Lowkey INDEPENDENT roleplaying blog for Resident Evil 9: Requiem's Zeno. Written by Scoot, She/Her or They/Them. 30+, GMT+ (United Kingdom). Slow-paced due to busy life but chill. Be warned, some dark content (aka dead dove) is within, follow at own risk.
General information about Zeno can be found here and here. Canon depiction may vary as knowledge regarding Zeno is still relatively unknown so he may yet become divergent from canon. Guidelines are basic; don't be a creep and we'll get along! I'll be sure to read your rules and respect them as best as I can but please remember I'm only human at the end of the day. Feel free to talk if need be, I can be slow to reply but am always open to discussion.
Causing crime with: @biohvzvrd, @claisave, @celestrahl, @ghrahm, @macabrecrxw, @rhodeshillcare, @rottingkiss, @umbrellamedic (along with diedindulvey) and others.
Promo aesthetics and header made by the wonderful @ghrahm and @celestrahl (♥︎♥︎) Muse fc is Buffy the Vampire's Spike (aka James Marsters)
being fucked so hard from behind that you collapse forward and then they lean over you and use their weight to keep you completely pinned so you can’t do anything but whine and take it
From what Zeno had learned, Ada Wong was an accomplished woman who had worked for many over the years, including his original in Albert Wesker. Details were sketchy but the two had quite the history together until, for whatever reason, they'd had a falling out. Most likely it was something to do with whatever went down in Valdelobos, Ada having the sense not to trust Albert blindly which was pragmatic given what happened to the bioterrorist a few years later, sparing her the inevitable betrayal his original seemed so inclined to.
Zeno was a world apart however, only rarely hearing about and catching rare glimpses of Ada over the years. She was good, able to stay off the radar of even The Connections, a commendable feat given how deeply entrenched they were in the dark underbelly of the world and he'd always been intrigued by her talent despite their likelihood of being at odds with one another.
Try as he might, he could never manage to force himself to kill her. Claire Redfield, the younger sibling of the man who'd killed Albert Wesker. How ironic that his clone would be the one to come into conflict with Chris's sister so often and while their first meeting
hadn't been the friendliest, something akin to it did blossom over time. Small, fragile but there.
His hand stayed, Redemption's bullet chamber remaining empty as he watched her beat a hasty retreat one mission. She'd done the same, letting him slink off to lick his wounds when she could have fired a few rounds after him. Over time the hostilities between the two of them softened, transforming into something else until one day it was something neither of them could walk away from any longer.
Zeno's loyalty to The Connections had always been steadfast, resolute. Conditioned in him from the very first breath he'd taken. Were they to order him to kill her directly, he doubted whether he'd be able to follow through on those orders or not.
"You don't do half measures, do you?" Leon gazed at Zeno. "Blowing people apart with one shot. How creative."
"I prefer the term 'efficient'. It helps on saving time, you see." Zeno is quick to retort. He stares back at the other man, lips pressed into a thin line of irritation at being held up again. Leon had the infuriating habit of popping up at the most inconvenient times and he was starting to get annoyed by it, gloved fingers straying to the holder beneath his coat where Redemption lay hidden.
"And you're making a habit of costing me dearly on that part, Mr. Kennedy.
"I just needed more time." He said to himself out loud.
( @virusb0und )
(From Wesker)
"More time for what? Surely it's not too late for whatever you've got planned?" He can't help but inquire. He shouldn't be listening in. Eavesdropping like this on his original but it's hard not to with a heightened sense of hearing. He could hear Albert's heart beating gently inside his chest as easily as him lamenting over needing more time. Probably for some grand new scheme that would takes years to set into motion.
Despite appearing human, Zeno doesn't consider himself one at all. He knew from the beginning he was a clone, that he was manufactured for a purpose and the people who created him weren't shy to remind him of that fact, treating him less like a person and more like property. He ate whatever he was given when they gave it, same as whatever he wore until he worked up the nerve to start rebelling in small, inconsequential ways.
"They hate you so much, brat." Zeno says over his shoulder at he looks at the other man. Where the hell did Steve get off on calling him annoying? It wasn't like Zeno was the one pretending to listen in meetings when he really flicking paper balls and clips at others, trying to get them to lose their composure so they'd get into trouble. It kind of annoyed Zeno too but there was some fondness for the other man, irritating though he could be at times.
Yeah, when Steve least expected it, he'd... reach other and tug that braid of his, ding-donging it like a doorbell.
“You may be a grade-A fuckass but you’re still human, why wouldn’t I give you water?”
"Helena, you were the only one in that place who saw me as a person. They didn't see a human sitting in that chair, they saw a B.O.W and that's exactly what I am. I was never 'born' human like you." Zeno responds, his brow furrowed at her words. He is absolutely NOT biting that comment about him being a grade-A Fuckass because... well, as far as he was concerned, he was getting off light after that one time she nearly got squashed after that huge B.O.W caused a partial collapse, but he couldn't lie to himself and neither should she.
Water. It was such a simple thing yet one of the most precious resources in the world, essential to sustain life. His interrogators had prevented him from drinking any for days so he'd crack but Helena had interfered in their little game, snatching the glass they'd been taunting him with and sending them out without the information they'd wanted.
He couldn't help but be a little disbelieving after that. His creators had never seen him to be any more human than those men had. Only Helena seemed to believe otherwise, though he had appreciated her intervening before they'd gotten more physical.
"La mia amata moglie, how I miss her every second we're apart." Zeno sighs wistfully as he stares up into the sky. What had started as a sham marriage ordered by his masters to gain the trust of the Gionnes instead became something real, his feelings for her over time growing deeper, more genuine. Albert had never cared for her, not like he'd grown to and he would do just about anything for her...
Except, perhaps, telling her the truth. About who he really worked for, and why their marriage even happened in the first place.
She'd be hurt, but worse than that, Excella would feel betrayed a second time and justly so. He couldn't break her heart like his original had, but he couldn't back out either, not now, for doing so would only put a target on her back if they believed her to know too much.
"Oh, Gigi. She's absolutely perfect and just the most loyal little thing after getting some of that lovely P32. You wouldn't believe how eager she is to please now we've forged a bond." He says it like it was mutual and he didn't scoop her up against her will, opening her up and fitting her with the upgraded version of the same P30 model that Albert had used against Jill Valentine before Kijuju was a thing.
Unlike that brutish serum, Gigi could retain the majority of the faculties of her mind. It made the deception all the more authentic when she behaved like her old self around anyone else but deep down craved only to please him. The only issue was keeping her topped up but that was a minor issue when Gigi desired nothing else but to be by his side...
He can't say he's entirely fond of Dr. Davis but he had to respect her and follow her every order just as though she were one of the senior doctors. She certainly acted like one of them, cold and indifferent towards him as a specimen and not hesitating to refer to him as an it unlike some of the younger doctors who believed him to be human due to his ability to speak. To be able to comprehend what procedures he had to undergo.
Lily was nothing like them and because of that it made her all the more valuable to them as a budding researcher, her boundless curiosity a boom whereas other would call it ruthless.
"Oh, that Sherawat. I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw h- actually, I could throw her a considerable distance but that's not the point! She's a scheming little woman but wow, if she didn't run rings around that damn Redfield..." He sounds almost admiring of the fact, how Jessica had not only slipped away with the t-abyss samples back then but gutted just about every organisation foolish enough to trust her.
Were she not so exciting to be around, it would be a pity her neck was too slippery - and valuable to wring.
"Alright, fine! No need to sound so jittery, Ash. It's just a bit of oxtail, that's all." Bone and all, he neglects to mention, raw too having chewed up and swallowed the hard chunk of bone in the centre. It's been quite the treat and satisfied his cravings for the time being, beef tasting far more preferable to some of the stuff he'd been fed in the past. If it even came from an animal at all.
At least, he thought it was beef. Or had it come from an ox? He's not sure. It was in the name after all.
"You don't have to worry about me going around and taking a bite out of anybody you know. I'm more civilised than that, as you you know!"
He's rolling around something inside his mouth, scratching it with his teeth as he lightly chews on it before crunching down a little harder, an audible crack rattling the air as he keeps chewing on whatever he's just snacked on.
"I'm surprised you gave me water after everything I've done." Zeno says quietly. Well, he's not that surprised. Not really. For all the vicious clashes they've had in the past, Helena had always held herself back no matter how angry she got about his penchant for luring her to B.O.W-infested sites. He genuinely believed he was doing the right thing, to show Helena she was stronger than she knew and that humans would always fear her for that strength.
It's hard not to feel somewhat small when seeing the man you're supposed to take after. There's hearing how accomplished the bioterrorist was, how few could rival him but it's quite another seeing him in action yourself. How effortlessly he seems to handle things. Taking control of his own life without anybody barking orders at him. It's hard for Zeno not to feel some resentment and dare he say, envy when looking upon the man whom he was designed to stand in for as a cheap copy.
