For those of us who haven't yet achieved Sublimation/enlightenment/Nirvana and are still here on Earth missing our interactions with the Reyvablog people, I thought I'd start a thread in which people can ask questions of our characters-- either things you've always been curious about that might not have been explained during the course of the plot, or lighthearted meme-type questions just for fun. You can ask questions as your characters or as yourself, but characters have to respond in character. (They can also decline to respond-- that's fine too! And you don't have to answer a question before you can ask one-- obviously, since you may not even have a character.)
I'll kick off with a few....
dhezeall asks winters: So how much control do you have over that tail, anyway? Can you move it like an arm, or is it more limited?
heartofharmony asks polyhymnia: Can you describe the best experience you've ever had using your magic?
AR asks Rigil: I do know you two got engaged, but did you ever get to sing for Crystal after all, and how did she respond?
neonsunray asks celeliss: If you ever got to play Truth or Dare with Mir, would you ask her to tell a truth or do a dare, and what would the truth/dare involve?
Also, when asked what happiness was (and therefore what they would probably be experiencing in Sublimation), my characters' first responses were as follows:
dhezeall: Happiness is a warm Reyvateil. ♫ And, generally, affection and kindness and stuff.
heartofharmony: Happiness is being at peace and not having to fear or worry about anything.
AR: Happiness is a world where people don't seek to hurt each other just for being different.
neonsunray: Happiness is being able to be what you've always known in your heart you were meant to be.
What are your characters' first thoughts on what happiness is? Not complex philosophical theories (we can get to that later XD), just... the first things they think of?
Letra - Eldharia ~Inori Saku Mori~
2 months ago
56 comments:
Oh, also, one I asked before and you said you'd have to think on it: polyhymnia, briyante, would you kiss Mir?
(dhezeall)
So how much control do you have over that tail, anyway? Can you move it like an arm, or is it more limited?
I've met people who had that much control, but I don't. I can make it stay still when I want (hiding it under clothes would have been hellish otherwise), but if I'm not doing that, it kind of does it's own thing. (Does a pretty good job of it too; my balance is actually a bit better than most Teru.) I think it's something that can be improved with practice, so I suppose I could eventually get that level of concious control if I tried.
Why do you ask? `.`
winters: Oh, entirely predictable reasons involving the fact that by the time I actually sat down and thought about it and realised I actually had some curiosity in that direction, there was no time for me to do anything about it. ♫ (I'm sorry if that sounds really fetishising, but you said you liked honesty. Plus, after a certain amount of mentions by you of porn and/or tails within some reasonable proximity of each other, you can't blame me for thinking about it. ♭)
I'm not sure I should wonder what you'd do about it if you'd had the opportunity? If it's anything Rena would like or dislike, then it might be even worse...
I really don't think anything sexual with the tail would work very well though. Even with a lot more control, I think there'd be problems...
like or dislike
Sounds like you don't have much faith in her tastes. Or maybe the way she acts on them. ♫ ...If anything she likes or dislikes is bad, I wonder how you two get along. Not that it's any of my business.
(rot13'd for the underage or underwilling) Naq jung ner lbh gnyxvat nobhg? Va znal jnlf, n gncrerq gnvy yvxr gung vf n tvsg sebz gur Tbqqrffrf va gung qrcnegzrag-- vg pna or jungrire jvqgu lbh'q yvxr vg gb or, sbe bar guvat. Naq vs crbcyr pna qb vagrerfgvat guvatf jvgu, fnl, gurve abfrf, be bgure cnegf bs gur obql gung bar grpuavpnyyl qbrfa'g unir zhpu pbageby bire, V qba'g frr jul gnvy-ba-bgure-obql-cneg pbagnpg jbhyqa'g jbex....
Znlor lbh arrq gb jngpu zber cbea. ♫ (Lrnu, lrnu, V xabj. Znlor V arrq gb jngpu yrff.)
Okay, okay, another question. How was Sublimation for you? I mean, right near the end? Did you get to be at peace with things at all, or were you scared right until it took you?
For the record, I don't even dare to look at what she wrote there....
It wasn't that bad! I'm just aware that not everyone wants to read about the kind of things my brain comes up with in this regard, that's all. I do actually possess a modicum of tact....
It's not like *that*. There's just certain subjects that I've learned to be... cautious... about. `.`
Jryy, gur fxva ba vg vf n ovg ebhtu, fb...
Jngpu zber cbea. Gung'f abg fbzrguvat lbh urne rirel qnl. b.B
(Hehehehe, b.B ...)
*looks around* Did we scare everyone else away?
Jryy, gur fxva ba vg vf n ovg ebhtu, fb...
Gung qbrfa'g fbhaq onq nf fhpu? V zrna, n ybg bs gblf ner qrfvtarq ebhtu sbe gung checbfr. Gubhtu V nqzvg, gung'f abg jung V jnf vzntvavat, ohg vg'f arng va vgf bja jnl.
...I actually tried to un-rot13 the "Hehehehe, b.B ...", but I don't think you actually meant to say "Urururur", unless that's a Teru-cultural thing for "lol".... It does rather look like you got a couple of black eyes.
And hey, ya never answered my other question. ♫ Not that they're not optional, just curious as to whether you got distracted by all the porn talk, or you just didn't have a response. ♫
I suppose. I don't know if I really want to try it though.
I just thought b.B looked kind of cute. I'm not sure what Urururur-ing is, but it sounds like the sort of thing that you injure yourself while trying to do and end up in bed for three days. `.`
I saw it, just... didn't get to answering it. ...I don't think I'll be getting to it this time either.
...I read that info and am now turned off from the very idea of Teru porn (other than, I guess, porn that has nothing to do with having tails). Oh well. ♫
Would I kiss Mir? I... honestly have not spent as much time thinking about sex as some people apparently have. And not even just dhezeall. ♫ I think I might give it a go-- she's a Reyvateil, she's... got pretty eyes. But I don't know how I'd really feel when physically up close to her. I might have to try it to know.
As for my best experience with magic, this is a really hard question. I think it's one morning when I woke up and I heard someone singing outside, while the sunlight was streaming into my room. I had been in such a beautiful, floaty dream, possibly because of magic, and when I woke up and heard the song, I felt like my entire self was melting into the world and everything the world was comprised of was melting into me, and I sat up and I felt this sense of life brushing past me and through me in an endless stream as if I didn't even have any boundaries between myself and elsewhere. And I went downstairs and out into the vegetable garden and there was the singer, just sitting there admiring the flowers and singing, and I joined in, and it was so many times lovelier even than that when I did. It was just... more intense, I think... and all these other people, Reyvateils and humans, started trickling outside to watch. Almost everyone within earshot.
It was one of those songs where you aren't really doing anything, just drifting, but what you're aware of is so nice...
Happiness is, I suppose, being together with the people you care for the most.
Would I kiss Mir? ...hmmmmm.
I haven't really been involved in... doing anything like that much, partly because I've been so sick and fragile since I left home. So I don't know very well what I think about these things or what my preferences are.
I kind of did like it when dhezeall kissed me, though, even though it was totally twenty minutes before the world ended and a lot of people were watching. That was my first kiss, but I wouldn't mind trying it again. With Mir... I guess I would try it, if she was okay with it and we both had worked out what it meant to us to do so, so that nothing awkward happened.
Happiness is laughter, I think. Being able to kid around with people you're close enough to, and just relax and enjoy yourself and clown around. And having the attention of people you care about.
dhezeall: I know you had bad experiences with diving, but is there anyone on the Reyvablog you would be willing to dive with?
AR: When did you first hear about/get interested in Mir?
celeliss: Did you ever get the chance to craft a Song?
polyhymnia: that was an awesome story. I particularly liked this bit:
It was one of those songs where you aren't really doing anything, just drifting, but what you're aware of is so nice...
It's like... sometimes, even often, magic isn't about doing anything. It's just about being, existing within that space. It's a state, a way of interacting with the world, more than it is an action, a performative thing with a definitive outcome.
Awesome that you managed to draw a crowd, too. Your voices, your emotions, must have been just lovely. Awesome way to start a morning.
briyante:
I kind of did like it when dhezeall kissed me, though, even though it was totally twenty minutes before the world ended and a lot of people were watching. That was my first kiss, but I wouldn't mind trying it again.
Hehehe, awwww. I'm glad you liked it. ♫ I wouldn't mind trying again without all the people watching, either....
With Mir... I guess I would try it, if she was okay with it and we both had worked out what it meant to us to do so, so that nothing awkward happened.
I think that's a good, responsible answer. For all that I harp on the topic, I think it's a good thing to ground yourself in what it means to the both of you before you actually do anything.
As for diving... it'd have to be someone I'd really, really trust to be accepting of whatever was in there. I don't think I'd be able to handle it if someone laughed at me or teased me about stuff afterwards, no matter how good-natured they were. It'd need to be someone who was really mature-headed and responsible and thoughtful, and kind of instinctively I feel like that rules out anyone younger than me, even if I know it doesn't really go by age.
I think I might have been able to get to the point where I'd have trusted Mayalan to do it. If we're talking just Reyvablog posters, AR is probably the person I trust the most and whose maturity and way of handling responsibility I know the best, but our past conflicts might have come between us. polyhymnia also seems like she'd be the right kind of responsible and mature, though I'd have to know her a bit better. I'm really, really protective of that side of myself, and it takes me a lot longer to be comfortable with the thought of that than to trust people in just about any other way.
Also, AR, would you dive with Mir? Who would dive into whom, or would it go both ways? (Also, if you've ever done a Dive before, who was it with?)
winters: Is there anything you thought of at the last minute that you'd have liked to do before Sublimation, but didn't really have time to do?
Crystal: Where would you have had your wedding, if you'd had the chance? Would it be a big one or a little one?
When did you first hear about/get interested in Mir?
I was a youngish activist, in my late teens I guess-- still this naive kid, just milling around on the edges of the social scene trying to get to know people. I was at one of those little underground gatherings we sometimes held-- think the basement of some bar somewhere in a slightly shabby part of town, flyers on the wall advertising indie bands, a little kitchen selling Reyvateil-friendly drinks and homecooked vegan food, female signs painted on each of the restroom doors. It was a place that'd been completely taken over by a couple of enterprising hippies, painted with activist murals, all that kind of stuff. There was one wall at the back that was lined with books, the kind of books that don't get sold at the mainstream bookstores-- paperback, self-published stuff, radical theories, uber-leftist political rantings-- and there were tables nearby, so you could sit around reading and snacking and discussing the ideas in the books. (Bit of a long description here, but an important part of the experience, to me, I think, was what it felt like, what the atmosphere was like-- so bear with me.)
At this particular gathering, around the time people started to wind down and get to breaking off into smaller groups and just hanging around and chatting on a more personal level, I overheard some people sitting at those tables discussing some books they had out in front of them. They were illustrated with black-and-white photographs of the news reports on Mir-- pictures of Shurelia's speeches, Mir's own statements, the aftermath of the war. They were black and white, I guess, because whoever had had the books printed couldn't afford full colour; it was that kind of thing.
I'd heard a little about Mir, obviously, like everyone had, and since I was just starting to come around to the idea that You Can't Believe All You Hear On The News, I was really curious about what activists might have to discuss about Mir, what might have been wrong with the news reports. It all seemed like it must have been pretty clear-cut to me; Mir started a war, she was relentless and determined to kill all humans, a lot of people died. But as I started talking to this group, who enthusiastically invited me into their discussions, I realised that while, yes, Mir had done some awful things, there'd also been a lot of twisting of words and images of her by the press, undermining of the atrocities she suffered at human hands and use of her image to demonise Reyvateils when it really should have been used to demonise human mistreatment of them, etc.
I think I partly got into the group because they were just so nice to me and accepting of me and what they said, like anything explained well and passionately, made sense, but the more I did my own research, the more I felt like they did have a point. It wasn't until a good while later that I started feeling truly intensely towards Mir-- I think becoming a streetwalker was what really pushed me into idolising her, because I needed some hope, needed a patron saint for the downtrodden and mistreated-- but I'd always liked her, since then.
One night we got together and made a bunch of necklaces in support of her, for ourselves to wear covertly. I didn't take up wearing mine regularly until much later, though. That one I eventually gave away to a dying girl who I figured needed the protection.
I also learnt to keep quiet about my affinity with that group; I found out pretty quickly that the other activists weren't so fond of them, and thought they were extremist troublemakers. The more things change....
Also, AR, would you dive with Mir? Who would dive into whom, or would it go both ways? (Also, if you've ever done a Dive before, who was it with?)
I would happily allow Mir to dive into me. I... think at this point she might be the only person I'd truly trust to do so. I'd dive into her, too, if she wanted it, but I think the idea of that would be much more intimidating; I'm sure she's very overwhelming in there.
I had a steady girlfriend for a few years named Ada* who I actually dived fairly far with (fairly far for an average relationship, I guess-- we did it about four times). I hadn't had as many life experiences back then, though, and so there weren't as many problems to sort out. I think my Cosmosphere got a lot more complex later. When I was dating dhezeall, I kind of wanted us to dive, but... well, she was always afraid of it.
*It wasn't her full name, but she always went by it. Her parents were among those who took up that trend that was popular for a while of naming Reyvateil children after musical terms, and she thought it was hugely embarrassing and stereotyped.
I do know you two got engaged, but did you ever get to sing for Crystal after all, and how did she respond?
I did get to sing for her, yes.
I had the entire day planned out. Breakfast in bed, a day on the town, and finishing it off with a homecooked dinner like none I had done before. It took some doing; I had to keep her away from the blog for a day or so to keep her from finding out.
Everything went smashing! She loved her breakfast, and it had been so long since we had just gone out for the sake of going out. I think at dinner she suspected something was up, and wanted to know what I was up to.
I sang then.
It was shakey, and my day and a half of practice...hadn't been the best, to say the least. At the very least, I wasn't tone deaf.
I was worried, but halfway through, she started to sing along.
After it was done, she looked almost like she wanted to cry. As she smiled through it, I got down on my knee, and pulled out a ring I had fashioned myself (I took everyone's suggestions, really.), and asked her to marry me.
And that was where it all came crashing down.
She got a scared look on her face before running out of our home, without saying a word.
I was devistated. Had I done something wrong? Was the song out of place?
She didn't come home, or show up at work for the next two weeks. I was worried, yes, but I was a coward. I thought I had done something to hurt her; the last person she wanted to see was me.
It took neonsunray's courage in facing death to wake me up to my own lack of courage. I promptly went to where she was staying, and talked with her.
I made my feelings clear, and she made hers clear to me. She said I would be better with someone else. I said I would settle for nothing less than her.
She finally agreed.
She asked me on the way back home...if I would sing with her again.
What is happiness to you?
Rigil: Happiness for me would be a well cooked meal. The care that goes into preparing it and the companionship that comes from sharing it with others.
Crystal: Happiness is having a safe home where I am accepted, where I can simply be me. Everything else extends from that.
I see... that's why she was away from home. At the time, I only got the half of that story....
I'm glad you two overcame, and that you were able to spend that last time in this world, presumably, together. I hope Sublimation was wonderful for you both, as well. (I can't imagine how it could have not been wonderful for anyone, truly....)
Crystal, what was it like singing along with a humn? And Rigil, what was it like singing along with a Reyvateil? I've never sung with a human before, personally....
A few more questions...
briyante: what was it like being called to Mir after thinking she was messed-up and crazy for so long?
polyhymnia, if you could have changed one decision you made pre-Sublimation, what would it have been? Or do you consider, now, that there's nothing to regret?
Well... I never really thought too much about Mir, to be honest. I didn't have some huge Mirophobia or anything; I just knew of her as some messed-up person way back in history. So when I found out that she was ok after all, I just changed my opinion.
I did get pretty disturbed when she announced Sublimation, but then it turned out to be ok after all, so... yeah. I simply just accepted that she wasn't the person I'd heard she was. If I'd met her and didn't know she was Mir, there's no way I'd ever have guessed it. I just didn't have a clue about the actual her, before.
It's really impossible to regret anything right now. I can't think of anything I don't have that my life would be improved by having... I know I regretted not being able to pet a kittycat when I was waiting on Singing Hill, but here it's like petting kittycats just to be here. It's as if before, life was looking at a picture, and now I have the real thing.
You know how dhezeall once said that when she was little, she used to draw an install port on herself with marker, and pretend she was a Reyvateil? Missing anything pre-Sublimation would be like adult dhezeall missing how she used to draw an install port on herself-- she doesn't need to do that, because she really has one. It's mostly just nostalgic because it was about wanting something that she now has for real.
Yes. It's exactly like what I did then. It's like everything back then was us "wanting to be", and now we are. That's the simplest and most complex statement that can be made about it... we are, and we need nothing else.
Okay, catch-up time...
It's kind of hard to answer the question the way you put it, since I never really felt that scared to begin with. There were things I'd have been happier knowing, but most of the really bad stuff I didn't think was a possibility anyway.
(polyhymnia)
...I read that info and am now turned off from the very idea of Teru porn (other than, I guess, porn that has nothing to do with having tails).
Hey, I'm sure there's plenty of perfectly good things that could be done with having a tail in Teru porn without involving any... unpleasant friction-related issues...
This isn't helping, is it? `.`
(We never did figure out what "Teru porn" actually was, did we?)
(haounomiko)
winters: Is there anything you thought of at the last minute that you'd have liked to do before Sublimation, but didn't really have time to do?
It's kind of a boring answer, but I can't really think of anything...
Hmm, I guess you acted more scared than you felt. Or just... bothered or upset, perhaps. But I'm glad you went with no regrets, and that the time leading up to it wasn't a bad experience.
Was your girlfriend more okay with it, or less?
And I'm curious as to what your ideas are for using a tail that wouldn't involve said issues. XD
I suppose how it works is that I can be bothered by a possibility without being really worried about it becoming a reality... It's kind of hard to explain.
And I'm curious as to what your ideas are for using a tail that wouldn't involve said issues.
Looking sexy of course. ^_~
Lyuma and celeliss, when did each of you first hear of/get interested in Mir, specifically?
AR, if you absolutely had to pick between the Church and Tenba, which would you rather join? (Ideology aside, really-- which sounds less icky to you.)
heartofharmony, if you had to be either a Dive Therapist or a prostitute, which would you rather resort to doing?
Mir, would you hook up with/date/sleep with AR if she asked you to?
(Wow, this is really gossipy. =D But I'm curious.)
Oh, and one more: Lyuma, if you could only ever create one painting, and it couldn't be of Mir, what would it be of?
Lyuma and celeliss, when did each of you first hear of/get interested in Mir, specifically?
I was really young when I first discovered her... I found a magazine lying around that my parents had bought (sort of like, current affairs type magazine, they bought it a lot) and her picture was in it... looking fearsome obviously, because all the officially released pictures of her were like that... and I asked my parents "who's that" (I must have been about 5 I guess)... and my mom said "that's Mir"... and I was completely enraptured somehow by looking at her... she just radiated... something... so powerful... so intensely beautiful and overwhelming... I said something I guess like "I really like her"... and my mom was all "omg no you can't like her, she's a bad person"... but I really did... and I never stopped... when I was a bit older and they had more magazines with her picture (she was a regular story I guess) I would wait till they threw them out and rip out the images... and sometimes they found the ripped magazines in the trash and were kind of mad... lol....
Lyuma, if you could only ever create one painting, and it couldn't be of Mir, what would it be of?
I guess maybe an abstract... of the things I think and feel when I sing... sort of trying to capture the images....
AR, if you absolutely had to pick between the Church and Tenba, which would you rather join? (Ideology aside, really-- which sounds less icky to you.)
That's... a really tough choice. Tenba pay you, but they also killed my parents. That said, from this position... on reflection... no, they really didn't. Tenba is... an abstract, an idea. There is no such thing as "Tenba", really, and the people who failed to maintain those trains aren't the whole company, and there were probably. And I'm more disgusted with the idea of not being paid for the slavery, so... I suppose Tenba. At least I'd feel like I was working rather than being someone's pet. I don't think I could stand being a "little Church girl" at all-- no offence to anyone who was.
heartofharmony, if you had to be either a Dive Therapist or a prostitute, which would you rather resort to doing?
Oh, goddesses... I... at least Dive Therapists get to create a space in their minds specially for clients, so it's not like having your real mind entered into? And you don't have to be handled physically, or risk getting an awful disease, or being raped, or attacked... Dive Therapy sounds like it happens in a controlled, safe environment, so I'd prefer that. I'm not sure if I could bring myself to manage, but I think I'd curl up in a ball and never come out again if I had to be a prostitute, so... I'd be a Dive Therapist. It actually sounds a bit more pleasant than what I do at the Church... I just never had the outgoing personality or the counsellor-nature to want to try.
Mir, would you hook up with/date/sleep with AR if she asked you to?
Hm. That's a question. I know she wanted to be intimate with me, but... at the time I didn't feel like I knew her well enough. I knew she deeply cared for me, and I could sense that she was a good person, but... I would have had to get to know her better. A date, I would certainly.
And now, a question for polyhymnia and briyante, from me. Who would you most want to date, out of anyone in the Reyvablog cast, and why?
Oh, dear... I feel rather awkward letting myself think of any of my friends like that, because I don't know what they would think of me for thinking that... And, like heartofharmony, I'm rather more interested in fluffing at friends than in dating. Well, maybe she and I would make a good couple for that reason-- mutual compatibility, I suppose.
Hmm... I did... rather like it when dhezeall kissed me... I usually feel too sick to even consider such things, but that was nice... But she's got a girlfriend already. I wouldn't ever want to interfere with them.
(Haha, although I do remember when she first called me a troll. It'd be really amusing and ironic if we ended up together, wouldn't it? We've had so many arguments and things... And still, she's really nice.)
Am I the only one who saw Shurelia on the news and thought she was kinda cute? I mean, she's SHURELIA, I know... but if celebrity crushes are ok, I wonder what it'd be like to go out with her. Especially since I'm just dreaming anyway, because I'm really sort of too fragile, probably.
AR, if you had to choose between being known as "the Angry Reyvateil" or by your first name, by everyone, for the rest of your life, which would you prefer?
Deciare, now that Sublimation has occurred, humans have magic again-- what will your first spell be?
AR, dhezeall, heartofharmony, Lyuma, celeliss, and Mir: what's your favourite music album by any artist you've never met?
Mir and Lyuma, are you a couple? The world's celebrity gossip journalists are all speculating...
dhezeall, a magic genie has appeared to you and offered you one of two wishes: Either you can get rid of human prejudice against Reyvateils, or you can cure IPD forever. Which will you do?
Mir, if Lyuma hadn't done what she did, how were you going to choose someone to sing Sublimation with you?
But she's got a girlfriend already. I wouldn't ever want to interfere with them.
Well, our relationship's open to poly and playfulness and such. I make that clear from the beginning of relationships with people. Though... as much as you're wonderful to kiss, and would probably be exquisite to make love to, I'm not sure our ideologies match closely enough that we'd make a good couple. But it would've been nice if we'd known each other better, at the least.
Favourite album... man. That's hard. You're gonna make me choose? I suppose if I had to pick one... "All The Birds", by The Epic Spaces. About half the fans hated it and about half of them loved it, for pretty much the same reasons-- they went really far down the experimental-concept-album track, when most of their stuff before had been relatively straight rock. But it's layered, like a puzzle, and there're some absolutely heartrending vocals.
Magic genie... I think I'd get rid of human prejudice. If you find a cure for IPD, that's it, it's cured pretty easily. Human prejudice is a lot harder to find a magic bullet for, and it effects pretty much all of us, in ways large and small. And people can die from human prejudice in much more awful ways than they can die from IPD. The opportunity to change people's thinking is much rarer than a disease cure, so... I'd go with that.
Heh, interesting! I don't actually have a problem with my first name; I just worried about anonymity. And if everyone knew I was "the Angry Reyvateil", it wouldn't really be anonymous. XD So I'd pick my actual name.
Favourite album: "Horizon" by the Starcrashers. They're sort of a... prog-rock band with a lot of spiritual lyrics, which I found very inspiring when I was at my worst moments. "Horizon" had some great songs about things like floating out in space, or standing at the top of the Tower, and looking out across the world and taking in the vastness... just gave off this very wide, expansive, staggering feel that put you in your place in the universe without making you feel bad. It's a very warm-toned album.
Are we a couple?? ...well... hehe... depends how a couple is counted I guess... if you sleep together is that a couple? I don't know... we only had one night left really... but I'd say we got very close... bonded fiercely... and confessed some deep feelings in song... so... maybe.... ♫
Favourite album... I think... oh man... I like too many... but there is this one little album I wish were recognised more and I do really love it... "Hypotoxic" by Invader... no one knows them well cause they're sort of a really indie band that are like big Mir fans and sing about her a lot... so even the reyvateil press doesn't cover them so much... the great thing about this album was it was only five tracks, more of an EP but each song was a truly powerful thing... not screamy and angry like a lot of indie music either but it was almost dreamy... thoughtful... like someone calmly trying to make their case... also it was a pretty album cover, a red and black flower blooming in stages like time lapse photography... sort of evoking the idea that these colours and the ideas they stand for aren't scary....
dhezeall: Suppose that you were being punished by some evil curse and you had to choose between being a human and only ever being able to interact with humans for the rest of your life, which would you go with? (We're talking pre-Sublimation humans, here.)
Mm, favourite album... would everyone hate me if I said the one I'd been playing nonstop and annoying people with when we gathered with everyone...? No... I don't suppose you would. There is no hate, any more.
I'd like to know briyante and polyhymnia's favourite albums, too. And of polyhymnia... if you could have any hair, skin and eye colour combination in the world, including unusual colours-- assuming you lived in a world where no one would think any colour combination was strange-- what would you pick? And briyante... what's the nicest dream you've ever had?
Suppose that you were being punished by some evil curse and you had to choose between being a human and only ever being able to interact with humans for the rest of your life, which would you go with? (We're talking pre-Sublimation humans, here.)
...oh, goddesses, you've got some torturous ideas. ♭ I... assume being a human would take away the need I've always had to be a Reyvateil-- I mean, if I were a human deep down, I'd like what I was, right? I cringe more at the thought of being a Reyvateil who could never interact with her own kind. That's not being a Reyvateil at all-- we're defined by our interactions. That's being some kind of crippled, wounded, half-alive thing. But then, on the other hand, if I were a human, I wouldn't be me. So it'd be between being a tortured, lifeless version of myself, or not existing at all as myself. I think in that case, I'd... wow. I don't know what I'd do. That's tough. Although being in Sublimation has kind of taught me that "myself" isn't as important a construct as it seems like it is on the other side-- I mean, existing, fundamentally, is more valuable. But wow, what a curse. Just having to pick would be curse enough.
@heartofharmony: Yeah, that really wasn't much of a question for you, was it. We had all kind of guessed. ♫
My favourite album is the Moon Rocks' first, self-titled album... I saw them live when they were just starting out as the opening act for this other band, and they were absolutely fantastic. I had been planning to get the CD for the other band, but I spent the money on the Moon Rocks album instead... Mostly they sing in odd metaphors that sound elegant but aren't applicable to any obvious one specific situation, so you can find your own meaning in them. And they never really got noticed and hit the big time, which I think is a terrible shame... I can only assume it's because their sound is so different that producers are afraid they don't fit the right formula. It's definitely something you love on first listen, something really catchy.
Hair, skin and eye colours? I'd like something really striking. I have such soft colouring right now. What if I were... like... really dark-skinned, but with platinum white hair. And eyes of some super-bright colour, maybe hot pink or electric green. Yeah, that'd be interesting!
@the amusing Reyvateil in pants: what's the funniest thing you ever saw happen during an activist event?
@Lyuma: You're back in college. Your Reyvateil friends want to start a band, and they want you to join them as the lead singer, but if you do that, everyone at school will find out your species. You think this band might really take off and become famous, though. What do you do?
@winters, Rigil: Would you prefer we call you Arisa and Silver?
Wow. You'd look absolutely stunning, I think... such vivid, intense eyes. Whoa.
@the amusing Reyvateil in pants: what's the funniest thing you ever saw happen during an activist event?
Oh, man... probably the time when I was in my early twenties or so, at this one march, and we started up a chant of "what do we want?"... and half the people responded with one thing and half the people responded with something completely different. Like, they hadn't been clued in... and the person leading up the chant was undaunted, and, in the best of spirits, went, "well, I guess we don't really know what we want. BUT WE WANT IT NOW!" And everyone just broke out in laughter... and we ended up singing, instead. And it was a really joyful song, because everyone's tensions were broken down....
I think that was also the same march where someone started passing around the lobster of privilege... it was really late, and we were high on singing, and some of us were high on... other things (no one had told us we couldn't take Tranquility-- it was more accepted, in those days, before the incident that got it banned from pretty much all activist marches ever), and we found... this plastic lobster, in the street. One like the ones you see in restaurant window displays, like it had fallen off someone's vendor cart or something. And somebody picked it up and started going, "see, privilege... is like being able to carry about THIS LOBSTER... and not be challenged on what you're doing and where you're going." And someone else was like, "no, anyone would laugh at that lobster. Privilege is like not having to have the lobster PERMANENTLY STUCK TO YOUR HEAD." (and she put it on her head.) And then after a while we decided the lobster, since it had been cruelly abandoned on the streets, was actually an oppressed lobster, and we tied it to a tree with someone's belt, and... I guess you had to be there.
polyhymnia: Your first kiss? Good or bad (or indifferent), and with whom?
Your question... wow. I know singers only get much money if they really really make it bigtime... and I'm actually not one to take huge risks all the time... I do have my dreams... but Mir was something else... something special... I don't know that I'd have risked my education for anything less. Maybe I'd suggest something like "we perform places other than school until we get good enough to be sure"... I dunno... but I think I likely wouldn't have risked it....
(heartofharmony)
at least Dive Therapists get to create a space in their minds specially for clients, so it's not like having your real mind entered into?
From what I've heard, being able to totally isolate therapy from your real mind is a mandatory part of the process.
Apparently some Dive Therapists actually have sex as part of the therapy... I'm not really sure what to make of that. But I suppose there's a lot less opportunity for nastiness because of how it works.
(briyante)
Am I the only one who saw Shurelia on the news and thought she was kinda cute?
No. I already mentioned liking her hair...
I suppose if Sublimation hadn't happened, but something else had gotten Mir and Shurelia both more publicly visibile, the tabloids would have started producing articles about their forbidden love... ^o^
(polyhymnia)
@winters, Rigil: Would you prefer we call you Arisa and Silver?
...
(breakfourthwall)
I think the author's trying to use Arisa to distinguish between author and character, but that's probably not going to work.
(/breakfourthwall)
... Huh? Oh, yeah. Arisa is fine.
Apparently some Dive Therapists actually have sex as part of the therapy... I'm not really sure what to make of that. But I suppose there's a lot less opportunity for nastiness because of how it works.
But you could choose not to offer those services if you didn't want to, right? Even then, that still seems marginally safer because (a created world in) your mind is the stage for it all, so nothing that you don't want to happen can happen, presumably.... Not that I'd actually want to go down that path.
I suppose if Sublimation hadn't happened, but something else had gotten Mir and Shurelia both more publicly visibile, the tabloids would have started producing articles about their forbidden love... ^o^
I... whaaaaa? When was there ever any evidence that....
Certainly one wouldn't have to, but some do, so I was following my tendency of going down tangents.
Not just that, but since it has to actually be done at a Dive Shop, that'd make it a lot harder for someone to try to get up to something in the outside world. (Though I think really sleazy people might be too scared to try even that kind of dive therapy...)
I... whaaaaa? When was there ever any evidence that....
What, you've never heard of Foe Yay?
Besides, tabloids. Evidence is one of those things they don't need.
... Wait, sorry, I got that wrong. I meant evidence is one of those things they *actively avoid*. ^-^
Not just that, but since it has to actually be done at a Dive Shop, that'd make it a lot harder for someone to try to get up to something in the outside world. (Though I think really sleazy people might be too scared to try even that kind of dive therapy...)
Yes, that's what I was thinking in part when I said it was a more controlled environment... and as long as it's all legal and above-board and regulated and such, they probably have people making sure the clients don't get up to anything the therapist doesn't want, and procedures via which to report them if they do anything bad, and things. Like, the police don't really listen to prostitutes, I know, because they're working illegally anyway a lot of the time and because they falsely assume a prostitute can't be raped, but....
What, you've never heard of Foe Yay?
But... but... that's a fan thing. Shurelia and Mir aren't... well, no, I suppose a lot of people are Mir or Shurelia fans. And I guess the tabloids are kind of fanfiction....
I've just never heard of, like, the tabloids insisting that some important leader and some infamous underground figure are, like... dating. Maybe that's where fannishness steps beyond even the boundaries of tabloid news....
Oh. I thought you were just referring to the created world part there...
I think I once read about a place where prostitution was legal and above-board and regulated... Can't remember how much it was supposed to have helped, but I can't imagine it making things *worse* either...
And I guess the tabloids are kind of fanfiction....
That's how I treat them. Well, except for the "fan" part. Most of the time, they seem to be the enemy of the people they write about...
I've just never heard of, like, the tabloids insisting that some important leader and some infamous underground figure are, like... dating.
Yeah, tabloids usually just skip to saying they're sleeping together I think...
At least, that sounds similar to *other* things I've seen on tabloid covers. `.`
That's how I treat them. Well, except for the "fan" part. Most of the time, they seem to be the enemy of the people they write about...
OOC comment: I dunno... from what I've seen, "fans" can be pretty vicious too when it comes to what they throw various characters into. There's always something about the whole "I want to tie X up and make them my pet" trend among fans of bishounen that seems... I don't know, I get the desire for the fantasy, but would you say that of a physical person who hadn't actually consented to you saying that about them?
OOC:
See "Why Morgan isn't into Real Person Fiction". (Well, that's one reason.
Still, even that sort of thing could still be considered a... well, an affectionate sort of attitude. And while there are fans who write characters they write getting into nasty situations (and not always to do hurt/comfort), I think most of them in the end do like at least *some* of the people they write about.
Wheras tabloids, about the best attitude one can get from them seems to be "willing to sacrifice you on the altar of their readership".
I don't like tabloids very much. `.`
(strike)I do, however, like Mir/Shurelia...(/strike)
Still, even that sort of thing could still be considered a... well, an affectionate sort of attitude.
I suppose it depends on perspective. From their perspective, it may be, and they might argue it's all that matters... however, one can have intent to be perfectly nice and still be thoughtless, still hurt someone, and I argue that intent isn't enough to stop an action from being problematic. I do think some fans have an attitude not too different from the tabloids': "they can't do anything about it, so let's exploit these characters for our own fun and benefit". Of course they do it because they like them (read: think they're hot/some superficial character trait about them is interesting*), rather than for money, but other than that I don't see a big difference in the lack of respect sometimes.
*If a person rapes someone because they think they're hot, does that make it okay?**
**Not that most rapes are committed out of sexual desire, I know.
<Mir> *respects your preferences. But still, makes a donotwantface.*
I think we might have already been over this issue before. `.`
Though, I do think there's one big difference that is important. Fanfic authors will typically make it clear that they *are* making it up. Tabloids are usually making it up too, but they're selling it as truth, which is a lot more likely to actually cause damage to the real person than anything fic authors get up to.
Also: Well, obviously I'm only interested in Mir/Shurelia with the Mir and Shurelia of a world where they *do* want. `.`
Post a Comment