Vivian Miller

Real Name:Angaiodhrelb Groz'krelb Oguibhosz Ctaiothrhin
Renegade Name: TBD
Title: The Sous Chef Extraordinaire
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Age: 1,651
Gender: Female
Race: Eldritch Thing
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5’4
Weight: 127
Blood type: N/A


Vivi, when wearing her human guise, appears mostly normal; Maybe a bit oddly idyllic in a few ways, but for the most part she can pass under the radar. Nearly all of her aesthetic choices are born of suggestions her ex-husband made. She is as pale as a ghost,  stands at a rather small looking five foot four, and her figure denotes a lack of regular exercise due to her more rounded curves and softer bits. Her cheeks are one such rounded place. Vivi has soft and chubby cheeks which hide any natural contours her cheekbones may have had. Between these cheeks sit her cute little button nose which turns up just a pinch. Below her nose are her big, pouty, pink lips. Vivi is a talker, and so these are always running a mile a minute. Her eyes are large and doe-like. Naturally, these eyes tend to look a tad vacant or far away, as if Vivi is lost in thought. Despite looking a bit spacey her eyes can be somewhat appealing. She has bright and vibrant sea blue eyes when she is relaxed. When stressed overworked her eyes are the first things to display her alien heritage. Keeping up her human guise is like flexing a muscle. When tired she can not exert herself enough and they turn an unnatural amber/yellow color. It is rare that this happens in front of humans, but when it does Vivi often sweeps her long, wavy, flaxen locks in front of her face. At the suggestion of her ex-husband she grew her hair out into what can only be described as “going for princess, but serving shut-In, in need of a hair cut.” Because her hair is essentially millions of tentacles, one would expect her to have perfect control over it. Despite the fact that her hair is prehensile it often stays frizzy and gets in her way. Because it goes down to her backside, there is quite a bit off it to maneuver around. In spite of all this, she keeps it at this length for sentimental reasons.

Despite having decades of human experience there are just some things Vivi can not copy. Her complexion is perfect; inhumanly perfect. This is because she has no pores. This helps to make her appear to be in her early twenties at the latest. Her skin is like a semi-opaque film stretched out over her body, and because this film has no tiny holes in it Vivi is unable to sweat. During strenuous activity, she appears eerily cool as a cucumber. To hide this fact, Vivi rarely does anything incredibly taxing. Below the neck, Vivi has a prominent collar bone that tapers into indistinct sloped and world-weary-looking shoulders. Because of her slight slouch, her arms hang a bit low and her shoulders are rolled forward. Her biceps scream that she does no hard labor.  They are a bit chubby and shake a tad when the young mother laughs. Her forearms appear normal at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they are disproportionately long when compared to her upper arm. They fit when looking at her hands, for she has long dainty pianist’s fingers, but if one is looking for irregularities they are here in her arms. They are almost distended as if someone was drawing a person from memory, but they weren’t looking directly at a person. When alone or in more pleasant company, she often shifts her arms into inky black tentacles. Vivi would claim it is because she has a hard time with dexterous tasks with human fingers. Though the top half of these tentacles are inky black, the undersides are lined with maroon suction cups, not unlike cephalopods. She prefers the control she has with them, for it's difficult for her to drop anything if it's suctioned to her arms. If required to lift more weight than a human she always does so with multiple black tentacles which emerge from her shoulders underarms and back.

As a curvier woman, Vivi has breasts on the larger side, a slim waist, and wide child-bearing hips which would by some standards make her attractive, but she also has the ten-year-old stubborn baby belly that marks her as a previous mother. Though she was a shapeshifter, she did not fight this change, for it was one she gained by having a daughter. Every time she does a complete shift she makes a point to include this aspect of herself when she changes back to her blonde bouncy form. Though she looks on the younger side, her body is motherly in somewhat of the same sense as the Venus of Willendorf. She is exaggerated in some places to an almost unnatural degree. Because of her wider pelvis, her walk has a distinctive sway to it, which is only further emphasized when she attempts to pick up speed and run or jog. Her thighs are similarly jiggly at their tops, but tapper down quickly and gain some definition near her knees. This increase in toning continues down to her calves. Because she spends most of her days standing as a sous chef, her legs are a tiny bit more defined. This, however, is not nearly enough to make her more imposing. The tiny woman looks like what she is: a newly divorced young mother

As a mother trying to find her way, Vivi does not worry a ton about fashion trends or makeup. She enjoys these things, or she did; since the final papers were signed, it's been difficult to make the effort. Vivi tends to stick with tried and true classics. The less imagination the better. Comfort and wearability are paramount. For this reason, she favors jeans. Black jeans, blue jeans, jean shorts, or distressed jeans; if it's a denim material…or sometimes stretchy polyester in the case of jeggings, she will wear it. On the topic of jeggings, she will often switch out her comfortable old friend for activewear if she is running late. High wasted dark-colored leggings are her preference, but in a pinch, she will wear most colors. Tops are just as bland as her bottoms. Bland blank t-shirts, wife-beaters, or sports bras, these are her go tos. While she was still happily married Viv put a little more effort in. She wore dresses, fancy blouses, and beautifully colored sundresses almost daily because her husband favored them. She wore makeup. Lord knows no one can see her blonde eyelashes without a little mascara. Her lips were always a shiny pink and her hair was done up in long braids or other elaborate styles. Now, it's a bit hard to see the point. When not in her active mom wear she is often found in the traditional double-breasted jacket of a chef and an apron. Because she does not enjoy the hat, Vivi makes an effort to not wear the hats common on the job, unless truly necessary. Her uniform is often marred with the results of her efforts. She will usually have smudges and grease stains on it. Some are dulled from multiple washes but still remain visible.





For an interdimensional space horror, Viv is pretty down to earth. She puts her pants on one leg at a time and watches the real housewives of whatever city just like any American schlub. She has a well-developed sense of right and wrong despite only pretending to be human for the last 15 years. She has dreams of one day owning a restaurant of her own, and she loves to read recipe books to expand her repertoire. She maintains interpersonal relationships by exhibiting a pretty decent level of emotional intelligence. Her work friends whom she goes out with for drinks almost once a week describe her as friendly and dependable. She even donates to human charities which will never be able to give her any value, for she does not catch human diseases. For all intents and purposes, she is your average late twenties early thirties mom of a ten-year-old. Despite her divorce two years ago she still keeps a chipper demeanor and is beginning to seriously date again. Her life is average and ordinary, and she appreciates the monotony of the daily grind. She likes getting up early, putting her daughter on the school bus, and then rushing off to work so she can make sure prep for the restaurant is going well. Viv enjoys the mundane conversations about human things like the weather, or one of her coworker’s kid's play. All of it builds into a routine that she can comfortably rely on. It's this route almost mechanical schedule that keeps her grounded in the human world. It makes her a stable mother for her daughter. This brings her small pleasures almost daily.

Finding joy in the routine was not always something she could do. Viv at one time was married. She shared every intimate part of herself with another creature. She reveled in the new feelings she could experience with this other sentient creature. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Her marriage could not survive the alienness of her very existence. Viv very much enjoyed learning to be human with her husband, but she could never quite suppress her more uncanny nature. This lead to their divorce and Viv shutting down a bit. As a person, she was open about her joys, and her foibles. Now post-divorce she can be a bit guarded with how much she reveals about herself and her life as a whole. She rejects her urge to share in favor of keeping every human she knows at further than an arm’s length. This emotional guardedness bleeds into all of her relationships. Her friends and coworker would describe her as dependable and hard-working, but it's not uncommon for them to use the word reserved as well. She makes a point to not be particularly forthcoming about her life. This is also true with her daughter, who does not know her mother is some interdimensional monster. Despite the fact that it hurts to be evasive with her daughter she does not share with the girl where her origins lie. She is often cagey or ambiguous about what’s she’d done in her life or why she swims so much. It has become almost second nature for her to make up lies on the fly about where she is from or why she can’t tell where her family is from. Viv dislikes it, but she is hesitant to fall into another situation like what happened with her husband.

As a creature that predates on humans, she can be a bit callous in how she uses humans to feed her pangs of hunger. Humans can empathize with animals and feel sorry for them when forced to eat them. Viv sometimes feels like a person eating a sausage. She enjoys the taste of the sausage but really does not want to know how the sausage is made. When she decides in her mind a person is food, it becomes harder for her to see their humanity and empathize with them. With a human she is feeding on, she is often short and curt with her responses. This is especially true when she wants them to leave after she has gotten her fill. This is because she feels they are in part not worth getting to know, because why would you want to know the name of your chicken sandwich, and because she is still a danger to them after she has fed. To protect them from her she learns as little as possible and dismisses meals as quickly as possible. This has made her dating life a tad harder, for she uses dates like a person uses fast food. It's quick and it fills you up, even if it's not good for you. This unexpected coldness makes an otherwise warm person perpetuate a cycle of unfulfilling dating. She remains single despite the fact that she enjoys human romance rituals quite a bit. When in the mood for romance she often leans on her ex-husband selfishly to fulfill her need for companionship, despite his need for space from her. She can be a touch codependent, for she maintains this unhealthy, and personally destructive, relationship with her now ex-husband because it provides some comfort. Both are aware, but loneliness is a powerful thing.

Viv’s mind works a tad differently from a human, so she ends up talking a tad funny because human languages do not make complete sense to her. This makes it so that most humans she talks to think she has an accent. It is hard to place but it is there. This different way of thinking translates into everything Viv does. She is a tad odd no matter what she is doing. Whether it is studying a YouTube video intensely for tips on posture, or holding a knife oddly to cut cucumber, everything she does has a slightly alien quality to it. This barrier, though small is enough to make it hard for others to relate to her and for her to relate to others. This oddity also translates into her humor. She finds jokes based on wordplay like puns to be difficult to understand and thus, she almost never laughs at them. Nihilistic jokes about death are also lost on her, for she is not sure she can or will ever die of old age. She is also not the best person to come to with a joke about the status quo because she loves it. It's a step up from the predation she had become used to before finding herself here on earth. Because she is generally unsure of how human humor works,, she often laughs before the joke is complete as if she knows she is expected to laugh but she is unsure of when. If she just does not guess where she is supposed to laugh and doesn’t, she often needs the joke explained to her so it can become funny. Viv is the ultimate ruiner of a good joke. Despite this issue with communication the alien does manage to take it all in stride. She can laugh at herself when she becomes lost and completes a common human task incorrectly. She tends to enjoy correction and instruction.

If there is anything Viv loves it is her daughter. She goes out of her way to stop anything she is doing to be attentive to the girl. As an essentially human little girl, she has essentially human little girl interests. She enjoys Disney princesses and the color pink to an almost obnoxious degree. Despite this, Viv goes out of her way to make her daughter feels as if she cares about her various flights of fancy and childish whims. As a not-person who did not have a childhood, all of this is foreign to her. She puts on a good show, and the sentiment is there, but she is generally not great at being able to relate to this little girl. Their experiences are just too different. This creates a strain in their relationship, for the girl is old enough to be her mother. It's strange, but she is not wise enough to be able to discern why her mother is the way she is. Viv loves her daughter, and she could get away with just that when the girl was young, but now her daughter is too old to just accept love. Her daughter needs world-weary advice and wisdom from a person. Despite living among people for 15 years, Viv can not offer her daughter the kind of “been there done that” instruction any other mom could. This has caused a bit of tension in their household for Maggie has commented upon how odd her mother is compared to the other moms of her friends. This uneasiness between the two that can’t quite be explained lingers over every dinner. It infects their every conversation. It bleeds into the relationship she has with the child's father, for he is expected to sort through their issues and solve their problems. The family dynamic was stretched to its limit by the divorce and this secret threatens to finally snap it.



Dear Maggie,

I told you that I would always be honest with you. I lied, and I’m sorry. Your mother and I have been lying for a long time. One thing that is true is that I met your mother on the beach. She wasn’t the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen as I’ve always told you. If I’m being honest the first time we met I did not even really see her. I do, however, remember everything so vividly from that night. Five years teaching and already I was cracking up. My lips were chapped from the wind and the air was crisp. I licked them the second I drug my languors body from the old Pontiac I was driving then, but it did not help. I went to the beach in the middle of the night. It was foggy and the waves were rough, but I thought in my stress-addled state that the cool October waters would help my nerves. Taking off my shoes and socks I felt the soft sand squish between my toes and a wave of sudden calmness washed over me. The sand was moist and clung to my feet, but it was a good feeling. So, I rolled up my slacks to the knee and I took my first few steps into the icy choppy waters. The waves rolled back before slamming forward much harder. I remember almost losing my balance, as the slippery grains slid forward out into the vast black abyss which stretched all the way past the sky. I was compelled to walk forward. I knew it was dangerous. I knew I could get swept out but I needed to keep going. I think I was trying to prove something to myself.


The waves continued to slam into me, each time hitting me higher and higher up my body, but it still was not enough. I was up to my shoulders and I could feel myself about a hand’s width from losing my balance on the quickly shifting sand as it slid back with the receding waves. I knew it was coming. I could feel it. The water behind me began to rush past me flowing out into the inky black sea. The bottom my toes barely held to was gone. I was caught in a riptide, and my soaked slacks and dress blouse were waterlogged. They threatened to pull me under. I struggled with my arms failing to keep my head above the dark cresting waves around me. In direct spite of the urgency my situation commanded, I felt a calmness flow through my body. The first time my face was blasted with almost freezing waters I was able to keep my mouth closed. But after my second time bobbing out of the murky waters I was greeted with the familiar taste of seawater. It was bitter, but somehow I think I welcomed it. I welcomed this loss of control. I think I did not want to die, but I think I was okay with it. My arms and legs grew sluggish and I lost sight of the surface with time. Things got a bit murky, but I think I remember seeing hundreds of glowing yellow stars below the waves. They came hurling at me, and then my eyes shut.

As I felt my mind begin to drift away, I was greeted with a peculiar feeling. The water danced around me; something was moving near me. If I had the strength to struggle I likely would have. That’s when I felt it. Something smooth and slimy brushed up against me. After that, I was gone. I passed out. When I awoke I was on my back staring up into the overcast sky. The thin and anemic rays of the sun were defused into a sour color that streaked across the early morning sky. I was safe; I was waterlogged and half-frozen, but unharmed. I left but I was drawn back two nights later. I saw something under the water. I felt arms carry me through the waves. If I were a religious man I would think maybe it was a miracle, but sadly I lack the strength necessary for blind faith. I returned at half-past midnight. The moon cast a pale light over the shifting waves. It was so much clearer, and so much less ominous. This time prepared, I waded out into the water in my swim shorts. The waves lapped against my bare stomach, and the sand slipped away from under my toes, but I was ready this time. I would not be pulled under by a riptide and water-logged clothing. With a snorkel strapped uncomfortably to my face and a waterproof flashlight in hand, I dove down. I saw sea shrubs and some assorted junk littering the shelf, but nothing with arms to carry me. I spent two hours diving and looking but nothing. I was prepared to chalk it up to a fever dream and swim back. This was until I felt it again. The water was swirling around me; it churned with intent, but intent to what? I dipped my head under the water expecting to see a shark, maybe. Always outside of my view, and always avoiding the beam of my flashlight a shadow dance around me.

Then I got a look at one of your mother's big beautiful yellow eyes. They gleamed as the beam of my flashlight hit them. This naturally took me off guard. Her eyes were huge. Like the size of my abdomen. I swam my fastest back toward the shore, but being a good 40 feet out I was not moving anywhere fast enough. Thrashing and splashing hoping to catch a current I watched as dozens of similar yellow eyes opened under me and beside me. Your mother was all around me. I wasn’t going to getaway. The water under me was displaced as a bulbous black writhing mass pushed me up and out of the water. I was riding whatever I had seen and it was drifting to the dimly lit beach. I could feel my heart thumping in my ears. I was both terrified and elated. I wasn’t wrong something had saved me but what? I glanced around and I could see those dozen of eyes all sifting around until they were staring at me. What creature had this many eyes? It was madness. Then I looked behind me at the open sea and saw arms gently drifting in and out of the water. The long spindly arms were tentacles. I was on a giant quid I thought. When I was about at the shore the beast stopped and I got off. Your mother did not leave Immediately. She just leered at me. Queerly enough I could not leave either. I just looked at her. She seemed to be asking me a question with her eyes, and I  asked her with my own. When she descended back down into the murky depths, I left a different man.

I came back the next night, but she would not appear. I came the next and she seemed to be gone. The third night she met me before a single toe touch the water. A seam slowly spread across her mounds of pulsing flesh and through it could see teeth. It was a mouth she spoke a single gurgling word, and then five mouths tore open. They all spoke with a different voice, in a different cadence. I could not tell what she was saying but I knew she was being indignant somehow. That night we spoke at one another Neither one was able to glean and incite into what the other wanted to say. This would continue for two weeks until I began bringing my English textbooks with me. I pointed to pictures and gave her words to repeat. I was teaching my monster to speak. By Christmas, she could finally find the words to ask me the question she asked me the night we yelled at one another fruitlessly. She asked me why I wanted to die? Shocked I did not respond. How could I explain to a talking sea monster what my human problems were? We dropped the subject but kept speaking every night. Your mother in those days was inquisitive. She was always curious about what humans were doing and why they did it. Her desire to learn invigorated me. Perhaps it's the teacher in me, but I can’t help but engage curiosity. We kept talking and some nights I camped out on the beach. When I awoke she was always gone, but when I came back that night she waited for me.

In case It's not clear, your mother isn’t human, and maybe you aren’t entirely either. Your mother told me about lightless seas where no land could ever be found, with monsters so much larger than she. We discerned she’s not from here but whether that means she’s some sort of alien or something else we still don’t know, as of the writing of this letter. Eventually, she wanted to come with me. She would drag her waterlogged and bloated chassis out of the water and gaze at the stars with me. Eventually, she stopped wanting to go back into the water. I advised against it, but I’m sure you know your mother is stubborn. She could grow an almost infinite amount of arms while in the water, but it seemed she did not want the water. She wanted to walk on the land with me. One day she surprised me with legs and a shape that looked like mine. She had told me she threw up a lot of black stuff to look like a person, and I took her home. She would stay with me learning more about being a person every day. I may have suggested she grow out her hair and look as beautiful as she still does now, but I think it was what she wanted. Maggie Your mother is some sort of inhuman shape-shifting, deep-sea monster. And I feel like she would never have told you. When you open this at 18 I hope you understand why we kept this from you and forgive us. Please forgive us for the separation. I loved her and still do to this day but we were never good for one another. Just know we love you and will always love you.  

With love

Your Father,

P.S. maybe wait a while to tell your mother know you. She is an emotional creature

“Bro, I’m a school counselor not a couple’s therapist.” said a man sitting in an old and uncomfortable lazy boy. The small tic in his jaw said he was uncomfortable but willing to hear out his friends sitting opposite to him on a love seat. The tweed sleeves of his older moth-bitten jacket slipped up his arms, exposing what might have been an expensive watch at one time. It was tarnished and in need of polish. In his dark olive-colored hands was a notepad with a single sheet plastered to it from the summer heat. “Why can’t the two of you just go to a real therapist?” he groaned, pleading to be let free of what was obliviously a half-hearted commitment he had made. After his second protest, the man sitting opposite spoke up ”You know why we can’t tell a regular therapist about Vivian. What would they say?” he croaked, hoping to get things underway as fast as possible. His hands were folded in his lap, about as still as he could muster, with his knee which was bouncing quickly in place.” Fine, okay Scott, just tell me whats wrong?” said the would-be councilor as he pressed his pencil to paper as if preparing to write something.

“I love Vivian. Hell, I gave Vivian her name. I taught her to be human. I taught her to walk and to talk on a cold beach in the middle of the night. I took care of her as she learned to eat human foods and survive in human society. I’m not asking she repay me…because she can’t. I just want her to understand the pressure she puts me under,” said a man with white patches near his temples. He looked younger when it came to his face due to his big, bright, and vibrant green eyes; sadly the white patches dated him a bit helping others to discern his age. "Malcolm, I feel like she can hear me but does not understand what she is asking. I never expected to lie to everyone: my family included. Viv is a liability sometimes,” he croaked his voice cracking on the last statement. His face was haggard, but he seemed too genuine in his tone. The woman sitting on the opposite end of the love seat from him glared at him but said nothing. She appeared to be waiting on her turn. Her stomach was distended and she held one hand beneath it as if to support it and one hand above it as if that were her natural resting place for it.”I hear you Scott. Viv do you have anything to say?” asked the man sitting opposite the couple in the rundown lazy boy. “Scott is a prick. I am pregnant. I can not deal with his regrets, she shot out as she moved her arm from the top of her belly to the arm of the sofa.”This is stupid,” she grunted trying to use her arm to force her body up off of the sofa.

The blonde woman managed to get a few inches off the sofa before she crashed back down, letting out a groan.”Vivy be careful,” Scott cried, seeing the woman he loved unable to muster the strength to get her body up off of a cheap gray couch. His wife snarled, a sneer painted on her thin, almost white brows. “You hate the creature inside me, and you hate me," she snarled. Placing the hand she tried to use for leverage back atop her stomach. "Vivy I could never hate you. You saved my life. I just…I guess I just feel. I don’t know,” said the man on the opposite side of the love seat to the heavily pregnant woman. Dropping his head into his palms the husband tired to work out the end of his sentence but nothing came. His wife and the therapist both watched him intently at him but neither could say much. The modern paisely colored room was silent for a few minutes. No one could discern what Scott had been attempting to say and it seemed like her wanted to say more. The first person to say a word was Vivian. She was clearly unnerved and could not stomach the silence. “If you do not hate, me why do you invite this human here to protect you?” she griped, disgust plastered on her face. As she spoke she raised her hand and pointed to the man sitting across from them. She was clearly unhappy another party was involved in their personal quarrel. “Tell the human to leave and we speak about our spawn,” she groused her big yellow eyes darting between Scott and his friend Malcolm Brown. “Vivian!!!” her husband censure with his voice and leveled her with a look. “I’m human can you try not to specieist? Is this passing for human?” he asked exasperation fraying the edges of every word he spat. This request caused a single jagged crack to shoot down the pregnant woman's forehead. With a face like a cracked porcelain china plate she seethed.

There was another pause, but Malcolm the sort of professional in the situation took the initiative. “I think this might not be helping. Maybe I should go. We can try thi…” Malcolm managed to get out before his friend cut him off. “Don’t do this please stay.” He groaned holding up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “Vivy I feel like you see me as a novelty,” he said glancing over to the fuming woman siting beside him. He managed to get out his thoughts, but her face did not much she still appeared furious.”Fine fine man…Vivian?” the would-be therapist noted motioning toward her with his clipboard. The antediluvian, and pelagic monstrosity masquerading as a woman unwilling to look at her husband in his moment of vulnerabilty any longer averted her gaze. She was not staring at the horridly decorated wall paper. She let loose a breathy soulful sigh as if she needed to expel her anger through her breath. “You are not novelty…” she manged to get out before her husband butted in, “And not an easy and convenient meal?” This assertion stung. His spouses lip quivered a bit before she managed to respond. “ You are not an easy meal. You are chatty Catty, You are moody, and you are annoying meal,” she barked before taking a second to gather her thoughts for a moment. "You are anything but easy, but I choose you. I am growing baby for you,” she growled pointing to her balloon-like gut. This caused the her husband to snicker a tad. She wasn’t happy and she still had that crack in her forehead but she wasn’t so mad anymore.

Seizing upon the moment, he inch a bit. Scooting across the second hand spotted sofa he was held up at awkward points as his hip got stuck in the mushy mashed potato like cushions. After a good five seconds, he made his way to his wife's side. Once conjoined with her at the hip her placed his hand atop her stomach. “Maybe you could tell me a bit more about you. I want to understand you as best I can,” He cooed rubbing her naked abdomen.” Back story not important,” she scoffed a small smile play at the corner of her lips. Scott leveled her with a look.”Okay okay…I am from a place not like here. Where we scream with many mouths and the sea is red. I get my name from the thing with eyes like stars. We survived by infecting the things which spoke in with hands,” she said mocking the way Scott spoke to his students. She was in better spirits, but she wanted to make it clear she did not want to be doing this. “I ended up in your sea when the fog swallowed the water,” she offered sort of half-heartedly not looking to go into any real details. “Is this place where you want to be?” Scott interjected his brows furrowing. His face said he was sincere, and this helped to melt what little apprehension remained in Vivian.”Look this is better. I live cozy life. We have pool. I have friends. I cook human foods,” she rambled trying to convince her husband everything was fine.”What do you like doing?” he asked his big green eyes searching her’s as if the answer would be right there painted on her face.”I like cooking” she replied seeming a bit unsure.

“Look I don’t have to be a therapist to see you guys are fine. This is just normal couple stuff. Vivian if you like to cook maybe get a job cooking after you have the kid?” Malcolm suggested slowly pushing down on the arms of his chair so he could push himself out of it.” You kids did not need me to do this” he groaned as his bones creaked. “And if you need real consoling to speak to a Couples' Counselor. This is a favor I will not be repeating,” said the darker man as he walked over to the doorway leading outside.”I’ll call you again if we need anything Malcolm,” The husband joked still holding his wife’s stomach.” You could do me favor and cook tonight. That would make life easier,” Commented Vivy, as she listened for their friend to leave. Now calmer the crack in her forehead slowly filled in.” If I cook I’m making hot dogs,” Scott beamed hopping up and running off to the kitchen down the hall. Not pleased with the prospect of hot dogs, Vivy attempted to push on the couch to get her body aloft but the mushy cushions just sunk down deeper pulling her in. It was gonna be a hot dog night.

Dear Maggie,

Your father is the sweetest man I’ve ever known, but he wants us to keep something from you. I don’t think you will be strictly human, so I’m writing you a letter to maybe explain things. I would like to start at the beginning. I am a planar parasite from a place in between spaces. This in-between place was harsh and we fought with words that could cut each other. With many mouths, I sang songs to hunt and kill prey the size of houses. It was a dangerous place. I never intend to ever go back, even if I could. I seem to be stranded here with humans on earth, for better or for worse. That presents a problem for someone like me, who is a twenty-foot-tall ball of eyes teeth, and tentacles. The creatures I used to hop a ride on were massive. They were like living skyscrapers. Humanity is lucky It was me who drifted through the fog and ended up here and not one of them. Their hunger was voracious and they were nowhere near as merciful as I. Also, they did not have the power my kin does. I am a parasite and a shape-shifter, as I’m sure you have assumed. You were always a smart girl. I sat on a beach for almost a year with your father as he taught me to speak to walk and be human.

I wanted to learn to be human so I could leave the beach. In the beginning, I could make human arms only. I could grow hundreds of them and they lined my tentacles waving endlessly. It was a great first step, but your father found it unnerving. I was using my power to alert my form to make new body parts, this was something I was used to doing. It was not enough though. I had to alter myself on a much more fundamental level if I wanted to go with him past the beach. As I said before I was a giant squid monster. There was no way I would be able to follow him with how big I was. So one night a lot like the night I met your father I threw away more than a ton of black goop and tentacles. I looked a bit odd afterward but I was humanish, Human enough for your father to take home to meet his roommate Malcolm. Over the next week I learned that without the ocean and the numerous creatures I could feast off of, I would starve. This is when I became aware of how humans could feed my pangs of hunger. Through touch, I could feed on them as I did with the giants of my world. Being smaller meant I did not needs as much food. It was pretty helpful. It was at this point I learned the difference between Humans and special humans. Malcolm was a meal but not a great one. Your father however was filling.

Maggie, I have my secrets, but your father has his own. He has never told me what he was, but he is assuredly not purely a run-of-the-mill human. I ask him to this day what is he, and he never gives a different answer. I hope maybe he will tell you if he won’t tell me. Still, despite this secrecy, I loved him then and I still do now. In the early days, I saw him as the smartest man on the planet. He would play the dutiful teacher and I would play the part of his eager student. I think he needed that. When we met he was a sad man. Helping a giant squid monster gave him something to focus on that was not his students. In time sleeping on his couch became sleeping in his bed. We were then a couple and he could not bunk with Malcolm anymore. It was a one-bedroom apartment for three people. It was very cramped, but I found it cozy. Because we were living off your father's single pay check for a while we could only really afford to move into his old aunt’s single-story duplex in Queens. It had an old destroyed pool which your father single-handedly fixed in two days for me. He was so sweet in those days. Due to the chaos of those days with heroes flying everywhere and International jurisdictional issues There were a lot of people fleeing their home countries and going every which way. We mocked up a few fake papers that said I was a refugee seeking to leave the authoritarian regime of Belarus. With all of what was happening my emigration status was the lowest priority to look into for most people. And because we got married soon after the papers were mocked up there was even less reason to check into it. I say this not to tell you to cheat or to lie. We raised you, to be honest, and forthcoming.

After we moved into his aunt’s old, empty home we found out we were pregnant with you. It was a hard time, but a time I will never forget. We worried for days on end about if you’d be human or a giant parasite like me. Scott worried about what he would tell his family if you were a monster or if you were some weird human monster hybrid. Your father became increasingly more worried when I covered the walls of our guest room in black thick tendrils and yellowish mucus. In my defense, I had no idea I would do that. I assume my kind does not take care of our young when they are born so no one really tells you how childbirth is supposed to go. At the time it looked like our first child would be not human. Your father panicked and called his mother and his sisters to tell them were doing a private home birth. They are still disappointed to this day that they did not hold you till a week after you were born. The reason for that was you were in an egg for about three days. But after you began crying we peeled you right out. Your father was very happy you were the average human child. Even fresh out of the egg you looked just like him. You had wisps of his dark hair and his vibrant green eyes. He took to you instantly. All of that anxiety he had been building over the course of the pregnancy washed away. We were a happy little family with our old furniture and even an older house. I did not take to you so quickly. I did not have a mother, and you were my first child. I guess I just did not know what to do with you.

I wish I could say things stayed this way. I don’t think you remember but we had to leave our Queens home. Humans with terrible powers and a hated for their fellow man destroyed Manhattan in a matter of days, and their fighting began to push into our quiet little part of New York. We took you and fled on my back to New Jersey. We stayed at his sister's home for about a year. It made sense. You and your cousin Elle were about the same age. I remember you asking us if she was your sister. You were both so carefree in spite of everything that was happening. I think this is when I truly fell in love with you. When you started pre-school was heartbroken this little thing I had just grown to adore was leaving for half the day. I did not know what to do with myself. I ended up taking advice from your uncle Malcolm and started working in a restaurant. I’m sure you remember the days of me picking you up and us heading back to the kitchen so I could keep working. That can Matilda she was so good with you. The owner was nice enough to let you play with her while I washed dishes or whatever minor task I had been assigned that day. It's strange to think ten years before that I was riding on the backs of giants eating creatures with hundreds of legs. I wouldn’t go back. I loved you and loved your father, more than I liked that world. I am hungrier here, but I’m happier here.

Your father and I were always a bit shaky. I think we still care for one another quite a bit but after New York, your father was a bit more solemn, and we could never connect quite as well. I am sorry for all the fights you had to see, and I am sorry we could not reconcile our differences. Your father thought I was still the gullible fish out of the water despite the fact that we’d been together for close to ten years. I knew your father was not human and he began to leave the house at night. As a teacher, he had no excuse to be out late. He was using whatever power he had inherited to be fight crime I think. I think he felt like he could have helped in New York. He was never honest with me, so I’m not 100% sure. He thinks to this day I’m still in the dark about his nocturnal activities, but I’m not stupid. I have been rambling and I’m sorry I guess I wanted to say what happened between us was not your fault. Your father is an overly serious man and private to a fault. He is stern with you because he loves you. I think I was never going to bring this up to you, but you, my marvelous daughter have tipped my hand. While swimming I have seen your green eyes shift to yellow. I have seen you get angry and your eyes shift to yellow. You seem to have my eyes and not your father's. You will be something more than human. And I might not always be here to help you through that. I want you to know your father isn’t human either and you can go to him if you ever need help. The two of you are slightly distant, but you don’t need to be. You are ten now. That makes you a big girl. Please open up to your father.


With love,


Mom

1. Shape-Shifting: Viv’s body, in truth, is a semi-solid conductive Pseudoplastic made mostly of graphite. It holds shape through tiny electrical signals which fire through the liquid-like substance and cause it to stiffen or change its color. Because of her unique makeup, she is able to completely transform her body, creating any number of colors or shapes she can imagine. This includes creating textures like human skin, fur, clothing, and harder things like chitinous armor. Vivi tends to create the same kinds of shapes over and over; this is because her body can like memory foam remember commonly used pathways and create the shape easier. These commonly used pathways can be maintained with less focus. Though Vivi can take on almost any semi-organic form or shape she is limited in some ways. She has to either gain additional mass to increase her height or weight, or she must shed mass if she wants to appear as a smaller creature like a dog. Vivi also can not copy the refinements of metal. She can increase surface tension on certain parts of her body with her mass or create additional density by flowing more liquid to a location, but she can never mimic the strength of the metal. Vivi also does not have the ability to take the shape of non-organic things like cars due to the inability to create the kinds of metallic moving parts necessary.

Vivi can, with some focus, rapidly shift between the forms of people she sees, but she must study them so she can get the details correct. Quick glances ensure she will ruin a nose or eye colors she does not quite remember. Viv can also snap back to her go-to human form. This is her 5’4 bouncy blonde shape. She can maintain this form even while unconscious and will slip into it most often if not focusing. Viv does have a true from but rarely has the mass to use it. Her true form is a fifteen-foot-tall drippy inky octopus-like creature. It is covered with eyes teeth and dozens of mouths that jerk open before shutting and vanishing. If done enough damage she will shift into this form no matter how much mass she has due to her body temporarily not responding to the signals shot through it. This is a defense mechanism and often happens when she is exposed to significant amperage. Viv is not required to take on only one form at a time. She can blend forms and create amalgamations. Most often this is her summoning tentacles from her true form while she is in her preferred blonde form.  

2. Amphibious: Viv is technically amphibious. Her body is best suited to aquatic environments, but on land, she is no slouch. She is able to breathe both in and outside of water with the use of gills and primitive feathery lungs she keeps moist with copious water drinking. Viv like most earth cephalopods also has a siphon which allows her to jet propel herself while underwater. This makes her quick and evasive while submerged. Rarely taking on her true from is not an issue. She can through her shapeshifting powers manifest parts of her true from like her tentacles or her siphon. Due to Viv’s body’s composition, she is also able to adjust the pressure inside her body on the fly so that it matches the pressure outside. This is great for diving deep, for she suffers no ill effects. Viv is also not subject to decompression sickness while ascending due to her not breathing compressed air as a human would so she can adjust her depth quite easily, and with little hassle. Viv also has low light vision implying she is intended to be a deep-water creature.

3. Regeneration: Due to the nature of her body’s makeup Viv is able to quickly close up wounds and mend her body from most injuries. She can with concentration do this quickly, as long as she has the mass to replace what is missing. The outermost layer of her body is mostly a soft plastic-like compound that remains solid and firm, but yet pliable like human skin. When not transforming, or in her true form this layer of pseudo-skin is not as reactive as her innards. It holds her conductive material inside allowing it to stiffen and soften to create movement and allow her to create shapes with her transformations. Viv does not really bleed blood per-say when her pseudo-skin is opened. She leaks the conductive fluid her body is made out of. When it reaches the outside she will often harden it and shift it into a more nonreactive pseudo-skin. When done quickly this results in black patches for this is her natural skin tone due to her liquid graphite innards being this color. It takes time to shift her body to create a perfect reproduction skin she might lose so in a pinch she settles for the pitch-colored patch as a temporary solution. Regeneration is also not an automatic process from Vivian. She can heal over time without any mental effort on her part but this is slow and can take weeks. Her fast healing is an application of her shapeshifting ability and thus it requires conscious thought. If a limb is amputated Viv can spend a few moments to grow it back but this costs her mass. When low on organic mass this can become dangerous. She can even at points not have enough materials stored up to create the limb again. Too many wounds sloppily put back together can stress the system and cause her to simply plop to the ground as a mass of sentient organic stiff jelly.

4. Enhanced Strength: Adjusting her body makeup allows Viv to pull from it its maximum potential. The semi-solid conductive graphite she is made of can when made ridged from electrical signals produce astonishing amounts of tensile strength and kinetic force. While in her human form she can press close to fifty times her own weight, even with limited mass. She can also jump nearly fifteen feet into the air unaided. These feats are however a conscious decision and require focus on her part. If caught off guard she is only as strong as one would expect a woman of her size to be.

5. Enhanced Durability: The nature of her body and the way she can increase density by shifting material to certain places on her body, or simply increasing the tensile strength of her skin, allows her to have a degree of enhanced durability. This allows her to shrug off blows from non-enhanced humans when she knows they are coming. She can also create chitinous plates which temporally shield her from small arms fire.

6. Enhanced Speed and Agility: The level of conductivity in the material she is made out of is high, and she has billions of pathways the circuit can travel down to get to the point she needs it to in her body. This gives Viv a faster than human rate at which charge crosses a point on the circuitry that is her pseudo nervous system. With no resistance, the charge is strong and quick. This makes Viv naturally quite a bit faster on her toes than your average human reflex-wise. Viv is also able to push her limbs to quickly perform tasks. When pressed she can run up to forty miles per hour for short sprints.

7. Vitality Absorption: Viv does not eat quite the same way a human does. She can take in organic substances to increase her total mass, but she can not convert these organic compounds easily into energy she can use. Because she gets very little nourishment from food, she is required to eat in another way. Viv gets the most out of stolen energy from physical contact with human beings. Viv through skin-to-skin contact can sublimate ATP and intercept it by causing it to flow out of the skin where she absorbs it. This theft allows her to convert it into chemicals her body can use more efficiently. The process is not too harmful to humans in short bursts. When it happens, it feels like the lactic acid build-up in a muscle almost as if one is working out. If she holds on to a human too long and feeds it can lead to cell death from lack of mitochondrial energy.
REQUIRES PERMISSION

8. Organic Matter Absorption: Viv does not really eat food, not really. She more or less does consume it, and break it down to get its useful bits and store that in her body. What is not needed is released as gas when she breathes. The difference between her and a human is that she is not breaking down organic material so she can gather the components to make energy. Viv is instead using the material to create more of the black semisolid conductive graphite she is made out of. She can when she consumes organic mass simply make it more of the fluid she is made out of for a boost in mass gradually over the next hour or two. She can also store this material by converting it into a gas inside of her body via pressure. This compound was dubbed grow gas by Vivi. This reduces weight due to the fact that she expels non-vital materials as a gas. This makes the grow gas in her stomach light and nonreactive to what she is made out of. She can regain these non-vital gasses like oxygen, nitrogen, and argon by simply breathing them in. Once mixed with the pressurized grow gas she can expand when it becomes reactive and the pressure is released. This turns the material into the semisolid graphite she is made out of. She can currently store enough grow gas to grant her up to 1,100 pounds of additional mass. This is enough to grow to her full size in her true form. Grow gas is non-reactive when it comes into contact with the materials of her stomach but the gas does decay over two days becoming unusable at the 48-hour mark.
REQUIRES PERMISSION

9. Parasitic Power Enhancement: Viv is a parasite and one that feasts on humans. But she is a mutualist parasite, to some degree. She can reduce herself to a thin liquid and then coat a human's body. Once she is on the human this liquid seeps in. It floats in the human's blood. It integrates itself into its various systems like the limbic, the nervous system, the lymphatic system, and even the endocrine system. Because of her make-up, this fluid enhances the function of each of these systems. For the average person, once she is grafted to them they will be capable of some of the superhuman feats she can achieve, though they can not change her form at will she must shapeshift. They will in essence gain superpowers, like super strength speed, and durability while connected to her. Superhumans with gifts are also enhanced. A Meta-human with super strength might gain the ability to lift up to an additional five to six tons. A meta-human with the power to produce and manipulate flames might find the volume they can create enhanced, or they could see the intensity of flames they can produce magnified. Every superhuman is different and so what she can provide for them is a little different.

This heightening of their powers is done through the various systems she can attach herself to. So the increase in chemicals flowing through the bloodstream like Adrenalin can make her victims more active more alert, and more resistant to pain. The issue is she can create problems like rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, anxiety, excessive sweating, and heart palpitations. This is due to the stress she is placing on the body to preform. She also produces chemicals in their bodies like dopamine to act as pain suppressors. This can make some victims experience a “high feeling”. This can create habit-forming cycles with repeated use. When stripped off a person they often experience a crash which is caused by her being unable to keep up the flow of enhancing chemicals. With a good few hours of rest, the feeling does subside, if they were joined longer. Short attachments come with shorter periods of rest. The first time she latches on to a person it can take minutes for her various benefits to manifest for she has to infect the various systems. After the first time pieces of her linger which make attachment take a second or two at most. The first time is also generally uncomfortable, and described as “the feeling of something crawling under the skin”.

10. Limited Empathy: While linked with a partner she and the partner gain a kind of sixth sense. This sense is an almost constant awareness of the emotional state of the other. Thoughts and complex ideas are off the table, but they can feel the other’s baser urges, and basic emotions like happiness anger, and sadness. This power combined with the fact that she feels what her victim feels due to her being their various systems allows her to best pick chemicals to assist them in moments of stress.



1. Electricity: All of Viv’s systems are based on how conductive the semisolid graphite she is made of is. It stiffens and forms crystal-like shapes under a current. This grants her almost all of her powers. Its her greatest strength. It also stands as her greatest weakness. Additional unintended current can cause her body to stiffen or soften uncontrollably. This can inactivate her ability to shapeshift. It can cause her skin to become jagged with sharp spikes. It's difficult to discern just what will happen, but what is clear is that under a constant current she will lose the ability to function efficiently. Her skin tends to not be the most conductive but higher amperage can force the current through her skin. What really immobilizes her is when her highly conductive insides are forced to endure a current. This can be done by targeting a gash or tear in her skin. The results are often spectacular and terrible to behold. She is reduced to shaking rubbery mass as long as the shock is being delivered. This process is uncomfortable and can disorientate Viv for up to a few minutes.

2. Limited Ability to Hold Shifts: Viv is a shapeshifter with a ton of experience. This experience has made her lazy in some respects. She can hold her base human form for days without needing to return to her true form, but if asked to hold another form for this long and she will struggle. Holding a form is an effort. It is like flexing a muscle. The more detail she is asked to add the less s she can hold the form. The smaller and more intricate the detail is the more effort it takes. Imitating clothing look and texture takes moderate effort. Makeup takes more effort than clothing. If she is asked to mimic a tattoo or two the strain can make it so she might not be able to hold the form longer than an hour two. As she begins to reach her limit details warp and she can begin to look like an impressionist painting. When she reaches her absolute limit she refers to the loss of her shape as a “Snap Back” when she snaps back she is forced to a more comfortable form. Most often this is a smaller version of her true from or her chosen human form. While shifting into her horrible monstrous cephalopod she is often stunned from the sudden loss of human limbs for tentacles.

3. Pressurized: Grow Gas in her tummy is under pressure. This effectively turns Viv into a aerosol bomb, or vacuum bomb under the worst circumstances. Incredibly high heat combined with creating a hole in her abdomen can cause Viv to explode quite violently.

4. Metabolic Heat Build-Up: Creating semi-solid conductive graphite out of whatever organic mass she can shove down her gullet is a heat-intensive process. Electrical current flows in a circuit due to the electron exchanges. Heating her conductive graphite innards causes the atoms present to vibrate faster, this, in turn, makes it more difficult for the electrons to flow. This increased her total resistance. This process makes it harder for her to use her Semisolid conductive graphite innards to carry the currents necessary to get her body to move. This means she can’t shapeshift or even effectively function after eating a large amount of organic mass. If she is in the process of converting a lot of organic compounds to Graphite or grow gas. She can be shunted back to her true form while the conversion takes place. During this time she can become essentially inert and defenselessness

5. Amphibious: Viv is technically an amphibious creature. This means she has the ability to survive in both water and on dry land. In her all her forms she has both gills and primitive lungs which suggest she is primarily aquatic but able to spend brief periods on dry land. Her human form is not truly human. Not on a genetic level. She just appears from the outside to be a person. Her insides are still designed to function best while underwater. For this reason, she is required to drink copious amounts of water a day to stave off dangerous levels of dehydration. Drinking a lot of water to hydrate her feathery primitive lungs and keep them moist throughout the day is not always enough. Complete submersion in water at least bi-daily is often necessary. This I because most of her system needs a bit of water to lucubrate it, and drinking enough water to do this would be conspicuous. If denied enough water for too long her body gets hard and the graphite she is made out of solidifies turning her into effectively into a statue.    

6. Vitality Addict: Viv does need to parasitize people to keep herself healthy. It’s part of the way she eats, but this is not the only reason she eats. Vivi likes the feeling of draining humans of their energy. It's euphoric for her. It's a slow process for her to kill a human during feeding, but it is very possible and she could easily do so in her tentacly true form. Living in a humancentric society, with no room for rampant predation she makes an effort to not put herself in situations where people die. She goes out of her way to avoid breaking the law by murdering people on a semi-regular basis. This is difficult to do because she also has to get energy from people to live. Viv has to balance needing to feed off people to live with the fact that its easy to fall into predatory patterns of glutenous excess. Currently, Viv can go about a week without a single meal, but at the end of the week she is ravenous and likely to hurt someone from overfeeding. To avoid hurting people she makes a point to feed about bi-weekly. She can stave off the worst effects of hunger by just making skin contact with another human being for a minute to a minute and a half. This is true of regular non-enhanced humans. Meta-humans provide a much large blast of energy. Just touching a Meta for a few seconds can charge her up as if she had held on to a regular human for like five minutes. She is also hit with an even more euphoria this incentivizes her to prey on super power humans.

7. Arcane Flaw: Her power to enhance human abilities is pretty expansive, but Viv does not have the power to help magic casters. Her powers only really work on physical traits which can be amplified through the use of various non-anomalous chemicals that she can pump into her host's body. When she latches on to a caster she can make them stronger and faster, but this does nothing for their magical potential. This alone would not be enough to make her avoid casters, but to add insult to injury, something about their arcane nature make them impossible to feed off of. If she can’t help them or feed off them, then what's the point in associating with them? For these reasons, she tends to ignore them whenever possible.

8. Shared Pain: The empathy she and her host get are not the only things they share. While inside the body of her host they both share their sense of pain. When her human is injured she is injured. When she is hurting her human will also feel it. Viv does not have the same kind of nervous system as a human and so she feels both pleasure and pain a bit different from a human. While fused with a human she gets access to all their raw and tender nerve endings. In her opinion, humans are constructed badly. They feel pain far more vividly than she does. Viv often reacts terribly to human pain. She will always attempt to avoid any injury while bonded with a host. This almost pathological fear of injury does cause her to overcompensate for her hosts, and occasionally jerk them around making them both less stable on their feet.  She can also be immobilized if her human is subjected to too much pain in a short span of time.

9. Minimal Mass Depowerment: Viv heals by virtue of her stored up pressurized grow gas. She can combine this with elements in the air to create the semisolid conductive graphite she is made out of quickly. This is often how she patches up cuts and regrows limbs. This process requires her to have consumed a decent amount of organic materials. As she gets low on excess grow gas she loses the ability to heal quickly through shapeshifting. Removing limbs wastes the most gas because she has to expend larger amounts to regrow the limb. Viv can regrow an arm maybe seven or eight times before she gets low on grow gas and would be forced to proceed without the limb.

10. Stress Fractures: Like humans Viv is subject to stress. When her stress levels go up, she also like a human is affected physically. Vivi does not suffer quite like a human. Stress does not suppress her immune system or upset her digestives system. For her stress creates tiny fractures in the outermost layer of her body. This manifests cracks in her skin. These cracks if they run deep enough can cause her to ooze the semi-solid conductive graphite she is made out of. While this is happening her innards are tensed and thus harden. This makes it harder for her to change shapes, or even move. Enough stress can turn Viv into a craggy mannequin, while she attempts to calm down.


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Vivian has a human daughter named Margret and a hatch-back civic. Her Ex-husband  Scott gave her the house but she is quickly falling behind on payments.

Razor-thin stripes of pale light slice through the gaps in the curtains. The beams reveal speckles of dust and filament which float through the dim room. These narrow sections of day had begun by simply painting the far wall with a wan light. Slowly, as the morning ticked on these lights crawled across the foot of the bed, they inched their way over her body, and then, ten minutes before her alarm clock, the first rays of morning were beaming onto her closed lids. At first, she tried to power through. Sleep was worth a bit of inconvenience. When that did not work, she threw her arm up and turned over, away from the light. By this time she was mostly awake but fighting the inevitable. Wrapped up in covers, on a bed too large for one person was the monster. She had a full day ahead of her, but starting it was always a challenge. With sluggish trepidation, her big yellow eyes crept open just a tad. Stuck in an irritable squint she observed her room. It was as she had left it that night, and the night before, and the night before that. It hadn’t changed much since Scott packed his things and walked out of her life. Wrapped up like a caterpillar, she squirmed a bit stretchering her legs under the cover. Once these weird human limbs were all nice and limber she wriggled until she could throw the cover over her shoulder. Clambering to the cold side of the bed she threw one leg over the side. The carpet was still matted down from where he would stand every morning. This thought was at first comforting, but quickly the warm feeling dropped to her guts twisting them up into knots.

It wasn’t time to think about that. Without looking at her clock she knew it was time to get moving. Likely there were only about 45 minutes before her daughter had to be on that bus. She had to have breakfast ready for her. Luckily the young girl had recently discovered fashion. She was a bit more abrasive about what she would wear, but the child would pick out her own outfits in the morning. This drastically shortened most mornings. This was true as long as the little tyrant was in high spirits. Rolling the dice as she did every morning the sleepy creature padded down the hardwood hall on bare feet. The chill of the night-cooled wood sent a shiver up her legs and up her back. Had she a spine it would have chilled her to the bone. The walls were a dark blue color so they made the corridor far darker than one would expect. She could make out the faces in the various faces in picture frames but she was sure Scott would not have been able to if he were there. He was practically blind at night or in a dark space. Again her thoughts were drifting to him. She shook her head as if to get out of a fog. She did not have time to miss him or to think about what he was doing. Upon reaching the pink door which lead to her daughter's room she gave it a quick few raps with her knuckle before gently shouldering it open. Like her, her daughter was a bit of a lazy-pants in the morning. The girls head lay flopped over the side of the bed and her covers were strewn about the floor. Looking closely Vivian could see a thick line of drool streaking down her lip all the way past her brows and into her dark messy curls. And from the girl's mouth came a noise which sounded like someone putting a chair through a wood chipper. Despite being a tiny child the girl snored like her father.

Rolling her eyes, the mother cracked a small smile upon seeing the state of her child. The disarray was comforting. At moments like this, she was just a kid, and not trying to shoulder her parent's burdens. ”Maggie, time to get up. Brush your teeth, and shower up. Breakfast will be ready soon,” she said hoping there would be no fight. Her daughter opened the non-drooled-over eye for a moment and then closed it again. It looked like she wanted to fight. Though sleepy and not wanting to start her own day, Vivian tossed her long blonde locks over her shoulder, and she stepped into the disaster that was her daughter's room. She was going to pick the little rascal up and drop her off in the bathroom. She was going to brush her teeth, and she was going to shower up. This was true whether she liked it or not. She threw her head back and strode in with all the confidence of a mother who knew best. With her chest all puffed up she spoke again.” Mags you will get up. You will shower. You will be clean,” she croaked nudging a barbie dream car out of the way with her barefoot. Maggie was not one for cleaning up but Vivian was used to walking through her daughter’s toy-laden wasteland. Maggie again opened her one deep green eye and closed it again. This time her lips twisted a touch into an upside-down thin grin. The little munchkin was playing with her mother. This caused The woman standing in front of the bed to pause. They did not have time to play. Vivian needed to shower swim and get dressed for work. Her jaw ticked as a bit of frustration tightened the muscles in her neck. This only lasted a second, for her daughter opened her mouth wide and began to fake snore loud and obliviously. Unable to help herself The woman’s lips cracked into a wide grin.

If it was going to be one of those kinds of mornings she would just have to play the little girl's game. Rearing back, her mother got into position and then cried out, “You are going in the shower!!!” She then lunged for the bed her daughter giggling as her mother soared above her.