𝘨𝘦𝘦, 𝘪 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮
𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴

🪖 𝘽𝘼𝙎𝙄𝘾𝙎

𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄

the devil's advocate

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄

emmet mahadev auguste

𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒

emmy  ; though first used as an experimental moniker, it quickly became emmet's preferred nickname. they are flattered when strangers pick it up, and upset when teachers refuse to. it's how they introduce themselves these days, much to the confusion of the few classmates that knew them before high school. when did they go from the self-proclaimed "epitome of masculinity" to this? 

emilia ; is what emmet considers changing their name to, but they have one year left until they can legally get away with it. still, it's seldom used in a casual context as emmy hasn't yet shared it with their classmates.  

𝐀𝐆𝐄

seventeen

𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘

october 17th

at this point, school has barely begun, and emmet is too flooded with incomplete syllabi and the promise of looming midterms to care. new years day is a much better (and more universal) time to celebrate a revolution around the sun. 

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 / 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐒

openly non-binary - they/them 
accepts he/she pronouns

𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

emmy has never expressed attraction; they've blown off relationships to the extent that many view them as wholly asexual. consumed by their obsession with historical inquiry, they have little affection to reserve for their present-day peers. 

𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒

english & hindi

𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯
𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺-𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴
𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦?

🪖𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆𝙂𝙍𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘿

𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋

emmet was a hermit, just like their father. they spoke little and hid under an oversized doughboy helmet; its strip fastened so securely around their chin, it left a beet-red, itchy rash behind. they cried when a teacher instructed them to take it off. their nose was constantly running and indistinct food stains perpetually marred their cheeks. other children laughed at them because they brought a model ww2 airplane to class and conducted imaginary sieges ("nyooom! pow pow pow!") during lunch. on their notebooks, they doodled little men engaging in battle: tanks rolled in the margins, planes sliced through paragraphs, and bombs exploded against the edges. every v-day, they forcefully directed their history class in the pledge of allegiance, american flag in their hand and tears streaming from their glossy eyes. they knew 'the internationale' by heart. and they spent their leisure time in the furthest corner of the computer lab, scrolling through article after article, archive after archive. only in select classes—namely history, government, or economics, as they couldn't care less about the rest—did emmet pipe up. any question, answer, or remark was met with their telltale refrain: "well, actually..."

what followed was often questionable, even downright offensive. "men should be manly again. 'traditional' society should return. we should have bombed the soviet union all those years ago." they imposed their ideals with a smug air of self-importance, bolstered by their encyclopedic knowledge of the past. awkward and sometimes abrasive, emmet's attitude successfully warded off potential companions. their father brought them to family friends' houses, but it often ended with one child upset while the other (emmet, of course) eagerly watched violent war movies. the acne-laden, spindly boy with a buzzcut only ever gained the voluntary attention of their u.s. history teacher, who tried arduously to steer the kid away from their warhawk, militaristic roots. though she succeeded by the time they entered ninth grade, their social life was all but unrecoverable. 

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒' 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒

mina mirchandani and elias auguste are known for marrying within months of meeting. while on vacation, mina met the french-canadian elias in a quaint cafe in vancouver; a whirlwind romance ensued. she was an ambitious pilot in the u.s. air force. he was an accounting assistant. 

ms. mirchandani loved adventure and was a free spirit: cunning, optimistic, and deeply intelligent. she couldn't stand repetition and craved the adrenaline of flight. she questioned everything, even her own motivations within the military. the young woman liked to dabble with extremes. she sped a little too much. she left emmet unsupervised a little too long. she walked a little too close to the edges of cliffs. one time, she pushed her plane a little too hard. the crash was fiery. fatal. emmy misses her. they know her peers do, too. her vibrancy could light up a room; emmy's world is rendered dim.   

elias was different. elias liked routine and control. he embraced the states and grew obsessed with its culture. he was quiet and detail-oriented. he drank often and smoked and only ate meat. after mina's death, his discipline faltered. now, he reeks of whisky. he is unaffectionate and occupies himself either by watching television or reading newspapers. though he makes good money, he spends it all too fast on useless items. he is either treated with pity or perfunctory politeness. some families find him boring. others are intimidated. he is still good-looking and invited to events exclusively as a recipient of flirty advances. he gives in. he goes to hotel rooms with strange women and comes home at odd hours. elias thinks no one knows, but he has cultivated a reputation. everybody's aware that elias is full of shit. 

𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒

emmet is no longer elias' boy and now they are nothing. emmet no longer watches '50s propaganda films with him and laughs whenever the communists are killed. emmet no longer prays before they eat. emmet no longer sings the national anthem in the shower. emmet no longer wears the doughboy helmet that mina gifted them from her ww2 memorabilia collection. they've changed. high school indoctrinated and ruined them.

now the pair argues, incessantly. emmy yells when they see elias on the ground, empty bottles strewn on a messy, crumb-laden floor. elias yells back. emmy runs upstairs and slams their door. elias pummels it with his fists. emmy hates him so, their burden of a father who is a mixture of prudish conservativism and rash hedonism. elias hates them, too, their burden of a son who is no longer his son—who is soft and unathletic and forgot how to be a man, dammit!

𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

none

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘

emmet's birth was much like prime minister david lloyd george's account of the first world war: an accident. 

then only in her early twenties and married to the holier-than-thou moralizer, elias, she decided to have him anyway. she went on maternal leave and gave birth to a colicky, screeching little boy. but he was smart, she knew that much. he talked early. he read quicker than most his age. he loved to write. he preferred documentaries over children's programming. and young emmet spent most of his time in the basement, playing with mina's memorabilia collection. mina imbued him with love for knowledge and an obsession with planes. elias imbued him with nationalistic dogmatism. in elementary school, he was the envy of all parents who desired a "gifted" child of their own. his mother fancied him a child prodigy: the one-in-a-million type who'd get into the ivies by fifteen years old. his father, however, imagined a copy of himself: a traditional, hard-working young man of bleeding-heart patriotism. 

mina passed when emmet was ten years old, in fifth grade. her funeral included all military honors: pallbearers, a bugler, even a firing party. emmet remembered that elias did not cry. his brow was set, his bottom lip jutted forth, and his face was reddened, but no tears slipped down his cheeks. men did not cry. their spouse's funeral was no exception. he remembered his father simply staring at the flag folded over her grave and reciting lukewarm words of military honor. then they sang the national anthem. all its verses. emmet would never forget it.

mrs. auguste's vision died with her. elias won out in the end; he unenrolled his son from all tutoring programs under the presumption that "life's a better teacher." then he placed him in a youth military academy—there, the scrawny boy was behind all other students and treated with unique scrutiny, but his devotion to his father's beliefs only grew. emmet entered middle school with renewed arrogance. 

high school was different. one day, in freshman year, emmet looked at himself in the mirror and was overcome with nausea. he scanned his tactical boots and u.s. flag shirt and buzzcut and found that he didn't recognize who was wearing them. so they threw them all away. they tore up their men's magazines and watched the litter slide through their fingers. they let their hair grow out. they stopped using obsolete words like "he" and "emmet" that belonged to someone else, to an ideal their father wanted them to strive toward. they became emmy. and emmy they would remain. 

𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦,
𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮!

🪖 𝙉𝙊𝙒

𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄

towering yet lanky, emmy's build fails to reflect their many years in the military academy. with a thin neck, sagging shoulders, and slim, spindly limbs, they easily fade into a throng of students. a growth spurt seized them when they were fifteen; now, they're six feet tall, but their body has yet to catch up with their height. their almond-shaped eyes are a deep, muddy brown, framed by circular wire-rim glasses with a broken bridge—it's held together by an alternating mixture of tape and industrial glue. without their glasses, they're legally blind. their hair is styled like a modern mullet: shaved to the wire on the sides, with thick, tousled locks cascading to their shoulders. sometimes they dye it a stark red, but such vibrant colors never remain due to their natural jet-black shade. as a result, the ends of their curls are often bleached and frizzy. they have a triangular face with high, prominent cheekbones and a roman nose. their complexion is a warm brown, with clusters of acne dotting their temples and chin. for the most part, emmy wears cardigans, collared shirts, and tweed jackets. their dress is almost akin to a mid-century worker, and they are seldom seen without a flat cap (the replacement for their helmet, it seems.) they may walk clumsily in their father's shoes or wear the same clothes several consecutive days. one might find a lapel pin on their breast depicting a hammer and sickle: if asked, they refuse to elaborate or justify. 

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

historical trivia constitutes so much of emmy's personality, most people find them insufferable to be around. pompous, cynical, and easy to frustrate, emmy acts as if they know everything while believing that their relationships are worth nothing. although they're obsessed with being regarded as intellectual, their attempts to suffuse a conversation with archaic knowledge often backfire; to the hammer, everything's a nail. though far from a middle school patriot, they maintain an inflated sense of self-importance that's imposed on everything (and everyone) they scrutinize. rather than compromising with another's beliefs—or withdrawing quietly—emmy goes to war with their peers, deploying their niche knowledge as both weapon and shield. they love order, too; they're annoyed by visible or emotional disarray and are rather inflexible to change. biographical books and other bygone media fills their mind; whenever they read or watch anything pertaining to the past, their first instinct is to recreate it. it's not uncommon for them to spout lines from an old propaganda film while wearing their beloved helmet, carting around figures and planes, or pretending they're an american soldier in tense combat with soviets. while their fascination is not fueled by pure ideology as it used to be, they have yet to shed their glorification of war.  they are eager to condescendingly explain a concept when no one asked for it, or assume that nobody knows a complex bit of information except for them. emmy also loves to posture—even though they're a true coward, they assume the bravery of the so-called american heroes of old. but they're not wholly unbearable. emmy is exceptionally but reluctantly selfless, and has a strong (perhaps too strong) sense of justice. while they claim to be a rationalist, they operate instead by emotional attachment. as a friend, emmy is brutally honest yet reliable; breaking promises is simply not in their character. 

𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒

maybe they're lacking in this category. maybe they hate talking to students who do not understand their interests. maybe they prefer to spend their time alone with the gi joe action figures laying face-down at the far end of their locker: action figures do what you tell them to do. they do not challenge you. they do not talk about topics you don't care about or interrupt you when you vent your frustrations. they have little action figure-sized guns and tanks and ripped muscles. everything an average north student does not. but there are two or three people they're okay with, they think:

darrell holloway ; he's a relatively well-liked boy on the varsity basketball team who was emmy's childhood buddy. the pair went to different middle schools are reconnected in high school. his parents knew emmy's mother and darrell did too. he is shy, patient, and all too polite—the type to say "yes, ma'am" to his teacher or push a chair in if it's out of place. his interests are simple: professional sports, video games, and science. while he loves the game, he wants to be a mechanical engineer when he grows up. darrell doesn't quite understand emmy's obsessions and rarely hangs out with him these days, but he genuinely enjoys the moments they are together. 

addy zaragoza ; she's a little odd, but that's why emmet likes her. addy wears mismatched socks, spends most of her time in the computer lab as well, and loves books containing horses, wolves, or cats. she has told the teacher that she's a communist several times and many now suspect that she's telling the truth. her favorite pasttime is sitting next to emmet and watching them scroll through articles; they don't interact. she is the president of the unofficial "hot men of history" club (emmet is vice president) and loves to play the cello. one time she got up in the middle of the winter concert and left because she needed to pee. she is on academic probation. 

𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

emmy usually falls under the radar. however, some classmates know them as that kid. from accidentally throwing a metal model plane into another student's head to axing a life-size george washington cutout because "he was a liar and a thief," their bizarre antics elicit both amusement and concern from their peers. they are not associated with a clique and are instead paired with addy: to most, the two of them certainly deserve each other. emmet is seen as haughty, intimidating, mildly unsettling, and a likely contender for future no-fly lists. in most instances, simply avoiding them seems to be the best—and safest—course of action.

𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋

north ; it's a good thing the school's so big: there's always a computer to find.

for zoba-cola ❤️fuck you