I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path.

I’m very pleased to be able to have my first post of the new year (admittedly a bit behind the times) be a piece of good news!

The Dante Effect will once again be presenting ‘Dust and Shadows’ on 26 January 2013 at our familiar old stomping grounds at the King’s Chapel Parish House, 64 Beacon Street. I must confess to being rather fond of the building, as I know it was the residence of Dr Lloyd Vernon Briggs, a pioneer in mental health in the late nineteenth century.

As I understand it, Ms DuMort will be on holiday in Paris, and I must confess that I am not disappointed at the prospect of working through this process without her. That woman is beyond irritating. I am fortunate that Dr Ritter, too, will apparently be absent, due, apparently, to his passionate hatred for my presence in this process. Ste.Croix hinted that he had repeatedly threatened my safety and that she was unequivocally forbidding him from attending unless and until he had come to accept that I am a part of the proverbial team.

As I understand it, Stone will still be a part of the production, and I cannot say that I am thrilled by this news, although given the audience’s love for him, I suppose it is a smart tactical move on the part of Ste.Croix. He will be joined by Ste.Croix herself, of course, and by Mr Braxton Carroll, with whom I have had fewer although far more pleasant encounters.

Tickets may be purchased from the Dante Effect Website – here!

–VKB Angell

I tend to consider myself a fairly tolerant individual. I am willing to put up with a great deal in a person before I pass judgement on them. That being said, while I have not spent a great deal of time with Delilah DuMort I must confess to a wholehearted belief that she is a complete idiot.

Most people who exhibit ridiculous or silly behaviours do so on a part-time or short-term basis. They do one thing or two things that are very silly indeed, and otherwise proceed with their lives in a normal manner.

DuMort seems incapable of doing anything that is neither silly nor selfish. I have worked with egotistical and narcissistic personalities before, and DuMort is neither of these. She is, however, profoundly self-centred in such a way that I find rather remarkable. It is not that she places herself before others so much as she is unaware that there are others in the room, much less being capable of recognising that those other people might have opinions or emotions that are not reflective of her own.

On top of this, I would defy anyone to find a mature woman quite so incapable of doing anything except following instructions, and that she does badly. Only the plainest sort of language is capable of being followed, and that is often skewed by a belief system which I cannot even begin to fathom. I think I am probably the better for it – and this is an opinion that I share with even Ritter and Stone, with whom I seem to have shared a rare ‘bonding moment’ when DuMort attempted to make my computer function. I will not be letting her near it again.

– VKB Angell

My interview with Ms Delilah DuMort went essentially as expected – she, like her colleagues, insisted upon an impossible biography and refused to break character. I have become resigned to this sort of behaviour and can only hope that eventually they will decide to take me into their confidence.

DuMort claims Canada as her birthplace, which seems plausible enough. Her essential lack of an accent pinpoints her as North American Midwestern but likely metropolitan. She claims to have left home early in life and to have made her way south by taking advantage of whatever she could. The implication of course was that her advantages were sexual in nature. Given her general demeanour, I would be unsurprised to find out if that were the case.

DuMort is very aware that her assets lie in her appearance rather than in her intellect. Unlike her compatriots she has no delusions of ego about her role in the company. She seems content enough with her position with relation to the others, although occasionally resentful of Ste.Croix’s authority from time to time. The way she speaks about Ste.Croix indicates both a grudging respect for her as a person and also jealousy of the deference with which both Stone and Ritter treat her.

It is clear that DuMort has little in the way of personal inhibitions regarding sex, alcohol or even bribery. Nor does she have any concerns about this lack of inhibition – she in fact is willing to flaunt the fact when it is to her advantage.

In her description of her relationship with Mr John Carmine, however, I noticed the only true evidence of genuine affection for another human being. I believe she did love him, although in her own somewhat self-interested way. She claims little more than affection – but the depth of sadness behind her flippancy indicates a much stronger attachment. It made me like her more, and although I know her less well than her cohorts, I would venture to say that I could find myself developing a kind of fondness for her. Certainly, I would rather spend time with DuMort than with Stone or Ritter.

– VKB Angell

I can honestly say that attending a Steampunk Convention is one of the singularly most bizarre things I have ever done. While my belief that the audience for such an event would be similar to that I am studying, I had not realised the strangeness and extremity of the personality types in evidence.

The show itself was a smashing success from the perspective of the Dante Effect. From my perspective, however, the audience was more interesting – and arguably disconnected from reality – than Ste.Croix, Stone and Ritter. And that is making quite a statement.

One particularly memorable individual went by the moniker Cobra Commander and wore what appeared to be a navy blue space suit and helmet, which he refused to remove, even under the ministrations of a particularly persuasive (at least to the male sex) member of the Dante Effect whom I had not met, or even heard of, before. Ms Delilah DuMort will be the subject of a later entry, but suffice it to say that her… assets were certainly sufficient to keep several of the males in the room sufficiently entertained for most of the evening.

One would naturally expect, then, that Xavier Stone would have been more than enraptured with Ms DuMort, but there was clearly a rather difficult history between them prior to the night’s events. She treated him with scorn, and he reciprocated by castigating her for her admittedly rather loose moral restraint.

The story of the evening claimed justification for DuMort’s animosity, although – as with any of the events I have witnessed pertaining to the members of the Dante Effect – I remain unconvinced that the story presented is true to the facts. I believe wholeheartedly that DuMort thinks herself egregiously wronged by Stone, and that he likewise despises her, either for blaming him or perhaps for feeling aggrieved at all. Stone is the sort of man who believes that the past should be allowed to dissipate and is entirely unconcerned with the emotional repercussions of his actions. It is easy to see that had he emotionally harmed DuMort in some way (by jilting her, perhaps? Cheating on her with another lover?), he would be not simply unconcerned for her feelings of bereavement, but uncomprehending about why she would remain injured after a few hours or days.

Furthermore, the image of DuMort’s relationship with Ritter was equally interesting. Ritter, like Stone, was derisive toward DuMort, particularly with regards to her intelligence (which even I must admit appears to be not of the sharpest edge). The scorn he directed toward her sarcastic attempts at flirtation did not have quite the cruel cut of Stone’s but was rather that of a man who has been putting her off for many years and knows that her advances were meant more as a form of aggravation than made in any seriousness.

Ste.Croix’s reactions were the most fascinating of the three. Like her compatriots, Ste.Croix was dismissive of DuMort’s intelligence, but not cruelly so until pushed by DuMort’s own antagonism. It was equally clear that DuMort resented the power imbalance between herself and Ste.Croix, who was clearly in command of the room. Both men seemed willing to permit Ste.Croix dominance (despite one minor incident of rebellion, over which Ste.Croix had clear control); DuMort, while allowing Ste.Croix the position of superiority, clearly objected to being subservient to the more quiet woman. DuMort is accustomed to getting what she wants, most likely through the use of her sexuality, and seemed frequently frustrated by the fact that Ste.Croix was entirely unaffected by either her feminine ‘charms’ or her antagonism.

At the end of the night, what I did notice was the clear dominance Ste.Croix has over the Dante Effect, a quiet assertiveness that extended to include the audience as well. Psychological power is a very real thing, and Isabella Ste.Croix is a master of it – this bears consideration.

–VKB Angell