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1016anon · 1 year

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Title: Showmance Author: 1016anon Fandom: Bridgerton Pairing: Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sharma Summary: It's called showmance.

Trigger warnings: Underage (A is 15 and K is 13), child abuse, codependence. Read more details under the cut.

Underage. Anthony is 15 and Kate is 13 when they begin pretending to be in love (showmancing can and does start at a young age in competitive ice dancing). Between Anthony and Kate, there's kissing (closed lips), hugging, sharing a bed (literally sleeping). There is no sexual contact.

Child abuse. Anthony and Kate showmance at the instruction of their coaches for the sake of competition and performing in front of the crowd and judges. Due to the extremely isolated nature of their upbringing and training regimen (they've been skating together since A was 9, K was 7), they just accept that this is how it is; they don't actually know the larger meaning of what they're doing.

Codependence/enmeshment of personality. Kate and Anthony literally cannot function without each other. Because: young children + years of social isolation + years of abuse + years of living in a high pressure environment to achieve = the completely unhealthy, not romantic feeling that you are them and they are you, there's no boundary, what you feel is what they feel, what they think is what you think.

PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES AND DO NOT READ IF THIS MAY TRIGGER YOU.

A/N -- I am not an ice dancer, nor am I part of the ice dancing/figure skating community. This fic/series is inspired in part by Virtue Moir's history in ice dancing. However, I want to note that I do not RPF ship Virtue Moir, and I'm amazed they emerged from their careers as individuals with boundaries, rather than a codependent pair.

"The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series features some of the up and coming skaters of the world and provides young skaters aged 13 to 19 (21 for the male Ice Dance and Pair Skating partners) with the opportunity to compete at a high international level."

It's called showmance.

Anthony and Kate have been showmancing since she was thirteen.

They sold it to the judges and audiences as a shy, blossoming teenage love; an innocent crush which naturally arose from two people who did everything together. The other pairs at Juniors looked uncomfortable trying to sell the intimacy, but Anthony and Kate have no problem. They'd been taking classes in acting for years, in addition to their dance classes, strength training-- all in addition to skate practice and working on lifts off the ice.

Kate mastered the wide, doe-eyed look, at turns playful and at turns shy around Anthony, while he acted the part of a hapless teenage boy who didn't know what to do with his feelings. As soon as she and Anthony climbed into the car to go to skate practice, they were showmancing; judges, fans, the competition were always watching. Of the three groups, two knew how the game was played, and for the most part, told themselves they were not taken in. However, humans are a visual species-- they believe what they see. See it enough and some belief slips through the cracks.

Anthony and Kate, however, took it to the next level.

They acted like they were stealing kisses. At turns a normal pair of junior ice dancers, then suddenly bashful and embarrassed for no good reason. Such was the way of teenage love, their acting coach told them. Anthony learned to pretend he was suddenly self conscious about hugging Kate. Kate learned to pretend to be giddy with happiness when he took her hand outside the rink. They brought their bodies close, then jumped away. It was its own dance, their coach told them, with beats and marks to hit. Not so different from what they already did on ice.

Anthony and Kate sold it really well. So well, even their parents believed it. Violet could comfort herself that she was not using two children below the age of consent to chase after gold medals; they already had a natural affinity for each other and she simply facilitated bringing them together.

Miles was furious. Kate was thirteen years old, and Anthony was fifteen. When Violet had approached him and Mary about the potential she saw in Kate and Anthony as the next great ice dancers, this was not what he signed up for. He and Mary had been watching with apprehension, not sure why they were apprehensive because Kate so clearly loved ice dancing. Now?

He had pulled her out of ice dancing abruptly, one day announcing she was no longer going to practice. Kate hadn't understood-- was there a surprise holiday? Had auntie arrived from India? There were very few reasons why she did not go to practice.

A day passed. Then two. Then five. She kept asking when she would go practice, she'd already missed four days of working on their new lifts. Miles had confiscated her phone-- Anthony had been calling her every day and sending increasingly frantic texts, asking her where she was, what had happened. As it became clearer to her that Appa meant she was never going to ice dance again-- that he was separating her from Anthony forever, Kate collapsed.

She fell into an abrupt depression, wouldn't come out of her room, cried for hours, refused to eat. She wouldn't speak to Mary, Miles, Edwina, or anyone else. It was not even a dramatic explosion of anger-- it was as though her entire personality had been propped up by ice dancing and Anthony; now that it was gone, she didn't know what to do with herself or how to pass the time. But that wasn't the real problem.

The real problem was: Kate didn't know who she was.

What Miles should have done was to gradually cut back the hours Kate spent ice dancing, gradually increasing the hours she could spend with family, make friends outside of skating, pick up hobbies wholly unrelated to anything she was training in now. Eventually, he could enroll her in school, instead of having her take online courses supplemented with tutors. Violet would have fought him, tooth and nail, but so long as he didn't capitulate, it was a war he would have won. Kate's entire world was centered on ice dancing-- everyone she knew was somehow related to ice dance.

Suddenly tearing her away from it all was the psychological equivalent of kidnapping her and moving to another continent. With careful planning, he could have weaned Kate off this total dependence on figure skating-- and Anthony, by extension.

However, Miles had panicked, and understandably so. The apprehension he'd felt had crystallized and exploded in his face and the only thing he could think to do was to put as much distance between his barely teenage daughter and ice dancing.

They should have remembered that everything Kate did and felt, Anthony did too. Before Miles and Mary could regroup and put together a plan to go forward, Anthony rescued his other half.

After a week of separation, Anthony acted without thought. There was no grand plan, no idea of heroics. There was no choice. He simply needed her; he needed her with him. He knew she needed him. There was no question.

So he appeared outside her window; she sat up from her bed as though she'd been waiting for him. They hugged, desperately, while they both cried silently, unable to put words to the relief they felt being reunited. Life felt like it had purpose again. Emotions which had faded to grey came back in full color. Kate regained her appetite; her stomach made a loud noise. Anthony helped her pack some essentials, they climbed out the window, got into the car he'd parked two blocks away, and went home.

When Violet burst into his room asking if he knew where Kate was, Anthony pretended to be the depressed, vacant, lost boy he'd been without Kate. His mother bought it because he and Kate were always showmancing, in one way or another. Only they knew when they were real and when they weren't-- they were of the same mind, at times so eerie in their wordless communication that their strength trainer had teased them for having telepathy.

Telepathy implied communication between two distinct entities.

Anthony and Kate did not have telepathy.

He had pretended to be stuck in his depression because they were both afraid that Violet and Miles would take Kate away again. Anthony and Kate held each other so tightly in his bed, completely silent, breathing synchronized. She was only beginning her growth spurt; she was able to fit into him entirely, so much so that no one noticed the Kate-shaped lump next to him.

When their parents finally found them, they were asleep, still wrapped around each other. Miles watched the following day as his daughter smiled, ate, acted as though nothing had happened at all. Violet watched her son do the same. There was no neediness or clinging that one might associate with codependence. It was as though the table missing two legs was now repaired, with nothing to show for it.

For better or worse-- and there was no better, only for worse-- Anthony and Kate were inseparable. Inseparable in the most literal sense: they could not be separated. The past week demonstrated that if they did, they would cease to function.

Miles cursed the day he'd ever met Violet Bridgerton, but he felt he had no choice. His daughter may as well have been a corpse without ice dancing; between having her mute and unresponsive versus talking and laughing, he would rather have the latter.

Violet was sorry, but not sorry enough to stop. Not sorry enough to offer alternatives, a healthier path. It was a slight exaggeration-- but not too much of one-- to say that she had planned Anthony's career from the moment he was born.

So: the showmance must go on.

Anthony turns 16 and it begins to dawn on him that the meanings he and Kate give to words aren't quite the same as the meanings everyone else gives those words. For example, people persistently ask if they're "together."

His response: of course they're together. They live together, eat together, train together, attend online classes together, study together. She's always had her own bedroom and en suite, but when they were kids, she always snuck into his room. She still sneaks into his room. Half his closet is full of her clothes, he's got tampons under the sink and there are two razors in the bathroom. Her room, they use mostly as another place to study, watch tv, play video games.

When his dad comes to visit, Anthony and Kate overhear him having an argument with Violet about boundaries. He says that Anthony and Kate have no boundaries; they're growing teenagers going through puberty.

He and Kate don't need to speak to know that this is a ridiculous argument. In competition-- and therefore for hours on ice-- the only time he and Kate are allowed to be apart is when they're moving in complete synchronization, doing twizzles or a choreographic character step sequence. Otherwise, they must always be touching; if they're not touching, they always have to be within two arms lengths of each other for no more than five seconds.

Ice dancing is a sport built on the concept of maximizing contact. The rules dictate that pairs are not allowed to have boundaries. There is no part of Kate's body he hasn't touched in some way, shape, or form; the same goes for her of him.

This, combined with the showmance which has gradually escalated-- Kate no longer plays the part of what their acting coach called "the next door neighbor with a crush" (whatever that meant); Anthony is not the "tongue-tied teenager who's afraid of girls" (again, whatever that meant). Kate's hit her growth spurt and looks a lot less like an ingenue and a lot more like an awkward array of spider-long limbs (Anthony had teased her relentlessly about this. He wasn't teasing as much when she started catching up to him in height).

In any case, Kate is now a cheeky teenage girl who wears lip gloss, paints her nails-- "head cheerleader in the making" (their acting coach was really fond of comparisons they didn't understand)-- who holds Anthony's hand outside the rink without hesitation (they never understood this bit about the hesitation, but who are they to question their acting coach?); Anthony is a hot high school jock who wears a proverbial letterman jacket (they looked up letterman jackets online and agreed they were hideous).

Showmance-wise, this apparently meant Anthony was eager to carry her bag (he was not eager to carry her bag), Kate was happy to wear his jacket (she didn't understand this because they wore the same jacket, just different sizes), they ate non-fat frozen yogurt together (they spent their life surrounded by ice; they both would have preferred something warm, but hot chocolate had too many calories), and for some obscure reason they neither could divine, Anthony was supposed to try to learn to play the guitar.

Apparently it was supposed to go on their instagram for some sort of fanvid.

Thankfully, that last bit of showmance was vetoed by Violet. Anthony and Kate had no time to learn musical instruments to sing romantic duets together. They did, however, make tiktok videos, which their media manager posted regularly.

Neither Anthony nor Kate had any sense of proportion as to how deep their act went. It was part of life: practice at the rink, eat a perfectly balanced meal, go to dance class, post a tiktok of them doing the foxtrot, do their coursework, go back to the rink, pose for a few cute selfies, post to instagram, go home, &tc. Rinse, repeat.

To well adjusted, mentally balanced people, it no longer looked like a teenage crush. It looked a lot like a teenage romance-- perhaps even love between two sweethearts. It was too early to say the "soulmates" word, but the potential was there. This was what well adjusted, mentally balanced, properly socialized individuals with a healthy sense of self saw, and they saw no reason to question what looked so natural. So incredibly organic.

For Anthony and Kate, it was all part of the training necessary to become world champions, Olympic gold medalists, the greatest ice dancers of all time.

Was it love? Were they in love?

They had no idea what the question meant, only that their media manager told them to say they were best friends (true, in the sense that they were practically each other's only friends, in addition to everything else) who were lucky to be doing what they loved best (that word again, love-- was it love if they didn't know how to do anything else, and never had a chance to try?) and really glad to be on this journey together (also true, in the sense that they couldn't imagine being with anyone else because Anthony was Kate and Kate was Anthony).

So they never outright said they were in love, but apparently those words-- best friends, competing together, doing what they loved, glad to share the journey with each other-- combined with all the tiktoks and photos of them smiling and holding hands, or Anthony with a look of intense concentration on his face while he did a lift with Kate, her arms posed elegantly like a ballerina (because they both took ballet classes), or Kate leaning into Anthony for a choreographic spinning movement, her pose one which normally socialized people associated with intimacy and trust-- it all implied love.

Therefore, they must be in love.

No one needed to say it because it was all there for the world to see. There for the world to believe.

There was another question under it all that no one ever asked, but everyone wanted to know: were they together together? In the body sharing, bed sharing, passionate love making sense?

Anthony and Kate's first response to their media manager was to say yes. They shared a body: Anthony's body was Kate's and Kate's body was Anthony's. His limbs were hers, her limbs were his, their hands never separated. And it was true they shared a bed; they'd shared one since she was seven and he was nine. They weren't certain about the passionate love making, but their programs were often described as passionate, and everyone said they were in love. It seemed the answer to that question was yes.

Which was why they had a media manager. Because the answer to every variation of the question was no, no, emphatically no. They were in a completely close-mouthed kisses, tender hugs, forehead touching, intense eye-staring, hand holding relationship which did not involve any kind of baseball metaphors or activities which raised red flags about the age of consent.

Anyone-- truly, anyone-- looking in from the outside would find it difficult to believe that Anthony and Kate were this naive. It stretched the bounds of credulity.

Puberty brought hormones. Hormones brought changes. Changes brought things like sexual desire and attraction.

There were movies! They had the internet! Smartphones! There was no reason for them not to know!

On the flip side, there was no reason for them to question what they were told. In fact, it was usually essential for them to do exactly as they were told; otherwise, Anthony might fall in the middle of a hold, causing Kate to knock her head on the ice and suffer a concussion. Kate might slice Anthony's leg open with her skates while she stood on his thighs during a lift.

They were in their own world and most of the time were so busy with classes and coaches and tutors and homework and training that they fell into bed exhausted. And: they didn't go to school. They took online courses designed for serious student athletes. They met tutors three times a week.

Questions can only be asked if you know a question exists. You don't know what you don't know; Anthony and Kate, as difficult as it was to believe, didn't know.

Despite the movies, internet, and smartphones.

Violet was squeamish about giving them a healthy, comprehensive education on the changes going on with their bodies. She gave them the bare minimum and decided it was best for them to put all that teenage energy to more training. Push them to perfection, introduce more advanced lifts, complex choreography, and expanded repertoire of dance.

But truly, it was the information age. Weren't they even curious? They were incredibly fit, so hot anyone would hit it, oozed amazing chemistry in their routines, looked so sexy in their outfits. Anthony and Kate were turning out to be astoundingly photogenic. They were gorgeous together. How could they not know?

They had tiktok! They had instagram, and hundreds of thousands of followers.

Tiktok accounts they didn't manage, instagram comments they never saw; that was the job of their media manager.

Anthony and Kate did one thing and one thing only: ice dance.

Besides-- no one was looking in from the outside. There was no reason to examine below the surface and debunk the fairy tale Kate and Anthony had so successfully sold.

Kate and Anthony were the perfect love story: two beautiful people who met as children, fell in love while they pursued their passion, were working together to reach a common goal. It hit all the classic romance buttons.

Why ruin a good thing?

Why dismantle an illusion when there's no illusion to dismantle?

If the outsider looking in would find it difficult to believe Kate and Anthony were so naive, it went the other direction also.

The insider looking out would find it difficult to believe people were so naive that they believed everything they saw; they would find it amazing that the outsiders never asked those obvious insider questions outsiders should have known were there to ask.

The outsider looking in had movies, the internet, and smartphones. They had the advantage of being well adjusted, mentally balanced, self aware, properly socialized. They attended school, had friends from a variety of backgrounds, were given the opportunity to develop many interests and cultivate several hobbies.

The outsider looking in does one thing and one thing only.

Watch.

The problem is--

When brushing your partner's face is part of the choreography; when holding your partner's waist is something you do for at least four hours every day; when sneaking close mouthed kisses are taught in acting class; when the moment you step out of the car to go to practice is the moment you are already practicing; when the sport you've been practicing-- before you even understand the concept of fractions-- teaches you continuous touch--

When the romance is all part of the performance, and you do not know who you are without your partner--

What exactly does intimacy mean?

The words people used meant something completely different to Anthony and Kate. Romance was engineered and acted out. Love was a word associated with media, images, and performing to get an edge on the competition.

The problem is that intimacy is something shared between two people. Just like Kate and Anthony did not have telepathy, they did not have intimacy.

It looked like it on the outside.

It was the furthest thing from the truth within.

Anthony and Kate are 16 and 14 when they win silver at the Junior Grand Prix.

They put on a great showmance.

#bridgerton #kathony #fanfiction #ice dancing au

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wisdomrays · 3 years

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TAFAKKUR: Part 402

THE LANGUAGE OF BEES

In 1788, Pastor Earnest Spitzner witnessed an amazing fact: When a Carniolan honeybee finds a good supply of pollen, she returns to the hive and there she tells the other bees about it. Spitzner suggested that the bees can communicate with each other by performing a curious circular dance. Both the beautiful observation and the deduction were correct, but Spitzner took it no further. It was left to Karl von Frisch, in our age, to interpret the language of honeybees.

When a honeybee discovers a new source of honey within about ten metres of the hive, she returns to the hive and regurgitates drops of honey which are eagerly drunk by other bees. Then, in order to indicate the source of the drops they have just drunk, she performs an interesting sequence of movements we call the ‘round dance’. She dances round in a circle, first in one direction, then reversing and going round in the opposite direction, again reversing and so on. During the performance, other bees follow her about, holding their antenna against her abdomen. After the dance, she flies back to the food source, normally a particular flower or group of flowers. The other bees who followed the dance do not fly after her but fly out in all directions. However, fairly soon, a great number of them find the new source. They do so because they have smelt the scent of the flowers that clung to the dancer’s body and so to recognize the right kind of flower. Observing this procedure of the bees’ communication with admiration, Frisch reported that the ‘round dance’ tells the other bees to go out and search in the near neighbourhood of the hive; and the scent on the dancer’s body tells them which flowers to look for. In one experiment, bees informed by a dancer at once found the right flowers in a section of Munich Botanical Gardens where 700 different plant species were blooming.

But honeybees search for food at a greater distance than 10 metres. They have been observed to fly more than 13 km in search of honey. Remembering the average that a honeybee is only about 13 mm long, that 13 km for a bee is the equivalent of about 1,600 km for a human being. It is clear that, even for distances considerably less than 13 km, the round dance would not be much use. If the discoverer of a new food source informed the other bees to go out and search in all directions for over several kilometres, they would never find the flowers. Thus, when a bee finds food at a considerable distance, say over 100 metres from the hive, she returns to the hive, offers the honey she has found, and then performs a different kind of special dance. She dances along in a straight line for a certain distance, wagging her tail vigorously and buzzing away by means of slight vibrations of the muscles that flap her wings in flight. At the end of this wagging run, she stops buzzing and wagging her tail, circles round to one side back to where she started, does another wagging run, circles round to the opposite side, does a third wagging run and so on. This sequence of movements is called ‘tail-wagging dance’. Showing special interest in wagging runs, a number of other bees follow her round. It is known that bees cannot hear sounds in the air, however they can feel the buzzing vibrations through the surface on which the dance is performed. Like the round dance the ‘tail-wagging’ dance tells the followers of the dance that there is food available, and what flowers to look for, from the smell. But it tells them much more than this; it tells them precisely how far away the flowers are, and in exactly what direction. And so, the bees who study the dance can fly with precision to the spot indicated, even at a distance of kilometers, and find the honey-bearing flowers.

The distance to the food is conveyed by the tempo of the dance. A quick-step tempo means a relatively nearby food source, a slow tempo means a more distant one. More precisely as the distance increases, so does the duration of each wagging run. The bees who follow the dance study several wagging runs and then appear to calculate the average duration which they then translate into distance by a mathematical rule.

The ‘tail-wagging dance’ is sometimes done on a horizontal surface just outside the hive. When this happens, the dancer indicates the direction of food by aiming her run in exactly the direction of the food. She can do this if she can see the sun (or the polarized light of the blue sky, which indicates the position of the sun to bees, though not to us). So, actually she is taking up a position in which she sees the sun as the same angle as during her flight to the honey source. The wagging run makes the same angle with the sun on her outward flight did. But the dance is normally performed in the dark inside the hive, on the vertical surface of the honeycomb. Here the angle between the flight path and the sun is translated into the angle between the wagging run and the vertical direction straight upwards.

Another remarkable fact about the bees communication is that if the bee reached her goal (and returned from it) by an L-shaped detour, she uses the angles and lengths of the two sections of flight to calculate the true direction of the goal by straight-line flight, and this is the direction she conveys in her dance, even when she did not this direct route herself.

As for the bees who are following the dance, they are working literally in the dark and can only use touch to find out the angle of the dancer’s wagging run against the vertical. They translate this back into a visual angle with the sun, fly off in this direction for the distance signaled by the wagging run tempo, and look for the flowers of the scent they smelt on the dancer.

So far we have described the language of the Carniolan race of honeybees according to the findings of Frisch. Other races have different ‘dialects’. German, North African, Caucasian, Italian honeybees all indicate distance and direction by much shorter dances than the Carniolans. How the honeybees have learned to communicate with each other is certainly remarkable! However, it is not a true language, because the system used by bees, unlike human languages, cannot generate new combination of structures and symbols to describe novel events. One example of their limitation is that bees appear to have no way of communicating height or depth beyond a few meters. Thus, if you take a bee to a source of food in a place, say 10 metres above ground level, she will return to her hive and try to indicate the food source by means of her dance. Then, the other bees will all fly out in the direction she indicated, but they will never find the source. No matter how near the source is, even if it is just above the hive, the result will be the same.

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sireneia · 4 years

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❤ !

one heart for one thing i like

i have a strong love for the refresh units over the course of the fire emblem series. a simple part of it is their utility in battle (i always use one) but i legitimately do love their characters. why this consistency despite the fact that they're not all the same personality type?

i think it's mostly because each one of them pulls some kind of spin on the dancer/musician profession and showcase a bit of the worldbuilding in fe merely just by existing and in their conversations. it's tiny worldbuilding but it's spent on typically an area that often goes unexplored in fe games. we hear of the royalty, the nobility, the farmers, the soldiers, the mercenaries, but the arts?? whenever it's added onto a character, it's usually a soldier and it's not really peeking into it how artists are treated in the various continents. even though i appreciate forde's and kagero's artistry, if they didn't do their art, they could still easily survive at least financially. they still hold positions of respect within their respective countries.

i can't say i think the same for any of the refresh units.

so many of them discuss the objectification but necessity of their jobs to survive, the tricky situations they get into with employers where it's hard to reject advances because it's them who give money to put food on their plates, and they also discuss how the arts have a noticeable effect on the soul (whether that be the in-game mechanic or how they comment on how they keep people's spirits up in in-game convos) but none of the refresh units lead respectable lives. they work hard but are seen as the bottom of the chain.

we even get this with the non-dancers, like how songstresses in fates can't refuse requests to perform even if their families are literally bedridden, or how bards and dancers are the optimal job to take when going undercover with characters like nils, ninian, and elffin because of their ability to travel without raising suspicion.

the herons are their own whole species of refresh units who go through a lot of these same themes despite it not being their jobs. if anything, it being made their species makes it even more inescapable a fate for them and forces the writers to focus their efforts further on worldbuilding as a result. the herons still get subjected to the objectification, the slavery, etc. and they all come out of it as radically different people from one another.

when your job or life sucks this much, it begs the question: why do you keep doing it? and i will always be here to listen to whatever the next fe refresh unit has to say, whether they dance, sing, or play an instrument.

#// [does a dance] stan the refresh units #// it's why i'm so sad the dancer can be anyone in fe16 mamskr BUT... i live vicariously through manuela and dorothea #// i wanna love the fairy units in feh since they're all refresh units but i feel like i just... don't know enough somehow?#// i'm not gonna pretend like the fe4 dancers have more lines or screentime than the fairies either so idk what's up #fabledream #+. / inbox.#+. / ooc.#long post ---

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performinganimalrights · 4 years

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Sheep, Pig, Goat...Human

Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca and Fevered Sleep are doing something different, they're looking beyond what performance is and means, not just to us humans but to other animals as well. They're asking:

How performance might contribute to addressing anthropocentrism, speciesism, and the violence towards animal bodies such perspectives enable.

(Sheep Pig Goat by Fevered Sleep 2017. Photo courtesy of Wellcome Collection.) The venue was a state-of-the-art and sterile building, with white, curved walls, hand sanitizing stations and glass. I was part of a group of students, researchers and friends. We were briefed by Cull and Fevered Sleep's directors Sam Butler and David Harradine of what to expect and what they've found along the way. In a large white room, with its walls plastered in words relating to non-human animals (e.g. leather, companion, meat, vegan, milk, love, slaughter), they gave an air of exhaustion, they seemed defeated. Harradine admitted their reluctance to continue the project half way through the week due to a sadness felt by the team, because of the fate of their non-human collaborators; the definite end the sheep, dairy cows and chickens would meet moments after the research.

(Sheep Pig Goat by Fevered Sleep 2017. Photo courtesy of Wellcome Collection.)

It was emphasized that the experience will not be a show, but an encounter. This highlighted the purpose of spectator, where the non-human animals were very much part of. They were not necessarily the subject - although that was difficult to put in to practice for both artists, researchers and other humans.

The animals in Sheep Pig Goat move well beyond operating as mere vehicles for human expression. The action is not about performing “for” either the human or nonhuman animal audience according to existing ideas of what that act involves, but a sharing of the modes of action that might emerge in and as a more reciprocally transformative encounter. Performance does not precede but is produced by the encounter; dancer and pig co-create each other.

Harradine stated the difficulty in maintaining an equality in the space, between human and non-human - what he put down to the human's predator status in the world of the docile prey species (farm animals). Whether we are a natural predator or not, it remains that we have asserted dominion over farm and domestic animals for thousands or years. Non-human's relationship with us cannot begin on a blank slate. Our relationship with non-humans isn't as easily reset either. We have a tendency to narrate not just our own behaviors, but the world around us, including animals. Cull highlights this as an obstacle in their research.

A key issue raised by Sheep Pig Goat is the barriers or blockages that are presented to encounters, or, more precisely, greater degrees of co-constitutive relation, particularly on the “human” side whether in terms of our tendencies to infantilize, sentimentalize, or anthropomorphize non-humans

As we moved into the space where the non-humans were housed, and where the encounters with performers was taking place, it was hard not to feel the separation. As I peered through gaps in the fence and then over, I felt unease at my presence. This unease was out of place, as I've witness non-human animals in very similar spaces before. Yet I felt I was imposing an extra layer of examination, that didn't feel comfortable or with justified purpose.

The performers held a distance from the animals, as Harradine briefed at the beginning, the approach of the last few days of the research was to make the animals as comfortable as possible. A singer improvised some long notes in the small space with four sheep. The sheep had positioned themselves the other side of the pen, yet this didn't translate as threatened or disinterested, as discussed; the minute I begin to interpret, I reach an anthropomorphised conclusion. It was revealed in the debrief that the singer left the pen later on because she felt an unease from the sheep with her in the space. She had been interacting with the non-human animals for a week and had begun to form an understanding of these non-humans in some aspects.

(Sheep Pig Goat by Fevered Sleep 2017. Photo courtesy of Wellcome Collection.)

This unease I felt, and was hinted by the research team, is a nod to ethics. Is this research ethical? What does ethics mean to us? What does ethics mean to the non-human? Cull wrestles with this in one of her research questions.

What constitutes an ethical way of knowing nonhuman animals and how can it be practiced in and as interspecies performance?

Certainly, compared to what I have witnessed in the treatment of non-humans raised for food, etc Sheep Pig Goat held a high standard of ethical consideration. Yet beyond anthropomorphised ethics we reach areas of uncertainty. The sheep, cows and chickens had space to roam to a point; they had a defined space. This echoes a popular abolitionist animal rights activist saying 'we aren't campaigning for bigger cages' in a reference to many animal welfare campaigns (e.g. free-range and grass-fed). The non-human animal's lives were defined by human animals; born into this world to either die for what they produce, or live controlled for entertainment, experiments, and in this case; research (as well as food afterwards). If this is translated to ethics towards a human, we would most likely conclude that defining a human's life for other humans' use in any form is unethical. Yet the confines of current human-centered cultural (and physical) structures, alongside the aim of the research, give an impossibility of a complete 'ethical' experience for the non-humans.

Furthering my unease was the awareness of my self-importance; my need to connect with the animal, searching for emotions and behaviour that relate to me. I couldn't resist the desire to create a narrative between me and the non-human. Yet as an activist I felt a disjuncture between me wanting a role in the non-human animal's life and the desire for them to be able to define their own life, free from human dominion. My presence at Sheep Pig Goat grew my yearning to get out of the way. By involving ourselves in the lives of these non-human animals we limit possibilities of liberty. On the other hand, the desire to connect and understand non-human animals is essential if we are to see change in how non-humans are treated in an inescapable and growing human world. This connection is a primary drive for Cull, inspired by Belgian philosopher Vinciane Despret.

Despret outlines, one cannot understand animals “‘unless you put yourself in their place – literally in their place. You have to go where the animal goes, and do what the animal does’ in order to see what it sees and understand what scares it.”

Does Sheep Pig Goat achieve 'putting the human in the non-human place'? I don't think it does, but it's efforts speak volumes and are reaching towards this ultimate goal. I agree when Cull emphasises performance's role in this goal:

vimeo

#animal #research #performance #performing arts #posthumanism #animality #theatre

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lumina-chronicles · 5 years

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Ignus

@writersblockandapotoftea hello, you have opened Pandora's box. You thought I had world building for Nox and Siaboras? They're baaare bones compared to Ignus lol. Given that Ignus is one of the two most important kingdoms in the Lumina Chronicles, it makes sense that I've got a lot of junk on them. I'll try my best to keep this as organized as possible, so let's dive right in:

LOCATIONS:

Capital:

Apakitarák, the luminization of which is roughly "glass tower" or "pillar of glass." The name stems from the impressive stained glass structure located at the center of the city. It was the most populated city in Ignus before the seige, with a marketplace larger than some entire villages. Location of the Danthragnir palace.

Other Notable Cities:

Dulkhar, translated "tempest," was the wealthiest city in Ignus, as it was the only reliable source for certain fruits (bananas, cocoa, pinapple, coffee beans) in the entire Realm. With the destruction of Ignus, those items have skyrocketed in price and rarity, and are almost impossible to find on the market (usually a cheaper Siaboran variety is sold instead, if available.)

Baidima, the luminous translation of which would be a combination of the words "distant/far away" and "home." Because Ignus was a very private nation, outsiders were never brought to Apakitarák. Baidima, located close to Luminous, Aeternal, and Siaboran territory, was a perfect "substitute capital." It was Ignus's main trade port and a popular location for many international summits.

Kalae, translated to "fortress," was a small city located at the heart of the Ignean mountain range. The most holy and elabrate temple to Naresharakh was located there, and all khisati (holy dancers in training) were required to spend three cycles there before they could officially be given the title of Narakhisa (holy dancers, the Ignean equivalent of a priest or priestess.)

ROYAL FAMILY:

The Danthragnir Bloodline

Ignus is ruled by an absolute monarchy, with the crown (usually) being passed to the first-born in each generation of Danthragnir. Though some exceptions have historically been made to the birthright order, the ruler has always been and must always be of Danthragnir blood.

The luminization of Danthragnir is "brightened eyes." This can be taken literally, as the eyes of a Danthragnir burned brighter than average firestone, or it can be taken metaphorically, as the members of the Danthragnir bloodline were capable of seeing the spirits of the dead and occasionally the auras of the living.

Alcinder Danthragnir was the last Ignean king, ruling with his wife Emelai at the time of Lumina's seige. They were confirmed among the first dead. Their children, Prince Ivinius and Princess Khatalanya, though their bodies were not identified among the rubble, have not been seen since the seige and are believed dead.

Queen Amaranth Lousvar of Lumina was born Princess Amaranta Danthragnir, Alcinder's cousin. Her marriage to Jareth Lousvar was arranged to repair tensions between the two nations after a political scandal, and secure an alliance. This alliance lasted roughly twenty years, before it was broken with Lumina's betrayal and the genocide of Ignus.

RELIGION:

God(s): "Hey Ignus, are you monotheistic or polytheistic?" "Yes."

Ignus technically one god, Naresharakh, but he has five faces, each with their own unique personalities, dominions, and prayers. Separate but the same, indivisible but different. The five faces of Naresharakh are as follows:

Nivekhi, “One who weeps,” from Ignean nivaro ‘to weep’ and -ekhi, a suffix denoting caste or divine duty which is uncommon in colloquial Modern Ignean. Sometimes referred to as The Lamenter. Nivekhi is associated with water, death, the cold season, rain, darkness, and merfolk. "Dancing the Lamenter" is a colloquialism for dying.

Skhorekhi, “One who plants/grows” from Ignean skhoralo ‘to plant crops’ and -ekhi. Commonly known as The Seeder. Skhorekhi is associated with the earth, marriage, fertility, the growing season, new life, and humans. "Dancing the Seeder" is a colloquialism for sex or falling in love, tone of voice is veeery important for the distinction.

Imaporekhi, “One who wanders’ from Ignean imaporalo ‘to wander/fly’ and -ekhi. Commonly called The Wanderer. Imaporekhi is associated with air, movement and nomadic life, the temperate season, flight, freedom, and angels.

Thragnekhi, “One who brightens” from Ignean thragnaro “to bring light to/brighten” and -ekhi. Commonly known as The Illuminator. Thragnekhi is associated with fire, justice, education, the hot season, battle, and dragons.

Dorulekhi, “One who answers” from Ignean dorulalo, “to answer/solve” and -ekhi. Commonly known as the Resolver. Dorulekhi is the name for one face of the five-aspected divine dragon Naresharakh. Dorulekhi is associated with lightning, vengeance, passion, the stormy season, choice, and fairies.

Other Facets of Belief:

Dance- in Ignean culture, dance is the highest form of expression. As such, all prayers are made through dance. Every change of season is marked by a day long festival that begins with dances to the previous face in the morning, a combination in the afternoon, and dances to the new face in the evening. Every Ingean dances, most dance well (given that it's something they do almost daily from childhood) but everyone is encouraged to join regardless of their skill.

Reincarnation- Like Noxians, Igneans believe in reincarnation, but a much different kind. Just as Naresharakh changes his face but keeps the same soul, so too do Igneans. With each death and rebirth, they come back as a different SR species (in order, corresponding to the different faces of Naresharakh.) Ghosts are people who were somehow broken from the cycle, and must find their way back to Naresharakh's grace in order to rejoin the Great Dance (reincarnation cycle.)

Morality- Dragons live mainly by the rule of "an eye for an eye." While it is preferred that you do not harm others, if someone wrongs you it is completely within your right to seek equal reparations. Larger disputes are brought directly to the Danthragnirs for justice.

CULTURE:

Society: Since Igneans believe they have at one point been every species in the Shadow Realm, they don't have a superiority complex like most of the other species. They lead simple but celebratory lives, and are extremely family focused. It is not uncommon to see grandparents, parents, uncles, and aunts all living together with their younger generations.

Architecture: Most structures are made of stone, glass, or clay. You will see very little metal in Ignus, and even less wood. Water is used only for decorative (like a fountain) or agricultural purposes. Roads are wide with lots of room for foot traffic and dancing, and there's an abundance of shops and marketplaces. You will see colorful stained glass windows in nearly every building, and intricate sun catchers lining every street. Fireproof plants are common in hanging planters or on the roofs of buildings. Green is a popular decorative color, because it stands out against the desert sands.

Fashion: Igneans commonly dressed in loose, flowing clothing of breathable materials in bright colors and intricate patterns. For wealthier Igneans, it would not be uncommon to see gold thread woven in. The fabric was always made from fibers that had been soaked in a special fireproof substance cultivated and found only in Ignus.

Igneans wore robes, skirts, dresses, or loose pants. It was not considered undignified (and in fact it was quite common) for someone to go shirtless in public (regardless of gender). Shoes were considered pointless, as the hot desert sand could not burn a dragon, and in fact helped them keep their internal temperature high.

They did not wear jewelry, and never carried metal or wood on their person. Accessorizing was done with shawls, scarves, and tattoos. Temporary tattoos made of gold henna as well as permanent tattoos in both black and white ink were common and popular. Being a tattoo artist in Ignus was a highly respected position.

All clothing was loose, breathable, and easily removable for the sake of transformations.

Recreation:

Dance- Beyond prayers, there are dances for nearly every occasion and even as an expression of several feelings.

Music- You can't have dance without a rhythm. In public places it would not be uncommon to find a troupe of musicians performing at every corner. Ignean music was very percussion heavy, featuring lots of intricate rhythms and multiple types of drum and bell. Other popular instruments were of the plucked string variety.

Sports- Igneans are fond of both foot races in their human form and flying races in their dragon form, other popular sports include wrestling, rock climbing, and weapon work. Igneans do not and most cannot swim. Water is the Worst Thing for a dragon, and prolonged exposure can lead to temporary loss of fire, illness, and in extreme cases death.

Health- Since water is mostly a no-go for Igneans, they prefer to stay hydrated with fruit juices, coffee, and alcohol. This is viable for a dragon because they need a lot less water in their system than a human (and waaaaay less than a Siaboran, of course.) Ignean's "bathe" in rooms that are essentially clay-walled closets by stripping and setting their entire bodies on fire until they're clean. Dragons are fireproof, dirt/oils/bacteria are not.

LANGUAGE (special thanks to my friend Joe for working on this stuff with me because I am very much not a linguist)

Nêres- sun

Arukh- cold, alternately used to mean foreign

Sandaro- to abandon

Nen- I

Nodho- we (inclusive)

Yot- you (singular)

Mataro- to wait

Panu- head

Î/m- That/Those

Ava- Water

Khakota- Phoenix

Ladhiralo- To lure in or bait

Tavaro- To love

Swear Words:

Dumesh- literally translated ‘ashes’, but the concept refers to something useless or spent. When applied to a person or thing, it is roughly equivalent to calling it/them a piece of shit. Most polite conversation referring to the same object uses the less charged imva.

Kadvykya- a general purpose swearword which has no direct translation in Luminous, but can be approximated by ‘empty sea’ or ’hungry waters’, both deeply fearful concepts to dragons.

____________

Note: Sorry I bounced between tenses so often. Since Ignus is empty ruins for the majority of the Lumina Chronicles, I'm used to referring to them in past tense but I usually write these worldbuilding things in present, so there was a lot of mixup in my mind XP

#wip: lumina chronicles #location: ignus #Worldbuilding #long post #amwriting

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rubberduckyrye · 6 years

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minawakitten replied to your post “Sorry for Undertale-ing on main but I’e been listening to songs that...”

yall gonna have to go into more detail about that because that gremlin child did not give me many good impressions [ especially when asriel goes into detail about the time they were as one being ]

Sorry I was really focused on drawing this:

Now that I got some of my feels out of my system I’ll tell you about Chara, or at least, the story I had for her.

Spoilers under the cut, because I still want to write this damn story one day gdi

Okay so Yeah I get why you’d think Chara is an absolute gremlin. TBH I thought the same when I started developing the original AU where this specific interpretation of Chara comes from, but the story developed beyond that and she became the protagonist.

But first: Have you ever heard of the Narrator Chara Theory?

I’m not sure how popular the theory is now, but it was kind of popular when I was in the undertale fandom. The idea is simple: Chara is the narrator. This explains some strange things, like why the narrator is addressed as “Chara” by Flowey when you open the game after a pacifist run to RESET it, and other bits and bobs. A lot of people use the flavor text like “No Chocolate” or “Where are the Knives” from the genocide route to point out that this is Chara and Chara is evil--except that flavor text is narration. You can’t just say some narration is Chara while others aren’t. It’s all or nothing, and there’s hints that depending on how the player plays the game determines what kind of personality Chara gets at the end. When you do a genocide run, Chara wants to destroy the world because Chara saw Frisk kill all of monster kind and decided that the whole world should be erased. If you think about it, they are said to hate humans--and why wouldn’t they hate humans more after seeing Frisk massacre the entire monster race? What motivation would Chara have to want this world to live if the species they grew fond of was obliterated?

It’s also implied that the player’s/Frisk’s actions makes Chara “Good” or “Evil” depending on what you do. Notice how the narration changes in the different routes? That implies that the narrator themselves is a character being affected by Frisk’s actions. Chara may or may not also feel bitterness at monster kind in the afterlife, because of the declaration of war Asgore had, which is why Chara may have been enthusiastic about the genocide run as well as the pacifist run.

Once you consider Chara to be the narrator Chara’s character expands beyond what Asriel gives you and the hints you get about them in the game. Asriel’s claim that they weren’t a good person almost becomes kind of cruel, and before you say Asriel is a sweet baby child that can do no harm, let’s not forget that Asriel is also Flowey and Flowey is just Asriel’s personality without much empathy/sympathy/unable to feel emotions.

I’d like to point out that Chara... literally gave their life to try to save monster kind. They had no point of reference to what would happen to them after they died and Asriel took their soul, there was no real way for them to have known they weren’t going to just cease existing afterwards. Them taking their body up to the surface? That was probably Chara wanting to give closure to any family, or in a more bitter tone, bring their body up to the surface to show what the humans what they had done--killed them.

It’s implied heavily that Chara was abused, which is where they get their hatred of humanity from. Them wanting to kill all the humans on the surface, while still morally wrong, was probably a sort of revenge for what they did to them. They were hurt and abused, and they have an intense hatred for humanity that they probably wanted to wipe most of humanity out because of their past abuse. That is especially amplified with how it was monster kind that gave them a good home, food, love and care where as humanity remained ugly and horrid. There were no positive human influences on Chara, and seeing how such a kind and loving race was trapped under ground probably fueled the fire even more.

Either way, they did sacrifice themselves to try to free human kind, regardless of interpretations and speculation.

Now in comes my specific girl here.

My interpretation of Chara didn’t just have the above conflicts weighing on her mind, but also pressure accidentally put onto her and Asriel. Asgore, Toriel, and all of monster kind calling them their “hope” and... you know? That’s actually a lot of pressure to put on two kids, especially when one of them was abused like Chara was.

Chara sort of cracked under the pressure, feeling like she had to do something to save all of monster kind, and it lead her to mixing the poisonous buttercup flowers with milk chocolate to make poisonous chocolate bars Asriel could sneak to her without Asgore or Toriel noticing. Because she felt like she wasn’t worth anything, and hated herself for being human, she chose to sacrifice herself.

Asriel absorbed her soul, and she took her body to the surface to give closure to her brother, Marcus. Marcus is an OC who is also the soul of INTEGRITY. Yes, the ballet dancer soul is a boy in this story, and that actually kind of comes into play as to why Chara and her brother were heavily abused and eventually kicked out and living as starving children in a village. Marcus immediately recognizes his sister, and of course, thinks Asriel killed her. This causes a riot within the town and Chara wanted to fight them, kill them and collect their souls to free monster kind from the underground, but Asriel refused to fight. This ends up getting them both killed like in the canon.

In this AU/Story, Chara actually had a yellow soul of JUSTICE rather than a red soul. However she died with a red soul--how? Well in this AU, a RED soul isn’t actually a naturally occurring soul color, but rather represents the soul being overtaken by DETERMINATION. Being DETERMINED to save monster kind turned her soul red, but she couldn’t perform the RESET trick Frisk can. Why?

Marcus.

Marcus, being a blue soul, was filled with DETERMINATION to the point where his soul was red. The implications here is that yellow is easier to make red than blue is, so Marcus was filled with more DETERMINATION than Chara. In a fit of rage, he tracked Asriel to the underground carrying Chara’s body back with him, to show the monsters what hey had done to his sister and why they were being massacred by him.

His DETERMINATION wore thin, however, as he couldn’t kill Asgore, so his soul returned to blue and his soul was taken as the first soul. Enter the first glitch RESET.

You see, in this story, Chara wasn’t supposed to die like she did. She was supposed to free monsters peacefully after her brother found her, but because she died like she did, the world’s code was glitched, and it tried to rectify itself by trying to recreate the peaceful scenario. This is why there was a drought of humans not even coming near the underground and then suddenly, six humans fell in succession.

Meanwhile, Chara was put in the LOADING SCREEN, basically a dark room with no light aside from green lines of code flickering on the wall. She eventually realizes she can manipulate the code, and spends a very long time learning how to manipulate it to build a console, a machine that allowed her to see what was going on in the outside world.

Before she was able to finally make the console, however, six humans had fallen and killed. Asgore, not wanting to kill humans anymore, sent the six souls to Gaster (yes he has a role in this) and his lab assistants, Sans and Alphys, to try to figure out a better solution.

The DETERMINATION machine was created as a result, and extracted all of the DETERMINATION from the six souls. However, at a sort of celebration party for the success of the machine, Goner Kid was left unattended and accidentally pushed some buttons on the machine’s control panel, causing a severe malfunction.

Sans was only able to teleport himself and Alphys out of the lab before the machine exploded, obliterating all of their coworkers into space and time, including Gaster. The DETERMINATION plus explosion also forced another glitch RESET, creating the timeline where Gaster and all of those who perished in the lab never existed, and creating the situation with Alphys and Flowey.

Chara develops her console quite a bit after Flowey’s conception, and by this point Flowey’s been killing and RESETTING and abusing his powers.

After realizing who Flowey was, this naturally upset Chara. She eventually pieced together what happened by observing, and found that she remembers through the glitch RESETS. So she basically watches Flowey turn everyone’s lives into his play things until, you guessed it, the DETERMINATION from the previous timeline with Gaster manifests itself as Frisk, the first and only pure RED soul with no base attributes.

Frisk’s DETERMINATION surpasses Flowey’s, and Frisk takes over the timeline.

In this story, Frisk is initially a coward who runs away from all fights, but soon they start to realize their power and they become a bit more kinder. Chara is also guiding them as the “narrator” and helping them through the underground.

They do a pacifist run. Everyone’s got their happy ending.

But then... they RESET.

Frisk is the only human Chara can itneract with, so she immediately questions what Frisk was thinking, and Frisk says that they want to save both Chara and Asriel from their fate. Seeing nothing wrong with this, Chara lets them try to save her and Asriel.

RESET after RESET, and nothing is working. Chara tells Frisk to give up, but Frisk gets an idea. They decide to kill--after all, they could just RESET to bring them back, and it might lead to a clue as to how to save Chara and Asriel. Chara reluctantly agrees to it.

This is the beginning of hell.

Frisk goes through RESET after RESET trying to figure out how to save Asriel and Chara, but nothing they do is working. Not even killing. So they get desperate, and start trying to kill everyone.

That’s when a “glitch” happens in Chara’s code.

As Frisk attempts a genocide run, both their and Chara’s LOVE goes up. However, Frisk aborts the first genocide run after killing Mettaton and they RESET, thinking that there had to be a better way... except the damage has been done.

Because Chara exists outside of the RESETS, Chara’s LOVE never RESET either, and this turned her cold. Hateful. She decided that Frisk’s attempts to save her and Asriel weren’t just a waste of time--it was a form of torture.

Chara decided then, “If this is a world of ‘kill or be killed’... wouldn’t it be better off dead?”

From there, Chara devised a plan to force Frisk into completing a genocide run. She started forcing Frisk into RESETS and claimed that she had no idea what had happened. After a while, she lied to Frisk and told them that the world was ending and Frisk needed to complete a genocide run in order ti fix it. Frisk refused at first, but all Chara had to do was be patient, and Frisk finally gave in and went to attempt a genocide run.

Cue glitch two.

As they were fighting Sans, it was Sans’ code that glitched, making him remember the tale of monsters being able to absorb a human soul. Thinking that there was no other way to stop Frisk from completing a Genocide run, he forces his soul and Frisk’s to fuse.

This also causes a RESET, and Chara’s LOVE is finally back down to LV 1. However, Frisk is now unavailable for her to talk to, because now Frisk and Sans are both neither human nor monster. Sans looks the same, except for his soul, which looked like this:

The problem is, like Asriel and Chara, Sans had no way of knowing that Frisk would still have control over his body, and this causes a new kind of hell to be born as Frisk tries to complete the genocide run with Sans’s body and magic.

However, because Frisk cannot kill Sans without killing themselves and resetting, the genocide run cannot be completed at all. Sans also has a tendency to fight back for control before Frisk is able to get close to realizing this, so they are locked in an endless hell of Frisk trying to “save the world from the glitch they made” and Sans fighting to stop the from completing a genocide run.

And Chara could do nothing but watch.

She couldn’t contact Frisk anymore and tell them it was a lie, so she’s basically forced to watch their struggles with the guilt heavy on her shoulders that she caused this.

Cue the next Glitch.

Upon a RESET, Chara’s yellow soul was restored and Chara becomes the “eighth” human to fall into the underground, though she has no memories of who she is or everything that had happened. She is also wearing Frisk’s clothing, and only remembers the name “Frisk” at first, so she thinks she is Frisk. She eventually meets Sans and has to rely on him to make “Save points” but notices that he seems really bitter and pissed off at her for some reason when his eyes are white, and when they are red, he’s much kinder. She goes through the underground with her yellow soul and eventually uncovers all of what I mentioned before, and realizes that Frisk and Sans are still fused, and Frisk hasn’t gone on another Genocide run because of Chara’s appearance.

Despite Frisk refusing to kill, Sans refuses to give up their soul, paranoid that once he does they’ll just ruin everything all over again, and he blames Chara for their actions.

However the story is designed to be a series of mistakes and unfortunate events that no one person can be blamed for--Frisk’s first unprompted attempt at a genocide run corrupted Chara, Chara lied to Frisk in a plot to end the world, and Sans refuses to let Frisk’s soul go not just to keep them from hurting others, but to keep some control. None of these characters in this story are good or evil.

Anyway, Chara decides to complete a pacifist run, and it’s mostly the same from that point until just before Flowey turns into Asriel. Flowey knows Sans has Frisk’s soul, and tries to rip their souls apart--but Sans refusing to let go, makes it so Frisk’s soul and his split in half.

Frisk’s half-soul is enough to transform Flowey into Asriel, and then Chara finds her own DETERMINATION to overpower Asriel and complete the pacifist run. She gives her body to Frisk’s half-soul so they could live in their happy ending, and she and Asriel move on to the afterlife after the barrier is finally destroyed and humans and monsters can have their hopeful future once again.

Of course, Chara’s more than just this story however. She’s a break dancer, where as her brother was a ballet dancer, and their non gender-conforming interests is what gets them abused to begin with. However Chara also can play the violin and is an excellent programmer thanks to her being trapped in the LOADING SCREEN. However she’s also severely touch repulsed from living there for so long by herself. She’s also suuuper awkward and can be prickly to talk to. She’s cold, but she doesn’t really know how to be more social as her social skills are entirely wrecked at that point.

She actually hates all chocolate except white chocolate. Milk and Dark chocolate especially make her sick upon association with the poisoned chocolate bars she originally used to try to sacrifice herself to save everyone.

Anyway that’s my info=dump on my Chara from my one story and I love my daughter.

#minawakitten #long post

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svlene · 6 years

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SELENE KIM ( CIS FEMALE & SHE/HERS )? oh, aren’t they the TWENTY-FIVE (510) year old VAMPIRE who works as a BARTENDER at ELSWOOD’S? word on the streets is that they are INDEPENDENT & ASTUTE, but they can also be CALCULATING & RETICENT. by the way, they look eerily similar to LEE SUNG-KYUNG, don’t they? ( izzie / 21 / pst / she/hers )

give this a like if you want to plot and i’ll hit you up!

FULL NAME: selene kim / kim seol-hee AGE: 25 ( 510 ) PRONOUNS / GENDER: cis female / she/hers SPECIES: vampire HOUSING: she lives in halkirk, because as much as she likes mansions, she lives alone and such a large house like the ones in rosehill would be too empty. she has a nice apartment in one of the wealthier complexes, and it’s very well-furnished ( read: expensive furniture ). FAMILY: she has no surviving family that she knows of because she’s a vampire and lost contact with her mother centuries ago. she’s never been pregnant, either, so she doesn’t have descendants from one of her previous relationships back when she was human. if she has any living relatives, she doesn’t know about them. she’s fine that way. it’s less attachments to worry about. BACKSTORY:

in 1508, kim seol-hee was born in the honam region, inheriting her mother’s beauty and grace. she would later show she had taken after her father’s ruthlessness and ambition, though she would never meet him — he was a nobleman and her mother, his lover and a kisaeng ( an entertainer & courtesan )

because seol-hee’s mother was a kisaeng, she was to become one too. she was educated in various disciplines, including prose, poetry, music, dance, medicine, and needlework. by the age of 18, she had surpassed her mother in skill and popularity, and became renowned for her poetry and singing voice. she went from entertaining in the honam region to the courts seoul because of her talents, and though the training was stricter, it was a better opportunity.

she took several lovers over the years, scholars and former soldiers and government officials, and while men wanted her, none would really have her. not until she met jong-yul, a very rich, very charismatic scholar. they spent a significant amount of time together, and he promised her something better than wealth and prosperity—immortality. seol-hee agreed; ever opportunistic, she knew she wasn’t getting any younger. and then what would she do? retire and run a tavern like her mother? become a concubine like her friend? ( if she wanted that, she would’ve done it already. )

so he turned her into a vampire, and that was that. in an ideal situation, they would’ve traveled together, but life wasn’t a dream and he wasn’t her savior—nor did she need one. he said he’d meet her again someday, and so they parted ways. three years later, she faked her death, left kim seol-hee to only be remembered by her poems and talents, and resurfaced in another city under a new name.

she did this for several decades, doing what she did best: entertaining and seducing, though with the added occupations of political informant and occasional murderess. with her clientele, ~important~ people she socialized with, and her tendency to frequent guest houses and taverns, she had a wealth of information at her fingertips that was all too easy to collect. as for the killings—it was also too easy to bleed choice victims dry ( ie, japanese generals during the japanese invasions of 1592 - 1598 ).

at the turn of the 17th century, she traveled to china with a dignitary; it was time to leave korea for somewhere new. she grew tired of the chinese official, and traveled through china, sometimes as the lover of a nobleman or scholar. some years later, she met jong-yul again, and they began to travel together. there’s something to be said about having a constant in a world where everyone around you grows old, and jong-yul would become that for her.

they set their sights on europe, and hitched a ride on the ship of portuguese merchants. she befriended an astronomer, who taught her portuguese. she would go on collecting several languages over the centuries to come, including mandarin and cantonese chinese, english, spanish, french, german, japanese, and italian. she has since smoothed the accent from her voice.

at this point, she’d amassed more than a fair amount of wealth from her conquests. she and jong-yul spent their travels pretending to be visiting nobles or whatever they needed to be; they took and shared lovers; she immersed herself in the art movements of the years, becoming a singer, a dancer, a writer, a muse; she did whatever she wanted because she could. she continued to trade information for favors and money. she took different names with different cities. she slipped into new roles as easily as slipping into a new dress.

in the middle of the 19th century, jong-yul disappeared. of course, she was angry and despondent, but still, she carried on. perhaps they would meet again, like he promised ( or perhaps he was dead. there were vampire hunters out there, no? ) she went from milan to paris just as the belle epoque began, where she was once again a performer and courtesan. it was what she loved, after all.

during wwii, she was a spy for the allies because of her intelligence, fluency in several languages, and inability to die ( though as if any humans knew this ). she traveled across europe, collecting intel through her own methods as well as her many connections. for a centuries-old vampire, it was a quick, though devastating, four years, watching the world pass through cruel hands yet again. she was glad when korea is liberated from the japanese, though the aftermath still broke her heart when her country was torn in two.

she continued moving around the world, changing names as easily as she changes clothes, settling in california for a few years before moving back to france, then to portugal, germany, singapore, then in south korea. she went back and forth to avoid suspicion that she looked the same after ten or so years ( she’s just effortlessly youthful, you know ). her occupations range from translator to dancer to informant to socialite to anything she wishes. she has a lot of time and money on hand to develop skills, after all.

somehow, she ends up in fairview. it’s full of small town charm and perhaps something more interesting, and it makes a good place to lie low for a while. she’s not part of the elswood coven, she just kinda works at the bar because she needs something to do.

PERSONALITY:

she’s vivacious, independent, and charming, chasing after thrill and indulgence, but also selfish, vain, and calculating. generally an outgoing & lovely woman until you cross her, and is particularly ruthless when it comes to getting what she wants. knows a lot of secrets about a lot of people. tries her best not to raise suspicion, and lives life as a seemingly normal, but very rich and rather flippant human. gets her blood through various…connections, whether that’s a hospital or somewhere else. the red wine in her glass is most definitely not a nice merlot.

flirty as hell, but also knows not to get attached since, y’know, immortality and her partner disappeared without a word decades ago so she’s still kind of bitter about that!! enjoys attention and companionship, basically. here for a good time and a long time. she also likes ~the art of conversation~ and learning about people. definitely into a good story, though it takes a lot to fully get her attention since she’s not easily impressed.

she has seen a lot. been through a lot. lived through a lot of history, so has zero time for bullshit. she’s also terribly, terribly bored, always looking for something new and interesting to take up her time. immortality can truly drag on.

MISC.

Does your character have any nicknames? not really tbh. she’s not one for nicknames. she has a lot of names though from over the years (-:

Does your character have any distinguishing features such as tattoos, scars, piercings, etc? she has two piercings on both her earlobes. no tattoos.

What is your character like in relationships? Are they clingy? Faithful or unfaithful? Do they jump from one relationship to the other? Do they even have an interest in something romantic? faithful in the sense she’ll end the relationship once she’s bored rather than hang on and cheat behind their back ( though she’s certainly been unfaithful in the past ). she’s much fonder of arrangements that have no strings attached, so she can be with who she likes, when she likes. it doesn’t matter if a relationship lasted ten years or two months---once she’s grown tired of it, she’ll end it and move onto the next one. or be single for a while. it depends. romance does interest her to an extent, but she hasn’t been as in love as she was with jong-yul in a very long time. it’d take a very special being for her to give so much of herself to someone else again.

What kind of things does your character like? What do they dislike? she enjoys the finer things in life, like art, beautiful clothing, and jewelry. she has penchants for designer labels and vintage clothing, as well as obscure art spanning centuries. she loves traveling and exploring new cities; she likes architecture, languages, gambling, and reading; she still loves dancing and singing. she also likes technology for how innovative it is. she dislikes boredom, staying in one place for too long, and people getting too close to her. she hates nosy people, but she wouldn’t ever let someone know that.

How does your character treat their friends and family? How about strangers? Enemies? treats her friends very well. will give them gifts, will help them in their times of need, would kill for them. literally. she’s a very good friend ( and ally ) to have. she’s friendly and seemingly open to strangers, and is generally a vibrant, outgoing woman. you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, after all. as for enemies, she’s rather ruthless when dealing with them. if you’re on her bad side, you’ll know. also pretty fond of snide comments.

Where does your character go when they are angry? it’s a mystery

What is your character’s biggest fear? Who have they told this to? Who would they never tell this to? Why? she’s not really scared of much at this point. being killed would really suck, but she’s lived so long that death doesn’t particularly scare her either. fearlessness isn’t necessarily always a good thing, though.

Does your character have a secret? If so, what is it? what secrets doesn’t she have? one, her real name is kim seol-hee. she has spied for governments, spied for criminals. she has blackmailed numerous people and sold secrets and information to the highest bidder without regard for the consequences of the parties involved. she has killed not only to feed, but for money, for revenge, and she is not sorry for some of it. her wealth is certainly not built on virtue and taking the high road, and, well, she’s a vampire. depending on who she’s talking to, that might be the biggest secret of all.

Has your character ever been in love? Have they ever had a broken heart? she was in love with the vampire who turned her, as they spent numerous years together and formed an unbreakable bond---until he disappeared and broke her heart. she got over it. mostly. sometimes she gets angry at him for disappearing, and other times she grows despondent, afraid that he was killed by a hunter.

Does your character have any flaws? What are they? she’s self-serving, vain, selfish, ruthless, fickle. she’s a liar, and won’t hesitate to deceive someone to save herself. she’s not the most trustworthy, either, and her loyalty can sometimes only last so long. she’s awfully cynical, though she doesn’t show it.

What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting? 500 years has blurred memories, but sometimes, she’ll remember singing with her mother as a little girl. everyone starts somewhere, and despite their circumstances, her mother truly loved her and tried to give her the best she could.

WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS:

vampire friends/allies --- as much as she keeps others at a certain length, it’d actually be nice to have friends who won’t die in a few decades. these could be vampires she’s known for a very, very long time, those she’s just recently struck up a friendship with, a new vampire she’s mentoring because sometimes she does nice things, etc. these could also be varying degrees of trust---maybe they’re proven loyal till the end, or they’re just around each other because it’s fun. or they relate to each on some vampiric level.

acquaintances / friends --- she’s not trying to make her life difficult, so she’s a pretty friendly person until you piss her off. so these would be people she gets along with for whatever reason. also, human friends who think she’s human and she’s not doing a thing to correct them would be fun!!

interests --- she thinks you’re interesting/amusing and hangs around you for that reason.

enemies --- you got on her bad side for some reason, or she got on yours. or you just hate each other. also here for love/hate relationships with all that tension and ‘i hate you but i can’t stay away from you and arguing with you is really fun and also you’re kind of hot???’

other supernatural being shenanigans

she hasn’t been in town as long as some other people ( i haven’t really figured it out yet, but she’s only been around for a few years, or maybe it’s one of those things where she pops in every couple decades ), and you don’t trust her. you think she’s hiding something and you aim to find out what’s behind the charming facade, and you’re sure all she’s feeding you are lies ( which is true ).

you’re at elswood’s and she’s bartending that night and now you’re drunkenly spilling all her problems to her. and you’d think all this years she’d get good at comforting people, but she’s not. she’s just good at faking it!

anything else!!! pls come to me w any ideas!!!

#THIS IS REALLY LONG and i'm sorry #honestly if you read all this....props to u #but if u feel like skimming that's ok!! come to me and we can work out details!!#sacrilegeintro

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hetalchirag-blog · 6 years

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Explore enchanting temples of Bali

When we were travelling through Bali, we stopped by Ubud Monkey Forest on our way to Tegenungan Waterfalls.

As you stroll through the jungle it feels like you have entered a dream world with moss-covered ancient sculptures and hanging roots from tall banyan trees. You can also say hello to monkeys swinging from one place to another while exploring the lush green forest.

Feeding tiny bananas to the monkeys was also a fun experience. You just have to hold a banana in one hand and stand still. Monkeys will literally climb on your body and take the banana from you. Did you know that Ubud Monkey Forest is home to around 700 monkeys and more than 180 species of trees? This unique forest also contains three ancient Hindu temples dating back to 13th Century.

After visiting the monkey forest and exploring ancient temples, we drove to Tegenungan Waterfalls. It’s a hidden gem you must explore while visiting Bali if you feel like being a little adventurous. Getting to the gorgeous Tegenungan Waterfalls is an exciting journey in itself. You need to walk down the stairs to reach the trail that leads to a narrow bridge made from bamboos and tree trunks held tightly together by a few straps.

The next day we went to Uluwatu to check out a unique theatrical performance of Ramayana called Kecak Fire Dance. Bali trip would be incomplete without witnessing this iconic cultural dance. The dance is performed right before sunset at the amphitheatre located on the cliff-top at Uluwatu Temple. As a group of men sitting in a circle rhythmically sing “chak, chak, chak”, dancers go around the fire and perform different segments of Ramayana. A spectacular backdrop of sunset over the ocean combined with gentle breezes, soft orange rays, vibrant costumes, human vocals and a bright fire in the centre makes this dance a must see performance. The show starts at 6 pm so if you would like to get good seats, get there around 30 minutes before the show.

From historic temples to gorgeous rice fields, waterfalls and sunsets, Bali is definitely a place to be.

#Ubud #Bali #temples #monkeyforest

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justtextmeoppa · 7 years

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❝ I’ve an eternity with you ❞

Plot: You’re Super Junior’s manager and all of you are vampire. But you and Yesung hate each other so Lee Sooman puts both of you in the same house. With the time both start to develop feelings and in the end he can’t stand the situation anymore and tells the truth.

Pairing: YesungxReader

Genre: Vampire!Au

Words count: 5,3k+

For our cutie @vintage-misery16, (FINALLY!!) I hope you like it! - M.

Gif isn’t mine, credits to the owner!

The screen in front of you illuminated part of your face, while your mood became more and more black at every second that passed.

You had specified to not reveal anything about the new project, indeed you had forbidden the most inclined to let slip information to literally keep their mouth shut. And yet there he is, on the screen, with his smile that openly challenged your impositions.

You never knew how it was possible that Yesung was still alive after all that time. His voice sounded faintly in your ears when you took your headphones off, getting out of the door like a fury ready to sink your teeth into someone's flesh.

It had become unbearable to endure that man, his never-ending challenges, his faking to be a little angel when everyone knew how swaggering, arrogant and bad he was to the others.

When the members of the group continued to attribute that behavior to the fact that he had undergone the transformation recently, you kept repeating that no, Kim Jongwoon, was a devil already before becoming a vampire.

The transformation wasn't an event that happens at all. More than five hundred years ago there had been a war and no one knew how, but some soldiers had developed a particular gene. All kept assuming that they had been experiments, covered by the Government, which had resulted in untoward results. The fact that some soldiers had become "vampires", feeding on the blood of their comrades blinded by a violent thirst, could only be attributed to some kind of experiment. It wasn't possible that the human population, suddenly, became a species of herd of hungry animals without control.

With the passing of centuries, the remaining humans - or those who didn't carry the gene - and the vampires had learned to live together, although the mutated population still had some difficulty in keeping their canine safe in their own mouth.

And here you are, that you had undergone your transformation at only 16 years. Yes, all were born as mere human beings, without worries if they had within themselves the mutant gene. The age in which the change often occurred was in the twentieth; seldom it happened before. And it was this that surprised your parents, completely human, when they saw their daughter completely healthy become a monster.

And it had been that the day when, after being kicked out of your own house, a gentleman with a kind appearance (perhaps too much, you would have begun to think after a few years) welcomed you into his home, gave you an instruction and everything that a person could even want. It was the 1940 and your immortal life began.

"DAMN IT!"

Your scream resonated inside the studio, the cameramen immediately closed the transmission and you could hear, thanks to your abilities, the amused giggles of Heechul and Kangin, in the farthest corner of the room. When Lee SooMan, the kind man who saved your life more than 70 years earlier, decided that you would be the most appropriate person to follow Super Junior, you never thought about how wrong that idea was.

Your relationship with the group members was perfect, except with one. You had driven every single transformation, making them aware of what was going on and helping them control their most ruthless impulses. They were famous for being one of the few groups entirely "supernatural" of the world music scene, perhaps even for this were so followed. The different was well liked (and you wondered how it was possible that homosexuality was still a taboo in Korea), especially if it was represented by 13 perfect, sensual and talented boys.

Jongwoon was your Achilles' heel. You couldn't stand him, and he couldn't stand you if he could have bled you with one bite.

"Now she kills him," murmured Hangeng, knowing that this time they couldn't save their bandmates, "perhaps he deserves it," Hyukjae added and the only one who snorted was Heechul, who kept protecting his friend despite his continual mistakes.

The sound of your heels on the marble of the floor resonated until you stopped before your goal, forcefully pushing your forefinger against his chest knowing that you wouldn't intimidate him. It was practically impossible to do it with him.

"Listen to me," you'd say between your tight teeth, pushing your finger more forcefully and he made two steps back because of your strength, "when I say one thing, you have to obey. I'm your damn manager, can you figure that out?"

"To be an old lady of almost ninety you have strength," he gave you a smirk and your patience was again put to the test, "Do you practice by chance?"

An annoyed sigh left your lips, "Jongwoon, don't joke with the fire. You're a vampire, but you can hurt yourself too," you deadly whispered, moving away and leaving the studio with same violence with which you entered. And as you expected, Kim Jongwoon hadn't been scratched by your performance.

~ ~

The smell of the blood in the glass had sickened you, despite your smile didn't disappear from your face. The blood produced by the companies that had found their gold mine in supplying the vampires always had a taste too strange for you. Too metallic, too fake. You didn't feed on human blood for more than half a century, and even though there were, by now, many remedies to that little problem, from time to time your mind and your thirst were so attuned that it was a torture resisting the impulse to sink your canine in the neck of someone.

The steps outside your office, or rather at the end of the corridor, warned you that someone was about to enter and a few minutes after the one you wished to avoid seeing, settled in the armchair that you usually used in the late hours to relax our body after a tiring day.

"Still having problems with Jongwoon, mh?"

"Sooman-Nim, I.."

"You two force myself to take extraordinary measures, Y/N," he hummed filling with blood a glass, drinking it in a single sip and then approaching your desk. His intimidating aura was so different from how you remembered it. If you could you avoid staying in the same room with him for more than five minutes. The kind and sweet man you had known dozens of years before was almost completely disappeared, or perhaps simply it had always been a façade. Or the business had changed him so much that you could hardly recognize him. "What.." Your voice was hesitant, while you engaged your hands to fix some documents in front of you, "What do you think you do??"

"Pack your things, you're going to leave tonight."

That news made you open wide your eyes, while a strange sensation made your way inside you and promised that nothing good would happen. With a sigh, you nodded and when he stepped out of your office, you followed him in a complete silence imagining that that was the end of your career as a manager. Who knows what that demon said to your boss (and father if for that matter) to get you fired.

The hallways were quiet, it was so late that no one had stayed in that maze of offices, but Sooman's regular breathing kept reminding you that there was someone next to you. Vampires didn't need to breathe, but it was something that soothed humans. Seeing your breasts get up and down, feel your breath when you vampires crashed your lips with theirs in a burst of passion, every little gesture soothed the human mind.

It was different for you. Breathing brought with it the ability to feel the scents, the flavors on your tongue, it was something magical that you kept still in your memories.

Only after walking for five minutes you both came out of the building, where a car was waiting in the driveway. You didn't know if the vehicle was for you, for Sooman or for both. But when the door opened and your worst nightmare went down, you knew it was there for you.

"W-what??"

"Jongwoon has already packed his things. As you see you're both very happy with my decision, " sarcastic Sooman approached the luxurious machine, giving a vigorous pat on the shoulder to a bored and visibly infuriated Jongwoon, "I hope you can smooth out your differences in this way."

The confusion continued to reign in your head, but always in silence, you followed the man in the car and you leaned your head against the window once the vehicle began to start. The only presence of that arrogant provoked in you the most inconvenient reactions.

The profile of your apartment stood in front of you after ten minutes, the choice of living near the company had proved useful due to the amount of work you had every day, so without saying a single word to the other occupant of the car, you went out and with suffering spirit you headed to your room, after entering the bright and especially warm apartment.

Your suitcase was on the bed and you started to go back and forth from your closet trying not to wrinkle your clothes too much. You loved the order, the cleanliness and that things had their own space, without too much trouble. Your soul was already damned, it was what you kept repeating for years, you preferred to keep your "human" life relatively quiet.

"So this is your house, wow."

"No one has given you permission to enter."

"Why? From today we'll be roommates, what is yours will be mine. "

Forcefully you'd close the suitcase, trying not to jump on him and biting him, opening the upper hinge in order to insert your laptop and the loader. Your footsteps on the floor were delicate, despite the heels you wore, and you moved to the room as a dancer moves on stage. Graceful and perfect. Jongwoon had always thought that you were too perfect to be a damned like all of them and it was perhaps the reason why he couldn't be nice to you. You were too much, he kept feeling at the lowest rung of a social ladder that suppressed him. The fact that you were Lee Sooman's daughter, then, worsened things. But he could hardly deny that you had an ethereal beauty.

"Done? If you keep this way, I'll age ten years, " he mumbled bored, tightening his arms to his chest and feeling to be worn when you crossed him, beating his shoulder forcefully with yours. Ethereal, graceful but also lethal, that particular always made him smile.

You watched one last time your apartment, your little private space that needed to distract your thoughts from the difficulties that being a vampire behaved, coming out with a sigh from the huge wooden door direct towards the car. The driver took your suitcase, managing to get a little smile and you entered the vehicle without even waiting for Jongwoon to arrive. You had decided, once discovered thanks to his words what was going to happen to both, that you would totally reset the contacts with him. You didn't have to talk to him, conversing and spending your time with him. Same house, but you would have used every grain of your willpower to keep him away from you.

He entered the car and it finally started to drive to any place your dear "Daddy" had chosen for you, letting the mood of both darkened the atmosphere.

"We're on hiatus, both."

"WHAT?" The saliva blocked in your throat, almost choking you, but you immediately drove out that feeling, looking at him as if he was the cause of your every problem, which had a bottom of the truth. "What do you mean by hiatus?"

"Are you deaf by chance? Or stupid? You know what it means, grandma. "

"Jongwoon, don't star--"

"Shut up, I need to rest, Sooman keeps me fast for two days because of our last bickering," he silenced you and turned his face towards the window, closing the conversation even if you hadn't finished.

Hiatus, it meant that you'd be stuck in that house with him all the time because you were sure you wouldn't have the slightest permission to leave.

The torture was about to begin.

~ ~

"Have you seen my hair band?"

"Even if I had seen it, I wouldn't tell you," he chuckled continuing to read the paper and you would raise your eyes to heaven, puffing nervously. His child attitudes were something you really couldn't bear, they created in you the worst murderous instincts you had to keep in every way.

"Thank you anyway."

You walked away from the kitchen, returning to look for your hair band. You had others, but they were buried in your suitcase, and even four days had passed, you couldn't unpack it. You continued to hope in the good soul of your paternal figure to be able to get you out of that condition.

Jongwoon did practically nothing. He fed himself, occasionally he had fun cooking human food to annoy you -the smell slightly sickened you- and the music that came from his room could be heard in every corner of the house because of the volume. A child, he behaved exactly like a child.

"Here it is," Jongwoon appeared next to you, handing out the black band you were looking for from whole minutes, waiting for you to grasp it, "Isn't that what you were looking for?"

You nodded quietly, shaking the soft fabric of the object in your hand and prevented the corners of your mouth from rising upward. You would never give a smile to that horrible being, as you kept naming him with your best friend every night. The music from his room changed, even when he was downstairs he was quieter with a background of his favorite music, turning into a ballad that sounded familiar to you despite not being able to recognize it. Yet it was pleasant, one of the few choices you could really appreciate.

"Y/N?"

"Thank you for the hair band, sorry I was distract.."

"Do you want to dance??" He handed you, his expression always emotionless but his eyes were brighter than usual. You hated him, but you loved dancing and that song almost seemed to call you so ignoring the screams of your mind to not accept his request, you rested your hand on his and he gently clasped it. You would never have believed that he could have such a delicate touch, but he made you believe it when with so much prudence he placed his other hand on your side and drew you to himself. Your bodies were close but they couldn't touch each other and for this you were grateful, so you both started to move your feet in perfect synchrony by waving for the living room as if you had wings under your feet. His grip was strong, his hand covered totally yours and the one that he kept resting on your side was delicate, but he managed to drive your every movement to perfection. You could feel his touch from under the silk robe that you wore, almost burned that small portion of skin but you didn't care about it. The touch of another vampire always had a similar effect, you didn't have to worry about it that much.

The time seemed to stop around you and only when the electronic beat of an EDM song echoed for the house you remembered what you were doing, moving away to each other. "Thank you," you whispered before disappeared up the stairs, looking refuge between the walls of your bedroom.

Once you enter you lean against the door, managing to still feel his warmth on your side. As if his hand was still resting against your flesh.

"You forgot the band downstairs."

His voice behind your door made you jump, but you wouldn't trigger the lock. That moment of intimacy, the music in the background, the perfection of which he seemed to move without making any effort, all the whole had a strange effect on you and you would have waited the next day to be able to face him. Maybe because of that Jongwoon, that strange and nice kind version of him was kind and you.. You liked him.

A furious banging against your door suddenly woke you up and with fatigue you watched the alarm clock next to you, noticing that it was only four o'clock in the morning. As anger began to boil even inside you, you would get out from the bed and open the door you let someone fall on the floor of your room. Your gaze rested on the figure still standing in the hallway, Heechul, and then on the one on the floor that gasped in an attempt to breathe.

"What the heck..?"

"Sorry Y/N-SSI, sometimes I also lose control because of this jerk," the eldest of the two apologized, giving you an amused smile while you noticed the blood on his knuckles. "Oh shut Up, Hyung," Jongwoon gasped and in an attempt to stand up he grasped your arm, so you found yourself having to help him.

Effortlessly you put him in an upright position, quickly passing your arm under his armpit to be able to support him since he didn't seem very stable on his own legs.

"Can you care to explain me, Chul?"

"The jerk has almost bitten a girl earlier and you know it's something I can't stand."

"So you came out, you ugly asshole? I'm confined here and you can go out?" You hissed, passing Heechul and direct to his room. With a kick you opened the door, starting to drag him and throwing him on the bed without much care. You would have preferred that Heechul had done some worse damage, some damage that even a vampire takes more than a few days to heal.

"Y/N, he escaped, neither of you is allowed to leave. How is cohabitation?? "

"Horrible, unlivable, heavy."

A whistle of appreciation came behind your shoulders but you ignored it, you weren't in the mood to joke with what you considered one of your dearest friends, starting to strip the boy on the bed.

"So that's what you wanted?" he asked with a lopsided smile, feeling your hands on his body, but you shook your head and took off the blood dirty jeans letting them fall on the floor.

"In your dreams, you prick. Now try to sleep, tomorrow you'll be good. "

You walked away from him and you turned walking toward the door, where Heechul was waiting for you. "Thank you," it was a whisper but you both could hear it, so you closed the door without answering. He didn't deserve it, just as he didn't deserve that strange and unhealthy concern that had gripped your heart when you saw him dripping with blood on the floor of your room.

~ ~

"Good morning," the greeting of Jongwoon went empty because you would lay your empty cup and leave the kitchen without even saying goodbye. And this provoked his annoyance, like everything you did in the rest. Deeply Inhaling he followed you and without delicacy slammed you against the wall, closing every way out and letting his body towering on you. He smelled clean, the few scratches he had on his face had disappeared and his gaze emanated that ounce of danger that capitulated every single fan. They loved Yesung for that, but without knowing Jongwoon.

"What do you want?"

"You're fucking polite. If I give you a good morning, I'm asking for an answer. "

"I pretend I didn't wake up at four in the morning by a blood-covered jerk, but my claims are never respected, " you answered sarcastically and his eyes darkened, the iris began to turn and that docile dark color was slowly becoming the scarlet red that characterized the novices. "I pretend that you don't get killed and then soil my floor with blood. I pretend you're more responsible. You were going to attack an innocent girl yesterday," The tension was high among you two, you could feel it even on your skin so much was high, but that wouldn't have prevented you from saying what you had to tell him, "Jongwoon you must be careful. I know what that means, we all know. We know the feeling of thirst, the treacherous burning that sticks your throat in the worst moments and the control that slowly leaves your body. We know it, but you also are a public figure.. You can't let yourself go. "

His face was unmoved, no emotion outlined those usually so kind lines when he was with the other boys and you sighed, trying to move him away by pushing your hands on his chest. But even though you were stronger and older than him, your efforts were totally vain.

"Jongwoon, let me go."

"You have to stop making the haughty girl, Y/N. Not because you were born before me, it means you know more things than I do. I know how to control myself, so I don't need your rhetoric. "

He walked away, raising his hands to heaven and smiling with sarcasm he disappeared up the stairs. Leaving you with that same concern felt a few hours earlier, feeling that didn't seem to want to leave you for no reason. And it was at that moment that you realized that something was changing and maybe not for the better.

~ ~

"Ehi, take this," You handed him a cup full of blood and he arched his left eyebrow, trying to conceal the surprise that your gesture had provoked.

After the incident with Heechul had passed two months, two months full of oppressive silences but moments of calm and tranquility where you were even able to converse from time to time. And in those weeks, closed in the same house with him without being able to use the work as an excuse to distract yourself, you had begun to develop feelings for him.

At first, it was something related to concern. You were worried he could get in trouble. Slowly it had turned into affection because when you watched him even from afar, you didn't feel the feeling of annoyance that had been your companion for more than three years. Maybe the disgust was the cover for something more, you didn't know. But with the passing of days, you were astonished to live better the days with him, to smile more and to be kinder to him.

"I don't drink artificial bloo--"

"It's mine."

The newspaper fell with a little puff onto his legs and his eyes wide open made you realize that he was upset. Rarely did another vampire offer his own blood, but you knew how much he struggled with the artificial one and found difficult to resist the impulse of drinking the human ones. You protruded the cup towards him, then sighing when he didn't squeeze it and rested it in his hand, closing his fingers on the smooth surface of the cup.

"Drink Woon, you know you have to feed," you order, giving your back and returning from the direction you came from.

"Y/N; It's your damn blood. "

"So?"

He followed you, after resting the cup on the table, grasping your wrist and inspecting the two holes on the delicate skin that were already healing with speed. He stroked with his thumb one of the two holes, trying to figure out what was that confusion that was quickly blurring his head.

"I can't drink it, it's your bloo--"

"You already said it, it's not important.. It's just blood."

"It will make me dependent on you, Y/N," he emphasized that information with contempt and despite you kept thinking of not having a soul, you felt hurt by his words. Almost he was disgusted by that thought, to be in some way tied to you. You tried to hide at best what his words had provoked and rested your other hand on his you rid effortlessly from his grasp. No sudden gesture, no sarcastic response. You didn't feel the strength to fight with him, especially because now on your part there were feelings that you were struggling to manage.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't thought about it. You can avoid drinking it, I don't want to cause you any more problems. "

The rustle of your slippers was the only thing that he heard shortly after, you disappeared in a second and only your scent remained with him. He could perceive it, as if you were still beside him, giving slowly to his head. The confusion became even more persistent and he spent the rest of the day closed in his room, seeking the answer to those questions that kept nagging him.

It was two at night when he decided it was time to go out and be able to find something to eat in the fridge, he would even swallow liters of artificial blood to smooth out the thirst that was tormenting him.

The music struck him when he began to descend the stairs, a sweet but sad melody came from the living room and the notes resonated for the house making it as desperate as the song he heard. In small steps he approached the room, noticing you sitting on the stool while sliding your fingers with mastery on the black and white keys of the piano. He had never heard something so beautiful but sad at the same time and would never say that you knew how to play so well. No one knew because you never played before the others. You sister taught you, that same sister who had repudiated you once you became the vampire you were.

You sighed as you observed how your fingers were getting married with those keys, without noticing the presence behind you that kept observing you totally kidnapped by your beauty. And that vision, you so irresistibly perfect under the light of the moon, erased altogether the confusion of those hours.

Jongwoon knew what happened to him and hated himself for making it happen. Because in his mind you were too perfect for someone broken like him.

"Oh, I didn't notice you," you murmured by blocking your fingers on the keys after you turned towards him, "I didn't want to wake you up with the music, sorry.."

"Go to hell, Y/N."

He walked away from the living room under your astonished look but this time you wouldn't let it run, you thought your relationship had slightly improved. And instead, he was acting like an asshole as always.

The floor beneath your feet was cold, but you would welcome that feeling with pleasure, and you could stop him just as he was about to get out of the main door. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Let me go Y/N before I can't respond to my actions!"

"NO, NOW YOU TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK YOU GET!" Your screams were high, but you knew nobody was living nearby so you didn't care much. He freed himself from your grasp and went out, the warm air of the night struck both but you followed him even though you were still barefoot and in a nightgown. "JONGWOON!"

"GO AWAY, Y/N. I CAN'T STAND YOU ANYMORE, THIS COHABITATION HAS TIRED ME."

"I THOUGHT IT WAS IMPROVED. YOU WERE ENE KIND, NOW AND THEN!! "

"YOU'RE MY FUCKING PROBLEM!"

The pain endured during the transformation made less harm than what he yelled at you. You stuck in the middle of the driveway, while he turned and watched you with a short breath. His hands were shaking, even he seemed to be tormented by a tremor that you couldn't explain. But you, inside you, felt a tornado of emotions that were about to make you collapse altogether.

"IT'S YOU, YOU," he pointed his finger at you, at quick steps he came up to you and pressed your wrist lifting upward so you could observe it, "YOU'RE MY PROBLEM. COULDN'T YOU KEEP BEING THE PRICK YOU ALWAYS ARE? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME? WHAT!?!? "

"I.. I don't know what you're talking about, you didn't even drink my blood. You were disgusted by the idea.. "

He opened his eyes wide feeling the misery with which your voice was resonated in his ears, by quitting the grip on your wrist that was left inanimate to your side while for the first time, after more than seventy years, hot and unexpected tears began to slip on your cheeks. Vampires could cry, but it was a rare occurrence and you had never experienced it.

"I was disgusted by the idea.. Did you really think this?? "

"Obvious, otherwise why you should have refuse--"

His lips crashed with yours, suddenly silenced you. They moulded on yours, made his own and you started to reciprocate that kiss after a few seconds. His hands slipped along your hips, stopping on your back and drawing you to himself, letting your bodies adhere to perfection. His lips continued to move against yours with passion, almost as he was trying to survive thanks to that kiss and shortly after the tip of his tongue stroked your lower lip, asking for access. You denied it and walked away breathlessly, managing to loosen the grip of his arms on your middle.

"What--what the hell.. Jongwoon.. " You panted, feeling a strange warmth blossoming in your chest and spreading flat for every nerve that your body possessed, "w-why..? "

"I wasn't disgusted by the idea," he started whispering, approaching you again, and with his fingertips, he drew your cheek, stroking your cheekbone and slowly descending towards your jaw, "I was afraid to not control myself if I had tasted your blood.. I was afraid to hurt you. "

"I--I wasn't referring to that.. W-Why did you kiss me..? "

"Isn't it clear why someone kisses a person?" His usual sarcasm stroked his voice, but there was something more. A sweetness that almost dimmed it, which made what he said most affectionate. "I kissed you because these two months have made me understand so many things, but I still think that you're too perfect for me.. For anyone. "

"W-what..?"

"You're really dumb, are you? I like Y/N, it's not hard to understand. "

"Oh....."

Jongwoon smiled, amused by your reaction and without saying anything for the first time he showed his true colors in front of you. He was fragile, so much to evaluate himself inferior to you when in fact you were nothing special.

He smelled like hawthorn and vanilla, something good you thought while resting your forehead against his chest and letting him lull you from that hug, treating the wounds you've been carrying inside you for years. The fear of being abandoned, of not being enough or beloved, had tormented you for years after the refusal of your parents. But that simple hug began to heal what time had failed to cure.

"Y/N..?"

"I like you too," you asserted quickly, after understanding what he wanted to hear, bending your head backward to watch him and a huge smile painted on his lips. You hadn't noticed that you had fed a dependence on his smile, but when his lips stretched out the vise to your stomach squeezed, making you almost melt in his arms. "It was taken for granted, otherwise I wouldn't have kissed you.."

"Or you wouldn't give me your blood."

"That you didn't drink."

"I told you the reason, silly girl."

"Don't mock me!"

"It's so easy, dummy."

You grunted and pinched his side, while in the distance the headlights of a car lit you up and approached more and more. You remained in his arms when the car stopped in front of your driveway and Leeteuk along with Donghae and Heechul went out, starting to whistle at the sight of you two into the arms of each other.

"They will tease us..?"

"Well, Woon.. They have eternity to do it. "

"At least I'll pass it with you, it's not a bad deal this."

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oliverarditi · 4 years

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A shadow play of distant histories

In parapatric speciation, where two populations diverge in adaptation to varied ecological niches without total reproductive isolation, a sequence of ‘ring species’ can evolve. A commonly cited example is of gulls distributed around the Arctic Circle, where geographically adjacent species, such as the European and American herring gulls, can interbreed, but where the species at either end of the sequence – in this example the European herring gull and the lesser black-backed gull – are mutually infertile. Similar phenomena can arise in cultural speciation, where the most distant cultures in a long chain of adjacent hybrids might look pretty alien to one another, but there is never any absolute structural barrier to cultural fusion. From India to Triana presents music and dance from two cultural regions that are not the ultimate terminals of the exchanges that connect them, but between which there is a significant distance, and elements of the practices that mediate them are missing from this fusion - specifically those that belong to the Arab world.

It is also interesting to note that the space of hybridity that the performing group Rootless claim for this performance is a steeply asymmetrical one, with an entire subcontinent as large and diverse as Western Europe at one pole, and a single district of Seville at the other. Such a lop-sided relation might accurately describe the character of the exchanges between, say, New York’s Lower East Side and the very widespread sources of its historical Jewish immigration, but no such mass-migratory relationship exists between Triana and India. The performance that Rootless presents is an imaginative journey then, not a literal one, but for me the experience was more of a meeting-in-the-middle, than a convergence of Indian cultures on one of the historic birthplaces of Flamenco. The nine performers we saw each brought whatever cultural materials they commanded to the table, and found their common ground, which is considerable.

Without a more detailed knowledge of the source cultures it was impossible for me to determine exactly what came from where. The overall format of the performance was consistent with the episodic character of Flamenco performances that I’ve seen, but was also reminiscent of alap, the performance schema of Hindustani classical music. Although it is impossible to generalise about ‘Indian music’, improvisation on set modal and rhythmic materials is a common theme there, and Flamenco could be characterised in a similar way – although it is probably more accurate to speak of embellishment than invention with regard to the traditional musics of southern Spain. The fusion was quite seamless: only a corpse could fail to notice that there were stylistic differences among the dancers, between the percussionists or between the vocalists, but there were common formal elements of fluidity, lyricism, polyrhythm, melismatic vocalisation and so forth, while the sequential structure of the performance allowed each dancer and musician to present their materials as an integral part of a coherent whole.

Clearly a fusion, a celebration of cultural commonalities, is also an opportunity to note and celebrate difference. Spanish Romani dance appears to involve more dramatic skirt-waving and less intricate footwork than Flamenco; the Indian dance we saw, aside from its more obvious differences, seems to accord more importance to the face and hands than the Spanish traditions, and to have a more explicitly narrative content, abetted perhaps by the clear denotations of the mudras (hand gestures) that are employed. But it is important to bear in mind, when watching a performance like this, that some expertise would be required to distinguish between the inclinations of the individual performers and those of their respective practices. For example, tocaore Daniel Martinez plays his guitar with forward rhythmic and melodic intricacy, while sitarist Ewa Adamiec cleaves to a more accompanimental approach, but this does not reflect any parallel distinction between the roles of the two instruments in their traditional contexts. As I lack a detailed knowledge of any of the raw materials from which From India to Triana is constructed, I was content to take the performance as given, or in a more cosmopolitan sense, as an artistic collaboration between a number of creative individuals, rather than a merging of traditions.

However it is interpreted, it is a performance which passes through many dynamic and dramatic positions, layering and modulating its various textural resources to weave a constantly transforming cloth of narrative warp and affective weft. Like the weather in Glasgow, if you don’t like it you only have to wait a few minutes and it will be quite different, although for me there was no call to wait anything out. While Rootless incorporate a variety of performance techniques, the heart of the show is the human body, and its capacity to visibly and audibly embody subjective experience. Both Spanish and Indian vocals deploy melisma and complex phrasing virtuosically, to produce an emotional discourse that is as precise and particular as it is compelling. All four dancers move in ways that speak not just of rhythm, not just of the erotic jouissance of the human form in flow, but of lives lived, and experiences internalised. The percussion and stringed instruments bridge these two domains, with the guitar and tablas in particular drawing parallels between the movements of bodies and the unpredictable flux of voices.

My ignorance left me, and I suspect many other members of the audience, disconnected from the history of the sounds and sights I encountered in fusion here. Given the complexity of the music and dance, and the enigmatic but clearly deeply ingrained language which they articulated, the effect was of a dimension lost, an involute three-dimensional geometry projected forward onto a screen. I loved the surface that I apprehended, with its psychedelic intricacies made all the more intriguing and exotic by my inability to interpret them with certainty; but at the same time I thought of an article I read recently, in which I learned that modern audiences of Indonesian wayang shadow puppetry tend to view the show from the same side of the screen as the puppeteer. Sometimes the mechanics of a performance help us to appreciate its surface. While mutual fertility is never excluded by cultural distance – as it is by genetics for the terminal members of a sequence of ring species – to truly appreciate the undoubtedly beautiful children of such a union requires an acquaintance with both parents. What this absorbing fusion articulates most forcefully, irrespective of that acquaintance, is that at either of its poles are human beings with the same fierce need to give voice to their experience.

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sparklyjojos · 7 years

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hey i sent you an ask but internet problematic here so i dunno if it was sent? As someone with no experience with neurodivergent people i was hoping you could elaborate what you have previously said about Kars in JORGE JOESTAR (and other characters maybe) seeming neurodivergent. Like, i'd love to know your headcanons about jojo characters regarding this, as well as reasoning for the headcanon's (optional, but i'd love it)

(wow this one sure took me a long time to answer, sorry!)

oh boy, this would be an extremely long post if I included all other jojo characters I headcanon as nd so I’m just going to focus on Jorge (the Japanese one) and novel Kars for now

this won’t be a “this character definitely has x thing”, but just pointing out traits and dialogue that may interest someone who wants to headcanon/write these characters as nd

am I going to be reaching with some of those? yep! but if the Jorge Joestar novel itself taught me anything, it’s that:

so, you know. I see what I wanna see.

(tw: mental illness, trauma, ptsd, suicide - all in the Kars segment)

Jorge:

– the sheer difference in introductions is telling: English Jorge talks at length about his family, his classmates, his gay puppy crush, and anything else you’d expect to be major concerns for a kid. Japanese Jorge? social life haha what social life, HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR 10 PAGES OF PUZZLE SOLVING

– no really if the very first thing someone says after seeing all your memories is that you sure spend a lot of time on puzzles then that’s some deep interest you have, a bit of a stereotypical hobby there but whatevs

– hyperfocuses a lot??

– (exasperated Kars who’s been trying to get his attention for a good minute:) “You have a bad habit of not hearing when people speak to you.” (Jorge:) “Yeah, if I’m focused on something else. Sorry. What?”

– tunes out of one phone conversation with Bruno like 3 times

– figures out how time-based Stands work specifically because he has experience with his internal sense of time getting royally fucked up whenever he’s deeply focused

– was inattentive (and hyperactive?) as a young kid to the point it affects how the memories on his disc look like: “I was a fidgety child, and the image rarely focused on [Joseph] for long. I wasn’t interested in his story.”

– visual thinker, good with patterns, can make complicated mental maps and solve slide puzzles in his mind

– his memory is really good until it isn’t (as far as he’s concerned Funny Valentine’s Stand is called Dirty Whatever)

– very particular about meanings of words and names, etymology (his arc starts and ends with him pondering over the kanji of his own name, knows latin names of various species like Hydrangea or Ursus maritimus and what they mean literally, that “sorry that name’s taken” line when Rohan calls something a Beyond, etc)

– doesn’t like (is distressed by?) clutter and things/details being WRONG. (“If details don’t add up right I get agitated, and start searching for a better way. This trait has lead to my room being very clean, and made me a great detective.”)

– infodumps to Rohan about polar bears of all things, and there’s a moment when he stops talking almost mid-sentence after mentioning they’re called Ursus maritinus and instead of speaking out loud he just thinks to himself that “The scientific name was given by John Phipps in 1774” as if he just realized that’d be Too Much detail to share, I feel you Jorge

– (after Erina says he has a characteristic soft smile) “I do? I mean, I guess people do say I look like an idiot.”

– gets urges to laugh at very bad times (”Cars’ whispered response had an air of such grim realism that I almost started laughing, but he was watching me suspiciously. Whoops.”)

– sometimes blurts out things, often fails one-liners, even when he pre-plans what he’s going to say something else may come out (“I’d thought of all kinds of things to say, but what actually popped out in that moment? (…) I have no idea what I meant by that last bit but I said what I said and had to live with it.”)

– sometimes impulsive, like yeah let’s just get up in the middle of the night and search through a 10 km^2 area on a bike for something unprecised while you have several death threats to your name, this can’t possibly backfire

– (after Jorge quite literally blows himself up by impulsive carelessness) “Cars was still laughing. “You really don’t think things through.“”

– small point that’s made moot by paranormal things like that being real in the jojoverse, but his tendency to see signs and messages meant for him everywhere and in every event, and insisting on coincidences not being mere synchronicity gives off a different vibe than intended (at least at the beginning before he knows Stands and Beyonds are a thing)

Kars:

– honestly I could just slap the definition of “neurodivergent = with their brain functioning differently from what’s seen as ‘normal’ in the population” here and point at his backstory in this book and be done with it

– remember everything I’m writing is on top of his canon image of an asocial genius scientist with poor affect (or, in the anime, varying between stone face and painfully exaggerated expressions) who has a connection with nature and animals, which I guess can? be seen as some type of autistic coding (unfortunately in this case it dovetails into “a loner with autistic traits = snaps and kills everyone” type of coding sooo maybe let’s not go there)

– novel Kars talks about how when he was younger he didn’t even know that feeling sympathy and wanting to have emotional attachments with others –was a thing– (apparently his race wasn’t capable of it??), and he had to sorta consciously try to understand and learn it through reading human fiction. It came off to me like he relates better to fictional characters (and maybe animals?) than to his race or humans, too

- ^^(that backstory’s a bit unclear with how it’s told; either just like his race he doesn’t have the drive for social bonding, empathy etc. and his understanding of others is made purely on the intellectual level - that’s relatable for some nd people - or he DOES have those things in a drastic difference from everyone else of his race, which I guess makes him nd by definition. It’s… complicated.)

– on the topic of “consciously learning how to sympathy” - there’s a few times in the novel when he’s a prick not because he wants to be but because he genuinely doesn’t understand why the other person would be upset (”Cars, sorry, but can you put me back at my old height?” “?…isn’t the view better?”), but if that person explains how the thing is upsetting he then backs off like “oh okay” (when Jorge is disturbed about the women’s heads thing - “Yeah. But I just feel sorry for them. I can’t watch this.” - Kars just goes “I see.” and makes them disappear). He still has to work on the “taking your private memories without asking” issue tho

– that moment in the backstory where Kars became deeply aware of just how flawed and “not up to own potential” he was which launched him straight into unhealthy perfectionism and desire for control and power as a way of dealing with it? relatable

– and that thing where him becoming much more chill is preceeded by the realization that he can’t ever - and that he doesn’t have to - become an infinitely perfect being without weaknesses, and that he’d still have worth and meaning even when he’s not performing to some ridiculous self-imposed standards?? GREAT, and I love to see lines like this one coming from him: “Cars smiled. “I have no desire to be the leadingman.””

– he talks about how traumatic events and your emotional reactions to them (“feeling like you’re dying”) can damage your soul. Since he claims to have experience determining soul damage, and the only souls he worked with before belonged to 36 other Karses, we can assume he’s talking about himself as well. (and it’s kinda obvious that having everyone you love die in

– ^^^also worth noting that even if Kars knew a lot about brains biology-wise, he missed out on practically all of modern psychology after 1939, so of course the way he relates to trauma and mental illness would be different, and more informed by what he learned having spent most of his life around ancient civilizations in the Americas - the concept of soul loss. And it’s not like the book doesn’t wink towards it in other places (English Jorge dissociating during torture is described as him having learned how to remove his soul from his body)

– Light Dancer Kars speaks about how he wanted to commit suicide, then in the same paragraph says that he and our Kars feel “the same sadness”, which, wow. Earlier there are scenes where you can interpret Kars’s behaviour as passively suicidal; he doesn’t seek death, but if something (burning upon reentry while saving the humans, fighting Dio) did kill him, he wouldn’t mind that much

– this one is very subjective because you can interpret these moments as just him being very lost in thought / focusing on healing (Jorge sure does), but: when faced with intense emotional stress - like hearing Light Dancer Kars’s existential speech, or almost getting killed because he chose to shield the humans from harm - Kars has a tendency to go non- or barely verbal, motionless, unresponsive to outside stimuli (including people trying to get his attention by calling his name) and staring at one thing / into space, ignoring even a zombie attack or that they’re pressed on time in alternate!Morioh. When I first read it I assumed he just dissociated really hard (ptsd-related?), or was in a shutdown

– if you pay attention to what traits Kars seems to be holding in high regards - either through saying that X is a good thing about humanity, or bemoaning that humanity doesn’t have X (that he ofc does) - they’re stuff like creativity, perseverance, attention to details, pattern-based thinking, the desire to “figure stuff out”, and good memory. AKA traits often (though not always) increased in autistic people

- at one point he says: ”In the end, you’re just another human. You see a mystery and think, ‘How odd!’ and put in on a shelf somewhere.” I’m sorry but even in context it sounds like “apparently people can see an interesting thing without instantly getting fixated and wanting to know and understand everything about it right there and then, what the fuck”

– he tends to be either very invested in what’s going on or bored, no inbetween, and avoiding that boredom is a high priority (”And it seems I’ve run out of time to eat you all… But I wasn’t bored.”)

um yeah that’s all I can think of rn

#aleph-ozone #finally got around to finishing this!#jorge tag #hcs meta and stuff #jorge joestar

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eyeofhorus237 · 5 years

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Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (or simply Don't Be a Menace) is a 1996 American crime comedy parody film directed by Paris Barclay in his feature film directorial debut, and produced by Keenen Ivory Wayans, and also written by Wayans brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who also both starred in the lead roles. The film was released in the United States on January 12, 1996.

Similar to I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, the film spoofs a number of African-American, coming-of-age, hood films such as Juice, Jungle Fever, South Central, Higher Learning, Do the Right Thing, Poetic Justice, New Jack City, Dead Presidents, Friday, and most prominently Boyz n the Hood, Menace II Society and Above the Rim. The film's title borrows phrases from some of those films, and some of the actors who starred in those movies appear in the film, in some cases appearing in similar roles or scenes as the films being parodied.

Plot

Ashtray, Tray for short, is sent to the inner city to live with his father. Tray gets an education about life on the streets from his psychotic, gun-toting cousin Loc Dog, Preach, and Crazy Legs. At a picnic Tray falls for the infamous Dashiki much to the distaste of ex-convict Toothpick. While Ashtray and Loc Dog head to buy some snacks, Toothpick and his posse confront Ashtray and hold him at gunpoint, until Loc Dog threatens them with a missile mounted in the back of his van, stamped with the letters “USSR” Loc Dog claims it is in fact a nuclear device. Toothpick and his gang then flee the scene.

Loc Dog and Ashtray get harassed in a Korean store by the owners and Loc Dog shoots at the owners when a remark is made about his mother. The two are then confronted by 'The Man' (a mysterious white, government figure) who kills the Koreans and tosses them his gun to frame them and leaves.

Meanwhile, Ashtray and Loc Dog's Grandma ride to church and another elderly woman disses her, resulting in a breakdancing contest that Grandma wins.

Ashtray visits Dashiki where they engage in sexual intercourse and Dashiki immediately claims he has impregnated her. Feeling like he's not responsible enough to be the father, Dashiki kicks him out. Someone from Toothpick's posse threatens Ashtray, Loc Dog, Preach, and Crazy Legs. Loc Dog knocks him out as he and Preach proceed to stomp him, flattening him (literally). The quartet decides to get protection from their friend Old School. This tactic fails as Toothpick performs a drive-by shooting and Crazy Legs is injured. With Crazy Legs hospitalized, himself and Loc Dog being arrested, and the Korean store shooting, Tray decides to confront Dashiki and be the father. Dashiki agrees to give Tray another try and they decide to leave the hood as planned. Ashtray and Loc Dog talk about Ashtray's departure as Toothpick and his posse prepare for another drive-by. He and Loc Dog clash as Ashtray is shot. As Loc and Toothpick continue to exchange gunfire, Grandma pops out of the dumpster and shoots Toothpick's car. Toothpick is flung out and he lands on a cop car. Preach and Dashiki find Ashtray hurt and he regains consciousness and kisses Dashiki. A woman finds Toothpick (who turns out to be his mother) and beats him with his shoe for stealing from her in the past. Afterwards, Toothpick and his gang are arrested.

Afterwards, everyone goes their separate ways: Ashtray and Dashiki marry and enjoy their lives, Loc Dog becomes a host and introduces himself with extreme profanity, Preach and his crush settle down and perform sexual intercourse, Crazy Legs becomes a dancer as he had dreamed of, and Grandma is, as Ashtray puts it, "still Grandma" (showing her smoking marijuana).

Cast

Shawn Wayans as Ashtray, the everyman, trying to make his way through a confusing world, is sent by his mother to live in the ghetto where his father might teach him how to become a man. Based on Tre Styles from Boyz n the Hood, Bobby Johnson from South Central, and Caine Lawson from Menace II Society.

Vivica A. Fox as Ashtray's mother, whose one-scene, one-line cameo at the beginning ends with her son asking: "So will I see you again?" and her reply, "Sorry baby. You know there ain't no positive black females in these movies." Based on Reva Devereaux-Styles from Boyz n the Hood.

Lahmard Tate as Ashtray's father, Ashtray's temperamental role model who dispenses sage advice to his son. According to Ashtray, he is only "a couple years older than I am." Although many references were made to Ashtray possibly being older than he was, such as Ashtray attending a party that his father is not old enough to attend. Based on Furious Styles from Boyz n the Hood.

Marlon Wayans as Loc Dog: Ashtray's cousin and gangsta/drug dealer/criminal. He drives a USPS delivery truck which is loaded in the back with ballistics, including a nuclear weapon. Based on O-Dog from Menace II Society and Doughboy from Boyz n the Hood.

Helen Martin as Grandma, Ashtray and Loc Dog's grandmother; a marijuana-smoking, foul-mouthed, church-going woman.

Chris Spencer as Preach, Ashtray's friend and former gang member turned 'politically conscious' activist, resembling a Nation of Islam member, but is now just "confused"; he has a fetish for white girls. Based on Sharif from Menace II Society and Ali from South Central.

Suli McCullough as Crazy Legs: Ashtray's friend; was paralyzed in a drive-by. Has a dream to be a professional dancer. Based on Chris from Boyz n the Hood.

Tracey Cherelle Jones as Dashiki, the object of Ashtray's affections. A "hood mother" with seven kids by seven different men. Dashiki's address is 6969 Penetration Avenue. Based on Ronnie from Menace II Society and Justice from Poetic Justice.

Isaiah Barnes as Doo Rag: Dashiki's oldest son and the only one of her kids who has more than one line of dialogue. He pulls a gun on Ashtray after losing a video game. When he admits he learned about guns from "cartoons and 'hood movies'", Ashtray passionately declares that he and Doo Rag are an endangered species—not because their lives are in danger, but because "rappers are taking all the good acting jobs!". The kid rolls his eyes as Ashtray lectures him about the values of education. Based on Anthony from Menace II Society.

Darrell Heath as Toothpick, Dashiki's ex-boyfriend, who was just released from prison and still acts like he's incarcerated. He swears he will kill Ashtray for romancing Dashiki. Based on Ferris from Boyz n the Hood and Ilena's Cousin from Menace II Society.

Antonio Fargas as Old School, a friend of Ashtray and his group.

Bernie Mac as Officer Self Hatred, a cop who harasses Ashtray and Loc Dog. As he has Ashtray pinned against his squad car, he goes on and on about how much he hates black people and anything black. Based on Officer Coffey from Boyz n the Hood.

Terri J. Vaughn as Keisha: A possessed woman that Loc Dog met at the late night party and takes to the cargo hold of his truck. While proceeding to have sex with her, she morphs into a demonic version of herself and proceeds to force Loc Dog to have sex with her. It is unknown what happened after this. Based on Abby the 1974 blaxploitation horror film about a woman who is possessed by an African sex spirit.

Benjamin N. Everitt as The Man, a pale white man with red hair and glasses, who systematically robs a convenience store while the Korean owners are keeping a close, racist eye on Ashtray and Loc Dog and completely ignore his crimes. When Loc Dog is firing his gun at the owners and not hitting them, The Man fires his gun once and hits a hanging light that falls on the owners and kills them. He then tosses his gun to an unwitting Ashtray and Loc Dog, who mistakenly catch it as he scratches their names off his list of black men whom he's framed for crimes and peels off a single glove (a reference to the O.J. Simpson case).

Fozeyl Fuzz Atcha as Dave the Crackhead, a drug user apparently going through withdrawal who offers to perform fellatio in return for spare change or directions to a person's house. Based on the nameless "Basehead" character from Menace II Society.

Keenen Ivory Wayans as The Mailman; he appears various times throughout the film shouting "Message!" whenever a moral lesson is expressed without subtlety in dialogue. At the end of the film, when Loc Dog gives a rambling speech to Ashtray, the Mailman appears, and says, "What the fuck is he talking about?"

LaWanda Page as Old School's mom

#crime film #comedy film

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monsters-of-nyc-blog · 7 years

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Monster AU Part 6: Strippers and Tears (Mullette)

“All I'm saying Thomas, I’ve been feeling kinda alone” Lafayette said while walking beside his twin brother. “You have a lot of men… Every day” His brother said, laughing. “Wow so now you’re making jokes, funny”. Lafayette and Thomas were a rare pair of twins, they looked very alike but they were like water and oil, but today, we’re talking about Lafayette. Besides his work, his brother and his best friend John, he’s been feeling alone, not in a sad way but he just needs a break out of his routine. They were walking to a starbucks near their apartment, and little did the french wolf knew what was expecting him there. Hercules shivered as the shop’s bell jingled, signaling he had entered. He fixed his beanie and took off his jacket, noticing the store kind of empty. There were only two people in front of him and they seemed to be together. Herc was too busy looking at the slightly taller one (Laf) to noticed he bumped into a table. “Shit!” He hissed, the chair moving slightly as if it were about to go flying. He had to keep that side of him away, he was in public dammit. Lafayette turned back and he saw a shorter man, who just crashed with a table and then his whole face went red. This guys is really beautiful. He was afraid of looking straight at him because he might seem like a pervert, but in one of those shy glazes they made eye contact. Lafayette got too nervous and forgot how to speak “pouvez-vous me donner votre numéro?” He said, nervously. Herc tripped over his own feet . “I-i’m sorry i don’t...I don’t speak angel.” He blushed. I’m sorry, i don't speak angel? What the fuck? Herc pulled his beanie down over his ears to hide the blush. “Uh- i - i mean..” Lafayette literally melted when he heard the word ‘angel’, he’s no angel, people always called his species the spawn of satan, but this cute guy doesn't needs to know that. “Um, s-sorry I talk in french when I g-get nervous” WAIT NO YOU LITERALLY ADMITTED IT. He blushed even more “I MEAN, i'm Lafayette, nice to meet you” Herc bowed and took off his beanie,like a cheesy prince in a movie. “Hercules, but you can call me…...tonight if you- wait shit i’m sorry you’re so pretty-handsome,frick i just….Can I pay for your coffee?” Lafayette’s face was even more red now, is that even possible? Well, for this kind of situations I think it is. But his brother had the biggest annoyed face ever, he just rolled his eyes and kept looking at this situation thinking in what dumpster he could go and puke. “O-Oh no i can't accept that, it’s okay” He smiled back at Hercules. “Then let me buy you dinner one day. “ Herc went to lean on a table casually but his hand slipped. He cursed to himself and blushed even harder. “I want to get to know you.” Well, this escalated quickly, Lafayette thought. “Okay! Here you have my number” he wrote the series of numbers in a napkin with a pen he always keeps in his pocket and gave him to Hercules. “It was a total pleasure to meet you, Hercules” he smiled, Thomas rolled his eyes again and made a noise, letting Laf know that they had to leave, now. “I have to go, call me!” he said, and walked away with his brother. I mean, eggo Herc smiled to himself and walked out of the shop,completely forgetting his coffee order. Lafayette sighed, like a little girl in love. He has dated many people in his life but for some reason this was different. “Oh mon Dieu, Tommy did you saw him? He was so, beautiful! Muscular, pretty, do you think he’ll call me? Oh jesus what am I going to wear!?” Thomas groaned,sipping his drink. “Yeah, knowing how people get around you, he’ll call. But that doesn’t matter,you know it’s never going to last right? We can’t mix with humans,Laf you know this. “ He felt bad for his brother but it was true, werewolves didn’t date other species. John was already in the dog house, no pun intended. He didn’t need Lafayette being an idiot too. Laf looked at him, and face palmed himself mentally, Merde. “Well yeah, I-It's not like i planned to get serious with t-this” he answered and laughed nervously. Lafayette looked down and sighed “But, if John makes it work with Alexander, why can't I try to date him? Brother please” Lafayette begged Thomas, but he already knew the answer. Thomas sighed and rolled his eyes. “They almost died the other day, I don’t consider that making it work. I just don’t want to see my only family hurt. Besides, what are you going to tell him when he sees you wearing skirts and dresses? ‘Oh by the way, i like the way they look?’ You have to be careful!” “Wow, that actually hurt” Lafayette looked at his brother and then rolled his eyes “Let's clear things out, he looked very open minded, and he’s obviously not heterosexual. If they don't like the fact that i like skirts then i won't date him. I won't get hurt, he didn't smelled like a vampire or a werewolf, it’s okay. And, Thomas?” he called his brother “Stop acting like an asshole please” It's not like Lafayette could do much, yes, Thomas is his brother, but he’s also his alpha, and at the end of the day he had to obey to what he says. Thomas threw his empty coffee cup in a street trashcan and groaned. “You know what Lafayette, date him. But if you come home once,crying over him. It’s over. Also, best not to tell him about your job. “ Lafayette sighed, sad. Thomas did had a point, he couldn't just say “hey there i’m a exotic dancer also known as stripper what about you”. “Dont worry, i wont…” Lafayette looked at his phone and then looked at his brother “Speaking of jobs, i have to go now” he smiled and put his phone back in his pocket “I’ll text you later, Bye”. Laf sighed walking into his dressing room. Great, another day of losing my dignity. At least it pays well. He thought to himself. He quickly got changed and sat on his table, waiting for his name to get called. When it finally did, he quickly put in his heels and walked out onto the stage. Lafayette, what a beautiful name, Hercules thought. His day was actually pretty boring, it was one of his only days off, and he decided to go to a coffee shop, when he met them. Every part of that human being was totally perfect, curly hair, their height, everything. Right after he left the coffee shop he started texting a friend of his, but the frenchman was still on his mind.But also a big reminder was flying on his mind, they can't know i'm a wizard! God!, because of the coffee, the date and the smiles he totally forgot that very important part of his life, but it's not something to worry about, he just had to not use magic in front of them Hercules was walking to a park, until he saw Lafayette walking with his brother on the street in front of him. Hercules was too shy to say Hi again, so instead he made a weird decision, follow them. Lafayette was having a discussion with his brother, and he suddenly stopped, and walked into a… stripclub? Hercules thought he’s probably just getting a drink, but little did he knew it wasn't a drink. Lafayette faked his best smile,knowing the guys there liked it better and payed more when they thought Laf was having fun. He started dancing to the music and soon, his performance was over. Weirdly enough that was the easy part. The harder part was walking the grounds for extra tips via lap dance, which Lafayette hated. He danced with random people for a while. After getting lots of tip money, he was called back on stage. Hercules opened the door the club and the first thing he smelled what cigarettes and alcohol. He saw a lot of old mens and waiters, and he wanted to leave, but first he wanted to see Lafayette. Two dancers performed and went up to him, but he didn't accepted them. Hercules sighed and ordered a tequila, so he could leave. When he got it, he grabbed the shot glass and heard in the speakers the name “Moonlight” turned up to the stage and he literally choked on his drink, which by the way it was already too strong to choke on it. He couldn't believe his own eyes. Lafayette, was up in the stage, with make up, heels and a uniform, performing. Lafayette had heard someone choke right before the music started and he blushed hard, without even knowing who it was. He couldn’t see through the lights in his face. He switched up the routine he did from earlier, and soon it was over. He hopped off the stage and stumbled, the lights temporarily blinding him. After he could see again, he made his second and final trip of the night around. Hercules, totally shocked, had the best idea he could ever had. He whistled at Lafayette, so they could do him a lap dance, genius. Laf walked over to Herc and froze. Oh fucking shit. “H-hercules hi…. I u.. Do you still want one? “ He asked awkwardly, suddenly stumbling in his heels. “Yes, come here” he demanded. Hercules just wanted to talk and this was the only way. Lafayette started dancing and he was (obviously) turned on, but he needed to concentrate. “What are you doing?” He asked. Laf looked down in shame, sitting in Herc’s lap. “Making money. That's what everyone here is doing. “ His voice had a slight edge to it, as if he'd had to explain it so many times before. “What are you doing here? “ He asked, suddenly self conscious. “I-I followed you” he said, nervously. “I'm sorry if it sounds weird, but yes… You shouldn't be here, i feel like you’re so much more than this” it was an odd conversation topic, and it was odd because Lafayette was lap dancing. Laf frowned and stopped. “What do you mean, more than this? It may be a demeaning job but… It makes a lot of money. “ He wasn't dancing anymore, just sitting in Herc’s lap. “Wait, did you say you… Followed me? That's… Romantic. Wait you're not a serial killer are you? “ “What? No!” He laughed. “I just… Ugh i can't explain it…” he looked away and then a lightbulb shine at the top of his head. He grabbed Lafayette’s chin holding him close “Listen, is this your last performance? If it is, come with me, i’ll take you to lunch and we can go shopping if you want, just please leave with me” he said, softly. Lafayette blushed, forced to stare into Herc’s eyes. “It’s my last one for the night… “ He started. He thought hard for a minute. If he left with Hercules, so many things could happen. If he stayed over hours waiting for Thomas to pick him up, he'd lose his mind. “Take me anywhere I don't care. Just not here. “ “O-Okay! I’ll wait for you outside!” He smiled and then Lafayette walked away from him. This was going to best night of his life! Hercules never felt something like this before, this kind of connection was really strong, and he was finally happy.

#mullette #herclaf #non binary laf

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kaladndekars · 4 years

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PERSONALITY:

MISC.

Does your character have any nicknames? not really tbh. she’s not one for nicknames. she has a lot of names though from over the years (-:

Does your character have any distinguishing features such as tattoos, scars, piercings, etc? she has two piercings on both her earlobes. no tattoos.

What is your character like in relationships? Are they clingy? Faithful or unfaithful? Do they jump from one relationship to the other? Do they even have an interest in something romantic? faithful in the sense she’ll end the relationship once she’s bored rather than hang on and cheat behind their back ( though she’s certainly been unfaithful in the past ). she’s much fonder of arrangements that have no strings attached, so she can be with who she likes, when she likes. it doesn’t matter if a relationship lasted ten years or two months—once she’s grown tired of it, she’ll end it and move onto the next one. or be single for a while. it depends. romance does interest her to an extent, but she hasn’t been as in love as she was with jong-yul in a very long time. it’d take a very special being for her to give so much of herself to someone else again.

Where does your character go when they are angry? it’s a mystery

Has your character ever been in love? Have they ever had a broken heart? she was in love with the vampire who turned her, as they spent numerous years together and formed an unbreakable bond—until he disappeared and broke her heart. she got over it. mostly. sometimes she gets angry at him for disappearing, and other times she grows despondent, afraid that he was killed by a hunter.

WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS:

vampire friends/allies — as much as she keeps others at a certain length, it’d actually be nice to have friends who won’t die in a few decades. these could be vampires she’s known for a very, very long time, those she’s just recently struck up a friendship with, a new vampire she’s mentoring because sometimes she does nice things, etc. these could also be varying degrees of trust—maybe they’re proven loyal till the end, or they’re just around each other because it’s fun. or they relate to each on some vampiric level.

acquaintances / friends — she’s not trying to make her life difficult, so she’s a pretty friendly person until you piss her off. so these would be people she gets along with for whatever reason. also, human friends who think she’s human and she’s not doing a thing to correct them would be fun!!

interests — she thinks you’re interesting/amusing and hangs around you for that reason.

enemies — you got on her bad side for some reason, or she got on yours. or you just hate each other. also here for love/hate relationships with all that tension and ‘i hate you but i can’t stay away from you and arguing with you is really fun and also you’re kind of hot???’

other supernatural being shenanigans

anything else!!! pls come to me w any ideas!!!

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blschaos3000-blog · 4 years

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Its 10:08 am

Welcome to “8 Questions with…..”

It was the last week of January and someone mentioned that it was almost time for “Women In Horror Month” which happens in February. Feel a bit inspired I quickly tossed out a “interviews wanted” in my faithful casting group and got a very nice group of talented actresses who have worked in horror films who agreed to answer some questions. Its time to meet our next guest,the very spirited young actress Chelsea Jurkiewicz who is based in Salt Lake City,Utah. Chelsea has been performing for almost half of her life and she is just getting started. I got a chance to watch her work in the short film “Angie Bleeds” and I can assure you,she has some serious skills for someone so young. It takes a mature actor to handle sensitive issues in a film,most younger actors tend to go big but I was very impressed with mature Chelsea handled herself. Now she is having a bit of fun by starring in a new indie horror film,which is my cue to shut up and get out of the way of Chelsea answering her 8 Questions…..

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your latest project.

Hi! I’m Chelsea Jurkiewicz. I’m 21 years old, and I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. One of my latest projects is a horror movie called Abigail Haunting, where I play the lead role of Katie. We filmed it in Las Vegas. I got to work with an amazing team of multi-Emmy award winning filmmakers. It’s coming out this Summer, and I can’t wait for everyone to see it!

What was growing up in your house like? Is your family naturally artistic?

My family is artistic, but not in the entertainment industry. My mom and grandparents are all great painters. That’s cool, but I was never really interested in that sort of thing. I kind of broke the chain of visual artists when I started acting, singing, and dancing.

While being only 21 years old,you have been acting for 10 years,how did you get your start?

Acting is something I’ve always loved doing, even before I knew what it was. As a kid, I was always acting out stories and making up movie titles. When I was 11, I heard about auditions for a live musical. I ended up getting cast in that, and really fell in love with every aspect of performing. I continued doing theatre for a few years. When I was 15, I decided to try film acting. I guess that was always my dream, but I didn’t feel like I was ready to jump into it until then. It was hard to get an agent and all that at first, so I started by doing a lot of background extra work. That worked out really well, because it got me used to being on a film set. Within a year or two, I was able to land an agent and start getting lead roles in short films and small speaking parts in features. In 2018, I got my first leading role in a feature film, playing Renee in The 13th Cross. (That’s coming out soon, folks.) The next year, I landed the role of Victoria Crumb in the movie, The Crumbs, out in California (that’s also coming out soon, folks), and Katie Fredrick in Abigail Haunting (that’s also also coming out soon, folks). Since then, I’ve acted in a few amazing shorts and things. One of my upcoming shorts that really stands out to me is a fantasy drama called Lumeria. For the past several months I’ve been taking a break from acting, which I think has been really good for me. It kind of feels like taking a gap year from college to find yourself. (Not that I would know what that feels like. I’m not very school-y. Hence my use of the term “school-y”.) But anyway, it’s been a wild journey, and I’m excited to get back on set fairly soon. Wow, that answer was way longer than you bargained for. And I’m glad of it. I’m not ashamed of being a long-winded person, guys.

What three things about horror films appeal to you the most?

I love being dramatic. And name one time you can be more dramatic than when you’re starring in a horror movie. Also, I think fear is the most intense emotion, and I like to see what I can do with it. My third reason is that I have fun knowing that I can keep the audience on their seat when I’m performing. I feel like I’ve got them in the palm of my hand. When I began my acting career as a child, I just wanted to act – I didn’t like all the power and attention that came with it. But that power and attention has grown on me as my confidence has grown. I love the power I have over the audience when I’m doing horror. Boo. Just kidding. I guess I’m a little hammy. Which makes sense, because ham is pretty much the only meat that I think is yummy.

What three films have scared you the most and what scared you about them?

I think I’m kind of desensitized to horror films because I’m around the genre so much. I see it from a behind-the-scenes perspective, you know? But I think one of the greatest horror films ever made is The Conjuring. It’s so well-shot and well-acted, and shows that you don’t need a ton of blood and profanity to scare people. Fun fact: I actually auditioned for The Conjuring 2, and had never seen the first one. I watched it before I auditioned for pre-text, and was like, “Oh my gosh!” Totally amazed. Still amazed. Anyway, we aren’t here to promote that movie. (but it had Ocean Master in it! -Editor) Another one of my favorite horror movies is Crimson Peak, because I love period pieces. And that cast is super dang good. I also love The Witch. One of my big wishes is to work with A24. I can’t give you an answer for what scared me about them. I’m just not easily freaked out by the obviously scary stuff. I’m literally more afraid of broken dolls or something. There’s a drawer in the house I grew up in that me and my mom call the “Scary Drawer” that has broken dolls from my childhood in it. I don’t throw them away because randomly I have an urge to scare myself. Is that weird? I don’t care.

Do you have a different approach in your preperations depending on the script? What has been the three best pieces of advice given to you acting wise?

Yes, I do prepare differently based on each particular production. That being said, though, I don’t have any conscious strategy to prepare for a role. If there’s any research I need to do, I do it. I write notes in the script sometimes. I rehearse. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have to try. It just comes. Trying too hard can corrupt that. I sound like a granola, but it’s true. That’s why I don’t take acting classes. I’m not sure if I believe in strategy. As for the second part of your question, here are 3 great pieces of advice given to me (in no particular order). One is from a great friend of mine who told me that it’s not about the dialog, but what happens underneath. I am definitely a dialog person, so I don’t even 100% agree with that, but I still consider it one of the best pieces of advice because it reminds me to pay attention to my facial expressions. Facial expressions can get you cast. Seriously. Another piece of advice is from my mom. It wasn’t meant to be advice for acting, but I use it in my career as much as I do in my personal life. And it is simply to be confident in yourself and don’t care what others think of you. My third piece of advice was from a very established director that I was doing a callback for once. Because of my extensive horror background, I kind of got to the point where I thought every scene needed the intensity that a scary scene does. This movie I had been called back for wasn’t a horror film, but I did the scene with so much intensity and drama. It was literally so dramatic. The director told me to do the scene again, and he had one note for me. “Less.” That one word made me realize that I can save my energy for the scenes that need it. I didn’t book that role, but I auditioned for The 13th Cross like 2 days later, used that advice, and landed my first lead in a feature.

Which do you perfer,film or live theater and why?

I think I’ll always appreciate both…I did start in theatre after all…but I’m going to have to say film. I’m a very subtle actor, and film is the medium that lets me use that talent. Also, I’ve gotten to play much more dramatic and juicy roles in movies than I ever did in plays. And probably most important of all, I just feel like film peeps are more my species of peep.

Which three people inspire you the most and why?

That’s a tough one – so many people inspire me! If we’re talking celebrity-wise, I’d say Kate Winslet. She’s kind of the reason I got into film acting. I always wanted to be like her. You should read my 15-year-old self’s journal entries. I talk about Kate Winslet so much, it’s not even funny. Another one is Emily Blunt because she is so freaking versatile. That’s how I want to be. Oh and Toni Collette. I’m not even going to give you a reason for that other than she’s just super cool and talented and dramatic as heck. If we’re talking someone I personally know, I’d say my friend Dennis. He is just beyond amazing and interesting. And as mysterious as a treasure chest. He has so much love for literally everybody.

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not working?

Ice-skating, making jewelry, walking/hiking, anything involving a tape recorder, photography, and most of all, any type of adventure with my friends or family.

What are three things people would be surprised to know about you?

I love this question! Can I tell you more than 3? Well, I’m gonna.

-1. I’m also a singer and dancer.

-2. I am related to Scottish royalty.

-3. I have a severe mental disorder called Psychasthenia.

-4. I have been onstage with David Copperfield.

-5. I am ambidextrous.

-6. I have never been swimming, and I used to think that was a deep dark secret.

-7. I am related to Elizabeth Montgomery.

-8. My favorite food is cheese.

Okay, I’ll stop boring you. Not that it’s boring, hee hee.

The cheetah and I are flying over to watch your latest film but we are a day early and now you are playing tour guide,what are we doing?

Hmmm…well you really SHOULD visit Salt Lake sometime, it’s a beautiful city. One of my favorite attractions in Utah is an amusement park called Lagoon. I can’t ride all the rides because I get motion sick really easily, but I still love that place. Besides fun rides, they have little shops, and an arcade, and an old-fashioned museum thingy-jingy. Another one of my favorite places near my hometown is the Grand America Hotel. It’s kind of like a mall in there, and it’s the fanciest place I’ve ever seen. I also might take you to a cute little place called Gardner Village.

I like to thank Chelsea for doing such an fun and interesting interview. Of course the cheetah and I looking at each and going “A24????” knowing full well a certain film buff we know will be getting a HUGE kick out of that…..yeah,Danny,we are talking about you! The thing is,I believe Chelsea will indeed work on a A24 film in the near future,she has the drive and the skills to make it happen for herself. Hopefully soon we’ll be reviewing “Angie Bleeds” here on the blog and you’ll see why we are excited to see where Chelsea goes next. For now,you can click on any of her social media platforms below and follow Chelsea’s rising star…..

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chelseajurkiewiczactress/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelseaamberjurkiewicz/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChelseaJActress

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6922643/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRKkRcWhcZOuqv36lV_oPcA

Abigail Haunting page & trailer

Thank you for supporting my interview series and if you like to catch up with who we have chatted with….click here. Feel free to leave a comment as well…..

8 Questions with………actress Chelsea Jurkiewicz Its 10:08 am Welcome to “8 Questions with…..” It was the last week of January and someone mentioned that it was almost time for “Women In Horror Month” which happens in February.

#8 Questions With #A24 Films #acting #indie horror #interview #maturity #Salt Lake City #scream queen #Utah #WIHM #Women In Horror

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