#para:acceptance

[paranormalrp]

THE HARVARD INSTITUTE FOR PARANORMAL RESEARCH IS PROUD TO WELCOME NATHANIEL BLOOM, THE THEOLOGIAN TO OUR FIELD TEAM.  PLEASE REPORT TO  WITHIN 24 HOURS FOR YOUR FIRST CASE BRIEFING.

Hi Dan! The Theologian is the heart of this team and you have created such a remarkable character. Your writing was beautiful and you railed nailed all the major points of this skeleton with such ease, I loved it. Your application was excellent and I’m thrilled to see where this character will go from here!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias: Dan

Age: 26

Pronouns:  He/Him

Triggers: None

Timezone: MTZ

What drew you to Paranormal?

The entire RPG itself is something different and unique, and I’ve always wanted to delve into the world of the paranormal in an rp. It will give me the chance to try something new, and hopefully be an important member of the plot!

IN CHARACTER

The skeleton you are applying for: THE THEOLOGIAN

Your choice of fc: Ewan McGregor

Your 2nd choice of fc: N/A

Character Name: Nathaniel Bloom

Character Age: 44

Character Gender: Male

Character Pronouns: He/Him

IN CHARACTER IN DEPTH

Recently, Nathaniel has become the very personification of loosening your tie at the end of a long day. He’s spent his whole life being so kind, so well-mannered…. level-headed. And it’s not a lie or an act. He’s never had to grovel through grit teeth just to get through a day. Nathaniel simply IS benevolent, in every sense of the word. But recently he’s become caught up in the absolute black hole of defining “what is evil?” What is the ROOT of the evil that lurks just beyond us? Or is it a pointless venture? Is it Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the hill, time and time again? Sigh, maybe he’s been spending too much time with The Therapist. Funny, he thought that “therapy” was supposed to be uplifting.

It’s only lately that he’s been prone to these existential pitfalls. Maybe it’s because he’s getting older, and some day all the Scooby Doo hijinks turn from adventure to repetition, right? It hasn’t happened yet, but what kind of tortured leader would he be if he didn’t fret about it?

For all intents and purposes, Nathaniel is Superman. The Captain America. He didn’t remember rolling out of bed with a gleaming ‘S’ on his chest, but for some reason people just flock to him. And he likes it, really. He’s got a kind heart and a gentle soul. Both of which crave to nurture people. And his empathy may truly be the death of him. It’s been that way all his life.

Feeling comes before thinking. A deep, intense, emotional state—- Claircognizant Empathy. It’s a reflex. And it makes him a hell of a good teacher. His students stress, becomes his stress. At first, it was messy and difficult to navigate, being so sensitive to the emotions around him. But once Nathaniel was able to hone and steer his way through, he became fluent in the language of sentiment. It surrounds him constantly, all these feelings—— people, animals, the paranormal. He’s learnt to avoid absorbing, but instead to catch and release. A juggle, of sorts.

Whereas The Therapist has seen the darkness and succumb to pessimism, Nathaniel has seen the darkness… and it has only further lamented his belief in salvation.

But even a man with the capability to grasp a Higher Power, has limits to his virtue. Nathaniel believes in a greater good, a light that will defeat the darkness. But he’s been a part of several teams during his tenure at the Institute. Members have come and gone, but he’s been the luckiest of them all. It weighs heavily on his conscious sometimes, leaving him feeling helpless with trepidation. “Why me?” is a question he’s uttered countless times before.

Nathaniel is the Intro to Religion professor. As such, he is well versed in Christianity and Catholicism. What began, for him, as a rigorous effort to memorize and learn every scripture, turned into something much more spiritual. A culmination of all his knowings. He admires the textual aspects, but he’s weary in questioning its genuity. Because for him it doesn’t matter if every story contained in the religious texts is accurate and solely anecdotal, what matters is the message and presence of God. Something above to stand Holy and righteous in the face of all that is beneath. He’s a believer and a dreamer in a dichotomy of Good vs. Evil.

[paranormalrp]

THE HARVARD INSTITUTE FOR PARANORMAL RESEARCH IS PROUD TO WELCOME, Cassian Ahn,THE FINANCIER, TO OUR FIELD TEAM. PLEASE REPORT TO  WITHIN 24 HOURS FOR YOUR FIRST CASE BRIEFING.

Hi Ness! The Financier was written to be a bored overgrown rich kid but you gave this skeleton depth, humanity, and explored so much, going up and beyond my expectations for this skeleton. Your application was excellent and I’m thrilled to see where this character will go from here!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias: Ness

Age: 23

Pronouns: She/her

Triggers: Added to the list

Timezone: EST

What drew you to Paranormal? It kind of reminds me of this game I really like called Arkham Horror so I thought it’d be fun to join!

IN CHARACTER

The skeleton you are applying for: The Financier

Your choice of fc: Steven Yeun

Your 2nd choice of fc: Lim Ju Hwan. If Steven Yeun is unavailable and I have to go with Lim Ju Hwan, then I’ll be aging Cassian up to 38!

Character Name: Cassian Ahn

Character Age: 36

Character Gender: Cis man

Character Pronouns: He/him

IN CHARACTER IN DEPTH

When Cassian is just a boy, he is sure the Devil comes at night to torture him. This Devil does not resemble the Devil in his mother’s bible but it alone can inspire that magnitude of fear and dread that sinks its claws into Cassian’s body at its sight. Only the Devil can be so evil as to torture a boy who already promises to change.

There is always the question: well, Cassian, why would the Devil come for you? Cassian too asks himself this question many mornings and many afternoons. In the beginning, it is obvious. Bratty young kid with brains too big for his age. His parents and tutors can’t keep him occupied, any sort of knowledge they put before him he pours over immediately.

His older siblings weren’t this way and his parents weren’t really looking to raise a child so they stood, first dumbfounded, then angry. Angry because unable to find something to sate him, he goes about constructing Trouble with a capital T.

So, really, it isn’t a surprise the Devil comes for him then. Years from now, Cassian will have dropped his parents’ stringent Catholicism but at this age, he is still an avid believer. The Catholic guilt urges him to be a better child; listening, he does everything to compact himself into something smaller, something that won’t anger his parents.

His tactic works for some time but soon enough the Devil comes again. Cassian cannot blame the house like he tried to once after the first visit. They’ve moved to California so he and his siblings can strive to be better than their parents by attending a private school in Los Angeles.

To his knowledge, he’s done nothing to deserve the visit. The Devil comes to him screaming like it did last time and Cassian shakes so hard he’s surprised the bed isn’t rattling.

The questioning begins again. There is still Catholic guilt telling him perhaps he hasn’t been as good a son as he used to be. Cassian tries to reason with the guilt his parents rooted deep in his heart, he is a good son, he does all he needs to do, what more could his parents want?

Both he and Catholic guilt are very much aware that Cassian avoids his parents more often than not. They’re too busy building up his older siblings to pay too much attention to their youngest, and Cassian tells himself he likes it this way. He makes himself believe that.

He must do something because the Devil doesn’t darken his room for years. No, the Devil waits until Cassian’s asleep in his apartment near Harvard to knock at his door. Quite literally, too. It knocks as Cassian lays with his back to the door, unable to move his toes much less get up to open the door to the malice waiting at the door.

For the first time, Cassian is not just a boy at the behest of the Devil’s tactics. He lays there, afraid, yes, but thinking — what’s going on, why is this happening to me, it can’t be, it can’t be. The Devil speaks his thoughts back to him and he tries to shut his mind down, tries to go blank and ride through this visit like a buoy in a sea storm.

There is anger the next morning. The memories of years passed come back and with them the perceived solution — be a better son. Fuck that, Cassian thinks viciously. No one can tell him what to do with his life. Not his parents, not God, and not the Devil itself. If it even is the Devil. Is it? Could it be the Devil?

He wipes his mind of the thoughts immediately. He doesn’t care what it is, he tells himself, because he’s never going to throw himself away to become the golden son. His parents had his older siblings, two whole lives they pushed themselves into commanding despite neither being their own. Cassian would rather bite through his own tongue than conform to his parents’ desires.

Truthfully, he says this because they don’t threaten his money. They pay for his apartment, his food, his alcohol, and his little impulse buys. They will do anything but make their youngest son destitute and Cassian knows this, he’s depending on it.

And so, Cassian doesn’t change for his parents’ happiness and the Devil continues to visit him. He doesn’t think about the Devil once he wakes. It takes up enough of his time at night, he isn’t going to give it a second more in the daylight.

Now a man grown, he fights to scream back at it, to stand and hit it with all of his strength. Why are you here? He floods his mind with the question. He’s given up Catholicism, in lectures of the God vs the Devil, in arguments of good vs evil.

What is good? The pastor at his parents’ church asks the crowd in which young Cassian can be found. The old man pauses to allow everyone their thoughts then asks — what is evil?

And Cassian has let all of that go but he wonders that as he lays in bed and hears the Devil throw itself against his door. What is evil? He never thought of an answer for the pastor that day, more concerned with what they were going to eat after mass than what was actually taking place during it.

He thinks this is evil. This dark, unrelenting thing that only wants to feed off his terror and anguish. But that is what the Devil is, is it not? Evil. Then he thinks: well, why is the Devil evil? The Devil is surely evil for doing this to Cassian who wants nothing more than to sleep well for one night. But, aside from that, why is the Devil evil?

Because he defied God? Because of what he did after he defied God? What makes evil, evil? He shivers beneath his comforter — what use are theological questions to him when it doesn’t make the Devil leave him alone.

Yet, somehow, it does. The visits stop. Cassian attends classes and avoids his parents calls without the Devil lurking about his home at night. He graduates Harvard with what his mother lovingly calls “baby degrees” and decides, albeit reluctantly, to return home to Seoul.

He lasts four months. After that, it’s off to Kyoto, Barcelona, Florence; anywhere he can go, he does. He does odd jobs here and there — one day a clerk at a strange bookstore and the next day a Spanish tutor for a struggling novice. All of these little jobs entertain him if only for a few hours. He doesn’t care about the money, it’s the fun of it all that he seeks.

His brother calls him sometimes and asks him when he’s going to make something of himself. Cassian hangs up on him but takes a call from his sister later on where she apologizes for her callous twin then asks him when exactly he’s going to stop running from the serious aspects of life, like responsibility. He pretends he’s going into a tunnel, hangs up, and goes to eat.

It doesn’t take him long at all to forget the Devil’s visits. It isn’t something he forgets because the memories are too faded. Cassian seldom forgets anything. No, he forgets that period of his life because he chooses to. He gathers the memories one day and locks them all in a little box that he then throws away into the rapid rivers of his mind so they may sink to the bottom and never again be seen.

Finally, with the memories properly expelled and his travels complete for the moment, he returns to Harvard. He doesn’t realize he’s forgotten to lock something else up until he’s discovering the paranormal researchers.

At first, he recoils at the thought of involving himself in such things. Yes, he’s fascinated; yes, he’s let go of his Catholic beliefs; yes, he still holds onto the thought that there are greater evils out there than they need discover.

It comes to him then, the Devil throwing itself against the door. As he shoves the memory back under roaring waters, his sister’s voice asks: when are you going to stop running from things, Cassian?

He throws his money at the team, eager to indulge in the contrarian in him yet again.

[paranormalrp]

THE HARVARD INSTITUTE FOR PARANORMAL RESEARCH IS PROUD TO WELCOME , OSIRIS ZAHIR,THE THERAPIST, TO OUR FIELD TEAM.  PLEASE REPORT TO  WITHIN 24 HOURS FOR YOUR FIRST CASE BRIEFING.

Hi Denise! The Therapist is such a complicated character and your para sample was exactly what I was looking for. You incorporated the plot point perfectly and executed it so well, well done!  Your application was excellent and I’m thrilled to see where this character will go from here!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias: Denise

Age: 32

Pronouns: She/Her

Triggers: N/A

Timezone: EST

What drew you to Paranormal? Honestly, the plot with the older FCs was incredibly refreshing to see.

IN CHARACTER

The skeleton you are applying for: The Therapist

Your choice of fc: Rami Malek

Your 2nd choice of fc: Riz Ahmed

Character Name: Osiris Zahir

Character Age: 37

Character Gender: Cismale

Character Pronouns: He/Him

IN CHARACTER IN DEPTH

“What is evil?” Professor Zahir surveyed his class. Tender amusement backlit the blue of his eyes. “Alright, alright.” he relented after a few seconds. “Let’s try this again.” With a leisurely grunt, he hopped off his desk. “Look, I know it’s way too early for most of you, and my voice is,” he used finger quotes, “ASMR crack…” Oz grinned, smile lines as deep as the bags beneath his eyes. When was the last time he had a full night’s rest? A week ago? A year? “Yes,” he informed his class sweetly, “I read your teacher reviews—thank you for that—but dreamy monotone aside, the question I posed needs an answer, doesn’t it?” Hands refused to raise; Oz didn’t mind. “The definition of “good” is simple enough, isn’t it? Being kind. Selfless. Righteous. But what is evil? True evil? Is it merely the opposite?” The interrogation trailed into a tangent. “Is morality strictly black and white? Or does gray exist in our world? Are all murderers, rapists, thieves, liars unconscionable? Is their childhood trauma less valid because of what they’ve done?” He turned to write the words on the chalkboard. “What. Is. Evil.” White dust faded into black with an underlined squeak.

“…Am I evil, Osiris?”

The chalk snapped in his hand. “Mom?” Oz was back in his childhood home, consoling his weeping mother. Her face was in her hands. “You’re not evil,” he soothed. “It wasn’t your fault. You’re a good person.” He embraced his mother tightly, head against her heart. He didn’t feel her hug him back. He shut his eyes, fingers digging deep into her skin, refusing to let go. “I love you,” he choked. But the soft pounding beneath her skin was gone, replaced with devilish whisperings of “I loved her more. I loved her more. I loved her more.” Oz pulled back with a gasp and his mother finally lowered her hands.

Osiris awoke in a cold sweat. Evil, he decided, was hearing his mother’s voice only in his dreams.

[paranormalrp]

THE HARVARD INSTITUTE FOR PARANORMAL RESEARCH IS PROUD TO WELCOME THEODORE JOSEPH WHITLOCK, THE TECHNOLOGY EXPERT, TO OUR FIELD TEAM.  PLEASE REPORT TO YOUR TEAM LEADER WITHIN 24 HOURS FOR YOUR FIRST CASE BRIEFING.

Hi Devon! The Technology Expert is one of my favorite skeletons and Theodore was such a unique take on this skeleton, your writing was descriptive and I really felt like I could see the character in front of me, well done!  Your application was excellent and I’m thrilled to see where this character will go from here!

OUT OF CHARACTER Alias: Devon Age: 26 Pronouns: She/Her Triggers: added to the kist Timezone: PST What drew you to Paranormal? Okay listen…. I LOVE paranormal/supernatural concepts and rps. I’ve been eyeing this one since it first came out, and I’ve been trying to perfect my app, but honestly at this point I just wanna send it in. Spooky is literally my favorite thing to write, and I’ve been dying for a misunderstood type of character who has a lot of fears, because I really wanted to delve into the why. The Technology Expert jumped at me right away and Theodore practically wrote himself. I’m really excited for this RP and what you all plan to do with it. I adore it already and the skeletons are *chefs kiss*.

— IN CHARACTER The skeleton you are applying for: The Technology Expert Your choice of fc: Hugh Dancy Your 2nd choice of fc: Eliza Dushku. If Hugh Dancy isn’t accepted, shoot me a message and I’ll re-submit with different pronouns/name and stuff. Same bio though :) Character Name: Theodore Joseph Whitlock Character Age: 45 Character Gender: Cis-Male Character Pronouns: He/Him

IN CHARACTER IN DEPTH

A turbulent childhood left you in fear of your own shadow, a constant undercurrent of terror plaguing you that turned out to be something of a premonition when tragedy struck at age thirteen. A fearful upbringing then gave birth to a troubled teenager, although you cannot remember half of what they say you’ve done. They called you unruly; dangerous. A threat. You’ve been in and out of therapists offices and hospitals more than most people have in a lifetime. Eventually, after being medicated, the trouble stopped. Voices and murmurings that seemed to become louder in the dark disappeared. Your thoughts became clear, but dull, but at least you no longer had lapses of memory. Though now the terror is back, hidden in the recesses of your mind, although you cannot pinpoint why. You’ve developed a love of things that keep you distracted and away from people who could possibly see something in you that you’re too afraid to face. Computers and technology have always been easy to understand, and easy to fix. That is until you took the job at Harvard, where technology ultimately led you to a reality that was far more confusing and terrible than even you’ve experienced. Despite how your heart constricts when you review such things, there’s also a curiosity. A familiarity that you can’t help but notice, particularly in the cases of demon possession and spirit infestation. You start to wonder if perhaps these cases are more personal to you than professional. But you’re too scared to question it; to look into them deeper. You’re not sure what’s a scarier truth: if there’s an evil attached to you, or if you’re the evil yourself.

“How do you define the word evil?”

“May I ask…”  His voice carried softly across the room as he finished his task. “Why it is so imperative that I need to?” His head faintly turned to the side, as though he was about to look back. But his attention remained on lifting a shaky hand to press the strong brew option, moving on auto pilot. As the water began to boil and brew, he relented. “I’m not going to deny it’s existence. Yet the more we try to assign meaning to it, the more real it becomes.” Theodore finally turned around, his tone stiff, but not unkind. “It’s Nietzsche who believed that the concept of evil alone was what made humanity the most vulnerable.”

Eyes were on him, now, making unease settle into his bones. “The more we study, the more we uh - fixate, on what evil is and where it comes from…” There was a pause as he tripped over his words, faltering as unwanted images flashed before his eyes. Theodore briefly shut his eyes, shaking his head to himself. “The more we try to understand it, we unknowingly make ourselves the victim. And the weaker we feel when ultimately faced with it.” Once the words were out, he opened his eyes, fixating again on the figures in front of him.

“So to answer your question. About how I’d define it. If it’s all the same to you all, I’d personally really rather not.”

The timer of the coffee pot went off, giving him reason to turn away again. Theodore thought he could could hear the murmuring of voices behind him as he poured the dark black liquid into his mug, but he could never be too certain the cause of certain noises. Once he was done, he turned to raise his mug towards them, avoiding their gaze.

“I hope you all have a good evening. But if you’ll excuse me, I have a class.” He murmured as a way of excusing himself. “Help yourself to the pot.” With that, he was leaving, but not without his mind going back to the question he was asked. He wasn’t sure how to define something that felt so undefinable. His only hope was that people would stop asking.

[paranormalrp]

THE HARVARD INSTITUTE FOR PARANORMAL RESEARCH IS PROUD TO WELCOME SYBELLE MARTEL, THE OCCULTIST, TO OUR FIELD TEAM.  PLEASE REPORT TO YOUR TEAM LEADER WITHIN 24 HOURS FOR YOUR FIRST CASE BRIEFING.

Hi Cami! The backstory you have created for The Occultist is more than I could have dreamed of  and Sybelle embodies this role, I loved her relationship with her parents and how it molded her into who she is now. Your application was excellent and I’m thrilled to see where this character will go from here!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias: Cami

Age: 30+

Pronouns: She/Her

Triggers: added to the list

Timezone: UTC -3:00

What drew you to Paranormal? Everything, but mostly the skeletons and that it looks pretty interesting!

The skeleton you are applying for: The Occultist

Your choice of fc: Katie Mcgrath

Your 2nd choice of fc: Jessica De Gouw

Character Name: Sybelle Martell

Character Age: 35

Character Gender: Female

Character Pronouns: She/Her

IN CHARACTER

IN CHARACTER IN DEPTH

Biography: TW: ALCOHOLISM – TW: PHYSICAL ABUSE – TW: IMPLIED DRUG SELLING

The daughter of a taxidermist always attracted unwanted attention in the group of kids at school. With long black hair, pale skin, green eyes, a non-existent smile and a voice that was barely heard by the teachers, many would make fun of Sybelle asking her if she was a member of The Addams Family, but she never paid attention to them. They were insignificant in her eyes and everyone would end up in the same place she would in a couple of years, six feet under. Raised by her parents, Sybelle has always been surrounded by death in the form of the many animals that adorned the walls of her home. Her father thought the process would scare the child and often mocked her and her twin brother, but she had always been protective of him so she learned how to take their father’s joke with a hard stare, especially when he called them both horrible names and told them how week they were. She would only stare at him, with a dark look on her face until he couldn’t take it anymore and the stare would end with a slap, gong to her poor mother’s arms for comfort once he decided a drink was in order.

A bright girl, she grew up knowing that a taxidermist’s job not always made enough money to buy food or pay the bills. Her father was always worried about the money and began to make dealing with strange people that Sybelle saw come and go as they please from their home. That’s why it came to her as a shock when one day, after coming early from high school, she saw him packing bags of what at first looked like flour, but she had seen the same small packages in her class mates’ hands. Maybe she was a girl but that didn’t mean she was stupid and rather than telling her to go to her room, her father pulled her in and told her what was going on. Their mother was sick and the only way to pay for their treatment was to do something that not many people would dare to do. When he suggested her own mother to help them, Sybelle refused and promised him that she would work hard and do whatever he wanted but not to drag her into this mess and for once in his life, her father agreed.

In the following years, she finished high school, went to college and graduated, leaving memories behind, but some of them still lingered in her head. Strangely, it was a relief once her father drank himself into an early grave, leaving her to do what she always wanted without fear of being reprimanded, even when she was now a grown woman. The money provided by the illegal business gave her mother ten more years before she followed her husband and for that, Sybelle was grateful. Her hard work allowed her to have a good position at Harvard, something she never dreamed of doing, teaching other, watching their minds expand and fill with knowledge, just like hers. Her brain was like a sponge and it absorbed most stuff in books and academic magazines, but Sybelle always wants more. It what drove her to the unknown, the secret, the mysteries of life and death. She was touched by evil, it comes in many forms, and she wants to explore every single one of them.

How does your character define the world evil?

Sybelle has a broad definition of this word and it depends on the person. How this one was raised, their family, experiences in life. Her definition. What ones see as evil, other see good, but to her it’s like a force that induces fear and uses it to isolate others from each other.

[paranormalrp]

 THE HARVARD INSTITUTE FOR PARANORMAL RESEARCH IS PROUD TO WELCOME VERA FINSTER, THE DEMONOLOGIST, TO OUR FIELD TEAM.  PLEASE REPORT TO YOUR TEAM LEADER WITHIN 24 HOURS FOR YOUR FIRST CASE BRIEFING.

Hi Lauren! You hit it out of the park! The Demonologist is such a tricky character to pull off and you not only created a character, you made the skeleton grounded, flawed, and haunted, no pun intended.  Your application was excellent and I’m thrilled to see where this character will go from here! 

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias: Lauren

Age: 23

Pronouns: they/she

Triggers: added to list.

Timezone: CST

What drew you to Paranormal? can I hit you with a “I myself, am strange and unusual” sldkfjsldkjf LOL but uhhh I like that it is small and has a comfortable simplicity to it while still offering room to further plots.

IN CHARACTER

The skeleton you are applying for: The Demonologist

Your choice of fc: Sarah Paulson

Your 2nd choice of fc: Anne Hathaway

Character Name: Vera Finster

Character Age: 39

Character Gender: cis woman

Character Pronouns: she/her

IN CHARACTER IN DEPTH

Voices have emerged from the shadows for as long as Vera can remember. They would creep out of crevices and plague her with their whisperings. Scratchy things with eerie messages. There was nothing she could do to stop them from coming. They weren’t always constant, but when they were present, it was like the fear of the monster under her bed came to life.

Her mother wouldn’t stop suggesting she was possessed or touched by something evil, and her father figured they were both defective. He left them, not wanting to be associated with the crazies, and after the whole small town learned of this news, her mother taught her to never share this information with anyone else.

So, she didn’t. She kept her curse under lock and key, and tried to appear as normal as possible. Because each time she tried to tell someone, a friend, they’d practically run away screaming and their parents wouldn’t allow another playdate again with the scary girl who talked to ghosts. The more they moved and the older she got, the more in tune she became with the voices. It was like a radio dial always moving in her head, flipping through the stations and trying to signal messages. The voices often made her feel like she was fucking batshit when all she wanted was to be normal, be someone other people could love.

Because of that, she keeps every minute detail of her life clean and clutter-free, hoping that will quiet down the radio. It doesn’t necessarily work, but she isn’t going to stop trying. She learned the more she tries to pretend she can’t hear them coming in, the more and more she felt like she was crazy. She stopped pretending she could block out the noise and let it play. With the outside of herself – her house, her clothes, her every strand of hair tucked into place – mess-free, it was easier to handle the mess inside her head.

The woman often felt like this curse wasn’t meant for her. It belonged to someone who could handle it better. She’d seen movies, some people were made for this. For her, one little whisper during the day could send her into a chaotic shitstorm of intrusive thoughts, and she’d end up popping an anti-anxiety med. She hated this shit. It was evil, unnatural. People weren’t meant to live like this. They weren’t mean to hear… inhuman things.

Vera hated this institution. It was wrong. It was all for the things she hated. Things like herself. People had shunned the girl for who she was, and here were people acting like it was just okay to dissect? It was absurd.

And yet – she was drawn to it. It was homely for her. It was some place she felt like she could be normal, without having to lint-roll her entire appearance. She felt like maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to let down her guard. She never would (or so she thinks), but there’s a teeny tiny piece of her that feels like she could.

When she discovered the team, it was like a piece clicked in her brain. Maybe she could use her curse for something for once instead of being ashamed by it.