#and all the hatred and longing and sadness and violence returns front and centre

[arsonistman]

My fave thing to think about actually is post breakup chiluc reunion

[wotnahq]

Lucy Marie Cage • 26 • Female (she/her) • Metahuman • Astral Manipulation • Civilian

BIOGRAPHY

TRIGGER WARNINGS: STRONG VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND GORE

Lucy was born to Alec and Bianca Gale on 17th June 2019 in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. She was the second child of her family, and the only blood descendant of her parents: Brendan, her older brother, was adopted before Lucy was born; Felix and Harriet, the twins among them, were adopted together when lucy was 2; Lily was fostered when she turned 8, shortly after Lucy’s 13th birthday. Cora was the eldest, a runaway from an abusive family - she sought shelter in their home, and ended up staying to become part of the family. Their father worked as a history professor at Queens University of Charlotte, while her mother was a secretary for a law firm, and so they lived in a large apartment near the city centre.

Despite their wealth, Alec and Bianca attempted to provide their children with as ordinary a life as they could. The siblings were sent to a nearby public school, where Lucy’s kind nature made her extremely popular, and her diligence for study propelled her through elementary and middle school. She was even offered a scholarship for a prestigious private highschool when she was 13. Although she would be attending a different school to Cora and Brendan, she jumped at the opportunity - taking a particular shining to the theatre and dramatic arts classes, she quickly found her niche and settled into the routine relatively quickly. The variety there astounded Lucy: she was part of the training group for cheerleading and played for the girl’s basketball team, but especially loved the opportunity to be a part of the school production that year. The time commitments placed a heavy strain on her, although she ensured she kept the stress and panic away from her family.

Three weeks before her 15th birthday, Lucy was woken up in the middle of the night with an excruciating burning sensation on her arm. In front of her eyes, a transparent black rune scorched itself onto her flesh, and she quickly showed it to her parents. Alec was confused, but Bianca already knew, from her position as a secretary, about the stories of the Metahumans that had recently begun spreading after an incident on the east coast. She knew in her heart that her daughter was another one. Initially she wanted to take Lucy for tests, to see if she was in danger, but Alec convinced her to give it time. Lucy herself was scared of the pain, as the rune burned like oil against her skin, but after seeing the panic and fear in her mother’s eyes, she did her best to keep a brave face and hold it in. It wouldn’t last long.

A year passed. Time revealed a dramatic alteration to Lucy herself: she became angry, hateful, and confessed to her parents that she had urges to hurt and even kill people. These initial shifts were contributed to her natural development, however the increasing urges were never diagnosed properly, even by mental health professionals. Although her parents were prepared for Lucy to change over her growth, especially with her differences, it quickly escalated - anger turned to threats, threats turned into violence, and violence turned to danger. Her father ended up locking her into a modified cell he had been building in a back room of their apartment, and there she remained for 5 years. The family claimed whenever necessary that Lucy was busy most of the time, which many believed after her dedication to work growing up, and all the while they kept her in the cell to prevent her from lashing out, with almost daily visits from her siblings and parents in her calm periods. Lucy would read books, play video games, and try to let them see that she was the same girl she’d been years ago, but keeping up such a façade became more and more of a challenge for her skills. The solitude of her new life - no more school, no more friends, no more nothing - combined with the violent thoughts and hatred that had spawned in her head began pushing her further and further from the girl she once was, and yet she kept it suppressed to convince her family she was okay.

On the night of her 22nd birthday, Lucy’s increasing talent for manipulation and acting paid off, and she was finally let out of the room to celebrate with her family. But this was the first time she’d seen the life they led without her, and it only fuelled her anger - how could they keep her trapped in that tiny room for years, while they lived like nothing was wrong? Did she, their own daughter and sister, mean so little to them? Nevertheless, keeping up her act of 5 years, she managed to get through the night, and stashed the knife they used to cut her birthday cake down the side of her boot before she was locked up again. The experience of that night brought back her happiest childhood memories, and she began to have second thoughts about her plan, but the later the hour became, the more those thoughts morphed into hatred: her childhood, a time that could’ve been filled with joy, was stolen from her by the ones who promised to give her the best life possible. They had promised her they’d never hurt her, that they’d do what they had to to protect her, but locking her up was not what they’d had to do. It was what they’d wanted to do. And she needed to make them pay.

Lucy used the knife to crack the lock of her cell and initially returned to her old room, to find that Cora had now moved in. Her bedroom, completely erased of her memories and made up for a girl who didn’t belong. The anger flared in her and buried any remaining hesitation lacing her heart, and after pinning the sleeping woman to the bed, she began garrotting her using wiring from the utility cupboard. The struggle didn’t cause her to think twice, she felt no guilt hearing Cora struggle to breathe, and she continued to slice the wiring deeper into her flesh. But it was now that Lucy finally discovered the purpose of her powers: as her sister ran out of oxygen, the essence leaked from her lips and curled up like a mist, and Lucy unwittingly breathed it in. Her adrenaline, her bloodlust, shot through the roof, and hatred overwhelmed the only human elements she held in her heart - her newfound strength turned the wire into a blade, removing Cora’s head under her push. Blood coated her hands, pouring across the sheets, and black mist poured from the parted lips of the head, filling Lucy’s lungs. It made her feel more powerful than she had ever been, but more importantly, it gave her the strength to decide that Cora would only be the first to die that night.

Each of her siblings fell victim to her one by one. Brendan was next, and a knife through the throat put him down quick enough. The twins would be harder, as one would attempt to save the other if Lucy was too loud, and so she slit each of their throats, leaving them to bleed out in mere seconds. And Lily… poor little Lily. Lucy would have fun with her. She nudged the girl awake, ensuring she hid any of the blood that dyed her hands, and let her give the killer one final tight hug. She soon lay in her bed, knife wounds dotting her stomach and chest, her eyes devoid of life. Lucy’s lungs were filled with each of their essences, her rune now pulsating on her skin, and her parents were next. She remained silent entering their room, and soon had her mother at knifepoint, drawing drips of blood as she taunted Alec to his feet. Every plead that the man made, every grovel, just pushed Lucy to realise how truly pathetic he was - he’d stolen her childhood because of his fear of what the girl could become. And now he saw how sadistic she could be: she slowly slit Bianca’s throat, absorbing every drop of essence, and let the bleeding corpse fall onto their bed. For Alec the knife wouldn’t be necessary, so she dropped it and pounced at him to pin him to the wall, her hands locked around his throat. Her transformed eyes finally revealed to him the last traces of his true daughter - dark, hollow, filled with nothing but hatred - before she snapped his neck. His essence was the strongest from the overwhelming pain and fear he’d felt in his final moments.

Now came the complex part: disposing of the bodies. A burial would raise suspicion and open Lucy to witnesses, so a crude disposal might be necessary. Only a few miles outside of the city was an old abandoned meat packing plant, and so every day, one by one, she transported the bodies to the plant to dump them into the grinder, smuggling them into the car Alec’s keys unlocked by stashing them in her gym bag when she left each day. Within a week her family’s bodies were disposed of, but even after the month ended, she felt not a tinge of guilt or sadness for what she’d done: finally she was allowed to feel the sun again, to leave her apartment, and if that meant she had to eliminate the obstacles, so be it. Lucy finally understood what her power was and what it could do, and she knew it was all that would keep her going now. The strength, the power, the control, it all flowed from the rune she’d once considered a curse and that had changed her life, and she had to keep it satisfied. But to do that properly she’d have to find a new home.

Lucy allowed herself a year to readjust to life, and over that year, she heard of the Nephilim’s attack on Pansaw, California. The organisation had quickly dropped into hiding, but their motivations sparked a thought in her head: what if her parents had only done it because she was a Meta? What if it was only for her differences? She managed to get access to her father’s money, which would help to maintain the façade that he was still alive, and used it to fund her identity change and facial surgeries, transforming her into Lucy Cage. Two months later, with every trace of blood and flesh cleaned away, Lucy called and organised removalists, and soon her family’s apartment was nothing but an empty shell, waiting for the next group to move in. She moved soon after to Pansaw, renting an apartment in Bostwick, and easily passed off her rune as a tattoo - nobody suspected her of being Meta, and there was no way she’d register with this new system. The Nephilim were right - they were the supreme kind, and humans would one day face a newly reformed Nephilim, with her as part of it.

By 2045 Lucy has settled into life in Pansaw - she has no work, but instead extorts and steals from victims she meets, and uses the money to fund her training in the dramatic arts at Pansaw University. A variety of disappearances and gruesome murders by a seemingly nonexistent killer have earned her the nickname of Ghost in the media, but now trained in her abilities, Lucy is in little to no danger of getting caught. She’s a new girl, with a new personality, new career, and new life, and no human will lock her or her kind up again - if they ever dared to try, she as a Metahuman would slice them down like she’d done to her family. She’s done it once, what could stop her from doing it again?

POWERS

ASTRAL MANIPULATION: Using essence harvested from dying souls, Lucy can create, shape and manipulate astral energy, allowing her instantaneous manipulation over the astral plane. She can interact with and see spirits, make spirits visible to others, tear holes in the barrier, and potentially even harm or kill the living utilising the spirits that cross. She can manipulate her own physical form and cross between the planes, allowing her movement and combat enhancements, as well as increase her strength and endurance using a liquefied version of essence.

WEAKNESSES

Her actions and powers can be suppressed, nullified, or reversed by other Astral Manipulation users. Steady source of essence is required for any and all powers. Very low levels of essence causes extreme grogginess, slower reaction times, and lowered coordination of any kind. Requires consistent concentration to maintain Astral Pain Suppression, Astral Attacks or Astral Phase. Concentrations of corruption, whether by natural cause or Lucy’s abilities, nearby in the astral plane has a severely adverse effect on Lucy when her rune attempts to absorb the excess as fuel. It then overflows into her physical form and temporarily causes extreme pain, as well as physical malformations.

PERSONALITY

+ Intelligent + Resourceful + Charismatic

– Fiery – Brutal – Destructive

[boiledleather]

“The Americans” Recap 5x11: The Act of Killing

I marvel at Irina Dubova, the actor who plays the ill-fated “Natalie Granholm,” whose sad fate occupies the final reel of the episode and whose hometown, “Dyatkovo” gives it its name. The weight placed on this guest player’s shoulders, to bear the brunt of the hatred and horror and violence that has been brewing for episode after episode all season long. The need to lie convincingly, and then lie unconvincingly, and then tell the truth unconvincingly, and then tell the truth so convincingly it tears your goddamn guts out. “Natalie” was once someone else entirely—a teenage girl whose family was murdered by the Einsatzgruppen, the roving killing squads responsible for conducting the Nazi Holocaust on the move throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. She was gang-pressed into working for them afterwards, you see. And worse than accepting her punishment from Elizabeth and Philip, tasked by the Centre with executing her for the crime, is the idea of this happening in front of her American husband. “Please don’t hurt him,” she says. “Please, he doesn’t know,” she says. “He thinks…I’m wonderful,” she says. Christ.

“There was no reason,” she says of her survival among the Nazis, when her husband has returned home and finds himself at the mercy of the Jennings alongside her “Nothing made any sense. They give me food. I was obedient, helpless.” Quite suddenly and quite unexpectedly, I found myself crying over this woman, along with this woman, a minor character we’ve never seen before tonight and, as was becoming increasingly apparent, would never see again. “The first time,” she continued, “they gave me so much to drink I could barely stand up.” Thinking that I knew where this was headed, I started crying harder. “The first time…?” one of the Jennings asks—at this point my notes begin breaking down too—and Natalie-not-Natalie replies “…that they shot them,” and my understanding of the horror reverses course yes, but it deepens as well, as does my sobbing. That the Nazis assaulted her, violated her person, seems drearily likely. But they forced her into complicity with their violation of others, too—countless others, vast unmarked graves full of others. This is what she decides to tell her husband and her killers about in her last minutes on earth—what she did, or was forced to do, to others, not what others did to her.

I reviewed this week’s devastating episode of The Americans for the New York Observer.