ooc: Mamma's origin
This is all causink_trouble's fault.
Only Fear
Or: How Mamma Gkika, or Ana, as she was known then, got her start in the service of the Heterodynes
And then one day Ana stuffed her few possessions into a sack and marched off towards the House Heterodyne. It was only a manor, in those days. Big and impressive to a girl of her age who'd scraped out a life with her family in the dirt.
It was a hard life, but an honest one. But there were too many mouths to feed, and times were tough, with the drought. Though she had been a big child, never fat, just bigger than the others, a lack of food and an abundance of hard work had stripped her of any excess. But then she was eating less so the little ones could have food too. It couldn't go on. And so Ana took it upon herself, as the eldest, to take care of the others and go work directly for the Masters.
Her mother had begged her not to go and Ana, holding back the tears in her eyes, explained why this was for the best. They'd heard it was a dangerous place, that the Masters (hardly ever out among those who worked the land--it was still functionally a serfdom, back then) carried out strange and awful experiments there. They were all afraid she'd be going to her doom.
Ana's father looked grave, but nodded his consent, stoically embracing his eldest daughter and waiting until she'd hefted her bag over her thin but sturdy shoulder and began the short walk to let any tears show. The youngest girl watched solemnly, thumb in her mouth.
Ana would never see them again.
It was all a bit of a blur after that. She'd talked to someone, who mentioned something about potential, a lackey, she thought. She'd been set up in the kitchen, just for a little while, she was told. Kitchen workers ate well, if they could navigate the machinations of the kitchen. In those days, the place wasn't booby-trapped, nor intelligent, just slightly odd and a little dangerous.
Ana did well, got used to the perils of kitchen work in a short time, and began to do well. Her frame filled out again, her brown hair becoming shinier then it had been, her smile less forced. She sent most of her wages home. Other workers in the house would come to her, when they needed help there, especially with the scarier parts. Ana was afraid of nothing there.
And then there was the experiment. She'd stood, in a line with several others, in a darker, more forbidding room of the castle than she was used to. For the first time in her life she felt the little curls of fear in the pit of her stomach. Fear of the unknown, for the first time.
A small group, three of four people, made their way down the line. Ana realized, with a start at the flash of metal off a bright brass sigil, a copy of which they all bore somewhere on their clothes, that this was the Master Heterodyne. He was examining each subject with a critical eye, either accepting or rejecting each with a wag of his head.
To become a part of an experiment, she knew. Most of the women, she noticed, were being sent back to their duties, and many of the men. She stood a little straighter as they neared her, hoping to make a good impression on him and the minions around him. It was important to her.
They came to her. She stared into his face, unthinking, unaware that most would be too frightened to do so. Ana was not afraid. He stared levelly back at her as the minions looked the rest of her over.
She could see the madness in his eyes. It excited her.
The Master Heterodyne gave a nod, and one of the minions gave a push at her elbow, directing her through another door with the other chosen subjects.
Ana wondered what would happen. She wondered if they would die. But she was never afraid of it.
Only Fear
Or: How Mamma Gkika, or Ana, as she was known then, got her start in the service of the Heterodynes
And then one day Ana stuffed her few possessions into a sack and marched off towards the House Heterodyne. It was only a manor, in those days. Big and impressive to a girl of her age who'd scraped out a life with her family in the dirt.
It was a hard life, but an honest one. But there were too many mouths to feed, and times were tough, with the drought. Though she had been a big child, never fat, just bigger than the others, a lack of food and an abundance of hard work had stripped her of any excess. But then she was eating less so the little ones could have food too. It couldn't go on. And so Ana took it upon herself, as the eldest, to take care of the others and go work directly for the Masters.
Her mother had begged her not to go and Ana, holding back the tears in her eyes, explained why this was for the best. They'd heard it was a dangerous place, that the Masters (hardly ever out among those who worked the land--it was still functionally a serfdom, back then) carried out strange and awful experiments there. They were all afraid she'd be going to her doom.
Ana's father looked grave, but nodded his consent, stoically embracing his eldest daughter and waiting until she'd hefted her bag over her thin but sturdy shoulder and began the short walk to let any tears show. The youngest girl watched solemnly, thumb in her mouth.
Ana would never see them again.
It was all a bit of a blur after that. She'd talked to someone, who mentioned something about potential, a lackey, she thought. She'd been set up in the kitchen, just for a little while, she was told. Kitchen workers ate well, if they could navigate the machinations of the kitchen. In those days, the place wasn't booby-trapped, nor intelligent, just slightly odd and a little dangerous.
Ana did well, got used to the perils of kitchen work in a short time, and began to do well. Her frame filled out again, her brown hair becoming shinier then it had been, her smile less forced. She sent most of her wages home. Other workers in the house would come to her, when they needed help there, especially with the scarier parts. Ana was afraid of nothing there.
And then there was the experiment. She'd stood, in a line with several others, in a darker, more forbidding room of the castle than she was used to. For the first time in her life she felt the little curls of fear in the pit of her stomach. Fear of the unknown, for the first time.
A small group, three of four people, made their way down the line. Ana realized, with a start at the flash of metal off a bright brass sigil, a copy of which they all bore somewhere on their clothes, that this was the Master Heterodyne. He was examining each subject with a critical eye, either accepting or rejecting each with a wag of his head.
To become a part of an experiment, she knew. Most of the women, she noticed, were being sent back to their duties, and many of the men. She stood a little straighter as they neared her, hoping to make a good impression on him and the minions around him. It was important to her.
They came to her. She stared into his face, unthinking, unaware that most would be too frightened to do so. Ana was not afraid. He stared levelly back at her as the minions looked the rest of her over.
She could see the madness in his eyes. It excited her.
The Master Heterodyne gave a nod, and one of the minions gave a push at her elbow, directing her through another door with the other chosen subjects.
Ana wondered what would happen. She wondered if they would die. But she was never afraid of it.