Bandito {ON HOLD}

{A Trench Story}

"You stopped talking in your youth to protect yourself, didn't you? But don't forget that you are a Bandito now. You and your voice are safe now. Well, safe-ish."

Mary "Mute Mary" Peters was well known in the city of Dema for being the youngest child to ever be brought to the city. The Bishops didn't want to bring the child into the city, but Mary's mother, a single mother, wasn't coming without her baby, so Mary got the rare experience of growing up inside the city's walls. Originally a vivacious child, Mary went mute at the age of six after a supposed Bandito sighting, and she spent the rest of her childhood unheard, out of sight, and generally out of mind.

But when she sees that the Banditos are in Dema again, most likely for yet another rescue mission involving famed FPE Tyler Joseph, she silently joins their ranks and leaves the city with them. In Trench, Mary, now going by the name Charli, found all sorts of things she never thought possible: freedom, life, an abundance of the color yellow, an actual cheetah, and a vulture that could talk. Charli was safe to talk in Trench, but after so many years of silence, she found herself unable to, and so even once she became a Bandito, she stayed mostly to herself, although a single choice did give her the respected label of "Baldito". In spite of this, her muteness led her to be pretty alone, or as alone as someone in Trench can get. But things change when she meets Jenna, Tyler's wife, and suddenly, Charli isn't so alone. At least, until Tyler escapes Dema yet again and the Bishops come for him.

Charli made a choice. When the Bishops came for Tyler, she instead exposed herself and let them take her back. If they couldn't get the FPE, they accepted getting the Dema Baby. And it was then as she was being dragged back to Dema with the cliffs of Trench surrounding her that she spoke for the first time in so many years.