Eric Som

Eric Som was a former US Ranger, the fifth child of Django Whetū and the youngest child of Chanthavy Som. He is the younger brother of his twin, Ella.

Eric was declared Killed in Action on April 23rd 2005 after his battalion hit an IED then entered a fire fight with insurgents near Baghdad.

## Early Life

Eric Som was born on the 22nd of June, 1980 in Ta Chey Tor, Cambodia, to Django Whetū and Chanthavy Som. He was born a few moments after his twin sister, Ella.

### Military Service

Eric served in the Rangers, 3rd Battalion along side his sister Ella.

## Death

> *“There was nothing. We followed tracks out from the highway, and there was still nothing. Full daylight, and there was fucking nothing. We both knew— we both knew he was gone.”*
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> ~ Rex, on trying to find Eric
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On April 23rd 2005, Eric's ranger battalion hit an IED then entered a fire fight with insurgents while travelling Baghdad.

Despite searching from his sister as well as his brother, Rex, Eric's body wasn't found and he was declared Killed in Action.

Eric has a a stone in Arlington National Cemetery.

## Survival and Recovery

After Eric was hit by the IED, he was kidnapped by three Iraqi soldiers.

After the first two killed each other over who would get Eric's gear; the third, a Kurdish man conscripted from the north, brought Eric north to his family’s camp to ransom him back to the Americans.

While there, Eric relearnt how to walk, having lost one leg in the IED explosion. By the fourth month, Eric knew the family weren't going to ransom him, but they were also afraid that if he left, he'd turn them in. It took another couple of months to earn that level of trust.

January 1st, 2006 Roj gave Eric a caravan ride back to Baghdad, where he planned to report in then be sent home with a medical discharge.

## Escape from the department

After confirming his identity, instead of getting a medical exam and debrief, Eric was left in an a stifling office with only a single window open for air, no fan and no water.

After two hours, a two-star general named Stewart entered and began asking why Eric isn't dead. Another man, Phillip Stroud entered and introduced himself as the Director of the department.

Eric is then told that he's joining the department and that he doesn't have a choice. Due to Eric being declared legally dead, they can do whatever they want with him. Stroud wanted to see what would happen if you dose someone who was born with ETKC-51 already in their system.

After being left alone in the room to think about his answer, Eric used his crutch to break out the window, frame and all giving him just enough space to squeeze through and climb out of the building.

Eric was seen by Iraqi insurgents trying to escape a U.S. military installation. Seeing that he was wasn’t white, wasn’t in uniform and was scared, they assisted him across the boarder into Jordan.

After stealing a prosthetic, Eric googled his own name in Amman and walked out of the building right afterwards. A military team had the place surrounded and locked down in less than ten minutes.

By February 2006, Eric was in Maan and still wanted by the department. After approaching a family friend in Tel-Aviv, got the friend -Akiba- assassinated, Eric became convinced that going home would get one or all of his family killed.

It took until 2013 for Eric to find a way to contact a family member in a way that wouldn’t attract the department or the military. Xāwuṭh almost killed him when Eric turned up on the *SS Gives No Fuhks* unannounced, but agreed to hide him on his boat.

 Ashlesha

By 2016, Eric was hiding on an island in the barangay of Lupa Pula, Mapun in the Philippines, sharing a house with Xāwuṭh.

## Physical description

> *He has dark hair, tan skin, and familiar features that he shares with Ella, but something’s gone wrong. A scar paints his face from jaw upwards, a nasty, jagged line that turns his left eye and a streak of his spiky black hair a disturbing shock-white.*
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His ring and pinky fingers are prosthetic, as well as one of his legs below the thigh.

 Personality and traits

Due to the events in Iraq and the years after, Eric has server PTSD. He used to wake up mid-blackout to discover he was trying to kill everyone in a blind panic and contemplated suicide often. His suicidal thoughts got better after he found Xāwuṭh and later reunited with Ella and the rest of his family.

## Powers and abilities

Eric was described as being able to make a computer sing.

## Relationships

### Rex Tjin

> *“Eric Som,” Rex chokes out. “I missed you so damned much.”*
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> *“Love you too, you asshole."*
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> ~ Rex and Eric, after being reunited.
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