if i had espa for a day i think i would first comfort her <3 man she needs a blanket and some warm ramen lets get her some ramen..... atthesametimeee i might as well whump them whynot....i can take that role too >:D like.
i think trying to see how far their training goes by asking it to do more and more taxing or pushing-it stuff progressively like ordering it to kill gesele perhaps >:] or to stay awake for days bc "i want her guarding my room" or somethin like that....be a little evil😌 but in the end i would get tired of being mean and just. give em pasta soup anyway. yeah youre fine now you can go to sleep i heard u crying no i will not punish u for it u aslo get this fluffy blanket okay? okay😊
aslo as a cat. land in her head and just be there. she now has a cat loafed in her head :] yay
>:D ajkakwkq evil 🤌 approved
Espa is a bit set aback by the initial gentleness. She's wary. It's nice while it lasts—the warm ramen and the nice blanket—but she was right to be suspicious. They don't hesitate when you start having your way with them and just take it without a fuss.
She wouldn't think much of the mistreatment, at least at first. Nothing they can't handle. It'd try really hard to not show if it doesn't like it or if it's tired, so you can expect to not see any signs for a good while.
It all goes down when you order them to kill Gisele.
They freeze up. Look back at you, silently pleading. When you don't give any sign of changing your mind, you might see a twitch. A hand almost raising to cover her mouth before she restrained it. A sharp breath. Curled up fists. It's tired already. It doesn't have time for this.
She makes it quick. You—uh, you probably just added a new nightmare to their list, ops. She isn't usually moved by fear. That's sorta normal. But they still don't face her face. You notice she bites her lip so hard it bleeds. It'll miss her.
(It might actually shed a few tears. She doesn't want you to see.)
They push themself through the rest of the day, a bit more tense than before. She's less careful, you think. Not sloppy. But when they cut their hand on accident they don't take too long dressing it before going back to work. You catch her staring at nothing for a few seconds before Espa hides it.
If you give them some nice pasta and a blanket after, leaving them by their room, you might make her cry for real now. Quietly. It doesn't want you to hear.
Espa is used to roughness, it can push through it. The softness is almost unwelcome. She doesn't want to think about what you've made her do.
The kitten being shoved in and curling up over her head isn't as bothersome as it could've been, in another situation. She even appreciates the warmth. It's a little odd, but... okay.
It doesn't hate you from now on, but you might've become one of the few handlers it fears the most. Your orders are the first ones they execute. They are wary if there's someone else in the house with you. She might see Gisele's eyes in them.
ooc: ok so i could not for the life of me figure out how they'd do that, BUT let us take this opportunity to actually flesh it out a bit better!
we know these facts: espa was born brazilian, they were snatched by the Silence Order (ty again for @/otter-chaos-violence for helping me chose the name 🙏) at around five or six, and raised to be a living weapon since then
espa was born under the name Charlotte. Its parents called it Charlie
let's say espa was born in... hm... Minas Gerais, in the center-west of the country, where it is a bit colder. Perhaps that's why she's more fond of the cold
their parents 🤔 they were a bit too young to have a kid of their own. met at highschool; teen pregnancy; the dad instead of just leaving the girl was responsible and stayed with her (they did love each other). both dropped out of school in their last years, the girl to stay at home with 'charlie' and the boy to find a job to help. their families were supportive and were helping to raise the kid. charlie spent the majority of its toddler days being surrounded by grandmothers and uncles.
they weren't perfect--the kind of family that finds it reasonable to beat a kid if they misbehave--but loving nonetheless. espa was an energetic toddler. curious and sticking her nose everywhere. they didn't go to preschool, (the year the Dove got them was precisely the year she was going into first year) and didn't spend more than a few days at school, in the end. she loved going to parks and had a big sweet tooth. her first words were "gran", "no" and "ew". their favorite color was blue and they had some second-hand rag dolls but were never attached to any of them and they all ended up in a pretty sorry state lmao. its favorite movie was The Little Mermaid. they were also a fearless kid that didn't get scared easily and liked singing
charlie was snatched of its family... i'm not sure how. i'll probably let that to be more defined when i figure out how the Dove carries out these sorts of things, if they buy kids from third-parties or get them themselves or what
in the Dove, it was firstly put at a facility with other freshly-kidnapped children, all around its age. espa was always a kind and sociable kid, so whenever someone was scared they'd try to comfort them. their conditioning begun a bit after they were all 'settled' and the assigned handlers got their trust by giving them sweets and treats. positive reinforcement and rewards were given if the kids completed assignments--simple at first, like silly and easy obstacle curses or games, just to get them used to orders--and if those were failed, punishments were carried. some of espa's early memories are froum around this time, and that's also when most of the kids were renamed ('charlie' as 'espada'). the kids were taught loyalty and groomed to want to serve the Dove with cult-like mentalities and faux-parental behavior, at times
eventually, they all started being trained physically and taught to handle weapons. at this point, espa was realocated to sector 3 (bottom of the brazilian northeast), after like two or three years, and the training and conditioning tactics were gradually shifted to what was more appropriate for the results they wanted.
espa doesn't remember much from before. most of its childhood memories were from around this last part, being realocated and trained as a proper weapon, but they have faintest memories from earlier, too. she remembers some moments back in minas gerais in the facility with other kids playing games or being trapped in a closet when she misbehaved, and a day where it was with its grandmother watching something in the TV while its parents worked. it was a children's program airing, a very musical one, and she sang alone while her granny held her in her arms.
the Dove's indocrination involved, aside from conditioning the kids to follow orders, rebuilding their notion of family and community to give them a sense of belonging. when they were a bit older, they explained that the children were taken because their parents did not want them, so the Silence Order stepped up and took them under their 'wing'. at some point in their training, the weapons recite an oath of loyalty, and there is a celebration to make them associate it with fond memories. espa is loyal to a fault and doesn't care much for its 'previous family', whatever they were, and at some point they just got labelled in its head as 'outsiders' (cough cough 'us vs them' mentality, to espa, most people are either superiors, fellow weapons/siblings-in-arms or potential enemies). i don't doubt that if espa was told x and y were the people who birthed it and ordered it to kill them, it wouldn't hesitate.
okay, so, now that we've figured that out... ok i think we can get a response from her. /end ooc.
"Espa, can you talk about your family?"
Espa seems to be lost in throught for a moment. "I'm not prohibited to." They shrug. "But there isn't much to say. Sorry," it adds.
[uncomfortable rating: 5/10, she's confused as to why you brought that up.]
△ Espa, do you have any memories of before you were acquired as a weapon? If so, what are they?
(I know you've already answered this, but I wanna see what it says)
Espa blinks, seeming a bit confused. "A... a bit, I think." She bites her lip, thinking. "It's vague. But it doesn't really matter," they shrug, "I don't need to remember it."
[A solid 6/10, it doesn't feel very comfortable thinking about it, for some reason.]
sami sami can i ask u more living weapon questions from ur ask game now i know more about espa :-) i rly wanna know their favourite food... and also if it had a comfort object what would it be!! - chaos @whumpawaydarling (<- #1 espa lover. i want to give her comfort all day every day)
:D
yes
(hm favorite food. it probably really likes Fruit. in General. actual, real, fresh fruit. they don't get that much. cake is a close second.)
(for a comfort object well :) they're actually getting one! by uh *checks outline* ch14! but i shan't say. it's near the ending stages of this arc. aside from that i gotta say its cape)
what animal would espa be the most fond of :] or !!! if she even likes animals or not!!!
aslo how would an interaction between dimitri and espa go???? and dimitri and Ms Ann?
are we ever gonna see miss ann beaten up? 🥺
Ohhh interesting questions 🤔
Espa is not the biggest animal fan ever, but I can see them liking birds. Yes, definitely birds. Little kiskadees or large eagles or urban doves, any of them.
I think Dimitri would like Espa! Since Espa is really easy to work with and drawn to people. It would easily compensate Dimitri's stiffness and awkwardness. If it's in a context of getting them to work together, they both would be very professional, and they would get along eventually. If they randomly met, they would have a chill time hanging out. That thing that people do where there's not any direct communication, but they can easily read eachother and give little hints and will know what to do. I they might be very compatible.
I can also picture Dimitri being like. Entrusted with Espa or something. So they would be above them, for a mission or something. I think it wouldn't take long for Espa to catch up with the fact that Dimitri is a "weapon" too and blur the lines of the hierarchy in its head.
Both Espa and Dimitri are loyal soldiers for their organization, both are quiet in the outside. Dimitri is a bit insecure in his own skills, despite being very very good. They are a bit more in touch with their actual emotions than Espa, but Espa can be far more, hm, loose? Less stiff. Flexible. She is more confident and can sort of turn off weapon mode. In parts. They're more of a "weapon" (silent, ignorable, can be picked up and dropped down) than a "soldier" (obedient, disciplined, intimidating), meanwhile Dimitri is the opposite. As much of opposites they can be being that similar, lmao. They would probably make eachother comfortable. Subtly.
Ohh I think Ms. Ann would make Dimitri nervous. If she was put as its handler or something, it would probably be a little more tense than normal. Ms. Ann isn't all that strict, but has a very annoying temper. Dimitri isn't sure what to do about that. She feels like a loaded gun pressed to its head. As I said, he's much less confident in his skills than Espa is, and probably thinks he's a single step from making a thousand mistakes. Ann, on the other part, might be a little annoyed if anything, because she's used to someone with less of a presence, but she wouldn't have a lot to complain. She'd come to find them them useful and sorta neat, eventually.
Are we ever gonna see Ms. Ann beaten up... I don't think we canonically will, especially not that soon :') Damn Ann your hate club is growing you should probably watch out...
Chess: How does your character develop strategies? Are they skilled at it or do they struggle?
Movie: What's the most visually stunning part of your story? How do you think it would look in a movie, on the big screen?
Bandaid: How does your character handle injuries? Their own or others' or both!
ty sm for the ask ^^
♟️ - Espa is someone who watches others to pick up patterns and acts based on that. They manage to go out of the house without permission because they know Ann always leaves the key in certain places. It can mostly predict someone by watching them for a while. It's almost uncounscious for her.
Aside from that uh... Espa isn't the brightest at strategies. She can only see what's in front of her (including the aforementioned patterns) and sucks at thinking things ahead. It gets them in a bit of trouble sometimes.
🎬 - Again: Espa! Even if their stories aren't exactly visual, I like trying to make cool designs for my ocs. I'm particularly fond of hers:
Though in her current design ref she looks a bit younger lol.
I have tried to picture the wip in an animated show format a few times, and with the way the story's structured I think it would be a pretty slow-paced one... That unless I shifted the way and order in which some of the events happen. I actually have a lot of thoughts about this lmao so I'll cut myself here.
🩹 - It's quite dismissive! Espa is used to just um pushing through them and if it isn't something too urgent they won't "make a fuss about it". They are a bit more worried with other's injuries. She's not the most reliable medic, but experience is a good teacher and she's had to deal with lots of them before, so you probably won't die from infection at least.
54. If you could say anything you wanted to [Whumper] without any consequences whatsoever, what would you say?
58. What's the worst thing you've ever done?
59. Do you feel bad about it?
(I could choose so many for Espa haha, I love it so much)
[From this ask game]
6. How are you feeling right now?
It tilts its head. Her face gives no sign of anything whatsoever. You're 100% sure they'll lie. "I'm okay."
14. What are your thoughts on your [Caretaker]?
It's barely perceptible, but you notice it hiding what seems to be annoyance. "Ciça doesn't have business to do with me. I don't know why she insists whenever we meet." She looks down. "We meet too much." A beat. "I won't go after her again, don't worry."
(let's peek a bit into the future though)
Espa stays quiet for too long. You worry she's bluescreened.
"She is gentle," she says, at last. They don't smile. But there's something in their expression that changes ever so slightly. "She's kind. Ciça doesn't have to. She seems to like food a lot. And TV." And then, a bit too low as if not meant for you to hear. "It's nice."
29. Are you afraid?
"Fear can keep you from doing stupid mistakes," they reply, deadpan. "I'm afraid enough."
54. If you could say anything you wanted to [Whumper] without any consequences whatsoever, what would you say?
They stay quiet for an awfully long amount of time.
"I--I don't know." It avoids your eyes. "Sorry."
58. What's the worst thing you've ever done?
"When I was a child," she says, "I broke the rules and wanted to run." Espa seems to bite their lip. "I was stupid at the time. I didn't want to be here. I know better now. I don't do that sort of thing anymore."
"Sorry?" They seem confused at your follow-up question, if a bit uncomfortable. "Murder?" Espa shakes its head. "I haven't ever diposed of an assignment without permission."
59. Do you feel bad about it?
They look down.
"It's been a lot of years. I've--I've broken many rules in the past. But I'm good now. That's what corrections are for."
