Bloodywedd's Aria: The Beginning of the End?

[The Widowed]

And so Bloodywedd continues to dance her chaotic dance, singing her cacophonous melody as she draws ever nearer to the final act of the opera that is her career of madness....

In layman's terms, you--the adoring audience--get to raise your hands again in deciding Bloodywedd's next stage. Will she ascend to some greater destiny, or will she be consigned to an unenviable fate brought about by her own hands...or perhaps by the hands of an enemy within?

As you can see, the poll fit neatly into the ten-question limit this time. For that, some of the ideas got the axe. Anything which scored poorly in the previous poll? Chop. Bloodywedd the Vampire? Chop. Bloodywedd's "Widowed" costume? Chop. (Sorry, Charon, but it just didn't seem like something Bloodywedd would do.) There are also some replacements such as the new Director and Monster candidates here, where an older, crappy costume was replaced with something that I hope looks better.

Any interpretations on the material, of course, are up to you. With that, I roll out the candidates for Bloodywedd's Level 40 costume...and the story twists that come with them.

Multiple choice has been enabled, but I ask that you limit yourselves to a maximum of three choices. And where there are variants to a costume, please specify here which variant you would prefer. That way, should that costume win in the poll, I can then begin tallying the votes-within-a-vote and deem which variant is worthy of seeing the light of day.

Carpe diem!

[The Widowed]

Section One: Revelations and Deviations.

Bloodywedd the Shaman
http://tritonius.com/40/40Celt1.jpghttp://tritonius.com/40/40Celt2.jpghttp://tritonius.com/40/40Celt3.jpg
Woad paint variant and Bracer variant:
http://tritonius.com/40/40CeltWoad.jpghttp://tritonius.com/40/40CeltBracer.jpg
The story: The entire span of her life from her abduction by the Carnival onward has demonstrated to Cynthia Donner all too clearly that magic is a clear and present element of the world, and magic is best defeated by other magic. With the return of Blodeuwedd, Bloodywedd--with Dr. Donner's psyche at the helm--began intensive research into the legends and lore of the primordial British Isles, by way of finding a way to control or banish Blodeuwedd's presence as well as the possessing spirits and regain total control of herself. The research led to the path of the Celtic shaman, a variety of tribal sorcerer once common throughout present-day Ireland, Scotland and Blodeuwedd's native Wales before persecution from rival Breton cunning-men and the Roman Catholic Church drove the shamans underground sometime during the Dark Ages. "Perhaps the magicks Gwydion used to subdue Blodeuwedd could be unearthed by this path," Dr. Donner reasons, "And if these voices in my head could be banished by a return to a more primal empowered state, so much the better, for surely all modern-day treatments have failed me...."

And so the Saint--Cynthia Donner's original psyche--evolves into the Shaman, retaining a psychiatric knowledge which doesn't detract from her newfound arcane empowerment but conversely lends her primal mysticism even greater power over the minds of others. Indeed, while the Shaman is unable to banish the inhabiting spirits or deviant personalities sharing her headspace, she does succeed in keeping Blodeuwedd at bay. While the Shaman is ascendant, Blodeuwedd can never hope to usurp control of the body, not even through the arcane power of Domination.


Bloodywedd the Unliving
http://tritonius.com/40/40Undead1.jpghttp://tritonius.com/40/40Undead2.jpghttp://tritonius.com/40/40Undead3.jpg
The story: Between the physically draining shock of her psychic turmoil and the telling injuries sustained in her criminal career, Bloodywedd finally dies. But even death cannot spell an end for her, for her psychic magnitude has evolved to the point where she can sustain and animate her own frame by force of will alone. In less stressful episodes she can even infuse a semblance of health and life into her form, as if she still lived and breathed.

But times of stress may deplete her psionic reserves, and--unable to sustain the illusion further--the appearance of her corpse reverts to its normal, skeletal state. Longing for her previous beauty, she wears the mask to spare herself the sight of her own decayed face, for neither mirrors nor her own dead eyes are fooled by her body's illusionary facade.


Bloodywedd the Clown
http://tritonius.com/40/40Clown1.jpghttp://tritonius.com/40/40Clown2.jpghttp://tritonius.com/40/40Clown3.jpg
The story: Dr. Donner's mind never emerges at the fore; Instead, Bloodywedd's psyches continue to tolerate each other while occasionally vying for dominance. But they all come to agree on one thing: Were it not for the Carnival of Shadows, Bloodywedd would have never come to be, Donna Dementia would have never crossed paths with the Widowed and the three spirits would have remained enslaved forever within their masks.

Like salmon returning to spawn, Bloodywedd returns to her Carnival roots. And if the Carnies will not take her back despite Bloodywedd's endearing acquaintence with Vivacious Verandi, well, there's so much to be gained by staking out on her own and becoming the Clown Countess of Chaos. Bloodywedd has diverged so far from her boring old career as a psychiatrist, and she has Vanessa DeVore and the Carnival to thank for it. Now she has only to spread destruction and anarchy...and to put on a jolly good show while she's at it.


Aspect of Madness
http://40.tritonius.com/40Madness1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Madness2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Madness3.jpg
No chains:
http://40.tritonius.com/40MadNoChains1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40MadNoChains2.jpg
Eyes of madness (Electric Eyes aura):
http://40.tritonius.com/40MadEyes.jpg
(Yeesh, she almost looks like some kind of Cenobyte with the chains on, doesn't she?)
The story: There's no happy ending here. Rather than merge or ascend together, the personalities intensify their struggle and ravage Bloodywedd's mind even further. As Bloodywedd's psychic abilities grow, her madness deepens; She becomes an ever greater asset to Malice in Wonderland, but in exchange her cohorts must force her to wear this straitsuit, so that they can fasten hooks and latches and straps at a moment's notice, binding her to the walls of her own padded cell within the base as she rages through her increasingly frequent fits of delirium....

[The Widowed]

In the next two sections, the struggle within Bloodywedd's head ends as a victor is decided...for better, perhaps, but more than likely for worse. This may mandate the consumption of a weaker personality, boosting the dominant psyche's power and driving him or her into dominance over those which remain.

Which one wins? That depends on circumstance and opportunity...and, of course, your perception of such events. And if the victor is to be one of the inhabiting spirits? Well, that most likely depends on which spirit was actually inhabiting Donna Dementia's mask when it was shattered, as opposed to the other two spirits, who were merely inhabiting nearby Carnie masks and got sucked in during the ensuing psychic vacuum. And who were those? Heh...that, I leave to you.


Section Two: Voices Without


The Belle
Fishnet variant:
http://40.tritonius.com/40BelleF1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40BelleF2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40BelleF3.jpg
Baroque variant:
http://40.tritonius.com/40BelleB1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40BelleB2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40BelleB3.jpg
Type of alternate psyche: Inhabiting spirit.

The Story: Charity Dunwick was born to a prosperous family of textile merchants in Victorian England, a time when women were barred from gaining any degree of economic or political power...at least overtly and without the help of men. But Charity wanted everything. In defiance of her strict Protestant upbringing, she became an upper-class prostitute and, through that profession, found ways of getting everything she wanted: Money, travel, fine eating, lavish gifts and classy surroundings. Whether dwelling in her gas-lit London brothel or travelling abroad, she lent her services to local tycoons and foreign dignitaries alike, providing carnal comforts to rich, lonely men and acting as a mistress to visitors far from their wives and their homes. Within years she had gathered a network of prestigious suitors, Romeos and other frequent customers across Europe from whom she could entice favors with so much as a telegram. Away from the limelight she enjoyed a more subdued romance with Mademoiselle Aliane D'Bodine, a French courtesan and socialite directly linked to the Carnival of Shadows.

By all accounts, Charity and Aliane were lovers for many years. When Charity--still in her prime at age 34--expired from tuberculosis in 1868, Aliane arranged for the Carnival to bind Charity's departing soul into a porcelain spirit mask, a romantic gesture which would ensure that Charity's life could continue in some fashion. Graduating into the ranks of Carnival attendants, Aliane continued to wear Charity's mask until her own death in 1892. The mask then circulated through the Carnival's rank and file for years after, its whereabouts eventually becoming lost to history....

How it happens: Well aware that the Director is the closest to being her equal in strategy and cunning, the Belle's continued campaign to outfox the Director finally succeeds once she manages to convince him--after prolonged efforts--that she is indeed his friend, playing on their mutual disdain for the Monster to divert his guard elsewhere. A round of psychic cannibalism is all it takes to obliterate Charles Godenot utterly, and Charity combines her own guile and insights with Charles' intellect and creativity. And never again will Cynthia Donner, Edward Bittersley or Blodeuwedd hold her back from what she wants.

Metaphysical manifestations: Very subtle. With the Belle dominant, Bloodywedd tends to smirk a frequent, knowing smirk, as if perpetually assured that she can take whatever she wants from whomever she is dealing with at the time. A slight, refined British accent affects her speech as well, and she becomes fluent in several European languages which Dr. Donner herself never learned. Not too long ago, Bloodywedd purchased a redwood Engelmann violin which she keeps around the Wonderland base, but few have ever seen her play it....


The Director
http://40.tritonius.com/40Dir1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Dir2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Dir3.jpg
Type of alternate psyche: Inhabiting spirit.

The Story: Born to another wealthy family in Marseilles, France, Charles Godenot was a simple yet proud romantic in his early years and sought solace in the arts, developing his natural talents with painting and sculpture as means to express his heartfelt sentiments. His father, however, was not impressed with such talents, which their family had deemed idle and unproductive pursuits. Seeking to make something more agreeable of his son, Monsieur Godenot used his wealth and influence to have Charles conscripted into France's army as an officer in 1805, during the rise of the Napoleonic wars. During his years as an officer he made the acquaintence of Faustine DiMoro, a charming Italian lady sent by the Carnival of Shadows to gain a foothold in the French military. Her emerald eyes and graceful air elicited a warm response from Charles, and the full-length oil paint portrait of Faustine which he rendered from memory and offered as a gift to her left her smitten. An affair which endured the better part of a decade followed, culminating in a marital engagement shortly before Charles was taken away by Napoleon's war against the east.

While quiet and romantic, Charles as it turned out was hardly a pacifist, and he sought to apply his artistic creativity in cunning strategies which would ensure France's military victory over the Austrians and the Prussians. But his hidebound superiors were less inclined to gamble with Charles' tactics, dismissing them as being reckless, cowardly or impractical. The frustrated captain continued to lead his men as well as he could, eventually following Napoleon to Waterloo in 1815, undeterred by growing rumors of a mad Prussian nobleman reinforcing the ranks of Prussian soldiers with steam-powered war machines and advanced firearms.

Charles was among the dead felled by the first volley of artillery fire. His countrymen found him with his hand clutching a charcoal portrait of Faustine to his breast. Heartbroken, Faustine and her cohorts intercepted Charles' corpse on its return to Marseilles. There wasn't much time to bind his soul into a spirit mask--and into the Carnival's service--but success was to be hers.

How it happens: In this instance, the duel between the Belle and the Director veers the other way. Napoleon Bonaparte lost Waterloo largely because he underestimated the Prussians, and it is a lesson not to be lost on Charles Godenot. He stonewalls against the Belle's suggestions and advances, even feigning an alliance with the Monster to drive his defiance home. For the first time in a hundred years Charity Dunwick begins to doubt her abilities, and in that moment of weakness the Director tears through her psychic defenses and drains her essence to extinction, adding her power to his own and granting him far greater dominion over the ranks of Malice in Wonderland. After almost 200 years, Capitaine Charles Godenot finally has the unstoppable army which Napoleon and his generals denied him....

Metaphysical manifestations: Though Cynthia Donner never studied the fine arts, Bloodywedd becomes a proficient artist when the Director is ascendant. His creativity has even rubbed off on the other personalities, though her artistic performance is at its best under the Director's influence. Indeed, crime become less a profitable enterprise or an exercise in anarchy as the Director attempts to transcend the crime into an art form, leaving a masterful form of expression at every crime scene. Bloodywedd speaks fluent French and conversational Italian while the Director is at the fore, though her English becomes slightly halting.


The Monster
http://40.tritonius.com/40Monster1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Monster2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Monster3.jpg
Type of alternate psyche: Inhabiting spirit.

The Story: Edward Bittersley was never right in the head. No matter how many times his family caught the young lad torturing and butchering whatever hapless mice and rats he could catch, he would endure their horrified slaps and whippings and continue with his tormenting and killing of small animals. Soon enough he graduated to rabbits, then to stray cats. When he grew irritated with the family dog's incessant barking and expressed his disgruntlement in a most bloody and sickening manner, his father beat the teenaged Edward senseless and threw him out of their home, labelling Edward an irredeemable monster and threatening to kill him if he ever came back.

Edward travelled northeast from Andover and applied his father's trade as a shoemaker, becoming a cobbler's apprentice in Reading. He stayed at a boardinghouse until a vagrant residing upstairs from him attempted to make off with Edward's jacket. With his walking stick in hand, an enraged Edward caught up with the thief in the alley behind the flophouse and got a bit carried away in teaching the thief a lesson....

Afterwards, Edward realized that murdering people was incalculably more exhilarating than killing animals...more hazardous and with far greater punishments if he were caught, true, but such dangers only compounded the "rush" and the sense of empowerment. Taking his money and belongings and leaving Reading before the murder could be traced to him, Edward travelled around England to sate his tastes as a serial killer, working odd jobs to support himself and preying on society's dregs as he made his way around the British countryside. During his time in Gatwick he began to express himself, leaving a single carnation--dyed black with leather stain--and a brief handwritten poem detailing his thoughts about the futility of existence with the body of each victim.

Horrified stories in the newspapers cried for the authorities to bring the "Black Carnation Killer" to justice, and Edward basked in the infamy. His undoing came when he decided to add to the excitement by leaving the bums and prostitutes alone and moving up the social ladder. A baker who uttered an insult as Edward fumbled for his coinpurse became the first merchant to fall to his blade. Two more merchants were taken soon after--and each body was morbidly displayed with a black carnation--before Edward sought to woo Veronica Hart, a prominent songbird, dancer and acrobat, with a bouquet of pink and white carnations, singing a song from one of her performances timidly as he offered them. She took the flowers and dismissed the "ignorant shoeblack," curtly rebuffing his advances.

Miss Hart was an entertainer travelling with the Carnival, and in murdering her he drew the ire of her peers. All of a sudden, Scotland Yard's detectives found over a half-dozen psychics willing to aid them in their search for the Black Carnation Killer, and London's constables finally cornered Edward in the loft of an abandoned theatre. Psychiatry was far from becoming a recognized profession in Victorian England, and no pleas of insanity would hold up in court. Convicted for his many crimes, the madman Edward Bittersley finally went to the gallows in 1889. And so six years of terror drew to a close.

Though the Carnival of Shadows were miffed that he had killed one of their own, in their twisted way they also admired the style with which he had dispatched his victims and applauded his talent for eluding the police for six years while taunting the finest minds among Scotland Yard. Edward's soul would be bound into a mask to empower whoever wore it, yet a ward would be inscribed into the mask to prevent Edward from ever attaining dominance over the wearer...at least, for as long as the mask--and its warding glyph--remained intact....

How it happens: Quite simply, the Monster turns on and feeds from his host. The Child's (comparative) innocence both disgusts and entices the Monster, and in a fit of pique he consumes that portion of Cynthia Donner's psyche, gaining a reserve of psychic power and silencing the Child forever in one fell swoop. The remaining personalities unify against the Monster and even the enigmatic Blodeuwedd joins them, but given his savagery, his cunning and a newfound invigoration taken from the Child personality, it becomes clear that Edward will remain seated firmly at the helm of Bloodywedd's body for years to come.

Metaphysical manifestations: In 1886, Edward Bittersley broke his right leg when he leaped from a third-story window while fleeing the scene of his latest crime. Fearing capture if he sought help from a doctor, he splinted his own leg, but without professional medical attention the broken tibia failed to knit back together properly. Edward walked with a pronounced limp for the rest of his life, as does Bloodywedd whenever the Monster is ascendant, even though Dr. Donner has never in her life endured any broken leg bones or other hobbling injuries to her legs.

[The Widowed]

Section Three: Voices Within


The Child
http://40.tritonius.com/40Child1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Child2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Child3.jpg
(I'll keep it short from here on. Promise.)
Type of alternate psyche: Fragmented personality.

The Story: Cynthia is tired. Life got hard, and it only worsened with the passage of time. In grade school, she faced constant pressure from her parents--pressure to perform well in school, as any grade less than an A was considered a failure. With her teen years, she faced the endless struggle of living up to the lofty standards set by her peers lest she be punished for her shortcomings with ostracism and derision. With the college years came social pressure from her sorority and the omnipresent threat of losing her grants and endowments if her grades suffered. The adult years brought with them a myriad of taxes to juggle, armies of bills to be paid and the pressure to perform suitably well at the clinic lest she be fired and replaced with a more capable psychologist. Her own skills were irrelevant; The threats were always there regardless of anything else, and she could never blind herself to the fact. And then came the Carnival and the mask and the Widowed and the voices in her head and the crime waves and the constant threats from Arachnos and other factions if she should ever fail to perform....

"Wouldn't it be nice," she reasons, "to regress to a simpler period of my life?" Perhaps Bloodywedd's world can be changed...and she can start by changing herself.

How it happens: The Child and the Bon Vivant really aren't all that far apart in interest. They are both fragments of Cynthia's personality, both born out of defiance for the storms she has weathered, and both seek defiance of adversity through levity. The Bon Vivant personality follows the Child in her regression, and the two merge to become a more vivacious and more excitable Child. The Saint remains as she is to act as the Child's parent and voice of reason, the grim Monster withers under the strengthened Child's assailing presence and both the Belle and the Director decide to keep out of the affairs of such an unpredictable anomaly as much as possible. The Child is bereft of all fear of the owl which haunts Bloodywedd's dreams, and so Blodeuwedd's visits become more frequent yet briefer, as the Child tends to throw powerful psychic tantrums whenever Blodeuwedd takes her body away....


The Bon Vivant
http://40.tritonius.com/40Bon1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Bon2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Bon3.jpg
Cowgirl Boots variant:
http://40.tritonius.com/40BonBoots1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40BonBoots2.jpg
Type of alternate psyche: Fragmented personality.

The Story: While all the other teenagers were out doing fun, stupid stuff and doing stuff like this to their clothes and their bodies, Cynthia Donner missed out because she was hitting the books even beyond the requirements of her education system in anticipation of her future career. She never quite got over looking back and realizing how much of her youth she had let slip away simply because she was willing to forge her future at the expense of the present. The Bon Vivant hence exists as a "second youth" for Bloodywedd, albeit an exaggerated and twisted version of it.

Under the Bon Vivant's influence, Bloodywedd's behavior becomes more spontaneous, more erratic, more manic and more empassioned. What she loses in methodical planning and forethought she makes up for in sheer chaotic unpredictability, ever a bane to investigative minds who are trying to predict where she will strike next or what she will do when she does strike. Screeching El Tigre lyrics while riding a shopping cart laden with nitroglycerine canisters down a steep hill into the warehouse district and flying away just before the impact simply to annihilate a couple of billboards would not be beyond the scape of her activities....

How it happens: "The Monster is such a drag to hang out with," declares Cynthia through the mouth of the Bon Vivant. "He needs to go." Only a near-death experience will rattle Bloodywedd's psyche enough to unseat the Monster (and all the others as well) long enough for whichever personality is dominant to knock him out of the ring, but the other psyches will see any premeditated attempt to unhinge them and will act against it.

Unfortunately for the others, spontaneity and improvisation are what the Bon Vivant does best. In a near-death experience involving several gallons of kerosene, a Volkswagen, a large toolshed and enough large fireworks to level the aforementioned large toolshed, Bloodywedd spends several days in a coma while her potent psyche absorbs Edward Bittersley's disrupted essence. When she emerges, the Bon Vivant is seated in the CEO chair at the boardroom table inside Bloodywedd's mind, her psychic gut filled with Monster bile. The Bon Vivant continues to seek merriment through anarchy and chaos, but Bloodywedd's cohorts find that her antics now tend to rack up greater amounts of property damage and more frequent injuries and death tolls....


The Saint
http://40.tritonius.com/40Saint1.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Saint2.jpghttp://40.tritonius.com/40Saint3.jpg
Type of alternate psyche: Original personality.

The Story: They brought it on themselves.

In her overconfidence, the Belle believed that she could handle whatever Cynthia threw at her. In his arrogance, the Director dismissed Cynthia as a commoner and a dullard. In his hunger, the Monster saw Cynthia as a humble weakling too meager to be worth his predations. Neither the Child nor the Bon Vivant possessed the strength of character to lead the whole of Bloodywedd through life's torments and trials. She looked to the betrayer--the interloper Blodeuwedd--to ask if the time was right to make her move, and the white owl nodded her consent.

She had lurked quietly at the back of her own mind, collecting insights and information on the three intruding spirits and compiling psychological profiles on each. Could psychology work against a ghost over one-hundred years dead, or several? Time was to say "Yes".

How it happens: To know how to heal is to know how to kill. The same medical training aids the professions of established doctors and well-paid assassins alike. So it is with psychology, wielded by the Saint to drive the intruders into submission. The Belle's lack of personal identity leading to endless materialism, a futile effort to fill a needful void. The Director's feelings of inadequacy, dooming any efforts at self-improvement to his own scorn and dissatisfaction. The Monster's failure to win his own father's approval, leading to an acute inferiority complex and, hence, a need to prey upon others as a temporary salve for the pain of his own shame. Such weaknesses would be causes for a benevolent headshrinker to fix, or weapons in the hands of an adept enemy.

Hurling their own torments into their faces repeatedly, the Saint drives the three alien psyches into the depths of Bloodywedd's mind yet--linked to Bloodywedd's mind as they were--they are unable to flee her mind entirely. Seeing this, the Saint destroys the weakened spirit whom she finds most loathsome--the Monster--simply by compelling both herself and himself to forget his existence completely, thus denying Edward any place inside her head at all. Whatever Hell takes Edward after such a telling blow...nobody knows.

This blatant warning is not lost on Charity and Charles. Rightly fearing a psychic exorcism and an end to their existences, they allow Cynthia to recover her own mind and will only offer their aid if she requests it. With the crisis which spawned them at an end, the Child and the Bon Vivant vanish as they reunite with their parent psyche. Even Blodeuwedd must now choose her moments carefully or waste all her efforts; Her plan to weaken Bloodywedd's psyche by inciting the personalities to destroy each other has backfired, as she herself was not expecting Cynthia's psyche to be so swiftly strengthened by reasserting control that quickly. Instead of six weaker, squabbling resistants the betrayer now finds one stalwart champion perpetually ready to defend her own mind from all threats within and without.

But Cynthia has changed. She has stared into the abyss and the abyss has stared into her. For as much as she detested the mental fragments and intruding presences, they did set her on the road to becoming Bloodywedd, master criminal at large. And, all things considered, she has found that the life of a reputed supervillain is more personally rewarding than the safe, conventional career of a professional psychologist. Besides, her peers and accomplices among Malice in Wonderland could very well turn on her--even violently--if she suddenly fails to lead.

"Come to think of it, perhaps the prevalent social order could benefit from a period of anarchy followed by a complete overhaul...."

The die was cast long ago, and what is done can't be undone. With her mind made up and sorted out once and for all, Dr. Donner returns to her place at the helm of Malice in Wonderland. However, she does demonstrate a greater degree of compassion, even for a criminal mind; Fewer enemies and bystanders die from Malice in Wonderland's subsequent operations, just as her peers and subservients notice her presiding behavior is more like that of a mother hen and less like that of a rogue leader or a megalomaniac....


Well, that's it. I'm bushed, beat, knackered, worn out. And I'll kick myself if there's anything less than complete about these posts. The rest I leave to you now. Ta ta! :D

[Seraphim]

(( Oooh I like the saint, it's like she comes full circle :P ))

[Valcarde]

(( Oooh I like the saint, it's like she comes full circle :P ))

My thoughts exactly. ))

[Malibu Sally]

Fishnets Belle.





Whatever you do, do NOT put pink hair on the Child or Freud will never leave you alone. ;)

[Kurai Inago]

Gotta go with the Saint... to Quote myself "Psychology is my Weapon against the world, And I can ALWAYS use more ammo" :D

[The Widowed]

Sorry about all the edits, but I think I finally got all the paragraph breaks right where I want them. Thank you for your patience and, of course, your input. :D

[The Widowed]

And don't mind my votes; I was just testing the multiple choice option. ;)

[Akamaz]

aspect of madness, chained with the electric eyes.

[Cryogentic]

I liked the saint and the clown

[The Widowed]

Whatever you do, do NOT put pink hair on the Child or Freud will never leave you alone. ;)
Cross my heart and hope to keep visions of Stephanie far from everyone's thoughts. :D

[Krypto]

While I must admit, seeing Widdy act like Gogo would be absolutely hilarious, I'm gonna go with the Saint as my top choice. Everyone likes a happy ending. :p

Also, work boots > cowboy boots.

[Malibu Sally]

Also, work boots > cowboy boots.
Agreed... with one little adjustment:

anything > cowboy boots

The cowboy boots look horrid.

[The Widowed]

The cowboy boots look horrid.
...which is all the more reason to wear them if you're trying to look "exotic". :D

[Silentkilla866]

Sexy Bloody. :P

[The Widowed]

aspect of madness, chained with the electric eyes.
I like the electric eyes too. If only they looked just as good on her regular costumes. :)

Sexy Bloody. :P
So you naturally picked one of the more conservatively dressed Bloodywedd costumes in the poll, eh? :D

[Gogo]

While I must admit, seeing Widdy act like Gogo would be absolutely hilarious, I'm gonna go with the Saint as my top choice. Everyone likes a happy ending. :p

Also, work boots > cowboy boots.

HEY! What is that supposed to mean!?

Also, Saint, Wids. And I hate you! You are too creative for your own good. :mad:

[Silentkilla866]

So you naturally picked one of the more conservatively dressed Bloodywedd costumes in the poll, eh? :D

Hey, those provide the most mystery. ;)

[Yin]

Go with Saint. Belle was my second choice, but for the good of the people, for the good of you, and for the good of all mankind, go with Saint. We will throw a parade in your honor.

[Cryogentic]

Kryo would love the saint :D

[The Widowed]

HEY! What is that supposed to mean!?
That's Kryptolish for "Gogo's crazier than a soup sandwich." :)

Also, Saint, Wids. And I hate you! You are too creative for your own good. :mad:
And I honestly don't know whether to thank you or to taunt you. :P

Go with Saint. Belle was my second choice, but for the good of the people, for the good of you, and for the good of all mankind, go with Saint. We will throw a parade in your honor.
Really, now. The Monster's not that bad. He's just misunderstood.... :D

Kryo would love the saint :D
...why do I suddenly get nervous when you say things like that? :yoy:

[Cryogentic]

...why do I suddenly get nervous when you say things like that? :yoy:

I don't know ;)

[The Widowed]

Charon digs Bloodywedd the Unliving. :D

But I'm surprised to see Aspect of Madness getting slammed in the polls, considering how well it did last time around. :think:

[Cryogentic]

opinions change, and besides this is your last one, an end to the outfits, unless you want to go shopping :D

[The Widowed]

True, true.

I wanted to make the Belle proficient in a musical instrument but I wasn't sure which one to choose. Perhaps a clarinet? I suppose an upper-class call girl would have opportunity to learn that in her spare time.... :think:

[Cryogentic]

the violin! love the violin

[The Widowed]

Violins are cool too. I think I might go with that. :)

[Cryogentic]

wee

[Malibu Sally]

True, true.

I wanted to make the Belle proficient in a musical instrument but I wasn't sure which one to choose. Perhaps a clarinet? I suppose an upper-class call girl would have opportunity to learn that in her spare time.... :think:

Kazoo
Accordion
Sousaphone
Drums
Balalaika
Banjo
Bagpipes
Moog synthesiser


:P

[The Widowed]

wee
Wii?

Kazoo
No way.

Accordion
Nein.

Sousaphone
Ooh, a tuba! That would fit rather snugly inside NO.

Drums
Nnnnnnmaybe.

Balalaika
Let me think about it. No.

Banjo
Hell, no.

Bagpipes
Bloody hell, no.

Moog synthesiser
Wrong century, pet. :D

[Cryogentic]

Wii?


no wee with a backflip as in wee I'm happy and doing flips I'm so happy

[Charon]

Charon digs Bloodywedd the Unliving. :D

But I'm surprised to see Aspect of Madness getting slammed in the polls, considering how well it did last time around. :think:
Because... She's like... Dead.

But really, I prefer the Saint over the rest. For it to come full circle would definately finish the story off.

You really do have the best concepts for characters, and we seem to like the same kind of heroes/villains. We should find a way to write Mr. Mud as a Widowed villain and Bloodywedd as a Charon villain.

If I'd finished that damn Christmas story, Bloodywedd already would be a Charon villain, but I ran out of steam there... Maybe I'll finish it next Christmas ;), or think of another way to connect our characters...

Ah, the possibilities are endless. ;)

[Malibu Sally]

But the mere thought of dainty little Bloodywedd sporting a great big tuba is so....... erm..... thought provoking?

Ok. How about...

Harmonica
Spoons
Harpsichord
Tambourine
That thing that makes those deep, creepy sounds... you know.. that thing that Australian aborigines use.

:D

[Charon]

Didgeridoo.

[Malibu Sally]

Didgeridoo.
Yeah... that. :lol:



Thanks Charon



Now be thankful that I did not suggest the Pan Flute. :p

[Cryogentic]

WHat's wrong with the pan flute?

[Malibu Sally]

WHat's wrong with the pan flute?
You've never seen a television commercial hawking the wares of Zamphir, have you? ;)

http://www.sdcd.com/B2B/jsp/app/images/Scans/597795.jpg

While there is nothing wrong with instrument itself... or even of Mr. Zamfir's playing of said instrument; those cheesey commercials he made in the 80's destroyed the Pan Flute as a musical instrument for at least the next 50 years. :D

[Cryogentic]

not me, I don't even know who that guy is, before my time.

I think of a satyr when i think of a pan flute

[The Widowed]

no wee with a backflip as in wee I'm happy and doing flips I'm so happy
You're just the cutest little thing. Would you like a springboard to go with those flips? :)

Because... She's like... Dead.
Let's hear it for psionically-induced lichdom! :singdance

But really, I prefer the Saint over the rest. For it to come full circle would definately finish the story off.
wee :D

You really do have the best concepts for characters, and we seem to like the same kind of heroes/villains. We should find a way to write Mr. Mud as a Widowed villain and Bloodywedd as a Charon villain.
If the last UB tourney was any indication, a Widdy/Mr. Mud enmity could get kind of rough on the Widowed.... :think:

(We still haven't done that last match between Tarby and Mud yet, but I think we have a good idea how that would end. Friggin' potent-as-hell Broadsword/Regen set-ups.... :p )

If I'd finished that damn Christmas story, Bloodywedd already would be a Charon villain, but I ran out of steam there... Maybe I'll finish it next Christmas ;), or think of another way to connect our characters...
It usually takes nothing more than a round of one-sided or unanimous criticism to make me dump my drawings, but I'm usually pretty persistent with my stories. A2O isn't far from my thoughts (even if it has been a month since I wrote anything), and I have another story or two slated for when I finish that one. Maybe I should actually try writing multiple stories simultaneously, eh? I wonder if that would save time.... :think:

But the mere thought of dainty little Bloodywedd sporting a great big tuba is so....... erm..... thought provoking?
Can you imagine how awkward it would be to walk around with that musical behemoth? She'd throw her back out, being so dainty and...oh, wait. That's right, she's psychokinetic. But still.... :p

Harmonica
Points for portability, deductions for harmonicas sounding like whining lowbrow crap. :P

Spoons
That's just loopy enough to actually work...naaaah.

Harpsichord
It won't fit through the base's portal. :D

Tambourine
Newp.

That thing that makes those deep, creepy sounds... you know.. that thing that Australian aborigines use.
No diggerwhatevers. But that pan flute actually has potential. Too bad I decided on the violin, huh? :)

[Malibu Sally]

Too bad I decided on the violin, huh? :)
Johnny rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
Cause hell's broke loose in Nerva and the devil deals the cards
And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose, Bloodywedd gets your soul...... :D

[The Widowed]

I think of a satyr when i think of a pan flute
wee (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565047281/103-7258334-6261420?n=283155) :singdance

Johnny rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
Cause hell's broke loose in Nerva and the devil deals the cards
And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose, Bloodywedd gets your soul...... :D
But I thought the Devil deals the cards over in St. Martial. :think:

[Malibu Sally]

Johnny Sonata won't share the territory.

Besides... Nerva fits better in the verse, silly. :P

[The Widowed]

Johnny Sonata won't share the territory.
Hey, Bloodywedd tried to knock over those obelisks so the Wailers could run off with Johnny's soul, but that slimy prick Hardcase got on her back about it.

Besides... Nerva fits better in the verse, silly. :P
Pentameter, schmentameter. :P

[Cryogentic]

wee violin!
:cryo:

and today will be fun no sleep :D I'm so wired for some reason.

If Kryo where to play an instrument it would be the pan flute, she is a lot like the satyr in the mythology story, she would so claim to be better then any god.

looks like the saint will win :D Kryo will be overjoyed I'm sure ;)

[The Widowed]

She's not going to interpret the Saint's more reserved and less bloody-minded demeanor as weakness and try to eat Bloodywedd's soul or anything, will she? :p

[Cryogentic]

Of course not, she knows what it is like to have a weak personality stuck in your head ;)

She'll just sit her down and talk about life, death, and all those good things

[The Widowed]

Man, people keep forgetting that they can cast votes for more than one candidate. Otherwise the race might be a little bit closer.... :think:

Of course not, she knows what it is like to have a weak personality stuck in your head ;)

She'll just sit her down and talk about life, death, and all those good things
Can they talk about didgeridoos? I mean, seriously. What were the Australian aborigines thinking when they came up with that?

[Cryogentic]

I casted for the two I liked, you just don't want to have the sait come out with Kryo around :(

[The Widowed]

I casted for the two I liked, you just don't want to have the sait come out with Kryo around :(
Oh, I'm just teasing you. Carry on, lassie. :D

[Cryogentic]

I think your right about the pie chart Kin did child me should be the larger one :P

[The Widowed]

I think you're right about the pie chart Kin did. Child me should be the larger one. :P
Fixed by the Grammar Nazi. :D

[Cryogentic]

I like commas better then periods

[The Widowed]

*throws a net over Grae Knight and TopHat for being so sneaky*

*waits for Alumette and Poison to show up* >:]

[TopHat]

GAH!

Damn it, you caught me. Yes, I voted for saint. I love it because the story of how it comes to be includes all of the other personalities, and thus feels like the most natural and complete conclusion to BW's evolution. While I love the others for their brilliant costume design, I chose Saint in her simplicity because it seems the coolest to me when I consider the depth that went into creating it - which is the best part of BW for me.

[The Widowed]

Well, I was going to give the Saint a tiara and steampunk power armor and robot legs and some huge shoulder pads, but since you put it that way, I won't. :D

I kid, of course. But it does seem like the Saint is the purest way for Bloodywedd to avoid all the damnations, stalemates or lesser victories afforded by the other candidates. And as much fun as it would be to see the Director going into full global conquest mode, or either the Clown or the Bon Vivant going nuts and tearing ass all up and down the Rogue Isles, or the Shaman making Blodeuwedd her bitch, it looks like the victor is already decided....

With the Saint, everyone wins. Except for the Monster; He pretty much gets the shaft. :D

[Cryogentic]

Wee :D

[Green Tower]

I vote Bloodywedd the Unliving, Aspect of Madness , and blueberry muffins.
The Unliving and Madness because I hate happy endings.
I prefer with chains and with the eyes aura. As though the pyches were leaking out of her brain.
Blueberry muffins because they're the best muffins in the known universe.

[The Icy One]

I like Belle and Saint.. but can't think of which to vote for.. o.o

[Charon]

Then vote for both - It's a multiple selection poll.

[The Widowed]

I vote Bloodywedd the Unliving, Aspect of Madness , and blueberry muffins.
The Unliving and Madness because I hate happy endings.
I prefer with chains and with the eyes aura. As though the pyches were leaking out of her brain.
Blueberry muffins because they're the best muffins in the known universe.
I ate all the muffins. Sorry. But they were good. :)

[Cryogentic]

I wanna play with the saint :(

[The Widowed]

I wanna play with the saint :(
The sooner I get to lvl40, the less chance there will be of another candidate making a comeback.... ;)

[The Widowed]

Bloodywedd is Level 39 now! :singdance

[Green Tower]

WHAT???






grats

[The Widowed]

http://coh.tritonius.com/BloodyRingy.jpg

"Donna, darling, welcome home! Though I do believe you're calling yourself 'Bloodywedd' these days...."

Rings of psionic force rippled and twisted across the intruder's figure, binding her to the earth not far from where Mistress Avribonde stood. Bloodywedd was her captive, and she had eschewed her menacing, psychotic assembly of leathery straps and metal boots and brow studs to choose the common garments of her innocent years when she went to confront her former leader. Such was a gesture of symbolism, though not without a psychological advantage to be played....

A telekinetic toss from Avribonde's sweeping hand cast Bloodywedd to the ground seven yards away, and a pained gasp escaped the psionicist's lips as her body struck topsoil and stone. With psychic eyes flickering within her spirit mask, the ring mistress pressed her advantage, advancing on the supine villainess and continuing her harangue.

"Your abduction was not a matter taken lightly, my dear. The moment you set foot on our carnival grounds, we knew your name. And the psychic potential lying dormant within your mind shone like a score of torches in the dead of night. I knew then that I had to have you. And so I took you and groomed you into a talented fortune teller. How can you not be grateful or proud?"

"I suppose...I do have you to...thank..." Bloodywedd admitted through a haze of pain, a pain which doubled when Avribonde's psychic blast drove deeply into her brain and stilled her tongue moments later.

"Precisely. And in our time together I daresay that I came to know you better than you knew yourself. Why did you pursue a calling in psychology? Why were you so good at the practice, outclassing doctors with years or even decades of experience? The gift was guiding you, darling. What you mistook for a natural talent with empathy and analysis was instead a keen yet subtle application of your sixth sense poking around the surface thoughts of your patients, but of course. Who needs Jungian personality ratings when you can read a person's hidden sentiments like an open book? But these were only the most rudimentary feats which your magnificent psyche could do. So I led you to the ladder and allowed you to climb to the heights of your potential, and this is how you repay me? A reckoning?"

Bloodywedd moved to stand, but a pensive throught from the ring mistress held her body in place.

"...last warning, Avribonde. Release...me, or I'll be forced...."

"Again with the threats!" Avribonde wailed and threw her hands into the air mockingly. "Oh, how my ears do weep! But no matter. Creating you would not be my first mistake, nor shall it be my last. The most I can hope to do is to erase my mistakes, or to rectify them before they come to pose greater inconvenience. So understand that I cannot let you live, and savor now the bitter brew of such a fatal and untimely end to your retributive motion! How tragic it is that you should learn firsthand why I am the mistress and you are not."

The ring mistress stooped down to cradle her former attendant's chin in her hand, and her voice assumed a sullen tone bordering on pity. "So consider this euthanasia, my darling, a killing performed out of mercy, for you have been reduced to such a sad, helpless thing. I sense no more rebellion or turmoil within you and so, quite frankly, you have lost your edge. Why, I remember the night that your companions returned you from that fateful encounter with the Widowed. We could not keep you, of course, as you had been driven quite mad. Oh, how the voices trapped writhing inside your skull sang like a marvelous, wounded choir, and in that phenomenon you had robbed two of your cohorts of their spirits and powers as well. With heavy heart I released you, expecting you to be consigned to a dismal existence of restraints and medication. Yet imagine how pleased I was when you transcended such limits to become Bloodywedd, wearing your delicious madness on the outside and funnelling your wracking delirium into the minds of your victims. Your psychic gift coupled with your blossoming lunacy quite violently and beautifully, I daresay.

"But what has happened to my lovely Donna Dementia? What has happened to the far more fascinating tigress Bloodywedd? All I see now is this wretched shell kneeling before me, one too subdued to wear anything more distinct than this drab 'business casual' affair. You have withered, and now I shall see you die, and your grand adventure shall come to such an ignoble end and a nameless grave. What would you call such fate as this, hmmm?"

And unforeshadowed, Bloodywedd's eyes sharply rose to meet Avribonde's gaze, all traces of pain or befuddlement unexpectedly drowned in a sudden tide of lucidity, the advent of a psionic fortitude held in reserve.

"I call it the pride which goes before a fall, Mistress."

A crippling chill twisted the ring mistress' spine, stripping away her body's metaessence as the chill rose to her neck, adding the stolen lifeforce to Bloodywedd's own. The space of a breath later, morphean tendrils crept through that proud mind, caging Avribonde's awareness and lulling her to torpor.

"You took me from my family, my friends, the life I had and all of its comforts," she glowered with no small measure of contempt as she rose to her feet, "just so you could have another pet psychic to add to your entourage. You used my talents and myself to cement your troupe, your seat of power within the Carnival. But I don't resent you because of this."

The ring mistress resisted the mesmerization from the seat of her mind, but a debilitating shower of psionic blows rained down on her in return. "You caused my loved ones incalculable suffering as they frantically searched high and low to find me--or my corpse, a likelihood which traumatized them further. Meanwhile, you were brainwashing me day and night, teaching me to become a good and proper Carnie who would love you entirely and never question you...psychic slavery by any other name. But I don't resent you for this, either."

"You put me, your loyal servant, in harm's way and forced me to turn against the orderly society with which I had conformed for all of my life. Our foes were superhuman warriors who could hurl vast, fiery explosions or crush moving vans with their bare hands, but it mattered little to you. Beneath all the camaraderie you instilled in our hearts, we the attendants and harlequins of your ranks were never much more than recruiters of innocents and fodder for superheroes. But no, I don't resent you for this at all."

A fistful of Avribonde's hair yanked her back to her feet to face Bloodywedd's angered, penetrating stare. "But the mask you gave me...what in God's name possessed you to empower me with the spirit of a hateful, murdering, malignant archdevil like Edward Bittersley? Hmmm? What assurance did you have that he would not turn on me once the mask and its wards were broken? Do you have any notion at all of what I went through with him in my head? The dark, shattered thoughts which woke me up with nightmares gibbering for blood? The inhuman crimes which are now on my hands because of him?"

Psychokinesis ripped the ring mistress from the ground and hurled her skyward with terrible force. Ready to continue her tirade, Bloodywedd was already at the destination where she landed with a bone-wrenching impact. "There is only one place where I do not want anybody in this world or any other to go, and that's inside my mind. Possession by the two other spirits was a bad enough violation. But with Bittersley I felt utterly polluted, like I could never wash the stink off my soul in a hundred lifetimes. That wretched affair is why I am unspeakably angry. With you. With the Carnival. With the whole world by association."

"Bloody...Donna, my dear," the ring mistress offered as she rolled back to her feet, "Do not blame me for infusing your mask with Bittersley's soul; The mistress who did that has been cold and in her grave for a hundred years. Do you truly expect the Carnival of Shadows to keep track of every soul bound inside every spirit mask...?"

The immediate answer to her question was Bloodywedd's brain-scalding psychic barrage, but she endured. "...ngggh...listen to me! If Edward Bittersley's soul...is troubling...you so much, I...can perform a psychic...cleansing. He will be...banished, and you will...forget him...."

"Your offer of aid is already outdated. I have already cast Bittersley's soul into oblivion. In the process I forgot his existence, but I didn't forget him for long. The other two spirits were quick to remind me, you see."

"...other two..."

"And that's exactly where you underestimated me," she accused with another numbing mind blast. "You didn't hear the spirits in my head talking and yelling anymore, so--being so shallow and quick to project your own expectations onto others--you assumed that they had left me and, therefore, that I was quite powerless. But the spirits are silent not because they are gone but because they are terrified of angering me and following Bittersley to his damnation. I used to be their victim, but now I am their master."

With her psychic defenses faltering beneath the payload, Avribonde recoiled in agony and stupor from Bloodywedd's incessant assault until a telling psionic lance punched through the essence of her cerebrum and sent her reeling to the ground.

Momentarily, Avribonde's eyes cleared to find her enemy cradling her like a long lost love. Forboding fingers snaked around the edges and contours of the ring mistress' spirit mask as the exposition concluded. "So you see, I am anything but powerless. I have my own overdeveloped psyche, I have the spiritual reserves of two more dead people at my command and a cursed magical being who is occasionally inclined to work with me...I've even learned a few magic tricks and have become quite the scholar of sorcery in my travels. For as much as they're universally despised, the Circle of Thorns do have some profound insights into the unseen world around us. I still prefer the Carnival's spiritualist magic, of course. Speaking of powerlessness...."

A noisy, terrible ripping of the ether lent testament to the force with which Bloodywedd's grasping hands tore the spirit mask from Mistress Avribonde's naked face. Her deep sapphire irises adjusted to the shifting light and raced madly, searching for something which was not there. Flung high by Bloodywedd's hand, the porcelain mask spun through the air before halting for several seconds, arrested mid-flight, before a psionic juggernaut was launched through the expanse and struck the mask squarely in its brow. And it shuddered, trembling with growing intensity until it shattered into a rain of porcelain shards, releasing its screeching, tormented spirit into the void between worlds as it showered earthward.

"And so, Mistress Avribonde...or should I call you Madelaine Smythe, seeing as your ring mistress alter ego no longer exists? Well, I could spend an hour putting you through psychoanalysis and trying to figure out exactly to what extent my next action may have damaged you, but all that matters is that you'll experience torment just as I did...just a milder form of it. I doubt that you'll be much use to the Carnival of Shadows after that. Call it 'Humility therapy' or call it the price you'll pay for threatening my life. I don't honestly care either way."

Avribonde's gaze fell to panic as Bloodywedd leaned in and locked her lips onto the soft lips of her prey, a mockery of a passionate kiss that served as the bridge between two living souls. Something malicious reached from the dominator's mind across that union, piercing the former ring mistress' psyche with spearing potence. The panicking form of Avribonde thrashed and struggled in Bloodywedd's embrace for long minutes before settling uncomfortably. No time soon would her catatonic gaze subside, and certainly those eyes, her disturbingly still body and her incoherent tongue would speak of the roiling madness planted within her in those moments.

"...lenient wheel across the mother cold, where is seven but axis? More time go lightly, you yon young yogurt blossom overdrive...."

Satisfied with her revenge--however justified it may have been--Bloodywedd dragged the madwoman into the shade of a nearby carnival tent and eased her into a resting position where the remaining Carnies would soon find her. Bloodywedd then greeted the heavens with vibrant eyes and open arms. One mighty burst of psychokinesis would propel her from the earth and sustain her well along her unassisted flight to the mainland.

• • •

The corner offered a mild respite from the strobing lasers and the ear-crushing volume of the techno music which permeated the electric atmosphere of the Pocket D nightclub. Her drink--an unusual amalgam of green tea and alcohol--was rolled idly between fingers and thumb as she waited for her enigmatic visitor from the Rogue Isles to arrive. And finally the visitor did arrive. Though the visitor expected to surprise her contact through stealth, those ears locked onto her ascent up the stairs even through the forceful ambience.

"Hey," Bloodywedd offered in greeting, abashed to find the familiar eye peering deeply into her as she moved forward. "You knew I was coming?"

"You need to work on your steering," the Widowed admonished in reply. "I heard you push yourself off the wall and guide yourself up by the handrail after you overshot the first turn at the bottom of the stairs. You wouldn't be the first flyer who's done that. So...mind telling me what this occasion's all about?"

Bloodywedd shrugged wistfully. "You always were blunt to a fault. Anyway, you might be interested in these documents." The small stack of papers clapped to the table as she took a seat across the table from her nemesis. "They're copies of supply orders, maps of itineraries for a number of Carnival troupes, my own notes about the mistresses who manage each troupe...in essence, this is a stack of information which can help you predict where the Carnival of Shadows is going and what they'll be doing, at least for the next three months."

The pony glass clacked gently as it alighted onto the table, and the Widowed peeled an invoice sheet from the top of the stack. "Uh huh. I always figured you were trying to get back into the Carnival's good graces. Assuming this isn't a ruse--not ruling that out, though--why the change of heart?"

"Oh, there are a dozen psychological terms for what I was feeling, but the simple form is that I wanted the Carnival to exorcise the spirits who were driving me mad, and I wanted to belong to a band of peers who would accept me for what I was; Given what I had become after you broke my mask, I think I could rule out common society for sources of companionship. But after Malice in Wonderland resolved the latter issue and I myself resolved the former, I no longer saw any need to rejoin the Carnival and even came to resent them for what they had done to me, things which I saw only after I suppressed my madness and my vision cleared."

"You mean to tell me that you somehow exorcised your own inhabiting spirits?"

"There's a great number of factors leading up to that, including the appearance of a woman crafted by wizardry who sought to use my body as refuge from her unending curse. I'll have to tell you more about the events later; It's quite a fascinating tale. But suffice it to say that I have been greatly relieved of my madness, and only its vestiges remain."

The invoice sheet was returned to its home on the stack after a casual examination. "Right. I don't suppose this means you're ready to turn in your Supervillains 'R' Us club card, does it?"

Bloodywedd paused, briefly lost in thought. "I believe in free will...up to a point. We can make any number of choices or pursue any number of actions in our lifetimes, but--like computers--we can only be what we are 'programmed' to be. Someone without artistic talent will never be a renowned artist. Someone with an aversion to violence will never be a war hero. And I for my part have already eaten the Fruit of Knowledge. Quite honestly, I know that crimes are wrong by definition, but I have never felt more alive than I did when I was first set free by the Carnival, free to become Bloodywedd and to support myself with the crimes to which the spirits led me and for which the Carnival had trained me. And in the process I've become so psychologically distant from my previous peaceful, conforming lifestyle as a psychologist and a citizen that I have come to fear a return to that lifestyle instead. Had I remained a psychologist or a Carnie, I would have lived and died in a lifetime of anonymity. Now I'm making headlines. Strangers on the street mention me by name; Whether they speak with admiration or with dread is irrelevant. Because of you and Mistress Avribonde, I was free to spread my wings and fly to some small measure of immortality.

"But notoriety is easy. Lasting public acclaim is quite difficult but far more satisfying. I may have a chance to strike a blow for the greater good yet. Maybe one day I will feel some need to find an escape from the criminal lifestyle, but for now I see no cause for that; My new awareness will bar me from causing direct harm to undeserving innocents, and I hope to convince the rest of my cohorts to follow that example. So, yes, perhaps I am still a fiend, but I have turned over a new leaf all the same, and I do hope that you can forgive me for all the more unpleasant things I've done with you in the past."

"Forgiveness has nothing to do with it. I catch you perpetrating a crime, I will do everything in my power to stop you. Simple as that. But thanks for the intel on the Carnies. Looks to me like this grudge you have with them can at least get you a good word in the papers."

"I suppose betrayal is something I'm good at...."

"...which is why I've still got my eye on you, in case of a double-cross. Maybe this is evidence, maybe it's bait. I'm a smart girl, though. I can come to my own educated conclusions. And if the papers are worth my time, then thanks for giving me a hand. I'll give the Carnies a few extra welts for you."

"And thank you, widow, for making me what I am today. If I hadn't...."

"No," the Widowed retorted with a suddenly sour gaze. "I haven't forgotten our history, Bloodywedd. And I'll regret that moment till my dying day."

An awkward stillness in the air hung between the two. So disconcerted, Bloodywedd left her seat and began making her way to the exit.

"Make the most of any lucidity you have. See you around."

Bloodywedd's criminal career was not yet over, but for the first time she felt wholly in control of her own destiny, whatever that may be. And that liberation, she knew, was worth more than all the bank vaults ever emptied by her hand.


fin

[Seraphim]

Grats widdy :P

[The Widowed]

...says Sera as she sticks her tongue out at me. :P :P :P

[Akamaz]

so.. um when victor kills innocents in the off chance that they'll turn into agents... he'll get in trouble?

[The Widowed]

At the very least, Bloodywedd will lock up the Tastee Wheat for about a week. ;)

[Akamaz]

but... they could be agents!


I knew i should have taken the blue pill

[The Widowed]

Of course, Neo and his crew didn't shoot up civilians all willy-nilly because they might be agents. They waited for the civilians to turn into agents first, then shot up the agents. It's easier to justify that way. ;)

[Akamaz]

but they're all stupid... it's easier to kill a bluepill than an agent..hell, it's easier for Victor to just hack them and make them temporarily his slaves. (a la Gang War)

[The Widowed]

He's still losing his Tastee Wheat privileges. :P

But that's a nifty explanation for Gang War. ;)

[Seraphim]

...says Sera as she sticks her tongue out at me. :P :P :P
OOpsies :P is my normal default smiley :) Have a :D ;)

[Akamaz]

good, he hates tasty wheat...

oh, i have a crey up now

[The Widowed]

Yay. :)

I really wish I had given that story post its own thread, but that would be kind of a waste. One-post threads kind of suck. :|

[Akamaz]

there's the single hero fiction section wids :)

[The Widowed]

What about single villains? :p

[Seraphim]

What about single villains? :p
Why, they visit Hitch!

[The Widowed]

Will Smith in one of his finest roles.... :cool: