character :: Bridget De Lange
When Bridget decided to major in Humanitarian studies, her father was irate. His face got red as he rubbed his temples, his voice elevated but level as he asked her why she’d put him through this. To be a Humanitarian in her society – the Below – was a deathwish. All Humanitarians eventually ended up Above, a dusty wasteland of debauchery and almost certain death. But to Bridget, something called her to the surface; pouring over old literature and letters from people whom had been deemed “savage” intrigued and confused her. They didn’t seem to be the evil she had been warned about.
So, when she emerged into the land Above, her soft skin irritated by the abrasive sand in the wind and her eyes watering against the bright light outside – she had high hopes. She had graduated at the top of her class, every word in her textbook carefully memorized just in case; guarded, but hopeful, she wanted to shake things up! She began gunning for a position on the Panel, a group of her peers from Below who had built a safe haven for the heathens Above under the guise of a pay-for-protection society called an “Industry”. The Panel called the shots: who was accepted in, punishment or extermination for those who committed crimes, and of course allocation of jobs, wealth, and supplies. A certain amount of stress was required to keep those people in line, and the Panel decided just who got what stressors applied. But, the part of the Panel that interested Bridget the most was admissions: just who of the Badlands deserved a safe life? Bridget wanted a say. She also wanted to lax the rules – just a bit – to expedite the lowering of the walls.
Bridget’s second month into her three month screening process was met with disaster, however, when a Badlander Raid on her Industry went terribly right. The small band of men tore through the streets, grabbing merchandise and people; and, unfortunately, her dorm just so happened to be one of those outer ring buildings that had been ransacked. Bridget was captive and certainly marked for death.
But – to her joy – a tall, dark, and handsome Badlander came to her rescue as he violently removed her from her captor. It seemed as if Bridget’s senior thesis that Badlanders were in fact moral just got a very exciting main subject of study! But, alas, her paper would have to wait. Looks like this Badlander just wanted her to himself as a bartering tool to get into the Industry she worked at.
Fortunately for the Badlander and unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out that she never would return to her Junior Panel position…her role in this world just got much, much bigger it seems.
