The butch, mustached, rage-prone twelve-year-old — the steroid aside

pivotal · STANDING — narrated 8 Nov YDAU

• When: STANDING characterization, true across her whole range; the fullest portrait is rendered inside the Eschaton scene (8 Nov YDAU), the knuckle-tattoo habit detailed at the 10 Nov summons
• What: The narrator's introduction of Kittenplan is her fullest characterization: SOVWAR's designated launcher at Eschaton is "the butch and suspiciously muscular Ann Kittenplan", who at twelve-and-a-half looks like a Belorussian shot-putter, "has to buy urine more than quarter-annually" (the deadpan steroid implication — purchased clean urine for drug screens), carries a mustache lusher than Hal could raise, and is prone to terrible rages. The waiting-room scene adds the crew cut, "the little wash-offable tattoos she applies daily to the knuckles of her hands" — which she chews at instead of washing off — and a reputation among the little girls for size and after-lights-out cruelty.