Eden ϟ Magnum

Eden has the depth of a spoon, the intensity of a hot knife, and the capability of a fork in a bowl of soup. Far from well-equipped to handle the world as she is now, an aloof, prickly outer shell has fully encapsulated her, becoming a defense mechanism that veils the seeping reservoir of despair and anger that has welled up over her young life. Blooming from seeds rooted deep down in darkness, every fragment of her broken psyche is a reaction to the broken world she was raised in. She is nothing more than a vessel who idles, subject to the whim of natural forces as she grapples to find purchase, unable and uncaring to expend energy on pursuing overarching ambitions or leisurely hobbies. Primitive in nature, she is painfully, socially maladjusted, lacking any semblance of charm and in a permanent state of disharmony due to her refusal to conform to the confines of society. Left without purpose, Eden takes each day as it comes, as it very well may be her last.

Despite the portrayal of suspicion and hostility, Eden is an extremely flighty, sensitive, high-strung girl. Haunted by a lonely, fearful past, she has earned her dark circles, robbed of the vitality she probably once had as nightmares and insomnia have seized her. Weariness plagues her; her guard is ever high, and the walls around her are icy and thick. To focus on one thing for a long time makes her irritable and she is apt to become overstimulated if unable to fall back. She tries to repress her emotions because she can lose control of them and they become incredibly dangerous to her well-being. She can easily succumb to uncontrollable bouts of emotions as they become anesthetics, numbing her to fear, pain, and logic. Hasty conclusions and judgments can be made without a second thought, so Eden prefers her world to remain constant. Change is perceived as an unnecessary evil and she finds refuge in solitude. Her fight or flight response becomes honed to a razor's edge and the latter has her abandoning everything in its wake.

Forsaken since the beginning, Eden has become an impressively knowledgeable individual, all things considered. She has had to learn the tricks of the trade on her own but a short fuse and poor planning skills often yield unsatisfactory results. She can be reluctant to learn new things, unwilling to spare mental space learning what is not not imperative to her survival, believing such to be a waste of time and that way of thinking often makes her waste her potential. She has relied too heavily on society to give her solace in her loneliest moments so she is disillusioned with the idea of companionship. It only brings ruin and has no place in her heart or mind. Instead, she is motivated to rely on others for survival and profit. Those who resolve to tolerate her behavior—or those with whom she shares even the slightest semblance of friendship—are not guaranteed to be spared from her bouts of anger, melancholy, or pettiness.

Eden is doggedly independent. With a will to prove she will reject help no matter how unfavorable her odds are, without deliberating the stakes of her situation. Although, there are times when she will greedily accept aid if there are clear benefits, whether materialistic, social, or psychological, and cooperate on a superficial level. But to have her cooperation should never mean to expect her trust. She has fickle standards; what intrigued her with one individual may turn her away from the next and she will never, ever compromise herself for someone else’s cause. Her clear line in the sand has helped heighten her sense of self-esteem, as brittle as it may be, and she always leaves enough space to withdraw back into herself when cooperation is no longer appealing. Her learned ability to detach herself from everything she has and start over when she needs is easily one of her biggest strengths because personal feelings never hinder her decision-making, but it can turn others against her faster than she could ever realize.

A sharp tongue coupled with a crass attitude make for a choleric temperament. Eden knows no filter, uninterested in being sensitive to the nature of others. Some may label her a hypocrite because she doesn’t take kindly to being the target of criticism or offhand remarks despite how quickly they can fly from her mouth. An inability to properly communicate her feelings has stunted her emotional development so she may come off more brusque than intended. Regardless of how desperately she tries to control every twitch of her countenance, she is very, very readable, contrary to what she may say. Very impressionable, Eden internalizes the moods of others and can be easily influenced by them. She clings to negativity, allowing it to fester like mold due to not knowing how to compartmentalize it. If pushed past her breaking point she will lash out at or push away whatever is closest to her as she has learned to weaponize her anger. Where she is apt to run from the consequences she may be forced to face them, or worse, someone’s unforgiving ire.

Eden's early life was riddled with misfortune and misery. She was thrown into the throes of a famine-ridden life, forced to survive in a pack that teetered on the brink of self-ruin.

She was one of countless siblings, their ages spanning years. By no means was she the youngest but she was the smallest, the weakest. The runt who could only cry in protest as she was pushed aside on the teat of their wet nurse. Her bones broke as quickly as they healed; the elasticity of puphood was the sole thing keeping them together. Before long the adults saw her as a liability. She was more trouble than she was worth, and she fell to the wayside. In a pack whose members’ ages ranged drastically, adults’ word was law. Once the adults abandoned Eden, the younger crowd followed suit. They distanced themselves from her until she was ostracized entirely. She knew no one despite being surrounded by everyone. But she never paid their scorn any mind because it gave her room to breathe. Her home was a cramped environment where the air was moldy and suffocating as if a constant pressure kept her head below water.

Adaptability was a key to survival after anxiety and desperation gave way to insanity, catalyzed by famine and mass hysteria. She understood the concept of death before she could learn how to live. It was a cruel and carefree place; a lawless home run on the whims of the strong. There was no system or hierarchy. Leaders were temporary and replaced at a moment's notice and nobody batted an eye. The weak licked the ground the strong walked on if only to get by. Many ideologies were introduced to young Eden and one of the earliest and most memorable for all the wrong reasons was cannibalism. It was gruesome; an uncontrollable disease that spread almost as quickly as it started. Lives were self-sufficient after all, and an influx of numbers kept the demand for flesh high. Many were hunted and victimized by experts in manipulation and murder.

Having been emotionally torn down by her siblings since she could remember, Eden’s absence of any type of relationship with them was what ultimately kept her mind free from their poisonous influence. She watched them succumb to the insanity of blood sport. Never close to any of them but her small body ached. How had they become so different? They shared the same cramped hollow just hairs apart in their youth, stealing and squabbling over measly scraps stolen from the food cache. No longer could Eden acknowledge them with humanity. They were beings beyond her comprehension, their names and faces lost in the haze of fear. She coped by telling herself that was what they deserved. “They were weak” — a mantra she was told all of her life — a line of reasoning she mirrored back. She stopped fearing for their lives as she started to fear that someday she would become no different than them. They were monsters that no longer fought to feed, but to bleed.

Forced into solitude where nothing more than the dirt below her felt more earthly than those around her, she channeled her loneliness and resentment toward honing her hiding skills. She became an expert upon adolescence. Eden never dared to lay a hair on anyone lest she faced the ire of flashing teeth or paws to the back of the neck. She hated the feeling, something she came to fear after her own stubbornness numbed her to the pain. She learned to strike back when others got too close for comfort, but it never made living easier. The sensation of her teeth digging into warm flesh; the metallic taste on her tongue; the stench in her nose and on her breath made her retch and reeled her away from the desire to eat. After going long periods without food, her physical condition worsened. She was so delirious from the lack of nutrition that the burden of barely surviving made her want to relinquish her life numerous times.

Despite the habitual harassment she was dealt, hardly anyone drew blood, and when they did it was seldom enough to warrant much panic from her. For the most part, she was steered clear of and during all of it, she knew all but why. One would assume the weak would be targeted but that was not the case for Eden. She had time to speculate and chalk it up to that she simply was not worth the effort, as evidenced by her pitifully weak physical being. The condition that forced her into isolation became a weapon that delayed the inevitability of death. Perhaps she served more of a purpose alive being a scapegoat and a chore runner for the adults. Perhaps that was something she could have been grateful for but all she could feel was hatred. But it made her impartial to her weaknesses and gave her an excuse to stop trying so hard.

Those very weaknesses were the same thing that shackled her down and kept her from leaving. She did not have the strength nor courage to find it on her own, knowing all too well that escaping the territory would be next to impossible — and the life that would follow would be just as grueling. Eden had no other option but to rely on her packmates for survival. She managed to steal what she could when she worked up the appetite. Her savior reared its head in the form of an infectious protein that tore through her pack like an untamed wildfire. It rotted those who partook in cannibalism, tearing them down from the inside out in a raging fury that made her own pale in comparison. She took advantage of the chaos and fled among a crowd whose goals were no different than her own and though they proposed everyone stay together, she left, no longer needing or wanting anyone to be by her side. She would rather get by on her own or die trying.