labyrinthian-orbistertius

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

»Journal Entry, dated 10/09/2X42

11.24am

He's here. He remembers me.

Someone new met me, and remembers me. It's…different. But a pleasant different.

That person saw me, remembered me. They gave me a granola bar.

12.49pm

I think I would like to make a friend, here. That would be so lovely.

(Scribbles and scratches here covering several half-formed sentences.)

Do you gift granola bars as a means of making friends?

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

[FIRST CONTACT]

Date: 02/01/2X42

Neri holds the pendrive in her hand, examines the slip of plastic and metal closely. Ah, how wondrous! This small thing will help pay for her needs for the rest of this year: food, shelter, clothes. A few additional creature comforts, and treats for her crows. She whistles lightly, tosses it into the air and catches it again.

She strolls out of the building, looming large and lustrous behind her. In her mind, it explodes into a towering inferno as she walks away, a billowing beacon of smoke, flame, with corporate hopes and dreams melting into nothing.

Nothing of that sort happens, of course. But it's fun to imagine.

The corporation purchasing her services were to contact her within 48 hours of successful extraction to arrange a pick-up, so in the meantime… all she needs is to lie low. Easy enough, with her ability. The young woman tosses the drive into the air again, smiling.

"Ah. There you are."

Freeze.

With an unnatural slowness, Neri twists her neck to look in the direction of the voice. Eyes widen and twitch - a faceless man stands in front of her. For a moment - roar in her ears. Pressure, clamping down on her skull - dizziness - a sense of falling, sidewalk rushing up to meet her except it isn't concrete, instead it has jaws and it's going to devour her whole and this faceless man is watching and laughing with eyes of frozen flames - she's stretching, a rubberband pulled to its snapping point, thins in the middle - stretch - streeeeetch - sna -

The roar quiets. The pressure dissipates. She is breathing, still.

Neri is standing, she hasn't been devoured; she is not a rubberband pulled to its breaking point.

Another deep breath, and she looks at the man. Not faceless, but absolutely a man in a mask that covers his entire head, with bright blue lenses for eyes that make her shiver and hunch in suit jacket, not liking the intensity. White hat, long white coat with a high collar. Most importantly, she sees the hand tucked into coat pocket, not moving, with the outline of gun pressing through the fabric.

"Who are you?" She asks, finally, voice high and clear.

The masked man tilts his head, and she sees those lenses…squint?

"Because," he says, "I come to you in good faith -"

Neri's eyes flicker to the gun. He holds both hands up and above his shoulders, showing them empty.

"I come to you in good faith," he repeats, "and my name is Cypher."

Her eyebrows raise. "That is not your real name."

"Neither is Neri," he says lightly, with a little laugh.

And she hisses in response, but he doesn't comment on that, as if she'd done nothing more banal than sneeze. She can't see his expressions, and it's throwing her off, unsettles her.

"I have an offer for you, on behalf of my employer. You work for us, we provide everything you might need. Better pay, too. In exchange, you give us the drive in your hand."

Neri considers this, face blank.

"You won't remember me after this," she says at length.

Cypher laughs at that, quick and reedy. "Ah, that is where you are wrong. I see everything, you included, and I know how to -."

"Okay, Cypher. Sure. Why not?" With a snappy little movement, she tosses him the drive. He catches it with a swiftly, and once he nods, Neri turns and walks away, disappearing quickly from view.

Out of sight. Out of mind.

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

hello! i’m interested in your oc, excellent concept. we don’t usually see valorant ocs that don’t go on combat missions, so this is a breath of fresh air.

where do you plan on taking this origin story?

- 👓

>>OOC: Hello, hello! And thank you, I'm glad you like it! I'm really fascinated by VP as a covert organization, and yet they engage in essentially full-scale, squad-based destructive combat. I imagine, especially with having Cypher and Omen, they must have some sort of INTELPRO/COINTELPRO, and it's fun to think about how that would work in tandem with their actual combat missions. Because, of course, being in intelligence/espionage you're typically avoiding combat/fighting.

Anywho, to answer your question - I do have the broad strokes of her story planned out, as well as the vignette [FIRST CONTACT] written. I don't want to necessarily spoil everything, but here's some clues to both Neri's past and her story within VP!

Some words:

Uqbar Encoding SOAP notes Subjective idealism Le délire des négations Found family The Garden of Forking Paths

Thank you for the ask, and I hope it wasn't too esoteric of a response!

That's a lie, I know it was absolutely an annoying esoteric response.

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

>>OOC note: asks and DMs have been turned on<<

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

»Journal Entry, dated 08/24/2X34

3.33am

Nightmare. Face is gone. Always always always gone. I am as nothing, I have no existence. Nothing is real. I'll rip out my own tooth - [a splotch of dried blood on the page, cracked and brown with age] ah, see! it isn't real. This blood on my hands isn't real. This tooth isn't real. My face isn't real. I am made of crows and snakes and spines, and they do not exist either.

My face feels so numb.

Who shall refute it thus?

Will you? Will you? Will you?

(The rest of the page, and the next several are filled with the same phrase: Will you?)

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

>restricted reference reveal

>snippet

handwritten on a fragment of paper, a list:

chromatic, gunday, ranunculus, navidson, X, borges, delial, axaxaxas mlö, mezzanines, labyrinth, labyrinth, singularity, labyrinth

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

DOCUMENT NAME: MENTAL STATUS EXAM

NAME: [█████████] AGE: 13

Appearance: Emaciated

Dress: Appropriate

Motor Activity: Normal

Insight: Fair

Judgement: Poor

Affect: Inappropriate

Mood: Euphoric

Orientation: X2 - oriented to place, time; impaired to person

Memory: Intact

Attention: Variable

Thought Content: Delusions: bizarre

Thought Process: Flight of ideas

Perception: Auditory, tactile, visual hallucinations

Interview Behavior: Uncooperative, evasive

Speech: Pressured

Recommendations: Long-term inpatient/residential; medication regimen to be determined by psychiatric intake; 2x/weekly sessions with therapist who is familiar + comfortable with patients exhibiting severe delusions and psychosis

Date and time: July 17th, 2X32, 11.24am

Additional notes: Note written collaboratively during therapeutic intake due to patient's [█████████]. All clinicians are to document collaboratively and extremely thoroughly in regards to this client due to this.

Clinician Signature: █████████, July 17th, 2X32, 11.25am

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

OOC: THANK YOU BOTH AAAAAAA

File 0813-A

--BEGIN FILE--

Callsign: Sein

Name: Neri Tlön [Unverified]

Species: Radiant

Nationality: Chinese-Eastern European

Age: 23

Status: Active, non-combatant, COINTELPRO

"Oh, no no no. Don't worry, don't be silly - you won't remember me at all."

Note: Despite non-combatant status, agent is to be considered violent, and unstable. Interact with significant caution. See also: File 0813-B: [REDACTED]. Also, Tlön? Really?

Where's the rest of the file? What did you do with it?

--END FILE--

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

>snippet

handwritten on a fragment of paper, a list:

chromatic, gunday, ranunculus, navidson, X, borges, delial, axaxaxas mlö, mezzanines, labyrinth, labyrinth, singularity, labyrinth

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

>snippet

Cameras. Cameras everywhere. Always recording.

It helps her, to feel so observed. A lasting record, something that says, 'I'm here, I'm being. I, too, exist - just like all of you. Even if no one else will remember me, here lies a record of my existence. You cannot deny me my being.'

(Wait, why do you say, 'even if no one else will remember me'? What d'you mean by that?)

[labyrinthian-orbistertius]

File 0813-A

--BEGIN FILE--

Callsign: Sein

Name: Neri Tlön [Unverified]

Species: Radiant

Nationality: Chinese-Eastern European

Age: 23

Status: Active, non-combatant, COINTELPRO

"Oh, no no no. Don't worry, don't be silly - you won't remember me at all."

Note: Despite non-combatant status, agent is to be considered violent, and unstable. Interact with significant caution. See also: File 0813-B: [REDACTED]. Also, Tlön? Really?

Where's the rest of the file? What did you do with it?

--END FILE--