i. robert a. heinlein // ii. "song: go and catch a falling star" - john donne // iii. lincoln in the bardo - george saunders
( natasha lyonne/xenomorph, unknown ("100"), cis woman/agender, she/her / it/its ) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that VERA BERENSON is a CHEMIST that works in SECTOR 5. According to the file, they’re a "mutant" with the power of ALIEN PHYSIOLOGY. That must be why they’re OBJECTIVE and TACTLESS. If you ask me, they remind me of a glow in the skin and eyes, a missing puzzle piece, looking to a home in the night sky. They are affiliated with THE DAMNED.
QUICK FACTS:
full name: vera berenson
date of birth: unknown (arbitrarily assigned august 10th)
zodiac big three: unknown (arbitrarily assigned aries sun. does not consider the rest)
gender & pronouns: ('human' form) cis woman & she/her // (actual form) agender & it/its
sexual + romantic orientation: bisexual + biromantic
ethnicity: hm. well. natasha lyonne is ashkenazi jewish. but vera is literally an alien. so just. do with that what you will.
nationality: an alien. (would probably be considered usamerican)
religion: atheist
languages spoken: english (5), abilities grant her conversational access (3-4) to any language. nice!
enneagram: 8w7
mbti: estj
temperament: sanguine-choleric
alignment: true neutral
ability: 'alien physiology'
affiliation: the damned
task: mutation breakdown
BACKSTORY
triggers: idk i'd say there isn't really anything in here that could trigger humans lfahslkdajnd
Vera could not tell you what her life was like before the meteor struck. By all accounts, she was literally birthed from it -- crawled out, in her true form, fully grown and capable.
Maybe there will come a day that she remembers where, exactly, she came from. Maybe there will come a day that she remembers that planet, far away as it is, and the exile following the decision to betray her people in favor of peace. Maybe there will come a day that she remembers it all, wiped from her memory the second the meteor entered Earth's atmosphere. Maybe. But as far as she knew it, she was not there... and then she was. A sense of longing for the stars, but why? Maybe she'll know one day. Maybe.
As it stood, she may as well have been Patient Zero of the 'virus' that the meteors, many caught in the orbit, created.
-> As such, when it (Vera, true form) was first discovered, their cure did not work. It was not as bloodthirsty as some who had been infected, who had not been born that way (omg Lady Gaga?), but it was still holding its ground with far more natural weaponry than any scientist had.
Fast forward a few weeks, the alien (referred to as 'the hunter') finally growing exhausted of fighting artillery off by itself, and a group managed to capture it. Area 51 no longer existed, but they were making do!
They brought it to Area 51 lite -- still plenty of artillery and security measures and etc etc etc -- and began their poking and prodding. It fought as much as it could, thrashed as much as it could, but ultimately it was to no avail. In addition to the physical tests, they gave it cocktails of drugs to see how its body responded... and it sometimes wondered if they were even trying to find 'the cure' for it or if they just wanted to see what would happen if they put unknown chemicals into its body!
Just when they believed they had tried everything, exhausted every option, and had no torture experimentation left in them... one last ditch effort seemed to work. It turned the hunter into something resembling a woman. She looked like a woman, she sounded like a woman, but she glowed. Literally, not metaphorically. She was not happy enough to glow.
Well... time to go try out the same things on an alien who now looked like a woman!
Finally 'finished,' they decided they would release her into the wild -- but not before putting a number of tracking chips beneath its flesh. Its flesh was armor, more or less -- far more difficult to pierce.
Well, suffice it to say, Earth was a strange new planet! And we're not gonna talk about how the hell Area 51 lite was in what was once New York, we're just gonna pretend that that's realistic solely so Vera can still have Natasha's voice... too signature, and too perfect, to not have that voice. Anyway-
When you're an alien, you don't really understand many things! You try to socialize, you really do, and you try to figure out how... currency works... but things are difficult, man! And what are these 'bones' everyone keeps talking about? What is this 'blood' they speak of?
But, more than having a difficult time with the whole 'is an alien among humans' thing, Vera was having a difficult time with the knowledge that Area 51 lite still had their eyes on her. The more of a life she managed to get, the worse the idea that they were still watching her was.
Maybe it was a bad idea, she couldn't tell you, but it had gotten to the point where she just... could not live knowing that! Could not live knowing that they could come find her at any time! So on and so forth! So...
It went into an alley and it performed surgery on its own damn self. Did it hurt? Oh, like hell! It was literally stabbing at armor! Were there way too many tracking chips to feel like it was gonna be able to survive taking them all out? Oh, 110% Did the whole 'acid blood' thing make it all 1000x worse? Yes, absolutely! But would it say that it was worth it?
Inevitably, it collapsed. Be it from blood loss or pain, but what a miracle that it was after it had managed to get all of the tracking chips out! It easily could have died! But it was found in time by the leader of this... cult. Santiago was his name, mutant supremacy was his game.
Although 'being in debt' was never an idea it was fond of, it was absolutely in debt to Santiago. Without hesitation, you best bet it joined The Damned! Sure, maybe it wasn't technically a mutant, but it was close enough... and, man, fuck them humans!
On the topic of 'fuck them humans,' with Area 51 lite now unable to track her... she was somehow even more apprehensive! If they did find her, they'd be pissed!
From what she understood, the main chapter -- the hub -- of The Damned was in what was once known as 'Australia' -- quite some miles away, but it was able to make the journey without too many problems.
Despite its natural gift for the sciences, it began as a test subject (namely because it was not, technically, a mutant). Oh boy, there certainly was some apprehension to that! Not again! -- But they were actually humane!? Wow!
About a year in, it had done enough to graduate into what it should have been all along -- a chemist. May hates herself for this, please never ask her any chemistry questions.
But... chemistry can be used for many different things... in addition to all of the concoctions and studies that Sol City demands, oh, Vera sure is brewing up some of her own! Be it for The Damned or for entertainment purposes or for some money on the side? She's cooking! (Quite literally!)
TIMELINE
SOMETIME BEFORE 2075: Vera (or, in true form, "The Hunter") came to being on a planet far, far away. I haven't figured out enough about this part to decide what, exactly, it was that it did to betray its people, but it betrayed its people in the name of peace <3 and they were like 'fuck you, we're sending you down to Earth, Clark Kent style'
2075: It does not remember any of that. All it knows is that it has crashed into a planet and has crawled out of a meteor, fully formed and fully cognizant (is that the word I'm looking for?), and that people around it are freaking out!
2125: Because of its relation to 'the virus,' it is not able to be cured the same way those who were infected were able to be. It's also not quite as bloodthirsty or mindless, only becoming violent when under attack. This, of course, frustrates the scientists who came up with the cure. After many weeks of fighting it, the hunter becomes exhausted and they manage to nab it and take it to the closest thing to Area 51 that they could get!
2125-2130: It spend years being poked and prodded. It was initially under the impression that they were trying to 'cure' it -- which, while not okay!, at least made sense -- but it began questioning that when they just! kept having fun! Sure, its anatomy was different from humans and mutants alike, but :\ that's still mean :\ leave the hunter alone!!!! They were about to throw in the towel and just leave it alone for the rest of its life when one last ditch effort succeeded! Suddenly, the alien... uh... looked kind of like a woman? But this woman-adjacent figure needed some dissecting, ya know? When they were finally pleased, they put tracking chips under its skin -- its skin being more akin to armor than anything else -- and released her into the wild.
2131-2133: It did not understand what was going on! But it tried its best! And it worked a lot better when it took on the human-adjacent form. She had some difficulty gaining a semblance of a life, but... ultimately... the. more time she spent around humans, the more she understood, and the more she was able to charm! But the more of a life she had, the more she hated those tracking chips. They could come and destroy it at any second! It crawled into an alley one night and just PAINFULLY removed ALL of its tracking chips. Whether pain or blood loss, it went unconscious... but! huzzah! was found and saved by Santiago, leader of some 'cult' called The Damned. Despite not technically being a mutant, she agreed with the sentiment. So, ya know, between that and literally owing her life to Santiago, she joined!
2134: Okay, she did not like the possibility that Area 51 lite could still come find her -- it would be way harder, but they would be so mad :\ which would make it even worse :\ And she also just needed a change of pace! From what she understood, the headquarters of The Damned were in the country previously known as Australia, so it began a long trek over there!
2135: It reached Sol City with, thanks to the armor, minimal problems. Its first career was a research subject -- very apprehensive at first, but... wow, their methods of research were actually pretty humane!
2136: She was moved to being a chemist! Yeehaw! Also concocts some things on her own time <3 The FDA would not approve <3 Thanks for the lab, Adonis <3
HEADCANONS
Again, I'm still trying to come up with the Full Lore behind its space life, but </3 it was so lovely before it was brought to Area 51 lite </3 exiled just because it wanted peace </3 Area 51 lite really broke it </3
Since her anatomy does not even closely resemble a human's, there's no need to worry about smoking! So she does it all the time! (And obviously has to share her FC's voice because... how do you use Natasha Lyonne but ignore her iconic voice?)
I mention this in the task, but if it stays in its human form for more than one day, things... get weird. Think Janet from The Good Place when she was lying.
More to come!
CONNECTION IDEAS
First (unique) thing that sprang to mind was someone she literally deals to! Fuck The Jaguars, she's here to specialize in making fun new drugs that work for species of all kinds! Alien Walter White!
People she's working on 'medications' for <3 (she and Adonis are kinda co-conspirators so... if you want it to be shady... it can be shady!)
All the usuals! Buddies, sector buddies/neighbors, fuckbuddies (aliens fuck!), buddies in The Damned, buddemies, etc etc etc.