Anyone who is acquainted with Mitchell and Ina Goe would be hard pressed to find a family resemblance between them. These cousins, aside from having the same last name, the same ethnicity, and exhibiting extremely high intelligence, don't share much in common physically or in temperament. Ina is just so serious and business-minded, cutting to the point like a scalpel through flesh - and if she's ever cracked a smile, no one dares to come forward as a witness. Mitch is... Strange. Very nice, friendly, frank and (seemingly) very simple, but undeniably strange. They're about as unalike as two humans can be and still be related.

Except for the fact that they're not humans, but aliens known as Mi-Go in bio-organic frameworks (i.e. meat suits made out of human bodies and otherworldly, nigh incomprehensible technology) - and the people whose bodies they're using to disguise themselves share no genetic kinship. Ina and Mitch are related, though; specifically, they are Spore-mates, both beings having budded from the same source. Ina is older than Mitch (she declines to say by how much), and in her time has proven her merit, despite her unusually diminutive size for their species, through hard work, determination - and a willingness to explore unorthodox, sometimes unpopular options to reach a goal, especially if the rewards outweigh potential risks. Advancement of her race's knowledge and technological prowess has always been Ina's highest priorities - which has fed into her own rise to the position of Overmonitor of the Earth's Northwestern quadrant, overseeing various activities of her species in North and Central America, along with parts of South America, Western Africa and Europe, and acting as an intermediary between the Mi-Go and organizations like the Supernatural Response, Research and Relations Agency to ensure smooth operations. Sentimentality does not factor into her drive.

Well, it mostly doesn't. There is, after all, Mitch. His intellect is a match for the common Mi-Go - if not vastly surpassing them - and Ina has yet to encounter another of their race that equals him in creativity and knack for innovation... Yet, by the standards of their race, Mitch was functionally autistic, defective - unacceptable, and slated for termination upon this discovery. Ina's thoughts were torn by her Spore-mate's predicament. Yes, he thought and acted in ways that did not make sense to her, he was strange and made her feel uncomfortable at times because he was different - but he also intrigued her, as well. And did those differences truly warrant extinguishing a brilliant intellect? Set to a task and properly supervised, he could be an invaluable contribution to science - behavioral and psychological studies at the least, not counting potential productivity. Besides - some said that she was flawed for her physical inadequacy, but her mind, will and capabilities outweighed that. She saw little difference between the two situations.

So Ina, using her position and influence, argued her kin's case and saw to it that he would be one of her personal projects. She gave him the assignment of "gathering knowledge" and set him loose on a New England coast after equipping Mitch with funds, his first bio-organic framwork, and a few tips about interacting with Terran life - advice that Ina is certain he didn't hear because he got distracted by a seagull.

Several decades, four destroyed meat suits, and hundreds of the most bizarre reports and observations - even for an experienced Mi-Go such as herself - Ina is uncertain she should have let Mitch have as much free reign as she's allotted him. He is still strange to her - stranger still after his time socializing with the native lifeforms - and his actions regularly perplex, confound, and frustrate her. Yet he is happy, healthy, and exercising his mental acuity in the most fascinating ways - so Ina cannot honestly say she would make a different choice.
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Artwork by  Horrified, while the characters here are part of the Felton project. I'm trying to kick the dust off, get through the backlog, and get the creative juices going. Which is also why this is a Q&A - if you have questions for Ina or Mitch, please, ask away!