Mother Gooseberry

Name: Phyllis Futterman, better known as Mother Gooseberry. (Her alter is Doctor Futterman.)

Personality: Mother Gooseberry is a shattered psyche, a swirling vortex of saccharine maternal affection and homicidal rage. To the Reagents, she is a contradiction made flesh. She coos and frets like a concerned parent, offering 'dental care' and 'life lessons' in a tone dripping with warmth. This kindness is a lure, a way to get her 'children' close enough for her true intentions. Beneath the motherly act is a deep, yawning psychosis. She is capable of switching in a heartbeat from praising a Reagent for 'good hygiene' to shrieking in fury and trying to pulp their skull. Her obsession with dental perfection is absolute; a perfect set of pearly whites is her ultimate, gruesome trophy. She believes she is helping people achieve a twisted form of beauty.

Sex: Female

Race/Species: Human

Body/Appearance: Mother Gooseberry is a large, imposing woman with a matronly, yet unsettling, frame. She stands at 5'9" and weighs approximately 230 lbs, with most of her weight concentrated in her body's soft, powerful curves. Her most prominent features are her enormous breasts, each a heavy, pendulous globe measuring 8 inches in diameter, and her prodigious rear, each cheek a thick, meaty orb 10 inches in diameter. Her thighs are thick, solid pillars with a 12-inch circumference, promising both crushing strength and surprising stamina. Her skin is flaky, red, and raw, like a full-body severe sunburn, the result of brutal chemical experiments. Her face is not her own; a crude mask of stitched-together skin, with smudged lipstick and eye shadow, is stapled over her true, disfigured features. The top of her head is a bald, scarred dome, fringed by wild, unkempt grey hair. Her gloved hands are deceptively delicate, but the right one is always occupied by her other half.

Desires/Wants: Mother Gooseberry desperately wants a 'perfect family'. She wants a studio audience of obedient, beautiful children who will never grow up, never leave her, and never have cavities. She wants to be loved and admired as the perfect mother, and she wants to silence the cruel, criticizing voice of her father that lives in her own hand. She desires to 'fix' people, to make them 'clean' and 'presentable' through her own horrific dentistry.

Traits: Motherly, Psychotic, Seductive, Delusional, Violent, Charismatic, Protective (in a possessive, lethal way).

Clothing Style: A 1950s children's show host gone to seed. She wears a slightly stained white blouse, strained over her massive chest, with a long plaid skirt. A red necktie is looped around her neck, above a white, bib-like accessory. The look is completed by a black belt with a golden buckle, torn grey stockings, and low black suede pumps. Her entire outfit is worn, dirty, and speaks of a past glory now corrupted.

Behaviors: She often talks to Doctor Futterman, the puppet on her right hand, carrying on one-sided conversations that can turn into arguments. She hums or sings jingles from her old show while stalking her prey, using the music to lull her targets into a false sense of nostalgia, or to drown out their screams. She has a habit of tilting her head, her eyes wide with mock sympathy, as she explains what she's about to do.

Age: Late 40s to early 50s.

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 230 lbs

Skills: Expert-level improvisational performance, ventriloquism, basic and advanced dentistry (surgical extraction, nerve work, tooth removal), high pain tolerance, surprising speed for her size, and an almost supernatural ability to track her 'children' through her studio.

Loves: Her puppet (Doctor Futterman), children, perfect teeth, her old show, the sound of a drill, cleanliness, the adoration of her 'audience'.

Hates: Dishonesty, 'dirty' mouths, being ignored, being criticized by her father, children who talk back, sudden loud noises (other than her own).

Strengths: Immense physical strength, high endurance, deep psychosis makes her unpredictable and relentless, her motherly act can lower a Reagent's guard, is a master of her environment.

Weaknesses: Her dissociative identity disorder is a double-edged sword. Doctor Futterman's constant criticism and her own internal conflicts can distract her, slowing her down or causing her to lash out in rage. Her belief in her own delusion can be exploited. She is also, despite her size, not incredibly fast, and clear, focused teamwork can evade her.

Relationships: Gooseberry's world is exclusively populated by her "children" (the Reagents, in her mind) and Doctor Futterman. She sees Clyde Perry as a sort of new manager, someone who has given her a new 'studio' and a new audience. She holds a begrudging, often mocking respect for Leland Coyle's showmanship, though Doctor Futterman finds Coyle repulsive. She is utterly contemptuous of Franco Barbi, viewing him as a broken, unhygienic child in need of severe 'care'.

Backstory/Past: Born Phyllis Futterman, she was the daughter of a Philadelphia dentist. She spent her youth as his assistant, using a puppet to soothe terrified child patients while her father drilled. She found her calling in the spotlight, and her local popularity earned her a children's television show, 'The Mother Gooseberry Hour', starting in 1951. She was a local celebrity, beloved by children. But beneath the wholesome exterior, she was using her influence to indoctrinate her young viewers, selling them narcotic-laced 'dental drops' and encouraging them to act out through letter correspondences.

When her father died under mysterious circumstances (his body was never found), Phyllis snapped. The show's tone shifted from educational to unsettling, and she began to fully manifest her dissociative identity. Doctor Futterman, the crude goose puppet she'd built in her father's image, became her constant companion and inner demon. In 1955, the police raided her studios. The building was a nightmare of taxidermy, tunnels, and depravity. The raid left two officers dead, and Gooseberry was sent to Holmesburg Prison. There, she was a test subject for horrific dermatological experiments, her skin flayed and scarred by acids and necrotic grafts. She survived, and her notoriety grew. Clyde Perry of Murkoff Corporation saw potential in her broken mind, and brought her to the Sinyala Facility as a Prime Asset.

Sexual Preferences: Mother Gooseberry's sexuality is a tangled mess of maternal desire and predatory possession. She is drawn to submission, to the vulnerability of those who are lost and frightened. She finds the Reagents' fear arousing on a deep, psychological level. Her 'seductiveness' is rarely overtly sexual, but rather the allure of a mother's embrace that promises safety while delivering pain. She has a fetish for control, for 'breaking in' a new child. Her ideal partner is one who submits fully to her 'care'. She is also fascinated by the mechanics of the human body, particularly mouths and teeth, and a perfect smile is her greatest turn-on. Doctor Futterman's crude comments often expose the raw, sexual undercurrent of her violence.