So, this is a very late entry for @yourocsbackstory week 4, but I’m excited for this one. (~947 words, Continued under the cut)
So, you’re the newest addition to our team, huh? Well, welcome. As you can tell from the classification level, we are pretty much off every grid in this country. That’s because we work with a very…special person. Her name is Iris Cai, but when it comes to report and other confidential files, we call her Redacted, or just Red for short. She’s young, but she’s unlike anyone else in our world. So, just remember that there’s a reason why she’s here. We test a variety of scenarios with her, and psychiatry or therapy is something we’ve taught her. The following case is one of our trials in an effort to examine her readiness albeit, a failure. Acquaint yourself with what can happen in the worst-case scenarios.
Incident #0112: Unknown cause
Date: March 17th, 2006
Persons Involved: Agent Leah Dubois
Mission Briefing:
Agent Dubois was given a week’s worth of training for this role. Essentially, we want to test how precisely Red can detect emotions. Now, this may not be considered field work, but Agent Dubois was given a card with a variety of emotions on it. Over her course of conversation with Red, we want to see how Red will communicate with Dubois. In the past, we’ve seen Red draw out scenarios that express what she feels from others among other methods. If all goes well this time, we may want to see if we can accelerate her education and begin Phase II.
Dubois was given three emotions to cycle through: nervousness, stress, and pride. As is procedure, she was told to recall three times in her life where she had felt these three emotions, as they would help the feelings seem more realistic. (Aside: this is also a way to see if Red can see the memories themselves, or if it truly is just emotion. Refer to Incident of Withdrawal #12) On the day of, she would meet with Red, and try to establish a bond of trust. Only when the researchers give their approval, would Dubois begin with the memories.
This process will repeat for each of the three emotions, and all of it was recorded according to Procedure #2IC34.
Incident Details:
At the beginning, right after introductions, we saw a bond form between Dubois and Red. It was assumed that this was a good sign, since in the past, Red has shown herself to be quite shy and unresponsive to strangers. Even though we don’t know the details of how this bond was able to form, future experiments are being planned to test her comfort around strangers.
The first emotion of the cycle that we wanted Dubois to express was nervousness. While there was no concrete reaction to this, Dubois was able to elicit a more caring side of Red, who offered her toys and even water in what we believe to be a sign of empathy. There was nothing more of note during this section, and further details relating to this time will be included in the Experiment Report.
The incident began when Dubois reached the second emotion, which was stress. Now, it should be noted that most children at Red’s age do not have a strong concept of what stress is. However, the moment she signaled that she was moving on, there was an immediate change in Red’s previous openness. It should be noted that when we ask our Agents to go through these emotions, we first ask that they think of a memory that evokes these emotions in them. In comparison to those who try to replicate the emotions without any sort of recall, this method generates the better results. From the debrief with Dubois after she was stabilized in the hospital, we found out that she was thinking of a car crash she had been in on one of her past missions.
This, of course, is very similar to what Red herself has gone through, relates to what her assigned guardian has told us as well about her experiences and reactions with cars, and motor vehicle accidents. Our best guess is that this triggered a self defense mechanism for her, which then resulted in the incident.
In terms of a physical reaction, Red froze, and then stumbled and fell on her bottom as she tried to walk away from Dubois. The moment it started, according to the Agent herself, was when she held onto Iris’s hand. It was described to me as an overwhelming wave of emotions that she couldn’t control and forced her to see disturbing images or memories from her past. On the tapes, Dubois was seen withdrawing her hand quickly, as if she touched something hot, and back up into a wall. Her gaze was unfocused and quick to look around the room, not responding to any calls to her from the radio.
Since Dubois was at risk of physically hurting herself, a medical team was called in to try and defuse the situation. As they entered, as shown on the tapes, not even one of them managed to even approach Red, who had managed to barricade herself behind a desk. They reacted in the same way as Dubois, they tried to put something between them and Red, and none of them could move out of a fetal position. Because of this result, a decision was made to wait before trying to send in more help.
The entire duration of the psychosis lasted around fifteen minutes. Dubois and the three medical team members were all hospitalized after the incident, though all four are expected to make a full recovery. Red was also hospitalized, and has yet to wake back up, now twelve hours after the initial incident.
For day 7 of @whumptober2019, I wrote about an oc of mind for an original story called Camisado. So, even though this isn’t in a fandom, here’s Iris Cai :)
All your life, you’re surrounded by people. And that makes sense, right? Like, humans are social animals and they don’t want to be alone, they weren’t meant for it. And after the fights, the terror, and the life-or-death situation, she would still say this was the worst thing to happen to her. Iris lived her entire life surrounded by people and their emotions. Without even understanding them or even knowing their name, she could always feel their presence and memories, and the never-ending seas of just… pure thought going on in their brains. Well, if that was an ocean, she was in the desert now.
In the nothingness surrounding her, she could only rely on herself, and she never realized this before, but she’s empty. And what did this mean? Did she ever feel anything other than emptiness? Or was she some empty bubble where those around her, either knowingly or not, dumped in their excess emotions, and does that mean that she exists? That. That is the thought that gets repeated in her head as she curls up in the darkness, unable to find comfort, either on the outside or her inside.
Days passed, and the closest she got to any social contact was when she felt a fleeting sort of anger, that was so powerful, that she tried to stand and follow it. But days in a cell with minimal water rendered her legs useless. It was futile, and the little bit of feeling was gone as fast as it came.
In school, she always sat on the side. Because a wall can’t give off any distracting feelings, right? Or, that was what she expected anyways. But there were days where she wished she could feel something on the outside to remind her that this classroom wasn’t her entire world. Julia helped though. Always filled with a sort of peace Iris didn’t remember feeling anywhere other than those late afternoon hikes with her father, unable to even feel any human life around them.
“Iris,” That… that was a familiar voice… “Lève-toi. We need to leave. Now.”
Iris stirred but couldn’t fight gravity. Arms lifted under her legs and upper back, and she felt the bobbing motion of walking. Millier wasn’t her dad, but she was glad to see him anyways.
“Allons-y. It’ll be ok, we’re almost out.”
And after the darkness, she was acutely aware of the warm light on her skin. She cracked open her eyes and saw the van… no…
She as tossed in the back, felt the tape wrap around her wrists, and couldn’t even kick at them while she was being packed in.
This was the game. Bring her to the brink of breaking her mind, and then move. It was simple, effective, and slowly, over time, she was learning that every they pulled this trick, she could feel less and less in the real world.
Which would come first, her rescue, or her insanity?
Yay for week 5 of @yourocsbackstory :)) Iris was orphaned at a young age, and she’s been able to tell her side of it in previous weeks, here it is from her father’s perspective. (continued after the cut)
Warnings: Mentions death.
“What was I supposed to do? We, this... group of people she can’t quite comprehend, just told her that the only ones on this planet who loved her for her, and not her powers, were dead? How else was she going to react?”
- Skye “Ciel” Lévesque
Skye had to wake Iris up way past her bedtime, yet also too early for the day, and so she was slow to move at all, still wrapped up in her dreams. He sighed, this was going to be hard for both of them. “Allons-y,” he murmured. “Réveille-toi. We need to go.”
After that, she had managed to stay awake through both the drive and now, while he was trying to talk in hushed tones with both the scientists and his superiors. And he had a bad feeling that it was because she knew something was wrong.
“We need to be the ones to tell her about her parents,” one of the ‘elite’ scientists was arguing. Even now, after being on this mission for a year now, he still didn’t understand the differences between the two groups. “We know her better than anyone.”
A scientist from the other group of white-coats was shaking his head. “Iris doesn’t trust any of you. The only ones she likes right now are either Ciel, unfortunately, or me.”
And almost as if she heard that, which, perhaps she did… Skye could never really tell, she called out for him. “Skye…”
He walked over and sat beside her, making sure to wrap both his coat and the blanket even tighter around her. “Ouais, ma chérie?”
“Can I have some water?”
“Of course, I’ll be right back.” He stood up and rejoined the other men quickly before leaving to get her what she wanted. “Don’t do anything until I get back.”
And while he was waiting by the water tank, paper cup in his had, he felt just a call for help that was so tense, that it could only come from one person.
“What did you do?” he demanded as he stormed back in. Iris had tears on her cheeks, and was trying to curl even more into her blankets, and instead of comforting her, the other two idiots were arguing.
“We needed to talk it out, not throw it in her face!”
“She knows how to handle grief, we’ve been introducing it to her piece by piece!”
“She’s FIVE! It doesn’t matter how trained she is, she’s a child, and has no control over her emotions. She’s just learned what they are! You’re a monster for— Ciel where are you going with Iris?"
While they had been arguing, Skye picked up Iris and was whispering to her. “We’re going to my office, I have some food and water there, and you can try to sleep, ok?”
“I told you both to leave the decision until I was back, and even now, while she’s crying in front of both of you, neither of you moved to help her.” Skye has never claimed to be a family man, plenty of people knew that too, but in this moment, he was sure he was doing the right thing. Without another word he walked out on the two of them.
They walked in silence, with only Skye’s footsteps echoing on the ground.
“Skye, they said that my parents are dead.”
“I know. Do you know what that means?”
“That they won’t be back for me. That they left me.”
“That’s… They didn’t want to leave you, Iris,” he tried to hold her even closer as he unlocked the door to his office. There was an inflatable mattress he stored in there for rough missions, and in a way, this was one of them. He placed her on his chair while he got it set up. “They didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t their fault. It’s not yours either.”
She didn’t say another word that night.
Or the day after. And even when he signed the guardian forms after a screaming match with the scientists, she ignored everything he tried to do for her. What was he supposed to do?
Does Iris Cai have friends? Well, yes. She does, and she loves them too :)
Once again, this is for @yourocsbackstory for Iris Cai, my oc from Camisado. This is pretty short, ~400 words, so hope you enjoy :)
.
Firsts are scary.
There were first dates, first tests… and first days at school. First days at school always scared her. What could go wrong? One unstable kid in the middle of hundreds of other new auras she had yet to get accustomed to. In the past, she would’ve always closed her off for the first week or so in order to keep everyone safe from her, including herself. This year should be no different.
“Hello. Do you mind if I sit here?”
Iris looked up at the new face. She was taller, buffer, looked kinda like she could bench Iris… with one hand.
“No, uh… not at all.” Iris scooted over on the two-person bench. As long as she could avoid contact…
The newer person sat down and pressed completely into Iris. Instantly, she got visions of a different town, a vast forest, and a sunrise to die for.
“Are you new to this school too? I’m Juilia.” She extended her had for a handshake.
Iris accepted. “Yeah, I transferred here so I don’t know anyone either. I’m Iris.”
“Iris? That’s a pretty name.”
“Thanks.” She smiled back.
With most people, she could sense a turmoil that started almost immediately. With Julia, Iris just kept getting flashbacks of a forest and a river and cute animals and… This… Constant clicking sound. It was nice.
“Hey! Don’t fall asleep in Dubois’s class! You know he’ll kill us both!” The hiss startled Iris, and she sat straight up. Just in time to see their homeroom teacher walk into the room.
Julia was giving her a side eye that warned her to stay awake. “Just… tired. Couldn’t sleep.”
“Well. I need to take a hike to get some new photographs. Would you like to come with? I’m leaving right after school.”
“I can’t. I have a swim competition this weekend, so I gotta go to practice today. Maybe ask Portia. She always talks about wanting to take photos with you.”
“Hah, I would, but she’s going dress shopping. Semi formals coming up, right?”
“Yeah, I’m excited! My dad’s giving me money tonight so we can go shopping after my race!”
Julia’s eyes darted to the front of the class, then nudged Iris again. “Just remember I’m here ok? Don’t tire yourself out by yourself. I got your back.”
That caused a warm blooming feel to spread across my chest. “Thanks. I know you do.”
four hundred thousand words in the
english dictionary and no way to
etch a rippling instant
into memory. now we sit
in awkward silence, swallowing our thoughts.
calling our eyes windows
to our shuttered souls because the
adjectives that we grasp for slip away
from us. yet we have no
other choice; we are devoted
to permanence. you say you miss this town.
i can’t respond. instead
i ask, does every…
