She starts out slowly, as slow as the soft-burning fire; a mere flicker of movement, here and there, then again. Her long, slender arms suspend themselves in the air into a seamless arc. Strong lines of her right leg, clad with crimson material, lift up behind her as her supportive leg balances itself upon a powerful, arched foot. The pale figure maintains her starting position with hidden strength becoming like a stone upon the ground. Smoke filled eyes stare out upon the crowd, strong and yet frail; they appear to rise slowly in emotion. Abruptly she drops her position; pointed toes barely sweep the floor into her principal twirl, fanning the darkness with a swish of her bright colored skirt. The fabrics twist and then pause around her legs as her movement halts and her fingers tease and clutch desirously at the sky. Expressions of pain washes over her complexion while her eyes spark in fury. She can see, sense, and taste it. It calls to her in whispers and taunts. Her arms fall lightly, brushing against her body, and she readies herself.
Her eyelids drift downwards, lashes brushing against her cheeks. A simple strain of two or three notes fills her head, giving her much needed guidance. It floats around her, carried upon by the violence of those who came before, and as it reaches her ears she begins to move. Her feet prick the hard surface and she treads towards the unknown. Her leg rises and extends out and her frame dips low, meeting the shadows around with an acknowledging bow. The tune increases and she spins out of her position, arms stretching high as sweat fell from her face, coating her in a light sheen. Her eyes spring open as she becomes enlivened in her strength, breath racing and deepening with each half turn. The further she revolves the more the shadows circle around her with their sharp, angular movements being seen only by the flickers of light from the fire.
She moves into a bent position, harnessing her energy, and springs into the air into a wide leap. Arms glide up and hands form themselves like knives, cutting at the unseen as it follows her. Her body executes a half turn in the air before she lands gracefully on her supporting leg. She lets the other fall behind, exacting her figure into frozen state. The blood within burns and shakes in response to the pulsations around her, but she remains steadied. Let them tease. She whispers to herself, knitting her eyebrows in concentration and forming her lips into a line of determination. As her state thins, her body loosens and begins to move once more on its own accord. Toes extending, she places first one foot, and then the other, down before her. She rises upon them and elevates her neck to speak towards the sky in a soft, almost silent whisper.
She lowers her head, glowering off into the distance again, and steps forward rapidly on the tips of her toes. Her body leans to the right, in her movement, and her arms curve above her head. She repeats the motion in the opposite direction, seemingly dodging something. Her mouth curls and she straightens, pushing her right leg against her left. She lifts her arm and curls it out before her as she simultaneously strengthens her supporting leg. Spotting her turns, she swivels her body around and around, like a column of red and yellow against the dark atmosphere. Raw expressions paint her features as the shadows and melodies rise and fall with every turn. They are consumed as her turns cease, and float like ash when her figure graciously sinks to the ground into a kneeling position.
Comments
Have him work a backup dancer into his next propagandist outing.
Also calling out @Ast and @Amarillys to share their work so I don't feel like a weirdo...
The Collapse
Ast's eyes close as her fingers pluck a haunting chord, and she settles into her seat her voice rising in a husky croon, "I sunk in seas of pain..." she taps her foot lightly, "Now... they're all frozen over..."
Ast shakes her head slightly as she continues to sing, "I should have took your hand... As they stormed the border." Lithe fingers strum and drum on the strings to keep tempo whilst still playing out the harmony while her voice melds in the melody.
Raising her voice an octave on a slightly minor scale, Ast moves onto the next line, "Means nothing at all..." She shifts her position, "Forever we bend... The souls of the fallen..." her voice drops into a whispered echo, "The souls of the fallen..."
You sing in Mhaldorian in a refined but unsteady voice, "It's so cold, a numb shout."
You sing in Mhaldorian in a refined but unsteady voice, "Where's the all I have to show."
You sing in Mhaldorian in a refined but unsteady voice, "Acknowledge that I'd never known."
"Bleedin' out again...", Ast croons again, "I'm bleedin' out againnnn..." she stops playing for a moment and snaps her fingers once, her voice carrying the song in the silence, "The crosses cloud the sky... and I'm all out of time..." A chord floats off the strings, "Bleedin'..."
Ast the strumming drops off into rhythm plucked out slowly, growing more and more minor as her voice drops into a chant, "For His own... The visions we're shown... His visions we're shown..." she plays a final chord and her voice trails off softly.
THE END
2) I've enjoyed watching Ast's burgeoning career as a Mhaldorian bard. I am hereby volunteering @Saeva and myself to be your backup dancers.
Have no idea what the group name would be though.
And you won't understand the cause of your grief...
...But you'll always follow the voices beneath.
edit: and omg musical performances that require Italian
I run into that problem designing armor and rooms all the time. It doesn't matter if haute-piece is the exact term I'm looking for, unless I want to send folks to Google every time they read the description, I just need to say "vertical plate on the shoulder".
Absolutely gorgeous, @Shirszae. And you're right, it takes a very particular person to sit through an entire performance without complaining. Even I catch myself, if the performance is getting dull, to start looking at the clock. Which is terrible on me, since I know how much time and energy goes into putting one together. I'm finding it generally useful to make sure the audience is included, but sometimes that is too hard to implement.
Also humour works, but hell... not every damn performance needs to be funny to be entertaining.
And you won't understand the cause of your grief...
...But you'll always follow the voices beneath.
If you half fill a page with one emote, no one is going to read it and wait eagerly for the next, they'll switch off after the first half line. 3-4 lines (not sentences) is about as much as the average player will actually take the effort to read in a social situation.
In terms of pacing, try not to automate it with timers, emotes firing on a set timer is noticeable very quickly and it makes you seem lazy as a performer. A good rule of thumb is to post your emote, read it through again to yourself at what you perceive to be a slow pace, and then count to ten. After this, it's safe to post your next. This can also help with the jitters to stop a new performer from posting too quickly.
Finally, bear in mind that this is a game, if you want people to stay with you for half an hour, give them something to do, make it interactive. If you want to just talk at/emote at people, stay within the 5 minute mark (at most.)
Will pay 2 credits for every post with an interactive example on how this was avoided. I'd provide some of my own, but RP water torture fits into the Mhaldorian experience all too well.
Anyway, this was my last 'performance' in December of 2013, a retelling of the massive siege on Mhaldor during the Bal'met event. Hope some people find it interesting!
Siege of Vengeance, Reflections Ball 2013
Stories by Jurixe and Stories by Jurixe 2
Interested in joining a Discord about Achaean RP? Want to comment on RP topics or have RP questions? Check the Achaean RP Resource out here: https://discord.gg/Vbb9Zfs
I type them out quickly, mind you. No casual thoughtful slowness, since I already know what's going down (more or less), and I know Nim well enough to react to anything on the spot.
I don't know if people appreciate it, or dislike it. I don't know if it's fast or slow. I just feel like it's more organic.
Of course, there's nothing stopping people from changing their scripts up slightly here and there on repeated performances to give it the same organic feeling.
Prescripting, I think of as a rl script, choreography, or stage setting. It can speed up things and give you a foundation/guide line to work off of. It's also there to keep your mind focused, because it's easy to get stage fright even on a computer game. If not done correctly, it can feel robotic in nature.
Doing it off the cuff is certainly fun too and can offer an organic experience, but you have to have a lot of confidence and practice or it could look sloppy.
I welcome both types.
I also tend to alter my performances on the cuff, so even though Ast has performed the Collapse a few times now I've changed up a bit about them. However it's the only piece that's she's repeated. One of my others, I just have a few illusions written up and some guidelines and the lyrics and general tone and I just wing it from there.
"Skye takes the jar of frothy milk and pours it reverentially atop the bowl of sacred Kelpy'O's."
That's probably as far as I can manage off the cuff. Details like how hot she looks doing the breakfast ritual or how that cat in the corner is staring at the milk and licking its chops like a Friskies commercial is totally up to your imagination. I like leaving things to the imagination. >_>
Any more like:
"Skye reaches for the jar of frothy milk. Her fingers curl gracefully around the handle with one hand under the jar to support it. She raises it above the sacred bowl of still crisp Kelpy'O's and pours slowly, the creamy white liquid cascading like a waterfall of bukkake goodness. The green-flecked cereal snaps, crackles and pops with the promise of lactose-induced diarrhea in the later part of the morning."
Seems superfluous to me. Or at least really scripted. I really don't know how people do it off the cuff but props to them.