Name: Aleksei Tierney
Age: 2 | Actual age: 59
Species: Aurazin
Role: Shepherd
Face Claim: Nils Kuiper

Creative | Loyal | Charismatic
Impulsive | Suspicious | Stubborn

*Trigger Warning - Child Death, Murder*

Aleksei Christophe Tierney and his identical twin brother Nikolas Elijah Tierney was born in New York City on April 18th, 1965 to an drugged out prostitute named Majorie Nadine Tierney and an unknown father. They grew up poor with majority of the money their mother made going to fuel her drug habits, but she did not abuse them in any ways aside from neglect, and while during moments of clarity she would react violently towards anyone who mistreated them, those moments were too rare to keep them from finding themselves within a cycle of abuse. Unsurprising, the twins found their way into a life of crime from an early age, and often found themselves barely escaping being incarcerated or killed.

The idea of attempting to live a life outside of crime never occurred to Alek until one of his criminal endeavors took the life of a five year old boy. Despite all his wrong--doings, Aleksei had never killed anyone and the idea of his first murder being that of a child devastated him beyond measure. While his brother and their friends fled the scene, Alek remained behind to desperately try to save the boy's life and to deal with the consequences of his actions. However, he would not receive punishment for his crimes because the mother of the boy denied his involvement in the deed. He screamed at the police that he was the guilty party, and that they should arrest him. The police, however, believed the boy's mother over him.

Over the next few weeks Aleksei would go to the boy's mother every day demanding that she tell the police the truth over what happened, and each time she refused until one day he screamed at her that she musn't love her son if she doesn't want justice for his murder. She told him that justice comes in many forms, and the one he seeks isn't the one he deserves because despite what he believes he isn't a monster deserving of damnation, but rather he is a misguided soul in need of redemption. He told her that he cannot be redeemed unless he paid for his crimes, and if she wasn't going to do it he would find another way to ensure that he did. She told him that he paid for it every time he thought over what he had done and found himself consumed by overwhelming guilt, and she wasn't going to have two boys lose their lives over that horrible tragedy.

Alek found himself at a lose for words because why he was only sixteen he had not had anyone regard him as a child in need of protection for a long time, and he did not know how to react to the emotions it awoke within him--eventually he screamed fuck you at her before taking off with a silent vow that he would not waste this chance that he was given. He was going to escape the life of crime and make something of himself. This, however, was easier said than done. Every where he turned there was something trying to bring him down, and finally when he was eighteen he decided the only way to make his dream a reality was to move clear across the country to California to start a new life there.

He tried to convince his twin brother to come with him, but Nikolas refused. Over the last two years the twins had drifted apart. They had become two separate entity rather than two halves of a whole and Nikolas was not at all happy by this development, and he dug himself deeper and deeper into a life of crime as a means of dealing with it. This was part of the reason Aleksei wished to bring his brother with him, but he knew he couldn't force his brother to come and with a heavy heart he bid him farewell and moved to California to start a new life. It wasn't easy, temptation was all around him but he managed to stay on the straight and narrow. He found a passion for painting that he wished to share with the rest of the world--the world however was not always receptive of his pieces.

Still he managed to make a living through painting--although it was mostly through portraits of tourists. Eventually he met and feel in love with a transwoman by the name of Deidre Faye Yates. He had every intention of spending the rest of his life with her, but the universe it seemed had something else in store for him. After years of not hearing from his brother Aleksei received a phone call from Nikolas pleading for his help. Over the phone, Nikolas told him that he decided that he wished to take Aleksei up on the offer he gave six years ago, and he was driving out to California to surprise him, but appeared that life was not as willing to release him. It followed him in the form of members of a criminal organization eager to keep him from starting a life outside of crime. He pleaed that Aleksei came to Las Vegas to help him. Alek was more charismatic of the two--if anyone could convince them to let Nikolas go it would be him.

If he's unable to convince them then Nikolas can die happy with the knowledge that he got to see his other half one last time. Without hesitation, Aleksei agreed to drive to Vegas. Truth be told, all his brother needed to do was tell him that he needed him and he would have been there without a second thought. Deidre, on the other hand, didn't trust Nikolas. She had been the one to answer the phone when he called, and said she could sense his malice even over the phone. she begged Aleksei not to go, told him that if he went they would never see each other again. Neither really understood how true those words were. Alek drove out to Vegas and found bretrayal in the face of a brother who had so desperately called for help. He had expected death to happen in the moment, but instead he found months of torture.

While the acts of torture was not committed by Nikolas' hands, he was there watching every instance that Alek endured, telling him that it was for his own good and when everything was said and done they truly could be as one again. Eventually everything blurred together to the point Aleksei wasn't sure what was real. The only thing he knew for certain was his love for his brother and the fact he needed his help, and so when the chance to escape presented itself Aleksei went to save his bretrayer instead of taking it. Whether he would have made it far or not was another story. The only thing that's known for certain was Nikolas acted like this was the first time they seen each other, and gladly allowed Aleksei to guide him to safety, only to stab him in the back over and over again, asking why Aleksei couldn't just submit like he had. Not comprehending what was happening, Aleksei Christophe Tierney died June 30th, 1990 at the ripe age of 25.

He wandered the void for some time before he was found by one of the shepherds, and was offered a place as one of them. It was an offer that Aleksei gladly accepted, and he barely finished his training when a rip in both the void and veil sent many Auzerians--including Aleksei onto the earth. He found himself bombarded with an arrangement of emotions-an equal measure of excitement and fear over what they new predicament meant, and while he find himself curious about the life he could live now that he's given the choice the comfort he finds amongst the other Auzerians and lack of trust he feel towards strangers keeps him from wandering too far from their current residence that Luke set up for them in the shortgrass prairies.