Gateway Resident Database: Expressive
File #07 Jan 2023 22:19
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 Matthew Fox |
Given that both Michelle and Brennan came from very privileged backgrounds, living in France has been easy for their family. Having left Manhattan after the passing of Marlena to the non-evo variation of the flu, the Brennan’s sold their practice to their partner, Brennan resigned from the Suresh Center, handed in his resignation to Praeger from the Department of Evolved Affairs – and in turn his obligation to the Institute – and on a private plane with his family, they left New York behind and settled down in Marseille, France. Hopefully, they would be far enough from the reaches of everyone. Not even Marlena’s cremated remains stayed in New York. She was laid to rest as he had promised, beneath a tree by the sea that she loved. They set down roots, set up practice and got down to the business of making more babies and working. He continued to advise and be a mouthpiece for evolved individuals, rights, and research into the medical needs of those with extraordinary abilities as he had in the States. Some things do not change.
Things in the US continued to implode as he had seen coming. He and Michelle were unsurprised, and they watched the news unfolding every day and held their breath. Sighs of relief when things finally came to a head at the cost of great bloodshed but ended. Then the Albany trials started in 2014. Being in France did not stop the authorities looking in his direction when it came to light that he had at one point been on the payroll of the Institute. The result of the handful of visits from them was Brennan testifying in the trials remotely from France. Of how he came to be in the employ of the Institute and the significant role they played in the family fleeing to France. Kidnapping, blackmail, Brennan had no qualms about bringing to light what he was asked to do and the implied and not so implied consequences of not complying with them. His history with the Ferryman, even if short, was brought to light and his experiences with them for the better and worse. In the end no charges were brought against the physician for his small part, and he was left alone. There's no rope for the man.
Harve’s side of the family pulled through well despite the fact that they lived in Chicago. They had the means to get out and leave, heading to of all places, Detroit and take advantage of the economic boom there. Generational wealth has its advantages.
Life continued apace, another added to the brood of Brennan’s. Eléa’s birth in 2019 was a welcome one if a surprise given Michelle’s age. Brennan and Henri are still outnumbered by the females in the house. They are aware as much as the rest of the world was about what is going on, though ‘isolated incidents’ that keep happening do get a raised brow from both. They continued life in France.
The Brennan family was unaware of the end of the world coming. Oblivious like most other people. Harve was in Detroit in March to deal with the recent passing of his father and tend to the matter of his father's estate, Michelle and the children in France when he received a call from the system that alerted those chosen to start entering the arcology. He at first presumed that it was a joke but a subsequent call from Michelle stating she had the same message. A rendezvous point for Brennan and Henri to meet up at then head to Washington, a different one for Michelle and the other children that would eventually take them there as well. It was chaos, confusion and after no small amount of drama did the family meet up finally at the Arcology and find out what precisely was happening. They had been there for a week, getting settled in, debriefed before the order was given for doors to close and seal them in from the end of the world.
Arcology Life
To say that the Brennans were valuable would be an understatement. Two physicians, SLC-E with very useful abilities in at least four of them – Brennan, Michelle, Genevieve and Dessandra – the family was immediately placed in the lofts. They lived together at first, the girls in their late teens, Henri only 10, Eléa was only 3. The discovery of familiar faces not seen in a long time did much for morale and within those first few weeks Harve and Michelle did what they could to bring calm to the uncertainty and chaos. His ability to relate with young people was key in helping some of the younger people who had made their way into the Arcology without family like Squeaks. In the wake of the attempted assassination and the destruction of the geothermal plant, Michelle and Brennan spent most of their time assisting with the medical care of the survivors in sector 10 in an experience that afterward, reminded them much of their early days in their marriage in foreign countries with MSF.
Time marches on and the Brennan's march on with it. The girls grew up, married and moved out with Genevieve and her husband remaining with the Brennan’s having displayed an aptitude for the medical field like her parents while Dessandra transitioned to her own home in the Ascent with her husband and between the two girls they started producing grandchildren. Henri started training in the medical field as well and Eléa carried on with life as a teenager and remained blissfully relatively unaware of life beyond the Lofts. There’s no lack of kids coming and going from the house or the Brennan's making trips to Midlands to visit friends and to keep aware of issues in the other sectors and levels.
Brennan rose in the medical ranks given his breadth of experience in the field, his past positions with the Suresh Center and his charming nature. His interest in the projects of others that would better the quality of life within the arcology for all was something often noted, and he was often fascinated with what was produced when evolved abilities intersected with science. His ability left him often on call when out of the ordinary manifestations happened – manifestations of abilities by children too young to understand what was happening or particularly violent ones where it was too dangerous to get close. Rowena’s manifestation at such an early age after the death of her mother was one such occurrence.
In 2031, Michelle convinced him to run for the Citizens Council, for the chair of science & Medicine. Though he was hesitant initially, much like with taking a position with the Department of Evolved Affairs at the time, conversations with his peers changed his mind and he put his name on the ballot. It proved fruitful and as he took up the mantle of head of Medical and Science, he would venture down a path that he had never once thought he would ever venture down. Politics. He knew how to delegate, made sure to listen to those who were better informed than him and made the choices from there on what would be presented to the council. He found in Maxwell Huber a bit of a kindred spirit over shared experiences even before he’d run for the seat and would often have the soft spoken man over to dinner and many a late night just talking. Squeaks, who had been a part of the Brennan family’s orbit much like Rowena, had been instrumental in convincing Harve when a tremor appeared in his right hand in his late 50’s, to agree to an implant to mitigate it and regain back fine motor control. While he had no problems with encouraging other people to take advantage of the scientific advancements, he himself had always been wary and eschewed it unless family hounded him enough. He preferred to ‘age gracefully’ he’d say, or it was resources better used on others.
The death of Huber would be a personal blow to Brennan in as much as it was to the arcology in the late 30’s and swiftly on the heels of Huber’s passing that Michelle passed away just as suddenly and in her sleep from a stroke too. lt proved to be a trying year for the family and it took some time for Harve to recover mentally from the loss. Were it not for Huber’s inventions, Harve might have followed, facing health issues of his own due to age. He was approaching 67 after all and in a high stress job. But unlike Michelle, there was enough warning and time and Brennan found himself with a new set of kidneys then within a few years eventually a heart.
By the time he had made it into his late 70’s he’d been starting to feel more technological than human. Hip replacements, a knee replacement, an implant to restore full hearing in his left ear. The Decimation was a concern and major impact on the job that had them scrambling and Brennan privately wondering if perhaps he was too damn old for the job. That the struggles they were facing with disease and illness were a personal failing of his and professional. That someone much younger would be better in the position. By the time he reached his mid 80’s, he had chosen someone. They didn’t know it, no one knew it except Brennan and Henri. He wanted Squeaks to be his successor. He would endorse her to be his successor when the time was right. Confidant that the young woman will be just what the Arcology will need as it’s Chair of Medicine and Science to get it through its next crisis, and the next crisis and continue to foster the technological developments needed to compensate for the lack of evolved abilities or maybe be the Chair that finds the answer to that. He’s been doing this for 20 years and it’s time for a change. For fresher ideas and not an old man who knows his days are numbered since he’s not availing himself of the ways to extend his life and cognition. It’s time for him in the next few years to bounce grandchildren on his titanium knee while he has time.
Brennan has never really lost the charming bedside manner that he’s had. Even in the face of everything going on in the Arcology, the stresses of the job and dealing with the loss that comes with being one of the older individuals residing within the Arcology. These days he seems a bit wearier but lights up around his grandchildren and any children, the soft spot that he has for them. He’s still sharp mentally, though it’s a matter of time before that too will be impacted. The lessening of his ability is something that he’s learned to come to grips with. He trends toward nostalgia these days and accepts the eventuality of life.
Brennan does still retain to a degree, his negation ability though it has been greatly diminished by 2051. Over time, the Decimation has taken its toll on Harve’s valuable ability. No longer is he casually able to turn it on and off like a light switch and as time went by it required concentrated effort. This in turn made it harder to sustain and as they come into 2051, he can only keep it on for roughly ten minutes, if that. The closer to the end of the ten minutes, it weakens and flickers much like a power brown out and starts to lose its effectiveness. Line of sight used to just be the limitation but as time went on, he found that he needed to be closer and closer to the person till they had to be within 50 feet of him. He has thrown resources behind trying to discern the why’s and how's this is happening as Chair but has made peace with the fact that at some point it’s going to be gone completely.