Miriam Flippo (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

Miriam Ann "Sniperbadger" McLaine (nee Flippo) is a major character in the Gerosha universe of Dozerfleet Comics. She features in the first two parts of both the webcomic trilogy and novel trilogy. Miriam is a fraternal triplet of Candi Levens and an identical triplet of Marina Baret. She is the daughter of Stan and Shalia Flippo, and becomes the mother of Marie, Trina, and Larry McLaine. She also becomes the wife of adventurer Steve McLaine.

Character bio
Miriam is best described as being a foil for Candi; serving as a reminder that it is only by the grace of God that Candi didn't end up taking the same road. In spite her numerous and documented self-control problems, Candi always strived to be the center of virtue for the triplet sisters, the "Good Girl" of the family. She eventually succumbed to a few shortcomings, but never truly swayed from her desire to end up leading a decent and upright way of life in the long run.

However, Miriam came to want that later on than Candi. While Candi was often motivated by traumatic stress, obsessive-compulsive personality flaws, and feelings of insecurity; Miriam's share of the Honeybee Samuel curse was activated by her resentment for over-regulation. Erin's ineffectual leadership as a stand-in mother for the girls, combined with her reluctance to date and find the girls a stand-in father figure, led Miriam to resent Erin's over-regulation in particular. This led to a rebellious side that developed in Miriam's personality; which started off small. However, it eventually mushroomed in size until it began to cloud her judgment in other areas of life.

Miriam's curiosity and rebellious nature have led to her becoming slightly amoral and highly pragmatic, though falling in love with Steve does motivate her to reform. While she doesn't want to steal cars for a living, she has learned how to hotwire a vehicle and steal it. This proves useful in helping Candi battle Cap Aard. She attended parties with other high school grads that Candi avoided; with one in particular proving that some of Miriam's friends were about as helpful to her as enemies. In spite having plenty of money, Miriam responded to a life on the run by becoming a bit of a lost soul.

Early life
Erin used to be the hardest on Miriam around the house whenever anything of importance happened. However, Erin would sometimes go hard on Candi too, just so Miriam wouldn't grow to resent Candi for allegedly being some sort of "Chosen One." Marina was often neglected by Erin, something Candi and Miriam both sought to rectify. Whilst Candi took her perceived destiny very seriously, Miriam and Marina were often told they were "just there," or to wait "until God figures something out." Candi often felt guilty that her sisters weren't told of having a pre-determined purpose, and would brainstorm with them about what their purposes could be.

Marina was often content to play with Candi's game; and they both thought often and hard about how they would use their resources to keep the Hebbleskin Gang from acquiring more power. Miriam, however, liked to tinker with appliances and learn how things worked. Instead of waiting patiently for a solution, Miriam was the first to invent her own solutions.

Development of "Sniperbadger"
Around the time the girls turned 12 years old, Candi began to spend more time training for life as one of Imaki and Darius' operatives in the Phexo vs. Meethexo wars. It would become her job to protect Gerosha from the return of Duke Arfaas and his Meethlites, whilst wearing a suit and embracing the centipede part of her nature. This involved a lot of physical training, followed by a young Candi actually sneaking out to practice by debilitating street gangs. The experiments on this were a success; and Candi was able to take down several criminal operatives within Gerosha - not leaving enough evidence of herself behind, that law enforcement would be able to trace the helpful vigilante with. Miriam would sometimes tag along and watch Candi operate.

Candi had rules for herself about not killing criminals in cold blood. She was, however, willing to let them dispatch themselves with their own stupidity if possible. Even so, Candi was just a super-powered child taking on increasingly dangerous villains. Miriam decided she could help by hitting the criminals with money - before they could hire thugs for Candi to fight. To do this, she learned the art of computer hacking.

It wasn't long before hacking became a lifelong passion of Miriam's, and she envisioned a future in software engineering. To protect her hobbies, Miriam adopted the alias "Sniperbadger;" which would prove useful to her later in life. Even when they started working separately again, Candi and Miriam enjoyed a very close bond as sisters. They would try at times to get Marina involved as well; but discovered that Marina had also decided to create her own path.

Miriam also had her first taste of how cruel the Hebbleskin Gang could be at the age of 12, when she and her sisters were successfully captured by a Hebbleskin unit while on vacation. It took all of Erin's timing and all of Candi's abilities to spare Miriam from an early grave on the guillotine.

High school
All three of the triplet sisters were under the curse of Honeybee Samuel, leading them to be very prone to sexual addiction. They seemed determined to defy the trends of their ancestry as their mother had, at first. However, Marina proved to be very prone to suggestion.

Erin also grossly miscalculated how safe the girls would be attending Gerosha High. In just under 20 years, the city Stan and Shalia had founded was rapidly changing. The epicenters of its Evangelical culture were bombed, with the media paying little to no attention. In their place, these structures were replaced with monuments to all things decadent. Institutions run by decent folk that Stan and Shalia helped put into place were being forced out, sometimes with violence. Outsiders of the town began chasing out anything and everything that helped the town define its morality.

As a consequence, Gerosha began to be filled with juvenile delinquents from broken homes. As it became nearly impossible to legally criticize the youth culture, instructors forfeited ground. The resulting youth culture became more hostile and toxic than ever, with even some Hebbleskin Gang sympathizers creeping in. The three Flippo girls found themselves facing constant sexual harassment and sexual temptation, with almost no relief in sight. Candi even pleaded to be sent away to a Christian day school away from Gerosha, but Erin didn't want to risk her sisters being too far separated from her too soon.

After a few men too many began making their moves, the Flippo girls found themselves having a hard time avoiding compromises. Before long, the girls were developing crushes and were making out with crushes. But they still tried to avoid becoming as sexually active as their peers, especially Candi. All that changed the day Fred Morrinson got to Marina. Fred, a particularly troubling sexual predator, waited until almost the end of school one day. He decided to accompany Marina, who decided to walk home that day. After winning her confidence, he shot her with a dart and dragged her away to a safe place. Marina awoke an hour later, making it home without anyone noticing what had happened. Embarrassed, she told no one about the rape. It did, however awaken the curse of Honeybee Samuel within her. As much as she was ashamed of what happened and hated Fred for it, she found that she enjoyed the experience somewhat.

Candi began to grow suspicious of what had happened to Marina. Having had her own experiences with being raped by Don Mendoza in sixth grade, and being scared to tell anyone, Candi eventually got Marina to open up to her about what had happened. Miriam eventually learned what had happened as well; but agreed not to tell Erin. Candi, as the Spookfaced Centipede, would pay a visit to Fred and personally make him pay. He never deduced it was Candi in that disguise.

The tragedy that happened to Marina, however, resulted in rumors flying all over the school that one of the Flippo triplets was promiscuous. Since nobody could keep them straight, all three girls started being treated this way. The girls knew that they would be burned on one end or another. If they complied with their school's culture, they'd be in trouble with Erin and at church. If they fought it, however, the instructors would take the side of the girls' persecutors. For fear of legal action from Far Left activists if the teachers did anything other.

Erin didn't help the girls any in terms of learning to confide in her as a parent substitute. Instead of helping the girls come to terms with their budding sexuality, she acted paranoid about it. This pushed the girls into confiding in Erin less and less, turning inwards to their increasingly untrustworthy selves. Before long, Marina was unable to control herself around certain boys in school that she deemed "less of jerks" than others. Regardless of students' personal beliefs, all students expected each other to engage in some level of sexual activity or another. Exceptions were not tolerated. Marina wound up sleeping voluntarily with two more boys, then five. Rumors began to fly, and Miriam started getting accused of some of Marina's conquests. Candi too found herself being accused. As the number of rumors flew and the sisters wanted to protect each other, Candi and Miriam started accepting the blame for a few of Marina's conquests. This led to increased harassment from other students, as well as witnessing their family name being tarnished by the students all over the Internet.

Phil Couric
One of the few men in Miriam's life that she felt was truly worth her time was Phil Couric, who was in the same grade level as her. Miriam mostly kept him a secret, as she feared Erin would not approve of him. On the evening when Candi met Donte in Straford, Ontario; Miriam and Phil got separated from the rest of their class by the ensuing chaos of a Hebbleskin Gang-released monster. Phil was being hunted by the Hebbleskins, and was despairing of his life. He was having suicidal thoughts, and Miriam feared that she'd never find another man like Phil ever in her life. She was convinced that if she gave in and forfeited her principles just this one time, Phil would be convinced to wade out his difficult life situation. The two of them got a separate hotel room, since she was technically legally old enough to order a room. She lost her virginity that night, believing Phil would be hers forever. He wound up being chased down by some Hebbleskin sympathizers on a later date, and decided that protecting his cargo from falling into their hands meant drowning it in a river. Having little time to think, he threw himself in with the cargo. The Hebbleskins never recovered their missing item. However, Phil's suicide made its way back to the local papers in Gerosha.

Miriam was understandably devastated, as she has sacrificed her sexual purity for nothing. And she feared she couldn't even open up to Erin about it; for fear of the consequences. The fear that Candi was the only one she could trust in the world led Miriam to become bitter and manipulative, retreating into her Sniperbadger persona and using it to exact vengeance on those who had routinely wronged her and her family. She was careful how she went about it though, as being too easygoing about it could leave her vulnerable to a Hebbleskin trace.

Ciem 1 / Vigilante Centipede
By the time of Candi's first major adventure, Miriam has gained her Sniperbadger alter-ego as much notoriety if not more than Candi's Spookface Centipede. Her disconnect, and desire to rebel after moving out of Erin's house, has reached epic levels. She has an especially hard time forgiving the way Marina was treated by Erin, following the reveal that Marina was pregnant with the child of Matthew Baret. The girls decide to keep a secret from Erin the fact that Matt was the 17th and final of Marina's conquests, as he was the one who finally loved Marina enough to want to set her down a path of recovery from being taken advantage of by men.

It's revealed to Miriam that Candi had engaged in incomplete-penetrative sex with Donte, which would have gone all the way if not for Donte having stopped himself. As a result, Candi worries she's on the road to becoming like Marina. She also warns Miriam that going to any parties with anyone from Gerosha High could put Miriam in danger of going down Marina's destructive path as well. She reasons it's in their blood.

Miriam ignores Candi's warnings, having grown arrogant about her ability to control situations. She attends the party - on the very same afternoon that Arfaas strikes his revenge on the town of Gerosha. Miriam ends up being attacked with a syringe, and a boy named Ken at her school is also drugged. The girls, laughing the entire time, wait for the drugs to have full effect as they lock Ken and Miriam in an upstairs bedroom together. Candi decided to visit with Imaki and Jack one last time before they return to the Apache reservation. Therefore, she is unable to do anything to help Miriam.

Police begin to suspect something is up at the party house, and break in. Not sure what all to do, they decide to arrest everyone present. Especially when they find open alcohol at a party being held by minors. The parents who owned that house are discovered to have died in the Hebbleskin raid. Police break down the door to find a drugged Ken and Miriam having sex in the upstairs bedroom. They get Miriam to the station and administer a health kit to reverse some of the drug's effects. A sobered-up Miriam begins fighting for Candi's rights after Candi is falsely arrested and mistreated.

Following Darius' instructions to have Candi awake in the forest with a new last name, the police knock Candi out with a gas and send her away. They also drop off Miriam at a truck stop in Iowa, telling her to reinvent herself. She makes her way to the Farrenville area instead, and enrolls at Farrenville Community College. From there, Miriam's life began to spiral downward.

Stripper
In spite ending up where she wanted and having all kinds of money, Miriam ends up feeling completely empty. A single night took everything from her. She fears she'll never see another member of her family alive ever again. This depression leads her to have a one night stand with a classmate at Farrenville CC, before she drops out. Miriam decides to reinvent herself by moving to Alaska, where she takes her Sniperbadger activities with her and decides to freelance for some questionable parties.

Miriam also decided to use an alias briefly while working in Juneau: Mila Fila. She began to feel her share of the curse take hold, and the urge to release her pent up frustrations with Erin reached a boiling point. She began to explore the possibilities of pursuing jobs even against her own conscience. She worked for a few months as a stripper under the stage name of Mila Fila, before deciding that the stripper life was simply too far beneath her.

Meeting Steve
After having three more one night stands, she tried to check herself into a clinic for sexual addiction. That clinic was soon burned to the ground by an arsonist, so she retreated into the woods to make her living in exile. She began to realize the need to reconnect with her faith while up there. This resulted in her meeting an adventurous but mostly wholesome and respectable young man by the name of Steve McLaine. She began to feel that through Steve, she could redeem herself. That proved to be the case only gradually, though Steve argued that she was as much a corrupting influence on him.

Steve not only took Miriam in, he allowed her to move into his house with him. He did so against his better judgment; but felt that someone had to look after her. The two soon found each other irresistible, engaging in numerous sexual activities several times a week. They knew after a few months that they would need to get married eventually; but were unable to agree on an exact wedding date. Steve otherwise made good on his word to take good care of Miriam. He caught her trying to buy a pack of cigarettes one day, and stopped her. He did, however, allow her to get several tattoos. He helped her clean up her mouth when she began using vulgarity too freely, a consequence of her brief stint as a stripper.

Steve also talked to his connections at work, allowing Miriam to get a job alongside him. This provided her with the concealment for her Sniperbadger activities that she'd wanted all along, as she thought of new ways to fight the Hebbleskin Gang.

Accidental porn star
However, not all was well for them. Steve soon discovered that some of those he thought were his friends were not such good friends after all. One of them, who could actually recall Miriam's work as Mila Fila, decided behind the couple's back to set up spy cameras in their cabin. The cameras were only noticed way too late. Kyle Briddleston, the webmaster for MultiMixedBabes.adu&Dagger;, decided to take the footage and create MilaFila.adu as a branch off of it. From there, he posted videos of Miriam and Steve having sex and marketed it through MultiMixedBabes.adu. He was shocked when MilaFila.adu became a huge success, and tried to lie and say "Mila" was from Oregon in order to protect Miriam from international stalkers.

Miriam eventually discovers the site and its activities. Instead of hacking them or shutting them down, she befriends Kyle and gives him specific instructions on what to do with the material. She also warns him that he may need to purge the site entirely if the Hebbleskin Gang starts using it to track either one of them. Miriam does, however, find and destroy the cameras so that her privacy is not further invaded.

Framed for espionage
Miriam's worst fears are confirmed when a rival hacker named Melvin Markus successfully hijacks one of Miriam's Sniperbadger accounts. With orders from a corrupt NSA agent named Lloyd Kolumn, Melvin steals several sensitive documents from the government of China, placing them in the hands of Duke Arfaas. These documents end up pertaining to the Ming-Yo and Ming-Cho, deadly rocks made of nin-chyo that could be used to create radioactive death ray machines. Steve makes a trip to China, using his connections in that country to help clear Miriam's name with the officials in Beijing. But in the mean time, Beijing decides to sent spies to locate and monitor Miriam's activities. Miriam tries to hide in Evansville, awaiting an opportunity to expose Kolumn and Arfaas' operation. However, CIA agent Vienna Dockler discovers what is going on. She and Betty Harmin intercept and steal the Ming-Yo and Ming-Cho respectively. A terrorist group known as the Mik-Non has tried to steal the two devices from Beijing authorities; so the girls made it their mission to steal the rocks first.

The Mik-Non embed a spy within Kolumn's men, allowing them to know both the US government's next move and whatever the Hebbleskin Gang has planned. Kolumn orders the CIA to order Betty to hide in Farrenville and Vienna in Evansville. The Mik-Non decide to launch an attack in Evansville immediately after that. Miriam heads to Evansville to find Candi. The Hebbleskins, suspecting that the Ming-Yo will be in Evansville, decide to send in a new monster to help them secure their package.

They manage to capture a down-on-his-luck former military private named Simon Aardvin, who had developed sympathies for Arfaas. Simon also has in interest in acquiring the Queen Illaka Ruby, rumored to be hidden somewhere in Alaska. He learns that Steve and Miriam's team are looking for it, and reasons that stalking down Miriam will lead him closer to finding it. Simon is fused with aardwolf and hyena DNA against his will, but the experiment is interrupted when he breaks free of his chamber whilst wailing about in agony. He kills the scientists closest to him, then ends up being blackmailed. He is told he needs to find the Ming-Yo, and possibly Miriam if he can find her. He is not told that it's because Arfaas literally wants Miriam's head for a trophy. Simon, outraged by the betrayal and blackmail, nevertheless complies in the hopes that he can be cured of his incomplete transformation. The effects of being incomplete include a sense of gradual degeneration of mental capacity to a more animal-like state. Simon also develops cravings for eating termites, and begins calling himself "Captain Aardwulf."

Fighting for her life
The Chinese spies sent to capture/monitor Miriam include the rational Black Rat, the all-action Tin Dragon, the cute and ineffectual Stung Hornet, and the bumbling-but-friendly Teal Hog. Miriam ends up contacting Kyle from a hotel phone in the Latin Town district of Evansville, having learned through a backup Sniperbadger account of everything going on. She is prepared to get to work further clearing her name; but then realizes that MilaFila.adu leaves everyone involved vulnerable. She decides to put off any hacking for a few days and lay low; lest Melvin get any more ideas.

Melvin ends up being assigned to another case for the Hebbleskins involving the mayor of a small town somewhere in Canada. This job goes badly for all involved. Even so, Miriam doesn't hear the news of Melvin's death right away. She decides it safer, therefore, to contact Kyle directly. However, the Hebbleskin Gang has already intercepted Kyle's connection to Miriam. She calls to inform him that he needs to shut down MilaFila.adu immediately. Before he can finish, he is shot in the back of his head by a Hebbleskin assassin. The assassin picks up the phone, recognizing the panicked voice to be Miriam's and taunting her. Miriam hangs up the phone before the Hebbleskins can trace her location.

Arrest
No sooner does Miriam hang up the phone than she is immediately treated to the motel room door being blasted open with dynamite. A massive, scary-looking black guy in a winter hat barges in and demands to know "where the drugs are." She tries to plead with him that he has the wrong motel room; but he grows angry and tries to rape her at gun point. The would-be rapist is very quickly assassinated by Teal Hog, who will have none of that happening to what he believes to be a young and innocent woman. Miriam takes advantage of Teal Hog's ignorance that she's his target, and checks out of the motel. She is fortunate to have not brought much with her, making it easy for her to simply throw a backpack on her back and leave.

Miriam flees into the night, ending up finding her way into the streets of downtown Evansville. She notices what appear to be suspicious activities happening all around her. She suspects the overwhelmingly Asian presence in what is supposed to be Latin Town to mean the Mik-Non are setting up shop for something big, so she grows paranoid and keeps on walking. She inadvertently walks into the middle of a drug sale, right as police show up to perform a sting operation. Miriam, clueless, is nevertheless hauled away in cuffs. She seizes the opportunity to find a phone book, in her hopes of learning Candi's location. She grows frustrated by the lack of Stevens, McArthur, and Flippo entries.

Finding Candi
Miriam negotiates for her own release; but the police find her story to be completely crazy. They begin to reason that she might be insane, and ask her who she has in the area that she could contact. She insists Candi has to be going by an alias, such as "Stevens." The biggest clue, Miriam argues, is that Candi looks "like me, but with fewer tattoos." One sympathetic detective verifies that Miriam is who she says she is; and indicates a police record from the time Arfaas took over the city. It indicates that one of the many women arrested and sentenced to beheading in 2021 was a Candice M. Levens. They discover that Candi is still living in the Viron area, so Arfaas' plans must not have succeeded. Miriam immediately contacts Candi and tells her to come down to the station.

Candi vouches for Miriam, and the police are about to let the women go. Just then, the Mik-Non attacks outside the building. The officer decides to lock the two women in the interrogation room "until we can figure out what's going on." Chaos erupts in the streets, as Candi and Miriam start talking about their lives. When the police station itself begins collapsing, Candi helps Miriam escape the building. Several spies zero in on the building to capture Miriam, so the girls use their cunning to secure their exit.

On the run
The girls retreat into the streets, only to find themselves in a complete war zone. Chinese and US military face off against the Mik-Non and its resources as Evansville burns. The girls also narrowly dodge darts being shot at them by Capp Aard. Candi finds a hiding spot and puts on her Ciem outfit. However, her illness interferes with her ability to fight Capp Aard. This leads to Miriam getting creative and hotwiring a car to steal. Miriam rams Aard with the car and tells Candi to get inside before Aard can recover. The girls retreat to the Channel 26 building, where Miriam lets herself be interviewed as part of the process of clearing her name. She also sends a message to China, alerting them that she's 40% of the way to linking Lloyd Kolumn and Melvin Markus to the espionage. The girls then retreat to Latin Town, where Maria Sanmarcos gets them a new motel and helps them lay low.

Captured by Aard
Vienna's efforts to rendezvous with the girls go bad when Tin Dragon shows up and tries to intervene. His distraction with Vienna right outside the hotel tips off Capp Aard to Vienna's location, and Aard responds by knocking out Vienna and killing Tin Dragon. Candi puts on her Ciem suit, desperately trying to wrestle the Ming-Yo away from Aard. Alas, she loses in battle and is sent flying onto a highway. She crashes on the hood of a car, where she is taken in by the Tinsels for safekeeping. Aard returns to the motel and abducts Miriam with little or not trouble. Vienna observes, then gives pursuit whilst leaving Candi with a message.

Miriam does her best while Aard's prisoner to reason with him. Alas, his mind begins deteriorating and he is unable to pay heed to her. As he activates it, Miriam panics that he is about to expose everyone to its radiation. Candi and Donte arrive in the nick of time, and Donte flies off with the Ming-Yo to have it destroyed. Black Rat and Vienna secure Miriam, and assist her with exposing Kolumn and the Hebbleskin Gang for the attempts to start a war. Candi battles Capp Aard, who begins to melt as a result of his exposure to radiation. Steve arrives at the facility with several other Chinese agents, and everyone celebrates a crisis averted.

Death
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j130/bulldozerbegins/Ciem/Model%20matches%20for%20Ciem/th_CharoRonquilloasMiriam.png An photo of Charo Ronquillo, altered to make her look like Miriam. (Photo for demonstration purposes only.)

Utterly Sims

 * Miriam Flippo for The Sims 2 recipe at Utterly Sims
 * Miriam Flippo for The Sims 3 at Utterly Sims