Hey everyone,

I would like to introduce you to the newest character to invade my psyche. She is going to get her own subheading in Graphite Smears because I am using a series of prompts to settle into her character and world. Most of my research has not been done so most of these vignettes are off-the-cuff and not edited. So without further ado, Quid.

-Michelle

Quidnunc

Most people didn’t know Quid’s real name. They also didn’t know that Quid was a shortening of a longer nickname. Additionally, it was a general mystery as to why Quid was at the Institute at all. By her own admission, Quid was not smart or charismatic or blessed with extraordinary physical prowess. Her special abilities did not seem to extend past her innate talent for being overlooked

Quid was enrolled in over forty credits worth of classes, of which she was pulling a C average and her GPA was nothing to write home about. She took copious notes in an indecipherable shorthand and read everything on the syllabus – required and suggested texts alike. Her papers were always over the page limit and more often than not were poorly structured and more of an information dump than a well-supplemented argument. She never spoke up in class and received exceedingly poor marks in discussion-based classes.

Self-esteem was something Quid lacked, insatiable curiosity was not.

When the suits arrived at the Institute they thought they were looking for CyGirl or Dormir or anyone in the Enhanced Program. They never guessed they would demand to speak to a one Tammy Lynn Cooper.

The man at the reception desk entered the name into their database and blinked at the image. It was Quid with her unruly mop of dark brown curls, anxious watery blue eyes, small lips, and soft cheeks.

“She’s, uh, up in room 1111,” he told them.

The head suit nodded, walking briskly to the elevators, her two comrades flanking her. The three people traveled in silence up to the eleventh floor uninterrupted. They stepped out and moved down the hall to Quid’s room. After a few knocks, the door opened.

“Ms. Cooper?” the lead agent queried.

“Yes?” Quid had a bad habit of being unable to make statements, it showed in her constant use of passive voice in her papers.

“I’m with the Department of Homeland Security, and I need you to come with me.”

Podcast: Click Here!