None of the regulars to the convenience store he owns would peg Oscar as having once been paratrooper with the Mexican Army under another name. They certainly wouldn’t believe he left to join Alex Abel’s private occult mafia after he was discharged, following a disaster that left him the sole, sane survivor of his unit stumbling into a garish, casino-themed otherspace. They absolutely wouldn’t believe Maria, his coarsely adoring wife of 20 years, was a plant from yet another secret society (sent to secretly exploit him for access to the New Inquisition but who caught genuine feelings and kept it all hidden in the aftermath of the Whisper War). He just doesn’t seem like that kind of guy.
Oscar prefers it that way, as far as he is concerned he never really wanted to be that guy. Sure, youthful machismo dictated his choice of military career, but of everything that followed where he’s at now feels the most like home. His marriage, his store, his community, seeing the faces of his kids when he gets home, he’s grateful in a way he didn’t think he’d ever get to be. Especially not as his experience with “extra-dimensional environments” eventually led to him being Alex’s chief doorkicker when it came to dealing with otherspaces and related phenomenon. There were only four genuine incursions over his tenure, but dozens of false positives and sifting the wreckage of those that disappeared before TNI could arrive kept him busy and sharp. You can count the number of people with more otherspace experience who’re alive today on your fingers.
Maria was a cult-survivor picked up by the Sleepers in the aftermath of wiping it out. Impressionable but wary she was eventually won over by their rhetoric of sparing people the terrible things she had been through. Although she proved an adequate operative she tired of the uncertain and dangerous lifestyle, so when the opportunity to unofficially retire herself under the guise of getting close to a trusted member of a major rival organisation came up she took it. The Sleepers learned a few useful tidbits from her but she got her wish, they imploded before they could make any serious impositions on her new position.
When TNI fell apart at the same time Oscar picked himself up and walked away. He had a nest egg, a young family and a new identity unencumbered by most of his past. It was an chance to start fresh somewhere. His own little slice of the American Dream. Maria hadn't planned on actually falling in love with the man she was deceiving but when the opportunity to cut ties came around she realized she couldn't think of any place she'd rather be.
For a long while they got to live it, but it wasn’t to last. TNI’s reformation brought a lot of wayward souls back into the fold and when it was discovered that not only was Oscar unwilling to join them but had built himself a life with a new family they gave him an ultimatum. He gets to go on living under his assumed identity, the legal status of his citizenship goes unnoticed and he’ll get to live out a normal life with his family. In return TNI has expectations, his experience and expertise aren’t something they have a replacement for so occasionally he gets a call and has to make an excuse to disappear on a job for a few days.
Oscar is pretty sure he’s got his kids fooled but he knows Maria has caught on that something is going on, as far as he knows the extent of her knowledge about his past is that he was once involved with some bad people. He never elaborated, he’d rather she rationalize it as a previous life of crime than try to explain the truth and figures she suspects it’s come back to haunt them. Unbeknownst to him she’s been getting phone calls herself. Someone on the Committee is aware of her old assignment as well as Oscar’s reactivation and has decided to pull on a very old string. For now she’s just been tasked with keeping an eye on him.
Any number of developments could escalate the situation. Oscar could get hurt on an assignment, the Sleepers could start making serious demands of Maria or either one of them could be caught by or be caught catching the other. Old files looted from abandoned safehouses could put either of them in positions in jeopardy, someone from Oscar’s old unit could finally get out of hospital and come looking for him or the same for survivors of the cult Maria was recruited from. The real test of a marriage built on lies may very well be in how they see the sacrifices that the other is willing to make for it.
STATS - Oscar Fonesca
Personality: Oscar usually has the kind of middle-aged happiness that only comes from finally being able to get away from being trapped in a bad situation. Now that he’s back in it this is infected with shame and disappointment, he’s keeping a brave face for the sake of his family though.
Rage: Shoplifting. In the circumstances that someone needs something bad enough to steal it he’d rather give it to them. If it’s opportunistic they can get their ears boxed though.
Noble: Don’t leave anyone behind.
Fear: His kids finding out about his past (Isolation).
Obsession: Building a new life for his family.
Wound Threshold: 50.
Otherspace Survival Expert 60% (Substitutes for Notice, Substitutes for Dodge, Provides Firearm Attacks.)
Gregarious Store Owner 40%* (Substitutes for Connect, Substitutes for Status, Protects Isolation).
Living A Double Life 40% (Substitutes for Lie, Protects Self, Evaluates Self.)
Shock Gauges
STATS - Maria Fonesca
Personality: Maria knows she didn’t come into her arrangement with pure intentions but she divides her life into before she met Oscar and after she met him. She’s forthright and flinty-eyed but laughs heartily. Growing up in an unstable background she values her family more than anything and is not shy about letting people know how far she’s willing to go for them.Rage: Presumptuous naivety. People who don’t know any better but think they’ve got it all worked out really get Maria’s goat.
Noble: Let people know what they mean to you.
Fear: That she doesn’t deserve her family or her life (Self).
Obsession: Trying to maintain the life her family has built.
Wound Threshold: 50.
Sleeper 60% (Substitutes for Notice, Coerces Unnatural, Use Gutter Magick.)
Cult Survivor 40% (Substitutes for Connect, Substitutes for Secrecy, Protects Helplessness.)
Living A Double Life 40%* (Substitutes for Lie, Protects Self, Evaluates Self.)
Shock Gauges
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