Not awkward

Anathema is a difficult character to write about since we know very little about their personality and history. Then again, that also leaves a lot of freedom to write about them and their choices, their friendships, their goals, and fears…
Which kind of people would Anathema befriend? Who would be their allies? Who would they be romantically involved with? What do they fear the most or what was their life like?
We don’t know!
And that’s the fun in writing them for me!

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Thwarting a random robbery was unexpected but rewarding, just what you needed to make your morning. And perhaps open your eyes to the world some more while at it.

Your handlers would never let you feel praise, they just wanted you to crave it. There would be a nod of acknowledgment at most, and then they’d tell you to keep your shields tight and be quiet. But now they’re gone, and you can experience for yourself, should you dare.

The minds of the small crowd that gathered around the thankful greengrocer to clap and congratulate you were so intoxicating enough they almost made you wish there would be more robberies on your way to meet Anathema.

Is that a bad thought?

You don’t know, and neither you care.
There’s a new set of guidelines now: Be a hero, fight crime, gain the approval you never had. The rangers can give you missions should you feel lost, and you could even start your own projects.

Maybe every day will be like this from now on, a prospect is not as scary or disconcerting as it was during your first days in Los Diablos.

You’re in good spirits when you reach the alley where you’re supposed to meet, smiling as you sit atop the plastic lid of a green recycling trash bin, savoring the irony of a joke that only someone like you could understand. A simple fabric mask slides to cover your face as you wait for Anathema, conducting scans of the surroundings and rehearsing your greeting for when Themmy decides to show up.

“Welcome to my office!” you decide to opt for a light joke as they walk in. The message seemed nervous, so it’s better to break the ice perhaps?

Their response is not what you anticipated it would be for someone who’s allegedly indestructible. Too startled… perhaps even spooked? Of what? A dark alley?

It makes no sense, so it must have been something wrong about what you said, but they’re walking towards you and there’s no time to ponder, it’s time to hop off and do this.

“Hey, Sides. Thanks for coming, I know you might be busy but…”

“No problemo, Themmy.” you say, doing finger-guns gesture you just saw on that tv-show at them, even adding the pew-pew sounds. Another attempt at breaking the ice… will it work this time?

The snicker coming from them makes you think you succeeded, as they do their own finger guns with some of their own pew-pew sounds at you before they fatally ask “You know that’s not real Spanish, right?”
“Yes? I do know… but that’s the joke, right?” you reply quickly, almost pleadingly. Did you fail to understand yet another catchphrase?

“I guess it is” they nod approvingly, and still in a good mood by the return of your scan.

That’s a relief.
You know how terrible you can be during unscripted first interactions without someone feeding you scripted words through an ear-mic. Being oneself is very, very difficult. This is your chance to really talk to Anathema and challenge yourself, see if you can improve upon past errors, and prevent this interaction from turning awkward too.
“BE YOURSELF!” You repeat inside your mind. All you have to do is try harder than ever before.

“So you said you needed to ask for a favor?” you ask, cutting to the chase now because you’re curious.

“Yeah… about that… uh…”

And that’s it for a good 15 seconds of vertiginous indecision in their mind, as they try to decide on what’s the best way to tell you about it.

“Stop that! You’re making me dizzy,” you say holding your palm up. “Just explain what the matter is.”

“Oh, sorry Sides. You probably already know what this is about anyways…”

“…no? How would I?”

“But you are a telepath no? Steel said…”

You narrow your gaze at the mention of Steel, finally realizing what’s going on.

“I’m not inside your mind all the time Themmy. Hard enough to keep up with my own thoughts already.”

“Guess we have that in common, huh?” they grin, as you look at them, pondering on their words. “I’ve seen how you fiddle with your fingers every time Ortega’s about to explain what we’re up against each time!”

You freeze momentarily, taking a moment to diggest the critique. Are you really fiddling during briefings? Handlers would have put an end to that if they had noticed it.

“Fair assessment, our anxiety levels are often equally unbalanced.” You have to stop yourself from suggesting you both find constructive ways to improve because you’re not at the farm, they are not a fellow regene, and it would sound weird, something that you’re trying to avoid.

You have to try to be more human.

“Wow, I was joking!” they smile “So you have been monitoring me?”

“There are some things I can’t avoid catching onto.”

“But not what kind of favor I need?”

“All you are projecting is that you think I will say no and leave, and then everything will fall apart.”
“… and… will you?”

“Only if you keep beating around the bush I will…”

“No don’t! I’m sorry… It’s just that…”

“Themmy.” you say raising your voice with a slight telepathic nudge of impatience aimed their way

“Fine! Fine, I’ll tell you!” they say gathering courage.

“Whenever you’re ready.” You prompt them again as nothing happens. “Out with it already.”

“Ok. I need you to help me buy stolen dark tech research that’s been super-banned from a corrupt PharmaCore executive at a meeting that will happen on a villain’s bar! I need you to make sure that the goods are real before I pay, and it has to be done today and I can’t ask anyone else, and If I haven’t made myself clear, it’s totally illegal and we could both end up in jail! So you can turn around and leave already! I know that’s how this goes anyways!” they blurt the words out at you, holding their hands into fists and eyes closed fully expecting you to be gone when they open.

There is a ring of definite truth on their words because that is all they want you to do exactly. You have to resist the urge to start laughing, because you are Sidestep, a new hero in Los Diablos, and you can’t outright tell them that you’ve been present in hundreds of little dark deals that went exactly like the one he described. So many that you can’t even remember all of them.

They ask as if their life depended on it though, an all-important matter that they have postponed to the very last second. They’re convinced that some asshole is going to walk away with their money giving them bogus data, and then it will all be for nothing.

“Elaborate. What is this about?”

“What?” they ask, in slight disbelief that you’re still standing there.

“What’s this research for?” you ask. That makes a little more sense, you shouldn’t say yes so easily.

“That’s not my story to tell. But I can tell you that I’m doing it to help someone”

“This is about Ferra, right?” you ask, pointing out the obvious. They don’t care that much about themselves to start with, but Ferra on the other hand…

They gasp, suddenly spooked again by your words. “Hey! You said you weren’t in my mind all the time!”

“I’m not. But I saw the two of you entering that boost clinic a few days ago” you accuse.

“You know doctor Elderidge?… Fuck!” they sigh, leaning on the brick wall, realizing their big secret is out.

“I know you’ve been worried about something lately. I know it’s about her… and you’re going with her to an illegal clinic for boosts and now you need banned research… I’m just adding up the dots.”

“… it’s her boost. It’s killing her.” they finally break, admitting the truth.
“Really? How so?”
“Too much rust corrupting her core before she can shed it. It’s getting worse and If it keeps up she won’t be able to move soon”

“Really?” you ask, surprised. “She doesn’t look like she’s hurting”

“She doesn’t feel hurt the same way most people. She’s kind of like me in that way.”

“Oh… I didn’t know,” you say, surprised, because she always exudes positivity and strength around her. “So you think this research will help her how?”

“It’s Elderidge’s old research. She got kicked from a company after the military seized all of its assets. They took everything she was working on… including a gene treatment that could help Ferra.”

“Can’t the Long Beach rangers pay for her treatment? Why do you have to go after back-end scientists when she has real funding?”you ask, incredulous. It makes sense for you to pay someone like Elderidge, but a real human hero?

“Nobody cares.” they shrug. “The Long Beach guys are big on idealism so they never had sponsors worth shit. And now even that’s gone because of that asshole Blaze.”

“Blaze? Why? What did he do?”

“You don’t know?” they ask, surprised now. “He’s going to be the new Captain of the Guardians, and the sponsors they have will follow. The Long Beach team is fuming, Ferra told me he used them as stepping stones to get enough fame so he could sell out to those corporate shitheads. I thought Elyise would have told you”

Shit. A really big piece of news that you missed here. That’s what you get for not checking in with people often.

“Ferra doesn’t even know I’m doing this. She’s resigned that this will just get worse, and with Blaze being shit she has enough on her plate for now. Besides I didn’t want to get her hopes up if this doesn’t work, we had enough of that shit.”

“That’s a mess…" you ponder. It’s impressive how much Themmy cares about her, you can feel it in their mind. A powerful feeling of loyalty for their (friend? Partner? You don’t understand these emotions well enough to make an assumption. ) A feeling just as unbreakable as the two of them are. and explains things. Alright then, who’s this executive you’re buying from?”

“Name’s Linda Goodman… She’s worked at PharmaCore for years, and I got word that she’s gone rogue under the noses of the company directives. Started selling all manner of company secrets a few months ago. I contacted her and she confirmed PharmaCore absorbed the facility that stores the research Elderidge needs. She promised to deliver it but I have no idea if she’s legit and I’m using all of my ranger savings. I don’t have the kind of cash it takes to carry out a deal like this more than once…”

“And you want me to make sure she’s legit because she might…”

“…take the money and fuck me over, yes. She can just give me some random data rod that won’t work. It’s not like I could go after her if she did.”

“I’ll do it.”

“What?”

“I said I’ll do it.”

“Wow… really? I mean… I didn’t expect you’d agree…”

“Well, I just did. I also want to help Ferra if I can.” And you know that this kind of therapy was common at the farm, not miraculous, but the results were significant most of the time. Allowing some semblance of control over their abilities. Enough to function.

“Thank you!” they say, and for an instant, you fear there will be a hug, and of course, there is but this isn’t Ortega. So they do notice your flinching, their own doubts kicking in, making them pull back, apologetically, and both of you stay there, standing in front of each other. Awkwardly.

The one thing you were trying to avoid. Another failure at free-form interactions …
When will you learn?!

You follow Anathema, trying to shake off the awkwardness as they lead you to the meeting point.

“There’s one more detail I didn’t mention,” they say, almost unsure after a good twenty minutes.

“Is it important?”

“Kind of. Linda Goodman works directly for… Riley Carter.”

“OH FUCK NO!” you complain almost immediately, but it’s too late to go back on your word.

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My Fanfiction:https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-heroDISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero world. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for his wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.