#he/her laz is SUCH a powerful concept

[subsequentibis]

thought about he/her laz earlier today so i present: That But Lesbians, Underbelly Edition, a dating sim where u play as sal and romance one of the city's many eligible bachelorettes who may or may not also be 3000 year old demons.

[monster-noises]

not to be basic but 1 and 2 from that meta ask meme?

all the question are on the list for a reason Anon! no need to put yourself down for it v-v 1&2 are Excellent questions I"m happy to answer! now. I Imagine you intended this for Lazarus, But! you were not specific so you will now get a Very long post about Everyone >:3c (and by everyone I mean the main 3 characters I consider 'Bartholomew's Nasty Little Bastards')

First up, of course, we will do Lazarus! 1. What inspired you to create your oc?

The really obvious answer here is Re8, my instant consuming love for it and for Karl, the overwhelming need to like... Participate, somehow, in that world, but not being able to cross the Full self-insert hurdle.. He's basically a very Warped-beyond-recognition version of a self-insert, a guy all his own but in somewhere still very Connected to the Me. But the more like.. in depth stuff, like what inspired Lazarus to Be Who He Is is like.. I love like.. weird Art Gore, Body-As-Art kinda shit, Meaningful and disturbing.. somehow Comforting and he's kinda the perfect vessel for that. I've had the Human Taxidermy Artist thing floating around the back of my mind for a decade or so just Waiting for a place to land and Laz was a golden opportunity v-v.

2.Why does your oc look the way they do? What are your reasons for their appearance? When I was settling Lazarus's design I wanted him to have this appearance of like, a very refined and elegant individual; beautiful in a sort of Severe way, but twist it up ever so slightly so he registers as Uncanny and Gross. Beauty Hiding Filth and all that. (just think about how many Fluids get into that Velvet Ensemble on the daily, it's Not Good.) Like the way his pants cut him and the vertical lines make him just All Leg. And his pallid bloodstained skin which makes him look like a Walking Corpse, hair slicked back with its own grease.. a figure that's bewitching and unsettling to witness also yes, the hair is Both a Me thing and a Bride of Frankenstein thing.

Virgil always feels right coming Second on these things.. 1. Inspiration Virgil is ooooooooooold, he's so Old, virgil is Ancient Virgil is possibly my oldest still-in-use OC, I created him a Looooooong ass time ago. like 2010 Long Ass Time. That is to say I do not know Why she exists.

Okay, Not entirely true. I made her for a comic I was writing with my friend at the time. She was my part of the main villain pair, but I do Not remember how I ended up on Toxicologist prodigy but make it Cowboy (which was always a bit of a misnomer for the vibe but nowadays Especially he's less Johnny Cash more Nickleback) I Think, I Think, what I wanted was to have a character that contrasted the Hardest against my friends main villain? who was very Orderly and Serious and Efficient?? beats me though that was So long ago.. I was also just listening to a Lot of Nickleback-esk music at the time, which may have been an influencing factor lmao

2. Appearance Virgil's appearance is pretty simple to explain, all told! He's a Country Boy/Girl, rowdy and ostentatious, and very secure in her understanding of that part of herself. It's where she comes from, and despite his rocky relationship with home it's who he is, y'know? The brightest (and most dangerous) mind in Toxicology doesn't Have to look exactly how you'd Expect her to look now does she? (Virgil pictured here on the Right)

Now our wonderful little Ulysses vwv)/ 1. Inspiration oh this is an Interesting one!! Ulysses (and Charlie, for that matter) came from 2 distinct places to land where they are now.. From time to time I like to entertain the idea of starting a band and having a musical career of some kind, something that blends my love of folk/bluegrass, prog-rock, and power metal into a loud villainous and exhilarating sound. and a few years back, as I was getting into Bluegrass for the first time, I was struck by a Concept for a Concept Album. It was called The Book of Brother UIysses; the story of a sniveling little priest in the frontier days and his Cursed Book, following him around as he fed townsfolk to whatever entity lived in its pages until he was finally Consumed himself. I toyed with it for a bit and eventually put it back on the shelf until the Musical Fancy struck me once more, untiiiiil I was listening to friends at the table: sangfielle and had both a deep desire to do a Horror-Fantasy Western ttrpg And satisfy my ever-present desire to weasel my way into playing two characters at once.. and I pulled ol' Ulysses off the shelf again and made some.. Additions. This has evolved now into them being just like.. free floating OC's? I don't plan on making a comic out of them, I would Still love an opportunity to play them in a TTRPG setting, but I'm not Banking on it, and hey, who knows, maybe I Will make that album someday, but for now they just kinda amorphously Exist within Something resembling a Narrative in my head after a long and complicated journey...

2. Appearance Similar to Lazarus, I wanted Ulysses to be unsettling, but in a Slightly different way. He's too clean- his all black outfit is never grimy, he is clean shaven his hair perfectly quaffed, with that plastered on grin, under eyes obscured by reflective glasses the vibes are just Immediately Off. To the flip side of that I always wanted him to look kinda.. pathetic. When we see him outside of his Persona as The Keeper of the Book, as just a man that is still Human in many ways; he's just.. small, waifish, behind the glasses his eyes are big and jittery, like a pray animal caught in a snare and still trying to fight its way out..

[payphoneangel]

Here are a few 'make you choose' prompts for the ask game :)

lazarus rising versus lucifer rising

the bunker versus motel rooms

Which was sadder: Castiel's final death or Dean's final death

crowstiel versus drowley

the scene where dean talks to his john's grave in the djinn dream versus the scene where dean talks to mary in her mind

OUGH IM EATIN GOOD TONITE!!!

Laz Rising w/o hesitation. Sorry Sam but Laz Rising is just such a stellar ep all around. The pacing the colors the celestial horror THEE CASTIEL. Can't be beat.

Motel rooms for sure. The bunker had some interesting elements to it and it was fun to see them have a 'home base' in some ways, but mostly I just thought it was really boring 😔 also like. that's just so sad?? This is just my personal bias but if I don't look out a window at least 12 times a day I whither and die like a plant. Living in a whole ass bunker.... NO WONDER LATE SEASONS DEAN WAS SO ANGY HE HAD A VITAMIN DEFICIENCY. Plus I like the thought put into the set for each motel room. There were a lot of details put into them and I really love liminality as a concept and motels are def part of that.

oooooh. Now this is a toughie. I think Dean's death. Castiel got to die in a very,,, like a Very Supernatural Way. He died confessing his love, saving Dean, defeating the Big Bad. It was high drama and high emotions and very Him. Like his whole speech was, while heartbreaking, made a lot of sense for his character. Him not getting resurrected (or resurrected off screen i should say) makes it more sad in retrospect, because for us (the audience) his death was The End of his character, but Dean... You introduce this character with a Devil May Care attitude, who pretends to be rough and all edges, and then you show that actually, he cares a whole whole lot. And then you show him caring a whole whole lot by how much he's willing to sacrifice for those around him. And you find out he does that because he believes it's an inevitability. He's going to die young and bloody-- he thinks he deserves to die young and bloody. And you throw him hardship after hardship and drag him through the ringer again and again and again, and after all that, He's proven right. He died young and bloody. But it wasn't even in a big blaze of glory, it wasn't some grandiose sacrifice for the greater good that fed into his martyr complex, no. Just bad luck on a run-of-the-mill hunt. Castiel's death was sad, sure. But Dean's was cruel. That's why it upsets me more.

OUGH another toughie. Crowstiel or Drowly.... They're both messy and ugly and full of drama so I love both of them, but I think if I had to pick, I'd say Crowstiel. Part of it is just like, the height of Crowstiel was s6, which I like Crowley more in that season. I felt like he and Cas have a more fun dynamic, are a little more equal in power, and idk, there's just something about it. Like they hate each other but they also fuck nasty. Drowly is still v v fun don't get me wrong, but like a pet peeve of mine is how the show treats Crowley. We didn't get to see much of "Dean and Crowley's Summer of Love" so we really didn't get to see the height of it, mostly just the fallout. And like I love demon!dean and most of s10 (an unpopular opinion, i know). But by later seasons i just feel like Crowley,,, like the narrative kind of looses all respect for him. Nothing he does feels like it has a lot of impact, when we see him and demon!dean, he's kind of playing the 'straight' man, which isn't as fun for me. So I feel like in later seasons when Drowley is most present, the dynamic is just not one I fuck with as much.

ahhhhhh mmmmmmmmm. I think Dean talking to John's grave. Idk there's just something about Dean only being able to be honest with his parents when they're absent that just tickles my brain. Not that I think he was being dishonest when he was talking to Mary! And like Mary coming back was a Bold Choice that I wish they had fucked with more, but being haunted by your father, whether living or dead, ahh I simply must stan.

[atiny-piratequeen]

As an eldritch immortal being, does Woo have an intimate understanding for why mortality makes humans makes humans? Or does he have to wait until you come into the picture?

I can very much see him and many of the other monsters not having a care for mortal beings (whether human, animal or other monsters that simply lack longevity) because they don’t understand the sacredness that comes with mortality.

I was a huge pjo fan back in elementary so when their more recent books came out I found it interesting (basically Apollo is turned into a mortal as punishment by Zeus) and wonder how well some of the monsters could handle having to experience the human life.

Finding a life, falling in love, possibly having a family (whether found or created) and finally realizing that this isn’t something permanent but rather temporary because mortals suffer from the kids of death whilst many immortal beings find loopholes around it.

I feel like Woo would be one of them that as he’s living the mortal life, he be so busy missing and whining about losing his immortality for a bit that he doesn’t understand the preciousness of mortality until he’s possibly faced with you or a friend dying.

Apologies for the long winded asks, idk where all of it is coming from tbh

Oh he knows. Woo is technically the oldest of the bunch here in Ataraxia verse, he's been around for eons at this point. Destroyed a few planets, created a few along the way. He's kind of at this point where his personality aligns more with the Wooyoung we're all familiar with, where he's chaotic in an endearing way, only flexing his omnipotent power when he needs to because it gets quite tiring being something everyone is absolutely terrified of and unable to even speak to. So he's aware of the ins and outs of human nature and honestly its impossible to lie to him or deceive him in any way. Whoo needs a lie detector when you have Eldrich Wooyoung vibe checking you?

Hongjoong probably has the most intimate understanding of humans and their mortal natures. I've kind of hinted at it, but without giving too many details, he used to be one himself. He doesn't exactly have the best outlook when it comes to humans and their natures for reasons, but he does understand them a lot better than anyone else..

I never read any of them but I've heard snips here and there from audiobooks gaia and her mom plays in the car of the pjo and ma series, so I definitely think its a very interesting concept to explore through story telling.

That trope always hurt my little heart in media hrrrrrrrngh. Its realistic and very valid but I think that's why my little gremlin ass always ends up doing transformations of their partners because owwie, fuck me.

Woo would def be the most affected by losing his immortal status. He's had wounds, many that would be considered mortal, been torn to pieces in conflicts up in the cosmos and then formed back together as whole. If he ever lost the ability to do that, or even the ability to regen, I think he'd fall the hell apart, quite honestly. He's like the rich kid of the bunch, he doesn't have an empathetic grasp on the severity of one's mortality.

also no dont apologize every time i get these asks I just smile, you're actually helping me flush out things a lot more than anything else at the moment it's so pleasant to be able to talk about my little verses like this with someone. thank you so much Laz you funky little babi.

aloha au 'ia 'oe, Laz

[internethorrorfan]

Lazari headcanons?

Lazari Swann headcanons:

Lazari was created by Chibi-Works. Link to story/info here: https://cpuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Lazari. None of this is canon, this only applies to my AU version of the character.

(For the record I’m basing this version of Lazari off of the 8 year old version of her.)

-As with all the creepypasta comics I use characters from, I Eat Pasta For Breakfast isn’t canon to Earth 2010. In my AU Lazari’s backstory is still the same but after her mom’s suicide she was found and adopted by Splendor Man. Laz lives with him and Sally.

-Her favorite shades of red (remember, she can only see red, white and black) are lighter shades like pink and ruby. Darker shades look drab to her. 

-While she can eat human food just fine she needs to eat other monsters in order to live so Splendor Man gives her special “mystery meat” to eat when she’s not feeling herself. The meat comes from monsters that Lulu kidnaps and kills.  Laz has a fridge in her room full of this “mystery meat”. 

-She has a crush on Eyeless Jack. Even if he wasn’t 19 years older than her it still wouldn’t work out since EJ considers her an obnoxious brat who won’t leave him alone.

-Lazari has really bad self esteem issues and needs frequent reassurance that she's not a monster. -She has daily training sessions to learn how to better control her powers. She has better control over her demon form now. While she still can’t control her actions in that form she doesn’t accidentally transform and attack other monsters anymore.

-Lazari absolutely despises Zalgo with every single fiber of her being and throws a temper tantrum if anyone brings him up. She hates him more than anything else in the world. She blames him for everything that's gone wrong in her life and would be happy if he dropped dead. -Laz feels sad whenever Sally talks about how happy her childhood was before Uncle Johnny showed up. This is because Laz never got to have a happy childhood before meeting Splendy. Although Laz won’t say anything to Sal because she doesn’t want to hurt her feelings.

-If it’s an activity even vaguely capable of making a mess expect her to make it. The girl literally can’t even spell cleanliness.

-She bites people if she feels threatened or if she just doesn’t like the person. She bites Laughing Jack a lot.

-She’s super clingy and has no concept of personal space. She sticks like glue to anyone who’s nice to her or shows her attention for longer than 5 minutes and she sees no problem sitting literally a centimeter away from someone, especially EJ. Whenever she snuggles with people she snuggles so tightly with them that they have genuine difficulty moving.

-Lazari often has nightmares, usually either about demons taking her away and hurting her or about the things her mother did to her. When this happens she rushes to Splendor Man’s room to cuddle up with him and feel safe and loved.

-If she’s in the same place with Eyeless Jack and he takes his mask off for whatever reason she will steal it and start running around with it. She also nibbles on Eyeless Jack’s arm from time to time to get back at him for being mean to her.

-Lazari swears like a sailor because of Masky and Toby. They taught her every swear word they knew inadvertently. She can cuss out anyone like there’s no tomorrow.

Art by Chibi-Works: https://www.deviantart.com/chibi-works/art/Lazari-503166051

[margridarnauds]

the takarazuka production of 1789 please ✨

BABY MUSICAL. BABY PRODUCTION. WHICH I NEED TO WATCH AGAIN SOON BECAUSE I *MISS* IT. 

So, this is definitely one of those things that I don’t think I can conceivably put ALL my thoughts into in one place, because it’s a LOT. This was definitely the production that got me back into the saddle after my 1789 phase when I was a teenager (You know. Back in my Ronan/Olympe 5ever days.), it was the one that got me into writing fanfiction, it was the one that made me dip a toe into Takarazuka. I love Toho very, very deeply, I still have a LOT of affection towards the French even if I relentlessly make fun of it every chance I get, but the Zuka really is IT. 

There’s a lot of things that we kind of take for granted that the Zuka KICKED INTO GEAR by basically scrapping all but the most basic elements of the story and building around it. Evil!Artois? A fully sympathetic Antoinette? Solène having more than 10-15 minutes of screen time in a two hour musical? An expanded look at Ronan’s relationship with the revolutionaries? Olympe with a gun? Olympe in a soldier’s costume? The added Peyronan content? LUCILE? (Like, don’t get me wrong, I criticize it as well, but like. It did a LOT)

There are some things that I’ll never be 100% HAPPY with, while also acknowledging that they HAD to do some things to suit Zuka’s tastes. Am I necessarily HAPPY with the domestication of Solène? Or Camille taking Je Veux le Monde? (Though I personally think that Toho handled it WORSE in the sense that we’re forced to see her “apologize” to the poor, aggrieved bakers for....doing pretty much. Exactly what Ronan had done. In the first act.) Or the forced Ronan/Olympe kiss? (Or any Ronan/Olympe kiss? Or the concept of Ronan/Olympe in canon in general, which I manage to block out of my mind?) Not REALLY. But with MOST of those things, I can also understand why they did them. It’s kind of a matter for me of...if I want to see a western production, the French is right there and Parrot!Laz’s arms are wide open. But if I want to see a Zuka production, then I have to accept that I’m playing by their rules. I mean. I CAN complain. But it’s unlikely to go anywhere because I’m not exactly the target audience.  

Ryuu Masaki is still, to this day, my ultimate favorite Ronan, with Teppei Koike coming VERY close. Both of them have similar takes on the role, with Ronan being less an Alpha Male-esque figure with some toxic masculinity issues and more a dumbass little twink shit who ends up getting himself into Lazare’s bedroom situations that he can’t easily get out of but who CARES for people, even though he still has some issues when it comes to being an 18th century male. (See: Solène.) She has a bit of a problem actually seeming like she’s in PAIN when Laz tortures him, but. You know what? That’s actually for the best. There’s this wonderful, naive “I’M IN LOVE AND I CAN TAKE ON THE WORLD” feeling to her Tomber dans sans yeux that gives me feels because I stan a dumbass puppy. 

Which, tbh, is important. There NEEDS to be that spark to Ronan, that idealism, that life that also exists outside the bitterness. He’s PISSED, but a decent part of it is that he believes that things could be so much better. You need to be thinking at the end “Damn, if he’d lived in a different world, he had so much to live for.” Especially since I tend to estimate him at being no more than about ~22. Which seems old when you’re 17 and watching the French but then when you’re standing at the edge of 21, it starts to look a lot younger. He makes dumbass decisions because he never had the time to learn from them. 

It’s so FUNNY seeing the concept drawings though because you can SEE how the concept artist was imagining Ronan and then Masao came in and did her Thing on the role. And tbh? It’s much better for it. That and knowing that someone actually PLANNED OUT the yellow jacket. 

Likewise, Chapi as Marie Antoinette is still probably my ultimate favorite take on the role. MA isn’t really an EASY role to pull off, because an actress has to sell both Act 1 AND Act 2 Antoinette, charting that development to her inevitable fate, as well as obviously being able to sing the Hell out of the role. And her domestication, but THAT’S another rant. And Chapi SOLD it, both in terms of her acting and in terms of her singing. She really, really sells the party girl from the 1st act to the grieving mother and then the dignified, doomed queen. It’s funny because, looking at the Toho, I do think that Masao actually took a few cues from Chapi when it came time for her to don the fluffy dress. 

On the subject of Iconic Characters...it PAINS me, given what’s come out, but Magee’s Laz really is an Iconic take on the role. I’m not going to say that I’m ever going to be 100% behind Villain!Laz as a concept; a part of me always favors him being portrayed as a much more gray figure, ala the French but...well. It’s one of those things that I can’t really hold against it because 1789′s always HAD a villain problem, and Laz being a straight up villain (Well...insofar as any part of Laz can be described as “straight), DOES pair nicely against Artois, as the two of them essentially become the embodiment of the darker side of the Ancien Régime while Louis, Marie, and Olympe form the brighter side that simply turned a blind eye to the dark. (Do I think that’s what they were REALLY going for? Maybe not, but it’s what I’m going for.) 

 And it also leads to a fantastic villain combo of Laz being Ronan’s primary villain/Artois being Olympe’s. (This wasn’t AS much of an Olympe-centered production as, say, the French or the Toho, the system being what it is, but it still packed a lot in there. This particular show was REALLY good at being an ensemble production and giving everyone a chance to show off.) And Magee’s take in particular is absolutely BRUTAL, haughty, cold, with a temper that flares up when he’s defied, but with something slick about it as well. He’s an aristocrat, with the mannerisms that you’d expect from it, but he’s also an officer, and he’s one who can force his way either with words or with force. And Masao and Magee had PHENOMENAL chemistry. There are a few moments here or there where you can almost SEE something work beneath the surface before it’s smothered, and then he doubles down on the brutality, possibly to convince himself just as much as the audience. He’s completely unrepentant and has no redeeming qualities, but my GOD is it compelling. I can’t say that she’s my FAVORITE take on the role, not anymore, but her take on the role was definitely what made me really start to focus on Laz as a character. 

Miya Rurika’s Artois is phenomenal. Like, there are two things that I think most people walk away from this musical remembering: Maniaque, for obvious reasons, and Je Suis un Dieu. Because it’s a HELL of a villain song and you can practically see Artois (and Miya as well tbh)  having the time of her life loudly proclaiming himself as a God on stage. The entire sequence is just...gorgeously done and wonderfully goth with the church backdrop and the smoke lifting up from the aphrodisiacs. And it goes from a song sung by the comedy relief in Olympe’s creepy furry sex dream to being a pretty chilling villain song in its own right. And Miya Rurika is PHENOMENAL at facial expressions, which leads to some truly fantastic moments like when Olympe finally pulls the gun on him, where there’s that sudden moment where he’s truly face to face with his own mortality for the first time. (ALSO. BABY ASAMI JUN IN THE SHINKO. EVIL BABY.) Also, even though obviously “Predatory Evil Bisexual” isn’t...STELLAR from a rep standpoint, I do appreciate Artois hitting on Fersen and Necker as well. Because what a thot. I was so disappointed when Toho ruined my Nartois  dreams. 

Tbh, Saotome Wakaba’s Olympe is probably the single most influential Olympe as far as how I write her. She didn’t have AS much to do as, say, her Toho or her French counterpart, all of her solos were taken away and given to other characters, but she still shone. Wakaba has this fantastic ability to look like she’s dying on the inside, and even though we make fun of it a little whenever a Ronan/Olympe scene comes on #Mood Wakaba, #Mood, she does a fantastic job of having that distinctive little tightening of the lips from time to time, where it’s like there’s a hundred things she wants to say but she can’t because it’s too dangerous and she knows her place. Her Olympe, possibly more than any of the others (Though I suspect that Nene Yumesaki took a few cues from her in the Toho), is someone who is basically split into two between the acting that she has to do to survive palace life and what she actually feels, and she uses her mind to work her way out of complicated situations that require tact and lethal politeness. 

Solène doesn’t have all that much to do so I’m not going to DWELL on her too much, but I really love both of the actresses who played her. Harune Aki’s take on the role in particular is GUT WRENCHING during La Nuit M’Appelle, and one thing that I’ll ALWAYS love about this production is Ronan trying to initiate that hug. Like, I can understand how people complain about it centering Ronan (Though. He IS our protagonist. Like, love him or hate him, Ronan Mazurier is very much our protagonist and it’s a Top Star world), in a scene that’s supposed to be SOLÈNE’S, but, at the same time, it’s a fantastic moment for Ronan realizing EXACTLY how badly he fucked up but not being able to do anything about it. Because it’s too late for that, there’s always going to be that little bruise between the two of them. And you’ve got Solène LOOKING RONAN IN THE FACE when she sings about how she was “abandoned by [her] brother.” Possibly more than any single production that came before or after it, this is Solène CONFRONTING Ronan for what he did, and it’s sad and it’s gut wrenching but there’s also an odd sense of power that comes with it as well. And I do appreciate that this version DID give us the Mazurier Sibs Reunion albeit via forcing respectability on Solène which...see above. Not what **I** would have done, but I’m not Zuka, I don’t have their cultural context, and I don’t have to create for their audience. Basically, ANY Mazurier Sibs content is good content, because that was something that was a huge hole in the French production. 

Also not to be gay on main but Harune Aki is GORGEOUS. 

...I said i wouldn’t dwell too much and then one long-ass paragraph later... 

I love the Revolutionary Bros as well, but I don’t TEND to focus on them the same, so I’m going to lightly skip in the interest of preserving space. As much as I can preserve space on ANYTHING. 

One thing that I really, really liked with this production was how they utilized music that had been cut. Pour un Nouveau Monde is FANTASTIC, and tbh it’s a little bone-chilling when Artois takes control of the song, as you see who’s REALLY pulling the strings of the meeting. I LOVE the Toho puppets, but I also like Civics Lessons With Uncle Artois. And it also replaced the non-musical scene from the French that...well...I’m not going to say that NO ONE likes it, because some people do, I’m sure. But in years of either streaming or attending streams, I’ve never really heard anyone say they LIKE it and many, many groans. Likewise for “ Les mots qu'on ne dit pas” which...tbh...I STILL love as an Act 1 finale. I really like how they bring all the main cast on stage in that one, the way that we go through all the central character’s arcs, and, of course, Peyronan being paired together. 

Don’t mind me, I’m appreciating the masterful choreography. 

Also I REALLY love the use of the turn table during Pour la Peine, I think that it did a really good job of showing off the cast as they put in their bit of the song, and Laz SEEMING (?) to turn away at the end never ceases to break me on multiple levels. Like, it really IS everyone who’s been involved in this playing their part, from the lowest class in society to the highest, villains and heroes, ALL of them saying that they changed history, and that’s something that I STILL think about regularly. It’s not AS dark as Toho!1789, because...Toho, but it’s still is a Lot for me to think about.

tl;dr: It’s really kind of impossible for me to talk about how MUCH I love this production, because how DO you really concisely talk about something that’s kind of defined my fandom experience for the last two years (and, really, my fandom experience in general, since I didn’t PUBLISH fanfiction before it, and my publishing fanfic in the first place was because [1] I had a GRE the next day and I finally had something I was terrified of more than a bad review and [2] There was so little fanfic in English that I basically put on my Artois hat and was like “THEY HAVE TO LIKE IT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER), but this really is my baby. My precious child. My precious, ridiculous trainwreck of a child that I will defend until my last breath even if I routinely forget that my self indulgent AU isn’t canon. It really probably saved my ass in the last stage of my undergrad because I would be FREAKING OUT on my Capstone Project and then I could turn this on and be like, “Ah. This is nice. Happy Calming Feel Good Musical. Oh no, Ronan got shot. Oh well. REVUE TIME.” 

[aion-rsa]

How The Boys Pulled Off Its Wildest Episode

https://ift.tt/3yOwx0I

Director Sarah Boyd had a lot to unpack in The Boys’ standout episode “The Bloody Doors Off”. The season 2 installment kicks off with a disturbing sex romp between a turned-on Stormfront (Aya Cash) and Homelander (Antony Starr), but only after he crushed a man’s face in with his hand. 

Meanwhile, Butcher (Karl Urban), Hughie (Jack Quaid), Annie a.k.a. Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) take a road trip to the Sage Grove Center, a facility Annie stumbled across on Stormfront’s laptop. They discover the institution serves as a testing ground, where reluctant subjects are being injected with Compound-V… to varying results. To further complicate matters, former Seven member Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore) had been recruited to keep the patients in line – or roast the unruly alive with his fiery powers. And, as it turns out, Frenchie and Lamplighter shared a shocking history together.

Boyd spent years as an editor on such high-profile shows as Lost, The Killing, and Bates Motel before successfully pivoting to directing on Bates Motel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Flash, This is Us, and The Boys. Currently in pre-production on The Boys’ final two episodes of season 3, Boyd spoke to Den of Geek about season 2’s wildest episode, the series sex and violence, and what’s in store for season 3.

Den of Geek: When you received the script for “The Bloody Doors Off”, what was it about this episode that spoke to you?

Sarah Boyd: I’m not sure it spoke to me, but I got excited about the Sage Grove craziness, and the tension and action in there, and then the reveal of Lamplighter. I was really looking forward to introducing and creating a new character that the audience hadn’t seen before. I didn’t know who they were thinking of casting at first. Then I saw Shawn Ashmore’s audition tape. That’s when I first got super-excited.

How comfortable were you with the episode being so special effects-heavy?

Special effects and VFX, I’ve done both. And as a longtime editor, I’ve worked on lots of shows with visual effects and special effects. The action stuff was pretty comfortable for me. It involved a lot of prep. It takes a lot of time and forethought to orchestrate how you are going to shoot it, how you are going to make it look real. Of course, it’s not real, so how are you going to make it real? And when the stunts are happening, how are they going to be done faithfully? What’s the best angle to film them from? This show has a lot of gore, a lot of action and a lot of sex. These are all things that need to be carefully orchestrated and done to make sure everyone is comfortable and safe. Sage Grove was one example of where we knew we had a lot to do, so we had very jam-packed days at the Sage Grove Institution. 

Taking into consideration the action and sex, were there any particular sequences that required extra discussion with the cast or producers? 

We always have meetings with actors, individually and then together, when there’s going to be an intimate scene. For example, the scene with Homelander and Stormfront in the alley at the beginning of the episode… It’s not particularly graphic in terms of how much of their bodies you see, but anytime there’s enough people insinuating sex, you have a discussion with each person. Then there’s practical things like, “When you wear the super-suit, it’s hard enough to take off your pants if you don’t take off your boots.” It’s like, “OK, we have to think about this.” There’s a certain amount of conversation that goes into that. But we talk not only about logistics, but about the characters’ emotions. I wanted to make it clear that it was a scene where they were really having a connection and that it was an emotional thing. It wasn’t just graphic, and it wasn’t just empty sex or empty violence. It was all part of their commonality that brings these characters together.

The Boys is known for its extremes. How did you approach the bloody component with Homelander crushing a man’s face in?

Read more

TV

The Boys: Antony Starr Believes Homelander is Misunderstood

By Alec Bojalad

We always have prep conversations about how we are going to shoot something. Is he going to smoosh a dummy or a prosthetic imitation of a person? Is he going to start pushing into a real person’s face and then we cut, and then VFX takes over? You go over different angles. In that particular scene, we were prepared to do a prosthetic, but we decided it would be better and more effective to what we needed to get done if we put a whole bunch of dots on the actor and then let VFX take over. Also, the actor had to get smooshed and then fall. When a dummy falls, it looks like a dummy falling. Whereas, when an actor falls, even if he’s missing a head, everything else about him would be himself. It was more effective for the actor and for us to change his head in postproduction. 

For the Sage Grove segment, production took place in an abandoned asylum. In what ways did filming on location create an atmosphere and vibe for the episode?

It was an amazing, but also disturbing, location. It really did have the vestiges of what it used to be. It used to be a hospital for the criminally insane. It had a very musky old smell to it. We had to air a lot of those hallways, just so we could tolerate being in them. Then, of course, the production designer and team had to create a lot of specific things in those rooms. Those rooms were empty, and we had to fill them up. But the location was inherently right for what we were looking for. It had a labyrinthian layout. There were different looks in each hallway, in terms of the color scheme or whether it had carpeting on the floor. It was large, but it felt even larger. 

And there was so much extra stuff we had to film for the security cameras. We ended up having a second unit working one of the days of that same week, just to get those extra bits. They weren’t just random. We carefully planned them. There’s little bits of people running and screaming and going down the hallways, running down the hallways and getting attacked. There’s even a little Easter egg with Love Sausage grabbing someone and pulling them by the leg down the hall. Each of those take a while to set up. 

There’s a brief scene outside where Butcher has Starlight in his line of fire. There’s a certain look in his eyes. In your mind, how close was he to killing her?

There’s always that tension between Butcher and Starlight. There’s no love lost there. It’s interesting because it puts Butcher in a position. Hughie likes Starlight so much. Butcher is conflicted there. I love that moment and the payoff as soon as Starlight gets back to the van, when they have it out and she’s like, “What’s your problem with me?” It’s an example of Butcher’s pickle. He needs Starlight, but doesn’t like her. 

You mentioned Lamplighter earlier. What were some of the challenges of establishing the aesthetic of his fiery powers and how they would manifest?

Shawn and I had a bunch of Facetime conversations, where he would try different things. He got a Zippo lighter and practiced and became really comfortable with that. That was a big aspect to his character. It had to become second nature. There are over 50 ways to light a Zippo lighter. There are all these tricks. There’s actually a lot of videos about tricky ways to light your Zippo lighter. There were a few we loved, and we were like, “This is great. Let’s show it to Eric (Kripke).” Eric was like, “It can’t be too tricky.” At the end of the day, we had a couple of pitches that were more complicated. We wanted to make it different from other flame-throwing characters, which he is, but we wanted to make it wildly different, and Eric wanted it to be more grounded. We came to a happy medium.       

We had concept art from visual effects. They present lots of drawings and options. Is it going to look like a plume? Is it going to be a straight shot? Is it going to be similar to a laser? We had lots and lots of conversations and choices there.

Cindy knows how to make an entrance. The telekinetic Sage Grove patient made an orderly explode. Take us behind the scenes of pulling that off…

In terms of the splat and the crunches, again, it was a conversation and an evolution of ideas pitched and then coming to an agreement of what it should be. The idea is she doesn’t have to do much with her own body. She just has to bend her fingers in to make multiple metal doors crunch and fall. The smaller little things are more chilling than some giant movement on her body. That was an example of multiple layers. There was an element of her, an element of green screen and an element of gore. 

What was it like for you to get to explore Frenchie’s backstory and his friction with Lamplighter?

It was great. Tomer took it really seriously and we dug in together. It was excellent. I enjoy those flashback scenes. I like, in any story, when you learn about the past, as long as the flashbacks aren’t too early. There’s a sweet spot for when you want to introduce a flashback and it has to be when you are curious. It can’t be when you don’t care. The show waited just the right amount of time. “What’s the deal? What happened? What made Frenchie so haunted?” To get a glimpse of the good old days, when Frenchie was robbing banks and killing Supes… And, then when everything took a turn for the worse in regard to their drug use and Frenchie getting caught and joining forces with Mallory, just finding out how those things happened is very satisfying for an audience.

Was there anything in the script that didn’t make it to the small screen?

The only thing I can think of is this tiny scene, which was at the end. Annie is in a car, having left Hughie and Butcher at the hospital. What she is doing is driving to see her mom, I guess, but you don’t know that. So, she’s driving and looking conflicted about having left and where she’s going and how she feels about what she’s becoming. It was a lovely little scene and Erin did a great job with it.  

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

You are currently in post-production for the final two episodes in season 3. What drew you in about the script for the finale?

It’s always exciting to get the actual script you are going to be working on. But, in order to understand my script, I had to get all the scripts before it. I got all the scripts in a big clump and just tore through them. I was so excited. It’s always amazing when a season that you already like, such as season 2, was as good if not better than the first season. And now, the same thing has happened again with season 3. How do they keep doing it? How do they keep finding the stories that are exciting and surprising you with unexpected things and irreverent moments and smart political satire?

In what way do you approach directing a finale differently than a regular episode?

No matter what episode you are directing, you try to tell that story as captivatingly as you can. The stakes are high for the finale, so generally they pull out all the stops. There’s just more work to do. I don’t know if it’s any different than any other episode, because you try to make every episode you work on as good as it can be.

Maybe one thing that’s different about the finale is these are going to be the images you leave fans with, and for quite some time. So, you want to do right by each character and leave them in a place where you understand where they are at, whether that’s a good place or a bad place, depending on what’s happening. It’s just making sure everyone has their moments.   

Jensen Ackles joined the cast as Soldier Boy. What’s impressed you about the Supernatural actor?

Jensen is fantastic. I’ve already met with him a couple of times, just to talk about his character, and get to know each other. He seems extremely kind and hardworking and thoughtful and is having a great time with his character. That kind of enthusiasm is contagious and I’m looking forward to working with him.

The Boys seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Amazon Prime now.

The post How The Boys Pulled Off Its Wildest Episode appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3k98lSA

[mrmichaelchadler]

Hulu's Space Exploration Series The First is Bookended by Greatness

Is an eight-episode series worth watching if it is only bookended by greatness? That’s one of many things that Hulu’s new series “The First” meditates on, among its many ruminations in this story of grounded emotions, concerning pioneers heading to Mars for the first time. There’s a lot going on in between, including an ambitious take with the visual storytelling of a something packaged in between commercials, but this series from creator Beau Willimon is not an easy recommendation, however noble it may be. 

“The First” imagines, with a gentle touch, what it might look like the first time we try to go to Mars. In the first episode, it lays clear the human stakes by showing a jaw-dropping tragedy involving five astronauts after a launch goes horrifically wrong. Like the best kind of false start for anyone thinking this show would be about floating astronauts, the episode is focused on the grief of the immediate aftermath and how it ripples through the families and NASA employees on the ground. Directed by Agnieszka Holland, this pilot is a standalone depiction of dealing with loss on a micro and macro scale, while introducing us to fascinating key players: Sean Penn’s Tom Hagerty, a intense commander who should have been on that shuttle and wasn’t (for reasons we’ll see later), and Natascha McElhone’s Laz Ingram, who is shouldered with doing damage control while trying to secure funding for the next launch. 

Without spoiling: the show's true Mars mission is assembled and hundreds of minutes later, “The First” returns to its incredible graces by its last episode. “The First” offers its own sense of discovery, lifting us into the air and beyond with our emotions tethered to the ground. It’s an incredibly human take on space, tender and full of awe, an experience seen as much as it is felt. But were I not intrigued to see whether the show itself was a disaster, I would have aborted by episode four. As someone now tempted to rewatch the whole show, I’m glad I didn’t. 

But, the middle: “The First” pulls a bait-and-switch around episode three when it’s trying to pick itself back up, focusing on the other astronauts, their relationships with their loved ones and their power struggles internally as the second launch day comes closer. At its best, this focus offers tender imagery of brilliant people and their emotional vulnerabilities, like LisaGay Hamilton’s Kayla, as she builds a house with her partner, or Keiko Agena, who is shown navigating her anxieties about her mother having Alzheimer's. But at its worst, "The First" is like a self-serious project management drama, where Laz and Tom deal with the bureaucracy of the mission, the promise of exploration and a slowly impending launch date only taunting the viewer. Even when the story introduces new life and death stakes in the middle about a rover, it’s not related to a particularly disturbing or thrilling improbability. 

Penn is not featured in every episode, but his arc largely concerns that of his relationship with his daughter Denise (Anna Jacoby-Heron, who can well hold her own against the Oscar winner) as they deal with the trauma of his wife/her mother's suicide. He's set to go to Mars with the new crew, but he tries to find a peace with her before possibly leaving forever. In an dynamic fifth episode by “Mustang” director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, "The First" shows his problems of facing the past in memory and in the present, as he struggles with his current relationship with his daughter as she carries on her mother's addiction. Together, the two paint a terrifying image of loss, and the worst kind: when you lose someone who is standing right in front of you.  

You can see part of what drove Penn to this project: it carries the storytelling values of “The Tree of Life,” which similarly had Penn wandering through a story of overlapping past, present, and future, where he’s just a speck to something bigger than a simple planet. But its cinematography isn’t like Malick so much as the editing, as it freely bounces back and forth in time, or takes a full minute to study the strokes on a painting. For good measure but less success, every now and then there's the flickering metaphor of a faceless man slowly building a phone. In the scheme of TV, whole chunks of “The First” are downright experimental, especially Ergüven’s fifth episode which provides a lot of backstory as if it played out on a stage, adding to the show's emotional scope and its intriguing artistry. 

Another question that “The First” raises: Can you recommend a series based on its score? The only thing that’s directly binge-watch-friendly is the incredible work by Colin Stetson, who “Hereditary” fans will recall was able to open a door into hell with his fluttering, distorted horns and woodwinds. Here, Stetson uses that same arrangement and goes full-Aaron Copland, the results of which might make the driest episodes of “The First” worth watching for the credits.

This is not a series about space, its narrative reminds us so often, so much as to what it would mean for someone to accept the role of a pioneer, and what lives and loved ones they'd be leaving behind. And even with the production design's dream of new technology, where cars are commanded by voices and memories can be accessed by putting on glasses, it's a very sobering idea of the near future. Enamored with its characters to a possible fault, "The First" is cut and paced like the roughly 368-minute director’s cut; you can imagine a two-hour film, probably with the same budget, that hits the same emotional beats and divides audiences like previous high-concept sci-fi stories like "Contact" did. As is, "The First" is a noble, ambitious series, but one that demands equally ambitious viewers.  

from All Content https://ift.tt/2Ok0P4Q

[mariocreator-blog]

Trinity in A Time Like This ( A Drama)

Trinity in a Time like This

By Mario Haynes

Scene 1

Martha: In the beginning

Laz: God said let there be light

Mary: Light. She said there should be light.

Laz: All things came into creation by the Lord our God.

Martha: But this was before.

Mary: Before we knew anything.

Laz: Way before.. You gotta go back..

Mary: Way way Back

Laz: A little after time was just getting started 

Martha: No prophet.

Laz: No Savior.

Mary. No baby.

Laz: No parents.

Martha. Just us. An older sister.

Laz: A middle brother.

Mary: And a baby sister.

Martha: And baby, we made magic. See back then some people.

Laz: Like Us.

Martha: STILL remembered we had magic. I made potions, conjured, and kept Dark Spirits away.

Laz: I healed. The people needed a shaman. They needed their pain taken away before they could pass over.

Martha: The ones that had gifts had to help.

Martha and Laz: When you got a gift! You gotta use it!

Mary: Not everyone had gifts.

Martha: Everyone has a role, but not everyone has magic.

Mary: I had no gift.

Laz: Mary, you are a gift. Don’t be sad.

Martha: You make good pound cake.

Laz: And that’s something.

Martha: Everyone has Blood. Everyone has a role. There’s power in the blood.

* They leave the stage. Mary is left alone on stage and in her room. She goes to the window to talk as if someone is listening*

Mary:

                 Here’s a secret. I hate pound cake. I hate making it. I hate it!

Sometimes I think making a cheese cake would be wild. But then I think nah. That’s too much for me. Too much risk…So I stick to pound cake. I grease the pain and mix the batter and dream about what life would be like if I had a gift. If I were really special, I could help my people. Help Joseph. Help Martha. Help Laz. I just want to be a vessel for something good to happen. Besides pound cake. The people daily sick and dying from high blood pressure, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Just last week they had to cut off Methosaleh’s foot. And what am I doing? Making more pound cake. 

*Mary is startled. She screams. A large winged figure has come into her room. Only the silhouette is seen on the back wall of the theatre *

What do you want?

* The angel opens his mouth to omitt a high pitched siren. This siren speaks to her.*

Mary: How can this be?

The angels opens his mouth to omit another high pitched siren. The siren speaks to her.*

Mary: Yes. His name will be Jesus. 

Blood begins to run down her leg*

Mary: Mary touched her blood. She didn’t need to sleep that night. She could sleep when she was dead. She went to her window and watched the stars dance and knew she was among them. Her blood, her heart, her love was in the cosmos. And she was connected with a child that came to save them all. She was the Mother. The original Mother. She tried to stop the water from her eyes but.. More than magic. Home. She was special. She had been chosen. She was not forgotten. She had a role.

        But she felt pain. The kind of pain the men don’t want women to talk about.

       And she was blessed and HIGHLY favoured. Chosen. Being blessed with the presence of an angel gave her control of the story. Her story. In a way she had never experienced. Martha was making grits for the house. It began there. Time won’t let it rest,  It was just my sister and brother and me. Our parents had just died. So you see we had enough trouble knocking at our front door. This time… And the blood.. She couldn’t hide it .. I couldn’t hide it …  Didn’t want to hide it before I came out to breakfast.

Martha begins to sing * This may be the last time. This may be the last time. May be the last time I don’t know* Mary is hysterical.

 Martha:  Mary?

Mary: Ummm. There was a man all of light. I couldn’t see him. He had wings…

Martha: What happened?

Mary: He had wings…

Martha: Baby you’re talking crazy. Calm down.

Mary: No!

Martha: It’s ok. Just explain what happened.

Mary: I can’t explain. Words don’t do justice.

Martha: Find some words.

Mary: I’m going to have a baby. 

Martha: See I’m gonna have to kill somebody early this morning. 

Mary: No! He was good. But how he did it. It was bad. He didn’t explain it. I didn’t know. I couldn’t have known what he meant. He touched me. And warmed me. And burned me. There’s something inside me now. 

Martha: He wasn’t good, Mary. Your life is more than to be used by some man. You’re more than a baby machine. You’re allowed to have dreams and pursuits besides babies. 

Mary: I’m pregnant. I can feel it. I saw it and felt it.

Martha: Realistically think about what this means for you.

Mary: I have.

Martha: No you haven’t.

Mary: I have.

Martha: No, you haven’t

Mary. I have Martha. I was up all night thinking about it. I’ve thought about this long and hard. I know what it means. I’m ready for it.

Martha: You don’t have to be ready for it. …if you don’t want to. I could mix you up something.

*silence*

Mary: I can’t do that.

Martha: You don’t have to decide now. But you wouldn’t be the first..

Mary: Where’s Lazarus? 

Martha: He’s doing work at a funeral.

Mary: Good. That’s his role. You have yours. And now I have mine.

Martha: Congratulations.

Mary: I wonder if he’ll have wings. 

Martha: * touching her stomach* All God’s children got wings, Mary.

Scene 2.

Laz: I don’t like this.

Martha: She says it’s what she wants to do.

Laz: You helped so many other women before. You couldn’t help your own sister.

Martha: It is her choice! I don’t go around making choices for other women. And neither should you! You think you’re a real big man with all this funeral work that you do.

Laz: I provide a service to families.

Martha: But you don’t ask permission from the dead.

Laz: I take on the sins of the dead so they can move on.

Martha: You need to ask permission.

Laz: Since when did you ask permission?

Martha: I know what I’m doing. 

Laz: We need to help Martha. We need to talk some sense into her. With just us.  we can’t take in another mouth to feed.

*Mary enters*

Mary: But we will. And he will feed us. 

Laz: Hey baby girl. I didn’t know you were awake yet.

Mary:  I’ve woken up more than you’ve imagined. 

Laz: Mary…  You need a midwife to come look at you. They can do a kit to see if you—

Mary: Lazarus. Don’t. This isn’t ideal I know. This isn’t what I planned. But it’s apart of a Greater plan. But this is the fabric of my life. I saw beautifully stitched patterns once, but now it’s a quilt of chaos that I’m trying to string together and make work. The Virgin Mary just sits idly by and waits. I wait for things to happen to me and they do. They happen to me.  Black Girls waiting to be chosen. Black Virgins waiting and striving and trying to measure up to be a Mother. Infected men thinking a virgin can heal their pain… Men always want a Virgin Mother Figure to heal… Well, Mother don’t even measure up to what it means to a Mother in the imagination of a man.  Because I didn’t want to be. I’d much rather be a witchy woman or healer. But I have a task and I’m going to do it. I’ll go into a pit of Fire to have this child. He’s been here from the beginning. I’ll burn down Gal;ilee and set the Sun an even hotter flame before you bring your backhanded hate to my baby. In this fire, I have arisen from the ashes to become the Madonna. I am mother. I am might. I am the vessel for the Alpha and the Omega. 

*She exits*

Laz: Wait.. Who’s Madonna…

Martha: Child I don’t know.. Just go wit it. I don’t want no problems. I’m just trying to keep us together.

Laz: I always thought Mary was a dud. I mean really… Didn’t you?

Martha: She made good pound cake. 

Laz: It was good. You could always tell by the lemon flavoring she put in the batter.

Martha: Was that the secret?

Laz: Yeah. She told me one day.

Martha: I thought it was vanilla. But seriously… I knew she had to be special. Our gifts were so evident. I knew the Universe must have been saving her for a special task.

Laz: Them pound cakes! I just told you.

Martha: No fool. Something big. Something serious. Something blessed.

Laz: I still don’t like it. 

Martha: I don’t either. I just about jumped out my skin when I saw my lil baby sister come into the kitchen with blood running down her legs. Talking about a man had touched and warmed and burned her.

Laz: It didn’t just happen to her. It happened to all of us.

a strange, eerie moment*

Martha: You’re right.

Laz: It’s still happening.

Martha: I know.

Laz: She won’t let herself feel the grief.

Martha: But grief don’t disappear.

Laz: It’s grows deeper. And stronger.

Martha: Seeing her hurt and hide her hurt. Its hurts me.

Laz: It drains me.

Martha: that lil bun she got in the oven. It ain’t a cake.

Scene 3. 

 * Mary/ Madonna is praying *

Madonna:

God?

 Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone

I hear you call my name

And it feels like home

Laz: Mary…

Madonna: Mary is my dead name. Call me Madonna.

Laz: Madonna… I’m sorry for being an asshole back there.

Madonna: You were rude, but you can only see so far. I don’t begrudge you brother. 

Laz: I’m taking the pain and healing as many people as I can but it’s a lot of energy. It costs the body to help them cross onto other worlds. It always costs. Magic costs. Power costs. And babies cost. I just wasn’t sure you really realized what you were getting into with this. This is more than a paper doll. We want to believe that babies don’t have sin. But we all have sin. It’s thrusts upon us. When I have to take the pain of a baby, it costs just as much as when I take on the sins of an old man. And every time you touch that baby, you’ll be teaching him hurt and pain.

Madonna: And love. It’s all mixed in together. 

Laz: It’s in the blood. You know the blood has power. The pain in that blood that ran down your leg at his conception is  already passed on to him. It’s already in his being.

Madonna: He’ll be the Savior, your God.

Laz: He’ll be a wrathful God that floods cities below sea level and leaves me to eat the pain of new born babies thrown away on trash heaps.

Madonna: When he comes, there won’t be need for a Healer, a witch, a sorcerer a conjurer. Those days are past. The Alpha and the Omega will arrive.

Laz: How many times have we been fooled before? How many times have crazy homeless people said the world would end? Since we were kids. Since before we were kids. All the way back to the dinosaurs. People don’t want to be alive so they create a Savior that will conveniently end it all.

Madonna: This Saviour will save us all and set us free Laz.

Laz: People save themselves.

Madonna: If you just believed you’d be free.

Laz: We’ll see.

Madonna: I hope you see before it’s too late.

Laz: What does that Mean?

Madonna: It means I love you.

Laz: Have you spoken with Joseph?

Madonna: Joseph is last week. I’m pregnant this week. 

Laz: And you’ll be a mother the rest of your life. Everything will be different.

Madonna: I know.

Laz: It’s ok to be scared.

Mary: Is it?

Laz: It’s ok.

Mary: But really is it ok? Can a woman be scared? Is it allowed? Because… I’m not so sure. I’m beyond scared. I’m in a panic attack that’s manifested out of my skin. And what’s inside me has to be more. He has to be more. Because otherwise it was all for nothing.  *crying* So fear doesn’t quite describe it. It’s a shaking. It’s uncertainty. It’s the Earth moving. It’s the formation of a Galaxy inside your little sister. And she’s beyond scared, but she has no other choice.

Mary: You do have a choice.

Mary: I DO NOT Lazarus. I know that thing with wings that raptured me was a thief! I get it. He stole my innocence… ..and and who would have guessed I would have gave it away so easily so he would stop. It’s out of balance. The whole Universe is out of balance. BUT This is something I was chosen to perform and I’m not going to walk away from it. Take me out of it. There’s a Galaxy in Orbit inside me. And I’m not going to let it die because I’m scared. Everything I’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. I’m sick of choosing fear. AHHHHH!! Everyone just wants so much from me.

Laz: What do you want?

Mary: Do you even care?!

Laz: What do you want, Mary?

Mary: I want to be seen. For my heart. I want 

          To love someone so hard  that it breaks  

          All our chains. My baby seems to be the last hope.

          If me and Joseph, end up together. He’ll never see 

          Me the same. He wanted a  Black Virgin.

Laz: You are a virgin. No man gets to take away what you didn’t give them.

         I know you’re hurting.

Mary: No one knows more than you what it’s like to hurt.

Laz: No one knows more than any of us. 

Mary: You, me, and Martha have been through so much. It’s not fair.

Laz: It’s fair..

Mary: What?

Laz: Not everyone can handle it. We can.. We can, Mary.

* Laz rocks her as she cries *

Scene 4.

Martha: Did I ever tell you about your birth?

Mary: No.

Martha: You were one of those babies that didn’t want to come out.

            Mama was in labor from Wednesday to Thursday with you. You didn’t   seem to want to come out. Or the special place you were from didn’t seem to want to give you up. The mid wife was just about to go home. She said she coulda watched cream rise on buttermilk in the time it was taking you to come out. But you were born. And we were happy. So happy… You had something the other children didn’t have. You had a veil. A baby born with a veil is destined for greatness. So even when me and Laz were showin abilities, I saw you. And I knew you had an even greater gift.You’re a gift to us.

Mary: To you and Laz maybe. But is that really enough to raise a child?

Martha: After Mama gave birth to you, she held you and asked to be alone with just you for a long time. Then she wanted to see me. She called me in the room and gave me a message. She said the trinity would be revealed. I didn’t really know what it meant, but it’s 3 of us. And that will be enough for now to raise a chid.

Mary: What’s so special about three?

Martha: This whole world is made up of three.

Mary: Owww. I need to sit down.

Martha: I’ll wash your feet baby.

Mary: Thanks. Thank you so—

Martha: Three. Three. Three. One is lonely. It’s dangerous and lonely. Two is a pair. But our very existence is three. 3 dimensions and worlds are always coexisting to form life as we know it. Height, weight, depth… The spiritual, the literal, the unknown… It’s 3 to make one. It’s a Trinity. We’re apart of that until the end of time says it’s the last time.

Mary: I’m apart of that.

Martha: You’re apart of this. You weren’t meant to go it alone. It’s all we have.

Mary: Ahhh. I feel like I’m at a spa.

Martha: You might be carrying The God Almighty but seems even he can’t make them corns disappear.

* they laugh*

Mary: If Gabriel, comes back what do we do?

Martha: We’ll know what to do when it’s time.

Mary: I wish there was something I could do for you.

Martha: Well….

Mary: What? 

Martha: Ohh nothing..

Mary: No tell me.

Martha: I mustn’t.

Mary: I wanna know.

Martha: Ok��� But I shouldn’t…

Mary: Martha!  Seriously.. What can I do for you?

Martha: Well, I made you a charm.

Mary: Oh.

Martha: When mamma and daddy died, I was the only one old enough to view the body.

Mary: You’re not that much older than Laz.

Martha: I could handle it. He couldn’t and you were too small. He takes on a lot of pain now, but that was before. Way before. Back when time was just getting started.

Mary: It’s beautiful.

Martha: It’s made from the most beautiful substance on earth. The accident left them contorted. It was like a broken collection of glass that was trying to lie together even after it was destroyed. I couldn’t look at their faces for too long, but then I saw Mama’s wedding ring. I asked if I could take it. What was once invincible had gave way to become broken and brittle. And when they took the ring off. Off came her ring finger. I could have left it right there, and just took the ring. But I heard my mamma say

Martha and Mary: There is power in the blood.

Martha: Yes. Yes there is.

Martha: I took that majestic index finger pointing the way to my purpose and the took the ring. I hollowed out the ring, and ground up the bones with salt, sarsaparilla, aloe, and mama’s blood. I made it into this necklace. Wear it to keep you safe from all these spirits visiting. Good angels. Bad angels. Archangels. It just gets to be too much at a certain point. But the blood. And your mama’s finger pointing the way. That’s never too much. That’s all you need. That’s all you need to get by. 

Mary takes it and wears it *

Scene 5.

Laz sits with eyes closed in meditation with the universe*

Laz: hums..

       There’s a quiet place

        It’s close by. It’s not very far away.

Martha: Hey, are you all right?

Laz: I don’t know. 

Martha: Mary’s been a lot better the past couple of days. And Guess who’s coming to dinner tonight.

Laz:  …The asshole with wings!

Martha: Mary is learning to look at it a different way,

Laz: That’s because..

Martha: And I think we all should. We’re going to have a party! It’s a celebration. New life is always a celebration! 

Laz: Mary’s not in her right mind. She’s not thinking clearly.

Mary: And we’ll be a family. You and me and her and the baby. It’s a very beautiful story really. “On a midnight clear, the angel came upon her..”

Laz: The angel came upon her? Do you fucking hear yourself? You’re romanticizing an assault on our baby sister. I don’t care if the angel came upon her or beside her or whatever! It’s fucked up. She’s a survivor, Martha!

Mary: We have many gifts, but NO ONE can time travel. This mess is too big to clean up now. So we have to deal with it, Laz.

Laz: I am!

Martha: what did you do?

Laz: I don’t know.

Martha: Boy what did you do?!

Laz: I’ve been absorbing the pain out of Mary. It’s why she’s been so positive. It’s why I’ve been so tired. It’s too much pain. I’ve taken on sins and pain before, but the pain of a unwed single mother is enough to kill a man. It’s isolating. It burrows down into the psyche and creeps into the body. And before you know it it’s taken you over. You’re alone. It’s you and something sucking all the strength out of you, but with me there isn’t even a baby. I’m just taking it on because I love Mary. I love Mary. I love her so much. * He begins to break down crying *

Martha: You’re a good man, brother…

Laz: But there’s something else there with her. It’s a confidence. It’s a passion. She’s so special, and I help so many others, and I just wanted to help her. We all want to help. I want her to be ok Martha? Do you think she will be?

Martha: All I know is …. …She can’t go back to how it was before. None of us can And blood is thicker than water.

Mary: Her worry for Mary grew thick.

Laz: Her blood grew thicker as her heart pumped out love to her body.

Mary: Mary watched her older sister grow sad.

Laz: Lazarus watch his older sister grow happy.

Mary: She was sad.

Laz: And happy.

Mary: When the folks get happy, their power is on par with God.

Laz: When the folks get happy, it’s dangerous.

Mary: you gotta let the spirit work through

Martha: Come you Ancient Spirits

             Come you Ancestors of the past and present.

             Help your own right the wrong that was done

             Make my blood thicker than mud

             To bog up these Swamps of the Oppressor’s  Touch.

              I say it all despite the consequence,

              A RAPE HAS OCCURED!

             THE RAPE OF Sister MARY   * thunder rumbles *

              By the Angel Gabriel

              WILL NOT GO UNCHECKED! 

Distantly The ancestors can no longer hold their peace and vocally interject 

Yes!

Amen!

Praise be!

Tell the truth now Martha!*

           Believe me when I tell you this. This is an Almighty Kingdom.

           This is surely the Homeland of the Soul. There the streets and paved in Gold and the ones that enter never grow old. I have seen it and felt it

  Aye!

And I have loved my brother and my sister. They were not meant to feel this much pain. The Spirits we have sprung from that endured also were not meant for this pain. For the ancestors. For Mary. I wage WAR on this Almighty Kingdom.

thunder rumbles and lightning cracks *

Scene 6.

Martha: He’s going to pay for what he did to you.

Mary: I’m ok.. really…

Laz:  We’re cursed. Cursed creatures. Doomed to play out of passions before a vengeful God.

Martha: Your idea of God is pain and suffering so we have been given pain and suffering.

Mary: This doesn’t song like you sister…

Martha: When a rapture of your sister’s innocence occurs, well only someone that shares blood with her can right that wrong. I share blood with you Mary.

Laz: I share blood with you Mary.

Martha: I won’t let it go unchecked.

Mary: But but how? How can we?

Martha: Leave that to me. Did you pray for  the Angel, Gabriel to return?

Mary: Yes. 

Lazarus: Humans can’t kill angels Martha!

Mary: He’s right!

Martha: I know someone that can. 

Mary: Nobody can!

Laz: It’s impossible!

Martha: You children den forget. 

Mary begins to preach the gospel and educate ala a sing-song Southern Sermon stye retelling of history* 

You gotta go back all the way back. back when time was just getting started! Y’all den forget he truth this evening! Yes ya have. Too busy eating Mary good ol pound cake to hear the truth. Ha  ha.  They got a Book out that don’t tell the whole truth! But we gon tell the truth here this evening!

* Distantly The ancestors can no longer hold their peace and vocally interject 

Yes!

Amen!

Praise be!

Tell the truth now Martha!*

The Truth the whole truth is that this world was created in War. It’s a WAR. It’s always a WAR between Good and Evil. Y’all don’t want this good truth…

Laz: N’all tell it, Martha!

Mary: Tell it! 

Martha: Y’all hungry for the history so I’m gon tell it one mo time!! I’m gon tell ya the story. The real story. Our God is a powerful, strong and beautiful woman. She made this whole Earth and then saw forth to make Eve and her companion Adam. But Before our God made humanity, there was only Paradise. Heavenly Paradise and Gratitude for the Lord Our God. There were the Fields of Paradise set in a a Golden Hue high Above the Earth. In the Heavenly chorus, there was one angel whose voice cut through the rest and wouldn’t blend. He sang “ I will sing Hallelujah! Ohhhhh Lord!! For you are the source of our supply. Lord our Praise will lift you High. I will sing Hallelujah Oh Lord.”  He sang and sang for many years for the Glory of God until one day he went against Her. He pretended to be her follower and friend. His ego and Spirit of desire made him touch her, warm her, and burn her. He raped her and a WAR broke out in Heaven. Angels are always ready for War. They carry weapons at all times. And only the weapon of an angel can kill another angel. Though the Traitorous Singing Snake and all his followers were banished to the Pits of Hell, there was a conception. And from that trespass came forth Eve.

Ancestors:

Yes!

Amen!

Praise be!

Speak it!

Tell the truth now Martha!*

thunder rumbles and lightning cracks *

A large winged figure has come into the room. Only the silhouette is seen on the back wall of the theatre*

Martha: Evil Angels don’t like it when you tell that good truth!.

The angel opens his mouth to omitt a high pitched siren. Martha screams!*

Martha: Use the charm, Mary! Speak her Name!

The red charm begins to glow. For a moment, it’s the brightest blessing In the Universe *

Mary: MAMA!!!!! Mama Annie!!!!  You gotta help me!!!

The fields of Heaven OPEN Up. Mother Annie comes racing at the speed of Light to help her daughter. Another large winged figure has come into the room. Only the silhouette is seen on the back wall of the theatre. She strikes Gabriel dead in a display of rain, joy, light, and fancy strobe lights. All 3 children experience bleeding from their hands at the presence of the Angel of their Mother *

Laz: I remember.. Mama.

Mary: Oh my God. Mama Annie!

Martha: The Queen Mother. Mary you couldn’t be a mother without her.  

Laz: Look! Our hands… we’re bleeding.

Mary: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! The baby! It’s coming!!

*Mary’s water has broke and the child is coming*

Martha: Laz, go boil some water boy.

*Laz runs off. Mary screams into the night.*

Scene 7 - Epilogue

There is a quiet despair in the air. Hope seems dead. Mary weeps.

Laz: Don’t weep Mary. 

Mary: I never thought he’d die. 

Martha: It’s ok baby. 

Mary: It’s NOT ok.

Martha: We’ll be alright. We will… * begins to cry *

Laz: We don’t have to cry.

Martha: What?

Laz: We are beyond sadness now.

Laz sits with eyes closed in meditation with the universe*

Laz: hums..

       There’s a quiet place

       It’s close by.

       It’s not very far away.

       No need to cry.

* he prays *

        Don’t weep Mary.

        Don’t weep Mary.

Music begins to play * 

        A chorus of ancestors can be heard chanting “Don’t. Weep. Mary” very far away *

Laz: Lazarus heard the cry and the call of his ancestors. He knew his purpose. He walked over and united the hands of his sisters with his own. The power of the Trinity was coming to fruition. The Blood is the Life. HE placed the bloody hands onto the lifeless body of the child. 

*The music swells as the Ancestors cry out for the King of Kings. Music dies down. The baby begins to cry. *

Laz: HE is risen.

Mary runs to the baby and holds him.*

Mary: You did it.

Laz. We did it. I’m just a vessel.

Martha: It’s gonna cost. 

Laz: I know.

Mary: Thank you.

Martha: It’s gonna cost me too. Both of us. You don’t wage war on Bad Angels and you don’t raise ppl from the dead without a cost.  …even if it is for God and a greater Good.

Laz: I’m sick of caring. I’m tired. I want there to be more to life than worry. If I lose it all, it’s all good. IT doesn’t matter if I’m struck dead by a thunderbolt or given an incurable disease or whatever punishment by God or random occurrence. That baby is our Future. He came to save us and heal us. And die for us all over again. So it’s the least I can do the way  I see it.

Martha: So We wait.

Laz: For the first time ever, we just wait. No making things happen. No mixing. No dealing. No healing. No planning. No plotting. We just wait. We’ll go forward but we’ll wait. 

Martha: It’s on him now. We made a mess of things. But it’s on a baby to be a new hope. It’s always on a baby.

Mary: He’s a Black King.

Martha: King of Kings. 

Laz: More than a Conqueror.

Mary: My baby.

She begins to cry*

Laz: Don’t weep Mary. There’s no need to cry-

Mary: I’m happy.

Martha: Martha watched her younger sister grow cry.

Laz: Lazarus watch his younger sister grow happy.

Martha: She was sad.

Laz: And happy.

Martha: When the folks get happy, their power is on par with God.

Laz: When the folks get happy, it’s a blessing.

Martha: you gotta let the spirit work through.

Mary cries out joyfully and lifts her baby up to Heaven. They dance a dance between mother and son as the lights close in only on them. They are one. A chorus of Ancestors cheer distantly. 

BLACK OUT. End of play.