(no subject)
Title: Stranger With Her Face
Fandom: Alias
Characters: Allison Doren, Julian Sark.
Rating: PG
Warning: S2 spoilers
Summary: Allison Doren is used to taking on various identities. This is the first time she's had to borrow someone else's.
She’s had to borrow various names at different parts of her life, usually those of infants born at a similar time to her but long since deceased; Rachel, Miranda, Zoe, she’s used them all at different times. They’ve served their purposes, allowed her to get closer to whoever her target was at the time, then once the mission was over, the name would be retired, and she would start anew. Sometimes it could be easy for her to forget who Allison Georgia Doren really was.
When taking on a new identity, usually Allison would tailor her interests to those of whoever was her mark at the time, use her knowledge to reel them in, create a whole new persona who would serve her purpose and then be retired. But now, she was faced with the prospect of taking on the life of Francie Calfo, stepping into a pre-existing life, and trying to convince Sydney Bristow and Will Tippin that she was the real Francie.
She hadn’t shared with Sark how apprehensive she was about the whole thing. Sydney and Francie had been friends for years; there was so much history there that Allison could never know, details that Sark couldn’t brief her on, and all it would take would be for Allison to not remember a story from Francie’s past to bring the whole thing collapsing down. She had admitted to him that she was worried about how she was going to handle the restaurant; Francie was supposed to be a professional chef, while Allison couldn’t cook for shit. The lifestyle she had led, the travelling at the drop of a hat, had never lent itself to learning. How was she going to pull that one off?
“Her restaurant’s started turning a profit,” Sark had explained. “I’ll make the arrangements to hire someone to do the cooking. Hopefully, you’ll just have to show your face. If you’re still worried, I can sort out a cookery class for you.” Okay, so far so easy. But the actual relationships, the cultivation of the friendship with Sydney Bristow, and the relationship with Will Tippin…that wasn’t going to be quite so easy. Allison was used to being a transitory figure in the lives of those she touched, superficial friendships. She hadn’t really had much of an example to follow; she can remember kids she used to play with in her neighbourhood before she became a part of Project Christmas, kids she supposed she must have considered friends at the time, although she has no clear memories of them; a flash of red hair, a name in passing, no more than that. And she barely remembers her family; having been selected from the Project Christmas kids as the most promising, the one who should start her training straight away instead of being returned to her old life, Allison’s spent most of her life being raised by people who were paid to raise her, who felt nothing for her as she did for them. She’d been told that she was special, that she was destined for greater things than a life with her family would lead her to, and she’d been told that enough times that she’d begun to believe it.
Hopefully she wouldn’t have to interact too much with Francie’s family, and the amount of time that Sydney spent away from home helped her in that she had periods of time where she didn’t have to keep up the act with her. It was hard to know how to act in an established friendship when Allison had never really had that. That day when she had been introduced to Michael Vaughn over dinner had been an example. When Sydney had told Allison that they were now together, and it had been clear to her that this was something she had discussed with Francie previously, that was easy enough. But then actually meeting him, and giving him the present of the tie she knew he would like, that had been a mistake. Allison was aware of Vaughn through surveillance; she knew full well what he would wear, but had forgotten that Sydney’s friend who had never seen him before would not. And as for buying a present the first time they met, well, Allison didn’t really have the context of friendships to know that that was weird. Sydney hadn’t questioned it too much, and Allison thought she’d pulled it off.
As for Will Tippin, Allison had thought that would be easier than it turned out being. She’d been briefed that this was a fairly new relationship anyway, even though they had been friends for several years, and she’d been trained on hypnotism since she was in her teens. It would be easy enough to convince him of anything she wanted to; if he noticed anything that didn’t make sense she could make him forget all about it in a way that she couldn’t with Sydney who had had more training. It shouldn’t be too hard to pull this off. And at first it hadn’t been; hypnotising him to forget every time he questioned something, getting him to look up that recipe and making it look like he was leaking information, causing him to forget enough of his own life that it looked like he was the double. She just had to focus on the endgame, the information she was passing to Sark.
A borrowed life, that was what this was. A few weeks of being Francie Calfo, that was all it had to be, and then she could return to Allison, Rachel, Miranda, Zoe, whoever she was needed to be.
It took her a bit of time to get used to looking in the mirror and see Francie Calfo’s face looking back. For all the times she had to adapt and take on some new identity, at least Allison still had some sense of herself in that she still had the face she was born with. Sark had said it wasn’t permanent, that once her mission was completed she’d be able to return to looking like herself. She had to believe that. Her identity as Allison Doren was complicated enough, but at least being able to look at the same face she’d had all her life helped her to maintain some sense of that identity. Seeing herself as Francie made it hard sometimes for her to tell where Francie stopped and Allison began. It had been okay as long as she could hold on to the thought of the day when she could shake off Francie, take on the Allison identity again. Then Sark had told her that the means of bringing her back had been destroyed, and Allison knew that she would never be truly able to leave her borrowed identity behind.
Fandom: Alias
Characters: Allison Doren, Julian Sark.
Rating: PG
Warning: S2 spoilers
Summary: Allison Doren is used to taking on various identities. This is the first time she's had to borrow someone else's.
She’s had to borrow various names at different parts of her life, usually those of infants born at a similar time to her but long since deceased; Rachel, Miranda, Zoe, she’s used them all at different times. They’ve served their purposes, allowed her to get closer to whoever her target was at the time, then once the mission was over, the name would be retired, and she would start anew. Sometimes it could be easy for her to forget who Allison Georgia Doren really was.
When taking on a new identity, usually Allison would tailor her interests to those of whoever was her mark at the time, use her knowledge to reel them in, create a whole new persona who would serve her purpose and then be retired. But now, she was faced with the prospect of taking on the life of Francie Calfo, stepping into a pre-existing life, and trying to convince Sydney Bristow and Will Tippin that she was the real Francie.
She hadn’t shared with Sark how apprehensive she was about the whole thing. Sydney and Francie had been friends for years; there was so much history there that Allison could never know, details that Sark couldn’t brief her on, and all it would take would be for Allison to not remember a story from Francie’s past to bring the whole thing collapsing down. She had admitted to him that she was worried about how she was going to handle the restaurant; Francie was supposed to be a professional chef, while Allison couldn’t cook for shit. The lifestyle she had led, the travelling at the drop of a hat, had never lent itself to learning. How was she going to pull that one off?
“Her restaurant’s started turning a profit,” Sark had explained. “I’ll make the arrangements to hire someone to do the cooking. Hopefully, you’ll just have to show your face. If you’re still worried, I can sort out a cookery class for you.” Okay, so far so easy. But the actual relationships, the cultivation of the friendship with Sydney Bristow, and the relationship with Will Tippin…that wasn’t going to be quite so easy. Allison was used to being a transitory figure in the lives of those she touched, superficial friendships. She hadn’t really had much of an example to follow; she can remember kids she used to play with in her neighbourhood before she became a part of Project Christmas, kids she supposed she must have considered friends at the time, although she has no clear memories of them; a flash of red hair, a name in passing, no more than that. And she barely remembers her family; having been selected from the Project Christmas kids as the most promising, the one who should start her training straight away instead of being returned to her old life, Allison’s spent most of her life being raised by people who were paid to raise her, who felt nothing for her as she did for them. She’d been told that she was special, that she was destined for greater things than a life with her family would lead her to, and she’d been told that enough times that she’d begun to believe it.
Hopefully she wouldn’t have to interact too much with Francie’s family, and the amount of time that Sydney spent away from home helped her in that she had periods of time where she didn’t have to keep up the act with her. It was hard to know how to act in an established friendship when Allison had never really had that. That day when she had been introduced to Michael Vaughn over dinner had been an example. When Sydney had told Allison that they were now together, and it had been clear to her that this was something she had discussed with Francie previously, that was easy enough. But then actually meeting him, and giving him the present of the tie she knew he would like, that had been a mistake. Allison was aware of Vaughn through surveillance; she knew full well what he would wear, but had forgotten that Sydney’s friend who had never seen him before would not. And as for buying a present the first time they met, well, Allison didn’t really have the context of friendships to know that that was weird. Sydney hadn’t questioned it too much, and Allison thought she’d pulled it off.
As for Will Tippin, Allison had thought that would be easier than it turned out being. She’d been briefed that this was a fairly new relationship anyway, even though they had been friends for several years, and she’d been trained on hypnotism since she was in her teens. It would be easy enough to convince him of anything she wanted to; if he noticed anything that didn’t make sense she could make him forget all about it in a way that she couldn’t with Sydney who had had more training. It shouldn’t be too hard to pull this off. And at first it hadn’t been; hypnotising him to forget every time he questioned something, getting him to look up that recipe and making it look like he was leaking information, causing him to forget enough of his own life that it looked like he was the double. She just had to focus on the endgame, the information she was passing to Sark.
A borrowed life, that was what this was. A few weeks of being Francie Calfo, that was all it had to be, and then she could return to Allison, Rachel, Miranda, Zoe, whoever she was needed to be.
It took her a bit of time to get used to looking in the mirror and see Francie Calfo’s face looking back. For all the times she had to adapt and take on some new identity, at least Allison still had some sense of herself in that she still had the face she was born with. Sark had said it wasn’t permanent, that once her mission was completed she’d be able to return to looking like herself. She had to believe that. Her identity as Allison Doren was complicated enough, but at least being able to look at the same face she’d had all her life helped her to maintain some sense of that identity. Seeing herself as Francie made it hard sometimes for her to tell where Francie stopped and Allison began. It had been okay as long as she could hold on to the thought of the day when she could shake off Francie, take on the Allison identity again. Then Sark had told her that the means of bringing her back had been destroyed, and Allison knew that she would never be truly able to leave her borrowed identity behind.