procedures | history.

SELFISH IS THE LOVE WE SHARE.
A BRIEF HISTORY.

» I.

Alan Varren was born to perfectly ordinary parents who lived in the outskirts of the cities, both of whom had lived their lives with no idea that they were carriers of the Kerns-Norman gene that was causing the cities of their youth an all-consuming panic. By the time Alan had moved to Louisiana to continue his education, most of the original hysteria had died down, and the KN gene took on a mythical quality as far as Alan was concerned.

He came to New Orleans to learn medicine, spending his first years of tertiary education learning the basics of nursing and biotech. As far as his professors were concerned, he did well in his classes - his opinions and insights were nothing spectacular, but what he lacked in that aspect he made up for with the most steady hands and calm outlook in his whole batch. In his junior year, while considering switching from nursing to biotech engineering, Alan met Nora Fursch.

They were like fire and gasoline, and in the scant months since they've met, their relationship escalated from dating to moving in together. Their relationship, like all spitfire relationships do, came to an expedited end when Nora got pregnant (they both agree to keep the baby). At twenty-five years old, with only two years left until he finishes his degree in nursing, Alan became a father to Marya Fursch-Varren (F, 5.7lbs). This newfound joy, however, didn't last long - the newborn screening tests included a KN marker screen, and it revealed that his daughter was a carrier.

» II.

Testing positive for the KN marker didn't destroy his life immediately; Alan was able to keep jobs month by month, scraping by with what he'd saved and what little money his parents were able to send him. It didn't take long for his gene to activate, however, and afterwards he was officially entered into the city registry of known KN1s - the tag for mice who weren't raised in a lab. Unable to find decent-paying work legally, Alan smuggled his daughter out to trusted friends who took her to family in Alaska, where his parents had also moved to. Alva chose to stay behind to keep her safe, effectively trapping himself within the state. For a while, Alan eked out a living as a black market physician for some unsavory characters; his skill at stitching and installing augments and alterations made for a lucrative but unreliable source of income.

He met Gloriana II when her car met him, head on, and pinned him against a truck. Unaffected by the damage caused by the accident, Alan was able to pull the "second lady" of House Gloriana from the wreckage, and administered emergency medical assistance while the ambulances were on their way. Assumed to be a personal pet, Alan was dragged along into the ambulances and taken to the Gloriana compound, where he was fed, dressed, and properly tagged into the KN system the first time.

Gloriana II, upon waking, considered turning him over to House Hapsburg, where he might be "looked after" for his genetic predisposition to sturdiness and density (she considered it a blessing); however, after Alan called on her life debt to him, she decided that Alan will stay in her house instead, to which Alan couldn't afford to argue against. Alan was sent to work as a lab technician in one of the Gloriana service compounds, where he's assigned to "maintain" fellow mice near-round the clock. He has since been given a new name, as was a standard for all KN1s who are registered to the houses — Alan Varren became Alvary overnight, based on the tag code generated for him by the KN system.

» III.

Several attempts to clone him had been made; however, Alan's - Alvary's - own genetic makeup made it impossible to clone him. Any attempts to replicate his augments had caused the genetic material to rapidly deteriorate, which made him a peculiarity to the houses, as well as a danger: his "auto-destructing" samples could potentially make patenting genetic material a possibility, completing the dehumanization of KNs if it was unraveled.

Because of this peculiar position as an uncloneable Mouse, Alva (his preference) has toed the line at every turn, and does the work he's told to do - nothing more, nothing less. In his free time, he dreams of a chance to return to his parents' house in the outskirts, where he might be able to raise his daughter in peace and with dignity.

Six years into his stay in Gloriana, a violent rebellion is started by the Mice of the South, which is kicked off by simultaneous attacks on the three biggest Houses in Louisiana: House Hapsburg, House Bathory, and House Gloriana - Alva's own house. His involvement with the rebellion involves the installation of several bombs that Alva personally triggers. The bombings were meant to be suicide missions; Alva survives it nonetheless by a stroke of luck, and it is after the bombing and during the subsequent compound raids that Alva is taken from and brought in by the Ingress.

» CODA. (Notes on Relationships)

ANDYR PRINCE Alva's relationship with Andyr, a Template from House Hapsburg, is the most complicated among the select handful he's made in his new life. His first encounter with Andyr was contentious, progressing to deadly, as Andyr had no respect for Alva and constantly spat and hit him whenever he found the opportunity to do so. Alva, having gotten fed up with the abuse, challenges Andyr to a fight but is soundly beaten close to death - Andyr doesn't kill him only after Alva confesses that he's doing what he does ("working with the enemy") so he can keep his daughter safe, and that he can't die until he's secured a future for her. Building on the begrudging respect, the two eventually become very close friends, so much so that Alva trusts Andyr with his son and daughter once the rebellion fully begins.

MIKAL PRINCE An iteration of Andyr, Alva's relationship with Mikal is mostly professional. He has great respect for the iteration, who at the beginning, single-handedly leads the rebelling forces hiding in the city. As the rebellion progresses, Alva is recruited as a medic for the wounded, helping in smuggling out needed drugs to Mice fighters, but he doesn't commit fully to the cause until much later. During the rebellion, Alva defers to Mikal more than Andyr, primarily because Mikal is the more level-headed of the two.

VALARIE MILOS Alva meets Valarie through the boy's father, Czeslaw, who in turn was training Alva to handle himself around the Bathory labs where he's sent to help from time to time. Following Czeslaw's untimely demise, Alva had come to adopt Valarie as a son, and looks after him like he's his own flesh and blood. Alva is very fond of Val, and worries for the boy all the time. He's also one of the techs who handle Val's maintenance, and there isn't a day that passes when Alva doesn't wonder if Bathory has pushed the boy to his limit. During the uprising, Alva joins the surviving group of rebels in breaking into the Bathory compounds, only to find that Val has escaped on his own. (It's a proud father moment, very tearjerky, very heart-attacky.)

POSIE ALVAREZ Adopted daughter, though more accurately she is/was one of his frequent charges within the Gloriana compound. Posie is a bright young woman whose memories were constantly truncated, or so Alva reports though he has suspicions otherwise. As with Valarie, Alva has come to love her as a daughter, and takes care to make her physical checks as painless as possible. During the uprising, Posie is among the first to escape and assimilate with the group, thanks to Andyr's and Mikal's efforts; Alva communicates with her regarding details of what's needed for the resistance, and checks up on her from time to time.

MIRAY (V5) Alva took over general physical duties for the Miray iteration during his second year as a lab tech in Gloriana. His first contact with her was during one of her deliveries, after which he looked after her while she was in recovery. During this period, he read to her and told her stories about his own daughter, which brought them closer. Near the end of her viability period, Alva and Miray sleep together, both fully aware that she would be put down soon. Alva was one of the attending techs during the procedure that takes her life, and his participation in her death has scarred him very deeply.

MIRAY (V6) Despite - or because of - his involvement in V5's death, Alva was assigned to Miray's sixth iteration as well. His relationship with her wasn't as warm as his relationship with her previous iteration, especially as V6 retains little to none of the V5's memories. Before he can come to terms with this, however, V6 commits suicide, choosing to keep what little agency she regarding her fate. Alva mourns her all over again.

MIRAY (V7) In attempts to not make the same mistakes as before, Alva rebuilds his relationship with Miray, but he nearly ruins it too when he's compelled by the house to have children with her - partly to see if natural-born but lab-raised Mice would be different from kidnapped and cloned ones, and also to attempt unlocking Alva's own genetics. While he has very strong romantic (and reciprocated) feelings for Miray, Alva is strongly against having children for the house's profit; this cements his decision to join Mikal and Andyr in taking down the Houses from the inside. With the rebellion's help, Miray and their son, Avis, escape for Alaska to join Alva's family in Anchorage, while Alva stays behind for the suicide mission against the Houses.

MARYA (9 years old) & AVIS (8 months old) Alva's children. Marya was in Alva's custody for two years before she was smuggled out to Anchorage, where Alva's parents live. Avis was born to Miray V7, and had been in House Florens' custody under Gloriana's watchful eye for a full eight months. Alva ensured that his son was spirited out from the Florens labs before triggering the bombs that would blow up the Gloriana - and neighboring - compounds.

DR. SYLVAIN MONET One of the human doctors managing the Gloriana labs. Alva has always suspected something remiss about the doctor's intentions for Miray, particularly after discovering that the doctor had been the one to find V6's body after her apparent suicide. They share a contentious but generally passive-aggressive working relationship, though Alva itches to elevate it to something worse from time to time.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional, please suspend some disbelief for the science in this here write-up.