#character nickei nines
cruelty in being seen vs the disgust in being identified vs the desperation in being located vs the hysteria in being recognized
when emily skaja said “you can drive yourself crazy with looking”
chapter one - EXCERPT
cws for: cigarettes, implied body horror, whatever is going on w agent frankenstein
The footsteps behind him say it all; he has no reason to glance back when the pattern is familiar, and so he simply waves his cigarette around, ashes flicking down to start the long journey to the pavement, which they will inevitably dissolve before hitting. “What do you want, Frankenstein?”
Agent Frankenstein is also a product of the A.R.C. Program, but there are many who think that doesn’t sit right. Productdoesn’t feel right when a man like Frankenstein would never allow himself to be considered a commodity; as one of five Agents in the entire organization, which is the elite of over four million people, he ishis own creator. “Checking up on you, Nines. Is there anything you wish to tell me?”
“Nothing I can think of.”
“I don’t recall you smoking.”
Nickei snickers, bringing the cigarette back up to his lips. It isn’t that he’s a smoker: he tries to stay away from the damn things as much as possible, but sometimes, his thoughts lead him here. Or a particularly difficult mission.
But today is an anniversary, and for that, he’ll allow himself an indulgence in his bad habit. “I don’t recall you caring.”
Frankenstein shakes his head, sitting cross-legged next to Nickei, his lab coat billowing in the wind. It’s the kind of wind that won’t affect the people down there, but will take out the weak-willed from this high up: another test and another leveled-playing field, Nickei supposes. “You’re strange, kid. You know that, don’t you?”
“Can’t say I’ve ever been told that before. What do you want?”The first half of the sentence is doused in so much sarcasm that Nickei has a hard time pretending it isn’t there, the second half snarled as he holds out the cigarette.
Frankenstein takes it, pinching it out between his already-discolored fingers. Between chemicals and burns and bleach, Nickei doesn’t know how the Agent still has feeling there, but he isn’t one to pry into a story that isn’t his. “We’re reopening a case.”
taglist (ask to be +/-);
fellas is it natural to have a breakdown over conflicting emotions after you come back from the dead because despite being physically a year older and mentally to you are also technically “reborn” and a part of you can only process emotions and behavior like a toddler bc you are simultaneously twenty-one, twenty (your age of death) and two years old
i love characters who can be killed but won’t stay dead. my poor little cockroach <3
