Alexander Pierce

Name: Alexander Pierce
Age: 30
Occupation: Series of side projects that he swears is going to pay out this time, illicit dealings of various sorts
Faceclaim: TJ Thyne

Appearance: Alex has dark curls and an intense gaze. He wears his chin covered in a well trimmed beard and is often found in casual clothes. Frown lines are etched between his brow from the scowl he always seems to wear. He stands around 6’ keeping his shoulders squared most of the time.

Personality: Alex often appears in control, managing many things at once, but only when one is able to look closer can they pick out the way he feels like he’s barely holding on. He’s the type that needs to be a leader, to be in charge, but doesn’t quite understand how to do so. Often, he comes across as entitled, demanding rather than requesting, and needs everything and everyone in his life to be in their precise place.  This often leads to him feeling out of control when that isn’t the case, and out of control makes him...dangerous as he tries to regain that control.

While this is the case, Alex often shows a “public” face of relaxed, easy going, and even kind and generous if people are looking at certain aspects of his life. In public, he treats everyone with generosity, but once in private, that generosity shown comes with a price to be paid, even if one never asked for it in the first place.

What amounts to a need to control the world around him leads to some pretty dark tendencies, specifically when he feels the need to remind someone that he is the one with the final say. Alex can snap easily when pushed, and often it results in far more anger than the situation requires. That short fuse mixed with his need to control has led to the end of some relationships in various ways.

Alex is the type that looks charming and sweet on the surface, like the type of man a woman would want to be with, but  often only when they are too invested in him do these darker tendencies show. At first, it comes off as sweet and caring. He wants to know where she is in case something happens. He wants to know what to expect because he’s not a fan of surprises. Everything has a reason and what can be glossed over as a pretty picture initially tends to fade and crack once looked at closer.

Abilities/skills:
Charismatic - Alex can sweet talk his way in, and out of, most things he has encountered in life in a way that lets him skate by. He can dole out the charm and excuses, talking his way through a situation with the ease of the best charmers in the world.

Determined - Alex knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. Not that he would know what to do with it once he had it. That determination seemed to send him after more and more things rather than letting him settle on one.

Careful - Everything has a time and place with Alex, everything planned out in detail. From the way he interacts with others to the way he slowly makes who he wants to be dependent on him alone.

History:
Alex grew up with parents that fought constantly in a way that took away from their caring for him adequately. This altered his views of the world, and taught him that the “perfect” marriage was one where the woman was quiet and docile, bending to his desires over having any of her own. Eventually, this went as far as even some of his friends. Though the course of growing up, Alex got really good at talking his way out of trouble, putting on the charm and an apologetic smile only to turn around and do it again. Though, after getting caught more than once for the same thing, he quickly learned that he had to play it off differently each time, or try it on different people in order to get away with it.

He manipulated his parents into letting him do things by playing them off each other. Manipulated teachers into the same. He got really good at reading people, using what they wanted in a way that benefited him without giving much back in return. He got so good at this, in fact, that it came naturally, altering his perception of what the world around him truly was over what he thought it should be. Each lie, each perception was carefully placed, allowing only what he wanted others to see to show.

When he came across Natalie, he found her beauty and kindness something he had to have in his life, maybe to feel better about himself, maybe just because he wanted it, but those eyes captivated him. He doled out the charm, playing on her kindness and big heart. He played up the fact that he stood up for her, not letting others tease or bully her, playing up the image of him, the knight in shining armor there to protect her.

Alex was careful, slowly isolating her as much as he could, twisting her perception of the world around her until it fit his idea where she needed only him. Though, she never fully fell for it, much to his frustration. He wanted her for her beauty, but he wanted her docile and submissive, which wasn’t entirely in her nature. Alex worked hard to make sure she stayed exactly where he wanted her, dependent on him enough that she couldn’t leave. He blocked all the escapes, the friends she had, her family, pushing it all just enough out of reach that if she wanted to leave, all she would find were walls.

He had her, but most of his stress came from keeping her. The woman simply refused to do what he asked of her, even if it was for her own good. All he wanted was to keep her safe, to keep her there close to him, so he could have that bit of sunshine in his life. Though, he didn’t see, or care, that he slowly drained her of it.