Hash
Likes:- Her sister
- Her deck
- Hedonism
Dislikes
- Her parents
- Corps in general
- Needing a body to be a hedonist
(full bio below)
To hear the adults in her life tell it, as a child Edwina Donovan had had oppositional defiant disorder. From her perspective, she was looking for them to earn the respect and authority that they kept on trying to hold over her; she wanted the rules that they used to control her life to apply to theirs as well.
Fear of punishment "This would not be happening if you could be more like Lily", eventually give way to nihilism borne of powerlessness as principal driver of compliance. "We knew you could learn to how behave darling." It mattered not that Eddie barely spoke unless prompted.
Their parents had done what they could to extinguish the light that shone within their daughters, and for years had been sure that they had succeeded. The children were talented, polite and able to navigate well-heeled society. Instead, the girls had banked one another's fires time after time, keeping the embers safely covered and ready to burn brightly when the conditions were right.
Edwina initially gotten into programming as a way to actively avoid having to interact with anyone other than Lily. To her genuine surprise, she took to it as a fish to water. Everything felt simpler, and she could just be. As she developed her skills, it was fun to try to impress Lily with the practical effects of her new hobby, like using a building's lighting controls to make a poop emoji. They had shared many a breathless fit of giggling as they egged each other on, and before long they were planning heists.
An adjusted camera angle here and a delayed locking mechanism there, it was the little things that bought Lily the time to work her on-site magic; flitting in and out like a ghost. Soon Edwina finds herself pushing the limits of her skills in order to keep up with her sister. Each hack was opening a puzzle box where the final prize was sharing in Lily's unfettered joy; it was infectious, and addictive.
It gave them life, and so of course, the adults hated it. The girls had tried to be careful, but from time to time a system was just a bit tougher than they had planned for, or a guard recognized them from a recent gig moonlighting as private security for their parents; they got caught. After one too many bailouts, and conferring with the best experts and grifters that money could buy, their parents offered an ultimatum: "stop this nonsense immediately, or be kept apart." Given the choice between two distasteful options, they chose a third; doing whatever they wanted, together.