application for boomtown -

[septembersong]

Player's Name: S.
Are you over 16? Yes, I’m 26.
Characters Played Here:
Marcel | futuristical
Marguerite Gautier | luxuryflower

Character: Effy

World Description:

Effy heralds from a world which is basically the modern world as we know it, more specifically Denmark during the first decade of the 21st century. However, through her girlfriend, James, she gets a glimpse into another world – one that it’s difficult to decide whether just exists inside James’ own mind (in the shape of a mental disorder) or whether there’s really a reality tied to the sylph that James sees and the forest kingdom this sylph represents.

History:

Effy was born to her mother, Elisabeth and a nameless father who made a run for it, leaving her mother single. Her mother, working as a soloist for the Royal Danish Ballet, lived a tough, but exciting life – the artistic milieu rubbing off on Effy from the very first day that she was introduced to the ballet world and she started dancing herself very early on. At age 7, she was accepted into the RDB’s ballet school and for three years she worked hard beside her mother at the theatre, until one day tragedy struck. Her mother, on her way to work, the police officer told Effy, had been in a car accident and was killed on the spot. Suddenly, despite moving in with her aunt and uncle, her godparents, Effy was alone. Scarily, life continued as if nothing had happened – she continued pursuing dance, she continued hanging out with her friends, she went into puberty and began dating boys. All of it normal growing pains. Her entire life feeling very straight-lined and straightforward, until she began to realise that she preferred her own sex to the opposite. There were no dramatics involved in the realisation, because the ballet world might be narrow-minded, but it embraced broadly and after some initial surprise, her friends accepted it, accepted her without question.

At age 17, Effy was made an apprentice with the RDB and she began living a hectic life, balancing on a fine line between hard, physical labour with strict discipline as a ballet dancer and, on the side line, entertaining a more unrestrained existence on the gay scene in Copenhagen. It was here that she, a couple of years later after having become part of the corps finally, met Jaime whom she fell in love with immediately and dubbed James in honour of the ballet that had been her mother’s inspiration for her own name. Effy and James. They seemed a perfect match and for a couple of years, everything was exactly that. Perfection. They moved in together in Effy’s apartment, Effy working and James meanwhile pursuing her studies. James sending flowers on opening night, attending closing night performances, being altogether the sweetest and most attentive girlfriend that Effy could have ever dreamed of.

This would soon change, however. Well into their relationship, not long after James had taken her by surprise, asking Effy to marry her to which she said yes, tearfully and smiling, Effy began noticing subtle changes in the other woman. Sometimes she would seem distracted, as if caught within her own inner world. At times, Effy would wake late in the night to the sound of James’ loud, sleep-muffled muttering, the words incomprehensible, but Effy’s name obviously nowhere in the stream. James began forgetting important dates, Effy’s birthday, their anniversary, sending no flowers on opening nights anymore and leaving a seat empty on closing nights. Effy panicked. She fought hard and mercilessly for James’ attention, but to no avail. Finally James would admit that a sylph had entered her mind, as a second presence, trying to make James follow its airy footsteps into the forest. Effy’s response was prompt. Rather than simply urging James to seek help, she herself drove her to the nearest psychiatric hospital, hoping that they, at least, would be able to keep James safe from her own illusions.

For a while, it seemed to have worked. James returned home after a few weeks and a kind of normalcy seemed to settle over them once more, though everything had changed. James struggled to keep the Sylph at bay, to uphold the proper distance and Effy supported her in her battle. In a way, they became closer for it, while at the same time, Effy was fully aware of the distance that had wedged itself down between them. She didn’t give up, however. She had hopes. She believed. In James. In James’ loyalty, in James’ love and in James’ strength.

However much she believed, though, it didn’t change how, one day when she got home from work, late at night, the apartment was dark and empty and James nowhere to be found. She had left everything behind, her bag, her phone, her credit cards and although it took the police hours to confirm that she was gone, Effy knew it immediately. That James had given up fighting and gone to the forest with the sylph that lived in her mind. She knew, at that moment, that whether James was still alive or whether she was already dead, she would never see her again, because the forest casts everything in shadow and shadows forgive no one.

Personality:

The most appropriate comparison one can make in regards to Effy (and the one which does her the greatest justice), is to compare her to the ground. Not only is her hair the same shade of brown as newly ploughed soil, but she is solid. Rock solid. Effy’s psyche is as strong as her body, both her body and her psyche having been exposed to the demanding ballet world since she was only a little girl. This is one of the reasons why she doesn’t find it particularly difficult tolerating and yes, even holding on to the mentally unstable James, when the Sylph begins making her appearances in both their lives. The other reason, obviously, being her loyalty to and love for the other woman. Studying ballet has made a survivor of Effy and as such, she finds herself almost cursed to go on, even when James is gone. In a way, it’s a parallel to when she lost her mother, so many years prior – life proves to simply move on as if nothing has changed, when in reality, everything has changed, if not around her, then inside of her. She may feel like kicking and screaming at reality, but instead she attends her morning practices, goes through rehearsals, performs on stage. Lives her life. A little emptier.

At the same time as she is as solid as the ground on which she stands, Effy is still born into and has grown up in the artistic milieu, leaving her with just the hint of dramatics in her body and in close contact with her feelings. She is a warm person, but she doesn’t burn out from her own heat – it is unlikely for you to find her yelling in a fit of passion or get fired up from rage. On the stage, however, the solid rock explodes in an earthquake. An exertion of emotions. Ballet is Effy’s everything, first in the wake of her mother’s death, now in the wake of James’ disappearance. It’s her personal outlet, her escapism, where she can give her all and fully feel herself. She isn’t, as such, an ambitious ballet dancer – she is a realist, can look at her own body and see the details that are working against her promotion, but she is a hard worker and it pays off. Her sight isn’t set on the big principal parts like Odette and the Sylph, but with James gone, she dreams of dancing Effy. Knowing that she could portray the character like no one else has ever portrayed it before.

Another descriptive word for Effy is sensible. She is pragmatic and realistic in her approach to the world around her. After the Sylph begins taking over James’ full attention, Effy may react with panic, but she also takes charge of the situation, trying to hold on to the other woman – both physically and mentally. On a more personal level, she bears the pains and aches of being a dancer with a no-nonsense attitude and is dynamic in her response to injuries and any kind of hurt, be it her own or that of others. James’ emotional and mental struggle doesn’t only leave her affected on her own behalf, but the nurturing and loving side of her feels for James, too. James who is fighting so hard to keep the Sylph at bay. However much that she nurses sympathy for her girlfriend, though, James’ invisible affair with the Sylph that eventually leads to James choosing the forest over Effy, has awoken an insistent fear in Effy that everyone she loves will disappear, like first her mother did and then James. It’s a fear she actively works and struggles with, doing her best not to let it overtake her, but it’s ever present and has made her keep a certain emotional distance to others – not enough to be noticeable on the surface, but enough to be felt inside.

Why do you think your character would work in this setting?

Effy, having accepted Eli’s offer, will work really well in New Dodge, because – like most other people who live there – she’s running from something. In her case, she is running from the daily life that followed in the wake of James’ disappearance. It felt wrong, somehow, that her daily practices and dress rehearsals and performances on stage just continued like nothing had happened, when her entire world had changed in an instant. From one moment to the next. So, once she has been promised that her life as she knows it will still be there when she returns, she makes the conscious choice of leaving everything behind, bringing some distance between herself and everything that happened. Like a vacation.

Being friendly and accepting, I expect that she will get along with most people in the town and her high tolerance will make it less difficult for her to find her footing amongst aliens and people out of fiction. At the same time, she will also come to struggle with herself and her fear of loss, seeing how people flux in and out of New Dodge so often that she is bound to eventually experience people she will come to care about disappearing. Like her mother and like James.

What will your character do for work?

I imagine Effy would take up a job as a masseur at the bathhouse, since she has learned a lot about physical health and massage techniques through her ballet career.

Inventory:

Two suitcases, one with casual clothes and the other with professional wear, like leotards, tights, tutus, skirts and enough pointe shoes to last the first couple of weeks. She’s also bringing a camera with her and a personal photo album.

Samples:

Third-Person Sample:

Every day before work at Stahma’s bathhouse begins, usually before the sun has risen, Effy walks to the theatre, locks herself into one of the rehearsal rooms and goes through morning practice on her own, as if she were still back home in Copenhagen with her instructor’s coaching her through her barre exercises. Today is no different, although the date is sacred and Effy is carrying a small bouquet of flowers in one hand as she enters the mirrored room. She looks shorter than usual when she glances at her own reflection, as if the flowers are weighing her down, like a burden on her shoulders.

Plié.

She bends her knees, performing a demi plié first, then continuing into a grand, staring at herself in the mirror all the way. I should have come home earlier that night, she thinks. The thought isn’t born of guilt, she isn’t blaming herself for James’ disappearance, because as a ballet dancer she knows better than anyone that the only one in full control of your legs is yourself. James left. James ran. However, if she’d just come home half an hour earlier, if she hadn’t lingered in the changing room after training, if she’d just that once prioritized the theatre less…

Elevé.

She raises up on the balls of her feet. Her eyes are dark brown, only a single shade lighter than her hair. My little troll, her mother had called her when she was still a little girl and the RDB had been staging A Folk Tale. My little home-coming changeling. If just Effy had come home sooner, a couple of hours, James wouldn’t have had the chance to leave and they’d enjoyed yet another day together. Suddenly, magically, James would have started paying attention to Effy’s performances, to Effy’s birthday, to Effy. Suddenly, she wouldn’t have to fight for James’ attention. Suddenly, she’d no longer lose.

Battement tendu.

She moves into the fifth position. All contradictions. All opposing lines. She leads with her heel to maintain turnout, then stretches her leg to its fullest. Reaches, reaches… James had been so gentle in bed. Always careful and attentive and soft. Effy finishes the half-circle of the tendu with her leg. To the side, first, then lifting her foot off the floor and pointing it backwards. All toes, no heel. Whatever had taken over James’ mind, it wasn’t her and she hadn’t been able to make the other woman turn around, her voice drowning out once she was out of hearing range and the shadows of the forests had eaten her up. Fifth position again. All opposing lines. Lines leading nowhere.

Rond de jambe.

There are no real forests in New Dodge, so on her way back from the theatre, Effy stops by the Recreation Center and lets herself be embraced by the imitation of one that grows there. Between the trees, there is a glade and she conquers the glade as if she were dressed in a tulle skirt and pointe shoes still, as if she herself were the Sylph that stole James and not the Effy from whom James was stolen.

However, she isn’t. So she places the bouquet, a truss of Baby’s Breath, near the base of a couple of trees. Stares at it for a moment, before turning around and walking away. Because there’s nothing to linger on. She’s gone.

First-Person Sample:

10th attitude | text

A whole lot of work later, I’ve managed to fix up the theatre enough to make it fit for use. With a theatre where you can actually stage productions, I’ve started working on my first couple of choreographic works and it’s proving somewhat of an experience. It’s the first time I’m in any serious contact with that branch of the art form, since I’ve never really been the choreographing type. It’s not a talent I’ve utilized outside simpler school projects and such.

My first performance, however, will be the reconstruction of Polina Semionova’s solo from Herbert Grönemeyer’s music video, “Demo”. Since it’s only a short piece, I’m going to livestream it over the Network rather than invite everyone to the theatre for a four minute deal. I don’t know the date and time of the livestream yet, it depends on when my helpful staff (to whom I’m endlessly grateful) can be there to help me out with the technical issues, but this was just intended as a presentation of the project and an update on the theatre’s status.

On a more personal note, I wanted to ask – does anyone celebrate special occasions from home? Here, I mean. Not birthdays or anniversaries, but more like… days that became important to you for different reasons and might not be recognized by others as such? I have a couple of them and I’m used to honouring them alone, but I suppose, in the end, I came here to escape that lonesomeness.