BASICS
Full Name: Lachlan Douglas McLeod
Nickname(s): Lach
Age: 32
DOB: June 12th, 1966
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Mutation: Hydrokiensis
Sexuality: Bisexual
Traits: Protective, Jumpy, Compassionate, Understanding, Overbearing, Emotional, Determined, Strong Willed
Occupation: Landscaper
Family: Mother (status unknown), Father (status unknown), Brother (status unknown)
APPEARANCE
Height: 6′0
Eye Color: Brown
Mutation Eye color: Dark Blue
Ethnicity: Nigerian, Scottish
Nationality: American
Aesthetics: Greens, Browns, Pinks, and Yellows, Overgrown verandas, Open button downs with a white shirt underneath, work boots caked in mud
Tattoos: None
Piercings: None
Scars: Electrocution scars on his hands in a lightning bolt pattern
BACKGROUND
TW: drowning, torture, electrocution, hospital mention
Lachlan grew up in Rochester, New York in a loving home. His Mom, a well loved Florist in town, and his Dad a landscaper and construction worker. When Lachlan turned four, the family grew when his Mother gave birth to his baby brother.
As time went on, Lachlan and his brother got on about as well as you can imagine siblings do. There were plenty of fights, but none of them really meant anything to Lachlan. He just got worked up sometimes, that was all it was. He loved his brother and his family more than words could describe. He’d do anything for him.
As far as his mutation, Lachlan had his suspicions. It started simply when he was 13. The water in his glass shaking anytime he got stressed over school work, the fact that he never got water in his eyes in the shower anymore. If anything, Lachlan was relieved it was harmless. His parents could accept the fact that he could move water around, what harm could that do?
It was a hot Summer day in 1984 when everything changed. It was another stupid fight with his brother about who was going to use the car for the Back to School bash. Lachlan was going into his senior year, so obviously it should have been him. His brother would get two more years of the bash. But, things heated up between them more than Lachlan had expected. Harsh words being tossed carelessly back and forth between the boys, when his brother said something that struck a nerve.
“Mom and Dad think you're a freak and so do I. Nobody likes a freak.” Of course, he didn’t mean it. He was sixteen and he wanted something that his older brother wouldn’t give him– careless words were bound to fly. But, something in Lachlan snapped, and he lost complete control.
Water exploded all around them. From the kiddie pool they had been sticking their feet in, to the spigots on the side of the house. All of it swallowed his Brother whole, and Lachlan watched it happen in a state of shock in horror. He can still hear the sounds of muffled, gurgled screams as he tried desperately to snap out of it the way he was able to before, but it didn’t happen. The only thing that stopped it was his Father tackling Lachlan.
His brother was rushed to the Hospital, and Lachlan was kept away. For the first time it felt like people feared him, and he didn’t know what to do. He sat in a stiff waiting room chair, desperate for someone to say something to him, but everyone walked by and spoke in hushed whispers.
Eventually, two men in suits arrived, and invited his parents into a room nearby, still out of earshot. But, Lachlan was determined to hear what they had to say, because somewhere deep down, instinct told him that it was about what he had done.
Stepping out of the isolated room they had put him in, Lachlan paused just around the corner of the room, the curtain that acted as a door letting the sound travel with ease.
“It’s for the safety of your Son,” One man said. “Both of them,” Added the second. Essex is what they called it. They wanted to send him away to some place, promising that it would help him and be good for him. His heart skipped a beat hearing all of that, knowing that, if it was what his Parents’ thought was best, he would go without question. After what had happened, and seeing the fear in his brother’s eyes when he looked at him, it felt right.
To Lachlan’s surprise, his parents didn’t agree. They told those men that it was a family matter, and they would sort it out as a family. Reluctantly, the suited men obliged, leaving their business card, promising the family could reach out any time if they changed their minds. The twist in Lachlan’s stomach made them wish they would.
Instead, they took him home that night, assuring him that it was an accident, and there were people out there they could find to talk to him. The mutant gene had to come from somewhere, maybe someone else in the family had the same ability, and they just hadn’t shared it. But, each word left him feeling hollow and foolish. He had hurt his brother. He could have killed his brother. There was no fixing this with sit downs and family meetings. He needed the Essex House.
It was that very same night, that Lachlan packed a bag and left a note explaining everything. He was going to the Essex House. If they could help him, that would be what was best for everyone. He’d be back once he learned how to control it, don’t worry about it. It wasn’t forever, it was just for now.
Lachlan left behind the car keys with the note ‘P.S. tell him he can have the car for Back to School night.’
Taking all the cash he had saved, Lachlan snagged a bus ticket for the city, and was on his way to Essex. When he showed up at the doorstep the next morning, with a shotty promise that his family had changed their minds, and dropped him off, he was sure they’d see right through him, and send him home.
Instead, they welcomed him in with open arms (he was eighteen, after all, able to make his own decisions, they had said). What Lachlan couldn’t imagine, is the hell they would put him through for twelve years.
They did everything from forcing him to drown animals, to electrocuting him while he used his powers to see what would happen. He felt sick to his stomach everyday, and desperate for his family who, he was sure, had written him off by now. Just a while had turned into a whole decade and he had never received one letter or visit. But, most nights, he found himself longing for just one more hug or one more chance to say that he loved them that he would never get. He had learned that there was no walking out the front door of Essex– not without a fight.
The rumblings of the escape made their way to Lachlan, and he knew that he would do whatever it took to get out. And, somehow, they succeeded. But, Lachlan knew the only way to keep his identity a secret, and to keep his family safe was by staying away. He knew what Essex was capable of now. If his parents or brother knew where he was, knew he had survived the fire, they’d be in as much danger as he and his fellow escapees would be.
Lachlan took up a job working with a Landscaping company as some way to keep a connection to his parents. He plans to stay in New York as long as it takes for the truth about Essex to come to light, and it be safe enough to go home to his family for the first time in fourteen years.
Intro Task | connections
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