CARTER "PRAXEDES" COLEMANTHE DEVIL TAKES HOLDPRAXEDES is a bird of prey, raised by the Catholic church to serve as the church sees fit. Blessed by the touch of an angel, she possesses the ability to turn blood into blades. Mindful, sweet, and soft-mouthed, she would be one of Madam's favourite children if she would just learn to be more obedient.
A GIRL / A KNIFECARTER COLEMAN was born to a storekeeper named Joseph and a housewife named Sarah, simple folk who raised their daughter through meagre means. She lived a mundane life until one night, just days shy of her eighth birthday, an angel chose her family to bear witness to its ascension.
The angel razed Carter's home to the ground; her mother burned with the flames. Carter and her father survived, but not before the angel, mad with the power and unimaginable pain of ascension, took her from her father's arms and blessed her. She woke up weeks later to Madam and her novitiates tending to her, and was soon informed that her father had left her in the convent's care after the loss of his home and wife. (She would never see her father again, though at the time she was not made aware of her misfortune.) She was soon baptised as a Catholic, renamed in honour of Saint Praxedes of Rome, under Madam's supervision. Praxedes was taught to lead a pious life, but whenever she brought up the possibility of taking on the habit, she was turned away by Madam herself, often by saying that the life of a nun is not what the church intends for her. Carter was fourteen when she learned what the church had in mind for her, when Madam placed a knife in her hand and commanded her to cut into her own flesh - in turn manifesting her gift. Her gift, which Madam had known her to possess but hadn't known its manifestation, is the ability to mold blood with her will - though her control of her gift is yet limited to her own blood, which she can mold into blades. She spends the following years being taught how to control her gift, often to commit murders in the name of the church. Her first kill was a patron of the church that an angel has deemed unworthy. Madam orchestrated for Praxedes to be chaperoned by the man, during which she killed him within the convent's premises. The sisters cleaned up the resulting mess. Not long after, Praxedes was assigned a guardian, charged to look after her during "holy work". Now twenty-six, Praxedes limits her exposure to the world outside of the convent under Madam's instructions, though she can't help but wonder how long that order will last. IDENTITY & PERSONALITYPraxedes is a mild-mannered young woman who spent most of her formative years being inculcated by the church into serving as an assassin. She's not particularly pop-culture savvy and can be awkward when surrounded by people she's not familiar with. She compensates by doing her best to be kind to others, having been raised to believe that performing good deeds leads to the salvation of the soul and that as a blessed child, she's duty-bound to serve others to the best of her ability. All things equal, her kindness is sincere; she would sooner inconvenience or hurt herself than not help someone.
It's not to say that she's blindly obedient, however. She has considered refusing Madam's orders several orders, struggling to reconcile Madam's instructions in the name of the so-claimed greater good and the ten commandments that directly contradict said orders. While she feels remorse for her kills, has been rationalising her actions as necessary, but her growing doubt over Madam's intentions threaten to upend her emotional stability. Outside of her work for the convent, she can come across as a naive and clueless young woman, if very earnest and accommodating. She enjoys community work and crafts, would invite total strangers to share food with, and would gladly share her umbrella with another on a rainy day. If there's anything that Praxedes is lacking in, it's that she hasn't experienced complete all-consuming anger; she tends to experience fear first before anger, and the last time she came close to anger was when the angel had blessed her — its anger burned through her, and the physical scar it left behind is her one reminder of the things she's lost. She's since associated anger with loss (of control, of love, and of family), and does her best to avoid becoming angry. (Given that, she also fears what she might become if she lets anger take over her, as her abilities seem to respond to her emotions as much as they respond to her thoughts.) To sum things up, Praxedes is a gentle-mannered young lady who hasn't had much exposure to the outside world, who treats others with kindness and sweetness whenever she can, and possesses a precarious emotional control of her abilities that could rend others to pieces with a thought. SKILLS & ABILITIES— HAEMOPATHY
— ANGEL RADIO — DIVINE PROTECTIONS — MINOR HEALING ABILITY — KNIFEWORK — SEWING — COOKING — SINGING OTHER NOTES & INFO— born in Cecil County, Maryland, USA
— september 29 — 5ft 3in / 106lbs — Mortal human, Blessed — Haemopathy via angel blessing — Guarded by [???] |