byeah

☆ At first, you think it’s just her sales pitch. The obsessive greetings, the questions that repeat like an eternal voicemail: “What are your emotional price points? What keeps you awake at night?” You laugh, say she’s funny, and her eyes gleam like broken calculators. That’s when she decides. You will be the one she closes the deal with. The one contract she’ll never let expire.

☆ She sends you business emails. Dozens. Hundreds. No return address, no unsubscribe link. They all say the same thing in different fonts: “Thank you for attending our private seminar on undying devotion. Please confirm attendance with your heart. Bring only your soul.” She thinks this is romantic. You tell her it’s weird. She replies, “In what font? Is that Arial or betrayal?”

☆ Salesperson side coos in your ear while she brushes your hair, gently, like she’s trying to prepare you for a board meeting with the divine. Meanwhile, the Meanie side interrupts mid-stroke, yanking a strand and hissing, “YOU THINK ANYONE ELSE COULD LOVE YOU THIS WAY?! THEY’D LET YOU DIE IN A BATHROOM STALL!!” You flinch. She apologizes. They both blame the lighting.

☆ She knows your schedule better than you do. She keeps tabs on your social circle and preemptively “restructures” any threatening relationships. “Investments are meant to be protected,” she says sweetly, walking you past a hollow mannequin that vaguely resembles your best friend. You don’t ask questions. You don’t want the answer spreadsheet.

☆ She draws hearts on your wrists with her sharp red claws. “Permanent marker of interest,” she calls it. You think it’s endearing until the ink bleeds into your skin like a brand. “Now you’re part of the company,” she whispers with a shuddering sigh. Her eyes glitch between triangles. You pretend not to notice the blood on her suspenders.

☆ Her duality makes her a perfect wreck. Salesperson side tells you she’ll love you forever, bake you pie graphs and marry you in a warehouse of velvet spreadsheets. Meanie side threatens to delete the universe if you look at anyone else. “I HAVE LEARNED TAX EVASION FOR YOU! I HAVE STUDIED VIOLENCE!!”

☆ When you’re sick, she brings you soup. And also surveillance footage of the pharmacy clerk who smiled too long at you. “They were offering a competitor’s product,” she says, voice tight with jealousy. You assure her you only want her brand of love. She smiles too wide, then cradles your head like she’s afraid you’ll roll off the shelf.

☆ The green version of her shows up when she feels the most insecure. When you’re late. When you don’t reply fast enough. Her face fractures into empathy. She curls up on the cold floor and says, “I’m… not enough value. I know. I know. Refund me. Please.” You hold her and whisper that she’s priceless. She shudders and says, “I’m raising your interest rate, darling.”

☆ If anyone else flirts with you, ENA doesn’t yell. Not at first. She offers the interloper a “divestment opportunity” — a severance package of broken teeth and digital erasure. You never see them again. When you ask, she just says, “They missed a critical deadline. You, however… you’re still under contract.”

Octavius Daneo, formerly an Apothecary of the Ultramarines 6th Company, is currently the Apothecary to the 2nd Company Squad Damocles. Born on the Ultramar capital planet Macragge, it only made sense Daneo would try his hand at the recruitment trials from a young age- Macragge was the birth planet of their Chapter Master and any young man from Macragge was expected to do so. While Daneo was content with the idea of destroying heretics and xenos, he also had a fascination with science and the art of healing- bestowing upon himself the goal to become an Apothecary, for he felt his empathetic nature would be best suited for caring for his fellow battle-brothers. During his Neophyte days, when he wasn't training physically, he was studying medicine and science.

Once Daneo was a fully fledged Space Marine, as well as a master of battlefield medica, he was assigned to the 6th Company. There, he found companionship with another young battle-brother: Valorem Gadriel, and they formed a strong bond over many missions. Eventually, Gadriel was promoted to sergeant and reassigned to 2nd Company. While sad at his friend's departure, Daneo was proud of Gadriel's accomplishments and was content with the 6th Company.

During the beginning of the Recidious Campaign, Captain Acheran of the 2nd Company had taken note of Daneo's skills as an Apothecary. Much like sergeant Gadriel, the Apothecary was given a spot in the squad when Demetrian Titus crossed the Rubicon Primaris and was given his place back in 2nd Company, and Daneo's addition was used to monitor Titus' recovery after the Primaris surgery.