since her mother’s death, her family did seem to become stronger and wealthier overnight…But did that mean that every daughter literally had to be sacrificed just to keep up the bargain?
She kept calm, despite wanting to fight and break free. It wasn’t as if she could move. He had her pinned and once his mouth was opened wide enough, she felt that tug and for a second, could feel the magic she’d grown so accustomed to feeling, the energy in her veins, seeping out of her and into this demon’s mouth. She felt her body grow weaker and weaker before the distracted creature let out a wail that sounded like thousands of baby girls crying out in chorus. He let her go and she dropped to the ground, a hissing sound coming from a large silver cross touching the demon’s bare arm and the person holding said cross was Ambrogio, her older brother, still damp and soaking wet, “Il nostro Padre nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome. Venga il tuo regno, fatta la tua volontà, sulla terra come in cielo. Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano, e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti, come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori. E non ci indurre in tentazione, ma liberaci dal male,” he spoke the prayer loudly and pressed down on the cross, causing another scream from the demon but as much faith as her brother had in the Lord, he couldn’t cast the demon back to hell. He wasn’t strong enough. He left the heavy cross on him as he scooped up Adalina, wheezing from trying to keep oxygen in her system, feeling like she was breathing brimstone, and he raced to the beach, making it onto the fisherman’s boat as another, loud wail and roar came from the demon. He then pulled out his cellphone as he laid Lina down with her head on his lap and as she drifted in and out of consciousness, heard him answer the phone, “Ciao, fratello? Abbiamo un problema ...”
Lina was born on a little row boat on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Her father had had to cut open his wife and pull the practically lifeless baby girl out, pray for a miracle that somehow she would live. His wife died on that boat, a once beautiful and striking woman turned into nothing but a vegetable, a prune of what she’d once been once the demon stole her away. It was known, within the Visconti family that the forests of Sicily, though not much left, were off limits. It had been where they originated from and they were not allowed to go back to their homelands. It was due to the original Visconti Don, Leonardo, becoming desperate to keep his family alive after losing all their wealth and status. The evil in his heart grew and grew and, eventually, managed to summon a demon that could get the job done. However, there was a catch. Every time a daughter was born, she was to be sacrificed, on the same ground this supposed demon had come into existence. She would be cast to hell to never rest peacefully. Should one not be sacrificed, they would lose their wealth, their power, their status in Southern Italy. This proposition stemmed from Leonardo’s most precious daughter, one he loved and adored over anyone else in the family, but with the evil in his heart, embedded in his soul, he gave her up to the demon and the vicious cycle began.
Everything was fine for the next couple of centuries. There was rarely a daughter born and when she was, she was sent to Sicily as a newborn so letting her go would be easier. Of course, when Lina’s mother was born, her grandmother (by marriage) did not want the same fate to fall upon her. She had left Southern Italy and moved to Florence in hopes her daughter could live a normal life. Benita Visconti lived peacefully with her mother and when she was eighteen years old, met Gustavo Lombardi at a café she worked in. The Visconti family and their reign in the Southern Italian mafia fell, replaced by the Mezzarano, and Benita married Gustavo in a beautiful Catholic church in Florence. Together, they began their family three years later with Ambrogio and four years after that, she found out she was pregnant with a baby girl. Benita’s grandmother urged her to never travel to Southern Italy and to be wary of anyone with the Visconti surname. Not understanding, she continued on with her pregnancy in glee and bliss, her husband being good friends with the Stregoni family and her son learning the magical arts of Stregheria in their honor. However, while three months pregnant, she received a letter from a man by the name of Lazzaro Visconti, inviting her to a prestigious family reunion on the island of Sicily. Benita was hesitant, presenting the ornate letter to her own mother who told her to rip it up and ignore it…and that moving would be the best option. They could not know her location but Gustavo simply couldn’t leave Florence. He didn’t understand the old woman’s warnings and thought it would actually be nice if his wife got in touch with her long lost family. He didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary, nor did Benita, so, with a group of soldiers to protect her while Gustavo was away on business with the Stregoni family, she traveled to Sicily for the supposed event.
Upon arriving, however, it became clear that something was terribly wrong.
All the soldiers were killed by what could only be described as a tribe of people in white cloaks, the tallest of them a strikingly beautiful man who took pleasure in watching the mages fall like flies. Benita, who knew little to nothing about the magical arts, eventually was captured and held hostage. The demon, for some reason, did not want to kill her just yet…He wanted the Visconti family to suffer a bit more. But even more so, he wanted the baby girl within her womb. Two sacrifices would definitely keep him satisfied. Benita remained missing for five months and no matter how many times Gustavo and his team combed through the entire Sicilian Island, especially the forests as his mother-in-law pressured, she did not come up. Demonic energies were strongly present, though, and they did not leave the island, and refused to, until Benita showed up – dead or alive. It was in the middle of the night that they heard the scream. After five months of searching, they found Benita, huddled in a cave behind a waterfall, clutching her swollen stomach and screaming at the pain it caused her. She was in labor. As Gustavo finally got her out of the cave, she screamed at him to put her back despite needing medical attention. She looked malnourished and pale in comparison to the beautiful woman she once was and then, as if conjured up by thought, the same demon in white appeared with a wicked grin on his face. Benita let out another scream before the demon quickly grabbed her and darted through the woods. The mages chased after him, unable to truly fight him when he held a pregnant Benita so close to his form. Eventually the demon stopped when he was far enough away from the group and holding her up like a rag doll, stretched open his mouth and sucked the life and energy out of her, her skin slowly turning paler by the second and her eyes going wide and foggy as the spark of life left her and when he felt he’d had taken her life, he was about to take that of the unborn child but Gustavo and his team reached him and he smiled, knowing he’d get the girl somehow anyway, and dropped Benita’s form before disappearing in a puff of dark smoke.
It was then they put Benita on the boat, had opened her womb in hopes the baby girl had lived, and miraculously, she had. She’d been born sick, Leukemia claiming her body until the tender age of ten when she had her last relapse and it seemed to simply disappear.
Lina grew up in Florence with an over protective father, womanizing older brother, and wise nonna. They seemed to constantly watch over her every move and what happened to Benita was kept brushed under the rug. No one else but the Lombardi’s and Visconti’s knew what happened that horrible night though the rumor of Benita’s murder had spread like wildfire. The Viconti’s in the south, it seemed, started to rise in wealth and status again though their foothold in the mafia wars was no longer present. The little girl, a small replica of her mother, spent the majority of her childhood within the confines of the Lombardi estate. She was homeschooled because her medical condition kept her from really being able to do much and she was constantly relapsing which would require her to be away from school often. She spent most of her time with her nonna, learning about the world and the magical arts, painting since it was Lina’s favorite pastime, and looking at Florence through a telescope on her balcony. She never complained, was calm and collected, but also curios and adventurous. She was stubborn and an overachiever, often times trying to best whoever it was she was with at whatever they were doing. She became a lover of the kitchen, cooking becoming just another form of painting for her – just edible – and she often cooked the meals of soldiers who would come to visit the family home in decorative and elaborate banquets of food. When she was ten years old, after so many years of dealing with the cancer (to the point where she had a separate room set up like a hospital), it seemed to simply disappear. When only the year before she had practically been on her death bed, now she was as healthy as a horse and the first thing she did was finally start attending school at an all-girls academy in Florence. Her nonna would pick her up and drop her off every day with two body guards in tow and Lina’s social status quickly grew the older she became. She blossomed to be as beautiful as her mother had been with high cheek bones, piercing eyes, long dark hair, and measurements to die for. 31.5, 23, 34. She had legs that seemed to go on endlessly, and it was all amplified when she was twelve and refused to have body guards anymore. Yes, she loved them as if they were her siblings, but she wanted to know how to defend herself. She was trained by some of the best men her father could find and by the age of sixteen, was better than his own mages and soldiers in hand to hand combat as well as with knives – something she’d taught herself as a side trick along the way. By seventeen, she graduated at the top of her class at the academy and was enrolled in Ca' Foscari University of Venice with a major in Public Relations. She moved to Venice and began dorming, often times keeping in touch with her nonna, Ambrogio who had gone to a school in Naples, and her father who was often calling her twice a day to make sure she was alright no matter what situation he found himself in.
At the age of eighteen, she met Vincenzo Stregoni. He was a charming man, as all Stregoni men were according to Ambrogio, and though she knew of his family, she had never actually met anyone from it as Ambrogio and her father had on countless occasions. He’d been the first guy she’d ever liked as more than just a friend and soon enough, the two began dating. Though his schedule was hectic, she didn’t mind, as long as, at night, he’d crawl into bed next to her and not someone else. It was normal for her to sketch temporary tattoos in magic marker across his skin, compare him to works of art like the statue of David, and she realized, soon enough that she had fallen head over heels in love with him. Her father, of course, approved of the match though he was wary, not wanting his only daughter involved too heavily with the Mafioso as her mother had. But the man watched how his daughter supported Vincenzo, and vice versa; saw how they simply worked and fit together like puzzle pieces and eventually, when asked for her hand in marriage, he gave Vin his blessings, and though Adalina was reluctant, after a charming speech she was won over.
She was twenty three when she was married, a bit young by her nonna’s tough standards, but the old woman seemed happy enough for Lina. She was still training to stay at the peak of her athletic abilities, still occasionally trying to learn about Stregheria just for her own safety, and a year later, when Marco was born, it seemed the entire Lombardi family had held their breathe for the nine months of her pregnancy, crossed their fingers until it was announced that she’d had a baby boy. The Visconti family, in the meantime, was starting to lose their wealth once again in Southern Italy and the hunt to find Adalina soon began. She spent most of her time, after graduation, working with the media and the public image of the Stregoni family. In a way, she became their Public Relations Consultant. It took a while to get such a position, since she went to work for her father’s financial company first in order to prove herself. She spent most of her time at home, though, with Marco especially after Vin was arrested and sentenced to prison for three years. When she discovered he had a passion for art, as she did, she didn’t hesitate to find him the best teachers and encouraged him to continue on such a path. While she had now only painted in her spare time and on the borders of books and napkins at restaurants, she saw the magnificent potential of her son and made no hesitation to make sure he went above and beyong his potential. It was inevitable to keep him from the magical arts and so, she simply made sure that he would enter the Mafioso at a rightful age, as Ambrogio had, instead of too young like her father had.
But as Marco grew older, she became more and more wary about having any more children. Her nonna advised her against it, saying it would bring great tragedy to their family should she end up having a daughter. Unlike Benita, who did not listen to her mother’s words, Lina obeyed, took it into consideration, and did not have any more children – and this was further proved.
She’d been cooking, doing her usual masterpieces in the kitchen, while her nonna, who had moved in with them, was reading her tarot cards. Lina had not been paying attention, not until the much older woman gasped at what she saw. A horrible death marked Lina’s future and a great suffering would spread through the Stregoni family unless a particular decision was taken. Lina did not understand, focusing her attention on her nonna and wondering why she would even do a tarot card reading at such a time. But this time around, she did not heed her nonna’s warning. She received a phone call shortly after the reading from her father claiming that Ambrogio and his team headed to southern Italy to deal with some pressing problems with the Visconti family…three months ago. They hadn’t been heard from since. He said he wanted to speak to Vincenzo, to see if he could use some men to find the team but, after having one hell of a discussion with her husband, she decided to go with her own team, mainly because it was her brother and her family, and she wanted him to be as safe as possible. It was against her nonna’s wishes, who continually told her to stay away from Southern Italy, especially Sicily. For the first time, Lina did not listen to the wise woman – nor did she listen to her father who claimed he didn’t want her going. She went anyway, right back to Italy, to hunt down the team. It took her a month to figure out that they were being held in the Sicilian forest and it seemed, in due time, history would repeat itself as it had time and time again.
It was how she ended up running for her life, her team having been left behind in boats docked at the Sicilian shore. It was how she ended up finding out secrets about a family she couldn’t remember really having, and how she was then, laying in Ambrogio’s arms as he called Vincenzo to tell them they had a problem and that he would have Adalina returned to Arc City as soon as possible.
And Arc City never felt as cold as when she’d returned. She stood on the balcony of the master bedroom, clad in an ivory slip dress that ended just above her mid-thigh. She felt her hair brush against the skin of her bare back, closed her eyes as the moonlight drenched her beautifully aging face. She felt so tired lately. She’d been back for a ten years now, Nonna having already filled Vincenzo on the history of the Visconti family and Ambrogio filling her in when she’d been on her way back to Arc City. The Visconti family was still falling apart in Southern Italy, though they struck some luck with a couple of demonologists after the supposed demon managed to take away part of what felt like her soul. She felt empty at times, like this wasn’t the life she wanted when in reality, it was. She couldn’t imagine things going any other way but her zest for life was slowly starting to fade. Maybe Nonna was right about the horrible death in Lina’s future because while the demon had taken something from her that had actually been vital.
Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
She pressed her hand against her chest as she looked out at the view with glassed over eyes, letting her heart race ahead of her at remarkable speeds. “Respirare in costante…” she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, “Si può solo salire da qui.”
Other Information:n/a
rp sample
behind the scenes
Your name: Lip
Age: 20
How long have you been RPing? forever and a day
Where/How did you find us? under my mattress
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