Characters/Amanita

A literal maze of black and red lines wraps around Amanita's small form, arcing diagonally back and forth, spiralling along her body and limbs. The lines curl around to frame her long-muzzled face, outlining a jet black mask around her gleaming eyes. When she grins, her teeth are sharp and fierce, set against the darkness of her skin.

Background and character

Born in Chaev Nna, a neolithic backwater far from the Mess itself, Amau-Nde (literally "Blue sparrow-the-Singer") was brought up from an early age in the cloistered world of the kingdom's music school. She ran away as a teenager and was picked up by a passing Holotron expedition, then travelled for a couple of years before finding her way to the Mess. Along the way, someone nicknamed her 'Amanita'. She now lives in the Neke-Ovon.

Willful and impulsive, Amanita's always had a dim view of authority - though lately she seems to enjoy wielding it herself. She's haughty, even imperious, but kind at heart. Having partially completed lessons from a direct-neural teaching system, her Standard grammar is occasionally a little quirky, and her accent is a bit like Russian and a bit like Dutch. She also has no patience at all for computers and other intelligent devices, or at least those that aren't sophisticated enough to speak like normal people.

Her precise species is unclear. Her people, the Chaev Nnade, seem to have some traits of raccoons, and perhaps some feline genes. They have no tails. They do have fur, though Amanita had hers removed when she first got her skin silvered.

"She's a cocky little slut who has absolutely no idea of her limits, and no sense at all. That's why I love her." - Twin

Relationships

• Twin is Amanita's pet/lover.
• Soon after she arrived in the Mess, Amanita took up residence in the Neke-Ovon, and when the Neke themselves returned, became an initiate for a time (see Plots/Return Of The Neke). She narrowly escaped becoming the symbiotic host to the reawakened High Queen on Hatching Day, and escaped with Twin to a hideout somewhere in the messy reaches of Downbottom.

• Since getting over her aversion to what she thought was just another annoying, literalist machine, Amanita finds System peculiar but rather sweet. (He)'s deeply suspicious of what the Neke have done with Amanita.
• Amanita enjoys the occasional bit of cat-baiting or abuse toward submissives, notably Charlie, Robin, sabina and her former harem.
• [/Quiche Lorraine]? and Amanita have a quiet but long-standing rivalry.
• Rezeya, being feline, is naturally infuriating but intriguing. Amanita means to hire her on as costume designer for her concert when it tours Bottomwarp... and for other purposes.
• Jini is, of course, a spectacular guitarist, and Amanita has invited her to play if her concert hits Downwarp. They've had fun jamming together, though Amanita's Serpent (see below) seems a little jealous.
• N'Kenge and her damn [ribbons] are responsible in no small part for Amanita's dim view of (or at least, playful disdain for) cats.

Entourage

The Serpent: Amanita's instrument. Looking like a cross between a python and a clarinet, it's usually seen coiled about her waist. Rather than a head and tail, it sports a trumpet-like bell at one end and a head rather like an antique, large-diaphragm condenser microphone at the other. It processes the (usually vocal) sounds it receives through the microphone and relays them through its bell. But it also has intelligence of its own, not to mention a wealth of musical knowledge, and can respond as a true musical partner and accompanist. It also assists her in hearing and reproducing the high frequencies used in the Neke language.

Harem: In her days as aspiring ruler of a decadent Chitin palace, Amanita collected a harem of favorite lovers and playthings, particularly stallions and cats of all sorts. They were almost all captured by the Neke, and put to use producing silk and nectar (mammals do have their uses to the Chitins), but since her escape from the Ovon, she's started accumulating more.

Links

There's more from Amanita's story at http://www.livejournal.com/users/ovon/.

Images:

• [Amanita and her Serpent]
• [cavorting with Twin] (by Twin)

Involved in

• Plots/Return Of The Neke
• Neke/Hatching Day
• Plots/Amanita's Concert

Comments

• Either being a friend, Mistress or fellow slave Amanita is always fun and witty. Have always treasured time with her, and hope to see more of her being broken down. It's onlt fair after all the mean things she did to me! - sabina

OOC notes

Inspirations:

• Musicians: Björk (naturally), Angelique Kidjo, Laurie Anderson (pitch-shifting, anyone?). (See the Media Resources/Music page for more on some of these...)
• Characters: Leeloo from The Fifth Element and Oar from James Alan Gardner's Ascending (during Amanita's early days as a runaway), Steerpike from Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan and Gormenghast (later, as usurper Queen). And perhaps a little too much of Goldilocks...

More about her origins [here].

"Most importantly, putting many titles into a story makes it easier to find your place if you happen to use your book to smash an irksome buzzing fly, and you hit the fly so hard that pieces of metal and plastic go shooting out of the book mechanism, so then you are forced to put the story chip into a new reader and you cannot remember where you were.

"That happens more often than you might expect."

-- Oar, on her mode of narration in Ascending