--
TOMB IT MAY CONCERN
A Prelude and a Nocturne

"That's just the monster in me."

--

IX NOCTURNE . ALTER EGO

"If life has hammered you brutally somewhere along the line, and you have been paying attention, it's not a big stretch to wrap oneself in this kind of functional fatalism. This working, acquiescent embrace of one's own dark destiny. But here's the problem: If you hold in your soul that these truths are self-evident - true as the highest expressions of the holies and maybe even more so - then what on earth is stopping you from being the biggest bastard that this world has ever seen? The question becomes: Why not be a monster? Why not just go and take anything you want? Why not be the thing that waits in no lines, that takes no prisoners, that suffers no fools, that rips every raw dripping chunk of pleasure from this planet's bleeding bosom and then wallows in the gore? Why not be the cool vampiric presence that savours the blood of its enemies, plucks virgins off the vine, rapes and drains them, then feeds them back to Gaia, or better yet, turns them into blood-hungry monsters just like you? Why not? Because it makes you an asshole, that's why. Because it feeds the flow of evil into our world."

- John Mason Skipp, Dark Destiny

There's always been something about sibling rivalry that makes me a little less cautious when it comes to assessing the part I play in the greater working gestalt of... what shall we call it... sisterhood? Bloated self-awareness of the most painful sort? That's a little absurd. The reality is that while I recognize certain similarities between myself and the person from which I was cleaved, the fact of the matter remains that Carmine is still the evil twin in a working relationship.

No, seriously. If we were to look analytically at the better half, and then at the one who'd likely make you suffer for her own entertainment, Carmine's your girl.

A few months back, Lucia de'Medici suffered an identity crisis. (Not really, no. Don't worry your pretty little heads over Luce, she's a-okay, perfectly sane and still plodding along doing what she does), but at the time where "The Ante" was wrapping up, she went into a bit of a snit that she had kept things reasonably "light" for those reading. She figured there were a lot of younger folk who wouldn't be so appreciative of the sex and death if she did what I was encouraging her to do.

I was the little ugly whisper in her ear - the Patron Saint of Smut, the Muse of the Macabre, the Omniscient Villainous Voice of the Debauched and the Dirty that demanded some serious character sacrifice to be appeased. I demanded gore and nudity, and she shirked with the protest that those reading just weren't into the stark stuff that I wanted her to write. (Actually, I think she was a little embarrassed.) To make a long story short, she cast my ass out like a Hollywood exorcism gone wrong, letting me stew with the entrails of various plot bunnies I'd offered up.

Maybe not the cleverest thing our Dear Luce has ever done. You let the pot simmer for too long, and eventually you boil off the lid. Lead in the stew? You shouldn't eat that, kids, let me tell you... I disclaim the fact that said additives may have made her delirious, and may have helped bring yours truly out into the harsh light of day (caterwauling like an infant, but I'll bar that from the record.)

That's when things really started jumping. I took over for a little while, and she let me do exactly what I wanted. The end result is a multi-chapter gothic romance set in X-Men Evolution, slated for release sometime in 2008-2009, right here, right in front of you. It's a little sharper, a little harder, and a little more mature than the sort of thing Luce usually does... and that's part of the reason she's letting ole' Carmine take the credit for it.

Honestly, though? Both me and Luce, we hope you'll give us each a chance. We each have something to say when we're not yelling at each other, so, you know, to be diplomatic about it: It's good to see you again, if you're a friend of hers... but put on a damned helmet if you're going to come out to play with me.

- Carmine LaCroix
August 2007