“I don't know why I did it, I don't know why I enjoyed it, and I don't know why I'll do it again.”
-- Bart Simpson

Payne sat quietly in the principal’s office. In the room next door, she could hear loud, angry voices. Her teacher, Ms. Patterson, who had caught her after she had managed to pull out the anchors to the swing set, telling a police officer what had happened. The school nurse, telling the secretary to check on the ambulances for the three children who had been on it when it had collapsed. The secretary, ignoring the nurse and cursing very loudly over the pain in his hand where Payne had bit him. And most importantly, the principal herself, on the phone, trying to get into contact with Payne’s parents at work.

I did it this time, she thought triumphantly, a large grin playing across her face. Three kids hurt badly. Very badly. I got caught at the scene of the crime. There’s no doubt I’m guilty. And listen to that commotion in the office, all over me. All because of me.

Her principal had finally gotten through her father’s 300 various secretaries and was now speaking with the man himself. She told Payne’s father what had happened, and that she was responsible for a very serious incident, and he was to come pick her up immediately.

After a few seconds, Payne heard the phone slam down. “He’s sending his office boy,” the principal’s voice said, registering disbelief.

There was stunned silence in the office. Even the secretary had stopped cursing. “What?” said Ms. Patterson, stunned. “He’s not coming? His wife said he would. You explained the situation…the whole situation…” her voice said, trailing off.

“He’s too busy working right now,” the principal said, a note of disgust creeping into her voice. “He’ll talk with his daughter when he gets home.”

“Like hell he will,” Payne muttered angrily. He had done it again. He had ignored her completely. What was wrong with him? How could he ignore what she just did? How could he ignore…her?

Payne hastily wiped a tear away. Her eyes darkened. If her parents could ignore something like that, it would obviously take something much worse to tear them away from their own little world. Much, much worse than three kids being crushed by a pile of twisted metal at her hands. They’d have to pay attention then, they’d just have to.

Payne is a character that is a reflection on our times. About what happens when parents ignore their children, about lack of attention, about raising your kids with morals.

Also, she's a compliment to Jaek's character Stryfe. If you think SHE'S bad, wait until you look at him. Jaek needs much mental counciling ^_^

Passions:
Get everyone’s attention (Spite) 4
Hurt those who ignore me (Rage) 3
Turn the Tempest into my playground (Selfishness) 2
Create confusion around me (Happiness) 1

Life: Payne Pallin was an only child raised by rich parents in an upper-class suburb. Although she was given every material possession she wanted, she lacked in attention; her parents totally ignored her emotionally, she never stood out in class, and her classmates thought her strange and left her alone. Eventually, she went out of control trying to get the attention of anyone and everyone; she eventually realised the only way to get what she wanted was to be extremely dark and violent; only then would teachers, students, and even her ignorent parents show her the amount of attention she wanted.

She became extremely dangerous, putting on a façade of an average, adorable child to lure people into her traps and then turning on them with savage ferocity. Her father, an avid gun collector, left books about automatic and heavy weapons lying around. Fairly intellegent for her age, she read about how to operate them; although she did not understand the priciples, she got the general idea of what they could do and how to work them. She also read other books she found around the house, mostly on ideas of death and disaster, and seemed to absorb their ideas and priciples like a sponge.

Death: Finally, her parents put their foot down, much to her joy; her blatent destruction paid off, and they were paying attention to her and her alone! That joy turned to despair when they announced they were dumping her in a private school for troubled children. Realising that her hijinks, which she had grown to love, would not be tolerated at this place and would be drummed out of her, Payne stole a handgun and one of her father’s illegally collected automatic weapons, along with a ton of ammo. She smuggled the guns to school in her backpack.

At recess, she snuck into her classroom and got the weapons out. She then proceeded out to the playground, where she emptied two clips into the teachers and children out there. She killed 27 kids and 6 teachers, and injured over fifty more, before she put down the automatic, and just as the police arrived, pulled out the handgun and shot herself in the head as the ultimate act of attention.

Rebirth: Payne was reaped by a Legion Reaper, who immediately marked her to go to the forges. However, she used her innocent charms to try and talk the artifacter out of melting her. Discracted by her sad face, he stepped over to comfort her and was promptly tripped; she used the momentum to shove him into the forges, headfirst. When the Legion came to check on him, they found her gleefully pounding the forger’s melted cranium into various shapes with his own hammer. Before they could grab her, she scooted between them, cackling madly.

The Legion put out a search for Payne, sensing there was more to this simple child than they could see, but she had already disappeared into the Shadowlands, ready to unleash her newfound powers on a whole new population of victims.