17 January 2020 @ 11:20 pm
REGISTRY ♔ KYRIAKOS  


LEGEND

= priority
= locked
✿ = regained


SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE

"....because we're friends."
"Goodbye, Sophia."
Freedom.
NEUTRAL POSITIVE

Pre-Euphoria childhood. (1)
Pre-Euphoria childhood. (2)
Shoeshines and paper routes. [memory #2]
Field trip to the amusement park. [memory #12]
Joining the Flock.
● "I'm sorry."
TRIVIAL POSITIVE

● A recovered heirloom.
Winning at cards. [memory #8]
SIGNIFICANT NEUTRAL

Day-to-day orphanage life. [memory #3]
● Mastering telekinesis.
● Mastering cryokinesis.
Saving Eleanor for the first time. [memory #7]
Survival and mercy.
NEUTRAL NEUTRAL

● Learning to play the guitar.
Learning to play piano.
SEX MEMORY: using and being used.
Great at parties. [memory #4]
Saving Eleanor for the second time.
TRIVIAL NEUTRAL

Fish-gazing. [memory #6]
SIGNIFICANT NEGATIVE

Arrival in Euphoria. [memory #5]
● Euphoria's decline.
● Forced splicing.
Programming. [memory #10]
NEUTRAL NEGATIVE

Being passed over. [memory #1]
● Realizing that the Flock is basically a cult.
Meeting Eleanor. [memory 9#]
Sophia explains their purpose. [memory #11]
● The amusement park.
TRIVIAL NEGATIVE

Clothing woes. [memory #??]
SKILLS

telekinesis [skill #1] STARTER
cryokinesis
empathy bond [skill #2]
● pain resistance
● durability
dirty fighting [skill #6]
instruments (guitar, piano) [skill #4]
card playing [skill #5]
formal dancing [skill #7]
household skills [skill #3]
alcohol tolerance [skill #9]
● marksmanship
drug resistance
aquaphobia
languages (japanese, german) [skill #8]
 
 
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:25 pm (UTC)
code ✿ regains
regained: day x
taken: day x
witnesses: character (audience; day x)/character (viewed; day x)

MEMORY GOES HERE.

✿ content
● words
● words
● words

✿ consequences
● words
● words
● words

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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:30 pm (UTC)
❦ positive
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:35 pm (UTC)
○ significant
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:38 pm (UTC)
○ neutral
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 30th, 2015 05:15 am (UTC)
Shoeshines and paper routes.
regained: day 120 (plot: heartgame | isa fairweather)
taken: day 120
witnesses: Ichirou, Mercedes, Sayid, Yukine (viewed; day 128, Isabel's memoryshare game)

This is a montage memory of the ages 11 to 16 and is primarily concerned with doing odd jobs around Euphoria to earn money.

You remember coming from an affluent background. While the pride and sense of privilege those memories once gave you has been shed by now, you still understand the necessity of having money. It's not the only thing, or the most important thing.....but in Euphoria, it comes very close. Because this is a world where wealth is the fastest shortcut to power, and success is built upon hard work and cleverness. One paves their own way in this underwater city.

The Little Brother's Orphanage is well off enough that no one has to worry about going hungry, but the feeling of stability is an uneasy one. The place depends almost completely upon the patronage of the man who established it: Fred Fontaine, who had also founded a girls-only orphanage. Without him, the orphanage would surely be shut down, given how Euphoria is a strongly Objectivist environment when it comes to social issues as well as fiscal ones; charity is reluctantly given and welfare is scorned outright.

What does this mean for you? That you'll have to rely on your own efforts if you want to move on and move up in this world.

Thankfully, Euphoria is a wellspring of opportunity. You start out shining shoes and delivering newspapers, transitioning over to cashier and receptionist jobs when you get older, dabbling in extra (and always menial) work whenever possible. Polite, conscientious, ethical and charming, you leave a good impression wherever you go. While there's nothing particularly challenging or refined about the methods by which you earn money, it's honest toil that you grow to enjoy.

✿ content + consequences
● Real name continues to be blurred/missing.
● This memory shows a lot of Euphoria! There's shopping centers, an amusement park, art galleries, business centers, even a park.
● It's clearly a thriving place of economy and industry.....and Objectivist policies.
● Impossible to overlook is how Euphoria is located upon the ocean floor.
— Aquatic creatures of all sizes, shapes and colors swim by.
— The buildings are watertight and connected to each other via suspended glass walkways.
— Men (???) in bulky deep-sea scuba outfits can be seen servicing vital maintenance apparatuses from the outside.
● From now on, Jaguar will turn to some form of productive menial labor as either a distraction, a way to pass the time, or to balance out his emotions.

Edited 2015-02-18 05:05 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on May 1st, 2015 12:50 am (UTC)
● Field trip to the amusement park.
regained: day x (kanra's beach game)
taken: day x
witnesses: N/A

You're ten years old and today is a good day, a happy day, because you and the rest of the orphanage are going on a field trip to Ryan's Delights.

In later years the attractions would turn frightening and political, little more than thinly-veiled indoctrination tools, but at this time in Euphoria's life cycle it's simply a place where whimsy and good fun can be found for a reasonable enough price. The orphanage staff that's come along as chaperones pay the admission fees before setting their young charges loose.

There's enough money to go around for everyone to go on the rides a single time, to sample the fairground foods, to try their hand at the games of skill and luck at least twice. You win a prize (a stuffed teddy bear) at the shooting gallery, but give it to a younger orphan that's been looking on with a wistful expression, knowing that he needs it more than you do. You try the cotton candy and share half of your stick with someone else in exchange for half of their hot dog. You debate getting your picture taken with a costumed mascot and are eventually persuaded into doing so. You look through the giftshop's glass and dreamily imagine yourself able to afford the jacked-up prices, then drift away to another diversion.

It's a good day.

✿ content
● As a child, Jaguar was taken to an impressive amusement park called Ryan's Delights.
— Once again, everything is underwater, shielded from the ocean by the complex network of heavy glass and steel that encapsulates Euphoria.
— Aquatic creatures of all sizes, shapes and colors swim by at the perimeter of the amusement park as well as high above.
● The games are typical carnival games like a wheel of fortune, throwing darts at balloons, water gun shooting galleries, etc.
● Every orphan in this memory is a boy.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on July 4th, 2015 05:41 pm (UTC)
Joining the Flock.
tba.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:38 pm (UTC)
○ trivial
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:32 pm (UTC)
★ neutral
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:34 pm (UTC)
○ significant
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 31st, 2015 03:18 am (UTC)
Day-to-day life at the orphanage.
regained: day 120 (quest)
taken: day 120
witnesses: N/A

A montage memory from ages 7 to 18 that revolves around daily life in the Little Brothers' Orphange.

You're a recluse when you first arrive, keeping to yourself and rarely speaking. Every thought and emotion is weighed down by a terribly heavy grief. For awhile, you're left alone. The staff knows about your circumstances. Your fellow orphans do not, but are used to this sort of behavior from new arrivals. Most of them have gone through such a phase themselves. The adults and children alike know to wait until you've had time to adjust to the drastic upheaval that brought you here.

Eventually, you start to.

What follows next is a slow integration into the fold. You're given a schedule of housework to do and lessons to attend alongside other kids. Everyone at the Little Brothers' Orphanage has to pull their own weight and keep up with their studies, each according to their capabilities. Coming from a wealthy background makes the transition harder for you, but more because you had been sheltered and privileged rather than due to a spoiled temperament on your part. (Your parents had raised you better than that.) Once you turn a hand to it, you find that you don't mind the menial labor that you're taught how to do. Cooking, cleaning, home maintenance, babysitting — it's busy work, productive work. As you grow older, the role becomes more fully your own, until you're part of the staff in all but name and paycheck. It's much the same story with your education, to the point where it's normalized for you to be asked for help with homework or to lead a class.

It's not all work and no play, though. There's money and time to spare for recreation. There's fun and games, even the occasional field trip. Sometimes there's a party when a holiday comes around, or a communal birthday celebration. These latter affairs are always modest and hardly commonplace, yet are still enjoyable.

......

Even so, the Little Brothers' Orphanage never becomes a home for you, not in any small part because you didn't strive for it to be. You're content to carve out a personal niche as a cog in a what you see as a well-run machine.

✿ content + consequences
● There's a significant emotional evolution spanning the memory, beginning with an overwhelming grief that slowly improved as it was mitigated by hard work.
● Although he cared about the people he lived with at the orphanage, he never truly connected with anyone.
— The trauma from his arrival in Euphoria was coped with after a fashion, but left unaddressed.
● He's been doing housework and taking care of kids since he was a kid himself.
● His education continued despite his circumstances, although it became a lot more basic and informal.

Edited 2015-02-23 03:14 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 31st, 2015 03:21 am (UTC)
Saving Eleanor for the first time.
regained: day 123 (game: isabel's cat bingo)
taken: day 123
witnesses: Utsuho, Vash the Stampede (viewed; day 123) Ichirou, Mercedes, Sayid, Yukine (viewed; day 127, isabel's memoryshare game)

When the attack begins, Eleanor had been hoping for a quick, decisive blow. She darts like a shadow from the upper railings of the museum to land upon the Big Daddy's broad shoulders, pumping a fireball into the front pane of the helmet, intending to melt open a gap big enough to shove the large needle attached to her arm through....but is instead knocked bodily into one of the display cabinets, smashing glass and animatronic dolls under her weight. The Little Sister, the twisted child that is the charge of every Big Daddy, screams as she ducks behind a table. Alarms begin to ring, followed by the high squeal and rattle of security bots that have come to track down the intruder, hovering speedily through the air with their whirling helicopter blades.

Eleanor immediately vanishes, reappearing hardly two feet away from the little girl who is no longer a little girl at all (if she couldn't eliminate the guard, then she would go straight for the target instead) but then throws herself to one side at the rat-tat-tat of rivets slamming into the floor beside her. One of them catches her in the arm, another in her leg, pinning her to the floor, but her cry of pain is lost in the bellowing roar of the Big Daddy as he charges at her. He is a hulking giant of a figure, dressed in a bulky deep-sea scuba diver's outfit and wielding a huge drill, his rapid tread like that of Goliath striding into the Valley of Bones.

You watch all of this unfold from the dark corner where you've been waiting, having thought yourself prepared to act appropriately when (or if) your involvement proved to be necessary. Because even with the inclusion of a Big Daddy, the mission would surely progress smoothly. After all, Eleanor was here. She was powerful and ruthless and deadly-quick, and no matter what else you might think of her, she was a formidable ally to have in a fight.

But that's not what happens. Neither of you are lucky enough to have that kind of wishful thinking come true.

"—Eleanor!"

Her name is torn out of your throat like a cry of pain; sudden, instinctual, hoarse with the shock that washes over you in a chilling flood. It's the first time you've said her name since your lives were forcibly intertwined and the sound of it leaves an unfamiliar, not quite pleasant taste on your tongue. Then you're moving out of the shadows, running as fast as you can toward the fray. There has to be a way to help her, there has to be something you can do, there has to be—

.....

Hesitation. If you fled the scene now, there was an excellent chance that she'd be smashed into human paste by the Big Daddy or be turned into a pincushion by the security bots. No matter the means, she'd die, and as for you....well. You would be free to hide within the bowels of Euphoria and strike out at her mother in your own way, to your own tastes. That, or you'd be driven insane by the severed connection and Eleanor's mother would lose a prized tool along with her precious daughter. As long as that woman ended up hurt in the end, either outcome would ultimately satisfy you.

An opportunity like this wouldn't come again. Shouldn't you take it? Shouldn't you hate Eleanor enough by now to make the decision an easy one? She had tried to snuff out your life, had marked you with burns and bruises. Furthermore, she seemed most alive when spilling blood. An angry, violent, extraordinarily dangerous person. You didn't owe someone like that any loyalty.

Hesitation, even as you run. Uncertainty, even as a charge gathers once again in your right hand and a thin coating of ice envelops your outstretched fingers.

.....

You don't abandon her at the last moment. You can't. She wasn't the one that created this situation, she wasn't responsible for what her mother had done. It wasn't her fault that she had become the person she was now. And.....it just wouldn't be right to leave her to die. You had already let your parents drown, so you really would be a monster if you betrayed Eleanor now.

Thus resolved, you blast the Big Daddy with your cryokinesis, freezing him and slowing his berserker charge to an immobilized slide. He misses Eleanor by inches. She scrambles upright with the time you bought for her.

Another icy blast takes out one of the security bots, which falls frozen to the ground and shatters. The remaining ones blare and screech as they swivel mid-air to face you, firing rivets at this new threat, and only an ungainly sideways leap behind an exhibit saves you from being fatally peppered with their rounds. Even then, you're not fast enough to duck out of sight unscathed. The bots manage to clip your left side with their rivets: tearing open your shoulder and cheek in a glancing blow, a few buried in your side and upper hip. You hit the floor hard, the impact knocking the wind out of you. And dimly, you're grateful for that — no matter how loudly your body shrieks in pain, there's not enough air in your lungs to give that agony a voice.

You twist forward desperately, emptying your mind of everything except the doom snapping at your heels and the connection with Eleanor that still exists unbroken at the core of your being. The exhibit won't shelter you for longer than perhaps a minute, even less if the bots pursue you, so you have to keep moving.

✿ content + consequences
● The phantom pain of all the wounds and discomfort described in the memory.
● His mental/emotional link with Eleanor is readily apparent.
— Her anger, fear, pain and shock resound in his head like an echo.
— There's a bond between them that exists at the core of his very self, almost tangible in how there and real it is.
● There's a strong and vicious hatred for Eleanor's mother.
— She did something incredibly awful.
— She made Jaguar into some kind of "prized tool".
— She was basically responsible for this entire situation somehow, including the strange relationship between her daughter and Jaguar.
● There's feelings of hatred for Eleanor herself, although they're tempered by a great deal of sympathy.
— At some point, she had both hurt Jaguar and tried to kill him.
— She's a violent, angry, and incredibly powerful young woman.
— She seems to have abilities like his, although hers are teleportation and pyrokinesis.
— She was shaped by forces outside her control into the person she is now.
● There are beings called Big Daddies and Little Sisters. The former defends the latter, who is a target for some reason.
— Little Sisters look like young girls, but are warped and inhuman.
— Big Daddies are big, tough berserkers that are hyper-protective of their charges.
— Jaguar and Eleanor were on a "mission" to apprehend Little Sisters for an as-of-yet unknown purpose, which went awry.
● He had considered leaving the trapped Eleanor to die, even at severe risk to his own sanity, but instead saved her.
● He's shown to have cryokinesis in this memory.
● The setting is still Euphoria.
● Jaguar's opinion of himself will improve somewhat.
— He was a decent enough person to show mercy in a difficult situation for reasons that weren't wholly selfish.
— His survivor's guilt will continue to influence his decisions.
— His submissive tendencies toward teams as a Cat player will be curbed when the situation turns into a serious moral matter.


Edited 2015-02-23 04:25 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:36 pm (UTC)
○ neutral
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[personal profile] formaliteas on July 4th, 2015 05:41 pm (UTC)
Great at parties.
tba.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:36 pm (UTC)
○ trivial
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[personal profile] formaliteas on February 23rd, 2015 04:02 am (UTC)
Fish-gazing.
regained: day 123 (eden's yahoo answers)
taken: day 123
witnesses: N/A

You're fourteen years old when you stop to gaze out at the ocean that surrounds Euphoria, standing close to the sturdy glass of the walkway so as not to impede the foot traffic passing by.

To human eyes, the sea would be incomprehensibly dark this far below the surface if it wasn't for the thousands of lights affixed to the city's many buildings. Not just industrial lights meant to aid the maintenance men who bolster Euphoria's structural integrity from the outside in their heavy scuba gear, but the glowing neon signs that advertise the underwater civilization's various businesses and attractions. Combined, they're enough to illuminate the watery depths into an ethereal blue-green color that could arguably be considered beautiful. Fish swim by with purposeful movements, either heedless or uncaring of the artificial trappings that signify a large human presence in their midst.

You acknowledge the visual appeal of what you see in a distant, academic sort of way, letting yourself feel neither fear nor wonder. The ocean is indeed beautiful, but also dangerous. It cannot be treated lightly, as less than it is. Such a truth is one you understand with an ease that comes from an almost dutiful familiarity.

✿ content
● Euphoria is once again shown to have been built upon the ocean floor.
● The fish that can be seen are those that would typically be found in the Atlantic Ocean of a typical Earth.
● Despite knowing on a personal level that the ocean is a ruthless force, he's not afraid of it, nor is he mystified by it.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:33 pm (UTC)
☠ negative
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:35 pm (UTC)
○ significant
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[personal profile] formaliteas on February 17th, 2015 10:12 pm (UTC)
Arrival in Euphoria.
regained: day 122 (quest)
taken: day 123
witnesses: Ichirou, Sayid, Yukine (viewed; day 127, isabel's memoryshare game)

In a whirl of robust and unimaginably complex machinery, the bathysphere descends into the ocean. The cacophony of moving gears and pistons, loud enough to hurt your ears, is mercifully silenced upon the total submersion of the spherical craft. You're standing with your mother and father on either side of you, hands interlinked with theirs, peering out the single circular window as the journey begins. You and your family are the only passengers. There's no conversation. Your parents glance at each other, grip your hands a little tighter now and then, sometimes share smiles that seem full of a meaning you can't grasp, but say nothing. Even though you're curious and have a lot of questions you'd like to ask, it doesn't feel right to break the silence by yourself, so you don't. You just stand there between your mother and father, watching fish swim by in the water outside and thinking about where you're headed.

Euphoria. Euphoria, the underwater city that your parents have talked about for ages. The prospect is huge, exciting. You wonder what it'll be like, what sort of friends you might make, what there was to see so many miles from the surface world. You're seven years old and you're not afraid at all of the future. You have no reason to be. And for awhile, the journey is a pleasant one. The powerful lights mounted above and below the bathysphere's window illuminates the ocean depths that you're traveling through. You see a lot of interesting and colorful fish for the first time. You can even see Euphoria itself at one point, a cluster of softly glowing lights off in the distance.

But then something goes wrong.

A muted, watery grinding sound from the outside of the bathysphere. Intermittent, then constant, then increasing in severity. Alarms abruptly begin to blare and wail. And then seawater starts to trickle in. First from one source, then another, then another and another until there's no way for you and your family to plug them all with hands and feet. (You all try anyway.) The trickles become streams, then gushing leaks. The water inside the bathysphere rises from a puddle to ankle height. Euphoria is still so far away. You're very, very scared, but you try to be brave. You can tell that your parents are scared, too, and they aren't panicking. You have to follow their example.

The water creeps up your legs, to your chest. Your mother and father lift you up to sit on their shoulders. Your head brushes the curved ceiling of the bathysphere. You start crying when that happens, no longer able to help it. The vow you made to stay calm in emulation of your parents is easily broken.

The bathysphere continues to move through the ocean towards Euphoria. By the time it's near enough to be distinguishable as a city, the water is up to your parents' necks. It slips over the top of their heads a few minutes later, forcing them to hold their breath. When the bathysphere soon fills completely, you have to hold yours as well. Your hands cover your mouth, pinch your nose shut, oh god oh god you can't let any of it out—!!

Lungs burning, heart racing, overwhelmed with fear and panic, you black out.

You awake coughing and sputtering an unknown time later inside Euphoria. You're drenched and cold; it's an effort to sit up and you immediately vomit seawater into your lap when you do. Waterlogged luggage is scattered all around. Your head hurts from the bright lights of the city, from the sounds of bustling civilization. Throngs of strangers crowd in, some inspecting the now-empty bathysphere that's docked nearby but most just gawking. You see your parents laid out on the ground, prone and still. You call out to them, crawling nearer, but they don't stir. No matter how much you shake them or how loudly you sob for them to wake up, they never move.

They're dead. They drowned. You're alone. When the epiphany finally sinks in, there's only room in your head for a single, anguished thought that replays over and over:

Why couldn't I have died, too?!

content + consequences
● What his family looked like.
— His parents were both different shades of blonde, but only his mother had gold eyes. His father had blue ones.
— Both were pale-skinned, about equally tall and in their early middle ages.
● They were en route to Euphoria via a bathysphere when the vessel somehow malfunctioned.
● He only survived, and narrowly at that, because his parents raised him up to give him the last of the air.
● This memory explains how he ended up at the Little Brothers' Orphanage.
— It also answers the question of whether he was abandoned or not.
● There's a lot of grief, survivor's guilt, and suicidal inclinations that aren't coped with at all.
● Jaguar will value himself even less as he takes on the full brunt of traumatic loss and survivor's guilt.
— If he hadn't been prioritized, his parents might have lived.
— It's a dim comfort to realize that he hadn't been discarded like he had previously believed.
— However, the realization won't be enough to change his negative perception of the event.
— He doesn't think he deserves to be loved if it leads to others putting themselves in harm's way for his sake.
● Jaguar will regain a strong, but manageable fear of drowning upon taking this memory.

Edited 2015-06-03 07:30 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on July 4th, 2015 05:38 pm (UTC)
Programming.
tba.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:37 pm (UTC)
○ neutral
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 04:42 pm (UTC)
Being passed over.
regained: day 118 (quest)
taken: day 118
witnesses: N/A

Visits made to the Little Brother's Orphanage never fail to get a reaction from the young boys that call it home. They crowd to the front, sometimes elbowing or shoving each other to get a better spot, peering up at the unknown adult or adults with both hope and desperation. You never elbow or shove (not anymore, that is) but you're no less anxious to make sure you're seen, noticed. The desire to be taken home to a new family is a fierce one for you.

It's not a bad life in the orphanage. You're aware of that, and are both intelligent and mature enough despite your tender age to be grateful for the fact. You could be dead or even worse: starving, cold, eking out a dirty and diseased existence on the streets. Yet gratitude can't hold a candle to your loneliness, that awful twisting ache in your heart for acceptance and love. Gratitude doesn't change, cannot mitigate the raw and soul-deep nature of your grief, your loss.

A new family could be a new start. It's a dream to strive for and to focus on, a way to keep afloat of a pain too great to be articulated. But no one ever chooses you. The hope that you've harbored is steadily eroded by degrees; the desire to be adopted loses strength each time it's thwarted. There's never a reason given, no explanation for why you were passed over. There never is for anyone (nothing spoken aloud for childish ears to catch, anyway) but that doesn't lessen the sting of the not knowing, the dreadful power of your gathering doubts.

Eventually, you stop joining in the rush to the foyer area where visitors come through. You turn away instead, immersing yourself in chores that will keep you out of sight.....and out of mind. What does it matter, anymore? It's obvious enough that you don't deserve a new family, that you're lacking somehow. Boys that were here long before you arrived, boys that showed up only a day ago, they're the ones who end up being chosen. Never you.

You're left behind, smiling calmly to hide your pain, trying not to begrudge the other boys their good fortune and not quite managing.

✿ content + consequences
● His real name would normally be remembered in this memory, but is blurred/missing/not mentioned.
● Jaguar takes a rather severe blow to his self-esteem and sense of self-worth.
● He realizes that if he's in an orphanage, his parents are either dead or didn't want him.
● Because the memory is about being passed over for adoption several times until he had lost all hope, Jaguar's inclined to believe that he was abandoned.
● He was polite and dignified even as a child, using good manners and composure to hide negative feelings, so he'll continue to be that way in Kyriakos.
● This was in his early years and doesn't feature Euphoria beyond the Little Brother's Orphanage, so he's not yet aware that Euphoria is actually a city built underneath the Atlantic.

Edited 2015-02-21 03:33 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on April 25th, 2015 08:00 pm (UTC)
Meeting Eleanor. 1/
regained: day x
taken: day x
witnesses: character (audience; day x)/character (viewed; day x)

The world is insensate oblivion, until it's not.

You awaken from a state of drugged unconsciousness exhausted and aching, tasting a still-flowing nosebleed on your upper lip. Your face is pressed against carpet, prone limbs heavy with the lingering influence of a sedative, the smell of spent fire and ash growing stronger and stronger as reality steadily reasserts itself. After what feels like hours but is really only a few minutes, you manage to open one eye enough to look around. Trying to see, to know, to understand the surroundings that you've been brought to.

Plush covers, velvet drapes, a luxurious bed. All manner of elegant trappings and furnishings....all of it now torched into blackened remains. There's scorch marks on the walls and ceiling. Stupefied, your gaze slips over everything until finally coming to rest on the girl that's standing across the room. She's wearing a light dress that contrasts sharply with her watchful expression of suspicious hostility. Recognition and bitter understanding bleed into your waking thoughts, then. Sharpening them, strengthening them, drawing your mind further out of its doped sleep. Eleanor. The daughter of your enemy, the presence on the other end of the line that's been tapped into your soul.

You slowly ease yourself up into a kneeling position, moving with the wary caution of a cornered animal that knows the odds aren't stacked in its favor, and remain silent once upright without so much as edging closer to the young woman. You only sit, and wait, and watch Eleanor with a mixture of suspicion, weariness........and expectation. You've already grasped the situation; it's not yet clear whether she has, too.

The chemical fingers that had invaded your mind, violated it, hadn't quite managed to overload your brain into simply popping like a sick gray balloon, nor wipe your psyche clean of all sanity and identity. Perhaps the splicing you were forced to undertake had attributed to that resistance? Well, the specifics didn't really matter. Not anymore. The job was done; an empathy bond binds the two of you together now, a permanent and inviolate leash.

She meets your look with a cold stare. The silence stretches. You wait for her to break it first.

After some time, she does, her voice a hostile demand.

"What do you want?"

The tight lines of your body ease a fraction — not a lowering of your guard, but a resignation to the current situation. "Me? Nothing." Your voice is quiet and calm, but your eyes remain wary and alert, untouched by that soft composure. "Slaves know better than to want anything." Feigning a disregard to your own words, you turn your attention to your nosebleed, reaching up to first thumb away the stream and then pinch your nostrils shut to stop the flow. "Well, the preferred term is 'assistant'....but regardless, this is about what the Flock wants. More specifically, what your mother wants." You return to watching her closely, remaining stationary.

"But you knew that already."

It's not a question. Eleanor Lamb was many things, but "stupid" was not one of them. Only Sophia Lamb could be responsible for this latest twist in her daughter's life.

Her eyes narrow, masking confusion and surprise. "Is that right?" She exhales, a bitter smile curving over her lips. "How funny. Mother with her speeches and dreams of utopia, and here she thinks to gift me with a slave. I'm touched." Eleanor's voice is low, dangerously soft. "I hope she isn't expecting to see you back in her service. Except in pieces, perhaps."

This time, the cold cruelty in her smile reaches all the way up to her eyes.

Edited 2015-06-18 06:21 pm (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on June 18th, 2015 06:50 pm (UTC)
2/
Yet that menacing promise of cruel violence, impossibly enough, makes you smile in return. Intensely bitter and darkly amused, it's not a sweet expression by any means. It's easy to see through to the heart of Eleanor's suspicions: spy? Well, yes. That too. And yet you incline your head in a small nod, readily accepting the threat with ease. You had expected no less. Neither, it was certain, had Sophia.

"Ah, but a gift is supposed to be a desirable something-or-other that's offered with kind intentions. None of that applies to me. Isn't that so, Master?"

Part of you is wounded deeply when addressing Eleanor as such,. When you take that first crucial step toward cementing a dynamic of steep power imbalance into place. The rest of you is too coldly pragmatic to be much concerned, and proceeds to (slowly, gradually) roll up your sleeves to check whether the injection sites on your wrists have healed yet. For now, you study the skin there instead of Eleanor.

"Honestly, that's part of the reason why I'm here. Rather than set your bedding afire, your mother would prefer that you and I make good use of each other. Or something like that, I suppose — I wasn't in much shape at the time to properly listen. ....She probably is, though, is bound to be doing so right now."

You look up just to glance around in a bored sort of way, as if idly expecting to spot a microphone jutting out of the walls. You wonder if Sophia will have Words for you when the time came for you to report back, but you don't much care. The time when you wanted her approval more than anything is long since over.

"Incidentally, my name is Mamiya. But I doubt you care about that, so I'll answer to any name you bother to give me."

There's only acid bitterness in your eyes when you regard her despite the calm acceptance of that humiliation, and Eleanor in turn gives you a long, measuring look of cold neutrality, one you meet and hold.

"No, I don't think so. I'm tired of playing along with her little games." She turns away, her voice quietening. "So go back to where you came from, Mamiya. I don't want to see your face again."

You continue to watch her when she turns away, right up until that tired edge creeps into her voice. It's that subtle note which gives you pause, makes you shift focus back down to your wrists where the marks of forced splicing still remain. Behind the caution and bitterness that surrounds you like a protective cloak, her rejection is considered to be perfectly natural.

"....Sorry, but I can't." And you do sound (and feel) genuinely apologetic, although without any expectation of being believed. You know better than that. Who could trust anyone in this kind of situation? You would act no different in her shoes. "Even if there was a place for me to return to, they won't let me leave your side. Mm, except to tell them what they want to hear about your condition." You let out a humorless chuckle that dies quickly as you get to your feet.

"Especially not after all the work it took them to force you into my head and me into your own."

Eleanor's head comes up at those last words, an expression flickering across her face almost too fast to identify. Then fury is radiating down the bond she shares with you, white-hot and seething, before the connection is abruptly blocked. That surge of infuriated emotion through the link that neither of you wanted is the only warning you get and comes far too late to be of any use.

Between one breath and the next, Eleanor disappears and rematerializes across the room with a bang of displaced air, slamming you up against the wall with bone-bruising force, fingers around your throat. Holding you up with ease, flush with power, stronger by far. You struggle: writhing and thrashing against her iron grip, half-strangled snarls of defiance spilling out into the air still thick with the smell of burnt cinders. Something full of bloodlust and black joy comes crawling out in the bright gleam of her eyes.

"I can sense your ADAM. Not much, but it’s there."

Her voice is soft and amused, as if this was play and nothing else.

"Mother took away my toys, so I might just have to settle for ripping out your throat instead. All their hard work, gone to waste. What a shame that will be."

Kill you. She's going to kill you. Yet you force yourself to go still. To block out the pain, remove yourself from the dizzying sensation of too much adrenaline, stare down at Eleanor. Meeting that crazed, dangerous, euphoric expression with eyes narrowed almost to slits from agony. The corners of your mouth quirk into a weak grin.

"L...Less than you were expecting, huh? Your mother had me spliced. Never touched a implant before."

Before. A single word to neatly encompass all that has either been lost, or forcibly taken away. You struggle to keep speaking. If these are to be your last words, you mean to have them.

"Hhh....I'd rather not be killed just so you can spite her. We both know that she would just send in another one of me. She'd crack open your mind as many times as she had to. We're all resources to her......she wouldn't think twice." A derisive snort that unfolds into a choked, empty laugh. You aren't trying to convince her to spare you, after all. "But it's not like I can blame you. Only a puppet wouldn't lash out when it's been violated."

You touch the arm that ends in fingers curled tight around your throat, but gently. No strength in the gesture, no gathering charge of an implant. You smile down at her sadly, pained and expectant. Are you afraid to die? Yes, part of you clamors — but another part simply wonders why death has been withheld from you for so long. You never had the right to live after your parents had drowned. Perhaps having your throat torn out is simply karma for that one unforgivable sin.

Heat builds in Eleanor's palm, pale flame flickering over her knuckles. The fire that is her fury made real inches closer to the pale, delicate skin of your throat, flames licking the underside of your clenched jaw. Burning you, raising blisters, cultivating scars.

You don't break eye contact. Looking death in the face, resigning yourself to a slow and agonizing end.

Mother, Father.....when I see you again, if I apologize, will you forgive me? I—

And then she drops you like so much trash, turning on her heel and stalking across to the other side of the room. That bleak thought is snapped in two with a gurgle both surprised and pained as you hit the ground for the first time in conscious memory and the second in actuality. You watch her stomp away without a sound, without moving, relief and disappointment each weighing heavy in your chest like a disease.

You notice that her hands are shaking, that she balls them up into fists until the trembling stops.

✿ content
● After being drugged at some point, he was tossed inside of Eleanor's "room" (really a gilded prison, once she set afire) to make introductions.
● His clothes are a mess, ripped and stained, and physically he feels terrible.
● Confirmation that he had been spliced against his will, his DNA altered to give him powers (called "implants") that would otherwise be unobtainable.
— Once someone is spliced, they have ADAM inside them, how much depending on how heavily they've been spliced.
● He was bonded to Eleanor to act as a leash, as another tool for Sophia to use against her daughter..
— Also as a spy, but he doesn't treat the idea with any gravity. He doesn't believe Eleanor will ever reveal exploitable vulnerabilities to him.
● He gave his name, but it's missing.
● After he explains why he's here and what's been done to them, Eleanor lashes out, pinning him against the wall by his throat and nearly burning him alive.
— She abruptly stops for no readily understandable reason, before significant damage can be done.
● He both wants and doesn't want to die, survival instincts conflicting with survivor's guilt.
● There's feelings of hatred for Eleanor by the end of the memory, yet they're tempered by pity and some measure of understanding.
— He can't bring himself to blame her for her rage and spite, but she still tried to kill him on the basis of those feelings above all else.
— Also, her bloodlust and apparent cruel joy at the thought of killing him is something he finds to be very disturbing.
● Strikeouts indicated missing/blurred information.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on April 25th, 2015 08:02 pm (UTC)
Sophia explains their purpose. 1/
regained: day 142 (game: jo the ghost's jello jenga)
taken: day 142
witnesses: N/A

You go rigid beside your less-than-desirable companion when the office door of Sophia Lamb is approached. For just a moment, the mask of composed almost-insolence falls away and your aura erupts with a black, vicious hatred despite yourself — despite knowing better than to lose control. But it's just so difficult to stand here and feel nothing, to be utterly detached from the memories of various betrayals that now fill your mind's eye. Sophia Lamb reaching out to you, supporting you, teaching you.....and then stabbing you in the back, torturing you, violating your mind in an attempt to break you down and make you hers.

Part of you wonders how Eleanor must be feeling. The rest of you pushes that thought away. The facade of steely composure reasserts itself an instant later.

"Because you're not as stupid as she seems to take you for." It's a response delivered in calm, flat tones. Not an opinion, but a fact, as bluntly impersonal as the truth sometimes had no other choice but to be. Part of a not-as-yet remembered conversation. A pause, and then you reach out to open the door for Eleanor — that, too, is a lesson learned by heart during the formative years of your childhood.

Eleanor's shoulders are stiff with tension as she approaches that same door. The sudden flare of fury and hatred down your shared link catches her by surprise, and she stops in her tracks to stare at you as you pull open the door. Then bitterness fills her eyes and catches in her throat. She looks away, walking past you.

"And yet, here we are."

She steps through the door into a blue room, majestic and elegant with gold trim. You follow, ducking in a moment later. The woman behind the desk looks up at the two of you. A small, casual movement, yet Eleanor very nearly flinches away and it takes all of your restraint to not snarl. You had both forgotten the sheer power of Sophia's presence: commanding attention just by existing, the magnetic pull of her certainty that she is right in all things. She stands up from her chair, mouth curved in a welcoming smile even as her eyes remain cold, frozen.

"Hello, Eleanor, Mamiya," she says by way of greeting. Her voice is warm and welcoming, a mother's voice.

The use of your first name is like salt in an open wound. Before, you had politely corrected most of those in the Flock who had tried to refer to you as anything other than "Mr. Tomoe". Emotional distance, a defense mechanism, a small yet crucial bit of safety. It didn't matter with Eleanor — the mental link that had been forged between them without their permission meant it was far too late to build that particular wall. But you had trusted Sophia, once. You had even admired her, easily adopting the ideals she espoused as your own. For that woman to speak to you as though nothing had changed was a slap in the face.

"...Miss Lamb." The most shallow of nods. You rest your hands in the small of your back, where they curl into loose fists. The idle thought of could I freeze her solid and then smash her apart? do I have that chance? dances across the surface of your mind very briefly. But then Sophia looks at you, seems to see through to the heart of that dark fantasy. You settle instead for a thin, cold smile.

You're about to speak again, but Eleanor gets there first. Knowing the value of discretion, you hold your tongue and wait.

"Hello, Mother. Is this a bad time? I'm sure you must be very busy, when you aren't occupied smothering your daughter or getting your soldiers slaughtered." Eleanor is pleased to hear her voice shake only a little, as Sophia gives her a long, hard look, brows furrowed.

"Eleanor." Sophia's voice is chiding, and Eleanor's lips draw back from her teeth, voicing the snarl that you had contained.

"No, Mother. How dare you pretend you still have any claim on me. After all you've done to me, to the others....After what you did to Father—!" Hot fury burns in her veins as she strides forward, all caution thrown to the wind, slamming her hands palm down on the burnished wood of the table. Every loose object in the room jumps up by about a foot and stays afloat, drifting toward Eleanor in a tightening spiral, a maelstrom.

Sophia closes her eyes for a moment, and when she speaks, her voice is equal parts regret and command.

"Stop that once, Eleanor."

Like puppets with their strings cut, every floating object immediately drops to the floor. Eleanor jerks back in shock, hearing the crunch of broken glass.

"Sit down."

Eleanor refuses: her shoulders stiffen, body going rigid, eyes flickering from side to side as she fights her mother's command.

"What Delta did... that was unforgivable. You should have been... a leader, a paragon among men. Under his influence, you learned only violence and selfish corruption. Oh, Eleanor, I would have spared you that. I had hoped—" And here, the full force of Sophia's eyes turn upon you. "—that a new companion would ease the transition somewhat."

"But it may be that I was wrong."

It's strange, but Eleanor's outburst of fury manages to drag you away from your own boiling ocean of vengeful hatred. By the time that Sophia turns her attention upon you, it's clear enough that you have to try and defuse this situation somehow, or at least lessen whatever ugly fallout potentially awaited. You meet that steely gaze with one of your own, putting most of your considerable willpower towards keeping your gaze utterly flat, completely inscrutable. You can't afford to show the smallest shred of weakness; she would see it, exploit it, weave a noose from it to hang you with at a moment's notice.

"Pardon me so saying so, Miss Lamb, but I have to disagree. I think things are going quite well!" Your tone is quiet, pleasant, unerringly calm. A series of graceful, deceptively nonchalant steps are executed forward until you're between them. The bruises on your neck have already darkened, the skin around your blisters is red and swollen, yet you calmly smile as though this was just a discussion of the weather over tea.

You look to Eleanor for only an instant — the false smile that wreathes your face doesn't reach your eyes, but something that's almost supplication flashes briefly — before smoothly turning back to Sophia.

"After all, I'm still alive. Your hard work hasn't been wasted. And besides.....ah, how did the saying go? "Rome wasn't built in a day.'" A soft, rueful laugh that masterfully hides the disgust you feel at having to fall back on deceptive charm, especially towards this woman. "Something like that, right?"

Sophia lets the pause stretch and sharpen, her knowing gaze fixed upon you.

"Do you know why I chose you to partner my daughter, Mamiya?" Aside from the fact that he was the only one to survive the process, that is. "I chose you for your great strengths, the traits you have in abundance: control, restraint, compassion..." She smiles, and there is something (affection, approval) in the curve of her lips, tender benevolence in her expression. She does love her Flock, after all, she loves them all, even the stray sheep that have lost their way. "... and the wisdom to choose your battles."

Meanwhile, Eleanor has caught the look sent her way only to dismiss it entirely, throwing herself against the invisible shackles Sophia had wrapped around her with abandon. Her shoulders jerk forward as she voices a low and guttural snarl, feeling something give, fingers curling like claws.

Sophia merely casts another brief look at her, this time of disappointment.

"Eleanor is my final masterpiece, unfinished. But every perfect creation has its struggles; these are merely the birthing pains of the new world. Recent.... events have not been kind to her, but it is my sincere hope that you will be able to temper that wildness of hers."

Gasping a little with effort, Eleanor finds her voice, and the vicious words come pouring out of her mouth in a torrent.

"I will see you burn, Mother. You, and every person in this whole wretched city. When I'm done with you, there won't be anything left but ruin and rubble at the bottom of the ocean."
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[personal profile] formaliteas on April 25th, 2015 08:03 pm (UTC)
2/

And for a minute or two, your mask of friendly composure comes dangerously close to slipping. Your aura spikes with murderous intent, a white-hot surge of wounded rage crackling forth from your end of the mental link — the fingers of both hands crook inward just slightly, yearning to turn into fists. How dare she. How dare she lay bare the incontestable blueprint of your soul and look at you with such tenderness. Her affection is a steel-jawed trap; her goodwill is a poisonous lie. The proof of that is just not all around you, but inside you as well, from Eleanor's seething presence within your mind to the marks on your wrists.

The space of a heartbeat. Two, three, four. Then your empty smile grows a touch wider, and your anger and grief is forced back into the cage where it belongs. You gesture to Eleanor with a shrug that gives every appearance of being nonplussed.

"As you can see, Miss Lamb, that's a rather....lofty hope you've entrusted me with. I'd be flattered by your faith in me, but I don't want to become arrogant."

There's no surprise at Eleanor's fiery resistance, only a twinge of exasperation. You didn't expect her to chime in and match your fake sycophancy by any means, but their position was precarious, and futile threats against the one that held all the keys would not make it any less so. Sophia had found the means to choke off her daughter's powers at will; Euphoria will not burn today, nor any time soon.

You glance at your "partner" again, but with resignation this time. Because as much as you were loathe to admit it, Sophia's analysis of you is accurate, especially when it came to the way you picked your battles with strategic care. Cunning and patience are your favored tools of achieving victory. Even if it meant the occasional retreat or temporary surrender, you never ran headlong into a fight that you couldn't win — not unless there was no other option left. And here, the only path forward was a narrow tightrope stretched thin over a hungry chasm....a path that only you could navigate.

A thoughtful pause. You add, delicately:

"But my feelings are irrelevant, of course. What would you have us do?"

Because of course they weren't brought here to be told obvious truths, nor to simply be cruelly taunted by the insurmountable fact of their powerlessness. Sophia was many ugly, despicable things, but above all she was purposeful. There was always a reason behind her machinations, a method to the madness.

Sophia's regard turns once again to Eleanor, who glowers back at her, trying to contain the worst of her fury.

"Eleanor, it's time that you began to dedicate yourself, your talents, to the people. To our Flock."

Catching sight of the expression on Eleanor's face (revulsion, fury, denial), Sophia presses her lips together into a thin line. "But... you have had a surfeit of death of late. Delta's corruption will take years to undo. I know you will see the light, in time. But for now, if you must bloody your hands, then I will ask that you do it in service of the greater good.....as a messiah, bringing destruction and redemption to those beyond my power to save."

There's a moment of silence, and then Eleanor laughs, a disbelieving sound. "You want an assassin, Mother?"

Sophia sighs heavily, voice wistful and full of regret.

"These are difficult times, Eleanor. We are at war. Ryan and Fontaine tear each other apart in secret battles, hiding their knives in the dark, and they will soon turn on the Flock as well. Yours will be the act of a merciful savior; you will bring them deliverance, and their ADAM will live on in your genes, in your memory. They will be reborn."

This is what Sophia wants from her daughter. To kill in Sophia's name, in the Flock's name....... Eleanor knows she'll need much more power to escape, power enough to make good on her vengeance. She can use this.

Eleanor lifts her chin.

"Fine."

Your mind works quickly, rapid-fire thoughts behind an inscrutable gaze. So that was the truth of it.....the core of Sofia's intentions laid bare. There's no doubt that other details have been withheld from them, but you don't pay those missing pieces any further thought. There would be plenty of time, you're sure, to dwell upon them once this debriefing concludes and they are ushered out from beneath Sophia's knowing gaze.

Eleanor's acquiescence provokes a certain measure of private surprise, not in part because it comes with less of a fight than you had been expecting, but after a minute you swallow a bitter chuckle — you can only guess that your unwilling partner must have found a way to turn this forced arrangement to her advantage somehow.

At least in that, the two of you are alike. You have no intention of biding your time just to accomplish nothing. Every person, every plan, had a flaw that could be taken advantage of. It was only a matter of finding that weakness and properly exploiting it.

"Ah, so we're all in agreement? Excellent!" You almost sound genuinely pleased with the warped excuse for cooperation that's been established. Another pulse of black anger shudders through your aura, but it's dull this time. A muted, brooding resentment pulsing in the background like a sick heartbeat. "What sort of task should we pursue first, Miss Lamb?"

There's the slightest hint of rebellious knowledge in your polite, compliant smile. You already understand that there was little chance that their duties (Eleanor's duties) would only involve assassination. Sophia always made the most of her chosen tools, and using Eleanor only for slaughter would be a foolish waste of her daughter's abilities.

Eleanor glances back at you, mouth tightening, not bothering to hide the contempt in her gaze.

Sofia watches you both for a moment longer, blue eyes knowing, before she raises her voice again. Gone is the benevolent concern, the mother and guide. She turns to the two of you now as the charismatic leader whose voice had lead the citizens of Euphoria to riot.

"Ryan Amusements is Ryan's pet project, a monstrous construction equal only to the height of his ego. It is a breeding ground for his cult of personality, dedicated to propaganda and the formative corruption of the young. It also serves as a training base for his armies of indoctrinated splicers. To cut off their supply of ADAM at its source, Eleanor, your first task is to remove the Little Sisters of Ryan Amusements. I have no intention of leaving Euphoria's flow of ADAM and implants in Ryan's control any longer. Unfortunate children that they are, their energies would be better directed in the Flock's service."

Eleanor stares at her mother. "They're not children anymore, Mother. They're monsters. You know that as well as I." A growl. "Is that it, then? Are we done here? I'll need my suit and helmet back, unless you'd like it to be splashed all about the tabloids...."Lamb's Daughter Spotted in Ryan Amusements." Just think of all the amusing taglines that would follow."

You don't need to make eye contact to be privy to Eleanor's contempt — you can feel it in her gaze, in your shared link, that familiar acid burn of disapproval. You don't blame her one bit, not when the disgust you harbor toward yourself is far greater. Yes, it's sickeningly easy for you to lie and play two-faced games of mannerly charm......what's difficult is keeping a wild bark of hysterical laughter at Sophia's brazen hypocrisy from tearing itself free from your throat. All this talk of Ryan's ego, Ryan's faults, Ryan's evil — as though his and Fontaine's are the only soiled hands in Euphoria.

The bitter, hollow amusement quickly turns into a sour dread that settles uneasily in the pit of your stomach. You still can't bring yourself to think of the Little Sisters the way that most people in Euphoria did. They weren't monsters or walking pools of ADAM to be drained dry and then discarded, but unfortunate souls that didn't deserve the awful fate that had befallen them. There was no future for the Little Sisters, no chance to ever again know a normal, happy life. They had been robbed of their innocence and humanity and it broke what remained of your heart no matter how foolish, how futile it was to care about those doomed little girls.

You lacked the power to save them, and no one in Euphoria that mattered wanted to save them. In this underwater "paradise", power was everything, even if it came at the expense of innocent children. Nothing was sacred. You understood that, knew better than to pretend otherwise.....because if the traumatized, penniless orphan of the Tomoe family had been a girl instead, chances are that "she" would have wound up as a Little Sister too.

A Little Sister accompanied nearly everywhere by a Big Daddy that would defend her with wild, berserk strength. You take in the ruined state of your suit for the second time and makes a mental note to seek out new clothes only after the mission at hand has been dealt with.

"While I think that Euphoria could do with a few laughs, I have to agree."

Edited 2015-04-25 08:09 pm (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on April 25th, 2015 08:27 pm (UTC)
3/3
Sophia looks at her daughter, gaze steady, full of certainty and regret.

"Yes, I suppose so. Until you are ready to truly accept your destiny, my child, we are done."

Immediately, Eleanor turns on her heel and leaves the office without another word or glance back.

You're not quite so quick to leave when dismissed, for all that your desire to break free from this stifling office is strong enough to give Eleanor's a run for its money. You back up to the door without turning around, each step a slow and careful exercise in feigned courtesy. (You know better than to turn your back on this woman.) A shallow bow, and then you're slipping out the door to follow Eleanor.

✿ content
● Strikeouts are missing/blurred information.
● Jaguar and Eleanor meet with Sophia Lamb, Eleanor's mother.
— They both hate her deeply and want to destroy her utterly.
— Sophia's various betrayals are described and recalled in vague terms, the emotional intensity clearer than the actual details.
● Sophia is charismatic, intelligent, purposeful: a powerful, magnetic, commanding, dangerous personality.
— She's the leader of a group called the Flock, which seems to be somehow familial in nature.
— She speaks of Eleanor as a creation, a tool.
— Her intentions are political and warlike, shrouded in the guise of benevolent salvation: destroy Ryan and Fontaine, control Euphoria.
● A mention of someone named Delta, a person Eleanor calls Father.
— It's unclear whether he's dead or just indisposed somehow.
● ADAM is a source of power. Eleanor can imbibe it and Sophia intends to control it.
— ADAM can be removed from the Little Sisters, usually resulting in their deaths.
● Jaguar would have become a Little Sister if he had been a female orphan instead.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:37 pm (UTC)
○ trivial
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[personal profile] formaliteas on July 4th, 2015 05:40 pm (UTC)
Clothing woes.
tba.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 02:33 pm (UTC)
■ skills
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 03:32 pm (UTC)
special | telekinesis
regained: starter skill
taken: starter skill
witnesses: N/A

The ability to manipulate and move objects with one's mind.

✿ content
● The smaller the object, the more dexterous is his control.
● The lighter the object, the greater the threshold of speed he can move it with.
● He has to be able to see what he's manipulating, or at least have a very clear picture of the object and its location in his mind.
— The exception is when it comes to rewiring electronics or manipulating the metal inside of locks, in which case he can mentally "feel" the inner workings.
● Using his power doesn't tire him unless he's operating outside the range of weight and/or speed that's comfortable for him.
— Throwing a small rock at a typical bullet speed isn't a problem, but trying to hurl a 150 pound person at even half that speed would be exhausting.
● As the weight of a manipulated object increases, the speed has to decrease to avoid strain.
— 65 pounds at 340 m/s is his weight and speed limit for manipulation that won't tire him.
— 66~150 pounds is doable without much difficulty but will wear him out over time, all the quicker if significant speed/force is involved.
— 151~180 will be a strain and quickly tire him right from the start.
— 181~199 is the absolute last threshold he can reach without causing himself serious internal damage.
— 200~215 can be achieved at the price of blowing out his brain like an old tire.
● The more aerodynamic an object is, the easier it is for him to propel it at high speeds.
● Concentration and control are vital components of being able to use his telekinesis effectively.
— If he's distracted or extremely distressed to the point of being unable to keep a handle on himself, the power will go haywire.


Edited 2015-02-18 02:30 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 9th, 2015 03:47 pm (UTC)
special | empathy bond
regained: day 117 (nyssa's pokemon game)
taken: day 117
witnesses: N/A

A mental and emotional link with Eleanor Lamb.

✿ content
● Having this shard in will make him immune to any third party's telepathy or telempathy.
● Those attempting to read his thoughts or emotions will only be able to pick up on the mental/emotional equivalent of opaque glass: an inscrutable obstruction that can be sensed, but not seen through or circumvented. This obstruction will feel artificial rather than of natural origins.
● Without Eleanor in Kyriakos, the ability only feels like a curious gap somewhere deep in the back of his mind and heart.
● If Eleanor did arrive, she would need to regain her half of the empathy bond for the connection to be established again.
— They would then be able to read each other's emotions and true thoughts, unless one or both of them clamped down hard on their end of the connection.
● The death of one would possibly drive the other insane if the connection was fully established at the time of passing.

Edited 2015-02-18 04:57 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 21st, 2015 07:13 am (UTC)
mundane | household skills
regained: day 120 (quest)
taken: day 120
witnesses: N/A

Assorted household skills.

✿ content
● Sewing. He's good enough to fix clothes and make adjustments.
● Cooking. Not chef-tier, but a step above average in the kitchen.
● Cleaning. The ability to mop, dust, and wash things efficiently.
● Repair. Basic competency at home maintenance.

Edited 2015-01-22 03:25 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on January 30th, 2015 04:09 am (UTC)
mundane | instruments (guitar, piano)
regained: day 122 (game: bone witch's noir exploradora)
taken: day 122
witnesses: N/A

The ability to play the guitar and the piano with a high degree of skill.

✿ content
● Included is the knowledge of how to play several classical pieces.
● Also various songs that were popular in the 1950's and early 1960's.
● To the practiced ear, his piano playing will sound more refined than his guitar, as though he took lessons versus being self-taught.

Edited 2015-02-18 04:16 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on February 18th, 2015 02:45 am (UTC)
mundane | card playing
regained: day 124 (game: knut's fear exploradora)
taken: day 124
witnesses: N/A

The ability to play card games with proficiency.

✿ content
● Knowledge of how to play several card games, from go fish and cheat to blackjack and gin rummy.
● Above-average skill when it comes to playing said games.
— For example, he's good at bluffing during poker and tends to be believed during cheat.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on February 18th, 2015 02:57 am (UTC)
mundane | dirty fighting
regained: day 127 (game: haunt's game show)
taken: day 127
witnesses: N/A

The ability to use underhanded tactics in a fight.

✿ content
● How to go for someone's eyes and throat.
● Getting free of chokeholds.
● The art of bodychecking.
● Effective groin attacks.
● Hairpulling and headbutting.
● Proficiency at using the environment to an advantage.
● Breaking fingers, noses and ribs.
● Biting, scratching, shanking.

Edited 2015-02-18 03:00 am (UTC)
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[personal profile] formaliteas on April 25th, 2015 05:46 pm (UTC)
mundane | formal dancing
regained: day 132 (quest)
taken: day 132
witnesses: N/A

The ability to dance formally with a high degree of skill.

✿ content
● This comes with a knowledge of various elegant dances, like the waltz.
● A small boost to overall grace and agility.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on April 25th, 2015 05:52 pm (UTC)
mundane | alcohol tolerance
regained: day 140 (game: nyssa's GM)
taken: day 140
witnesses: N/A

An increased tolerance for alcohol.

✿ content
● This skill makes Jaguar able to drink more without becoming drunk.
● Without it, he's a lightweight.
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[personal profile] formaliteas on May 16th, 2015 12:50 am (UTC)
mundane | languages (japanese, german)
regained: day 137 (quest)
taken: day 137
witnesses: N/A

Fluency in Japanese and German.

✿ content
● He grew up bilingual, speaking English and Japanese equally well. This skill restores his native-speaker levels of fluency in Japanese.
● He's less fluent in German, but can now still speak and read it to a passable extent.
● Included is a passing knowledge of Japanese and Germanic history and folklore as far as names are concerned.

Edited 2015-05-16 12:50 am (UTC)
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