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sky-scribbles · 5 years

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Have a bunch of Wren facts that no one asked for!

I’ve shared some of these with friends or on the fh discord, so I thought I’d put them all in one place. Many spoilers for parts of Sidestep’s backstory that are revealed in Retribution, so I’d advise not reading this if you haven’t played the open alpha yet!

They chose their first name because a) it’s gender-neutral, b) they love and relate to small nervous birds and c) they thought they might as well embrace their tininess.

As for their surname, they named themself after a bookshop owner, Manuel Serrano, who was probably the first person they ever had a real conversation with after escaping the Farm. He sold them their beloved Complete Works of Shakespeare, shared his coffee with them whenever they came into his shop, and talked to them about books for hours.

Ortega tracked Manuel down after Wren’s ‘death’ and invited him to their funeral. When Wren found out about this, they panicked for a bit, because it completely disproved their ‘no one who went to my funeral was sad about me dying, just about Sidestep dying’ theory. And eventually went to his shop to let him know they weren’t dead. He now gives them even more free coffee than before.

The Farm used Wren as a telepathic transmitter. They were meant to blend into crowds, subtly worm their way into the group consciousness. They’d monitor the mental chatter of dozens of mind at once. They could nudge whole groups of people towards the Farm’s goals with a few light touches, the effect of their manipulation growing stronger as it rippled through the crowd... This is why tasks requiring blunt telepathic strength are harder for Wren – they’re much more used to a detached, undetectable touch.

Wren’s Shakespeare nerdiness isn’t just a hobby – as far as they’re concerned, it created them. The Farm gave them a thorough grounding in the arts so they could blend in at parties… and the first time they were taught Shakespeare, it woke something up in them. The rhythm, the poetry, the emotion. They could empathise with these characters, even though the pages held no minds for Wren to sense. It was beautiful.

This newfound love was something of theirs, something unique, and Wren knew that was dangerous. They weren’t meant to be unique. So whenever they were sent for reconditioning, or sat in front of a psychologist, they mentally locked these thoughts away, buried them so that no amount of brainwashing could remove them. And so for the first time, there was something consistent about them. Something rooted and unchanging. The first pieces of an identity.

Wren has a great memory for words - they once needed to memorise complex thoughts and report them back perfectly to the Farm. They have entire scenes of Shakespeare memorised, maybe even entire plays. And after their recapture, they recited them to themself to fill the long, lonely hours in their cell...

On a brighter note, Anathema and Ortega occasionally persuaded them to re-enact their favourite scenes in Ranger HQ, putting on different voices for the parts.

Wren’s favourite Shakespeare plays are Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, Hamlet and The Winter’s Tale.

They’re a great actor! You wouldn’t expect it because they’re normally so reserved and awkward, but they leave all their insecurities behind as soon as they get into character. They see their puppet, Adam, as a part they’re performing: they have a notebook full of details about his invented personality, and they read it every time they body-hop so they don’t forget anything.

Being angry, scared or stressed also pushes them into that ‘forgetting my insecurities’ zone – which means, weirdly, they often become more eloquent the more pressure they’re under. And since they’re constantly dealing with anger and fear in their villain persona, they are very polite and eloquent as Myriad, to the point of being downright poetic.

They often have very long, serious conversations with the Rat-King, ranging from the ethics of their actions to what colour they should dye their hair next.

Their cat, Hamlet, was a stray who kept wandering around their underground base (Wren first encountered him shortly after Rebirth.) After the fourth time he slipped in uninvited, Wren carefully examined his memories and found he’d been abandoned by some rich family who’d decided a massive, grouchy cat was too much to deal with. Wren promptly adopted him. Hamlet gets along very well with the Rat-King, and can be very clingy towards Wren. They often have no choice but to walk around with him draped around their neck like a huge glowering scarf.

They stopped wearing their earrings and dyeing their hair after their second escape, because they didn’t have the confidence to make their appearance stand out anymore. After debuting as Myriad, they felt brave enough to put some teal highlights into their hair, and if a certain reveal with Ortega goes well, they’ll probably relax enough to wear earrings again. In book 3, they’ll probably dye their hair a bit more extensively.

#and 90% of these turned out to be about their nerdy hobby #*shrug emoji*#will probably make more of these!#both for wren and for my other steps #fallen hero #fallen hero: rebirth #oc: wren serrano #long post #fallen hero spoilers #sidestep loredumps

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