Musca (| ˈmuskə |)
Mallory Musca
Mental characteristics
Personal history
M
usca grew up in a small town in the illegal encampments, near the sewers and abandoned train tunnels. She used to have plenty of brothers and sisters, orphans that her biological mother took care of while waiting for someone good to take care of each one of them. Musca later discovered the ugly truth about her mother's goodwill.
It is later revealed that her mother used to sell her dear children to whoever gave her the most money, no matter what kind of person it was. Meanwhile, the girl entertained herself by exploring the tunnels that enchanted her so much. Only once had she seen a real train working, when her mother took her to the city outskirts. The machine did not touch the ground, it floated above large rectangular metal alloys that stretched meters and meters to the bottom of tunnels; just like the big old tunnel near the sewers.
For a long time Musca dreamt of being like the one train she saw: floating over the alloys and going full speed to whatever place the tunnels take her. However, one-day things changed for this little girl.
When she was again trying to go to the end of the alloys, step by step without losing balance, at the peak of her boredom, her feet started floating under the metallic beam. Slowly, she found herself fluctuating over the tunnel. Her brown eyes shone. As a child, she was amazed and amused by such a peculiar event, but when reality hit her, she started crying and soon fell to the floor. Musca did not go to the tunnel for a few days after that incident.
The day she decided to go back to her favorite place she had great precaution. She started by looking to the deep tunnel by its edges, like a suspicious small animal searching for possible threats. Then, she reached her dirty foot and, with great concern touched the rusty alloy with her big toe. Nothing happened. Musca, after certifying that no one was passing through the tunnel's entrance, decided to try her new trick. She held her breath, clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and pushed. Not the expected result.
She did it a couple more times and, at last, Musca made it: she was floating. At first, it was quite complicated. Musca did not know how to control her new powers. How to go faster? How to go slower? How to stop? How to start? Why did her eyes sparkle while using her powers? These were all questions that soon were answered, as Musca was particularly good at using her powers inside the tunnels.
One day, after sliding very fast over the rusty beams, Musca clashed with something. It was the back of a huge man. When he turned over, a great shadow was cast upon the little girl. It was a big old man, with a great bear, wool cloak, a mining hat, and huge dark brown glasses. Musca, with trembling legs, started crying. Mother has told her about the tunnel monsters that kidnapped little kids who adventured themselves in the abandoned tunnels.
“Please don’t take me away!” she begged with her trembling voice. The man was taken aback. He bent down and stroked the girl's hair.
“Little girl, I will not take you away!”
“No...?” Musca asked, slowly whipping her tears away while sobbing a lot. “But mommy said that if I played in the tunnels the tunnel’s monsters would take me away...”
The man laughed and took his glasses off.
“Funny to think that I am just like you.”. His brown eyes shone brightly. The little girl gasped in surprise.
“You have powers too!”
The man laughed like an old grandfather.
“Indeed. What’s your name, little girl?”
“Mallory, and you?”
“Iulianus, a pleasure to meet you little Mallory!”. The man said and both shook their hands enthusiastically. “Congratulations, you’re a Maga!”
“A what?”
“A Maga, and I am a Magus. Those are the names of the people who have the same powers like us.”
The little girl gasped.
“There are more like us?”
For the following days, Mallory went to the tunnels to meet Iulianus, who taught her how to properly use and disable her powers, besides the story behind her and his powers. However, Musca was coming later and later to home.
One day, while she playing around with the old man, her mom found her and got mad at her. She dragged Musca home but before she advised the old man:
“If you want to talk to her you have to go to the hunt behind the sewers’ pawn shop.” and she left with the girl.
The next day, Iulianus went to the location given. The mother sent Musca to play while she and the man talked. The woman made things clear. If he wanted her little girl, he needed to pay for her. The tunnel man was shocked, repulsed, and left in a hurry. That night Musca was visited by a robot ladybug with a voice message. It was Iulianus. He told her to visit the tunnel on a certain day at a certain hour.
The girl did as he requested and so the man asked her if she wanted to visit a place full of people like them. With many doubts, Musca ended up accepting, and so they dove into the tunnel until reaching a strange place full of machinery and weird people. She was fascinated seeing them using their powers so freely and building fantastic things in mere seconds. The man introduced her to everybody.
Iulianus asked her if she wanted to live there with them and she said yes. They decided that Mallory, with her things packed, would wait at the beginning of the tunnel the next day. Meanwhile, Iulianus would talk to her mother and then they could leave.
The plan went ahead as planned. When both were already in the middle of the path, in the silence of the tunnel, Mallory made a question.
“Mister, how much did you pay for me?”
Iulianus stopped walking.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked perplexed. The girl had a sad expression on her face. “What do you mean, Mallory?”
“Hey… I lived with mom all my life. Do you really think that I wouldn’t notice if most of my brothers and sisters gradually disappeared? Even if the people that came to our hunt weren’t clearly good to any of us?”. The man did not say a word.
“How much did you pay for me, Iulianus?”
After a moment of heavy silence, the man answered her question.
“Nothing, Mallory. In fact, I didn’t even talk with your mother...”. He confessed. She started crying, then held the man’s big hand and looked at him with teary eyes.
“Please, I beg you, pay something to my mom!”
“Mallory...”
“Please! I don’t want her to think I’m a useless ungrateful brat! Please, I beg you, Iulianus!”. The little girl was in tears, with a runny nose, and her hands shaking. Unable to say no to the desperate child, the man hid her and went back. After many minutes, he came back and finally took Mallory to the place she belonged, the Mechanicus Magum.
There Mallory was allocated to the special class of juniors. Due to her abilities, she received the nickname Musca, with means “fly” (insect) in Latin.
When there was War in Pedes, Iulianus had to fight as the captain of that Floor. Unfortunately, he ended up dying, which left a deep wound in Musca. She then dedicated herself to be powerful enough to be the next captain of Pedes.
Sexuality
Bisexual, with more inclination to like girls
Social
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Birthplace
Family
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Gender
Female
Eyes
Dark brown
Hair
Short, Dark brown
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
White, slightly tanned
Aligned Organization
Articles related to Musca
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments