Tag: Andre Leneau

Iktsuarpok (Shard-verse)

Iktsuarpok (Inuit) – The feeling of anticipation that leads you to keep looking outside to see if anyone is coming. (This definition is questionable – I could only find it in lists of untranslateable words)

One of Magpie’s and Wild Streak’s get-togethers, but he’s running late, as usual, but apparently not for the usual reasons

CW: mentions of parental abuse (literally, it’s just mentioned that Daisy was abused), mentions dangerous driving and police, implied relationship with significant age difference (they aren’t dating at this point, but Daisy is in high school and everyone else is far beyond that)

Rating: G


Magpie put down the lock and her tools. Dammit, she didn’t expert Wild Streak to be on time, but this was getting ridiculous. They didn’t get together that often, and usually at Wild Streak’s place. This time, he’d said – and it was obvious he was being prompted by Charles, the sweetie – that he didn’t want to disturb Daisy while she was doing homework. She’d thought she’d had him figured out years ago, but turned out he still had surprises. No idea who Daisy was, but it was the first time she’d heard that sort of affection from him.

She turned up the police radio. She hadn’t heard anything, but nothing else was as in character for him as catching the attention of some cop. He’d get away, probably, and have a good time doing it. Of course, that’d only be if Wild Streak was driving and his boys had stopped that ages ago. Andre was smart enough to keep the cops from noticing them.

A knock on the door. Finally!

Wild Streak strode in, the mannerless oaf, carrying his kit like it was weightless. She grinned. “What took you so long?”

His smile faded. “Oh. Uh. Daisy was upset.”

Andre prompted from a step behind him. “She doesn’t know who Daisy is yet.” He waved and held up a big cookie tin. “Hi Magpie. Charles sent snickerdoodles.”

“There’s coffee in the kitchen.”

“Got it.” Andre headed that way.

Wild Streak set his bag next to the couch and flopped down. “Somebody was teasing Daisy. At school,” he started, pulling out his lockpicks.

She rolled her eyes. “Backtrack a bit there. Why do you have a school age kid at your hide-out?”

“Her dad abused her,” he said with a shrug.

“Since when do you care?”

Another, more eloquent shrug. “Since it was her.”

Andre returned with a tray with cookies and drinks for all of them. “We don’t get it either, but he adores her and she’s a peach.”

“Okay then, how’d you meet her?” And his face lit up, like she’d only ever seen when he was bragging, and he started his tale.


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Open Locks (Shard-verse)

CW – mentions of ableism towards amputees, mentions of war and injuries from it, abusive personality (it’s Wild Streak…). Word count: 569, rated G

Andre ruminates on Wild Streak’s one friend.


The boss doesn’t have a lot of friends. It’s his own fault, you know – he’s self-centered, impulsive, and quick-tempered. Me and Charles are the only help he’s been able to keep, and honestly some days I don’t know why we stay. Daisy adores him, of course, but he’ll do anything for her. Everyone else in the community? They respect him, fear him, admire him, but don’t like him.

Except Magpie. I don’t know when they met – she’s about me and Charles’ age, younger than Wild Streak. But she can make her smart-ass remarks to him and he’ll smile. I mean, she’s careful, but not terribly so, not walking on eggshells careful the way people like Gimmick are, or the super-respectful way the way gang leaders are when they hire him. And he looks forward to spending time with her. We don’t need to remind him about their get-togethers, mostly, or gather up his stuff for him. And she trusts him – I’ve talk to other goons and nobody else knows that she lives in a big penthouse or that she’s loaded.

Maybe it’s that the boss doesn’t care. He doesn’t even glance at her swanky place or expensive decor. And she’s nice when she comes over – our place is alright, but it’s got scars from Wild Streak’s tantrums and most of our stuff is second or third hand. Charles and I do our best to keep it nice, but we don’t bother with a bunch of decorations that are just gonna get broke.

He doesn’t care about her legs either. She’s too young to have been in the War, but she’s missing both legs. Missing parts and other problems are common enough, but there’s always the people that tend to still treat disabled people a little different. The boss doesn’t care. And she’s never said anything about his eye or skin. He doesn’t try to scare or creep her out either, doesn’t do his usual power plays.

The only thing Magpie and Wild Streak care about is locks – everything from tiny little padlocks to great big safes. Picking them, hacking them, exploits, work arounds, and, if necessary, breaking them. And they’ll compete with each other – and if you know Wild Streak, you know he hates losing. But with Magpie, he’ll just laugh and have her show her or make another bet or whatever. They trade stories, without the type of oneupmanship you see with big shots. He’s even given her things – he’ll make his own picks or turning tools and it’s one of the few times he’ll sit still and work hard on something. About the only other time is when he’s taking care of his clothes. And if he makes something new, he’ll give her one to try out. She does the same, but she seems to buy a lot more of hers.

They sit and race to get through a pile of locks or one of them will have something that just came out or that is rare or especially hard to get open. The boss can practically whisper at one to get it open some days and other days struggle with it for half an hour, but Magpie is consistent. Fast, with those nimble strong fingers of hers.

I don’t know how they met or if there’s anything to their relationship but locks, but damn I’m glad the boss has a friend.


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Shard-verse Art Dump

Charles and Andre back to back
(Transcript of text in the picture:)

Charles is a soft autumn. Andre is a cool winter.

Andre likes bright Hawaiian or bold patterned shirts. Think comfort. Goes for t-shirts for casual around the house wear.

Charles likes patterned shirts and stripes, but more subdued colors unless it’s super cute and femme. Loves florals. Goes for plaid flannel for comfort.

When working, they wear dark suits with shirts and ties that match Wild Rush.

Charles likes suspenders. Andre prefers belts.

Layout of police uniforms for Shard City
Not great art, but important info
Wild Rush shirtless and ironing a shirt while Daisy hugs him from behind
Zoom in! (I did fun things with the hatching, cuz MangaStudio gives options)

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Character Writing Finale!

Let’s see if I can’t finish off these character building questions that I’ve been working on too long!

What does your character’s bed look like when he/she wakes up? Are the covers off on one side of the bed, are they all curled around a pillow, sprawled everywhere? In what position might they sleep? (TW: child neglect)

Wild Rush – the thing you need to know about Wild Rush’s sleep habits are that his parents were super neglectful. He slept in the basement on a cot from an army surplus. If he’s stressed at all or having nightmares, he’ll toss and turn winding himself in the blankets, and make himself as small as possible (but not curl up, because the cot was too narrow). If he’s relaxed or dozing, he’ll splay out which takes up most of the bed. He’s not a fun person to sleep with, is what I’m saying.

Daisy – As absolutely terrible as her dad was, he at least bought her a proper bed. She tends to curl up and snuggle with a pillow or somebody if they’re there. She gets warm and throws the blankets around and they end up in the floor by morning.

Charles – Charles runs hot, so usually just wants a sheet. Ne sleeps on neir back mostly. Ne sleeps really hard and sometimes snores.

Andre – He runs cold, but luckily he sleeps with a human furnace. He’s a side-sleeper that starts curls up and straightens out as he gets hot. He drools and snores. If he’s sleeping alone he buries himself under a pile of blankets until you can hardly see him. Half of them end up shoved to the side by morning.

Delia – she prefers just a sheet and light blanket. She often ends of sleeping on her front, especially after long days. She likes to splay out and if sharing a bed, to just barely touch each other’s legs and arms. She sleeps really hard and has a hard time waking up.

Joel – Joel buries himself under blankets and sleeps on his side with his limbs relaxed. He snores, but not that loudly, and will talk nonsense in his sleep. He’s a zombie in the mornings.

How about we finish off the Troy-Burton family?

Leonard Burton – he absolutely prefers to sleep with someone and will start as snuggling on his side of the bed and not move until morning no matter where the other person moves to and how much of the blankets they steal. If he has to sleep alone, he’s got a body pillow, but he doesn’t sleep as well and ends up wrapping himself up in the blankets.

Nathan Burton (Delia’s husband, Leonard’s brother, Joel’s dad) – he tends to splay out on his back or side and hog the covers. He moves a lot in his sleep too.

Are there any blood relatives that your character is particularly close with, besides the immediate ones? Are there any others that your character practically considers a blood relative?

Wild Rush – Nope. He hates his family with a passion and will have nothing to do with any of them. If he considered someone a blood relative, he’d loathe them.

Daisy – she never really knew any of her grandparents. Her mom was an only child and her dad’s brothers died in The War. Andre and Charles are like brothers to her.

Charles – not really. Neir extended family lives in different states and ne never saw them much. Ne thinks of Daisy as a little sister.

Andre – He’s got a whole bevy of cousins, but nobody he’s super close with. Like Charles, he thinks of Daisy as a little sister.

Delia – she’s got an aunt that she visits often, and then Leonard, her brother-in-law.

Mask – most of his family is in another country, but he’s close with several of his cousins and tries to spoil the younger members of the family. He’s good friends with several of his aunts and uncles too, although they don’t talk about his work much. He’s got a friend in a monastery that he’s practically brothers with, but that doesn’t approve of his work at all. He considers his lieutenants like younger family too.
What’s your character’s desk/workspace look like? Are they neat or messy?

Wild Rush – super messy. He’ll have pencils, pens, and markers everywhere and doodles in all the margins. He has a huge desk he works on and ends up with a pile of rejected ideas on the floor. He pins tons of stuff to the walls too.

Daisy – she has a smaller desk in her room for homework. She tries to keep it neat, but sprawls out when she’s working, then shoves everything inside when she’s done.

Charles – neir workspace is the kitchen. Ne’s a super neat cook, washing dishes as ne goes and such, but ends up with splatters of stuff on neir clothes and in neir hair. Which is why ne has a collection of cute aprons.

Andre – the closest thing he has to a workspace would be the bathroom when he’s primping. He makes a mess, but cleans it up when he’s done, otherwise Charles nags him.

Techrat – is super neat. Everything has a place and that’s where it stays.

Gimmick – also very neat, but will misplace stuff when he’s focused. His neatness is learned because he was a messy kid and got tired of it.

Delia – her workspaces end up a mess, but she knows where everything is. It all gets taken care of when she’s done of the day.

Joel – about the same as his mom, although he’ll often leave things out because he’s going to get back to them.

Donna Cooper – super neat. She’s got an inbox and an outbox and stuff is in one or the other or being worked on.

Harry Suchek – also very neat, although he tends toward the pile method. He’s got a clear desk by the end of the night.

Kella Aurita – she drives Sucheck (and Cooper) nuts because her desk looks like total chaos. She says she can find everything, but a lot of the time it’s after several minutes of searching. Nothing ever gets lost, but that’s because it won’t leave the desk until she’s done with it.

What might your character’s ideal romantic partner be? (TW: sex, misandry, misogynistic stereotypes, BDSM…)

I’m going to have to diversify, since most of the people I’ve been doing are or were in relationships…

Joel Burton – he says he’d like someone to spoil him at home and just relax with, but he ends up dating extroverts and going to concerts, theme parks, outdoor stuff, and other exciting events.

Jill – she wants excitement! And maybe a sugar daddy. She wants fast cars, fine dinners, dancing, and really hot sex. And he has to be smart enough to keep up with her. Which is why we know two of the people she’s dated were Gimmick and Wild Rush (and WR’s brains are only borderline good enough).

Techrat – if he were to think about a romantic (non-sexual) partner, he’d want somebody that would take care of him. Basically a mother.

Tectrix – …probably a harem of brainless beauties that he’d mostly ignore as they got up to lesbian fun… That or somebody as twisted as him.

Mick Adler – a very smart, very independent domme that would treat him harshly, take care of him after, and leave him alone when he’s working. … He may be the character with the healthiest, most reasonable idea on this list…

Describe your character’s hands. Are they small, long, calloused, smooth, stubby? (TW: weapons, violence)

Wild Rush – he has large elegant masculine hands. He’s a master at sleight-of-hand and watching him work, whether it’s lockpicking, doing card tricks, or playing with guns and knives can be mesmerizing.

Daisy – she’s got small soft hands. Everything looks big in her hands, but she can be as mesmerizing as Wild Rush when need be.

Charles – he’s got very strong hands. He keeps them soft, but everybody knows he can crush anything in them. He likes to keep his nails a little longer and will paint them sometimes, often doing Daisy’s too.

Andre – his hands are rough and calloused. He’s not as strong as Charles (not surprising), but he’s quick and nimble.

Delia – her hands are large, very strong, and tend to be rough. Her nails are always battered and short.

Mask – his hands are gnarled and stiff. He can be strong when necessary, but pays for it later.

Techrat – his hand are beat up, rough, calloused, but he has long elegant nimble fingers. His nails and cuticles are always broken and bitten.

Jill – has very feminine elegant hands, but they have a ton of scars from working with her ferrets. She forgets to use lotion, so they’re usually rough.

Mick Adler – he’s got stubby fingers that are often rough from working. He likes to get manicures and will even get his nails painted, but he’s got tough calluses from working in his lab.

Stuart Ashbow – he has beautiful hands, with a wedding ring tattooed on one finger. It’s garland of rose branches with a small rose where the diamond would be. He gets manicures often (sometimes him and Mick go together and maybe drag Delia along) and takes good care of his nails and hands.

Swordcat – has fuzzy, super strong, clawed hands. They’re big (… I’m noticing some author appeal here… ) and with thick fingers and knuckles.


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Character Writing #14

What is your character’s preferred means of travel?

Andre prefers to drive himself. He gets panic attacks on public transit, in taxis, and in cars with bad or unpredictable drivers (like Wild Rush)

Charles prefers to ride shotgun or go by train / subway.

Daisy loves trains and finds the noise and motion very relaxing.

Wild Rush loves to drive. He drives fast and erratically and never gets in accidents, but accidents will happen in his wake.

Tectrix prefers to fly himself. This is a cheat – he’s got wings :)

Delia loves to fly. She finds seeing the country going by fascinating.

Joel likes buses and other public transit. He loves to people watch, and to just sit back and let someone else get him places.

 


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Character Writing #13

Is your character a good cook? What’s their favorite recipe, whether they’re good or not? (Microwave mac-and-cheese applies.)

Wild Rush – no, not really at all. He doesn’t have the patience for it. There a few cocktails he likes to make. He can also do slow cooker stuff.

Daisy manages. She’s good at casseroles and other ‘throw everything in a pot’ meals. She makes kickass mac and cheese.

Charles is an awesome cook. Ne prefers to make fancy things and loves to bake. Neir favorite thing to make is omelets.

Andre likes to grill, especially steaks. He learned from Charles.

Delia can manage, but there’s a reason she has a cook. She is good at yummy salads.

Joel is better than his mom; he learned a lot from their cook. Because of his tremors, he tends to avoid things involving sharp knives. He likes to make pizza with premade crust, but also makes a mean chili.

Techrat doesn’t cook at all and relies on microwave meals, delivery, and meal replacement options.

Gimmick is a pretty good cook. He likes to make pancakes and bacon, chili, and steaks.

Jill just barely manages. She’s like Techrat in that she considers cooking a distraction. Her best recipe is homemade ferret food. She also makes a lot of casseroles and soups for herself.


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Character Writing #12

How does your character react to temperature changes such as extreme heat and cold? 

(Hey, I’ve got a writing snippet that talks about this a bit!)

Wild Rush doesn’t really notice it. If it’s super hot or cold he might change what he’s wearing a bit, but not much.

Daisy feels them and either snuggles with somebody or tries to cool off.

Charles tends to run hot and Andre tends to run cool, so they even out. Andre prefers to run around in bright shirts and Charles likes skirts and dresses sometimes.

Delia doesn’t get cold that often, but can get really hot. She’ll blast the AC or take a cold bath or something.

Joel tends to run cold. He has tons of blankets to wear and warm jackets.

Leonard Burton (Delia’s brother-in-law) loves to go skinny-dipping when he’s hot or lay in front of a fire (preferably with a girlfriend) when he’s cold.

Morning bird or Night owl?

Delia and Joel are both naturally polyphasic sleepers and tend to be night owls. Delia has an easier time in the morning than Joel.

Leonard Burton is also a night owl and is often a slug-a-bed. But he’ll get up to make breakfast for people.

Wild Rush is totally a night owl. That’s when all the exciting stuff happens.

Daisy is more of a morning person, but likes to stay up with Wild Rush.

Charles is totally a morning person. It’s quiet and ne can relax and read or get caught up on things or whatever.

Andre honestly isn’t super fond of either. He’d prefers during the day when there’s lots of light.

Sergeant Aurita is totally a night person, for the same reason Wild Rush is. Night time is exciting.

Silver Dollar loves to sleep in late and stay up late. It’s a really really bad idea to wake him up without a good reason.

Techrat is… none of the above. He keeps a very bad and erratic sleep schedule and often gets his days and nights reversed.

Gimmick is a morning person. The earlier you get up, the earlier you can get stuff done. He likes to watch the sun rise with breakfast.

Donna Cooper is about the same. If she gets up early, she can get started on stuff before people starting bringing more problems.

Swordcat is another slug-a-bed. He takes catnaps and is up all night.

Mask is another morning person. Usually because he couldn’t sleep. He tends to go to bed early because he’s exhausted.

Jill loves to go out at night, dancing and drinking, and causing trouble. And then she gets up at a reasonable hour to do research and stuff.

Mick Adler is not a morning person at all, unless he woke up with an idea. He also likes to go out at night, but if possible he’ll go home with somebody fairly early.


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Character Writing #11

I really need to finish these off. Let’s see what I can do…

How is your character with technology? Super savvy, or way behind the times? Letters or email?

Delia – pretty darn good, since she works at a technology company. Not as good as Mick (Future-Tech’s resident genius) or her son, but she gets by. She prefers phone calls to letters or email, but emails and texting are fine for quick stuff.

Wild Rush – he gets by. He doesn’t really care about computers. If he needs something, he’ll get somebody to do it. He writes letters if he’s in prison, otherwise he’ll visit in person.

Daisy – pretty good. Learned a lot in school – she didn’t have a computer at home and couldn’t visit friends to use theirs. She’s picked up a lot since then. She likes to make phone calls.

Andre – really good. He’s smart and a quick learner and not afraid to experiment with things. And he grew up pretty spoiled, but his parents weren’t rich, so he got lots of things to play with.

Charles – ne does alright. Ne’s not as good as Andre, but ne has lots of friends ne emails and ne’s on social media a lot. Ne loves the internet to find new recipes.

Joel – he’s really good. He’s studying computer science and does a lot of hacking and computer stuff to help out his mom. He also likes rc planes and cars. He prefers email to letters, because of his disability.


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OCTP Challenge art dump

Yeah, I had a couple of these done and never posted them. Both of these are for the second one, holding hands. There’s non-explicit nudity in the second one, btw.

Wild Rush & Daisy - OCTP2
A fast and lazy coloring job because I had to redo this one because the shadows were messed up. … And I missed a bit of Daisy’s skin (between her shirt and pants). Oh well.

Charles & Andre - OCTP2
Not a lazy job. They’re very cute together.


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Character Writing #10

10) Can you define a turning point (or more than one) in your character’s life?

(TW: character death,

Delia – when she met Mick Adler (leading to the creation of Future-Tech), when her husband died (the final straw to becoming the White Knight)

Wild Rush – when he got the only birthday present he ever got from his parents (fourth grade, a book of magic tricks and a deck of cards), when during a break-in he got sprayed with chemicals (leading to the grey skin and ending the headaches he got from his powers), when he met Daisy.

Daisy – when her mom died (leading to her dad abusing to her), when she met Wild Rush (leading to her powers expressing themselves and her being happy).

Andre – moving out on his own (he was a spoiled kid and having to take care of himself was a huge shock), joining a gang as a kid (his family is rather straight-laced, but Andre was a rebel and stubborn).

Charles – getting into a fight in junior high (ne was a big kid, but quiet. Got noticed by some people that ended up leading nem into crime)

… trying to think of a character with some non-obvious ones…

Sergeant Kella Aurita – getting arrested for shoplifting as a kid (got chewed out by parents to no end, including a trip to tour the police station. Got talked to by an understanding officer who ended up mentoring her a little bit and is why she joined the police academy)


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Character Writing #9

#23 Is your character superstitious?

Wild Rush – he has a vague sense of things being lucky or unlucky or a bad idea, but nothing set in stone. He’d say it’s just hunches.

Daisy – not at all, but she can get hunches too

Andre – a little bit, just standard stuff like not walking under ladders, avoiding 13s.

Charles – ne’d say he’s not, but ne’s got a bunch of folk beliefs

Delia – more spiritual than religious. Believes in spirits in all living things, so we need to be respectful, especially old things

Silver Dollar – ooooohhhh, yeah. Exceedingly, about tons of things.


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Character Writing #8

#31. Is your character right-, left-handed, or ambidextrous? More complicated than that?

  • Wild Rush – left-handed. Can shoot and throw with either hand.
  • Daisy – right-handed, unless she’s been around Wild Rush for a long time (I’m really trying not to spoil stuff about her but it’s haaaaarrrd…)
  • Delia – primarily right-handed, but good with either for sports / fighting stuff.
  • Joel – taught himself to be ambidextrous, but better with his right
  • Charles – right-handed
  • Andre – right-handed, somewhat ambidextrous. Can shoot with either hand.
  • Techrat – ambidextrous, a little better with his right
  • Gimmick – left-handed

#9 Who do they trust?

  • Wild Rush – not very many people and he’s fast to distrust. He trusts Daisy unconditionally and pretty much trusts Charles and Andre.
  • Daisy – Wild Rush, Charles, Andre. She’s pretty quick to trust, even though she should know better.
  • Delia – Depends on the situation. Joel, of course. Her business partners and friends, if it’s not superhero stuff. The police chief, Donna Cooper.
  • Joel – his mom, most people
  • Charles – Andre & Daisy, not a whole lot of other people.
  • Andre – Charles & Daisy, not a whole lot of other people.
  • Donna Cooper – she only trusts people so far, because she’s been burned so many times. It take a lot to earn her trust and not a lot to lose it.

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Character Writing #7 (or so)

I misnumbered one last time and had a mini, but we’ll call it seven.

Yeah, been a while since I did this. I’m trying to do Camp Nanowrimo and don’t really feel like working on the story I was trying to do, so I’m doing this instead. And counting it.

It occurred to me a few days ago that Wild Rush’s grey skin could be related to argyria (tw for medical stuff and eyes in that link). He got splashed with some sort of chemical in a robbery gone wrong and a patch of skin turned grey and then spread. Now, he stayed grey and turned completely grey because he wanted to, so his powers made it happen. But. I dunno.

I’m currently trying to find out if it would turn his tongue and around his eyes grey too. (The pictures I can find of people with argyria aren’t very clear). It looks like it’s worse where light hits it? So the inside of the mouth probably wouldn’t be affected? (Unless I decide it is…)

But. To the actual character writing.

#29. How does your character smell? Do they wear any perfume / cologne?

Wild Rush – like wool and aftershave

Daisy – I’d imagine she likes flowery scents and would wear perfume. If she hasn’t put any on, she smells like jasmine or something from her shampoo.

Delia – when she’s superheroing, like leather and metal. Otherwise, probably likes spicy scents.

Joel – he burns incense a lot, so he smells like that

Leonard Burton – cotton, leather, and motorcycles. Just good man smells.

Charles – ne wears perfume, something spicy and flowery.

Andre – he wears a subtle cologne, something with a vanilla undertone

Techrat – like cotton. Doesn’t wear anything. Often sweaty and metallic smelling from working too long with electronics.

Gimmick – if he’s working, like metal and sulfur and other electronic smells. If he’s showing off, like nice cologne.

Swordcat – like a cat. Kinda a dusty musk.

Mask – not good. Wool, with b.o. He doesn’t sweat and hardly has a sense of smell. He does his best, but it’s an uphill battle.

 

 


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Snippet – Wild Rush does not react in a healthy way

TW: abuse, assault, threats, threatening with knife, blood, victim blaming

(I’ve decided Charles’ pronouns are ne / nem / neir / neirself)

Wild Rush had the habit of threatening / yelling at / blaming / etc Charles and Andre before Daisy came along.

They’d been expecting it. The boss was predictable about a few things at least. And when they heard his office door slam against the wall, they glanced at each other and dropped their mugs in the sink (less chance of them getting broken that way – they had to replace dishes too often already).

Now Wild Rush has Charles pinned down against the table, one of his knives that always seemed to appear from nowhere pressed against the back of neir neck. It was kind of amazing that the boss could so easily take down someone as big as Charles. Mostly terrifying, but kind of amazing.

“You told me it was guaranteed,” Wild Rush growled.

Andrew watched the sweat trickle down Charles’ neck. “Practically guaranteed. How was I supposed to know that Tectrix would decide he wanted it?”

Charles thought it was funny that of all the things that gave Andre panic attacks, getting chewed out wasn’t one of them. And he’d been the one with a knife against his throat or a gun against his chest plenty of times. Ne wasn’t laughing right now, of course. Ne’d gone pale – you’d think they’d get used to it – and ne was trying to breathe as little as possible.

“You’re supposed to find out these things. What am I paying you for?”

The knife twitched. “Gimmick said-”

“What are you doing?” Daisy shrieked. She pulled Wild Rush off.

He blinked at her. “I- they- we were just talking.” He sounded way too reasonable for someone with a bloody knife dangling from his fingers.

Andre pressed a clean washcloth against Charles’ neck as ne sat up. “It’s not bad,” he whispered.

“You were not!” Daisy said, her voice only slightly less high. “Why would you do that?!”

“They screwed up.”

She made a pained sound and pushed past him to them.

“It’s fine,” Charles said. “I’m fine.”

“No, it’s not!” she said. Andre glanced at the boss. He’d expected him to be pissed, but he just looked confused.

Wild Rush put a hand on her arm. “Daisy…”

“Don’t touch me!” And she fled. Wild Rush glanced at them, still puzzled, and went after her. Andre heard a door slam.

~~~~~

Andre scowled as he heard the door unlock. He’d just finished bandaging Charles’ neck – it really wasn’t that bad, hardly worse than a papercut, but it’d bled a lot – and the andrenline surge was dying down.

The boss perched on the chest at the end of the bed, bent all in angles. “Why is she upset?”

“We’re not exactly thrilled either,” Charles said coldly. Andre squeezed neir hand warningly.

“So what? Why is she upset?”

“She likes us,” Andre said.

Wild Rush’s brow furrowed further. “I like you too. So?”

“Generally people don’t assault people they like,” Andre said, suddenly tired.

“If you hadn’t fucked up-”

“Yeah, we know that,” Charles said. “She doesn’t. She hasn’t been here that long, remember?”

He pursed his lips, then said, “She won’t talk to me.”

“She probably needs to calm down,” ne said.

“From what? I didn’t do anything to her!”

“Didn’t her dad used to hit her?”

“Yeah, but…” He glanced away, his eyes crinkling as he thought. “I won’t let anything hurt her. I wouldn’t hurt her.”

“You’re missing the point,” Andre said.

“She knows I wouldn’t hurt her.” He looked back at them. “Doesn’t she?”

“I don’t think that’s the point. She probably doesn’t like to see her friends get hurt either. Most people don’t.”

“And there’s a difference between knowing something and, y’know, feeling it,” Charles said.

“But you fucked up,” Wild Rush said.

“Yeah, we know,” Andre snapped. “You don’t have to threaten us. We know.”

Wild Rush frowned, apparently still baffled. “Okay. Talk to her, okay?”

That was the last time he pulled a weapon on one of them.

I don’t think Wild Rush fits any specific diagnosis. (I’m not doing any research for him at least). He considers Charles and Andre his closest friends and he’d be upset if they got injured or killed, but only to the extent of how someone would be if their favorite shoes got ruined. ‘Well, shit, how am I going find some that good again?’ But he’d be wrecked if Daisy got killed.


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