OCCUPATION: Unknown
MARITAL STATUS: Single
SEX: Female
AGE: 49
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Salem, Oregon
LEGIONNAIRE YOU LOOK MOST LIKE: Unknown
FAVORITE LEGIONNAIRE: Shadow Lass/Umbra; Legion of Super-Pets (esp. Proty); Gates; Lyle
FAVORITE MUSICIAN: Unknown
FAVORITE BOOK: Unknown
FAVORITE MOVIE: Unknown
LEGION FAN FOR: 39 years
'Mom' wanted a frilly daughter with pipe curls and ribbons, who played with dolls and was sweet as Candycanes. Much to her chagrin, she got a changeling child, an opinionated little tomboy URCHIN who loved animals and art but HATED dresses and dolls!
'Mom' felt utterly betrayed by the Doctor Fairy who had promised that THIS child would be everything the woman had struggled for and dreamed of. Totally unable to deal with the changeling, the woman withdrew inside herself, only coming 'out' to cook and clean and mumble secret wards & spells. Candy felt abandoned but being the changeling she was, liked being alone, tramping in the forests and marshes, in communion with the animals and fairy tale worlds of her imagination. In this mode, she grew to be a woman with a wistful and far away look in her eyes.
On a gentle, spring morning, our changeling, tired after MANY travels and adventures, both real & imagined, sat quietly on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A narwhale was feeding in the little bay below her and the gulls drifted overhead in the breezes.
After a time, the morning light lengthened to afternoon warmth and a shadow fell across Candace's (as she now called herself) face and she looked up. Above her, floating in a nest of golden bubbles lay a Sea Otter with 2 babies resting on her tummy. The nest slowly descended to just below eye level so that the Otter could lean her head back over the edge of bubbles and look up at Candace without having to change positon or disturb her sleeping young. "I'm your 'Spirit Guide', dear," said the Otter, "it's time for you to choose."
"Um, choose what, exactly?" asked Candace.
"Whether you shall be a Lady of Shadow or a Lady of Light," replied the Otter in a whispering wave of a Voice.
"I don't understand," Candace said.
"In the Universe, on the one side, there are the Lords and Ladys of Chaos, the Unpredictables. On the other side are the Majesties of Order, the Laws." Candace was silent, thinking on these words. "You are a changeling, thus you have power, thus you must CHOOSE." The babies began to 'fuss-el' so the Sea Otter rearranged herself and them so that the infants could nurse. Candace watched this 'production' and when the babies quieted so that only their soft suckling and the waves could be heard, she asked a question.
"May I choose a third path?"
The Otter looked startled and grew very still. "What would you choose?" she asked.
"I would choose to be the bridge between the two, then perhaps, both ways could flourish. There could be endless diversity and surprise based in clear possibilities and purpose."
The Spirit Otter smiled, her long trailing whiskers brushing Candace's cheeks, making her smile, too. Soon, the air began to dance with more and more sparkeling bubbles. Mounds of bubbles that filled the cliff and flowed down to the little bay until the narwhale paused in it's eating of krill to joust with the cascading bubbles of light that burst with 'giggles' and 'whoops' whenever his magical horn touched them.
"So be it," purred the Spirit Otter, "A Lady of Balance, of the Compassionate, shall you be." The golden bubbles formed a glowing nest around Candace, lifting her into the salty winds, which carried her to the enchanted Land of Internet and to the exciting Kingdom of the Legion boards (greatest Champions of Balance!)
As the bubbles gently set her down in this longed for kingdom, the Sea Otter's voice drifted through the threads, "Thence-forth, shall you be known as Shadowplay in Candlelight, Lady and friend."
Um, the rest is history.
POWERS: 1. usually seeing most of the sides of any issue and trying to clarify and/or bring compromise or humor or huggies to the debate; 2. flirting; 3. never being afraid to let the people around her know how wonderful and unique they are; 4. keeping an eye out for people and trying to understand how they're feeling and being concerned for their welfare; 5. listening; 6. offering words of encouragement or advise (whether it's wanted or not); 7. LOL, a lot