anh slowly walked on the side-walk to altimira academy. the usual walk wasn’t the most important thing on the teenager’s mind - someone else occupied it as she looked at the ground. valentine’s day was coming up and anh hadn’t even started to figure out what to do or get for him. this was also the first valentine’s day that she ever had an actual boyfr–the very word cause anh’s cheeks to fill with color as she felt her mind start to go blank. "oh my goodness,“ she muttered to herself as she continued walking. she didn’t realize how far she had walked until someone called out to her. her eyes widened and she looked at him, then her feet and the back to the guy.
"oh my god,” anh muttered and apologized immediately, “i’m so sorry. so sorry. i just, i got preoccupied and i was heading over to altimira and i just …i’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Sterling assured, as she seemed much more shaken and upset about it than he was. “You don’t have to apologize, but you should probably be a little more careful if you don’t want to end up getting hurt.” He slid the rest of the way off his bike, stepping a little closer as the car beside him roared off. This city was louder than he had expected, somehow.
“Altimira?” Graham perked at the mention of the school. “Are you a student, there?” He didn’t recognize her, but it was a busy school and he only had a little less than a week of working there so far. Even he couldn’t memorize every student in that amount of time, and it was possible that she didn’t even have anything with him. “I’m headed there myself, if you’d like to walk together.”
The pursuit had started a few blocks ago. Not that Bryshere had been on the clock - Ranger work had been all but put to a halt since the arrival of S.H.O.T. nor had his work on at the police station been as active as it had been. However, Bryshere had never been one to deny the pursuit of justice. He had been trailing a few of the agents, following behind them as he expected them to do their usual suspicious behavior. He’d been right and the moment they started to move, Bryshere trailed behind them shortly. Unfortunately, he’d been so focused on his goal that he seemingly lost track of where he was.
“Oh shit,” he said as he heard someone call out to him. His eyes moved from the person over to where the agents should have been, but where no longer there. He frowned and whispered, ‘Damn it’ to himself before he looked back at the guy. “Sorry, I guess I got distracted.”
Sterling slipped off his bike entirely, rather than remaining in an awkward half-lean. He just held the handlebars to his side, glancing around to see if there was anyone else coming along the bike lane. There wasn’t. It meant that for the moment, he could stop and talk to the stranger. Then again, he had gotten the impression in the week that he had been in the city already, that not many people cared to stop and talk. It was not the usual city rush, either. The people here all seemed to have a fire lit under them.
“It’s alright, I just don’t want to run into anyone.” He pointed out. His heart was still beating a little faster than it was supposed to be, but there was no telling if that was from adrenaline, or just because it didn’t know how to work properly.
“Have you ever, like,” Micah started as she placed her hand over her chest. Then moved her hand off her heart as she spoke, “Just, like, been so annoyed at how some of the uniforms people wears are so ugly? Like,” she rolled her eyes, “Back off SHOT, we can spot you a mile away with that hot mess of an ugly armor over there.” It was probably bad to randomly talk shit about SHOT and those affiliated with them, but Micah easily forgot what common sense was at times. Usually, on purpose.
“I usually try not to take personal offense at what other people wear.” If he did, to be fair, he’d probably be offended a lot. That felt too judgmental for him. He never did like feeling offended, and he avoided the idea of it as much as possible. “Is there a better way to wear armor? I think most versions of it are generally terrible.”
To the surprise of many, Sterling was aware of how some things could come across. Things like showing up in a Beamer to his new job and automatically earning himself a certain stereotype. He was fairly certain he had earned that stereotype already, and he couldn’t say what exactly had caused that. He wasn’t always aware of everything. But, he had been making it a point to bike to work instead of drive, since it wasn’t far and he had a nice bike anyway. Well, he’d bought one specifically for this purpose, but that was beside the point. It had been invigorating so far, and he was think he was going to try to make a habit of it.
Until someone stepped into the bike lane and with a car on the street beside him, Sterling had no choice but to half step off the bike, bringing it to a skidding halt and nearly falling over in the process. But he made it, stopping just as he reached to the person who, accidentally or not, had stepped into the small lane. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re going to get hurt if you’re not more careful about where you’re walking.”
Sterling Whitely V, who strongly resembles Alfred Enoch, has made Ceres Centropolis their home. They are a 25 year old Mutant and have been in the city for a week. They have been known to have healing capabilities. They are known to be Scholarly & Adventurous and Reckless & Nihilistic. If you’re lucky, you may catch them working at Altimira Academy as a Teacher.
Hey all! Coming at you again with my third (and final) child, Sterling. He’s real friendly, big on traveling, and yeah, you should plot with me ~
Sterling Whitley V died for the first time when he was six years old. His family had taken in a foster child, a few years older than him. He was always following the boy around, because he could tell there was something different, something magic about him. Even as a child, Sterling wanted to figure it out. They got in a big argument, then there was flames. He doesn’t remember being afraid, only the knowledge that he was going to die.
He woke up in a hospital, the foster child was gone. He been dead for two minutes, they told him. The experience left him with both asthma and an obsession with all things otherworldly and magical. He was told it was a freak accident, but he knew better. He poured over old texts, books, everything he could get his hands on, searching for anything like the phenomenon he had witnessed the night of the fire.
His family worried about him, and what he might find in his search. That didn’t stop everyone that knew him from telling him that he was destined for greatness. It was, after all, a fact of all Whitleys. People in their family were expected to go onto great things and Sterling was no exception. He inherited his mother’s oozing hospitality and his father’s commanding presence. He was told by all that knew them that he had the best of both parents. The magic was considered a pesky phase, one that would fade with time. It did not.
Which brings about the second time Sterling Whitley V died. He was thirteen and hiking through the Sierras in search of proof of ley lines beneath the mountains. It was just an anthill and people get bit by ants every day. People don’t always have a severe allergic reaction. Sterling had been dead for a full two minutes by the time he was revived at the small mountain hospital. They had brought him back through prayers and pure luck, making it clear to Sterling that such forays could not happen in the future.
This hospital visit brought a new problem to light. He was older now, more developed, and they caught an irregularity in his heart. He had a rare heart defect, likely to kill him by thirty if he didn’t get a transplant. Ever the difficult one, they couldn’t find a match for him. Even his family’s money couldn’t help him, there. So, he was warned to stay inside. Most people only received on miracle in their lifetime and he had already spent two. Third time’s the charm, they told him as they warned him to stay inside.
Warnings like those were scarcely heard by a boy like Sterling, before he was off again, racing to discover the world. His interest in magic now had turned into a desperate cause. He needed to know it existed, and he thought maybe he could find something magic that would allow him to walk freely, without the tie to his epi-pen and inhaler. (Both false senses of security really, there to placate the people around him). The older he got, the more freedom he took, traveling the world and sometimes disappearing for months on end as he tried to come to terms with his impending death.
His family allowed it purely because they knew they couldn’t confine a creature like Sterling, because trying to stop him would kill him quicker than any insect could. And because, despite all his disappearing acts, he graduated high school early. He applied himself to school nearly as devoutly as he did to his search for magic. He devoured books like they were his lifeblood, like he was starving for them. He balanced his life, his obsessions with the life his parents expected him to live. He threw himself into college when it came, immediately establishing himself as an Ivy-Leaguer, fitting seamlessly into the timeless campuses that mirrored his personality. It meant his wandering had to take a backseat, though he still took every opportunity to travel. College at least meant a chance to properly study the strange and unexplained in our world, and he chose to major in it.
Strange things were happening more and more often in the world. Out of college, Sterling put it upon himself to discover every strange thing he could, always circling outside of Ceres Centropolis, always feeling as though the city would be an answer he wasn’t sure he wanted.
Which brings us to the third time Sterling Whitley V died. Again, hiking, this time in the Hex River Mountains in South Africa. He was 24 and his heart gave out on him. Those with him were forced to carry him down (thankfully they hadn’t made it far) and he was helicoptered to a hospital. His heart had been stopped for two minutes. It had been a heart attack, further proof that his defective heart was giving out on him.
Then came the job offer. He was asked to come to Altimira Academy and teach, as one of the few people in the world so well versed in the unexplained. He accepted, only recently arriving in Ceres.
OKAY so, some more about Sterling.
Powers: Sterling has the ability to heal himself. Only when he dies, and then it is only to the point of functioning again. He does not realize that he is a mutant with this ability; he’s still under the impression that he’s dying. Which, granted, he is. It’s just not going to stick.
Personality: Sterling comes across as a privileged fuckboy, ngl. He comes from old money, he’s been to the best schools, and even though he’s been all over the world, he’s not really good at realizing that other people don’t have money...or rather, he’s not very good at talking to people who don’t have money. He’s super sweet, but initial impressions are generally that he’s some green rich kid without a clue about life, who’s never owned Rolex over five years old.
He has a very nihilistic sense of humor. He’s always making jokes about dying, because that’s how he’s come to terms with the idea. But he wants to live as much as possible until then, see everything he can, learn everything he can. He definitely has a sense that things are happening in the city and his curiosity is probably going to get him in trouble.
In about five seconds, Sterling can go from acting like a teenager, to acting like he’s been alive for hundreds of years.
Alright, I think that’s about everything! If anyone has any questions or wants to plot, hmu!
