"Mail for Subject Delta." The voice broke through my musings. I pulled the ornate mask off my face, exposing my scarred features to the people behind the stage of the Plasmid Theater. I could barely even look at myself in the mirror now. My brown hair had long ago fallen off my head; my once blue eyes were giving off an eerie yellow glow.
The current plasmid regimen I was on was currently sloughing off what skin was left to me. Fontaine's doctors just bandaged me up to make me look presentable. That and the mask were merely measures to comfort the people outside the tall glass walls.
"Here." I wheezed out, raising my scarred palm. The Insect Swarm plasmid was giving me an uncomfortable feeling inside. I ought to tell those eggheads before someone outside those walls sprouts bees from their noses.
"From Sofia Lamb." The courier stated as he handed me a simple envelope. He averted his eyes from my horrible face as he left as fast as he could.
"May I go into the back?" I asked my watcher. The burly man glanced at the stage supervisor before he gave me a short nod of the head. I pulled my tired body from the bench and then gently pushed my way through the throng of stage technicians.
I was now alone in the comfort of the small dressing room that Fontaine Futuristics provided for me. "Stupid gene tonics." I muttered to myself as I struggled to pull the photograph from the envelope. "Ah, there we go-" I held it in front of my eyes, as my neck was sore from the Armored Shell plasmid. "Hello, Eleanor." I greeted.
True to her word, Sofia Lamb had sent him photographs of little Eleanor every year. Now on her fifth year, she was growing fast. Her brown hair was kept in cute little pigtails while her blue eyes smiled at the camera. Beside her, Sofia Lamb's disapproving face looked on.
"Cute." I muttered to myself with a grin despite the pain it caused me. "Growing well, too."
I glanced over my shoulder before I cleared my throat, my voice lowering to a secretive whisper. "Are you a good girl, Eleanor?" I asked the photograph. "Do you eat well? Are you watching out for yourself?"
"Five minutes." My watcher said irritably as he knocked on the door of my room.
"Yeah, yeah." I said wryly. "I know your mother isn't as good as you think she is… I named you after my little sister for a reason, so you have to be spunky when push comes to shove, alright?"I continued.
"Delta, two minutes." My watcher continued.
"I'm coming." I muttered as I took out a simple wallet from my pocket. In it were the other four photographs I had of little Eleanor: as a baby swimming in her little tub, as a toddler eating the ear of a teddy bear-
I paused. Talking hurt my mouth. "… take care of yourself."I said as I tucked in the newest photograph into my wallet. "… Daddy loves you, wherever you are."
The door opened. My watcher didn't look pleased. "Come on." He said as he offered me my mask. I took it and then slipped it over my head. "It's show time."
"Ladies and Gentlemen-" The announcer went on as I headed towards the spotlight. "Presenting~"