Desra

Caught Mediochre-Handed

> *"I let **you** keep the mouse." Mediochre raised an eyebrow.*
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> *"Joseph, you **gave** me the mouse."*
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> -- Joseph and Mediochre discussing whether to keep Charlotte as a member of the team (Book 1, *The Good, the Bad and the Mediochre).*
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**Desra** is the pet mouse of Mediochre Q. Seth. She was given to Mediochre by Joseph.

## Traits

Desra is Mediochre's pet fieldmouse. She has brown fur and is remarkably well trained. She is trained to activate Chips in certain situations and at one point she puts the safety back on on a gun.

## Chronology

### The Good, the Bad and the Mediochre

Desra is first seen when Mediochre confronts the fake teacher at Charlotte's school, in the opening of *The Good, the Bad and the Mediochre.* After being dropped onto the fake teacher's hand, Desra puts the safety back onto his gun and bites him, which the fake teacher neglects to mention to his superiors, considering "the mouse bit me" to be a feeble excuse for letting Mediochre escape.

Desra later crawls out of Mediochre's pocket at St Merlin's university where it is revealed that she was actually given to Mediochre by Joseph (see page quote) and she emerges to scamper up Rowan's arm when Mediochre visits to collect Intel on the Sapphire Smuggling Syndicate. Rowan affectionately refers to Desra as D. When they return home, Desra curls up on top of Mediochre's hat as he examines Glint's egg. The next morning, Desra appears to be asleep in Mediochre's pocket, but she is awoken by Joseph entering the room via the banister. She is noted to have been left with Joseph, along with Glint the egg, when Mediochre and Dhampinella take on a Sapphire Smuggling Syndicate minion who attacks them with a missile-bee launcher.

The party are captured by the Sapphire Smuggling Syndicate a couple of times. The first time they are captured they only take the egg, and after waking up from being knocked unconscious Mediochre checks his pockets and is relieved that Desra is safe. When they are captured again after trying to recover the egg, Desra is confiscated along with the rest of the party's belongings. After a short amount of time, Desra responds to a pre-programmed ultra-high frequency tone emitted by Chips the IMP. She presses a key that activates an emergency protocol that deactivates all security cameras in the area, allowing the group to escape. During the escape, Charlotte recovers her alongside the other confiscated items. After the apparent death of Danny Boy Snapfax, Desra crawls out onto Charlotte's arm, possibly to provide comfort, but Charlotte doesn't pay her any attention.

Desra is not mentioned again until after the adventure of Book 1, when Mediochre is being treated by Doctor Modern, Desra is contently stored in a glass tank which Doctor Modern specifically uses to contain Desra ever since an unfortunate incident involving a lab rat. It is not mentioned whether Desra or the rat started the presumed fight, although Doctor Modern clearly blames Desra because he does inform Mediochre that the mouse is "remarkably unharmed, worse luck."

During the following meeting with Queen MAB, Mediochre spends much of the meeting attempting to sketch a still life of Desra sniffing at a pencil. When he meets back up with Charlotte after the meeting to pass on a scale gifted to her by Deep Ocean, Desra is one of the items that he produces from his pockets while searching for the scale. Desra last appears in *The Good, the Bad and the Mediochre* when Mediochre checks on her to make sure she is okay before going to sleep in the spare room.

### Black, White and Shades of Mediochre

Due to the unnaturally hot summer, Desra has been moved to a cage next to the fridge in Mediochre's kitchen because it is the coolest spot in his mansion. She does appear to have the run of the house to some degree as well, when Charlotte goes to the house she finds Desra is sitting, apparently unsupervised, in the middle of the kitchen table. Because he is unwilling to take Desra out in the middle of a heat wave, Mediochre is shown to carry a life-size rubber mouse in his pocket as a replacement.

After the destruction of the Edinburgh Dusk, Desra is shooed off of Jacqueline Sable's diary by Mediochre so that he can research it to try and work out what, if anything she knew about the necromancer. At the end of the adventure, Desra is the first person that the team checks up on after returning from the necromancer's island - "Desra, Melinda, Archie and the University, in that order."

### Caught Mediochre-Handed

Desra is seen being stroked by Mediochre while waiting for Mediochre's lawyer, Beth Diamond, to turn up. When Aoife first arrives at Mediochre's house, after being rescued from her abusive family, she picks up Desra and looks at her with fascination.

Later, when Charlotte gets out of hospital after being attacked by Springheel Jack, Aoife and Desra are playing in the hospital corridor with Desra running up Aoife's arm. Charlotte gets no answer to why they let a mouse in the hospital, although chances are they smuggled her in.

When Mediochre goes after the Pied Piper, he leaves Desra asleep with Joshua Flynn. Flynn is murdered by Simultaneous Velocity Carnage, who then kidnaps Mediochre and hangs onto Desra because she finds her "kinda cute". Almost immediately, however, Carnage considers throwing the mouse out of a helicopter to see what would happen, and she flips Desra like a coin to determine whether or not to follow through on her threat. Fortunately, Desra lands "Tails" and is safe.

Carnage still has Desra when talking with Mediochre later and muses that she might buy herself a mouse, because she likes Desra but would prefer a different colour. When Carnage is rearrested, Desra is returned to Mediochre. Desra is in Mediochre's shirt pocket when they confer with James Chrome, and Mediochre feeds her part of a biscuit as they make plans to track and capture the remaining Floor Theta escapees.