WM Set#1 Paranoia
Apr. 4th, 2018 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theothermusesOOC: A side piece to the continuing story on ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
immortalstories
#1. "Paranoia is just reality on a finer scale." - Philo Gant, "Strange Days"
Liam had grown up well aware of his mother’s mental health issues. If he had to pick the worst one, which he couldn’t and wouldn’t, but if he had to, it would be her paranoia. It ate at her for all his life and even before he was born. He knew what the cause was, the Watchers always out to abduct her and experiment on her again, and Him. In his mind, that H had always been capitalized. He had known from a small child who He was. Some children get scared into good behaviour by the bogeyman. In ancient times the monster to get children to sleep at night had been the Horsemen. For Liam it was Him, Robert Grayson. The father of the twins, his half-siblings. It was devastating enough that Daniel died, but Grayson had forbade his mom from any contact ever with her surviving daughter.
Haag was the reason his mom always looked over her shoulder. Grayson was the reason, she left his dad. Haag was the reason they never stayed in the same place for very long. If she could have told him, Liam was sure she would have told him that Grayson was the reason she was dead.
It was paranoia, convinced that this man was always watching her every move and that he would kill her when he found out she’d married and conceived another child. He would probably kill Liam too. She always told him that he might, but they would be all right if they kept ahead of him.
As Liam grew older, he never saw any sign that Robert Grayson was interested in either of them, and he just accepted that her paranoia was just part of his mom’s illness. Until now.
From what Danika said, the man he’d known as Grayson -- her father -- was furious. She’d just spoken with Grayson, and he was demanding Liam travel to France and face him. All those memories from his childhood came flooding back. For the first time, he shared a slice of his mom’s paranoia now that Grayson was a reality and not just an indistinct bogeyman. That remembered paranoia urged him to leave, to get as far away from Switzerland and Danika and Daniel as possible, but he wouldn’t...couldn’t. He’d gone through too much to find Danika, too much to discover Daniel was alive. And, more importantly, he had their support. No matter how terrifying the prospect was, he had to meet Grayson and hold his ground if he wanted to be a part of his older brother’s and sister’s lives. And if he managed to do that without turning into a blubbering heap of jelly, then just maybe he could make up for some of his mom’s pain in doing what she could never have done.
It wouldn’t be easy, but he had to try.
Maverick Liam Campbell
Original Character
Fandom: Highlander
Word Count: 476
immortalstories#1. "Paranoia is just reality on a finer scale." - Philo Gant, "Strange Days"
Liam had grown up well aware of his mother’s mental health issues. If he had to pick the worst one, which he couldn’t and wouldn’t, but if he had to, it would be her paranoia. It ate at her for all his life and even before he was born. He knew what the cause was, the Watchers always out to abduct her and experiment on her again, and Him. In his mind, that H had always been capitalized. He had known from a small child who He was. Some children get scared into good behaviour by the bogeyman. In ancient times the monster to get children to sleep at night had been the Horsemen. For Liam it was Him, Robert Grayson. The father of the twins, his half-siblings. It was devastating enough that Daniel died, but Grayson had forbade his mom from any contact ever with her surviving daughter.
Haag was the reason his mom always looked over her shoulder. Grayson was the reason, she left his dad. Haag was the reason they never stayed in the same place for very long. If she could have told him, Liam was sure she would have told him that Grayson was the reason she was dead.
It was paranoia, convinced that this man was always watching her every move and that he would kill her when he found out she’d married and conceived another child. He would probably kill Liam too. She always told him that he might, but they would be all right if they kept ahead of him.
As Liam grew older, he never saw any sign that Robert Grayson was interested in either of them, and he just accepted that her paranoia was just part of his mom’s illness. Until now.
From what Danika said, the man he’d known as Grayson -- her father -- was furious. She’d just spoken with Grayson, and he was demanding Liam travel to France and face him. All those memories from his childhood came flooding back. For the first time, he shared a slice of his mom’s paranoia now that Grayson was a reality and not just an indistinct bogeyman. That remembered paranoia urged him to leave, to get as far away from Switzerland and Danika and Daniel as possible, but he wouldn’t...couldn’t. He’d gone through too much to find Danika, too much to discover Daniel was alive. And, more importantly, he had their support. No matter how terrifying the prospect was, he had to meet Grayson and hold his ground if he wanted to be a part of his older brother’s and sister’s lives. And if he managed to do that without turning into a blubbering heap of jelly, then just maybe he could make up for some of his mom’s pain in doing what she could never have done.
It wouldn’t be easy, but he had to try.
Original Character
Fandom: Highlander
Word Count: 476
