-When the job guy said it would help me discover more about myself…I didn’t think he meant it would change me. It’s not just animals I can command now. It’s people too. And nobody else around seems to notice when I do it. I don’t like it. It started in a bar with Curtis. I told him to fuck off after he said something uncalled for and he just…got up and left. Didn’t come back that night. At least, I thought I told him to fuck off, but..everybody else said I never opened my mouth. Said Curtis just looked at me weird for a sec and got up to leave. I’m kind of worried. Did that job change me, or was this something I could always do? Am I changing? What the hell is wrong with me? I’m really, really scared. But I can’t just stop now. I still feel a pull. A tug. I need to know who I am. What I am.

Just put it in my apartment for now. Locked it in a trunk. So far nothing’s happened. It seems to be sealed up. Safe. At least for now. I feel like I’m gonna have to do something about it. Can’t leave it in a trunk forever. 

-in the meantime I’ve just been talking with people. A lot. Trying small things with my powers, seeing what people notice, what they don’t. Got a guy to buy me a soda the other day. Didn’t even feel tired after. Think I just talked to him well normally. Small stuff like that seems to be easy. 

-the day job’s been fine. A little boring compared to the “jobs”. But boring is fine. Boring is safe. A little safe interval of boring was nice.

-I just hope the next job doesn’t complicate things. My life is going well, but…I still don’t feel satisfied. I still feel lost, and I’m not sure where these powers are coming from.

-With the fires raging…I figured the least I could do is help out here in Detroit. Repaint my public image a bit.

-So I got in contact with the pastor. Told em I wanted to do whatever I could to help.

-Pastor Blackwell asked me to convince people to move out, seek shelter before the fires caught up to their neighborhood. 

-I’ll admit it was a pretty tough ask. No one ever wants to leave their home. But I’ve always had a way with people. I talked to em, got to know their perspectives, and gave em a ride to safety.

-One of the last guys was pretty stubborn though. I barely managed to get him out before the flames took the house. 

-Rolling out the window with him they singed me—hurt like hell.

-But it was worth it. There are still reporters at my door, now and then. But at least it’s not all hate articles now.

-I finally got my name cleared. It wasn’t cheap, and it took a hell of a lot of work.

-But I’m relieved. Finally my coworkers have stopped snickering behind my back.

-People aren’t throwing rotten trash at my window anymore, or refusing me taxi rides.

-All it took was community service and a social media campaign. I wired up electricity where people had lost their homes to the fires. 

-Rebuilt a street. It felt good to help people. Even if I didn’t quite fit in with them. Even if I got stares. And whispers.

-So I’m glad. I’m glad that Pastor Blackwell thinks I did ‘blessed work’. I’m glad I can walk home safely.

-It feels like the nightmare, of everyone hating me is finally over. Though I am still getting some hate mail from St. Louis. 

-No matter how much you change…some of your past sticks with you. 

-I got to work as the Boss’s right hand immediately. Even if I was just some upstart electrician from Detroit…had to show I could match my talk. Be the Snake I said I was. After all…those other guys believed me. They looked at me and thought I was a real hardened criminal.

-And it seems like the Mob believed me too. They took me to get tats, join the family. They had me blindfolded the whole time. It was terrifying. But I kept my cool. 

-I heard a guy whisper while I was under the needle “anyone sees his face, you know what to do”. And a chuckle from the guard outside the door. Makes me kind of glad I didn’t take the blindfold off.

-After I got my tats, I stayed around San Fran and hung out in Little Russia for a while. Put together a scheme. I figured…I had to raise money somehow, if I was going to be Head of Personnel for the Maul. 

-So I talked around. Learned there was a collector who was interested in paying top dollar for exotic animals. I cut a deal with him. $2 mil cash. All I had to do was hand deliver him a panda. 

-And I had the perfect target in mind. The San Diego Zoo has some of the few pandas in the country. And it’s not too highly guarded. Who’d want to break into a public zoo, right? 

-So at night I took some bolt cutters, made my way in…and did my thing. Convinced the panda to leave its own enclosure and follow me. It seemed a little timid but…animals always do, when I order em around like that. Like they’re scared of me. 

-From there we made it out to the waiting car, and it was almost a clean job. I did get spotted by a homeless guy…but I convinced the panda to scare him off. Not like anyone will believe him anyways.

-After that I took the car. Met up with the collector and handed him over his panda. 

-Used some of the money to hire some private mercs. Guess I’m a real criminal now. Even if it still feels like I’m faking it. 

-Say hello, world, to my new name. Say hello to the Snake.