“How many of them are there?”
“Nine. Maybe ten. Plus driver, probably eleven.”
“That’s a massacre.”
“It’s a compliment.”[1]
Our Lady of the Passion, usually referred to as Pash, is a member of Blood of Eden and works closely with We Suffer, occasionally serving as her bodyguard. Pash is also assigned to be a lifeguard of the Messenger.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Our Lady of the Passion was raised in an Edenite family, developing a close relationship with her mother’s sister, and Blood of Eden leader, Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead. Perhaps in response to her aunt’s legacy and subsequent death, Pash pledged herself to the Ctesiphon Wing of Blood of Eden as a kid[2], and rose through the ranks quickly.[3] By the time she achieved the rank of lieutenant, she’d seen combat several times and been injured in the process, acquiring shrapnel and burn scars on her skin.[1]
It is likely that Pash had contact with the corpse of Gideon Nav during the time that Blood of Eden performed experiments on the unrotting body[4], potentially participating in the experiments herself. Also around that time, Pash was removed from active duty and instated as a lifeguard for the Messenger. In this position, Pash joined the schedule of rotating watches with Aim’s other lifeguards, most of whom belong to the Merv Wing of BOE.[2] Though Blood of Eden considers the job an enormous privilege, and Pash takes it very seriously, she views the position as a punishment and complains about it often, telling Aim, “You don’t pay me anything…I’m here for my bloody sins.”[5]
Nona the Ninth[]
Day Three[]
During a meeting with the Troia cell of Blood of Eden, Our Lady of the Passion serves as a bodyguard for We Suffer, standing to the left of her chair. When Pyrrha Dve correctly guesses the location of the meeting despite being blindfolded for the journey, Pash draws her gun. The vocaliser on her mask makes her accusation sound “like a pissed-off robot suffering from the occasional blast of static, sort of like THE LYCTOR ZZT KNOWS TOO MUCH.”[6] We Suffer orders the gun away, which Pash reluctantly complies with, though she quickly interrupts the conversation again when Camilla Hect asks about BOE’s involvement in a riot in the city. Pash derisively accuses Camilla of only caring about the lives of the three alleged necromancers who were killed, but not the other nineteen people shot. In Camilla’s defense, Crown challenges Pash, who readily agrees, but We Suffer threatens to punish both of them if they proceed. Pash shows her displeasure by aggressively setting up the projector for We Suffer.
The image that the Wing Commander projects is of a House spacecraft orbiting the planet. Despite the shuttle’s small size, Pash posits that she could cram one or two battalions into it. Her comment is met only with dry amusement. Pash doubles down, reminding We Suffer of Commander Wake’s policy to “assume the worst, ignore the best.”[6] Moving past the size and potential contents of the shuttle, Pyrrha theorizes that it traveled through the River, a topic which Pash does not have the security clearance for despite her demands to be debriefed.
The topic of conversation turns to Nona; We Suffer wants a Lyctor. At Camilla’s assertion that a Lyctor at full power consumed by the blue madness is a worst-case scenario, Pash scoffs. She believes that the Resurrection Beast came to New Rho looking for zombies, so the logical solution to the problem would be to liquidate all the zombies. Crown jumps to defend the Troia cell, Pash reciprocates, and true to form, the two continue to needle each other, despite We Suffer handing out punishments to each of them. At the end of the meeting, Pash leaves in a rush to deliver Aim to their job. After Aim enters the school building, Pash checks the doorways and alleys of the surrounding buildings before presumably finding somewhere out of sight to wait for Aim to finish the school day.
When the city is thrown in disarray with the announcement of a House broadcast and Nona and Hot Sauce disappear, Aim elicits Pash’s help in driving the remaining children home from school. After dropping them off, Pash and Aim return to the school and drive around the block until Aim spots Nona and Hot Sauce. Pash pulls the truck onto the sidewalk to get to the girls, then drives away as soon as they get in. Aim offers Hot Sauce her empty place to stay for the night, explaining that Pash would just crouch outside their door all night if Aim didn’t go home with her. At Nona’s pronouncement that she lives in the Building, Pash tries to crane her neck to look at Nona, but her covered face and the mesh curtain between the front seat and the back prevents them from seeing or identifying one another. Having a destination, Pash begins to drive more purposefully—gunning the ignition and driving places where cars aren’t meant to drive, like alleys, sidewalks, and closed roads, then snapping at Aim when they attempt to backseat drive. Despite the terrifying drive, Pash is still able to loudly scoff at Aim’s charitable work as a clinic worker and teacher, claiming it’s a “chance to be her, huh? A little independent living for once?”[5] Aim merely responds that it’s a “privilege to be they.”[5] This dichotomy likely refers to Aim as an individual versus their position as the Messenger, with Pash viewing them primarily as the latter.
When they reach the Building, Pash’s truck is immediately allowed access, and the armed people idling in the parking garage immediately look the other way. Aim promises Nona that the school will be open the following day, despite Pash demanding otherwise. After dropping off Nona, Pash drives Aim and Hot Sauce home.
Day Four[]
By the time the school’s electricity is cut off the following day, Pash is on duty somewhere near the school. When Aim discovers that Camilla/Palamedes is a necromancer, they call in a liquidation order, which Merv Wing executes, shooting both Nona and Camilla/Palamedes. Pash enters the school building to get to Aim. Upon finding Hot Sauce, the only remaining child in the school, Pash locks her in the generator room. After identifying the inert bodies of Nona and Cam as members of the Troia experiment, Pash attempts to call off the Merv Wing squad, to no avail. Low on options, Pash initially plans to escape to the roof, then discards that idea because of possible snipers. Deciding to make her stand in the classroom, Pash vows to take down anyone who comes at them. Aim warns her: “If you discharge a firearm with me in the room, you’ll get court-martialled and hanged.”[1] Pash decides to risk it, since Merv Wing has the same disadvantage.
While Merv Wing works to defuse the door, Pash announces that she’s going to deadhead Nona and Camilla, according to Blood of Eden’s head and hands custom. At this announcement, Nona—who’s been playing dead—sits up. Pash swears, then shoots Nona, which only infuriates her. At Aim’s orders to stand down, Pash allows Nona to crawl over to Camilla, who is also still alive because of Palamedes’s necromancy. Pash accuses Camilla of lying about their regenerative abilities, and blames Nona for bringing Crown to the school, making Merv Wing think Ctesiphon Wing was making a claim on the Messenger.
Aim makes one final unsuccessful attempt to call off Merv Wing, ending with the parting message: “If you come up those stairs the lifeguard will shoot you.”[1]At this, Camilla and Pash begin arranging the room for combat. Pash takes control, briefing Cam to expect ten Edenites. With a hard expression, Pash confirms that she doesn’t want any survivors. Aim insists on remaining in the room, in order to limit the gunfire, but Nona leaves to join Hot Sauce in the generator room. The fight is quick, but violent. Limited by Aim’s presence, Merv Wing employs electric weapons, while Pash and Cam use their weapons of choice to eliminate the entire squad. While Cam drags the bodies out of the classroom, Pash goes downstairs to kill the driver. When Pash arrives back in the classroom, she witnesses Hot Sauce shoot Nona upon realizing that she’s a zombie. Despite Nona’s regenerative ability, the bullet gets stuck in her head. Pash transports them to an Edenite location, where Palamedes uses necromancy to remove the bullet in front of most of Ctesiphon Wing.
Day Five[]
Despite liquidating a big unit of Merv Wing and discharging a firearm in Aim’s presence, Pash has thus far avoided consequences for either action, thanks to We Suffer’s influence in Blood of Eden. Most of the Edenites refuse to be in the same room as Nona and Camilla/Palamedes, a choice that Pash both defies and ridicules. While Camilla, Palamedes, and Nona prepare for their mission to retrieve Gideon Nav’s body from the Cohort barracks, Pash assists We Suffer with her attempts to locate the Sixth House Oversight Body. At Aim’s request, Pash is assigned to deliver Nona and Camilla to the barracks, a job which she protests on account of her superstitions about Gideon’s unrotting corpse.
Accompanied by Aim, Pash drives them through the city in her usual erratic manner before Camilla asks her to pull over. Pash gets out of the car, opens the back door for Nona and Cam, then opens the boot to reveal Camilla’s weapons. Despite her ingrained hatred of zombies, Pash gives them a grudging farewell in the form of a maxim: “Die quick, die cold, bring ‘em with you.”[2] This small moment of camaraderie is not enough to convince Pash to shake Camilla’s proffered hand, which she refuses heartily.
Nona and Camilla emerge from the barracks with Pyrrha, Crown, Judith Deuteros, Palamedes (in Naberius Tern’s corpse), and Gideon Nav’s body. Outside, Commander We Suffer is organizing a cavalcade of big trucks. Pash leaps down from one to pull a ramp down for the group, but balks when she sees Gideon’s corpse. She refuses to ride in the same truck as it and retreats to Nona’s truck instead. As the group debates how to best locate the Sixth House Oversight Body—who are being driven around the city in Merv Wing trucks—Pash makes her usual harsh comments, though she unwillingly laughs at a joke Pyrrha makes, to her deep shame. Nona suggests that one of her school friends might know where the Convoy is, and We Suffer directs the driver to his address. Uneasy about the tension in the city and the sounds of what might be missile launches, Pash guards the idling trucks while Nona makes her detour.
With the location of the Sixth House Oversight body in hand, We Suffer relaunches Commander Wake’s mission to unlock the Locked Tomb. At the mention of Wake, Pyrrha waxes nostalgic, despite Pash and We Suffer’s protests. Pyrrha reveals that Wake carried a picture of a nine or ten year-old Pash holding her gun. Pash listens to the story greedily, but quickly hides her emotion by donning a combat helmet. After recovering the missing members of the Sixth House, Pash assists Crown in helping them off the trucks.
As Paul (the new Lyctor, formerly Camilla and Palamedes) readies the Sixth House for their journey to the Ninth House to open the Tomb, Pash reappears with Aim and Noodle in tow. The shuttle is likely the only way off-planet, and Aim considers their presence to be a liability to Blood of Eden. Aim explains their purpose as the Messenger to Nona, then Pash jokes that she has to kill Nona now that she’s heard. With that, Pash, Aim, and Noodle board the back of the megatruck with the Sixth House Oversight Body. There, We Suffer gives them final orders and bids them farewell.
Paul and Nona drive the megatruck through the River to the Ninth House. The ride is rough, and Aim gets knocked around during the landing. Pash elects to stay in the truck with them and the other passengers while Paul, Pyrrha, Nona and the reanimated corpse of Gideon Nav go deeper into the Ninth House to open the Locked Tomb.
Appearance and Personality[]
Appearance[]
"Nona had known who they were the moment their body moved, but the machetes helped. It was Our Lady of the Passion, for the first time unmasked."[1]
Ranking officials in Blood of Eden routinely cover their faces to obscure their identity. Pash complies with this practice with a frightening get-up: an air cleanser toggle mask, welder’s goggles, a long hooded jacket, and gloves. Her mask contains a vocaliser which distorts her voice.[6]
Unmasked, Pash is compact and average-sized, her cheeks littered with shrapnel scars and her flattish nose crooked. One of her temples is puckered with burns, and her brows are dark. Her eyes are a hazel, yellowy green colour, and she covers them with dark greasepaint while she's on duty. Pash keeps her hair buzzed on one side and long on the other, dyed a bright blue. Nona describes her face as "super-cool and fierce and handsome"[1], though Nona's descriptions are often subject to opinion. She carries several guns, including a long one slung across her back. Despite referring to The Nine Houses' use of swords as "complete fucking hand-me-down insanity"[2], she always carries two machetes, claiming the reason is to intimidate zombies.
Personality[]
“I can cram a battalion into ten metres. Give me time and I’ll cram two.”
“Mmm. Perhaps stacking them lengthways?”
“The soldiers will do as I say.”
“Then how relaxing it is for the soldiers that we have removed you from active duty.”[6]
Pash is a quintessential Edenite: short-tempered, violent, and aggressive. She hates necromancy and everything related to it. In the Blood of Eden organization, Pash’s family pedigree gives her additional influence and authority, which she uses (and occasionally abuses) to its full extent. Crown labels Pash as "what happens when nepotism and bullshit collide,”[3] but despite her unique privileges, Pash seems to be good at her job. She is fiercely devoted to the Edenite cause and has earned respect across multiple factions of BOE.
Pash is self-assured and confident in her own abilities. She is quick to offer her opinion, regardless of if it’s wanted or necessary. She frequently insults and berates people for their own opinions or decisions, though there is often little weight behind these jibes. But past her abrasive personality, Pash cares deeply about the people she protects and works with, and even builds tenuous trust with the zombies who fight alongside her.
Relationships[]
Aim[]
“If I don’t go home with you, you’re going to crouch outside my door all night.”
“Don’t make it sound like it’s my idea.”[5]
Pash and Aim have a complex relationship. As Aim’s bodyguard, Pash is devoted to them and their safety, but often views them as a mission, rather than a person. Pash ridicules Aim for her desire to help the civilians of New Rho, and often recenters Aim’s position as the Messenger. As with all things, Pash takes her duties seriously, even if she seems to be frustrated with her appointment as the Messenger’s lifeguard. Though Pash takes an occasionally unconventional approach to her duties, she follows Aim’s direct orders and appears to respect them. Despite Aim’s proclamation that Pash is “the least respectful bodyguard [they] have ever had,”[1] she appears to trust Pash wholeheartedly with their life. In return, Pash is willing to follow Aim into increasingly dire situations, risking a court martial and death sentence to protect Aim and accompanying them far behind enemy lines to the Ninth House.
Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead[]
“I remember asking if you really were a nice kid. [Wake] said, No. She’s my flesh and blood. She takes after me.”[7]
Pash is Wake's niece, and appears to have had a close relationship with her before her death at the hands of the Empire. Pash doggedly follows in her aunt’s footsteps by joining Wake’s wing of BOE and championing Wake’s cause of uniting all people against their zombie overlords. Pash idolizes Wake and honors her legacy in many of the things she does, including saluting Wake’s portrait and frequently repeating Wake’s various pieces of advice and aphorisms. Initially, Pash is hateful towards Pyrrha for her role in Wake’s death, but when Pyrrha tells her that Wake used to carry a picture of ten-year-old Pash holding her aunt’s submachine gun, she is desperate for more details. With Pyrrha’s recollection that Wake was “obviously proud as hell” of her niece, Pash closes her eyes and looks “as though she were having a religious experience.”[7]
Camilla Hect[]
“Hect, let’s get one thing straight: I’m giving the orders and if you don’t say Yes, sir, no, sir, three bags full, sir, I shoot out your kneecaps and use you as a meat shield.”
“Three bags full of what?”
“Fucking whoop-ass if you don’t do what I say, comedian.”[1]
Despite Pash’s vehement dislike of wizards and their minions, her role in Ctesiphon Wing forces her into proximity with Housers, including Camilla. Their shared connection to We Suffer indicates that Pash was likely present during Camilla’s initial imprisonment and subsequent participation in Blood of Eden. This connection extended into their activities on New Rho, as Pash was one of the few Edenites with the security clearance to be debriefed on the Troia Project. Despite their stark similarities—a deep protective urge, a hardened resolve for a better world, a penchant for weapons, and what seems to be a genuine delight in violence—Pash and Camilla fail to find common ground until they are forced to fight side by side. They fight well together, and their joint demolition of a Merv Wing squad seems to be the beginning of a thaw of Pash’s icy feelings towards Camilla. Though they are fighting for different ideals, Pash begrudgingly admits: “I pulled a trigger next to you, that doesn’t mean nothing.”[2]
Crown[]
“The bodyguard said, ‘What happened? You eat him?’
Crown said, ‘A boy like that? Not all at once.’
‘You’re foul.’”[6]
Forced into proximity by their shared BOE Wing Commander, Passion and Crown constantly rile each other up. Neither seem to be willing to back away from a challenge, and their mutual hatred of each other and similar volatile attitudes make it impossible for them to resist sniping at each other, to the point that We Suffer has to discipline them both. Despite the very real consequences they face as a result of their bickering, their feud appears not to be too serious, as they are capable of setting it aside in pursuit of BOE’s goals.
We Suffer[]
“You misuse your power in an incredible fashion.”
“Commander, I wouldn’t misbehave if you hadn’t given me the worst job of my life.”[2]
Because of their shared connection to Wake and Pash’s early commitment to Ctesiphon Wing, Pash and We Suffer have likely known each other for decades. Despite We Suffer being Pash’s superior in BOE’s chain of command, Pash often contradicts her or bickers with her. But Pash’s zealous aggression doesn’t have much sting behind it and We Suffer’s dry wit in response suggests a familiar rapport between the two. Pash is fiercely loyal to her Wing Commander, and We Suffer treats Pash with a great deal of trust and respect, eliciting her opinion on certain topics and including her in classified meetings.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Nona the Ninth", Day 4, Ch. 18
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Nona the Ninth", Day 5, Ch. 22
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Nona the Ninth", Day 3, Ch. 13
- ↑ As Yet Unsent
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Nona the Ninth Day 3, Ch. 16
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Nona the Ninth Day 3, Ch. 12
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Nona the Ninth Day 5, Ch. 27