I Am Legion

A Laura prompted story

Created on Midjourney

I sit idle, anxious to move—to act. I’ve never liked these breaks between gigs. I need something to occupy myself. I need purpose, meaning. I need my next assignment. But the where and what of that depends on my handler, who has spent the last three days bingeing Netflix Originals and eating stale popcorn.

I’m not complaining. Not really. They work hard and they do give me the best assignments. Just last week they sent me on a spy mission to Mars. And the one before that, I led a safari through a thrillingly dangerous jungle.

I guess I kind of feel like an actor between roles. Sometimes I think my handler will never call on me again. Sometimes I think they’ll find someone entirely new, someone they can start from scratch with.

But I’m versatile. I am. I’ve been everything they’ve ever asked of me. I’ve been male, female, trans, and non-binary. I’ve been human, animal and alien. I’ve even been an AI on more than one occasion.

But that worry, that fear, niggles in the back of my mind. Maybe this time will be different. Maybe this time, they’ll decide they don’t need me anymore.

Wait! They pick up the remote. Yes. They’re turning off the television. I watch, holding my breath as they shift from the living room to their office. They sit at their desk and fire up their computer.

That familiar vacant look fills their eyes as they let their mind go. Will it be me? I look back at all the previous incarnations of myself. They peer over my shoulders, expectant…hopeful.

The handler’s fingers start to move, slowly, at first, then gather speed as their imagination takes hold. And there I am on the page, coming to life. I am a dragonborn mage. I smile and feel my other selves smile with me. I have not been abandoned. I am the stuff of my writer’s dreams. I am legion.

---

My dear friend, Laura, gave me the prompt for this story. Most of the prompt was very personal, so I won’t share it. But this is the part I can share:

A character, sitting in the back of your imagination, wondering who she will become this time around.  A fey?  A princess?  A child?  A detective? I can see her sitting there, looking forward to the next adventure, wondering when and where and how she’ll emerge.  Will she even be a she?  Will she became a prince or maybe a dragon that can fly.  Is she breathing softly, her breath flowing into your imagination and bringing her to life? 

If she’s like me, she’s patiently waiting, looking forward to what’s ahead.  Not always happy to have left the last adventure but, knowing there’s another ahead, whatever it may look like. 

Then, you raise your pen and she smiles.

I really loved this prompt. It’s so meta. And I always do kind of feel that my characters are real people, even if they only inhabit the back of my head. Or do they?

They also inhabit the page (or screen, or file, or…you get my point) and the imaginations of everyone who reads their stories. Even within the context of a single story, each character is so many versions of themselves, as they take on a separate existence in the imaginations of each and every reader. In a way, they are legion.

So many characters written by writers I love live on in my mind, sometimes for years after I’ve read their stories. Are characters you ever read about real for you? Do they stay with you? Do you find yourself going back to reread their stories, just so you can spend time with them again? Let me know in the comments.