@sydchan is a horrible, horrible influence on me so now I have a new fankid. We were discussing Cress in our AUs back in his Plasma days as a member of the Shadow Triad and I decided to solidify an idea I’ve had for a while that he had been dating a fellow Plasma member at this time. After working on this character (an Admin named Seamus), I realized that I had gotten kind of invested in the relationship between Cress and his OC ex-boyfriend and wanted to find some way to have them interact even after Cress moves to Johto and marries Jasmine. Of course, me being the way I am, my mind jumped to ‘fankid’. This was not helped by Sydney also recently adding an older Cress kid to her AU. I also realized that I wanted to develop the criminal sect of my Unovan fankids (namely, Renato, Euphie, and Jules) so having a fankid with a criminal background would help me do that. Thus, the foundations for Cicely.

In-universe, the story is that, while he worked for Team Plasma, Cress was dating an admin named Seamus Sullivan. However, when the schism in the team formed after their failed plan to take over the League, Seamus decided to leave the team, while Cress was still loyal to Ghetsis. Obviously, this caused them to break up. It ended on a pretty sour note with the two of them arguing, but the animosity didn’t linger for either of them. After defecting from Plasma, Seamus returns to his roots in the organized crime world of Castelia City and about a month after he finds out he’s pregnant with Cress’ child. He chooses not to tell his ex (he’s not even sure how to contact Cress at this point) and raises his daughter, Cicely, on his own. About two years later, after Neo Team Plasma is defeated, Cress and Seamus run into each other again by chance in Castelia (this is before the triplets move to Kalos), which is when Cress finds out about Cicely. While the two exes are able to establish a friendly rapport after they parted on harsh terms, Cress knows he can’t stay in Unova and both of them know a relationship isn’t going to work out again between them. They make an agreement to keep in touch, since Cress is interested in knowing how his daughter is doing, but they don’t end up meeting again until a few years later when it’s more convenient for Seamus to travel to Kalos, and later Johto or vice-versa. 

Cicely, on her part, doesn’t really see Cress like a parent, more of a distant uncle or family friend. She knows he’s her father, but since he wasn’t part of her life growing up she doesn’t think of him as such. She ends up following in her father’s footsteps and becomes involved in organized crime as a freelancer, eventually spending a good amount of time with the ‘Café Crew’ as Renato and Jules’ group are known (since their center of operations is the café run by Giovanni and Angelo.) Since Euphie also spends time with them, she ends up befriending him as well. As it stands now, I also plan on her being the love interest of one of Elesa and Skyla’s twins, Joan, since she and Cicely both have a 1920s/1930s aesthetic and a perky freelance journalist/detective/investigator like Joan and a ‘femme fatale’ freelance criminal with ties to the mob like Cicely as a couple is Good Stuff.

I don’t have a ship name for Cicely/Joan yet, but the ship name for Cress/Seamus is ChancellorShipping, named after the fairy chess piece also known as the Empress or Marshal. The piece is a combination of a rook and a knight, which in this case represents Cress (the Rook, defending the King/Ghetsis as a bodyguard) and Seamus (the Knight, leading the Pawns/grunts in battle and acting as the first line of defense to the royals.)