Recurve (Alex Naverro)

Alex Naverro is a first-year student at Surrey Ridge University. She is a skilled trick archer and martial artist, and is on a hero team with Helena Covey (Kestral) and David Frost (Pinpoint), led by Nightwatch. She is also roommates with Helena.

Appearance
Alex is 5'3" with brown eyes and short black hair, most of which is usually in a ponytail. She is half Philippino on her mother's side, has an agile build, and has a lot of freckles across her face, chest, and shoulders.

Her superhero outfit is a form-fitting cropped sleeveless top and leggings in bold red and silver, and her casual wear is various forms of melee athleisure, usually a sports bra and running pants. Typically topping both of these outfit choices is her cherished signature Surry Ridge varsity jacket, which she is rarely without.

Backstory and Personality
Alex previously lived with her parents, Adrian and Christine Naverro, in an apartment above Naverro Pharmacy (their family-owned business) located in the downtown area of the city. With the rise of big corporate competitors, the pharmacy has struggled to stay afloat as long as Alex can remember. Because the business took up a considerable amount of their time and energy, Alex was partially raised by her aunt Krystal, who lived with them for a time when Alex was much younger.

The ever-failing business has accrued a significant amount of debt over the years, putting an enormous strain on her parents’ marriage. When they’re not working, they’re bickering about financial stress or getting on each other’s nerves over anything else. They very rarely sleep in the same bed - whoever stays up late working on bookkeeping tends to sleep on the couch. The joint business is the major reason they aren’t divorced. The one thing they can agree on is their care for Alex, and though they have very little time to spare, they tend to get along slightly better when she’s around.

Alex’s aunt Krystal (her dad’s sister) is generous and well-meaning, if a bit self-absorbed. She wanted Alex to experience things she herself loved as a kid, so she paid for her to take gymnastics and dance, despite Alex's dismay. There were frequent nights when Alex had to hang around the rec centre until someone could pick her up, and in that time she saw the Jiu-Jitsu class next door. She pleaded with her aunt to let her take that class instead, and her aunt agreed to a compromise - she could drop dance, but if she stuck with gymnastics, she could also enroll in jiu jitsu. Alex was thrilled, and much to her aunt’s chagrin, found it much more her speed.

During some of these hours spent at the rec centre, Alex got to know the regulars, including a quieter man named Mr. Khoury who frequented the cafe. She would sit with him and pester him with questions, of which he answered very few. One day, she caught him in a training room running through some highly skilled archery routines and was absolutely enthralled. She begged him to teach her, and having experienced already how persistent she could be, he reluctantly agreed. Alex suddenly found something to fill her empty hours at the centre, and poured her heart into learning everything he had to teach, and he gave her one of his old compound bows to use. He was a steady and patient tutor, and willing to get up and train with her whenever she had time. He didn’t reveal much about his life, but Alex suspected that he was a retired superhero. He never confirmed or denied any of it when pressed, but he seemed to know a bit too much about superheroes and she swore he had a supernatural way of knowing exactly when she was ready for training or what she needed to focus on. Alex started learning about superheroes and would try to trip him up, but if she caught him in something that seemed to confirm her suspicions, he would just wink and deflect. Having grown up without much connection or exposure to the hero world at all, her curiosity was hooked.

When she was 14, Aunt Krystal decided that it was quintessential for Alex to follow in her teenage footsteps and enter a pageant. Her aunt was a former runner-up, and had many connections within the pageant. She firmly refused to take no for an answer despite Alex’s horror, convinced that Alex would love it if she gave it a chance. Alex miserably made it through several rounds of the competition with her archery lessons being her only respite, when she started to devise a plan. She convinced Mr. Khoury to start teaching her some trick shots, and at the final leg of the pageant, switched out her talent last minute without telling anyone and showed off her archery for the first time. She was promptly disqualified from the running and her aunt was furious and embarrassed, but Alex was on top of the world.

The pageant resulted in quite a bit of tension between her and her aunt, who then stopped paying for any of her lessons. Alex suddenly found herself without access to two major lifelines, and started doing pharmacy deliveries on her bike for her parents for a little extra cash. They couldn’t afford to pay her much, so all of her time was taken up by school, lessons, and work. She spent all of her free time with Mr. Khoury, who helped hone her skills and offered a little extra guidance. He would often surprise her with deeper questions, about what she was going to do with what she learned and why she did what she did. While most kids her age discovered themselves through social connections and events, Alex's teen years were primarily shaped by her time with him.

One night after training, Alex found a pamphlet for Surrey Ridge in her backpack, and it only took one read through before her heart was set on it. When confronted, Mr. Khoury didn’t confirm if he put it there in that maddening way of his, but he seemed pleased at her enthusiasm around it. Surrey Ridge became her Harvard. She subscribed to every hero magazine, checked out hero memoirs from the library, took hero electives in school, and covered her room in posters of heroes past and present. She talked about Surrey Ridge and Isaac Partridge with reverence and passion. She attended hero meet and greets, including an up-and-coming hero event put on by the influential Coveys, legacies in the city, where she met Helena for the first time. For Christmas during her junior year, her parents got her a Surrey Ridge varsity jacket and it became her most prized possession next to her bow, signifying both her exciting life ahead of her and proof of her support at home.

Powers and Abilities
Alex's trick arrows allow her a lot of creativity and maneuverability on the battlefield, and she prefers them to direct attacks. So far, she has utilized arrows with grappling hooks, magnets, and retracting rope to move herself and her opponents around combat, and inhibited her opponent's movement through fireable net, bola, entangling, and chainlink arrows. She frequently creates tightropes for herself this way as well.

Contrasted to her personality, Alex's archery is methodical and careful. Mr. Khoury taught her a meditative approach to help channel and counteract some of her more impulsive tendencies, and as a result it often has a grounding effect and helps her focus.

Though melee combat is not her preferred style, Alex is well practiced in Jiu-Jitsu and can generally hold her own in hand to hand combat.

Trivia

 * As a result of her upbringing, Alex is a decent self-taught cook.
 * Alex is a pretty good dancer, thanks to many aunt-inflicted lessons about being a lady when she was younger.