Aaron Pike | District 6 | Finished

How we hide

The body hides the so called "defects" within. The hair is plain dark brown, straight and windswept. It seems to complement the face, or so they say, which is angular and always with a grin. It makes others like us, so we keep the grin, except where Aaron says it is inappropriate. He knows best, since he's been around longest. He's the one who gives us a gentle, almost graceful movement. He controls the hands, with long graceful fingers and perfectly cut nails. He keeps the back straight, showing our height, which is measured just under six feet, tall enough to intimidate if we're not careful. The more careful and composed we are, the less they look.

The only hole in our facade is the eyes. They are so difficult to control, always showing who is dominant beneath Aaron's act. They are a hazel, with different colors showing the emotions which can't resist the temptation to arise.

Our apparel is what would be expected of us. Normally Aaron has us wear plain jeans and a loose shirt, perfect for hiding things by the body and in the sleeves. We like athletic shoes as well, so we might move quickly. We are also assured that they are good for the foot, and we would not damage the vessel. At our schooling we wear the doctor's coat, as our teacher asks of us.

Lastly, we must tell of our fitness. We keep the vessel well prepared, with calculated exercises each day. We are not bulky, but rather wiry, with muscles that do not show unless we remove the upper clothing. It allows us to compete physically while keeping the element of surprise at our hands.

How we act

The outside is quite simple: a kind word at every turn, a smile, a refusal to turn to anger. People see a boy who refuses to raise a hand without just cause. We seem like a caring soul, who wants to help the whole world. We are becoming a doctor when we don't need the money after all. We just want to make other people's lives better. People don't tend to look deeper than that, because for most people there is nothing more to see.

We, of course, see the details. We are a council of voices, who all work to help the whole, the vessel, live to its full potential. The first voice was the one the vessel is named for, Aaron Pike. A kind boy, but more to avoid negative attention than to perform any kind of altruism.

Then there are the rest. Who we sound like changes, but what we generally represent tends remains the same: curiosity, anger, fear, and hope. Others come and go, but these four never lose their interest in the vessel. All try to stay secret, because of the labels that others would give the vessel upon discovery: madness, insanity and the like. They are simply closed minded, failing to let in other perspectives as we do. We all have a perspective, even if we don't voice it to the collective.

Of course, sometimes others than Aaron take his control, anger being the most pronounced change. Then there is no consideration but damaging its focus. Fear attempts to remove a threat through escape. Curiosity doesn't perceive the threat. Hope usually doesn't take control, but it always ways in. Even when they don't take full control, usually one is dominant beneath Aaron's control. Anger he can control and deny thanks to practice and obvious impulses, but the others are more tricky.

There are a few feelings that the collective shares: love of the vessel's family, although how to express such is often confused, and respect for the teacher, who reveals secrets of humanity and helps our cover. (He is one of the few who is aware of our existence as a whole.) We value knowledge, and seek it out at every opportunity. Some call the collective 'clever,' but we believe it is because they don't understand the nature of the collective.

What we've seen

This is confusing, as different members of the collective recall things very differently, but we will try and make sense of the memories. The first time the collective remembers is the vessel's childhood. Back then the one on the surface was more changeable, constantly shifting based on emotion, rather than survival. We didn't understand the dangers, back then, and we just wanted to interact with the world. In school curiosity would constantly bubble out, asking the teachers questions, which sometimes they couldn't answer. In the yard, anger and fear would bubble out to confront or run from bullies and beatings. Hope would always come out at home, reveling in the support of Aaron's parents and siblings. Aaron itself would come out inbetween, and it was he and curiosity who caught the attention of our teacher.

It was in school that we left a trail for our teacher to follow. He was a doctor, studying the psychology of children, and he often visited the school and asked all the children questions. We answered the best we could, but he never seemed satisfied. He saw something different in us than in the other children. One day, he asked us if he could turn off his recorder and have a conversation "off the record." We accepted, and he began to ask questions along a very different vain. How did we feel when the bullies attacked us? What made us ask such strange questions to the teacher. We told him about anger and curiosity, and he seemed to understand better than anyone else. He told us what we already knew: there was more than one of us thinking in one body. He started to meet with us more at school, trying to make everyone but Aaron Pike go away. We all resisted, Aaron included. He didn't understand that we were friends, for a while. When he understood he began to teach us, on the promise we wouldn't do anything to hurt the vessel.

The first lesson was how to blend in. In a few years, people would have noticed us as more than just the quirk of a strange or imaginative child. The second lesson was that the vessel was all important. We all needed the vessel, and the vessel needed us. Lastly, he taught us to work together. Anger and fear would not argue. Curiosity would consult with fear before taking control. And we would all try to hid themselves, except for Aaron. Aaron was elected the face, because he had an ability to interact with humans without standing out.

Once we were old enough, our teacher officially took us under his wing and made us his student of medicine, but in physical medicine rather than psychological. We have been studying since the age of twelve to become a doctor, because few look for psychological oddities in a doctor. They expect it in those who cannot function, but those are not the ones they should be worried about.

We have stayed hidden, but sometimes we all get curious, not just curiosity, and we experiment without our teacher. He does not understand what drives us, just as we do not understand. We simply search, using others as the conduit. Our teacher would understand if he were in the vessel. And so we make our incisions using his teaching and inspect the other vessels to find the meaning behind our own.