The Combined Sera Going Batshit Again / Missing & Murdered Kids Dossier

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but
the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams
with open eyes, to make it possible. (T.E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of
Wisdom)

---

Photos from the hospital reports on the deceased are available, but not
included in this file by default. Contact Wisdom if you need them.

(OOC note: If you would already have asked for them when you asked for the
dossier, you'd've gotten them in with this batch.)

---

There are no correlating ties related to looks, age, race, class or creed;
what seems to bind them are their names, related to virtues and concepts,
all of a 'good' variety.

The police are baffled; a meta is suspected (of course) but 'normal human
involvement' has 'not been ruled out'.

Private investigators are currently working on the scene, both paid and
volunteer, both professional and amateur. At the moment, it has been the
talk of the streets and on the lips of every parent who has children
younger than, say, 15.

-----------------------------------------------------------

[News Clippings]

Missing Children                   Sun Apr 06    BH News Services

C. Octavia Burns, taken from her front yard December 27th, 2002, was found
last night and brought to the Lighthouse Hospital, where she was reported
DOA. Beacon Harbor police officials are still stumped by the growing list
of children who've been missing since last fall, some found, none found
living. 

The revised list is as follows: 

Chastity M. Parker 5 - Missing since January 3, 
Grace Louise Simmons 10 - Missing since February 28, 
Hope Grissom 5 - Deceased, 
Charity Octavia Burns 6 - Deceased, 
Prudence Matthews 11 - Missing since October 9, 
Patience Mondins 5 Missing since September 30, 
Promise Brigham 6 - Missing since Dec 2, 
Faith St. Thomas 13 - Deceased. 

If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of these
children... please call the BHPD. 

Explosion Shakes The Badlands      Sun Apr 06    BH News Services

At approximately 4 a.m Sunday morning, a loud explosion devastated a local
gun shop called Bullseye Supplies with a blaze that took Beacon Harbor
firefighters over two hours to control. There were no injuries and no one
was found on the scene. There are witness reports of two figures spotted
running away, and loud screams and angry exchanges were heard. Traces of
gasoline were present on the scene and guns were found scattered
abundantly all around the street outside the burning building -- all
accounted for -- which makes the police suspect arson and foul play. No
suspects have been named.

[Post-it: Seravina was there. Jack Hawksmoor was, as well.]

Missing Child                      Mon Apr 07    BH News Services

Flyers, news reports and articles in the paper are filling Beacon Harbor's
parents with a sick dread. Who's child will be gone next? The 'serial
child napper' has struck again and again, and as of last night, the list
of missing children has grown even longer. The editted list now contains: 

Patience Mondins, 5 Missing since September 30 
Prudence Matthews, 11 - Missing since October 9 
Promise Brigham, 6 - Missing since Dec 2 
Chastity M. Parker, 5 - Missing since January 3 
Grace Louise Simmons, 10 - Missing since February 28 
Mercy Chatterlain, 4 - Missing since March 12 
Harmony Wellsboro, 6 - Missing since March 17 
Honor Johnsen, 7 - Missing since March 23. 

If anyone has any information on these children they are encouraged to
call the BHPD or the Hotline that's been set up specifically to help in
their return. 

Music Video Goes Awry              Thu Apr 10    BH News Services

         Police sped to the University area Wednesday evening in response
to several reports of gunshots on School House Road. However, on arrival,
no evidence of firearms was found. Perplexed, the officers spoke to the
University students who had initially made the calls to 911, only to be
regaled with tales of a harpy-angel gang war.

         Any fears of a new metahuman threat to the city were, however,
banished when another local resident arrived with an explanation: the
incident was just an area band, the 'Desolation Angels,' filming an
amateur music video...

[Post-it: Seravina? Celliers, Walsh, and Pryde were there.]

Five Bodies Found                  Thu Apr 10    BH News Services

There are no photos accompanying this article, but its bold print speaks
louder than any gruesome photos might. 

Five Children Discovered

Beacon Harbor is in mourning today for the five bodies found late
Wednesday night, missing children discovered, only to be turned over to
the morgue, instead of relieved parents. No one was available for comment
from the families nor the BHPD, but the investigation is obviously still
going full-force.

The names of the children and details of their discovery have not been
released to the press, for the sake of the families.

Notice: While a missing persons report is not usually filed until the
person has been away for at least 24 hours, the BHPD is asking for any
disappearances related to lost children be called in as soon as possible,
within regards to common sense.

----------------------------------------------------

[Typewritten version of the poem written on the wall above the five girls
found in the alley, stapled to a digital color printout of a photograph of
the poem /in/ the alley. The one in the picture is written in blood on the
side of the wall.]

And each to each his pleasures prove,
in death, in life, perhaps in blood.
Wherever there is God, there's love;
wherever love, is God.
No words might capture virtues dear,
though here in form, the body's nice;
instead we move from Hope to Fear,
exchanging now, for Virtue, Vice.

It's been confirmed by the BHPD's forensics team that the blood used to
write the poem belonged to the girls it was found next to, and a
paintbrush was also found in the alley. Latent has been unable to get any
prints from any of the scenes.

The girls found in the alley:
Patience Mondins, 5 - (Missing since September 30, 2002) d. 4.9.03
Prudence Matthews, 11 - (Missing since October 9, 2002) d. 4.9.03
Promise Brigham, 6 - (Missing since December 2, 2002) d. 4.9.03
Chastity M. Parker, 5 - (Missing since January 3, 2003) d. 4.9.03
Grace Louise Simmons, 10 - (Missing since February 28, 2003) d. 4.9.03

The five were killed in the mouth of the aforementioned alley, none
touching one another, limbs sprawled, all face up, eyes open, mouths open.
They were found roughly three hours later.

Previous connected deaths:
Faith St. Thomas, 13 - (Missing since November 21, 2002) d. 12.04.02
Charity Octavia Burns, 6 - (Missing since Dec 27, 2002) d. 4.5.03
Hope Grissom 5, - (Missing since September 25, 2002) d. 3.13.02

Faith was found sprawled in the street, crushed, and her injuries and
position indicated that she'd been run over by a car. 

Charity [Tavvy] was found alive but pronounced DOA at Lighthouse Hospital;
the hospital attempted resuscitation but there was extreme trauma to her
head and she'd suffered massive blood loss, and the girl did not respond
to any of the attempts. 

Hope was found in a dumpster on Southland.

All of the deceased connected with the case, except for Faith St. Thomas,
were beaten to death. Other than that, they were in perfect health, if
pale. No sexual molestation, no older bruises to signify multiple cases of
abuse, no scars to show torture or previous attacks. The girls were
apparently well fed and taken care of up until their demise. In addition,
all of the girls were dressed carefully in perfectly coordinated frocks
and accessories, and heavily made up in cosmetics designed to make them
resemble dolls.

Brief interviews with close associates as well as school records have
revealed that the girls were all thought of as very sweet, very kind, very
charismatic and friendly - open and perhaps naive, but they were all well
educated against strangers.

[Photographs of the deceased girls while living, color-copied and stapled
in with this bundle. Each one is labelled with name, age, date of birth,
height, weight, eye and hair color, school, date missing, and date of
death.]

---------------------------------------------------

Still missing:

Mercy Chatterlain, 4 - (Missing since March 12, 2003) 
Harmony Wellsboro, 6 - (Missing since March 17, 2003) 
Honor Johnsen, 7 - (Missing since March 23, 2003)

[Included: Color copies of photographs of the missing girls, labelled with
name, age, date of birth, height, weight, eye and hair color, school they
attend, and date missing.]

Met by members of Beacon Harbor's Brand New Citywide Neighborhood Watch:

Justice Mary Oliver, 5
Liberty Tallman, 5

[Included: Color-copied photographs labelled with name, age, school, and
home address.]

Other girls in the city's school system that may match search criteria:

Melody Jensen, 6
Prosperity Aleman, 8
Truth Sivveron, 5
Serendipity Michaels, 7
Serenity Michaels, 10
Peace Bledsoe, 11
Bliss L'Oran, 12
Cherish Peabody, 7
Joy Smith, 9
Miracle Kellington, 9
Secret Warren, 10
Chance Olsen, 7 
Unity Timble, 4

[Included: Color-copied photographs labelled with name, age, school, and
home address.]

---------------------------------------------

Brief description of the man that killed Tavvy [Charity], before he burst
into a flock of black-feathered birds (varying species) when Kess kicked
him in the chest: he wasn't overly tall or short, and he was wearing a
dirty yellow trenchcoat.

[Post-it: Twa corbies. A lone raven is death, more than one crow is a
murder; morning is heralded by the crowing of a rooster.]
[Post-it: Don't hunt Matthew, he talks and lives in Beacon Park and is a
decent human being, for a talking raven.]

Justice Oliver got Seravina's ring from Katie (who is probably a mostly
independent phantasm of the Innocence aspect of Seravina's psyche) - she
was told by Katie to bring the ring to Pryde and Wisdom's house, because
the people there needed it, 'for special' - Kess and Kitty were there.
(Justice liked the resident kitten.)

Description, home address, office address and car license plate of the man
who was trying to put Liberty in his car after buying her candy, before
Kess stopped him and took her home.

----------------------------------------------

Faith, Hope, and Charity were the first girls killed. Their names
correspond to the 'Theological Virtues' of Catholic dogma, which are
unclassified virtues in general Christian belief.

'Promise' in and of itself is not a virtue. 'Grace' is canonically what
either the gifts or the fruits of the Holy Spirit - I can't remember
which, was never my religion in the first place, someone should speak with
Father Mulcahy over at St. Asta's - are supposed to come from. 'Mercy' -
there are Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, but again, not a virtue.
'Harmony' and 'Honor' aren't, either. 

Theological Virtues: 
	Faith, Hope, Charity (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Cardinal Virtues: 
	Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude (Wisdom 8:7)

Evangelical Counsels: 
	Poverty, Chastity, Obedience (Beatitudes, Philippians 2:8)

Gifts of the Holy Spirit: 
	Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear
of the Lord. (Catechism, #1831)

Fruits of the Holy Spirit: 
	Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness.
(Galatians 5:22) Generosity, Gentleness, Modesty, Self-control, and
Chastity (Catechism #1832)

Seven Deadly Sins (Vices):
	Pride, Avarice, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth.

----------------------------------------------

[News clipping]
24 July 2002: Scandal at Lighthouse Hospital 

Members of the Board were shocked when, due to the help of an anonymous
person or persons, a 15 year scandal of lies, conspiracy and murder was
uncovered. More than 100 deaths over the past 15 years are attributed to
the late Elijah Ballantine, former metaneurospecialist for Beacon Harbor's
Lighthouse hospital, and his as-of-late accomplice, one Marcus Blithe,
intern at the same hospital. A detailed list of the atrocities performed
by these two was not available to this reporter, but one can only imagine
what sort of vile acts were discovered given what information has been
leaked. 

It seems that Ballantine was responsible for suicides and murders that
were previously cut and dried cases, as well as the physical and mental
torture of more than a dozen Beacon Harbor residents. He also arranged the
kidnapping and holding of an RN in Lighthouse; she has been released and
remitted into the care of a specialist. 

An small comfort is that Blithe is now in BHPD custody, and Ballantine
himself is dead, apparently by his own hand. 

On a related note, a patient of the Lighthouse Psychiatric Ward has
escaped, presumably in the havoc caused by the discovery of Ballantine's
fiendish activities. One Claire St. Thomas, who may also use the name
Therese Sinclaire, approximately 30 years of age, five ten, 103 pounds,
dark hair/eyes. Residents are asked not to corner or approach her, but
call the BHPD or the hospital with any and all information relating to her
condition and/or whereabouts. Ms. St. Thomas is a highly unstable and
dangerous individual; again, citizens should not corner, approach or
threaten her, but get to the nearest phone and call the authorities.

----

Misc related data:
July 5, 2002.

Out of a career spanning over 5 decades, Ballantine had nearly 2,000
regular patients, plus many more that he'd seen in emergencies, or in
single visits in clinic situations. There are at least 26 suspicious
deaths (tags to files here) associated with him, as they were at the time
or had been patients of his. All of them were metas, and they all happened
in the last 15 years.

----

Misc related data:
June 9, 2002.

From hospital data: Ninety percent of Ballantine's patients were
metahumans. Three-quarters of those are psi-types, telepaths, empaths.
Three-quarters of those have either no clue or no control. 

At the time of his death, Ballantine had no inpatients.

----

Misc related data:
General, 5 July 2002 - 12 April 2003.

Claire St. Thomas physically resembles Seravina Malotte, has a similar
and/or related metahuman ability, and 'possibly uses or has used the alias
Therese Sinclaire'. She disappeared fifteen years ago and no one looked
for her, and there was no death record, not even legally dead. Her
daughter was thirteen at time of death - around the age when mutations
and/or [super|para]normal abilities have a tendency to manifest.

On the possibly related powers front:

Likely:
Ballantine (d.), Malotte, St. Thomas 
Suspected:
Immigrant O'Shaughnessy, St. Thomas minor (d.)
Possible:
Blithe, unnamed/unknown others (out of a list of thousands)

Shortly after his arrest, Marcus Blithe all but disappeared. Technically,
he should be in [Name of Prison] and they've got records, etc. Problem is,
he's not there.

[bonny and blithe and good and gay]

Records are available for Ballantine's former patients.

----------------------------------------------------

TIMELINE:

Wednesday, September 25 - Hope Grissom goes missing.
Monday, September 30 - Patience Mondins goes missing.
Wednesday, October 9 - Prudence Matthews goes missing.
Thursday, November 21 - Faith St. Thomas goes missing.
Monday, December 2 - Promise Brigham goes missing.
Wednesday, December 4 - Faith St. Thomas hit by a car, dies.
Friday, December 27 - Charity Octavia Burns goes missing.
Friday, January 3 - Chastity M. Parker goes missing.
Friday, February 28 - Grace Louise Simmons goes missing.
Wednesday, March 12 - Mercy Chatterlain goes missing.
Thursday, March 13 - Hope Grissom found in a dumpster, dead.
* Monday, March 17 - Harmony Wellsboro goes missing.
Sunday, March 23 - Honor Johnsen goes missing.
Friday, April 4 - Kess meets Liberty Tallman.
Saturday, April 5 - Charity Octavia Burns found by Kess; DOA on arrival at
hospital.
Sunday, April 6, 4 am - Explosion at gun shop; Sera goes missing.
Monday, April 7 - Justice Mary Oliver directed by "Katie" to Kitty and
Kess.
Wednesday, April 9 - Patience, Prudence, Promise, Chastity, and Grace
found dead in alley.

* - Monday, March 17 = St Patrick's Day. St Patrick said to have 'driven
the snakes from Ireland with the power of the cross'. Allegory,
presumably, for nominally eliminating 'vice and immorality' by instituting
the Christian belief structure, which, by the same set of definitions as
the practices of the Celts were considered immoral, was virtuous. Virtue
for vice? Possibly related verse is attached at the end of this file, 'St
Patrick's Breastplate'.


FREQUENCY OF DAYS:

DAY		# Missing/Met	# Dead

Sunday		1		0
Monday		4		0
Tuesday		0		0
Wednesday		3		6
Thursday		1		1
Friday		4		0
Saturday		0		1


ORDER OF MISSING:

Hope, Patience, Prudence, Faith, Promise, Charity, Chastity, Grace, Mercy,
Harmony, Honor.


ORDER OF DEATH:

Faith, Hope, Charity; Patience, Prudence, Promise, Chastity, Grace.


LIST BY AGE:

4 - Mercy (Unity)
5 - Hope, Patience, Chastity (Liberty, Justice) (Truth)
6 - Promise, Charity, Harmony (Melody)
7 - Honor (Serendipity, Cherish, Chance)
8 - (Prosperity)
9 - (Joy, Miracle)
10 - Grace (Serenity, Secret)
11 - Prudence (Peace)
12 - (Bliss)
13 - Faith

----------------------------------------------------

Information on the Aspects of Seravina Malotte

Katie - Innocence. Sun-in-glory medallion. A pretty young girl, maybe
eight or nine years old, with blonde hair. The real Katie was Sera's best
friend as a child, later on lost. Hunted by War. Most closely connected to
Kitty/Pride. She was the helpful one, her opposite number appeared to be
Rage, the one-eyed booted-in-the-head dragon Aughrevere.

Child Sera - Love. There was some confusion regarding her medallion, which
started as either a rose or a crescent moon (later on Whisper's and
Seishi's medallions, respectively) but became an infinity loop. Obviously,
she looked like Sera as maybe eight or nine years old. Connected to
Constantine/Power. She was lost, and died but came back; her opposite
number was Self-Loathing/Hate.

The Goddess - Art/Creation. Her medallion was a Goddess-figure, and she
wore it on her brow like a third eye (all-seeing?) instead of around her
throat. Her appearance was variable, but always that of a statuesque woman
in draping garments, frequently surrounded with growing things. She was
most concerned with Holmes/Reason, but was the one to give Pete/Wisdom his
medallion. Her opposite number was War/Destruction; she asked "What is the
difference between man and machine?"

Vampire Sera - Self-Loathing. Raven medallion. She sometimes looked like
Seravina, sometimes like Seravina gone undead, demonic and decaying. She
harassed Constantine/Power the most, but also picked on Holmes/Reason,
Seishi/Control, Pete/Wisdom, and Kitty/Pride. When Constantine tried to
kill her, she changed into Child Sera/Love, leaving her to be killed
instead. She shapeshifted/switched a lot.

The Black Knight - War/Destruction; Hatred. Wolf medallion, worn binding
his sword to his hand. A massive figure in black armor, with a blood-red
horse, a glowing-hot sword, and glowing red eyes. He picked on
Celliers/Strength and hunted Katie/Innocence; he tried to bring everyone
to despair and leave them there. 

Aughrevere - Rage. Dragon medallion trapped in his remaining eye. A huge
blind dragon of ice and snow, with one eye ruined by the mark of Kate's
boot. He confronted Kate/Courage and Jack/Strength, and was ridden briefly
by Constantine/Power. He basically lashed out at anything that came near.

It should be noted that any of these could shapeshift, they're phantasms.
Apparently, also, any of these could also possibly temporarily take
possession of the Seravina-shell that's wandering around the city with no
memories of anything. 

----------------------------------------------------

Repeated themes from last May and this January and now:

Dreams - waking dreams, phantasms, haunted, realized
Wings - faeries, birds, angels, Hermes
Feathers - black, white
Red - blood, roses, rose petals, ribbons, scars, eyes
Green - Creation, absinthe, overgrowth, witches/queens/goddesses
Corvids - coat-bird-men, black feathers, Self-Loathing's medallion
Lavender's Blue - No it's not. (Also lullabyes.)

----------------------------------------------------

Things Claire (our talented and lovely seeress) has said that definitely
or likely relate to the combined Sera Going Batshit Again / Missing &
Murdered Kids Case, transcribed from fairly decent memories:

There aren't that many kisses in the world that are that sweet.
	(No context.)

And they'll come and she'll /hurt/ them--SHE'S NOT HERSELF!
	(During her play-by-play of the 'Desolation Angel' 
	amnesiac Seravina fighting with Jack, and Kitty 
	and Kate coming to Jack's rescue.)

The absynthe faerie was there last time. It won't be there this time, he
can't stop them. No, no. He can, but he won't.
	(No apparent context, possibly from the play-by-play.)

It's not the same. Not quite the same. Lingering things and different
times and reaches and holds. It's not the black angels.
	(Mentioning wings and blood, asking who's alone and broken,
	asking if death stopped him or made him worse - 'him' not
	specified, easier that way.)

Heavens, no. They /missed/ something. One by one by one by one by one by
process of elimination. Down and down and down. Explosions. Old age.
Disease. Suicide. Away and away until there's just one left. One is the
loneliest number. One and one and one and one. How does that make four?
How does that /NOT/ make four?
	(When asked 'Are her vices stealing the virtues?')

One by one by one by one. Almost like Yulaw. An elimination. And now we
trade virtue... for vice.
	(After Constantine said something was missing from Sera, 
	and directly after, Claire left.)

And now from virtue, vice.
	(Upon leaving a different place.)

The one thing they all have in common.
	(Someone asked what wasn't right.)

Sometimes it's just as simple as 'this boy likes that girl'. Be careful
what you're looking for.
	(When Constantine was looking for Sera using magic, 
	and Celliers was pondering zen explanations and connectivity.)

Solipsism is a theory in which you are the most powerful thing in the
world.
	(And then she made cigarettes.)

---

Claire also notes repeatedly that everything fits together, and that you
just have to look at it the right way. You have to see the bigger picture.
She apparently mentions chains keeping things linked together fairly
often, and sometimes the references she makes to them are worded rather
disturbingly.

The answers are only sometimes as important as the questions.
"What about you? What are you looking for?"
"What do you think /they're/ looking for?"
What are we missing, other than the markedly absent Marcus Blithe?
Or - what /should/ we be looking for? 


----------------------------------------------------

"One for sorrow, two for joy. Three for a girl, four for a boy. Five for
silver, six for gold, seven for a secret that's never been told."

"Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's
child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for a living, and
the child that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe and good and
gay." 

Lavender's blue, 
Rosemary's green
When you are King,
I shall be Queen

Who told you so, 
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart 
That told me so

Call up your friends, 
Set them to work
Some to the plough, 
Some to the fork

Some to the hay,
Some to the corn
While you and I
Keep ourselves warm

Lavender's blue, 
Rosemary's green
When you are King, 
I shall be Queen

Who told you so, 
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart
That told me so 

[Post-it: Dilly-dillies cut out to prevent the compiler of the data from
wanting to go back in time and shoot whoever wrote it.]

[Post-it: First verse: We're gonna rule the City of the Dead. Second
verse: Who says? Well, me. After all, I'm God. Third verse: You and what
army, you ask? Well, let's make one. Fourth verse: Then we can fiddle
while Rome burns. Fifth verse: When it's ashes, they'll all be ours. Sixth
verse: Don't worry, it'll work out great. I'm the conductor of the
orchestra.]


The Doorknob of this door startled Alice by speaking to her. "You're much
too big to get through. Simply impassible." "You mean impossible," said
Alice. "No," said the Doorknob. "Impassable. Nothing's impossible. Try the
bottle on that table, next to the little gold key."



  And each to each his pleasures prove,
	"Come live with me and be my Love,
	And we will all the pleasures prove"
	--
	"And if these pleasures may thee move,"
	--
	"For thy delight each May morning-"
	"If these delights thy mind may move,"
		Marlowe, 'A Passionate Shepherd to his Love'
	I can hear the mermaids singing, each to each. 
	I do not think that they will sing to me.
		Eliot, 'Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'
		Note on that: it's a reference to John 
		Donne's poetry, from the one that starts 
		"Go and catch a falling star" - 
		"Teach me to hear mermaids singing / 
		Or to keep off envy's stinging." 
		And Donne wrote the less-famous response 
		to Marlowe's shepherd bit. Full circle 
		in one line.

  in death, in life, perhaps in blood.
	Words of the prophets written on the
	wall. Things written in blood hold
	a great significance/power in 
	weird occult blargle. 
	Dante-esque. Pleasures in life
	become pains in death.
	Sealed in blood?
	There's no saying whether whoever's 
	doing this is dead, alive, or neither.

  Wherever there is God, there's love;
  wherever love, is God.
	Tautology, though possibly causal
	or reciprocal relation instead.
	Love is God, God is Love?
	Which came first, chicken or egg?
	Vary the punctuation there and you 
	get something else interesting:
	'wherever love is God.'
	

  No words might capture virtues dear,
	Platonic ideals? The girls aren't?
	Or literal - silent birds-guys with
	the kidnapping and the hiding? "No-words".
	Or maybe the Stephen King books
	can't actually have any virtue...
	Heh, sorry.

  though here in form, the body's nice;
	Spirit willing, flesh weak?
	'In the beginning was the Word.'?
	Something bodiless making bodies out
	of birds, something taking bodies over?
	Maybe it's talking about Sera's aspects.

  instead we move from Hope to Fear,
	The opposite of hope is despair, which
	we have no truck with, thank you. Fear
	is not a vice, it's a survival response.
	Fear and cowardice are not the same thing,
	and neither are hope and blind idealism.
	Hope and fear are not mutually exclusive. 
	Somebody's working with a model of the 
	human psyche that is, if not fundamentally 
	flawed, at least overly compartmentalized. 

  exchanging now, for Virtue, Vice.
	If the girls are virtues being replaced,
	what are the vices they're exchanged for?
	Each to each, one for one.
	Is it playing off our reactions?


The Lorica, or 'St Patrick's Breastplate'


I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.


I arise today through the strength of Christ with His Baptism,
through the strength of His Crucifixion with His Burial
through the strength of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
through the strength of His descent for the Judgment of Doom.


I arise today through the strength of the love of Cherubim 
in obedience of Angels, in the service of the Archangels, 
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward, 
in prayers of Patriarchs, in predictions of Prophets, 
in preachings of Apostles, in faiths of Confessors, 
in innocence of Holy Virgins, in deeds of righteous men. 


I arise today, through the strength of Heaven:
light of Sun, brilliance of Moon, splendour of Fire, 
speed of Lightning, swiftness of Wind, depth of Sea, 
stability of Earth, firmness of Rock. 


I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, 
God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, 
God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me, 
God's host to secure me:
against snares of devils, against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature, against everyone who 
shall wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in a crowd. 


I summon today all these powers between me (and these evils):
against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose 
my body and my soul,
against incantations of false prophets, 
against black laws of heathenry, 
against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry,
against spells of women [any witch] and smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul. 
Christ to protect me today 
against poison, against burning, against drowning, 
against wounding, so that there may come abundance of reward.


Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, 
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height, 
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, 
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, 
Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.


I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the 
Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the 
Oneness of the Creator of creation. 
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. 


For the odd reciprocals, and since this whole damn thing is so incredibly
perversely dogmatic:

The Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 


Also of significant note are Dante's Divine Comedy, due to its thorough
preoccupation with virtues and vices and punishments, and the Gospel of
St. Thomas (regarded as heresy by the RC Church because of its Gnostic
overtones), because of its Gnostic overtones and the fact that St. Thomas
is Claire's surname. Oh by the way. The Sinclair translation of the DC.

I'm turning into my father. Shoot me when I start babbling about JFK and
the Freemasons.

Someone else can drag the naffing things for references. Wednesday night's
the first seder and I'm bleeding out the eyes with all the Catholic dogma
this thing seems to involve.

[References for the aforementioned documents added by Pryde.]

-------------------------------------------

(OOC note: Pete and his player ran out of cigarettes at the same time -
roughly nine hours ago. *Pete* got to have a royal drink-up with Liam. *I*
didn't. I hope this compilation was worth the sacrifice of my sanity. Good
thing Exxon's open 24 hours.)