Tisiphone "Money Shot" Apostolos

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Tisiphone Apostolos

Eve Savail as Tisiphone Apostolos

Personal

Alias:	Money Shot
Age:	24 (b. Feb 17, 2017 AE)
Features:	5'6", boyish build, white-blonde hair, pale blue eyes.
Colony:	Sagittaron

Professional

Rank:	Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Department:	Air Wing
Position:	Viper Pilot

"The men in the room suddenly realized that they didn't want to know her better. She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close."

—Good Omens.

Background

According to some, this young and rather intense Sagittaran is further proof that the military's approval procedures are slipping. Juvenile delinquent turned Viper pilot? You're kidding, right?

[+] Show Background

journal entry, handwritten—

Megaera, Alecto. If you were not dead, I would not be here.

Triplets. Thrice auspicious, our mothers said. Dedicated to the Erinyes. Let the softer colonies call them the Kindly Ones, quail against the truth. Theirs is not our way, shall never be our way.

Woodsmoke, burning meat, cedar. The smells still take me back. So strong. Too strong. Suddenly I'm ten again. The whole world is green and cold. Running with my sisters, mothers calling us back to the lodge. The smell of clay, and I'm in my robes. Prayer beads. Smoke in my eyes. This one will be Tisiphone, Avenger of Murder, when she is woman. So say we all. Camphor, and we're dying. Suffocating and hot. Red faces and swaddled like we were born. Diphtheria, the Medicators said. Less praying. More needles.

Their time to die. You'll understand when you're older. So many questions. No answers. This is not for asking why, this is for accepting. Maybe my mothers were right. Back turned to the Lords. Forsaken. Maybe I was just thirteen. Eris claiming me. Birthright lost. Madness and strife. Purges and the whip.

I still remember the dream. You were there, sisters. Shredded white robes and Elysian trees reaching up to forever. Barefoot in the moss. Crying. They're wrong. Run. Run.

Lost in the city in a bloodstained shirt. Everyone's speaking Standard until finally someone understands. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Exploitation and desecration. They'll pave the earth and poison the water. We'll suckle the same digital teat they do. Godless and arrogant. The Colonies are coming. It's left to us. We have to fight. We have to fight — but first, you. You with the white hair. War's no place for virgins.

Sthenoi Juvenile Detention Facilities. Medicators and the isolation cell. You'll stay there until you speak Standard to me. Mindkiller pills. Throw them up, and you'll just have to swallow them again. You don't want that. Be a good girl. My mothers were right. This is Erebus. A year of nothing, until Moira and her paper. He's gone. The pills are gone. This doesn't have to be you. I still hear her when Eris is laughing. Count to three. In. Count to three. Out. Fade the red to blue.

I was so angry when she sent me to Caprica. I've been so good, Moira, and this is my reward. Belly of the Beast. 1500 Capricans in this godless school and only one of me. You said I'd hate you for saying it — I'll understand when I'm older. You're just like my mothers, Moira. They said I had potential, too. I hate you. Seventeen and I knew everything. Knew you were wrong. Of course you were right.

Four years on Caprica. Never any closer to understanding it. If this is not where the Muses live, then where? So blessed, yet so godless. Following Professor Theras from class to class. Year to year. The Lords are with us, in these numbers. You just have to know how to look. You came here barely knowing how to count, girl, and now look at you.

My first sim flight, on a dare. She'll puke. You always do, first time up. I don't always do what you always do. Watch and learn. Everything changes. Icarus is here with me. Steel cords instead of wax. Professor Theras, looking so upset. Don't throw your life away. A tin can's no place for a mind like that.

Flight School. We're here to make you hate flying. We're here to make you hate us. We're here to push until you break. A vase going over a ledge, one tap at a time. Sweep the pieces up, stick them together into something else. Don't worry if they don't all fit. It's not as pretty, but now it's useful.

Sarpedon Doukas, politician's son. My father's a minister. How important is yours? Cut him and he'd bleed hubris and rot. If you hate me so much, Dookie, why won't you leave me alone? Go away, go anywhere but here. Up in my face in the hangar again. Impressed you haven't shook out yet. Black smile. Blacker heart. Don't walk away. Waste of a colony. Even the terrorists won't fight. Hit me. Make me laugh. I'm sorry, Moira. It doesn't work this time. I counted to three and three and three. Split lip and broken fingers. Down into the repair trench. Cold-rolled steel versus bone. C7 fracture. Shook out on a backboard. Work hard, Dookie. Next year this time, you won't need diapers anymore.

Immediate Family

Tisiphone speaks very little of any family. For the nosy, however, poring through a news archive search for 'sagittaron+apostolos' will turn up a news article from the Sthenoi Herald from fifteen years ago.

[+] Show Article

CHILDREN RETURNED TO XENOS PROVINCE COMPOUND

(Photograph of two small children in contemporary clothing being tearfully embraced by a group of three women in anachronistic religious robes. A man wearing similar robes looks on, while another appears to be waving angrily toward the camera as if to try to block the shot.)

STHENOI - The last of the Apostolos children have returned to their familes after a protracted legal battle, according to local Child Welfare Agency officials.

The dispute began over six months ago with a joint Xenos Provincial Police and Agency raid on the extended family's isolated mountain compound following the deaths of three children from diphtheria. The respiratory illness is easily avoided through vaccination and is eradicated throughout most of the Twelve Colonies; however, like many southern continent communities, all modern medical practices have been shunned in the Apostolos compound as a transgression against the Gods.

After months of testimony from family members, doctors, and clergy alike, the three-judge panel ruled 2-1 against the actions of the XPP and the Agency, returning the fourteen children, ages ranging from ten months to fifteen years, to their families.

Service Jacket

• 2035-2039 AE (48 months) — Colonial Fleet Academy, Caprica Campus. 381st of 1237 graduates. Specialization in Mathematics.
• 2039-2041 AE (24 months) — Air Wing: Flight School, Lefka Ori Air Force Base, Picon. 16th out of 25 graduates.
• 2041 AE (current) — VF-154 "Black Knights", Battlestar Cerberus.
  • Jun 24 — promoted to LTJG.
  • Jul 29 — demoted to ENS.
  • Oct 2 — (re)promoted to LTJG.

[+] 2041.04.11: Reprimand: ENS Apostolos

TO:

Ensign Tisiphone Apostolos

CC:

Lieutenant Pallas Xander Ellinon
Lieutenant Anton Kyriakos Laskaris
Major Cidra Hahn

On 10 April 2041 AE at roughly 2045 hours on the hangar bay floor, ENS Tisiphone Apostolos did physically strike her superior officer and squad-mate, LT Pallas Ellinon. This incident was witnessed and statements were submitted for the record by two deckhands, Specialist Nikolai Ganas and Petty Officer Third Class Petra Timon (NPCs).

For this incident, ENS Apostolos shall have this formal letter of reprimand entered into her record and be confined to the Viper Berthings for a 24-hour period beginning and ending through the day of 11 April 2041 AE. During this time the ensign may not leave the berthing for any reason other than her light-duty assignments or to visit the Head, Sickbay, Galley Mess or Gym.

I now consider this matter closed.

Major Cidra Hahn
CAG - Battlestar Cerberus

[+] 2041.07.29: Court-Martial: LTJG Apostolos

TO:

Lieutenant JG Tisiphone Apostolos

CC:

Major Clive Tillman
Captain Ibrahim Sitka
Lieutenant Alessandra Sophronia
Major Madilyn Willows-Cavanaugh
Sergeant Eleftherios Constin
Lieutenant JG Raine Lunair

After careful review of the evidence presented for and against Lieutenant, Junior Grade Tisiphone Apostolos, the Courts Martial has made the following determinations.
1. Improper Discharge of a Firearm: Guilty
2. Violation of Security Procedures: Guilty
3. Destruction of Military Property: Guilty

• The prisoner shall be released from the brig at once and placed under modified Arrest in Quarters for a period of two weeks that began on the date of her detention. During this period she is only allowed out of the pilot's berthings for duty-related tasking or personal upkeep.

• Further, she is to spend three weeks (July 29 - Aug. 13) assigned to kitchen duty in the Galley to perform whatever necessary tasks they need.

• Finally, it is this Court's determination that Apostolos should undertake a psychiatric evaluation at the soonest possible time. The results of this evaluation shall be made available to Major Hahn soonest.

This would all go into her file as a permanent mark on her record.

---

LTJG Tisiphone Apostolos shall be reduced again to the rank of Ensign effective immediately. Further, she is grounded from flight status until Medical's Dr. Byrne completes her psychiatric evaluation. It is my hope this can be attended to promptly.

Major Cidra Hahn
CAG - Battlestar Cerberus

Physical Features

"She thinks too much: such girls are dangerous."

Pale, lean, and possessed of the hungry look Shakespeare wrote about, is Tisiphone. She is tallish for a woman, five foot six when barefoot, feminine curves whittled away to fit in a whippet-like frame. Her face is a study in spare, vulpine lines; the sort of face saved from aristocratic coldness only by the restless, somewhat feral personality that animates it. Her clean-shaven scalp does nothing to gentle her features, nor do her eyes, pale blue washed out nearly to grey.

Armchair Psychiatry

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

"Their curiosity for the world around them gives them a "leap before you look" tendency. They are notorious for taking apart a device to see how it works before considering whether they can put it back together." (source)

Tisiphone is an ISTP. The test is available here.

Enneagram of Personality

"Eights are self-confident, strong, and assertive. Protective, resourceful, straight-talking, and decisive, but can also be ego-centric and domineering. Eights feel they must control their environment, especially people, sometimes becoming confrontational and intimidating. Eights typically have problems with their tempers and with allowing themselves to be vulnerable."

According to the Enneagram of Personality, Tisiphone is an Eight (The Challenger) with a side of One (The Reformer). The test is available here.

On the Grid

Known Associates

Daphne Kolettis

"You know my first order when I make Lieutenant before you — which I am so going to do?" Is that a challenge? "Ensign Kolettis, you will take the bottom bunk." "Nuh uh. The first thing you're going to do after you make Lieutenant before me is wake up and realize it was all just a dream, Tisi." Bounced back to Sthenoi with a half-million cubit bill if it wasn't for her. Military born and raised. 'Picon's like Tauron, wishing it was Caprica' she says, like it makes sense. Like everyone's lived and breathed all the colonies. Compare X to Y with the knowledge of Z. All I can do is nod. Baubo vs. Demeter, we.

'Goddess'

Met her on the way up to the Cerberus. Wasn't so happy she missed most of the flight, but I'd swap unconscious for staring out the Raptor doors. So friendly. All smiles and hot pink pajamas. Surreal. If it's genuine, she'll never last. If it's a mask, she's dangerous. * * * You're allowed to call Shiv a savage with a bone club because your mother's Sagittaran? Don't worry — some of my best friends are racists, too.

'Lasher'

He was there when the galley blew. Shouting orders, making things happen. Saved my life when I put the grease extinguisher to my clothes. First flight maneuver and he comes in for the easy kill. Lucky shot and we both end up dead. 'Money Shot' for my troubles. Not sure he's friendly. Not sure he has to be. * * * The only time I'm not doing it wrong is when I'm doing it worse than wrong. This is how you encourage someone to save your tail in a dogfight? I'd rather pull Spiral out of a furball. He wouldn't make any worse an SL. * * * All the way to the Raptor before the Keres caught him. Bled out with a smoke in his mouth. I bet you're already telling Kerberos he snarls wrong.

'Bunny'

Unruffled as a monk. Finger-paints and that smile. Daphne says he's new to LTJG. Feels like one of us. Hard to imagine the Sir. Pacifist — is that possible? How can it last? I don't understand Raptor crew at all. * * * "It's hard not to hope. I try not to. I try my best. I keep telling myself that we're all already dead. That it's all already over. There's nothing to cry about anymore." Oh, Bunny. Of all the people to hear this from. If you end yourself, I'll scream you down to Hades, myself. * * * Seven years pining over your first love only to find them in a Cylon's abattoir. I don't know how to fix you, Bunny. I hope someone can.

'Toast'

Seems backwards for a Major to want salutes less than a LT. Not looking the gift horse in the mouth. Gemenese. Chamalla. Our CAG knows how to pray. Took a half-hour of her time for nothing but talking to Daphne and I. Object lessons and callsigns. No scorn. Let us mould them in our likenesses. * * * "So the only choice left, I thought, was to try and be something that would not shame those that love you best. Make yourself into something that could look him in the eye again. And then you remain. Such as you are. Not always good, but it is better than the alternative." How many years ago did your heart stop singing, Sir? Your duty is all that keep you from going to find the rest of your song. For all our sakes, I hope your courage holds far better than mine.

'Bootstrap'

I start to envy the Harrier crew, and then I think of him. Jackal with a dripping mouth of offal, looking for the next fawn. * * * I may have been wrong. A harsh teacher still teaches.

'Halo'

Squeaky-clean and perfect, dreading our first LT meeting — and he falls out of his bunk. Bruised his ass all the way to Sick Bay. Preconceptions blown out of the water all around us, but I don't mind this one. Prestidigitator. Wonder where I'd be if I'd known his trick on Sthenoi.

'Knickers'

Temperance talks and it's a little like home. Aerilon fits better than Gemenon. Remember to work with what the Gods have left us, not just read about how the work is done. Some sort of burden, Atlas instead of Aphrodite.

'Flasher'

The other half of Temperance's Raptor. Brought something worth drinking to B-314. Called the Incarnados a crime against humanity. Couldn't agree more. * * * So happy to see me, after Ares' backhand. When my shoulder stops screaming, I owe him a hug. * * * Honest the way I need it — slapped up into my face, dragged through it until the pretenses slough off. I don't know how I'm going to find a worthy enough wedding gift for you.

'Shiv'

Aera Yazd, Ibrahim? Our guns came from there, ploughshares still stained like swords. No wonder he left. Aquarian ink, Picon home, back to the gods. Closed book. Wife and kids haunting his shelf. * * * We're all wearing our officer's masks again, aren't we? I miss the convertible, even if you can't drive on gravel for shit. * * * we're in a room without a door and I am sure without a doubt they're gonna wanna know how we got in here and they're gonna wanna know how we plan to get out we better have a good explanation for all the fun that we had 'cuz they are coming for us, baby and they are going to be mad yeah they're going to be mad at us.

'Spanner'

Irrepressible, for good and ill. Grey after Robin's death, and he held me 'til I slept — then fresh out of Sickbay, he grabs my ass. * * * If this is how Aerilonians get once they're familiar with someone, no wonder they all have alcohol for blood.

'Spiral'

Everything I said about Boots? Pretend I said it about him. If there's anything but bitterness and self-pity fueling this man, I'll be amazed. Nothing but contempt for the Petrels. I think I'd soak a black eye to get him in the brig for a week. * * * Of the ones who didn't condemn me, Spiral, you were the very last I expected.

'Doc'

Professor Bell. Still learning to walk without my slippers tied together, the first time I tried his course. Twice more, after, before I was proud to see it on my transcript. Stop thinking about how to react and REACT. Aphrodite's bitchiest laughter to have him here. I'll take the embarrassment over him being a pillar of ash back on Caprica.

'Skids'

Petrel's mama cat, her own babies left behind for the Cerberus tour. Hard to watch, sometimes, for the ghosts it brings.

'Queenie'

Still waters might run deep but the riptide's what drags you under. Coincidences and synchronicities. Odd luck and serendipities. He seeks a lot of patterns within patterns for someone who doesn't believe in all that superstitious bullshit.

'Jugs'

Motherly as treacle. Full of platitudes. 'Go on, tell me what's wrong,' like I've got a reason to. * * * Will Artemis deem it better or worse that the baby you're bringing into this war was a drunken mistake? Let us hope there will be more to show for trading the Harriers away than your selfishness.

'Bubbles'

Hidden depths, unexpected synchronicities. Of all the people to understand what flying can be, she was the very last I expected.

'Nugget'

Jack of all trades, master of none. Eye caught most recently by our birds — or the pilots within. This passing fancy may be your last, pretty boy.

Sawyer Averies

Nothing but snip and bristle whenever she and Shiv are sharing space. Talks to the restless dead, swears it was just a dream. Lying to yourself only ever goes so far, Miss Averies. * * * Either lonelier than I thought, or far subtler.

CPO Atreus

Deck Chief. First time off the eggshells was speaking to him. Soma didn't fit in the new flight suit. Expected a fight, double-checked regs, resentment. Nothing. 'Here, let me take a measure to make sure the new seal's good.' I felt like I belonged. It's good to know he's there. * * * Burnt offering for Robin, and no where quiet enough. He lets me use the forge, sent away on Hephaestus's blessing. Thank you, Chief.

LT Marcion

So much like Professor Theras. 9000rpm brain, 1000rpm mouth. Called me a pretty girl and we both blushed. 30rpm mental editor. Daphne would shine my boots for a month for an Engineering tour. Wonder how drunk he'd need to be.

LCPL Maragos

Now I know how it sounds when you train to kill someone with your sidearm. He was at the firing range when I went to practice. Still can't shoot the Five-seveN worth anything, and there he is like a firing squad. I knew Sidearm Competency Training was a joke for us, but… Lance Corporal. Marine. Maybe there's more than the Occupation to them. Maybe he learned by shooting "terrorists". * * * Bourbon for making it back. Cigarillos for the smoke we shared on Warday. Cylon philosophy over laundry. How the frak do I grind the CMC axe with him a part of it? Leading by example — this is how.

LT Hawke

Trauma surgeon, the one with the scalpels and clamps. Less praying. More needles. He said he'd spar me if the winner bought the other a drink. That look. The burn salve, after the galley fire — now I wonder if it was just to imagine the application. 'I know a nice little place on Caprica I'd take you.' My father would be younger — Lethe take it. Some things even breaking a Medicator's face is not worth. * * * No, Medicator, I will not tell you all about my quaint backwater customs. A Marine would have better bedside manner.

LTJG Kulko

Never realized he was CIC until the invite was out. Glad for the mistake. Not just Air Wing deserving a drink. Ranchers and herders — knows there's something beyond the cities. * * * Shows up with a bottle from his own stash. 'May it make your time without your wings just a bit less frakkin' miserable,' he says. I owe you one. * * * Ain't be no fun if it weren't a terrible idea, Stephen.

PO1 Damon

Followed Temperance to B-314 and could have brigged us all. 'It's Damon, for when the Chief asks who he's gotta hang,' instead. Taurian livery, none of the attitude. More of the night's serendipity.

SCPO Merrell

Nineteen years non-com and still smiling. Gifts of the Magi in the pool — she envying my wings, my envying her craft. The first person not to crave my four years on Caprica. I'd like an evening of her stories once the XO's done. * * * Blown away to dust on SAR. At least she didn't feel anything, says Jesse. Nothing left.

Sister Karthasi

The Lords and Ladies full of wroth, and 2500 pairs of eyes turn to one to make it all okay. Whither turn yours, Sister?

LT Stavrian

Further north than Shiv or I, but no better off. His voice still sounds like home. My poetry for his, the medicators kept at bay. * * * Are you going to end up paying Noura's ferryman's toll, Jesse? I wish I knew. * * * KIA, the Admiral says. Two hours later it's taken back. Two days later the Cylons try to bleed him out on the Hangar floor. Eris is already laughing.

XO Tillman

Ex-Marine. Ascended to Major and XO on the Colonel's pyre. Caught in the galley at weird o'clock and talked religion, of all things. Better the Cerberus's left hand be a godless thinker than a godsfilled madman. Weakness for jellybeans.

LT Paris

Engineer, maintenance and repairs. Was she one of Robin's, I wonder? Reminds me of Bunny — that lightness and warmth. Covered my cast in doodles, something to look at other than the pins beneath. * * * Barely out of the cast from Leonis and her foot's caught again. Anchor chains instead of bricks. Plastic explosives instead of helping hands. Hecate bring you safely to your mother's side, Penny. I will miss you.

CN Bannik

Oh, Tyr. Earnest as only an eighteen year-old can ever be. Showed me his gift horse, and I looked it in the mouth. I haven't seen him since the Chief spoke to him. Can't say I blame him. * * * "Two weeks? Awesome. Let me know when you get to fly for the first time, and I'll try to be there for your push-back at the very least, huh? I mean, I'd like to be on your squad getting you out there for the first time if I'm not still doing eight in CIC, eight on the line, eight rack." They have a handbook for deckies, how to make a grounded pilot smile? I could've kissed you.

LT Oberlin

The last person I should talk to about anything. The one who ends up hearing it anyway.

CPL Constin

If I was his size, I'd see every problem as a nail and myself as the hammer, too. If he's going to lose so much at Triad, I wish he'd bet smokes instead of cubits.

LT Nikephoros

One of the Kythera survivors. 'Keep an eye on her,' says we. 'Welcome to Command,' says the XO. * * * Climbed out of the scene as Anya fell in and tried to pull me with. Ran at her brother's elbow. Never was sure whom was ornamenting whom.

LTJG Lunair

She was in charge the night I tried to trade myself for the abomination. Put herself between one of her own and myself to keep him from finishing his job. Vouched for me to the CAG to give me time in the garden. Another object lesson for me to learn.

Trivia

RP Hooks

• Tisiphone has a number of hot-button topics: her accent, her upbringing, the Sagittaron Insurgency / CMC Occupation, her religion or lack thereof, etcetera ad infinitum ad nauseum. If your character's a bit of a shit-disturber and you want/need someone to needle, feel free to give me a page in-game to set something up.

• Possible tidbits to pursue, courtesy of Ye Olde Rumour Mill: she's an albino (despite the lack of pink eyes), she's completely hairless (despite her eyebrows), she was an insurgent on Sagittaron, she doesn't like men, she was born a man and had gender reassignment on Caprica, she broke a man's neck in Flight School, she worships Attis and drinks blood, she tried to get a requisition for blood from the galley chief. Rumours contain wildly varying amounts of truthiness and may or may not result in Unhappy Tis Time(tm) if brought up in RP.

Accent

Tisiphone has a pronounced Sagittaran accent, and that's after six years of military training grinding all the sharp edges off.

For those capable of picking apart the accent more precisely, it's a very back-woodsy Southern Continent accent — a bit lazy-jawed, as if they couldn't be bothered to pronounce things properly, yet full of oddly formal phrasings.

For the rest, she probably sounds equal parts hippie and firebrand preacher. You know…Sagittaran.

Soma Braid

Tisiphone wears a wide cuff around her left wrist. The outside is a series of flat metal 'charms' riveted one to next, a solid-looking clasp holding them shut against the inner wrist. The lining is thick, full-grain chamois, keeping it both slip-proof and comfortable to wear.

The charms themselves are an interesting bunch. Each of them are different, most of them having obvious religious symbolism — the sun and moon, a thunderbolt, a heart. But what about the teardrop and skull, or the four-armed spiral?

Tattoos

At some point in her distant past, Tisiphone had a jailhouse-style tattoo of a… something circular… done on her right inner wrist. It's very fuzzy and faded to murky grey-blue. It /might/ be the same four-armed spiral that's on her soma braid, if you squint just right.

Very recently, a much more substantial inking made its appearance. Traditional Sagittaran tatau, stretching in a blueblack line from the hollow of her throat down to just above her navel.

[+] Show Tattoo

Prayer Beads

Unless she's sleeping, or in the showers, her prayer beads are most likely on her person. They're a long string of bone beads, nine smaller beads followed by a larger one, repeated ten times. The smaller beads were dyed black at some distant point, but have since been rubbed down to a mottled greyish-blue, while the large beads were left bleached. At one end of the beads is a long tassel of braided silk strands with small chips of metal glinting at the ends; at the other is a large worry stone of snowflake obsidian.

Scars

If scars are stories, Tisiphone has a lot of stories to tell.

Three bullet-wounds are still angry red and healing. The first is a bullet-hole in her stomach, just below the ribcage. The second and third are in her left thigh, entry- and exit-wounds from a ricocheting shot off the floor. (Received Jul 19, 2041. See The Cylon Sleeps Tonight.)

A pale scar starts at her brow and curves slightly around her right eyesocket, as if she smashed the side of her face against something. (Received Mar 14, 2041. See Tug of War.)

A thin, perfectly straight scar runs along the outer edge of her forearm. (Received Mar 14, 2041. See Tug of War.)

A thick scar twists across the flesh between index finger and thumb on her right hand. Small oblong scars are paired along the length of it — torn suture scars. Whoever fixed her up, back when the wound was fresh, did a terrible job of it.

Across her back, from shoulders to buttocks, are long, faded stripes overlapping and snaking across one another. Those familiar with corporal punishment would recognize them as whip scars.

Brainmeats

A smattering of encapsulating poses for Tis.

[+] To Cadmus, on Cylons:

"Like you said: let us build them in our likenesses," is all Tisiphone responds at first, the statement black and bitter. Her shoulders rise slowly with another series of deep breaths; the last one hitches a bit, and more words make a break for it, when it happens. "We made /them/, and now they unmake /us/. And people have the gall or the- the stupidity-" The word is hesitated over, and doesn't sound like the one she meant to use. "-to wonder why. As if it could play out any other way." She abruptly pushes herself off the folding table, landing with a double-slap of booted feet, and stalks toward her drying machine to check it.

[+] To Oberlin, on hatred:

/That/ Occupation, hmm? Tisiphone looks directly, and rather challengingly, at Oberlin, her eyes the colour of sleet the moment before a cold snap starts turning it to ice. Go on. Speak your mind. She doesn't bite. The drier door swings open with a sharp creak, and she flicks her eyes away from the spook, crouching to inspect her clothes. The crimson- and gold-striped socks start getting tossed out onto the folding table. Sagitarran colours. Of course. "You hate too hard and it- becomes you," she says as she straightens, looking first to Cadmus then, warily, to Oberlin. "Becomes all that's left of you. You can pull yourself inside-out with it. Start with the best of intentions, end up- blind in your own blood, swinging at nothing." A bit of a gesture as she turns, moves back toward her woolen socks. "If it's only hate driving them, at least there's a straight-forwardness to it."

[+] To Tillman, on divine vengeance:

"I'm the wrong person to ask for sympathy over one's atheism, Sir." Excruciatingly careful, that — and followed by a light, smoky snort and a wry glimmer in sleet-blue eyes. Poking fun at her own self, perhaps. "From my point of view?" She frowns hard at her cigarette's cherry, then lets her gaze drift up with the tendrils of smoke. "We're being unmade with the very tools we made for ourselves. That this isn't a- a deliberate and perfect cruelty, being meted out as the /exact/ punishment we asked for…" A light and almost careless shrug. Fatalistic, maybe. "I'm sorry, Sir. I really don't understand how anyone can see otherwise."

[+] To Evandreus, on the Lords' kindliness:

"The Lords and Ladies like to play with their food before they get around to eating it." Tisiphone blinks abruptly at her own statement, dragging her teeth against her bottom lip a couple time, then finally raises her eyes back to Evan's. "There's a- a line," she says, expression going a bit distant as she recalls it. "How- they treat us, sometimes. 'It's in you, darling, that he's exhausted himself. He tosses you into the fire to recover his strength, like a little boy breaking into his piggy-bank.' It's- better untranslated, but that's the sentiment."

[+] To Oberlin, on cosmology:

"You've got Ananke right at the middle of everything, okay? Spinning creation out, pulling it back in, remaking it. Over and over again. The Lords and Ladies are- they're, like…" Tisiphone hesitates mightily here, scratching at one of the metal charms on her cuff. "Depending who you ask, what you read," she begins, carefully distancing herself, "they're third-string divinities. Ananke and her consort threw out a whole family what begat the Titans what begat the Lords. Back the family tree up from where the Colonies choose to worship-" Is there a touch of scorn, there? Maybe. "-and there's a whole slew of… those who don't earn a place on altars anymore. Maybe it's /there/ they're coming from."

[+] To Sitka, on destiny:

Her eyes wander from Sitka's face back to the Wall, lingering there a while before she continues with her end of the bargain — what she was thinking. "I grew up knowing I would be Tisiphone, Avenger of Murder, when I was woman, so say we all." It comes out like some old litany recited off scrolls worn away to crumbling. "The eyes and ears and mouth of the End Days we had wrought for ourselves in our hubris and godlesness, before Ananke closed her coils around us all and made it all anew." The cadence is as easy as one's breaths in a deep, dreamless sleep. "And then I left. The Insurgency wasn't going to be my End Days. And the Lords and Ladies gave me a new calling, without my mothers as mouthpiece. They wanted me to fly. So I flew. And then… this. And now I wonder if they weren't right all along, and it wasn't the Insurgency they were seeing, but… all this. Maybe I was wrong all along. About everything." She straightens and rubs at a spot on her wrist-cuff as if it was suddenly itchy. It might be the matching charm to the blurred ink on her wrist. "I guess that's what I drag along." Her pale eyes lift back to Sitka's, and the corner of her mouth tugs oh-so-slightly upward, as if to silently say, well, you asked.

[+] To Devlin, on the souls of the dead:

"I think the lucky ones stand on that bank a hundred years, watching the ferryman come and go. Never for them. Drowned in the weeds if they try to cross on their own, beat down by Charon's oar as he goes by. The rest are- lost. Adrift. Maybe the Lords and Ladies care enough about a couple of them, how they died, to throw them down to the Styx. The rest wait around until we're all remade." Tisiphone pulls an unbleached canvas satchel out of her locker and closes it again, snapping the combination lock back on. "I think there's a lot on this ship who are going to be lost in the black for a long time. That's what I believe."

[+] To Bannik, on forgiveness and repentance:

"I regret nothing," Tisiphone says, in a wet and ragged voice. It's a lie, of course, as plain as the shaved scalp and pillows beneath them. There's the sound of her swallowing, then clearing her throat against a sob — it turns it into a tight, snarling sound — before she sits up and drags the edge of her thumb against wet, matted lashes. "We are your flawed and broken vessels, O Thou," she says, the flatness returning behind the moisture in her eyes. "We are meant to fail. It is the /trying/, despite that, that makes us worthy of you. And I-" Her breathing goes rabbity for a moment, before she forces the rest of her sentence out. "I'm trying so hard. I swear."

Misc. Tidbits

• Her callsign is 'Money Shot'. Yes, really, and yes, it's stencilled right there onto her helmet. As Daphne explains it, the callsign came from a round of mock-battles where she, quote, went up to Laskaris and unloaded right into his face, endquote. (See Red vs. Blue for the sordid truth.)
• She refers to 'Lords and Ladies', as opposed to 'Lords and Lordesses'.
• She never mentions a mother, singular; it's always 'my mothers' or 'one of my mothers'.
• They're not 'Doctors', they're 'Medicators'. She has a deep mistrust of most medical staff, but grudingly endures the necessary check-ups — if she refuses, she's not able to fly, after all.
• Earthly possessions include:
  • a large and somewhat lumpen glazed clay mug.
  • two sets of five dice made from bleached bone, kept in a leather pouch when not in use. One set has red pips, the other has black.
  • a palm-sized marble mortar and pestle.
  • one pouch of cardamom pods.
  • one half-finished bottle of Incarnados. (From Picon. "An exotic full-grain beverage. Amaranth liquor with hints of smoke and spice. Meant for sipping," claims the label. According to all who have tasted it, barely fit for de-icing Raptors.)
  • one bottle of Aerilonian bourbon, 3/4s full. (You're my best friend forever, Cadmus — or at least until this runs out.)
  • one bottle of Genévrier, nearly full. A Pican liquor distilled with juniper and lime peel.
  • one unopened bottle of Sunahara. (Imported from Sagittaron by Caprican Fine Imports, Inc. Comparable to green chartreuse with a louche.)
  • two unopened bottles of clear liquid.
  • one pouch of crystallized ginger, knotted shut and buried down with the above bottles.

Jukebox

-1-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ejsM0VF-Os

don't fret, precious, I'm here.
step away from the window and go back to sleep.

safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils
see, they don't give a fuck about you, like I do.

counting bodies like sheep
counting bodies like sheep

counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums

counting bodies like sheep

go back to sleep
go back to sleep.

-2-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WWiSMA_GTk

you know these little conversations
well for me they'll never do
now what am I supposed to do with broken sentences of you?
I'll stay in my corner 'cause that's all that I can do
let the others speak for me.

little conversations are we.

-3-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iXMhphebGI

venomous voice tempts me,
drains me, bleeds me,
leaves me cracked and empty.
drags me down like some sweet gravity.

-4-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCj5Hm3Ci8c

now you've cut out the flute
from the throat of the loon
at least when you cry now
he can't even hear you.

-5-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUdDfgnTBXU

good morning
don't cop out
you crawled from the cancer to land on your feet
are you crazy to want this
even for a while?

-6-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ2yXWi0ppw

consider this
consider this the hint of the century
consider this the slip that brought me to my knees failed.

-7-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwzMuDi7PcU

I told you from the start just how this would end
when I get what I want I never want it again.

-8-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw1uGV3J0Nc

I've this creeping suspicion that things here are not as they seem
reassure me
why do I feel as if I'm in too deep?
I've been praying
for some way to show them I'm not what they see
oh, I have done wrong
but what I did I thought needed be done
I swear.

-9-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZBQGCI2hm0

only god says jump
so I set the time
'cause if he ever saw
it was through these eyes of mine
and if he ever suffered it was me who did his crying.

-10-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYLmptz_r_o (original)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMddcPA0GlE (not)

sweetness, sweetness I was only joking
when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head

oh, sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking
when I said by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed

and now I know how Joan of Arc felt
now I know how Joan of Arc felt
as the flames rose to her Roman nose
and her Walkman started to melt.

-11-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZjEk2QEb8c

you know I'm born to lose, and gambling is for fools
but that's the way I like it, baby,
I don't wanna live forever.

-12-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9igB0nAN06g

I feel I've stepped out of the wilderness
all squint-eyed and confused
but even babies raised by wolves
they know exactly when they've been used.

-13-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyEMOSY27QY

I'm just so warm, Jennifer
and I'm coming over
to sabotage our distance.

-14-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E8xb8DzV_c

please don't name this
please don't explain this
just blame it all on me
say I was shameless.

-15-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1scU2UtiPFs

walking through winter through snow-white fields
colder than cold for several weeks
and the lost fire's burning miles away
and the wind whispers stories in her ears

and she's asking, "do you hear these heavenly voices?
do you hear the preacher who wants you to pray?"

-16-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2HBVXezamE

if you hear me talking
listen to what i'm not saying.

-17-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fswGKEuTNEc (original)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-XSuSQlbKw (remix)

Vletrmx (no lyrics)

-18-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qgum7hFXk

Tamacun (no lyrics)

-19-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldPf3yqq3-8

Sogno ad Occhi Aperti (no lyrics)

-20-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCxJ4kT3ICk

Fern (no lyrics)

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PHD #247: Charlie's Divine Secrets of the Traveling Lipstick Mafia and the City (cora logs psyche sawyer social tisiphone)

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PHD #226: EVENT - We Remain... the Fighting Fourteenth! (alessandra andrea bran cameo cidra devlin evandreus event khloe launiere leyla logs marko npcs pallas psyche tisiphone trask trina)

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