Arry Valerian

Name:
Arunnsun Teriana Valerian
Alias:
Arry, ATV, ‘That Crazy Woman Over There.’
Age:
26
Occupation:
Medical Examiner
Marital Status:
Single
Personality:
If there was anyone more Bohemian than Arry, the world would probably spontaneously combust into a thousand, Earthy little pieces. A small town girl with some very un-small town views when it comes to how to live her life, she embraces the dangerous and accepts people for who they are.
At the same time, however, she is a complete pacifist…unless provoked and/or forced to use the skills her cage-fighting brother had taught her at an early age.
Owner of one of the strongest stomachs on the planet, she can take gore in stride, sometimes going so far as to say that she’s happy that human beings are prone to be heartless, murderous bastards, just so that she could have the immense pleasure of solving their crimes, and helping the saintly detectives put them away for life.
History:
During the six years of her short life, a certain serial arsonist had terrorized her beloved Louisiana without ever getting caught. For months, he would lie dormant, as if waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and then, out of the metaphorical fog, he would appear; terrorize a seemingly innocent family, tie them up in their master bedroom after hours of abuse, and set the house on fire with them still inside. Then, the screams of his victims still ringing in his ears, he would wait until the local law enforcement arrived, change into his suit, and somehow blend in with the city’s finest to fight the flames that he’d just recently started.
Thus was the life of the notorious ‘Fireman’.

No one knew where the Fireman disappeared to, after his lust for arson was sated. The FBI, attempting to succeed where the police could not, decided that he must be heading to a place where he felt safe; where there would be no suspicion cast on his name.
And Nowhere, Louisiana, a tiny blip on the FBI’s radar, became just that.
For years, Arry’s father put up with the rumors of the strange man living on an abandoned property at the outskirts of the town, turning a blind eye to his so-called ‘eccentricities’, and the way the house would attract unruly teens, as it would stand empty for months on end. But one day, after breaking up a particularly nasty graduation party, he stumbled upon a few photo albums whose images could not be ignored.
Two weeks later, Niklos Valerian, a no-name Sheriff would be known as the man who caught the Fireman.

…And if only he could have stayed caught.

From what she could remember, Arry noticed nothing strange about the man who’d arrived at the family homestead early in the morning; she had better things to worry about. Billy Joe was holding a contest down at the creek, and had challenged her to hold her breath for a whole three minutes. If she backed down, she’d be the laughing stock of the school, and it was well known that the Valerians were no chickens. She made sure that she’d arrived right on time- she hadn’t told her mother she was leaving, but after living with three boys, she was never too concerned if one was missing from the breakfast table- and in a matter of minutes, she was holding her breath and staring at the dirt under her hands.
Sge won, Billy Joe was forced to declare her the best Breath Holder in Nowhere…
And she never saw her family again.

Screaming echoed through the fields as she trekked home, making her pause. A wave of panic fell over her; what if Momma found his stash of tadpoles in the bathroom?! Dropping her wet shoes, she ran barefoot down the dirt drive, excuses formulating in her mind, ignoring the truck that whizzed by her…
And proceeded to crash to a halt as the sight of flames and the smell of smoke blinded her. The screaming was deafening, and she could see hazy shapes through the living room window; moving shapes dancing in the fire. She knew from the pitch that it was her mother, and she ran toward the sound, dragging the hose from the garden. Her father had taught her the basics of how to deal with a fire, and if she could just aim the water at the flames, all would be alright. She screamed out her mother’s name, eyes locked on the forms in the window, but suddenly a roaring tore through her mind and she was flying in the air. It had gone silent, but for the hissing flames, and she hit the ground face-first. There was a sharp pain in her head, the agony of bone being broken, and then darkness.

Arry Valerian, supposedly the sole survivor of the Fireman’s last attack on civilized society, found herself thrown into a world of nightmares; where the profession that she had once fantasized about embracing as an adult, had taken on new meanings. No longer did she see CSI and Law and Order as fascinating tales where the good guys were always caught; now she could see that the bad guys sometimes one, and it was up to the survivors to make sure that they didn’t strike again.