(A little character study on Mike Dodds in the sa!au)
Even though the video is over, Mike can still hear his own voice echoing in his ears. He thinks it was higher then, although he doesn’t remember it deepening, and his face has fewer lines to it. Dewdrop freshness fit the excitement and determination on the scripted version of himself shown to new and potential recruits. Pretty-boy green eyes looked empty upon close inspection though, and phantom shivers crawl up the back of his neck when he remembers why.
He wasn’t officially employed until he turned eighteen, but he saw and did too much before then. The years blend together, but he thinks he must’ve been thirteen or fourteen the first time he watched someone bleed out at his feet from a wound he inflicted. Official training from his formal (and now paid) employment began the same week they purged his old records and filmed the series of videos. The perfect face, his father had insisted, to lead the new wave of recruits was Mike’s. He’s the fifth one in a line of Agent Dodds who’ve worked since their eighteenth birthdays- according to the files, at least.
One thing he’s thankful for is his contemporary seniority. Angry hands on his face as a child turned to the worst pain of his life as a new recruit turned to now. If he’s hurt, it’s his own fault for failing to take care of himself. Bloody scratches down his cheek and bruises on his wrist come from his mistakes. Mistakes are easy to make when everyone looks at him like a fairytale stepped right off thick-glossed pages for children’s nightly stories.
Mike closes the window on his computer showing everything he used to be,