Alani Ryan
| Alani Ryan | |
|---|---|
 Portrayed by Lindsay Watson | |
| Codename: | Loa |
| Affiliations: | eXcalibur |
| Birthdate: | October 29, 1997 |
| Journal: | Stay calm! Be brave! Wait for the signs! |
| Player: | Isaura |
"Glad I asked before I just turned steamroller mode on. That’s how ya get mail bombs, I guess."
An ex-pro surfer turned activist, Alani is attempting to juggle university, community volunteering, and Mansion life. All things considered, she did an amazing job avoiding the third, until the Mansion life came to her.
Contents
Details
Character Journal: xp_loa
Real Name: Alani Ryan
Codename: Loa
Aliases: N/A
First Appearance: September 16, 2018
Date of Birth: October 29th 1997
Place of Birth: Te Kaha, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
Citizenship: Dual American and New Zealand
Relatives: Alaka’i Ryan (father), Paula Kingi (mother)
Education: High School Graduate, Bachelor of Arts degree
Relationship Status: Single
Occupation: Activist, Assistant Librarian at Xavier's, University Student, Professional Surfer (former)
Team Affiliation: eXcalibur
Biography
Childhood
Born in Te Kaha, part of the Bay of Plenty region in New Zealand, Alani was raised by her mixed heritage American father and her Māori mother in the state of Hawaii. Alaka’i and Paula were ecstatic to finally have a child and it helped that they’d both acquired jobs at UH Mānoa; Paula in the Anthropology department and Alaka’i in English, with both holding potential tenure positions at the time. While her mother’s Anthropological work focused specifically on Māori indigeneity in modern and urban settings, Alani was more drawn to the broader field that her father’s work in Multicultural Postmodern Literature supplied. Louise Erdrich and Thomas King became staples of her bookshelf. She was a voracious reader and her parents were happy to stimulate her intellectual growth.
When she wasn’t reading, it usually meant the small family was enjoying the water and the waves. It wasn’t uncommon for Alaka’i to take Alani out on his board with him for small waves. At the age of eight she was surfing on her own. She loved it, and, better yet, she was good at it. At ten she was surfing in small-time contests.
As the child of two professors, she was kept at arm’s-length for her perceived self-righteous nature through most of her childhood by classmates and was considered a smart aleck by teachers. This did little to deter her; instead of stifling her social life, Alani became increasingly charismatic to draw people in. While not a pushover, she took to only giving her opinions when asked directly.
At fifteen, Alani became one of the youngest people to ever win the US Open of Surfing. For the first time, she began to think seriously about becoming a professional surfer and, with her parents, carefully went over proposed sponsorships that she’d received. Her moderate success brought in enough winnings to make an earnest attempt at saving for college. With her awards and titles piling up, the stress to stay one of the best surfers around, and school, it was no wonder Alani’s powers manifested so abruptly, causing her to fall through a couch at her family's home and destroy it on her way down. The activation of the X-Gene also caused a physical change in her appearance; red markings appeared on her skin, most noticeably on her face. Fearing what being a mutant meant for their child’s safety, Alaka’i and Paula pushed for Alani to claim the markings were tattoos to honor her heritage.
Out as a Mutant
The following years were the hardest for her. Her parents became fiercely protective of her and rarely left her side, even as she laughed it off to classmates and potential sponsors as them turning into helicopter parents to ensure she’d finish high school before she really went pro. She was doing her best to be a secret mutant and pass the drug tests imposed in the sport.
M-Day destroyed any chance she had of passing for human. In 2015 while being filmed for some promotional material a mutant working on the crew suddenly erupted, killing at least two crew members and sending debris flying. A camera that had been filming caught this all, as well as Alani and the pink light she produced while debris passed through her, breaking down in the process. This forced her out to the public when the footage went viral. With the truth out, Alani cross-posted a video across her social media of her admittance to her mutation.
Anti-mutant sentiment was at an all-time high; Alani was forced to finish high school from her parent’s home. For almost a year she didn’t leave the house, instead opting to proofread and edit the journals that Alaka’i and Paula were in the process of writing. After this self-imposed exile from the outside world, Alani decided to tackle the lack of rights given to mutants and took to being a social media activist.
What started out online eventually took to her holding public talks to bring to attention the injustices faced by mutants.
Living At The X-Mansion
Unfortunately, taking her activism to the people lead to a mail bomb at home in September of 2018. The experience was disheartening for Alani, to say the least, and terrifying for her parents. The incident gained the attention of one Charles Xavier, who offered her a safe place to stay while she tried her hand at college. Following her arrival, she met Sooraya Qadir in the main kitchen, and the woman informed her of a former NGO that had helped mutants and offered to allow her to assist with some of the research. She eagerly accepted. The kitchen turned out to be the place to be, when she met Angelo Espinosa under similar situations, and she found an opportunity to aid the Mutant Underground as they needed. In October, during a trip to the mansion’s library, Alani met Topaz and talked her way into becoming an assistant librarian. November brought with the chance to take another crack at social media under Sooraya's guidance. The remainder of 2018 passed peacefully for the newcomer.
In July of 2019 the madness in the mansion finally caught up with her, and Alani joined a small group of other mansion residents to battle one of the Worthy in Tokyo. To her relief, the others took care of it, but the event has made her realize how serious training should be taken. In that same month the Church of Humanity caused her to reach out to Angelo and Sooraya to gather information and see what could be done to counteract the foothold the CoH had taken nearby. It turned out that July was busiest month of the year for her, as she finally met one Molly Hayes, who she'd been looking forward to meeting since the name had been mentioned by Angelo, and the elusive Kurt Sefton. Near the end of the year, while visiting with Sooraya, she eagerly agreed to share a suite, with the promise of consistent meals and to stave off the loneliness she'd been feeling living alone.
Early in 2020, Alani officially declared her college major in psychology and a cobbled together social justice track, with plans to go all the way with psychology and work towards practicing in the future. In April of the year, an attempt to open a locked door led her to meeting Felicia Hardy and immediately taking a liking to her. The rest of the year passed quietly for her.
Becoming a Team Player
As she was set to graduate undergrad in 2022, Alani planned to continue her keeping her head in the sand and avoid any big changes. Crabs laying siege to Baltimore in October changed that plan when she was brought in to try and level with a nature spirit. It did not go well, but they also weren't murdered, so it was a bit of a lose-win. The month continued to be the wildest in her life when she was eaten by werewolves, but not really, so that was probably fine, aside from any lasting trauma and urges to be horror movie stupid. However, the mansion-wide aftershocks of the event destabilized Avalon, which caught something's attention, and took Topaz with it.
During the time Topaz was... elsewhere, Alani put on the main librarian hat. It was a universally hated move, so when the librarian returned, she happily gave the hat back. In the aftermath of what she claimed to be the wildest year of her life, she decided to get serious about what her continued presence at the mansion could offer and began to train in self-defense more seriously. And in early 2022, Alani joined the ranks of eXcalibur, hoping to put her research skills to use. This brought her into another dimension for a quick mission as the renewed team found its legs. This surprisingly did not disrupt her final year of undergrad and Alani received acceptance into a graduate program, as well as her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences. Her post-grad relaxation was cut short when a inter-dimensional visitor was forcibly brought to their world and eXcalibur once again did their best to right the anomaly. During the mission, she was knocked unconscious and Clint was forced to remotely extract her.
She quietly began her graduate program in late August, which was successfully juggled with her library and eXcalibur duties. In November, she reached out to Namor to offer her assistance in his search for Atlantis to the best of her ability. To end the year, Alani joined Felicia at the Hellfire Gala.
In what could only be a cosmic comedy, the beginning of 2023 she found herself trapped in the Chapel with the majority of eXcalibur, unable to leave the building, following their vending machine acting up. When that mess was sorted, things went quiet again until March brought an anomaly that led to eXcalibur bringing a virus back to their home universe. This caused a power-swap in a number of mansion residents and Alani found herself the luckiest young woman around when she gained Arthur Centino's power...s. The experience was an amazing time, turns out life's pretty good when you're lucky. The discovery of Arthur's particular brand of psychometry? Not so much. Though Alani did use the opportunity to touch The Trident of Neptune and learn some things about Atlantis from the psionic ability. She continued to have a blast until the morning when her own powers returned, and she found that recovering from luck was worse than any hangover produced mistake ever could be. Her year continued with her schedule of working at the library, chapel, and in the District X Community Centre, mixing with a continuing doctoral education found her with less free time than before - something thought impossible. A young mutant approaching her and Sooraya brought one Sharon Smith into the mansion's warm walls. This prompted her to begin focusing her volunteering at home, opting to no longer pick up as many hours at the center.
In the fall she officially began her first full year of externship under the advisory of Dr. Jericho Drumm. And despite attempts to not take as much on, a meeting with Sam Guthrie offered the chance to make connections that she couldn't pass up. When someone's questioning lead to Madin learning that they were being asked about, they admitted their past to Alani, she took it in stride, though the weekend proved too much when she lost Dwayne the Cock Johnson her beloved rooster to Sharon's hunger. It was a learning experience for the younger mutant.
Despite storm warnings, Alani and Namor went for drinks Halloween night and awoke the following morning to District X's flooding. Getting people to safety led to her reaching out to one Quentin Quire for his one of his Underground contacts who heads the Darkveil Moving Company. While she stayed largely in DX to help, she was able to make plans to finally go to a state park with Nica, and brought Madin along as well in hopes of checking up on them. The year should have ended rather quietly, however news of an Atlantean outpost brought eXcalibur down to Florida. The mission did not go as planned, and with Namor banned from the state, Alani was incredibly disappointed in what she viewed to be his willingness to put Meggan (and herself) in danger. His reveal of the information that the log they had taken home with them softened her some again to him, though. After she was taken out by a mysterious assailant, Namor was even kind enough to return her to the partially destroyed mansion.
Physical Characteristics
Alani is considered a conventionally attractive young woman, and she knows it. She’s on the taller side, and fit from years of surfing, swimming, and working out. Her features exhibit more characteristics from her Polynesian roots, with dark hair and brown almond shaped eyes. Anyone who sees her would immediately noticed the red markings on her flesh, they draw the eyes and are a physical indicator of her mutation. Even on her laziest, “I just threw on sweats and now I’m here” days, her confidence and charisma show through.
Height: 5'8"
General Build: Supple, fit from years of swimming and watching her figure for surfing, but softened edges after she moved away from the professional scene.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Other Features: Red markings span across Alani’s body, vaguely resembling the moko of her mother’s culture. These markings feel no different from her unmarked skin to the touch. Their purpose is unknown to her. She’s lighter than her height might let on and it is believed this is caused by her mutation.
Powers
Alani can disable the binding forces in solid matter around her, allowing her to pass through the matter in question. However, due to the termination of these bonds the matter that she passes through will crumble, or fall apart while she moves through them or after she has passed through them. Alani describes the feeling caused by her passing through objects as akin to swimming or wading through water but that the use causes her to become fatigued faster than swimming does. The heavier and denser the material, the more energy is consumed to break it down. At the time of her coming to the institute, usage of her power for longer than half an hour on organic material causes unconsciousness and headaches after she wakes up. She has yet to see if her power works on all materials, having only used them accidentally. Due to her pacifistic ways, she prefers to not use her powers in an offensive manner. Usually, the activation of her power can be linked to protective reflexes, much like the way a person might flinch if sudden movement is caught from their peripheral vision. Though it has been shown that in moments of extreme stress or emotions her power will activate. For reasons unknown to her, the use of her power through solid matter produces a pink light on the area that is passing through matter. In instances of extreme concentration, Alani could hypothetically channel her power through objects (a baseball bat for example), though the object in question would suffer breakdown from prolonged use, crumbling inwards.
It is theorized that it is actually her own molecules that are being shifted with her power, as any telepath would notice a static-like interference that mildly muffles her mind.
Though her markings appeared with the activation of her X-Gene, their function was unknown before her arrival. Alani previously believed they were just be physical indicator of her mutant genetics. These markings are, in fact, due to an entirely different mutation that allows her to breath underwater and adapt her physiology to suit underwater environments. This accounts for the shift in pressure and temperature that may occur, as well as altering her vision. Prolonged usage would leave her breathless and exhausted upon resurfacing. Vomiting would not be uncommon.
Equipment
- Image inducer for out of mansion activities
- "Assistant Librarian" pin
Trivia
- The name of Alani's journal is the sign-off of The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour.
- In addition to English, speaks te reo Māori, 'Ōlelo Hawai'i, has passing Spanish, and is learning ASL.
- At the time of coming to the Mansion, Alani had the interesting habit of cursing, apologizing for cursing, then continuing to curse. The cursing has since continued, with less apology.
External Links
Plots
2019
2021
2022
Reality 02: Clan Akkaba - Arrival
2023
Laved by the Gulf and Ocean Grand
2024
Meta
Player: Isaura
E-mail: 
Player Icon Base: Lindsay Watson
Meta Trivia
Alani is Isaura's first character, bringing both of them into the game in September 2018. Courtney Eaton was Alani's PB until September 2021.
