Riley Morgan
The Basics
Name: Riley Morgan
Gender: Intersex, They/Them
Age: 25
The Physical
Height & Weight: 5'7" 115lbs
Hair & Eye Color: Black hair and green eyes
Physical Description: At first glance they seem like a teenager, lanky and apathetic to the world. On closer inspection they are actually an adult, unhealthy thin and with large black rings under their eyes from a mixture of exhaustion and substance abuse. Their clothes are formal casual, large fitting on what was once a more healthy frame but now hang off them. Their hair is messy, eyes distant and sad yet constantly alert to things around them
Questions
1. Do you work for the Magnus Institute, or do you simply work alongside it?
Answer: Currently coming to give a statement about their experiences but are hoping to find a safe place to stay.
2. Do you have any connections to the various Entities?
Answer: They are tied to the Web without any choice, they have dealings with the Spiral because of what the Web has put them through
Talents
Education: Attempted to complete a college degree in creative writing but the influence of the Web meant they could not complete it
Skills: They are a speedy writer and typer although they will actively go out of their way to avoid any sort of writing implements, (their unit currently has no computer, pens or pencils and their phone is an old wall phone to prevent texting over a smart phone). Due to their paranoia they have a strong eye for details and can very quickly scan an area for items of interest. Their smaller size and light weight means they are agile and can fit into some overhead storage compartments.
They have one unnatural ability which is they are unaffected by any anomalous writings, however this is followed by the strong desire to replicate any anomalous things they read which can be spread via reading. The copies they create have the same anomalous effects as the original.
Artifact: N/A
Under The Hood
Personality: Riley grew up a calm and gentle child, not really one for physical altercations they enjoyed reading, writing and drawing above all things. They did not make any long term friends until they started college. Since they began experiencing loss of days and writing things they have no memory of they have become more skittish, nervous and paranoid about everything around them. They prefer to be around people as the episodes of manic writing seem to only happen when no one is around them.
Fears:
Major fear: losing control to the power that is taking over their body/forgetting who they are as a person.
Minor fears: That their writings will cause harm to other people. That they will not be able to write or draw again without being taken hold of.
Backstory:
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Riley always knew they didn't fit in with the normal kids, while their parents were happy to accept that they were intersex the children at school were never as kind. Neither the boys or girls wanted to have them in their groups, causing Riley to spend most of their time in the library or reading books out in the playground. They would sit in the park for hours on weekends and after school reading alone or to the insects that wondered around on the ground. The insects fit the same space Riley felt they did, not being fluffy or cute like the animals most kids liked and just existing in the background not wanted by many. After a really bad day at school Riley returned home and sat in their room, finding a large spider on the ceiling. Instead of being scared Riley sat down and read stories to the spider, naming them Anansi after the African trickster spider. Anansi became someone Riley would greet every morning before school and the one they said goodnight to before bed.
High school is when things changed, as hormones began racing through all those around them Riley still neither felt drawn to being a boy or girl. Instead they began to feel more comfortable as themselves, the space between boy and girl and being their own unique self. They would accept any pronouns and eventually the school bullies got bored of their pacifism and unwillingness to rise to their taunts.
As an adult they were excited to start studying creative writing, wanting to both write stories and illustrate things for a side job. It was at college that they met their first true friend, Jessie, the two spending a lot of their time discussing books and going to second hand book stores. It was at one of these book stores that they found their first Leitner book, reading this odd book at home alone and finding it very compelling. This even triggered what was to become their first episode, while they remember beginning to read the book they do not recall the days that followed. Waking up to themselves at their laptop, having rewritten the entire story of the book on their laptop and emailed it to everyone on their email list. The following days many of their classmates on the list called in sick, eventually resulting in Riley being suspended from their course because the story was deemed inappropriate to send to everyone in the class. They have no idea what they wrote as the email and story file had disappeared from their computer along with the book they originally read.
Deciding to take a break from their studies and get a job they began to work at a second-hand book store, thinking their knowledge and love of books would help them help people. However it was here they would encounter their next anomalous book, taking it home to read.
It was four days later Jessie was at their unit door, knocking at first then resorting to using her spare key to enter. They found Riley sitting at a table, frantically writing on pages of paper. They were in a trance, not looking at the paper but writing feverishly in perfect sentences onto the paper. Looking around the room Jessie found piles of pages written down by hand, eventually she roused Riley by physically restraining their hand and pulling them away from the paper. Coming to Riley was in shock, starving, thirsty and exhausted, passing out in Jessie's arms and causing her to call an ambulance. While in hospital it was found that Riley had not eaten, drunk or slept in four days and doctors were amazed they were still alive. They had no memory of what happened over those days or what they had written.
Over the next few months Riley lost their job, finding themselves losing hours and waking up to notes scribbled with any writing implement on any surface nearby. One lady entered the book store, finding Riley passed out at the desk with a story written on the papers around them. Upon reading them the lady began to scream, tearing at her body and ripping off parts of her skin which woke Riley up who called the ambulance. They never found out what happened to the woman and Riley took the pages home with Jessie's supervision and burnt them.
Not wanting to be alone they asked Jessie to help them remove everything from their apartment that could be used for writing. Their laptop, phone, pens, pencils and all paper was disposed of. Jessie convinced Riley to go to a psychologist to help with this growing paranoia about writing. Agreeing they went to a psychologist, Dr James Frankston, who discussed that Riley needed to try and make progress by allowing themselves to write small things now and then rather than allowing the compulsion to cause them to write long amounts. Convinced that this was about denial and unwillingness to admit they were writing these things consciously they kept pushing. Finally Riley agreed to the condition of writing a small one paragraph thing to the doctor, to be read in the next session. Riley returned home to write, sending the finished thing to Dr Frankston.
He went missing that very night, which Riley found out about after the police came to their unit to ask questions as they were the last patient to see him. They didn't want to tell the police about the email on fear something would happen to them.
With paranoia beginning to grow Riley began drinking large amounts of coffee and smoking as ways to keep themselves awake. They did not try drugs or alcohol for fear they would lose consciousness and end up in another episode. Jessie began worrying more and more about their friends mental and physical health, they were losing weight rapidly and shaking because of the lack of nutrition and high caffeine intake.
Finally Jessie found the Magnus Institute, thinking Riley could go and talk to someone about what they believed was something not natural and not be judged. Willing to try and look somewhere non-conventional for support he sought out the Institute for help