Luci Alessi's Questionnaire

Luci has since made her home in the Imp's Bog, Russia in a modest treehouse that she built either herself or with the help of Leon Vanderblight. But she doesn't have any grand aspirations related to her housing situation. Rather, she chooses to live in the bog purely for her own convenience and proximity to friends and family that she can regularly interact with. Strength in numbers type thing.

Her home, while modest, does have an art room that doubles as a space where she can perform regular maintenance on her equipment. It's high up but relatively well concealed to provide a great view and a vantage point that grants Luci a few degrees of separation between potential threats both in and out of the bog.

At this point in her story, Luci has multiple different avenues of making money. She plans to make her own tinkerer's workshop where clients ship all manner of broken devices to her to get fixed. But at the moment, she can simply fabricate expensive trinkets or raw materials and sell them for some quick profit. Luci has no real need to spend money on provisions, but every so often she'll indulge herself. Rather, her money tends to be saved should she require the need of a specific tool, a supernatural artifact through Offr, or for easy access to certain things during a Contract.

Luci desires the contract mostly for the Contract's sake. She is no suicidal maniac- or at least she doesn't think that she is. But the contracts as they exist are almost like big challenges or puzzles to her that she strives to solve and succeed at. A wildcard among Contractors, for sure, though if that answer fails to suffice, then her acquired affinity for art and her desire to spread her love for it would be the closest proper Ambition she has as a contractor. It means enough to her that she will risk her life for it, but she does tend to draw the line at sadistically spilling blood for no reason or gain. And even when a proper reason might present itself, she still tends to hold back- not for sort of vain righteousness, but purely because of how final death can be.

She has come quite close to dying multiple times over for both of these ambitions- and in fact she perhaps has died a few times for this goal. For the longest time, she never really had an alternative calling that might beckon her toward an easier life until she developed her ability to repair items. Nowadays, the life of a simple tinkerer doesn't look quite so bad.

The day that some wandering entity saw fit to take pity on poor Luci and bless her sight. Before then, she was nothing better than a gutter rat, born to parents she doesn't remember and who, evidently, didn't care enough for her to keep her around. It was only herself, her brother, and the orphanage and she was sure that she would die as she was born- in shit. But with this blessing, she was filled with at least an iota of hope that she would amount to something a wee bit more respectable than a filthy gutter rat. All things considered, after putting her life on the line many times over, she turned out alright- if not a little mad in the head.

Leon Vanderblight: A trickster, though apparently you wouldn't know that just by looking at him or any of his various forms. He values competency and results above all, but he's also a kind soul- having grown the Imp's Bog into something of a small city inhabited by entities he's welcomed with open arms. He is a valued friend, and with the status of my brother being unknown and having lost a great number of helpful people along the way, them having made it this far this fast almost feels like some sort of fate.

Umbra: A product of my own carelessness and timidity. I'm not sure why the entities in the Umbral Plane saw it fit to test me by cursing me with its existence, but it was cruel all the same. All I wanted was to make peace with it, but perhaps it just wasn't interested in the same things that I was. Maybe it only desired my destruction for its own entertainment. I hope it's getting a kick out of it for all that's worth.

Autumn was a person very early on that helped me get out of my shell. I'd been pretty Anti-Social for a large part of my life and that didnt suddenly stop when I went on my first or second or third or fourth contracts. No, it persisted for a while, but I had help to make it less harrowing.

My childhood sucked, to be frank. I was an orphan girl, unloved and unwanted by her parents for a reason I will never know or understand. It was grim. As a child living in that kind of situation, you learn that there aren't really that many job opportunities for growing orphan girls, so I got to see plenty of the life I thought I had waiting for me when I was of age. I was a little lucky, though- I have my brother there to watch over me and how fortunate I was.

A way out presented itself- a hard way that might've even ended in my death before I was 18, but I would've been a fool not to take it. There, I learned how to read, write, math, and kill. We were a team, my brother and I, and we protected each other there. And once we paid off what was owed, we went into our paths together. Him, a hitman. And me, an assassin; using this ability I was granted by the graces of a wandering... something. I still don't quite understand it, but I suppose there are just some things that foolish girls like me are not meant to grasp. 

I don't remember the last time I ever had such a luxury. There was never a point in my life in which I thought I would ever get the chance. A gutter rat can't find anything but street work and who would want to fall in love with someone like that. An assassin can't have such connections for they only weaken you- or at least as far as I was taught. And once I became a contractor, the number of potential suiters dropped with each job- reaching near rock bottom once I was perpetually on the run. I still don't see any such future for me. But that's fine with me- growing up in a large house to a wealthy husband isn't my type of life anyway. It'd be waaaay too boring.

Fears, huh? I had a lot of fears once, way back when I first began Contracting. There wasn't any such thing as good human contact for me, verbal or otherwise. I knew it existed, but it was a world far separate from my own. Where others might have been hanging out at the movies or going to house parties, those settings terrified me for the longest time. I'm not sure exactly why I was like that- nowadays, I don't flinch at the mention of them anymore. Though, I think it had something to do with how normal it felt to be alone all the time. It was where I felt safest and the most comfortable. Even if, knowing now, that it wasn't good for me. Actually, I think I understood it then too. Well, in any case, that was my worst fear at the time. Sling cars at me, shoot at me, stab me- hell, torture me, but I think it was social interaction that would've made me the most hesitant to go on Contracts.

No that that stopped me, but I digress. I did eventually get over it after I had some people to help me express myself. But about halfway through my Contracting career, I contracted a completely separate fear that manifested soon after my first failure. One that I still hold today, in fact. See, my shadow wasn't always just my shadow. Something conscious began to manifest inside of it. A harsher side of myself that tried to forcefully tempt me away from my comfortable ways. Whether it was being benevolent or not is not really for me to answer, but I never understood its pain or spitefulness until I lost my first Contract, where I traded places with my shadow and suddenly I was stuck as the unwilling passenger. Where Umbra went, I was forced to follow, unable to do anything to help my friends from its viciousness. It was so unlike me but it had my face. It had my voice. And it was interacting with people I cared about. It even shot itself in the head and held me hostage.

And when i was finally freed from it, those wounds never left... Lets move on to a different question.

My prized possession is, without a doubt, my sketchbook. Sure, my guns are my children; I created them and breathed life into them, but my sketchbook means much more than just a bundle of scribbled pages. It was a gift from a friend that I can no longer interact with. Gideon was my first real acquaintance in Contracting that stuck around after the missions cleared. He was kind and caring and was willing to risk his life for mine. But even better, he was the one that suggested an alternative lifestyle for me when I was unsure where to go or what to do. He gave me this sketchbook and offered me a space to foster my creativity. He helped give me at least a glimpse into a life where I wasn't just a good shot or wasn't just a killer. Now, I write and draw and paint and use this gift to fix things now. All because of all those that helped me along the way- starting with Gideon.

The lack of a fucking government identity. You wouldn't believe the amount of stuff you can't do without a government ID in the US. Its one of the reasons I left that all behind for the Imp's Bog- because I literally just can not sit anywhere else. I have the money, but I don't have a credit score to buy a house. I have no ID and as such, I can not have my own bank account, so all of my money needs to be liquid which is just PAIN. Sure, i can carry it securely, but FUCK. Doing jobs in the US is painful for that reason. Especially because even if I went to a car junkyard and repaired a car that I could use to get around, there is always the risk that a cop will notice, read the license place, not find anything, and now I'm in a whole different pit of shit.

I haven't needed to sleep for a while since my powers began manifesting. Sometimes I do it just for the novelty, but only in the Bog. I do spend my nights either performing maintenance on my guns, cooking for the morning, or drawing. It's weird- I never realized how much time you gain when sleep isn't an issue for you. But anyway, I typically protect myself with my guns and have them stand sentry for me. Whatever they can see, I can see as well if I focus, so if something goes bump in the night, I will know it.

My activities by the time it turns day time don't typically change as I can see in the dark relatively well, but whenever the rest of the Bog is awake is usually when I would indulge in slightly louder activities. Live fire exercises with some of the Bog's inhabitants as well as using the morning sun's light as inspiration for picture painting.

When it comes to eating, drinking, and even showering- I do it as often as I need to when I need to. I am only beholden to daylight when it comes to buying things or interacting with people.

Several times I have been in this position and there were a couple of times where I was on the run and had absolutely no money to my name. I actually fixed this with a special power I have in my back pocket; using my skills as a craftswoman to my advantage. Specifically, repairing old expensive clothes thrown out in the back of luxury clothing stores. I haven't needed to do this on many occasions- only once or twice on Contracts, but it works extraordinarily well when you're living on the edge.

As for clothing, I'm not actually that picky. Expensive clothes actually all look the same to me, so I'll just pick up something that's easy to clean and comfy to wear and put it on. And thanks to another power that allows me to instantly change what I look like, I've never really needed makeup. So it only really takes me a few minutes to get ready plus however long it took me to steal those clothes.

If you want this information, you could just fucking investigate me, but I guess I'll indulge. My birthday hasn't really been a great occasion for me. Every time it came up used to just tick me closer toward the days where my life would get a whole hell of a lot less comfortable, so I never tended to celebrate them. No one else did either, so its not like I was missing out.

Nowadays, though, I count my birthday for my own sanity. I might ask Bu Fang to bake me a cake, though, and I might consider going to his restaurant and having a fun night out with some girls. Hmmm, now that I think about it, I think a couple drinks, a cake, and some Contractor antics on an evening night under the moon might be a worthwhile investment. But I'm over this question- my birthday isn't for quite a bit. And no, I will not tell you when that is...

There are shots that I did not take, people that I wished I had or had not talked to, and plenty of choices in my past that I would have made differently. I will not pretend like I don't have a few regrets, but most of them are... not... really... Hmm, hold on, let me put it this way; I regret not being good enough to be wanted enough to be kept by my real parents, wherever they are. Before sleep wasn't an issue for me, that used to keep me up at night when I thought about it. It haunted me for a long while. What was so undesirable about me to justify casting me away into hell before I could even shit right-side up?

Maybe if I was just a little different, I could've grown up eating at a proper dinner table- sleeping in a warm bed just a room over from people that would love me enough to die for me. Maybe I could've gone to a proper school and made proper friends the proper way. To have people by my side that were there because they wanted to be as opposed to being there out of necessity. The life I could have had instead of this. Well, maybe if I had grown up that way, I would've enjoyed it, but now?... Nah, I'd still go through with all those hellish years all the same. To get to this point? Of course.

I dunno. I've learned the hard way that these things aren't just wishes that can be granted, but it would be crass of me to lounge around and wait for them to emerge. Rather, I enjoy hunting for them myself and nurturing what's there. But the way I understand it, I am a conduit for a separate plane of existence that manifests itself, at least to me, as the Umbral Plane. As far as I know, it is an infinite verse of energy that I serve as a conduit for. Like a blurry line that separates the Umbral Plane and the Base Reality. I thinly walk on both of those sides and as I complete more Contracts, my connection between both realms grows.

I suspect that I was gifted a latent potential that grew into something more, but I am unsure to be exact. All I know is that when I complete a Contract, I spend a decent chunk of my time experimenting. A decent amount of the time, it has to do with my sketchbook, but in case it isn't I've devised some simple tests to figure out where that power grew. It is unfortunate that more often than not, I am unable to actually choose my power, but I've settled into a steady rhythm.

With the amount of shit you see on these Contracts, it is really hard to be agnostic. If magic and the supernatural exist, who the hell is to say that multiple Gods do not? Not me, that's for damn sure- and even more than that, I am not one to say who the true or most pure God is. But be that as it may, I don't actively practice any common religion even if I do believe in spirituality to a certain extend. Though, I am quite a bit more materialist than I am idealist. What food or jewelry I have in front of me might matter just a bit more to me than loose concepts that have no meaning to a girl trying to survive. Or at least, that's what I would've said a long time ago.

Nowadays, I find myself allying with the concept of shadow and darkness- strengthened by the Umbral Plane for snuffing out light sources and basking in the darkness like a turtle would with water. The entities in the Umbral Plane can be unforgiving sometimes, so I do my best not to anger them even if I am not expressly trying to worship them.

In a lot of cases, the Contracts are not merely games. They may be to the Harbingers, but to us they are serious. In the tougher Contracts, we are often tasked with a large undertaking that could result in a large loss of life should we lose. Or even worse, the end of our world has been held in the balance before. I always thought the world was very cutthroat. That when you really got down to it, everyone was just out for themselves and you could never fully rely on another person to do something that is not their prerogative or obligation- and even in those situations, meddling factors always prevail.

But after going on these Contracts, you realize how small and insignificant our problems are in the grand scheme of things. You learn are nothing more than child's toys with training wheels. It got more difficult as I went along to adopt an everyone for themselves worldview, because at the end of the day, we Contractors will at some point fight for the collective survival of all beings on this planet.

So now, even though I am fairly suspicious of everyone I meet that I do not know, whenever we're on contracting time, my survivalist mentality takes a back seat and sometimes my morals may as well. If it took murdering a few innocents to save my world, I would feel bad about it, but I'd still carry it out.

Leon Vanderblight: You know how I feel about him. He's a competitive prankster, but he's fun to hang around with and he graciously let me set up shop around the Bog. We've traded items and services back and forth as a testament to our friendship and I would support him in any endeavor as I am sure he would to me. I like his realist attitude and when he turns into a fox, he is cyooot!

Jeremy Wesley: He was a recent addition to the roster. Not a big fan. He's the Governor of Tennessee and a manipulative bastard. I can't believe I let myself be roped into something like him even for appearances. I don't feel bad about the PR nightmare I left him with- that's what he gets for trying to take more than he deserved.

Bu Fang: Also new. I couldn't get a great read on that guy, though. He seemed pretty serious and apparently he's been through the fucking ringer with all this Batamir nonsense. I like that he keeps to his word and is actually pretty easy to barter with compared to a lot of other contractors that try to get the most bang for their buck- even at their own detriment.

The fuck? Didn't realize I was being psyche evaluated, but uh, okay... My first reaction is a room devoid of light and filled with darkness, but since I plan to fill this room of statues and art, I would like it to be appreciated by someone other than myself. A dim morning orange glow should do.

The room itself should be rectangular- like a long hall or a museum exhibit with a tall domed ceiling that hangs some well crafted chandeliers. Not to be used for light thought- only to be appreciated for the time it took to make them by hand.

The walls should be simple, but pleasing to look at. A base sky amber color would suffice, but it should be patterned. Simple diagonal lines, perhaps? The floor shouldn't stand out either- don't want it hogging the spotlight, so it shouldn't be too shiny. A terrazzo flooring system with an off-white color that resembles polished stone, I think.

The exhibits themselves are not too terribly important. But since this is my room made to my tastes, the primary exhibit would be my first picture of Gideon Lockheart. A dear friend I dedicate my lifestyle to. That part would be mandatory- a drawing of him telekinetically swinging his unique sword without any exertion or effort. The background blends really well with the wall color and its base colors reflect off the floor subtley.

I am equally proficient when it comes to guns and artistry. Concerning gunplay, it's all about the fundamentals, but when it comes to sniping tactics, creativity, skill, and a little bit of luck is gospel. I wouldn't trust anyone other than me to shoot over my shoulder from nearly a few thousand feet away. Not even my brother. Sure, there are experienced snipers that might give me a hard time, but lets be honest, I'm a bit more than an experienced sniper and when it comes to pound-for-pound bullet slugging, I'm gonna win every time.

When it comes to Art, I'm slightly less up my own ass. Art is all about expression and it can mean different things to different people. A lot of people give Inkz shit for how he uses living things as his art projects. Sure, I don't agree with the method or the result, but the fun he gets out of his Art is just as valid as the bliss I get from mine. He's just slightly more ambitious than I am, but then again, I am not necessarily defined by my art even if I'm more than a little obsessed over it.

My survivalist mentality come back to bite me in the ass here. It's not that I'm afraid of death- in fact, I think I'm more afraid of the pain that comes with death than I am of death itself. Its more that... the idea of someone thinking that they have the right to take my life at all just really fucks me off. I want to be the one that chooses when I'm done having my fun risking my life. Pretty selfish, perhaps, but its that mentality that keeps me coming back to these contracts.

I'm not the best person to preach this, but failure always comes with a cost in this line of work. I despise it and while I'm not necessarily afraid of it, it does frustrate me to an insane degree. I'm supposed to be among the best in the world- if I fuck up, that's just embarrassing and sad and I deserve to wallow in pain for hours. I'm not risking my life to get blue balled by failure. This is what keeps me wanting to complete these contracts.

Pain. Pain. Eugh, now that's something I'm a little closer to fearing than not. I can kill a man with his own blood, but I really just can't what I dish out. That makes me a bit hypocritical, but I had to endure a lot as a child and I would rather not be reminded of those times. You would have to offer me more than just money to accept something like that over a long period of time. A gift an hour for mental torture. Per hour for physical torture.

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My ambition will very likely just expand outward. When I started, all I really wanted was the power by itself. I know- pretty selfish and downright insulting compared to those that died in my stead actually fighting for something, but that really was it for a while. I still wonder why I was even approached for the Contract back then- I think a Harbinger took a gamble. They do that a lot. But I'm getting off topic.

As the scope of my capability grows, so too did my ambition, even though some of the selfish delusion still remains. I'd like to think I can hold myself up to the same regard as my counterparts, but its hard to justify sometimes. Iryna is a Chernobyl survivor. Leon was there when the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And that's just the light stuff for them. Me? Well... I had a rough childhood, but I can't say never knowing my parents and constantly relying on my brother holds up quite the same as being imprisoned for a hundred years or watching your husband and child die...

I'd be lying if I said I never considered retiring before. Quite a few times in fact- this job ain't for the faint of heart. You could actually very easily die.... But then again, I would die for my new fascination with art. I don't have anything else- I can't have anything else. I don't deserve it for all the shit I've done- that I've created. My only choice is to push forward. If I meet my end, then so be it.

Funny you ask, I'm actually not used to being angry. My stance was to always take a step back and just let the other person win- it was always uncomfortable to be the center of attention and it was honestly more preferable to just blend into the background and stop caring. Selfish again, I suppose, and I guess never being confident enough to have enemies means I never really stood for anything in my childhood.

But now? I have a bit of a different stance. See, after I began to rapidly improve in my art skill, I came to understand a couple things. Chief among them being, "Time is paramount". Art pieces are not just admired because of their beauty- they are admired because of their expression. It is a snapshot in time, reflecting the emotions that the sculptor well into their work. And it reflects the time in their life that they spent on it. Maybe it took them hours. Maybe days. Maybe weeks, months, or even years. And after you've committed yourself to something, you really start to appreciate time as a concept. I know others might not get it- some of my friends are immortal, but I do.

What kind of things can make me angry? Wasted fucking time. And whether that manifests as destroying someone's time consuming project, tearing down a large building that took decades to erect, or even taking a human life with nothing gained in returned- it all means the same to me. It is one of the reasons why I plan to make something of my time in the contracts and why I don't want to retire- because I've invested so much time that if I were to quit, it would all be wasted for nothing.

Malicious destruction makes me mad. Wanton murder makes me mad. Its one thing to kill someone to save the world- 50 years of wisdom for the fate of the world isn't a contest, but I swear to my God and yours- I'll put a dozen bullets in you if I see you throw away time like it was just trash.

And I think I'm just a little bit closer at hand than God.

I have no shortage of embarrassing stories from my childhood that I used to keep under wraps so I wouldn't be in the center of attention. I was a shy girl, what can I say? But I think after a couple of contracts, I stopped caring about that petty shit. When you're risking your life and saving the world, who cares if you've pissed yo- ya know what, I'm getting off topic.

I think my connection to Umbra would be my greatest kept secret. I've been stuck in someone else's skin specifically because I've been afraid of the fallout that comes from everyone knowing that the insane train wreck known as Wumbratainment is all my fault. Its a secret I only entrust to, like, one or two people and even then, its still a rough patch. In fact, I don't even want to talk about it with you. Next question, asshole.

Ooh, boy. A Harbinger name? Wasn't under the impression I should even be considering something like that. My first instinct is to just go by Luci, but... that would be kinda boring. Let's see... I wouldn't call myself a hero, nor a villain either so something like ShadowWoman wouldn't quite fit. It would need to be something brief- I doubt "Benefactor of the Shadow Realm" would jive all that well. Umbra is already taken and, to be honest, I'd rather not associate myself in that regard. I'd probably go with... The Shroud. Yeah, kinda like me being a veil that separates this world from The Well. Ideally, I'd like to find a way to keep it from being able to be destroyed the next time those eternal bells chime before its too late...

As for what Contracts I would run? Thankfully, that one's easy. I want to run challenging ones that will bring in the next generation when that time comes. We've all seen firsthand how fragile our universe really is. So many energies pulling and yanking and tearing at what creates it. I could be quite selfish and say that I do this purely for my own survival, but I happen to like where I live right now and the people that live there too. I don't really want to see it destroyed if I can help it. Besides, who will appreciate my art if there isn't anyone left to?

This line of work is volatile to say the least. You could be paired up with absolute saints and demons at the same time, with everyone else slotting somewhere in between. The short answer would be no- at least not a proper memorial. I'm not good at setting up those kinds of events- nor am I all that sentimental except for a select few. Lucky for me I haven't gotten into that situation quite yet. The closest I got was Jules, and while I held respect for him, it's tough to say that I just didn't know him well enough to get attached. Where I came from, attachments were dangerous- what with the rapid turnover in that old orphanage. People did what they had to do to survive and there's no shame in that, but I think it might've fucked me up more than I realized. Though, if my brother or if Leon wound up dead, that's a different story. I'd rather not think about it, but for them I would exhaust every possible avenue I could even at a significant personal cost. Take one of my eyes, my sketchbook- hell, I might even let you take my whole hand to bring them back...

As for their belongings? Well... it seems rather disrespectful at first, but keeping hold of their things is an unspoken agreement between Contractors and to be honest, if I die, I'd expect- no, I would want someone else to take the things I worked to create or the things I held onto. Hopefully to help them out on their future endeavors and to pass down what I owned to them and so on. Others might be stingy but they forget- they would be dead. They wouldn't be needing them anymore.

Hoooo boy, well, I've certainly had my run in with the boys in blue. Very negative experiences, may I add. I've been in and out of prison a fair bit- I know how that system works. Thankfully, the way I've developed means I do fairly well when I am not dealing in more civilized parts of the world. I like to live off the grid and especially in this world where there is no record of my existence beyond some sightings, I can enjoy the shadows, where I prefer to reside.

That's what makes this bog a rather auspicious spot for me. It's remote, homely, and free. Sure, there was only one real time when the bog was under threat, but since then, security has been amped up substantially. Not to mention, my competence at avoiding the cops has only gone up, too. Nowadays I'm always wearing gloves, I'm fairly covert, I'm pretty good at avoiding the spotlght, and I do my ut-fucking-most to not fuck with things I definitely don't need to. Not to mention, using VPNs, taking advantage of burners, and wearing a hood whenever possible to limit my digital footprint via camera.

It depends on how close I am with a teammate and what exactly they did, but generally, I'm not the snitching type. Even if you were the best bean on the earth and you were tattling on Satan, you better hope his friends don't find out how he got reported. It's generally a bad idea to make enemies of contractors, even the really bad ones, but everyone has their breaking point.

Leon despises the subjugation of supernatural creatures and if he had any real reason to suspect you were in some sort of trafficking ring, he'd hang you by your balls on a rusty meat hook. And to be honest, I'm only slightly less lenient in that regard. I know what it's like to be trapped- if I saw a contractor that fucked up, I might be nice enough to give them a warning before I offed them then and there.

Iryna's demons relate to nuclear fallout. I can't imagine she'd stand idly by while someone was actively committing a war crime. It definitely sounds like me to be lenient in that regard as well. Or at the very least, I wouldn't be so hasty to off that type of person. Though I might consider trying to fix any of their... lingering traumas in case that was the source of their insanity.

I've done rather disgusting things for side stuff and I very nearly created horsemen of the apocalypse as a side gig. But it would depend on where I am and what I am doing. If I have to escort a life-saving mutagen, I'd be willing to kill a lot of people to see that through- though, I'd do my best not to kill anyone that was innocent or uninvolved. Very few things grind my gears harder than some murder-hobo contractor that kills for sport. Killing should always have a purpose and while it is still killing no matter what prefixes you try to put before it, it is still murder. I would still be ending lives. And it is an inevitability in this line of work that we will have to kill. I would not trust myself around someone that isn't willing to do that.

The line comes when some harbinger is knocking on my door and asking me to go destroy a country for his sick kicks. Truthfully, I might be more willing to pull out Viper and put a bullet between the eyes of that type of asshole. Everything should have a purpose and while I'm not conceited enough to deem one purpose as greater than another, I think all Contractors should waste not. Some sick fucks might put nothing but a price on life, but not me- my price is purpose. And that is all.

I do actually have a favorite. When I went out on Veteran's day, someone with a particularly similar disposition to me came to pay me a visit. I won't tell you her name, but she was beautiful and she had words of wisdom to impart upon me. I've kept them close and I don't think it was until much recently that I had come to truly understand them. To understand what it meant to choose this path- the path of shadow. Ever present and all encompasing- I will see all manner of things in my time and when we really get down to it, all of the competence and confidence in the world can't make up for the whatever the hell the world decides to make of us. Try as we might, sometimes we can get unlucky and that is not something to be afraid of.

Taking those words to heart, I should stop being so afraid of failure. Take what information I have now, process it as fast as I can, and then act. The worst thing I could possibly do is deliberate. When I decide on something, I should go with it until I have a reason not to. If I do that, maybe I'll have more success as a leader...

Oho boy, have I made some bad choices in the past... I usually make habit of not making too many enemies. I was quite lucky my power allowed me some freedom in that regard. I was able to hide relatively well for a long time. Quite a long time, in fact, but before then I was bound to the whim of my poorly thought out decisions. I had a run-in with bounty hunters a while back, failing to see the signs until it was much too late. Nothing to hold a grudge about, really, the police wanted to ask me some questions was all.

Then I had a run in with Wondertainment, that fat bitch. I wanted to make an effort to take care of someone who was tailing me I stood to fight when I really should've just run. Lots of me were cut up and repaired just to be cut up and fixed again. It was a bad time all around and that's where a bunch of my clones were created. I fucking hated every second of it and I'm not too eager to go through the whole "clone" song and dance again. If I can help it, I try to keep my fluids inside of me and out of anyone else's hands. Unfortunately, I was a coward. I couldn't fix that problem because I was scared to at that time. I... didn't want to fail. I didn't want to die. Which is... pathetic, really. I mean, we're high rollers. We risk our lives all the damn time in sure-fire death traps for a chance to see our ambition come true and I faltered. That was the closest I think I ever came to retiring, honestly.

As a result, Umbra, a personality that sprouted in the wake of my growing power, came to resent me for that. She thought she could do better and at that time, I think I believed her. I almost gave up there too and I think I'd have died if Leon wasn't there to help me. Thankfully, she's gone for now, but I suppose if she comes back, it'll become something I have to rectify. Ideally, I'd like to prove to her my growth so we can join up again. She's like Ena- only really wanting to experience things she'd been denied for all eternity. I'd hate to kill her and subject her to the Well again, so if I can help it, I'd like her to rejoin my side...

That will not happen. I... do not have any desire to die- not yet. It's hard to explain- and maybe Ena's insistence on persisting might be contributing to that- but I just can't die yet. I have to see more. I have to understand more about this system- the curiosity is just gnawing at me like the gnashing teeth of a zombie. But... I suppose that isn't quite the question you asked.

I would use any energy I have left to try and spit into my opponents mouth and have them choke on my spit- or more realistically spit in their eye to blind them. I'll bite down on they arms or legs. Maybe if I feel talkative, I'll try to distract them with a long last word- scrounge for any amount of time I can possibly get. Then I'll curse them and tell them that one day, The Well will come to claim them too and they will endure a hell far less forgiving than whatever the devil could have in store for them.

It is quite auspicious that my connection to the Well affords me certain liberties that many others would suffer from or contend with, such as food, hunger, thirst, and even oxygen. Even environmental effects have a tough time manifesting around my being. After all, the Shadow is eternal, arid, and barren- and it exists everywhere regardless of habitability.

It also just so happens that my investigative potential is quite potent as well. I can see through my stickers and exercise my vitality through them as if I was there. Quite a useful ability that I would use to set up FOB in safe areas to use not only as a handy retreat spot but also around areas of high interest so I may monitor them. Shadows also do not have a habit of forgetting. I have seen the storm of glass- of forgotten memories and instances in which I can call upon to reveal to me what others may have desired to stay hidden. If I am looking for something or if I don't want something to look for me, rest assured that I can undertake that endeavor. And if I wish to summon any item I may require from the Well's energy to make up for a deficit, that option is equally open to me.

With any hope, I can be useful in any situation... I would hope so at least...

Thankfully, I travel light, and even more thankfully, I have a personal spot to stick everything I may need. I've stowed away on the back of big rigs traveling across a country before- I have faith I can work my way around doing that even though I totally do not have to for the most part. There are many ways to hide in engines or under seats or inside barrels traversing long distances if need be.

A few items I can get personally blessed by Leon and remain blessed within my Gallery for the time being. I could prepare a disguise in case I need to get in to a party but I really dislike social gatherings like you couldn't fucking believe. Additional precautions include necessitating any additional material for a job that takes place in a sufficiently compromising location, including high altitudes, below sea level, space, hot deserts, and frozen tundra. I may be impervious to the worse of them, but my equipment may not be so lucky.