Dolly Malestrom (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

Dolly Malestrom / The Earwig is a character in The Gerosha Chronicles. Getting her debut in Ciem back in 2005, she was originally cast as S1 the Bunny. She is a half-sister-in-law of Candi McArthur and the wife of Jeraime Malestrom. She is also a sister-in-law to Khumar Hamilton and the sister of Lindsay Hamilton.

Fictional biography
Dolly was born as Dolores Marion Weiss to Gordon and Stacey Weiss on February 26th of 1988. Stacey named her Dolores specifically so that they could shorten her name to Dolly. When Dolly the Cloned Sheep was revealed to her 2nd-grade class in 1996, Dolly spent a good deal of her elementary school days being teased for "being named after a sheep," as illogical as that claim was.

Her younger sister Lindsay was often her closest companion, hence they were dubbed the Weiss sisters. While the Weiss family was not particularly a target of Hebbleskin Gang oppression, they often befriended victims and became involved in anti-Meethlite and anti-Meethexo activism early on.

Dolly took a job as a library assistant in her high school days, unknowingly becoming the "liPo" of legend for her library position. Even Dolly, however, once mistakenly believed that "liPo" meant "Flippo," and that a member of the Flippo family would eventually be the end of Duke Arfaas' legions. Through later research, she discovered the true meaning from a text written by a Meethlite scholar that Arfaas had banned since that scholar's arguments were incompatible with Arfaas' anti-Gerosha and anti-Flippo propaganda. Even then, Dolly spent years believing that her activism would lead to a greater movement that would doom Arfaas.

Family disaster
She considered going to college to get a library degree; but that was when Gordon died. It was discovered that a scorned ex-lover from Gordon's early life had been poisoning him by lacing all his equipment at work with trace amounts of arsenic and lead. When those failed to kill him, the vengeful woman had broken in to his car and put mercury in the AC vents. Gordon hadn't been attentive that morning, and died of mercury fumes in his own car on the way to work. The woman soon got caught in a crossfire between the Hebbleskins and the Kerpher Gang, and was gunned down before police could bring her in and put her on trial for Gordon's murder.

Unable to deal with the stress of everything, Stacey forced Dolly and Lindsay to move out of the house. She later regretted the decision; but not before she'd been discovered by Arfaas. A very young Gunner Soorfelt was trying to prove himself to Arfaas, and did so by breaking into Stacey's house and strangling her to death. He then burned all her documents and sabotaged her online accounts, ensuring that any anti-Hebblekin activism would have to go on without her.

The Weiss sisters tried to get their house back after their mother died; but were not allowed. They spent a year homeless and on the streets, before Lindsay managed to secure a low-paying job at a gas station. Dolly vowed to avenge her mother one day, and took to fighting to protect herself and Lindsay from street bullies. She hoped this would build in her the resolve to do whatever it took to bring Arfaas to justice.

Marriage
Dolly and Lindsay's fortunes soon changed after they moved to the Viron area. They didn't attend many churches very regularly, but did discover that they enjoyed Hillforest Church. Dolly soon ran into a lonely bachelor there named Jeraime Malestrom. It was only a few months before Jeraime and Dolly became inseparable, and they were married two years later.

Lindsay soon met Khumar; a man who had recently legally changed his name to Khumar Hamilton to distance himself from his cantankerous mother, Betty McArthur. In the summer of 2019, Lindsay and Khumar decided they couldn't control themselves after one another. Lindsay was also fully supportive of Khumar in grieving over Donte's having gone missing in action. They were married shortly before Thanksgiving of that year, becoming Khumar and Lindsay Hamilton. Jeraime and Dolly allowed Khumar and Lindsay to live in their house with them and carry on various activities, but sympathized with Khumar saving up to buy a farm.

Capture
It was about December 23rd of 2019 that Dolly's life changed forever. Justin Hogan was determined to be an insufficient host for the Musaran AI that Arfaas was planning to use to eliminate Centhuen Prototypes all over the globe. However, he decided to use it with Justin to carry out at least one valuable mission&mdash;finding Justin's replacement.

After a particularly strong anti-Hebbleskin outburst at a rock quarry, Arfaas learned that the instigator was none other than Jeraime Malestrom. He tracked down records on Jeraime and learned that Jeraime had married Dolly Weiss, the daughter of past assassination target Stacey Weiss. He gleefully declared that it was brilliant irony that he should enslave Stacey's son-in-law, to become his latest henchman in undoing that which would have helped Stacey's cause.

On that fateful evening, Khumar and Lindsay were about to inform Jeraime and Dolly that they believed the mysterious "Candi Stevens" that they had spotted on campus at Viron University was, in fact, Donte's missing girlfriend Candi Flippo. To further their anti-Hebbleskin movement, they would need to have the Flippos on their side. Before they could explain, Justin and a band of Hebbleskins broke down the front door. Khumar escaped; but Dolly and Lindsay were taken captive.

Jeraime was then attached to the Musaran AI backvisor, and began his career as an assassin. Dolly vowed she'd do everything she could to escape; and with any luck, she'd restore her husband's sanity as well. She spent the next year and several months in a Meethlite dungeon in solitary confinement, plotting her elaborate escape. She felt even more pressure when it was revealed that the "Great Day" would be coming. On that day, it was revealed to her, Donte would be particle-disintegrated live for public broadcast. All female prisoners would end up beheaded on live broadcast, including Dolly and Lindsay.

Escape
A careless guard one day dropped a Zeran teleporter that he'd secured from another prisoner, and Dolly carefully used a fork she'd hidden from guards to grab a hold of it. She dared not use it; because she knew the time wasn't right. That other prisoner was marched to the chopping block immediately, and Dolly was even taunted by being shown the girl's head afterward.

When Candi Levens was arrested after Arfaas took control, the guards made the mistake of placing her in the same cell as Dolly. Candi and Dolly were forced to strip down and put on robes, to be prepared for their own executions. However, Dolly sneakingly gave Candi the Zeran teleporter before being hauled out to her own execution. The guards failed, however, to check inside of Candi's pants. With a safety pin, Candi had specially secured a Zeran wardrobe that contained her Ciem suit plus spare Zeran wardrobes. The guard immediately turned his back after Dolly left just long enough for Candi to get her Zeran wardrobe out of her pants safely and hide it with the teleporter Dolly provided. As he turned back around and opened the door, he demanded to be given Candi's normal clothes. She offered them, and then seduced the guard into a kiss. She immediately crushed his ribs and killed him, stinging him as well for good measure. Getting dressed in normal attire again as fast as she could, she grabbed his gun and went after Dolly.

She managed to Zeran teleport her way into the execution chamber in the nick of time, and prevented Dolly's beheading by seconds. The two girls fought their way free, securing guns in the process. Dolly decided to fight her way towards an escape from Arfaas' ship, and then rendezvous with Darius and crew on the ground. Candi agreed to put her Ciem suit on and go after Donte.

Dolly, and her ensuing quest to free other prisoners, became one of the single greatest distractions allowing Candi to find Donte and prevent his execution. She eventually did get off the ship; but was soon overwhelmed and forced to retreat. However, her actions allowed Donte to become Emeraldon again. Restored, he immediately took revenge on Arfaas' entire crew. Meanwhile, Candi tracked down Jeraime and battled to free him from the Musaran AI. Lindsay was, of course, one of the surviving women that Dolly freed. She tracked down and was immediately reunited with Khumar.

Return to domestic life
Jeraime was freed from the Musaran AI; but only at the expense of Ciem rendering him blind for life. Under those circumstances, Jeraime had to quit his job at the quarry. Dolly took on a job at a hotel in town as a way to pay the bills, while Jeraime applied for medical aid. Dolly remained in a supportive role for a while afterward, hoping that giving Candi the means to officially become Ciem and start a superhero career meant the fulfillment of Dolly's "liPo" obligations. Candi and Dolly remained on good terms for a long time, in spite having very limited contact for about a year. It was in this time that Dolly adjusted to living as a part of regular society again. Meanwhile, Candi worked as Donte's sidekick; and the two of them rebuilt their romantic relationship on the side. Donte came to accept Candi's past with Denny and Jack, and love her for who she was regardless of missing what she used to symbolize.

Earwig suit
One of Darius Philippine's side projects in his underground lab was the development of multiple powered-armor suits that would be the next-step up in improving military combat situations. It was dubbed Project: Earwig, and was mockingly described by one critical technician as "Iron Man meets the Big Bad Beetleborgs, only it can't fly." At some point, Darius ran into a problem with the suit's interface. He found that the solution involved implanting AI units inside the helmets that would alter the consciousness of any soldiers interfacing with it. However, the best programs for that were manufactured by none other than Duke Arfaas. Therefore, testing the helmets with inferior versions of an Earwig suit became a necessity.

The AI backvisors were modified to have a longer-lasting energy source than what was used for Arfaas' Musaran project. However, prolonged use tended to make soldiers unpredictable and even slightly insane; as well as producing a dependency on the AI to feel self-confidence. Darius kept a female version of his Earwig project hidden in his underground lair, praying he'd never need to have anyone use it.

When Candi is captured in 2015 by Lloyd Kolumn, Dolly Malestrom immediately turns to Darius for help. Outside of protecting Jeraime, Darius decides to do essentially nothing while he deals with his own health problems. Having repeatedly blown Dolly off, and even trying to treat her like a prisoner, Darius unintentionally reactivated the survival instincts that Dolly had developed while she was Arfaas' prisoner for a year. Dolly smuggled her way into Darius' vault, and though she didn't realize what she was messing with, she stole an Earwig suit and AI-enhanced helmet. Darius' arrogance about the safety of his base meant that he kept minimal security that day; allowing Dolly to make an easy escape.

No sooner did Dolly get a hold of the Earwig suit than it began attaching itself to her darker emotional states. She noticed several crimes being committed around town that Candi would normally have addressed in her spare time as Ciem, and resolved to deal with the problems herself. However, Candi had adopted a moral code in which killing was a last resort. The Earwig AI influencing Dolly, however, kept tempting her to make it her only resort. She proceeded to slaughter and entire street gang; one that was of a minimal threat level.

Children
In Classic Gerosha, Dolly had two children, one named Gunther. The future of her children remains uncertain for the new version. However, her children do not meet up with Candi's children for up to five years. This is because Candi and Donte move to Kentucky to find work after the events of Ciem 3.

Development
Dolly has come a long way from her crude origins to becoming integral in Gerosha mythology. Initially S1 the Bunny, an extremely minor villain, she evolved in a few years to become the Earwig. In her new role, she became an anti-hero demonstrating that Candi's reluctance to kill is necessary. At the same time, giving in to her dark side illustrates to her why it is so essential that Candi not visit revenge on everyone that she feels deserves it.

Gerosha Prime
Dolly began as S1 the Bunny, a blue Social Bunny henchman to L1 the Llama. At first, she was simply going to be an underdeveloped villain that would be easily disposed of as soon as Candi inherited her Ciem suit from Imaki. However, there was a change of heart halfway-through the 2005 version. S1 turned out to be almost the same as Janette the Bunny, and all it took was removing her helmet to restore her sanity. Dolly Prime really didn't do much after being freed; and never got the chance to be anything afterward. This led to a strong desire to make her more relevant in later incarnations.

Classic Gerosha
Despair Gerosha never truly got around to explaining the origins of Jeraime and Dolly, so she was not truly developed until this version. It was decided early-on that Dolly should play a more important role in this version than she did in the 2005 story. She was made more resourceful; and her brief stint as S1 the Bunny was only vaguely alluded to rather than depicted or made a real plot point, since there were no sufficient bunny costumes to replace the silly Social Bunny ones that came packaged with the game.

Dolly had an actual Earwig suit painted onto BrassTex's female Mecha Warrior mesh, but it only ever found use in promotional stills for Ciem 3. The male version was revamped ever-so-slightly, and was intended to be used for Musaran II just as it had been used for the original Musaran. It was in this version that the Earwig suit's helmet developed the means to corrupt whoever used it. However, it wasn't until Comprehensive Gerosha that it's methods went straight to instilling straight-up bloodthirst in the user. In Classic Gerosha, it used negative emotions to feed suggestion to users, taking a much slower approach to corrupting them. This is because the original Ciem webcomics were intended to spoof pop culture of the time, aimed primarily at Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. The humor was that Candi's friend had bonded with the alien suit (made of alien tech, rather than the suit and alien being one and the same.) So while Candi herself was not the problem, her friend would have to face the problem and Candi herself could remain in mortal danger anyway.

The fact that an AI backvisor was placed on Botan the Plant-Man by Milp as a way to control him was a direct slap at Spider-Man 3. Instead of Botan willingly joining forces with Milp, he is compelled against his will. It seemed odd that Sandman, which Botan is roughly equivalent to, would be so willing to work with Venom. Candi getting Jeral and Dolly to reconcile and be friends adds a layer of complication that was not possible in Ciem 3's most inspirational movie.

Comprehensive Gerosha
For the reboot, Dolly's actions in Ciem were more closely examined. It was determined that her backstory needed more exploring from what little it was given in the webcomic, so as to determine what drove her to the extremes that would enable her to become the Earwig. Her naivety alone did not seem to suffice in later tellings, so she was enhanced to create a more well-rounded character. Dolly's resourcefulness was already developed; but her eagerness to shoot her way through an entire ship to get to safety with Lindsay is a trait first noticed in Ciem: Vigilante Centipede. She was willing to take a dangerous risk with dynamite to escape a prison cell in the 2007 comic, however. Yet, she was not portrayed as being particularly skilled with guns.

Aside from enhanced pragmatics, Dolly is otherwise essentially a complete carry-over from her Classic Gerosha self. Her Generation: Hot Coffee T-shirt is a badge of honor for her to wear from her brief stint as a video game nerd; rather than some random thing she got from a thrift store because it fit. And while Henry Malestrom doesn't exist in this continuity, Dolly doesn't need the thought of killing her nephew to snap her into realizing how dangerous her Earwig suit's AI really is.

Her methods of dealing with Botan will be a little different in Ciem: Condemnation, which will make for a less-forced ending that will seem a little less like Spider-Man 3 and more like its own thing. She may even plays a minor role in Ciem: Nuclear Crisis, whereas Ciem 2 Dolly was virtually non-existent.