Caroline Goldstein

> "*All the world is a stage, love!*"
> ― Caroline Goldstein
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Carols (Charleston Parker)

Frizzy (Charleston Parker)

Mom (Tobi Dinh, Reuben Parker)

Goldilocks (Babe Phillips)

Cee (Dr. Tominaga)

'Lots (Dr. Tominaga)

My Lady (Masque)

Mistress Mine (Masque)

My Mistress (Hogs)

Queen of Hearts (Formerly)

(Former) Queen of Hearts

Charleston Parker (Best Friend, Platonic Husband, Family)

Caroline Goldstein is a player character and one of the main characters of the Aprilside Campaign. She is the Drama Teacher for Aprilside Middle School, as well as one of the Club Supervisors for the PSA club alongside Charleston Parker, and has been present in the Club and town for four years.

## Profile

### Appearance

Caroline Goldstein is a rather tall and lithe woman, with short white hair, though it curls the slightest. She has bright, kind, purple eyes, and is well known to have perfectly applied makeup on her face! However, she never seems to change her look; it is very simple, never too glamorous, though still complimentary to herself. She is usually seen in very simple clothing, usually elegant and feminine, and has an affinity, it seems, for 50s aesthetics. She never wears pants, and has never been seen in pants, because she's so high femme she only wears skirts.

Her white hair and purple spectral energy are staples to her look, though it is heavily implied that Caroline previously had Pink spectral energy, though why or how it shifted in colour is unknown. As for her hair, whether or not she dyes it is under speculation, though if it *is* natural, the nature of such development is also unknown.

Though not observed in canon, artistic depictions of Caroline show her with purple veins crisscrossing her body, likely from the Corrosion infection taking effect on her body. Rei has elaborated on this, stating that the reason Caroline never wears short skirts or short sleeves (or anything exposing too much skin for that matter) is for the sole purpose of making sure the anomaly is not observed by her peers.

## Powers and Abilities

### Strategies

Caroline is less focused on strength, more focused on dexterity and strategy when confronting an opponent or obstacle.

She is well known to use her environment, quickly assessing any situation and using anything at her disposal to create an advantageous position, and is generous about using spectral energy constructs to assist herself in any way.

> "*Perhaps, if the area is covered in [strings], his location can be found immediately, if the density of the strings is sufficient.*"
> ― Caroline, during a pre-scratch conversation regarding defeating Shoosh'me
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Firmly believing that violence isn't the answer, she will oftentimes refrain from using any physical violence in favor of simply maneuvering to tire out an enemy, or restraining them to lessen the possibility of being hit.

However, due to the fact she is not the strongest, hitting her (if one can even land a hit in the first place), will result in sufficient damage to her person.

### Strings

One honed ability is the usage of spectral energy strings. Due to the fact that strings are used as a part of Masque's ability, it has become a specialty, and is used often and with swift specificity. Her strings vary, ranging from non-lethal wires to near deadly lines, which can slice through nearly anything it comes in contact with, even if only lightly touched.

> "*Tominaga makes a noise, and after glancing at her wearily, a finger plucks the string- and a thin line of crimson blooms on his finger.*"
> ― a demonstration of the strings' cutting-edge ability, much to the unfortunate damage to Dr. Tominaga
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She can summon a few between her hands (this has been observed numerous times), but heavily implies the ability to summon incredibly large numbers of strings at once, to the point in which they can take up nearly all space in a room.

### Puppetry

With the help of using her strings, now honed to a skill for decades, Caroline has the **Puppetry** ability.

One of the main observations of Caroline's puppetry ability is that strings of spectral energy will form, and wrap around her limbs, and then wrapping itself around the limbs of her target as well, and in the process, she can remotely control them, her own movement coordinating with her target's.

Visually, the actions look like that of a marionette, as the interconnected strings are not dissimilar to a marionette's.

Caroline has said once when demonstrating her ability that the strings actually do not hurt for any participating parties, though she had implied that she *does* possess the ability to quickly change the form of the strings to actually make them much more lethal, possibly heavily hurting her victim.

Though Masque brags Caroline's ability to even control crowds, the feat hasn't been observed, though it is indeed implied as a greater show of her talent regarding the power, observed in the animatic titled *A Lady,* which served as a brief glimpse into the Royal House of Cards, and the timeline regarding Caroline as an individual involved.

### Mask Making

One lesser used ability of Caroline's is **Mask Making**, and seems to have a multitude of powers connected to it, though is not explored in canon. Caroline actually seems to dislike the ability, and refuses to use it, and when accidentally triggered by Ruby Parker, reacted with shock and dismay.

## Relationships

### Cynthia Hughes

Caroline is really *really* gay and is totally in love with Cynthia, but is too useless of a lesbian to properly display her feelings for her. She has *definitely* been pining for the past few years, though Caroline is a naturally demure woman, and approaching the subject is not exactly a forte; she oftentimes is seen acting very flustered in Cynthia's presence, though.

She seems to have trouble convincing herself that Cynthia's flirting is actually indeed done with romantic intentions, somehow convincing herself that it is something done out of politeness instead, because why would Cynthia, such an ethereal woman, like her? However, she remains completely smitten, and finds approaching romantic relations, and romantic actions, to add, a bit of a challenge.

## History

### Childhood and Early Adulthood

Not much of Caroline's childhood or adulthood is known, nor present.

What is known, however, is that Caroline seems to have had a higher class education, and possesses the skills to play the piano, sing, dance, and act, and a memory displays her participating in ballet as well, playing Giselle from the classical ballet *Giselle*.

## Mysteries

Caroline's exact involvement with the House is currently unknown. What *is* known, however, is that she is a formal Queen of Hearts, and that her previous name was Charlotte; but her last name remain unknown to any players, and the fact that Caroline Goldstein isn't actually her real name is unknown to any characters, save for Dr. Tominaga (who knew her previously in the House), and Oliver and Jace.

In addition, her affiliation with the House and what she did while working with them remains an unsolved piece of her past, and the conditions of her leaving also remain hidden. Why she has the Corrosion is additionally not explored, as well as the nature of her relationship with the Jack, though some information is revealed through a memory, shedding light on the idea that they were romantically involved. However, this contrasts her response to the Jack when in recent contact, so what the possible fallout was (if there was any) is still a mystery.

It is also heavily implied that Caroline used to be in Aprilside for some time previously, though when, why, and for how long is never touched upon.

Another mentioned item which remains shrouded in shadow is Caroline and Masque's mentions of a contract. What the contract is, when it expires, how long she's been on the contract, and what is demanded of her is unknown, but it has been implied that her days are, somehow, numbered.

## Trivia

### Quotes

* *(During the Tobi sleepover, in Clarity)* "It's not a fruitless effort, to *try*, is it? To wish the best? To try your best?"
* *(During the Tobi sleepover, in Clarity)* "A dying light is hard to capture, but the human condition if to rise nonetheless."
* *(To Masque)* "*Don't* underestimate me."

### Fun Facts

* Caroline has been dubbed 'useless lesbian' by the Aprilside Campaign Players.
* The players have also very lovingly dubbed her *mom,* due to the nature of the fact she has a very motherly personality.
* Caroline is the one character that is impossible for Rei to hurt. It's just too much to see her suffer.
* She has a resemblance to the characters Rose and Roxy Lalonde, from the popular webcomic *Homestuck*
* Caroline's character design is based off of a character created by Rei in 2017, a girl who was a part of a coven of witches; the design was borrowed, though the original character's close affiliation to ghosts didn't seem to be carried on.
* She was chosen between four other possible teachers during the initial proposal of the campaign. Sadly, none of the other draft ideas have seemed to have been brought into the campaign as other teachers.
* Caroline has never once canonically cursed, though has used *damn* and *bastard*on a single occasion.
* It was publicly stated by Rei that they had plans for Caroline to canonically face death, and that her body would need to be delivered to her mother (a new possible antagonist), but a solution to her possible death indeed existed. But, after needed discussion with other players, it was concluded that the campaign would not have permadeath, and the possibility of killing Caroline was scrapped.
* Dr. Tominaga stated that Caroline seems to have some triggers, regarding needles and red dahlias during a conversation with Cynthia.
	+ She also seems to have negative reactions upon getting her wrists grabbed, as observed on a single occasion when Dr. Tominaga made an attempt to stop her from going somewhere, by grabbing her out of instinct.
* Rei has stated that Caroline's real (full) name is something that can be figured out by looking through text, though not a single player has figured it out.