WELCOME TO LUNAR COVE, REMMINGTON MCALLISTER
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Agender, They/Them
DATE OF BIRTH: March 7th, 1989
AGE AT TRANSFORMATION: 30
LAY ME DOWN IN A BED OF ROSES
Trigger Warnings: Alcoholism, Child Neglect, Military/War Violence, Assault (stabbing, beating), Blood, Death, Parental Death Mention
Remmington’s story started out just like everyone else’s-- a child born to two parents who weren’t exactly ready for a child, reluctantly trying to live out what they perceived as the “American Dream”, forced into roles neither really wanted to play. This became even more so when Remmington’s mother died just a few hours after giving birth, and the husband and father she left behind would blame the child for her death.
As Remmy grew up, they learned rather quickly how to fend for themself. Their father turned very quickly into an alcoholic, leaving Remmy home alone for days at a time sometimes. Having no supervision meant Remmy was able to do whatever they wanted, even fall into bad crowds in high school. They’d never been that good at school anyway, but with other kids who were left to their own devices, the group of them began getting into trouble. This trouble culminated in Remmy getting caught vandalizing the school property, completely wasted. Expelled from school, Remmy’s life was shaping up to be just like their father’s, and while Remmy had never truly known what they wanted to do with their life, they knew they didn’t want that.
A military recruit was at the school the day Remmy was cleaning out their locker. The woman told Remmy if they signed up, the military would provide them a job, an education, a place to be. A second chance. The military could set Remmy right and give them a good life. How could Remmy deny that? They signed up on the spot, took their physical the next day, and shipped off a few months later, packing all of their belongings and leaving their broken father behind. This was a second chance they weren’t going to mess up. During boot camp, Remmy was signed up for an AA group, passed their GED exam, and realized that they had quite the knack for numbers. Numbers always came easy for Remmy. Numbers and details. They made sense. They had patterns and rules and they never strayed from those. Two plus two always equals four. It wasn’t long before Remmy’s affinity for numbers granted them the opportunity to move up in the military. They signed up for the Airforce once they’d finished their circuit, with hopes of getting into the engineering program-- but their lack of education didn’t allow them to be accepted. Instead, Remmy was put on the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. Remmy didn’t mind. Because bombs, like numbers, always followed rules. They were easy to figure out, once you knew the basics.
So Remmy stayed there, in the military. Where else would they go? They had nothing left for them anywhere but here. Even if being in the military wasn’t the most open or inclusive place. Even identifying as female didn’t exactly grant Remmy a free ride. Even if they weren’t even sure they were a woman. Actually, they were very sure, but that wasn’t something people talked about in the military, even if DODA had been redacted, it didn’t mean people were suddenly okay with atypical things, like being non-binary or queer. So Remmy kept it to themself and hoped that maybe one day that might all change.
But life went by unchanging for several years. Until it happened. It was a normal day, just like any other-- blazing hot sun, runs around the camp, security checks before heading out. Remmy’s team was on their way out on intel about possible bombs placed in a nearby city. And they found the bombs alright. But something was wrong with Remmy, something with their eyesight-- something they’d been ignoring for a while now. So when they tried to disable it, they set it off instead. They ran, the bomb exploded, Remmy didn’t remember much after that, ears ringing, head spinning.
The team waited, holed up in a basement for hours, but all their efforts became meaningless the minute they decided to make a break for the Hum-Vs. They were all shot and killed, except Remmy. They’d been shielded from the onslaught by the medic who had been helping them walk and they woke up hours later still under his limp body. Pushed their way out of the rubble and over to the Hum-V, radioed for help, then passed out at the wheel.
And even though Remmy woke up again, days later, in a hospital, they still felt like they were in a dream. A terrible dream. It even still felt like a dream when they were discharged from the hospital, when they were told they couldn’t rejoin the military due to their disease-- a hereditary one, apparently. Leber optic neuropathy, apparently. Remmy didn’t know what that was-- they said this resulted in being disabled; or when they were standing up on the podium accepting their medal for bravery, or when they were moved into a veteran’s half-way house in Boston. Even when they realized this was going to be the rest of their life. They had lost their purpose.
The deep depression that Remmy fell into felt inevitable to them. They went back to the drinking and late nights out, trying to find a way to keep the nightmares away, trying to find a way to feel something again. To be something again. Their life was turning back into a cycle of pain, from trying to numb themself at clubs, to starting bar fights, to gambling. It was on one fateful night that Remmy was introduced to the world of underground ring fighting, brought there by an old friend.
It wasn’t hard for Remmy to fall into the excitement and fervor for it. The cheering, the overwhelming noise, the flickering lights. The smell of metal and sweat. This, this Remmy knew. This was a life Remmy had lived. Their entire life had been violence, it was all they knew. And without realizing it, they wanted a fight again. A struggle. To scrape and claw their way through life because life had only ever given them that. Before they knew it, they were climbing into the ring. The whole world went quiet and seemed to slow down. They felt at home again, at peace. Even as fists flew and people shouted. When the fight was called, people dragging the two of them away from each other, Remmy wiped blood from their nose and sweat from their forehead and remembered the way their body had burned each morning they made the circuit around camp.
There was something comforting about it all, and so Remmy kept coming back, no matter how much it hurt, inside and out.
And things went really well for them for quite a while. It didn’t matter if they were coming home with bruises every night, they felt as if they could finally start living again. The extra money meant getting a better apartment, meant getting physical therapy for their old injuries, meant they didn’t have to try and get a job in a world that wasn’t built for people like them. It meant they were even able to get a service dog, a large, friendlier than anything, Leonberger. They even felt safe enough to finally come out as agender. It was a good thing. And better yet, something they were good at it. So good that they were even picked up by a sponsor, a coach. His name was Ray, an older man, who had once been a professional MMA fighter. He was jaded and apathetic, but he saw something special in Remmy. Something he wanted to stoke.
There were official tournaments for these fights, where bigwigs would come and gamble on the winner. Ray thought that Remmy had the potential to win and no one had ever thought Remmy was special before. So of course they did whatever it took to make Ray proud. They grew close over the years after Ray recruited them, and he came to love them unconditionally.
Finally, word came of a large tournament that was being set up. One with some big, important names that would be there. People who could take Remmy out from the underground and up into the real world of MMA. It was a great opportunity for them, and for the whole network. Imagine if someone like Remmy, an ex-vet, a random passerby who happened to find the fight, became a professional boxer? It was an insane thought.
So insane, that, apparently, there were people who were willing to pay anything to make sure that didn’t happen.
When Ray approached Remmy, pulled them aside, and told them they needed to throw the match, Remmy was confused. This was their chance, their one chance, didn’t he want them to succeed? Didn’t he want them to win? But Ray was Ray, so when he insisted, Remmy agreed.
Except when they stepped out into that ring, when they heard the crowd cheering for them and the world slowed down like it always did in these moments, they weren’t sure they could do it. Ray had told them to make it look believable, so Remmy fought their hardest at first. And then the moment came-- they looked out into the crowd, into the coach’s corner and locked eyes with Ray. Wiped the blood from their nose. There were three tall men behind him, one had his hand on Ray’s shoulder. Remmy didn’t know who they were and they thought Ray almost looked scared. They didn’t know why, though. Their heart pounded and the bell rang. They stepped out for the last round and held up their fists. All they had to do was let their opponent get in one good hit and they could crumple and pretend to be incapacitated.
But the swing came and it was aimed right for their ribs and in the last moment, Remmy moved. They just couldn’t do it. One quick uppercut knocked the old reigning champ down and the crowd went wild. Remmy had won. Remmy had won. But when they searched the crowd of jumping bodies for Ray, he was nowhere to be found.
The locker room was empty, too, when Remmy finally made it back there. There wasn’t much time to react before they were jumped by two men. They fought back as best they could, but it didn’t matter-- it was as if these men had a super strength Remmy just couldn’t compete with. And a superspeed that beat them to the door and slammed their head into the tile. The world went black.
When Remmy woke, they were tied to a chair. Beside them was Ray, who was also tied up and unconscious. He was bleeding from a wound on his head badly. Remmy had cried out to him, for him, but he hadn’t answered, only groaned in pain. A shadowy figure with malicious eyes approached them finally, glowering down at Remmy. Through their hazy vision, they thought they saw fangs.
The man in the suit explained to them how they’d lost a lot of money because of Remmy. They had paid Ray a lot of money to have Remmy throw the match and they’d ruined it. So this was their punishment. Remmy watched in horror as one of the men came up behind Ray, lifted his head by his hair, and slit his throat. When the men approached Remmy next, they didn’t even resist as they felt fists slamming against their body, defeated. Or when they felt a knife sliding between their ribs. They only fought back when what felt like sharp teeth bit into their neck, sucking away all the blood that was leaking from their body. The one good thing in their life had been taken away again. They lashed out in one last fit of rage for Ray’s death and bit into the person’s arm who was biting them. They tasted blood, but it tasted different somehow. Strange. They held on as tightly as they could, blood filling their mouth and draining down their throat until the man managed to get them to let go, repeatedly slamming his fist into the side of their head. Their vision went black for a moment and their face pressed against the cold cement floor. The last thing they saw was Ray’s lifeless eyes, staring at them as if to say he was sorry.
Remmy had never expected to open their eyes again. But it happened again. They did. They didn’t know how long it had been, but the stench of blood filled their nose and drowned out any other senses they had. They were so hungry. Without hesitating, they bit into the flesh and drank and drank and drank. And then they passed out once more.
When they woke next, they were still on the floor of that warehouse, but the smell of fresh blood no longer filled their nose. It was, instead, the putrid smell of rotting flesh. They could hear too much as well. The sounds of horns way off in the distance, the water crashing against the barricade that kept it at bay, birds squawking outside. It rang so loudly in their right ear they almost forgot they were deaf in the other. They could even feel the cold cement of the floor through their shirt, the slick wetness of their own blood soaking it. Quickly, they sat up and found that, somehow, they didn’t hurt. So they stood and stumbled out and went home. Showered off, climbed into bed, and curled up. All they wanted to do now was forget.
But forgetting wasn’t going to be possible when the hunger clawed angrily at their stomach still. They wanted more, needed more. Blood. It didn’t feel real. Remmy felt as if they were back in that nightmare, their life ripped from them again. There was something wrong with them, and on top of that, their blood and fingerprints were all over an old storage house with a dead body in it. They couldn’t stay here. They needed answers.
When Remmy snuck back into the fighting ring, they hadn’t known what exactly they were looking for. But one of the women that was always there, a kind-hearted soul named Lucy, noticed Remmy trying to slip into the back and stopped them. She was surprised Remmy was still alive and all it took was Remmy telling her about what happened and how they felt afterward for her to turn serious and drag them into the back. There, she grabbed a piece of paper, wrote something down, and handed it to Remmy. It was the location of a town, Lunar Cove, with directions on how to get there.
You’ll find your answers here. That was the last time they would hear Lucy’s kind voice, the last time they would see this stadium, the last time they would go home to their apartment. They had no life here anymore, just like when they’d been discharged from the military. But maybe what they truly needed was a fresh start, and Remmy could only hope this Lunar Cove was the right place for that.
While Remmy did find answers in Lunar Cove, though, they were called back to the old world when their father passed and, apparently, his will left it all to Remmy, still. So, after dealing with that, returning to Lunar Cove felt strange, distant. Now, Remmy had to deal with the fact that they had no family left in the world, and the fact that they now had the possibility to live forever. At least they have a while to figure it out.
