13 posts tagged “rahne”
I am a backseat driver from America
They drive to the left on Falls Road
The man at the wheel's name is Seamus
We pass a child on the corner he knows
And Seamus says, "Now, what chance has that
Kid got?"
And I say from the back, "I don't know."
He says, "There's barbed wire at all of these exits...
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid
To go."
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in Belfast for
These kids to go
A cafeteria line in Chicago
The fat man in front of me
Is calling black people trash to his children
He's the only trash here I see
And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when his children should sleep
But, they slip to their window and they see him
And they think that white hood's all they need
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in Chicago for
These kids to go
I was a child in the sixties
Dreams could be held through TV
With Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther
Oh, I believed, I believed... I BELIEVED
Now, I am the backseat driver from America
I am not at the wheel of control
I am guilty, I am war,... I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road
It's a hard life
It's a hard life
It's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in this world for
These kids to go
He might pass by in the hour of need
There's a lot of souls
Ain't drinking from no well locked in a factory
Hey - look there goes
Hey - look there goes
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees
Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes
When the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you're saying, I hear what he's saying
*Is what was true now no longer so
Hey - I hear what you're saying
Hey - I hear what he's saying
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees
What the people are saying
And we know every road - go, go
What the people are saying
There ain't no berries on the trees
Let the summertime sun
Fall on the apple - fall on the apple
Lord, there goes a Buick forty-nine
Black sheep of the angels riding, riding down the line
We think there is a soul, we don't know
That soul is hard to find
Hey - down along the road
Hey - down along the road
If you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees
Hey - it's what the people are saying
It's what the people are saying
Hey - there ain't no berries on the trees
Hey - that's what the people are saying, no berries on the trees
You're checking out the honey, baby
You had to go killin' all the bees
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.
Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.
I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
Rogue
Rogue's actually my most active character at the moment, though that's not saying too much. As far as her personal life is concerned, things with Pietro are progressing interestingly, though I do need to get her out interacting with other folks more too. I know I owe Marrow and Nikolai scenes in particular, as well as just generally catching up with the BHers and perhaps even getting her a life, gasp, outside of the HQ.
I've also been working on some mission stuff for awhile, but it keeps getting bumped back due to scheduling difficulties and logistics. So I'd like to get my thoughts in order and then work on getting that going again, with the hopes that it'll revitalize the BH.
Rahne
Rahne's slowly getting back into the swing of things. She's working on her science fair with Tyson, so that has at least given me an excuse to start getting her active again. However, she really needs to get out there again, meeting the new people at the school and catching up with old friends.
Before the hiatus, I was working on her slowly coming to the realization that a) she's not cool and b) this is not a good thing. I'd like to start bringing that out again, pushing towards her slowly coming out of her shell and adapting to life in modern America.
Of course, she also needs to get back to her X-Men training, her martial arts, and volunteer work, either with the kids in the school, or getting back to the youth club at the rec centre.
Caden
Caden's personal plot is stalled a bit, but I've been seeing some interest in it again, so I'll have to look at getting that going again. She's also got a role in a few plots revolving around other folks, though those seem to not be going anywhere fast.
I also need to get her out interacting with the darker element on the game, back to the Boar's Head, and maybe picking up a little more clientele.
Doug
Doug is kind of a difficult character to play sometimes, since I really expected people to respond to his being a public mutant, but it's been a non-issue in most of the scenes he's been in. I'm not sure what's going to be expected of him in terms of X-Factor, so I've largely just been focussing on his life outside of that team.
I also am getting more and more set on having him start up a sort of mutant outreach, something along the lines of a soup kitchen or shelter that would be pro-mutant for those who can't get help at the more conventional places. It took awhile to find anyone interested ICly in helping out, but I've since had a few takers, so who knows, it might happen yet.
I'd also like to work on bringing more to the fore just how badly he gets bullied at school or even just on the streets. I've again painted myself into a corner, since he doesn't like to talk about it, feeling that complaining about such things wouldn't be heroic. So I have to get creative on ways to bring it out within the scope of RP.
It's funny what boredom will do to a person. So, for your viewing pleasure, here's a buttload of icons I made for my three FCs, all done from comic book images. Obviously, these are for LJ, but I figured I might as well use this place to show 'em off a bit.
I'm definitely curious to know what folks think, since I did start getting a little experimental and trying some new stuff on these.
So I even had to repaint his hand, which might not sound like much, but I am very much not an artist, so I'm just happy it looks quasi-not stupid.
And with another holiday upcoming comes more holiday-related posts. Here, IC and OOC resolutions for all my characters. IC ones being some they might have themselves (whether or not they'd ever admit to it; and admittedly, in Caden's case, she probably wouldn't actually bother worrying about resolutions, but it's fun anyway), and OOC ones being those that I, the player, would like to work on with them in the new year.
Rogue
ICly: To make a sincere go of things with Pietro. To spend more time training. To get to know the other members better.
OOCly: To mix it up more with new and old players. To run more missions. To get things adhering more as a team.
Rahne
ICly: To make more of an effort to fit in. To get back to Ninjitsu and volunteer work. To try to be a little more self-confident.
OOCly: To spend more time working on the X-Men side of things. To do more RP in general. To push the character beyond the Goody Two Shoes mould.
Caden
ICly: To take out the enemy. To accept help a little more often. To make more money.
OOCly: To finish up the pending plot. To get more IC jobs and contacts. To progress inter-personal relationships.
Doug
ICly: To stop getting beaten up all the time. To make more of a difference in the world. To get girls to notice me more.
OOCly: To start the mutant-friendly outreach/soup kitchen/shelter. To get to know X-Factor team mates. To do more with his computer-related abilities.
Just killing a bit of time, I thought I'd continue getting myself into the holiday spirit by imagining what my characters think about various things around the holidays, especially since I won't necessarily have the chance to RP this stuff all out. Well, and mostly because I'm a dork. Anyway, enjoy!
Favourite (Guilty Pleasure) Carol
Rogue
Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley, I think. I could see this appealing to both her love of country music and her rather bleak outlook on things.Rahne
Since Rahne would have grown up with only very traditional Christmas carols, I could actually see her liking something a little more modern because it's new. Most particularly, I could see her getting into one of the social conscience songs like So This Is Christmas by John Lennon or Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid.Caden
Seeing as Caden doesn't seem to much even notice Christmas, I would think she'd actually be cool with pretty much any of the music, not having been as inundated with it as most, and not tying it to particular memories, good or bad. I just don't know that she'd ever pay enough attention to have a particular favourite.Doug
Hm. Perhaps Feliz Navidad, O Tanenbaum, or even Meli Kalikimaka (sp?) since they'd give him a chance to play with his powers a bit.
Claimed Favourite Carol
Rogue
None whatsoever. It's a stupid holiday. GrumpRahne
Something exceptionally traditional like O Holy Night or It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.Caden
Either nothing at all or something completely unexpected like Frosty the Snowman, just to mess with people and keep them guessing.Doug
Probably something he thinks is at least a little cool, like Run, Run Rudolph or Please Come Home For Christmas.
Favourite Holiday Movie
Rogue
While she'd probably avoid them all just on principle, she could be convinced to watch something that goes against the peace and love crap, like Bad Santa. I suspect she also secretly likes a few of the children's classics like Rudolph and Frosty.Rahne
Rahne's still just getting into the whole television and movie thing, but I think she'd get into the classics like It's a Wonderful Life, and of course, she'd have read Dicken's A Christmas Carol, so she might enjoy seeing the movie of that.Caden
Again, I think Caden remains largely oblivious to this stuff, though she probably watched a few of the movies during her childhood. Since she's turned out to be a fan of Casablanca, I could see her maybe liking some of the other black & white standards.Doug
Probably something a little bit dorky but cute like Elf.
Favourite Tradition
Rogue
If asked, Rogue would spurn all the trappings of Christmas, though I think she actually likes getting stuff for other people a bit. She's a little more thoughtful than she likes to appear, so having an excuse to be nice to people for at least a day doesn't hurt.Rahne
Christmas is largely a religious observation for Rahne, who would save most of her partying (such that it is) for Hogmanay. I think she'd especially appreciate the general sentiment of the holiday though, family coming together, letting people know that you care, peace being discussed openly, etc.Caden
Caden doesn't really do tradition. Though she appreciates the extra business that commercialism brings her way, so in that sense, she's quite into the idea of presents.Doug
Family dinner when he gets to spend some real time with his dad. Also, the time he's not at school getting his ass handed to him.
Secret Wish
Rogue
To be able to make it through the holidays without getting into a fight with Pietro.Rahne
To get to spend a little more time with Moira (though she'd never say as much, not wanting to make Moira feel badly for having to work).Caden
To be able to 'get' what this Christmas stuff is all about.Doug
For people to get into the holiday spirit enough to stop being mean to him and other mutants (why can't we all get along?!).
Letter to Santa
Rogue
A new pair of gloves, a DVD player, and for her powers to work right.Rahne
World peace, a winter coat, and the ability to fit in with her peers.Caden
Money, cigarettes, and beer.Doug
Self-defense lessons, a Palm Pilot, and for people to get a clue.
Expects to Get
Rogue
Rogue has no clue what to expect, though she knows that Pietro is planning on getting her something.Rahne
Something nice and perhaps a little more expensive than she's used to from Moira.Caden
A lump of coal.Doug
Some video games from dad.
Needs/Plans to Buy For
Rogue
She knows she has to get something for Pietro and Marrow, though it hasn't occurred to her to get stuff for the other Brotherhood members yet. She'll pick up a little something for Mystique as well.Rahne
Something for Moira, about as fancy as she can afford, along with smaller gifts to be given upon her return for her friends at the school.Caden
No one.Doug
Dad, Topaz, his civics teacher, something small for his coworkers both at the UN and X-Factor.
Rogue
Rogue isn't much into the holiday spirit currently. In fact, she's been surprising me a bit with a downright bah humbug attitude about the whole thing, which I suppose ties into the rather strong kneejerk reaction she's had in the past to the idea of organized religion. All the same, she's doing her best to keep from seeming an absolute Grinch about the whole thing.
However, since she's actually got people around to celebrate with this year, I suspect she'll come around a little by the end. Not exactly It's a Wonderful Life, but perhaps she'll have to grudgingly admit that it doesn't entirely suck. At any rate, she will be buying presents for those who are closest to her, which I guess she'd better get on figuring out.
Caden
Unlike Rogue, Caden remains largely indifferent to the holiday season on a personal level. It tends to bring in more business, since people buying presents are often just as happy with a stolen car stereo or a counterfeit Rolex. Personally, it's just never been something she particularly worries about.
Though she has Riley and perhaps a few others whom she could actually celebrate with, this hasn't even occurred to her. She won't really be buying any presents, and her day to day life remains largely unchanged unless some outside force shows up to change it.
Rahne
Rahne observes the holiday both religiously and on a personal level. She enjoys the trappings of the holidays, though tends to remain somewhat oblivious to the more materialistic aspects of the modern day Christmas. For her, it's more about the sentiment and the religious meaning.
This year, she's heading back to Muir Island for just a few days. Last year, she and Moira didn't get the chance to celebrate together: they'd just come over to America with the plans of spending the holiday together before Rahne would be dropped off at the school for the spring term when an emergency came up and Moira had to rush home, leaving Rahne just a few days before Christmas. So even though things are busy this year, Moira is going out of her way to make sure they get to spend at least a little time together this season. It will be the first time Rahne's gotten to see her guardian in over a year. She may be a little bit homesick upon her return.
Doug
Doug has the most average approach to the holidays of all my characters. Not especially religious, his family still celebrates it on a more secular level, with the usual traditions. He isn't particularly into Christmas, but he isn't particularly against it either. Like a lot of people, he just does it because that's what you do at this time of year, and certainly there are parts of the holiday that he enjoys.
Although it's just his dad and him, they still get the tree and decorate it, doing gifts on Christmas morning and usually a small dinner on Christmas Day, sometimes with a few people from his father's department at the university. He definitely enjoys the time off of school, and his dad gets some time off too, so he gets to spend some actual time with the professor, which is rare. Other than that, he usually passes the time in the city or playing video games. This year, he'll also be using the time to catch up on some work and get himself prepared for his new position with X-Factor. He's also starting to work on his idea for a mutant-friendly shelter and soup kitchen.
So hit a slight snag in my plans to start having Rahne maybe led a little more down the path to becoming a somewhat more normal (read: not quite such an uptight goody-goody) teenager, in that I've done such a convincing job in making her a goody-goody that it looks like both she and I are just completely shut out from normal teen events taking place in the school.
I suppose I can't really fault folks for not thinking of Rahne when it comes to these things. And it's not just one isolated incident, but rather something of a trend I've been noticing, where she's just ... not getting included with the other kids very much. In fact, I dare say the teachers tend to include her more than the other students. Which does sort of make sense for the character, I guess, but there's only so much can be done in teacher-student RP.
The problem is, if the other kids don't exert even minimal peer pressure to sway her ... not even a bad influence, per say, just ... a normal teenager influence. The only thing I can think is that she comes off so situated in her little world of being good that no one even thinks of putting these options so much as in front of her, let alone trying to entice her to take them.
Thing is, she's not really good by choice, exactly. It's a big part of her background, why she is the way she is. It's a symptom of a somewhat tumultuous past and it might actually do her some good to be taught how to loosen up a bit. I doubt she's ever going to be going all Cayote Ugly or anything, but it probably wouldn't kill her not to do all her homework on a Friday night so that she'll have time on Saturday for revisions and self-editing.
Anyway, just ... feeling a bit stuck and bleak again. I suppose I really can't blame anyone but myself for making her such a convincing teacher's pet that the other kids don't even think to play with her, but it does leave me with minimal options. I suppose I figured if they wouldn't see her as a peer, I would at least be able to work the little sister angle, or heck, even have them on her case for being a bookworm. I'll have to give this some thought to see if I can't come up with some sort of solution that can come from within, since I've learned it's not always best to count on others to 'fix' stuck characters.
Taking advantage of Vox's new cross-posting feature with LJ to pimp my character blog a bit too. May continue cross-posting future entries to have more than just logs in the LJ. However, if anyone finds it too spammy, let me know.
So after giving some thought about my Close to the Vest post earlier, and considering some other points of view, I'm considerably less stressed about getting my characters' own stories out there. I think I got a little too caught up in it for awhile, and it may well be that my RP suffered for it (though I didn't hear any reports to this end), and I know I certainly did. Because I find if I get too obsessed over what I'm not getting out of RP, I can't focus on what I am.
This isn't to say I've become an entirely selfless RPer, no. But I want to worry more about the story I'm currently telling and the one I want to tell down the road, rather than the one I've already told in my character backgrounds. Those have been written. If I really want them out there badly enough, well, I've got an LJ, a blog and a wiki page to do so. This isn't to say I see no merit in bringing this information out in RP, just that I'm choosing to think of it as a part of the story rather than just something I need people to know.
I think it's something that's easy to do even in real life: get too caught up on wanting people to know about your past, rather than focussing on the here and now, or even the future. When Rahne confides in someone about her past, I want that to happen because it's best for the story. When Rogue tells someone her first name, it's more important to me why she's doing it and what it might mean for her current emotional state, rather than just having the presence of mind that someone out there knows it.
I think it really was playing Rogue that made me realize this. As mentioned earlier, by design, I don't plan on having her often (possibly ever) tell much about her past before Mystique came into her life. Not only does this ironically seem to get people really, really intrigued in her story, but it also just leaves me free not to worry about it. I can focus on the story she's currently telling, her journey. I need to know her past; I always keep it in mind and allow it to inform how the character will react to any given stimulus - but no one else needs to know it until the time comes that it's right for both of our stories and the central tale that we're telling together.
I don't intend for this to sound like I've got it all figured out, or that characters' histories are insignificant. Sure, I'd still love for someone to sit down with Rahne, Caden or Doug and really express an interest in what brought them to this point, but - I've just reached the realization that I don't need that to have fun. I could force their histories on people, just to be done with it, but then that cheapens it for both parties, I think.
Anyway, I consider this almost an RP resolution, I guess, is more the thing. And I'm putting it here in text so that I can come back and reread it whenever I'm getting frustrated again.
Is it possible to be too reticent with your characters?
I'm finding it's a common problem with my characters, across MU*s, that they never seem to get much opportunity to tell their stories. I've been playing Rogue and Rahne for almost a year now, and while Rogue's past is secretive on purpose, it isn't by design that still not a single person on the grid knows all or even most of Rahne's backstory. In fact, only one or two people know much anything before she came to live with Moira. For Caden, I had to bring in a plot replete with NPC from her past to get her talking about her past.
See, I don't like to force my characters' stories on people. Or, more accurately, I don't like for them to force their stories on people. Maybe it's just because I'm somewhat reticent myself, but it always strikes me as false to have a character suddenly start giving exposition about his or her backstory without there being some IC reason for why they're doing it. Usually this reason is simply because people ask them questions. But ... no one seems to ask.
So I have to wonder if it isn't because I'm not giving enough hooks there. Maybe I need to be more forceful in bringing about my character's chance to talk about her history. I don't know. Problem is, none of my characters ICly would just bring this stuff up.
Rogue, as mentioned, keeps her past a secret by design, so - not looking to have that come out to anyone except maybe a trusted confidante or two down the line.
Caden is a closed book out of necessity. She's a street criminal. It doesn't exactly do to be all sobbing over a rough childhood when you're trying to convince people you're tough and capable, so don't fuck you over. But, as mentioned, I have been orchestrating a small plot which is helping with this to a degree. Though obviously I can't count on dragging out a whole plot every time I want something to come up from my character's past. Instead, my hope is that this will at least get her started talking to a few people.
Rahne is a horse of a different colour. She would never lie or obscure the truth, and yet, I think she presents herself as such a sunshiny optimist that no one even thinks to look deeper under the surface to wonder why she has this obsession with the rules, or why she's so hopelessly out of touch with popular culture. I thought I'd dropped a few hints, but seeing as the problem isn't restricted to one or even a few people, clearly I'm not dropping ones that are broad enough. So I suppose she'll be my main aim in getting her to open up a little more. At the same time, if I'm finally going to drop her big secrets, there is a part of me that feels like the other character should have to work for them, at least a bit. Otherwise, well, I could be revealing something to to me and Rahne is huge, and the other character just sort of disregards them as unfortunately, but ultimately unimportant. But maybe I should resign myself to the fact that no one else is going to care about her history as much as I do.
Doug, well, I just haven't had enough chance to play him for this to become an issue one way or the other. I am trying to make him more of an open book, with the philosophy that, well, once your secret of being a mutant is out, there's not much point in trying to be obscure about the rest. But we'll see how things go should I ever manage to get in more than one scene with any one character.
Of course, this isn't to seem like I only ever think about getting my characters' information out there. But I think for pretty much all of my characters, they end up knowing far, far more about everyone else than even a single person knows about them. And it just leaves me feeling like there are aspects of them that therefore don't end up getting explored. But maybe I shouldn't stress over it so much. It works for Rogue that I know her past and let it inform her actions, yet never tell anyone about her history. So maybe I should just take this approach with all my characters until such time as someone wants to know more about them and what makes them tick.
And no, don't bother asking Rogue. She won't tell you a thing.
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X-Men: Retribution (host) Updated: Jul 13, 2007
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