Mic Sanguine

Mic Sanguine is a young girl from the story Calm Silence. A bubbly and excitable young girl, she is orphaned from her parents at a young age. Kind and gentle to all she meets, she suffers out on her own under the constant terror that she will be caught by GOV and taken away.

Motives
Mic's motives come about from her being an orphan and thus chased around by GOV for several years. Tired of living as a vagrant, she sees an opportunity to move past that and onto something great. With her meeting with Shalice, she identifies with him as someone who is looking to accomplish something, and to that end she wants to do the same.

While Mic is strong in spirit and wishes to make a difference as Shalice does, she finds that Shalice himself is unfeeling and distant. Seeing as he isn't an adult like everyone else she knows, she connects with him on a personal level after discovering his past and how it molded him into who he became.

Backstory
You’ve heard simple one line phrases of characters before. If Mic Sanguine were to have one, hers would be:

The orphan girl who lived.

The significance behind this statement is more easily understood if one were to comprehend the conditions behind being an orphaned child in a world where GOV reigns supreme - orphans don’t survive for long.

A petite but pretty girl with smooth black hair and a penchant for wearing long dresses, Mic Sanguine is sure to bring a smile to even the most stoic of faces. Bubbly and full of spirit, she never lets the world get her down. Except when you mention what happened to her parents.

The events leading up to the loss happened when she was a very young girl at the age of eight. Her mother, Mayla, missed her husband as he worked long hours as an elite agent for the benefit of GOV. Rarely would he come home, and as Mayla was a woman with physical needs, she eventually welcomed a stranger to the house. Charles caught wind of this and with a plain dagger he murdered his wife and the lover in front of their daughter. With the still bloody dagger in his hand he gave it to her, telling her to use it to protect herself from madmen such as himself.

He then left her there, all alone.

Overcome with grief, Mic stayed in that house for a few days, unsure of what to do. With food running low and no idea how to get more, she eventually had to leave her home and find civilization. Struggling to stay on the path and not lose herself to the wilderness, Mic found a town that was placed outside the city.

Her first night she spent under the stars between two buildings, cold and miserable. Eventually she passed out from exhaustion. Fortunately a kind man named Dred found her and brought her to his home.

While he couldn’t keep her, he welcomed her whenever she came by, as he worked a “Public Restaurant” in the town. While controlled entirely by GOV, he still exercised what little freedom he had, sometimes “losing” GOV Food Slips when he had a few to spare.

When Dred was unable to provide, cold nights and a lack of food kept Mic on her toes - only those that worked in the Factories would get slips that would provide them with food, if you were old enough. Children could not get food on their own, so Mic resorted to the only survival tactic she could come up with - kindness.

She made friends with the townspeople, and would engage in small acts of bartering for items that she would need. An old lady that taught herself to sew in secret would promise Mic a new dress if she could run a few errands for her. Eager for something more fitting, Mic helped the lady with her chores.

Throughout her six year span she continued to help the lady and other folks in town, and they returned in kind with giving her whatever she needed.

Her enemies were clear: the GOV agents were not friendly to her and would happily accost her for questioning. Not willing to risk answering to them, Mic ran to the woods for fear of her life. Unsure of the dangers of the wilderness they never chased her too far in, not risking the chance that they would become lost themselves.

A few close calls occurred during some nights, but they never caught her. If they did, she’d probably be powering some lamp over at GOV HQ by now.

Against all odds, Mic survived for six years as an orphan. However, it only got worse when he showed up in the forest on a day when the agents were being particularly frisky.

Biography
To say that she wasn’t drawn to him would be an outright lie - Mic found Shalice fascinating the moment she saw him. Cool black hair, piercing blue eyes, a GOV Jacket unlike the ones she usually sees, a straightmetal weapon by his side, he was a boy unlike the others in town. Unsure of what he was doing there and she herself having nothing better to do, she stayed with him out of a curiosity; she was curious as to why this boy was so different as opposed to the rest. The jacket, the weapon, they both told her that there was something more to him, despite the cold and direct answers he gave to her questions. He had an aura about him, a purpose, direction. He was out to do something, and Mic found that was what made him interesting.

There was no reason for a boy like him to be set on meeting up with what sounded like some very unscrupulous people unless he was intent on changing the world, and Mic had plenty of reasons to question GOV and how it ran the show. She saw an opportunity to get out of merely surviving and actually making a difference, and she took it. She had to overcome her fear of GOV Agents, but as they progressed she felt oddly comfortable by his side, quickly losing her politeness to him in exchange for something more informal. Unsure of how he felt about her she would take opportunities to get an idea by exposing him to uncomfortable situations, but he responded in his typical stony manner by not responding at all. While she never questioned him or called him out on it, it only worried her more - she felt that he didn’t care about anyone at all, including himself.

Her concern grew as he kept taking on more responsibility than he needed - particularly when he came upon the Calm Silence and the knowledge behind the artifact itself. It was going to kill him, and there was no reason for him to wield it. To her this was a senseless waste of life, particularly for someone as brave as he was. If he had a reason to stay alive perhaps he wouldn’t be so eager to throw his life away, but it seemed that he was intent on following through his commitment.

If he was going to go through with this, then she wanted to share with him as much as she could before he would lose himself to the blade. In a rare moment of anger he expressed concern toward her, and she poured her past out to him. It was at that time that the two came to an invisible understanding, that they would never leave each other, that they would be there - together - until he was gone.

They shared similar pasts - both of their fathers were involved heavily with GOV and spent much of their time away from the family. Both of their mothers tried and failed to deal with their husbands missing for long periods of time. Both of them were now effectively single children - they had no one else to turn to.

Then Vorce accidentally knocks him out and the two have to separate for a little while. Whoops.

Surrounded by those unscrupulous people that Shalice mentioned earlier, Mic is unsure of her place in the larger scheme of things. Fortunately Tala steps in as a mediator when they go out on patrol without him, prying into the two’s world and curious as to what it is about him that she finds so fascinating. Embarrassed at the questions and intimidated by Tala’s imposing and beautiful body, Mic offered little to answer any of Tala’s questions, afraid that she was looking to get in on her friend. It was hardly the case, but Mic was talking to a busty five foot eleven Keeton who was screaming sexuality out of all of her exposed skin - she assumed the worst.

When they return they find him in a mess, having killed an entire squad of agents and taking down one of the largest known MACHiNES to exist. If she admired the skills she saw him execute before, her imagination took over for the ones she did not witness. He was incredible, and she herself wasn’t going to let him down. When confronted with her own past she stood up and did her best to summon the same kind of courage he would, defeating her father and laying her past to rest.

She was just an orphan left behind to die in the wild. Now she’s about to be part of a grand revolution to overthrow a corrupt regime and she couldn’t have done it without him. He couldn’t have done it without her; in order to fully form the Calm Silence he needed a strong love, although he never would bring himself to admit it.

They succeeded, but it was not without loss. Her inspiration and motivation was dying in her hands. She wanted to tell him that she cared for him, that she didn’t want him to go, but she couldn’t control her words. She wanted to tell him that his father was right, that he shouldn’t deny what he feels, that it’s all true. Instead, he gave her the artifact, the weapon that killed him, telling her that she can use it to remember him by. With tears in her eyes, she choked on her own words, unable to give a proper response. With that promise in mind, she carried onward, taking care of it while the others tried to rebuild what they had destroyed.

With the destruction of GOV there came what was known as the Aftermath. Evicted from the city and blamed for the events that transpired afterward, for three and a half years Mic entered into a mindless routine. Safe with the others out in a house in the middle of the woods, she did her chores and trekked daily to a gravestone up on a hill. Every day she talked to the stone, which never gave her an answer. Sometimes she felt she could hear him, but she was convinced that it was her mind in wanting. She blamed herself for being unable to save him, for not encouraging him to choose another path, for not showing how much she cared when he really needed it most. She missed him dearly, and not even Tala and Vorce’s silly antics could make up for the loss.

With the spare time she had Squeak would teach her on how to use the blade, as it was very heavy and she would need a unique type of training to wield it. A skill that was sure to come in handy, as she decided that she could sit around no longer. This is not what he would have wanted. He wanted to make the world better, not worse. She used his motivations as her own and set out into the wilderness to set right what went wrong.

For a half year she did as best as she could, breaking up slave camps and helping others to organize settlements that were popping up all over the land. She grew very attached to her weapon, as it was all she had of him. Eventually she got in over her head, losing a battle to several slavers. Upset that she was going to lose him, she cried out to him as they beat her senseless.

As the artifact works through the emotions of the one who wields it, her pain and longing for him awakened the soul of Shalice, who had not died but rather had his spirit placed inside the blade. His voice reached out to her, waking her back into reality.

The two were reunited, but Shalice was now part of the hilt, his physical body gone. He could come to form as a weapon if she concentrated, but that was all. More than happy to have him back in any form, Mic carried him by her side constantly, quietly speaking to herself when around others and talking out loud openly when not. With his help she assisted with several settlements, each with their own unique issues and problems.

As the two traveled, Mic once again tried to get a feel for how he felt about her, and only when they reached an argument did she discover what he meant to her - she was a replacement to his long dead little sister, someone who he had sworn and failed to protect.

Under a new understanding the two returned home, although Mic did not share the news of Shalice’s existence. For a few days she returned to her mindless routine, acutely aware that she was in love with a non-existent soul in a sword that saw her as merely something that needed to be protected. When Harland showed up offering her an opportunity to stop Jaeger from bringing back GOV, she took it, partly because she was angry with herself and because she didn’t want the other three to be involved.

The risk was great, and Mic found herself at the end of a long hall with twenty-six men all looking to take Shalice away and kill her. To her this was the last hurrah, a final opportunity to tell him how she feels, so there is an understanding between the two that won’t be lost like last time. This time, there will be no mistake.

She didn’t want to be his new little sister and be protected by him. She didn’t want him to pick up that sword and lose himself into the hilt. She didn’t want to be seen as just another object for him to obligate himself to. She didn’t want him to hide his feelings - and on that note, she wasn’t going to hide hers.

She loved Shalice. She loved him.

The hilt had mysterious powers, and through that declaration it brought him back to her. He was real - she could see him, smell him, touch him, feel him. He was there, with a smile on his face.

Together again, they set Jaeger in his place. Afterward Shalice expressed himself in a way unlike his usual behavior - he hugged her, right then and there. This was an unspoken return of love back, something quiet and understood. Mic didn’t need to know through words if he loved her back - it didn’t matter anymore. She already knew.

The five were back together again, but it was clear something happened when Mic returned from her last trip.

For starters, she brought back a boy that looks like Shalice, only four years older. Refusing to give an explanation, the two would instead spend time quietly together sitting on the bench outside the house or taking walks in the woods. This baffled Vorce and Tala, but they accepted it a few days later and let it be.

Mic loved how she was with him, never needing to do anything to enjoy that time together. While Mic was very much her own person, she almost felt like she worked on the same mindset as him. They both wanted the same things and both believed in the same things. It’s possible that Mic began to believe his ideals were her own, or that she would have developed the same if she hadn’t had to face being an orphan for six years. Either way, they shared the same thoughts and always worked with each other over the small issues they faced.

When the Professionals showed up, it wasn’t Shalice making the decisions - they both did. They both wanted to fight them off, they both wanted to hunt down the ones that sent them, they both wanted to stop GOV from coming back.

As they went on to discover what was happening to the city, Mic had to defend her reasoning with Vorce, justifying why she was there. There was more than just him, she herself honestly felt that she was here to do the right thing, that she couldn’t allow GOV to come back and use more people as an energy source. She understood where Shalice was coming from and agreed with it on her own, not because she cared about him and went along with whatever it is that he did.

Mic then watched as Shalice dealt with his own personal issues - his dedication to protecting those he cares about. His mother was used as bait, and Mic watched on as Shalice broke his own pledge, finally overcoming his father’s mental conditioning. Happy that he was becoming his own person, she escorted his mother out of the building.

That is, until a sense of worry crept up her spine. What if he needs help? She’s always been there for him, and Evelyn seemed to be doing okay on her own. With Evelyn to encourage her, Mic ran back to find him.

Vorce was there, and he turned on the two. They did their best, but Mic was knocked out early by one of Vorce’s clever tricks. She came to after it was over, with Shalice battered, but alive. Relieved that they were still together, they pulled together the rest of the team and returned home.

With the threat finally gone for good, the two knew there was more work to be done. Sitting at home was all well and good but they had the capability to do so much more. Secure in each other, she received a passionate kiss from Shalice before they headed out into the unknown.