Steam/Cattle Punk Speculative Fiction epic chronicling the wanderings of Azurine Blanche, reluctant gunslinger and her ally-of-uncertain-terms, the incubus Irulan Terse in their mutual quest for revenge upon the godly and decreasingly sane priest Micheal Crowe. Set in a post-Civil War United States of divergent evolution, the focus is not as much on the traditional shoot 'em up conventions of the setting, as the implications of purity, truth and love as they are expected of upstanding Ladies and Gentlemen.
Characters
Molly Alana Fairchilde / Azurine Blanche:
- Compressed Hair: How does all that hair fit in two braided buns?
- Gun Stripping: Selftaught gunsmith. Handles Rythym and Rhyme almost fetishisticly as Molly, although the reverence is tuned down as Azurine.
- Heartbroken Badass: Avenging Gene's death is her life's goal.
- Knight Errant: Compared to Sir Galahad often.
- Martial Pacifist: Would rather not harm people if she can get away with it.
- Take Up My Sword: Literally took Gene's guns with her as Azurine.
- Wrench Wench: Always shows a mechanical fascination, especially for guns.
Irulan Kaname Terse:
- Enemy Mine: Joins Azurine with the intent of steering her towards Micheal.
- Inconsistent Coloring: His Black Eyes of Evil appear as different colors due to reflecting the colors of magical activity in his vicinity.
- Mathematician's Answer: Partially because he is an Trickster Mentor and partially because it drives Azurine nuts.
Gene Anthony Blanche:
- Going Commando: Because why bother with underwear?
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Beneath his rampant womanizing, shit disturbing and insistence on one-upping everyone around him, there's a sweet, caring guy willing to go above and beyond the expectations of friendship.
- Too Many Belts: Three, but they all serve a purpose; hold up pants, holster Rhythm, holster Rhyme.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Never buttons up his shirt, regardless of how often people ask him to.
Fletcher Harris
- Mr. Vice Guy: Greed and Wrath tangled up like a pit of mating snakes.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: With Gene. The sensitive one, despite seeming colder at first.
Antonia Dawn Blanche
- Cheerful Child: Fletcher's done his best to shield her from the evils surrounding her mother and her birth.
- Dead Guy Junior: Takes her first name from the feminine version of Anthony, Gene's middle name.
- Give Him a Normal Life: Molly understood the world she was going to face.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Product of Gene's last night on earth.
Misery
- Cool Horse: A white steed to reference the old knights in shining armor.
Micheal Crowe:
- The Grunting Orgasm: Subverted during his feeding of Irrylath, he screams, and its almost certainly one that contains mostly pain. Justified in that Irrylath shoddily mends some of his decaying nerves to feed in the first place.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Human violence in general, especially Azurine's, as his health/bedroom abilities begin to fail this starts to more heavily imply Interplay of Sex and Violence.
- Meaningful Name: Michael is both an archangel and a rhetorical question translating to "who is like God?"
Irrylath Sieaiah
- Diminishing Villain Threat: In series; feeding from Michael is both weakening her and preventing her from developing further as an incuba.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Robbing Irulan of his power, claiming Azurine for her own.
- Insistent Terminology: She is not a succubus, a succubus is a passive male sexual demon. She is an incuba an active female sexual demon.
Bride and Undertaker provides examples of:
- A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss: "Breathe life into me." The resulting fluid connection between Irulan and Azurine and her struggle against it is fairly indicative of the rest of their relationship.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Irulan and Azurine stuck in a garden as Irulan slowly loses his human facade due to lack of feeding, culminating in her allowing him sex under a fig tree, with a huge python slithering through it.
- Guns Akimbo: What everyone assumes when they see Rythym and Rhyme. In fact Gene barely had a handle on firing and reloading ala Roland Deschain and Azurine has yet to develop the dexterity to fire accurately with her left hand. Fletcher did on occasion try to dual wield the sisters, but it never ended well.
- Name and Name: Bride and Undertaker refers to Gene's trade name and Molly's appearance prior to her change.
- Red Baron: Gene being known as “The Undertaker”, although admittedly dressing in solid black helps.
- Sleep Cute: Molly likes to be close to those she loves
- Theme Naming: Irulan and Irrylath are both given names originally assigned to opposite gendered Planetary Romance prince/sses who had strained relations with the progatonists of their respective series, whom they were expected to marry.
- You Must Be Cold: Gene hands Molly his jacket often.
