Personality/Alter Ego: There are two things in this world that matter at all to Belladonna Phoebe Cassius: 1.) Herself, and 2.) How to make things the most comfortable for herself. As the villain cliché foretells, Beth is a cold-hearted individual, having loved only a single person in all her inhumanly long life and that person was her daddy.
What most people see in Belladonna Cassius is a hot-headed young lady with very much of an inflated ego, an obsession with beauty-care and a tendency to hate most people she meets. And that is pretty much the truth. Belladonna is not one of those deep characters with meaningful motivations behind everything they do: she behaves like a parody of the cliché she embodies, and everybody seems to know that – except for herself, of course.
What is always present in Belladonna, no matter the situation, is her love for herself. Rather than a Vetis-y pride, thinking that what she's got is the best of all, Belladonna is in love with what she think she's got. No matter that she's horrible at her job and keeps stepping on the toes of her dance partners – in her own little world, Belladonna is the most skilled make-up artist and dancer the world ever saw. If somebody else is obviously better at something than she is, they deserve to die. And yet, she will never admit to herself that said person has to die because he/she is better at something than she is – to Belladonna, it always becomes that the person was acting like he/she was Da Boss, when everyone knows that Da Boss is Belladonna and only Belladonna. It only takes a few seconds of knowing Belladonna to learn that she really loves herself. It is in everything she does and says – in some way or another, all her actions has a single point: ME (that being me as in Belladonna, not me as in Ida – though that would've been nice. ^^) When she talks, it is usually about herself or why somebody isn't quite as awesome as she is, when she takes action, it is always for the benefit of her own interests (though said interests might be 'not being killed by the others') and when she goes into battle, it is always to win something for herself. Of course, vanity is her main trait, but more vanity as in 'I am the best and everything I do or say is genius' than in 'I am the most beautiful person in the world'. Not to say the second isn't there, it just isn't all she's about. I'll address the beauty-obsession later.
With so much self-obsession, one is almost bound to be pretty ignorant of others. With Belladonna, the cliché fits as if it was painted on, just like it does in most other aspects. Belladonna is her own little cliché. As things are with cold-hearted villains, Belladonna has never loved anyone except for daddy, and she probably won't do it in the near future. Do not confuse love with crushes here, though. Belladonna really likes cute boys and has an average score of 3.5 crushes per week, but that doesn't mean that she loves any of them or likes them for more than their manly bodies and cuteish smiles. Belladonna's first thought when presented to a new person is 'what can he/she do for ME?' After that, people are effectively divided into two categories: 'useful' and 'bastard'. When dealing with Beth, it doesn't really make a difference because either you are being 'converted' (a nice word for being killed and turned into her eternal slave) because she really wants you, or you are being 'converted' because she really loathes you, but when facing Belladonna, it actually makes a difference. The people Belladonna likes, she truly likes – but she likes them for what they can do for HER, not for who they are. Thus, most of the people in Belladonna's 'likes' bag are those who praise, or even better, idolize her. Trust me, there are people like that out there. O_o It is easy to tell if Belladonna appreciates you. If she does, you will notice that she does not try to kill you in a fit of rage, that she does not try to sneak a stink-bomb into your purse and that she constantly encourages you to tell her how wonderful she is. If Belladonna does some of these things, then chances are that you're not her favorite person. ^^ Generally, Belladonna tends to be pretty... er... cruel to those she doesn't like. The most obvious example of this is Gosegas, who can tell you anything you ever wanted to, or probably not wanted to know about Belladonna's behavior with not so liked people. Sadly for Belladonna, there are a couple of people she can't just kill even though she wants to – Gosegas, her boss at work and the LoCD are good examples – so with them, she just has to channel her anger in a less devastating fashion. With Gosegas, this means extreme violence, but with more fragile or fighting-potent people, it means going into screaming fights and preparing mean 'surprises' for them. You'd be surprised by how many slime blobs Mrs. Harris have been exorcising from her office over the years.
In most aspects, Belladonna is very immature. If it were not for her looks, you might think she is only around 11 years old. This immaturity may be due to that she is actually quite young compared to other LoCD, but on the other hand, with 1955 years behind you, you ought to be at least a little more mature than the average preteen. Even in her high age, Belladonna preserves as very childlike temperament with a matching short attention-span. To put this simple, Beth loses concentration very easily, and when she doesn't get what she wants, she behaves like a nine-years old, crying, throwing hysterical fits and whining about how nothing's fair. She also plans pretty ridiculous revenges for the 'misdeeds' that have been done to her, see aforementioned slime blobs, at least towards people even she knows that she can't just blow up without bringing herself into major trouble. As if what she does doesn't bring her trouble enough.
To be completely honest with you, Belladonna is not very intelligent. Sure, she might think she's the smartest villain ever, but when it comes to it, Beth acts mostly on impulse. Of course, some impulse action is good, but in Beth's case, her tendency to run mindlessly into action after trashing yet another elaborate battle plan does her more harm than good. More often than not, Beth will find herself in a situation where she's pitted against someone much stronger than herself, forced to reveal her identity, or about to get laid off. Ironically enough, she was originally paired up with Gosegas because he was supposedly able to learn her to avoid exactly those situations, but as you might guess, that strategy didn't work out quite as planned. He does make a great stress relief for a cornered Beth, though, when she lets out her frustration by beating him up. So what does Beth do when she has cornered herself? Well, stick to a simple but great strategy: Beat up the trouble and Run Like Hell. Other signs of Beth's pretty obvious lack of intelligence are her tendency to be extremely easily tricked by the most obvious traps. Practically any pick-up line from a cute guy works on her and even the most lousy last-minute Angel strategy is likely to work on her. (i.e: Random Angel: “I know! We'll put a dress on this shrub and pretend it's Raphael while the real Raphael runs for help!” Beth: *Beats up shrub in a dress and looks satisfied afterwards.*) She is also pretty easy to confuse if you just know enough long words, but that strategy is pretty dangerous, since Beth really doesn't like to feel inferior. And when she's angry, people die.
Obviously, as the demonic incarnation of Vanity itself, Belladonna is very obsessed with looks, beauty and her exterior. Surprisingly, though, she doesn't spend quite as many hours in front of the mirror, doing her looks, as one might expect. (Unless she's working on a disguise, that is.) The reason for this is not that Beth possesses some special Demonic instant-looks cream, which she wouldn't use anyway, but that she is so sure of her good looks that she has no need to peak into a mirror constantly to make sure her hair is great. Her hair is great, period. This doesn't stop Beth from looking into pretty much any reflective surface simply to go “Hey, good looking!” at herself, though. The same thing applies for cosmetics. When Beth adds to her unholy big collection of 'art material', it is not to make herself look good, but to give her already splendid-beyond-comparison looks what they deserve. The idea of giving herself what she deserves (in the positive way, of course) transcends most of Beth's actions and especially her shopping. Belladonna only buys stuff that is absolutely exclusive enough for her, but though it sometimes does, 'exclusive' doesn't have to mean expensive – sometimes a baggy pink dress from a lousy thrift store in some dark alley is deemed 'exclusive' as well.
Now, there's one thing I have been hinting at for a very long time but not really addressed yet: Belladonna's aggressive tendencies. Belladonna is indeed a pretty aggressive and sometimes rather violent person. All right, you might expect that from someone who sold their Holy And Immortal soul to the Ultimate Evil of Dh00m. ^^; Still, Beth, and especially her human alias, Belladonna, has a remarkably shorter fuse than most people. To be honest, it doesn't take much to make Beth angry. And when she's angry, heads will roll. Part of her short fuse comes from the high ideas Beth has about her own abilities and her comparatively lower view of everyone else. When those ideas are disturbed (like if somebody tells her that she actually sucks at dancing, or somebody proves to be remarkably better than her) Beth doesn't for one second think that, hey, maybe her ideas are actually far our, instead reasoning that since her views of the world are unquestionably true, the person disturbing them must either lying or cheating, and thus should die. And then she goes amok. (Surprisingly for a Dark Lady, Beth is actually pretty fond of truth, but we'll address that later.) Other things that can blow Beth up are lack of obedience, lack of recognition of her extreme greatness, and the little annoyances of everyday life that seem to bug her twice as much as the do other people. Belladonna especially hates practical jokes, or any joke made on her account, obviously because they make her, the 8th, 9th, and 10th Wonder of the World, look ridiculous. Not funny.
So, when Beth blows up, what's it like? One word: bad. Gosegas can tell you everything about this. While Beth's burst of aggression are all pretty bad, however, they differ greatly depending on who they are directed at. For simplicity's sake, let's divide them into three types, okay?
Type no. 1: Careful Approach: This division of the legendary martial art form of 'Throwing A Fit' is solely used with people that are either remarkably stronger than Beth or just vital for keeping up her disguise. A good example would be Mrs. Harris or Duriel. The general approach in this division is as follows: First, scream, yell and cry as much as possible, probably hit said person with your purse, continue until you are exhausted. As your target is still very much alive and most likely laughing at you, return grumpily to your base and plan revenge. Said revenge must of course be elaborate and subtle, so after finishing plans, head plans to Gosegas for approval. As he turns them down, beat up the little bugger. (See approach no. 3 for closer instructions) Then go with your original plan, which must contain at least one the following: cheese, slime blobs on chairs, midgets in coffee, your perfume, and a carefully written letter saying 'Ha Ha, got you, idiot!' Then wait for plan to screw up and bitch some more until you give up and swear to take proper care of target when opportunity comes.
Type no. 2a: Subtle Beat 'em up: This type of fit-throwing is by far Beth's most common, since it is the one used on pretty much all 'disposable' people crossing her way. This strategy starts out completely s strategy no. 1, with bitching and whining until you run our of energy, but instead of going home to plan an elaborate revenge scheme, you either drag or lure target A (alternatively, wait for target A somewhere you know they will be passing, then drag or lure them with you) away from general public, preferably into a dark alleyway. Then you transform into your true self, try to ignore their comments about how ridiculous the thought of a PINK demon is to them, and fry them with nifty powers. Job done.
Type no. 2b: Subtle-Without-Beating-'em-up: Exactly the same as 1 and 2a except this is only the screaming and bitching part. Only used for smaller annoyances.
Type no. 3: Kill. And then kill some more: Used solely for the honorable purpose of molesting Gosegas. This strategy is extremely simple: Do your best to kill him, then watch him recover and kill him again. No powers are generally used for this, but heels, fists, purses and bulldozers are frequently used. This is a great stress relief.
Oh – and about the truth thing: Beth is actually pretty concerned with Truth, much more than you would expect a demon to. Her ideas of The Truth may be extremely odd, yes, but she does have a strong concept of true or false and does not tolerate lying easily. Oh, and yes, she does think that Hell are right to do what they do. Not that they're The Good Team, mind you, but that what they do is fair. Stupid Angels should just mind their own business.
Belladonna strangely enough suffers from a mild form of Angel Envy (no, that was not penis envy), probably because, in contrast to most of the other LoCD, she never was one herself. This is not so that Beth wants to be a goody good guy with white wings and heroic motives. Not at all. What Beth envies the angels is actually their cheesiness. Yes, believe or not, but here we have sucker for stock footage, cheesy henshins and even cheesier battle challenges. Don't want to write your challenge? Let Beth do it. She'll love every second of it. To help her own lack of cheese, Beth has developed a tendency to shout her attack names out loud and improvise challenges that can out-cheese any angel by leagues. She's still working on the henshin, though.
One last aspect of Beth's personality is the Evil Queen Syndrome. You've all read Snow White, right? Well, the evil stepmother in that tale happens to be Beth's idol and inspiration. Like the Queen, Beth has a tendency to be extremely cruel to people who are better or more beautiful than herself, but we've already been around that for a million times. Just though I'd mention the parallel.
So, with all those negative qualities that have been presented so far, one might wonder why the bad guys would even keep Beth. There are a few pretty good reasons why she isn't roasting in the deepest corners of hell yet, though:
First and perhaps most importantly, Beth is (or has been up till now) an extremely stable source of souls. Where other LoCD carefully pick victims that they stalk for months before attacking and then perhaps lose the soul, Beth's large quantity of attacks means that she will always produce at least one solidified soul per. month, no matter how many attempts she screws up. In this case, her psycho temper is actually an advance to her.
Another plus point goes to Beth for her simple-mindedness. Not only does this make Beth a simple tool to use for the other LoCD, she is also a nice uncomplicated character able to focus 110% on the present. In contrast to some of her fellow LoCD, Beth has no quest, not many skeletons in her closet, and no deep-winded traumatized relations to anyone who has been alive for the last millennium or so. With no fall behind her, Beth is completely without the relations to the Angel ranks that the Fallen LoCD share, again hating the Angels for simple reasons: They've got the catchphrases.
Beth's role in the very loosely-knit LoCD organization is that of a scout and a soul-collector. Since Beth, being a former human, continues to live a full human life beside her LoCD one, she provides a lookout into the human world for the others. If somethings going on among the humans, Beth is the first to know, and with her every-25-years-change of identity and country, she can even cover most of the world in what must seem like very short time for those eternal beings. Yes, Beth does have her 'good' points.
So, to sum it up:
Pro's: Uhm... Productive, easy to manipulate, pretty much human, concerned about truth, wacky. VERY wacky.
Con's: Aggressive, vain, self-absorbed, violent, bragging, easy to manipulate, stupid, rude, hates almost everyone, wears pink, demonic, super-sensitive, bratty. Yeah, pretty much everything is wrong with this girl. But hey, she's villainry!