Mausoleum Mansion

Okay, that rant was a little bit long, and doesn't set off the main story in the Least, but I had to get that out there before I forgot it.
Moving on, this topic is going to be devoted to a story I have been thinking about for the past several years, one of the most prominent of my stories that I want to write, but haven't had the time yet to devote to actually writing much for.
Actually, this was intended to be a series, with about three or four books I can think of the general ideas for off the top of my head, but anyway...

Basically, this is the story of a group of friends who formed a rock band for fun, but through a series of circumstances find themselves living a dream they had never dared to imagine- playing on the world stage. Primary themes include dreams, managing time, life, and career, the family you are born to and the family you build for yourself, coping with the whiplash of sudden and unexpected fame, the realities of the music industry, risking it all for the sake of the thing you love, and coming to grips with one's past in order to make way for the future, among other things. At one point, the 'circumstances' were going to be of the supernatural variety, which was also going to become a running theme in the series, but that is currently up for debate in my head.
In addition to all of that, the writing of the story itself is going to be exceptionally fun because there isn't going to be a single protagonist- the band itself is the 'protagonist', all six of them. The story is going to be told from a third party view, but focused on the world around one particular band member, and the spotlight will change from chapter to chapter.
Strange as it may sound, that variety of perspectives MAY actually make writing all of the various plots that much easier.

Anyway, that's skeleton of the concept, and I'll be posting more on 'The Undertaken' as it comes to me.
NOTE: because this story is already (kind of) in the works, character concepts for this story (especially the band members) will be posted here instead of The Æther.

I would be willing to see more of this!

It Shall Be Done


The Band: formed several years ago, The Undertaken is comprised of six musicians: a lead guitarist, a rhythm guitarist, a rhythmic bassist, a melodic bassist, a drummer, and a 'keyboardist' (more explanation on that later).

These six individuals met and conglomerated through a variety of means, and now they all play together- not 'professionally' per se. They play for fun and as a hobby. They all have jobs that pay the bills; they play music because they simply love to play music.
However, because they play for the love of the music and didn't go straight out looking for money (training or no), they are incredibly good, one of those undiscovered house bands that is can play better than 90% of the bands out there, but was never found by any agents or managers, and so went unnoticed.
Each of the players has his or her own flavor that they bring to the stage, which allows for some weird, cool, and simply versatile and widely appealing tunes. While they might be classified as rock noir, they consider themselves to be metal players of one brand or another. That being said, they could also identify as gothic, ambient, horror, jazz, hardcore, or technical, depending on where they are playing, who they are playing for, and generally how they feel that night.

As for venues, like I said, they play for fun, not for money. They mostly play in bars and similar dives on nights when they can all get the hours off. They play in some rough places for some rough people, sometimes not even as the main attraction, but as openers, so it is a testament to their skill and their stage presence that they can, without fail, put on a great show, every night, for months or years on end. While the world at large (for now) knows nothing about them, everyone in the loop knows that if you want a good show, Undertaken is your band.

Next up: Characters!

Alisa Khanina
Pronounced Ah-LEE-suh
Position: Bassist

Despite her heavy Russian heritage, Alisa's attitude is pure American punk-rock. The band's original metal disciple, Alisa lends the band its heavy, dark undertones with her standard four-string, letting her compatriot Kant (later...) take the lead on melody. This isn't to say that she can't play him to a standstill- she can, she just doesn't care. Besides which, rhythm just comes more naturally to her.
    Alisa originally took up punk rock to snub her disciplinarian mother, like a lot of teenagers do. She's mellowed some since getting out on her own, at least that's what the public sees. Onstage, she is the same willful, energetic, headbanging thrasher she's always been.
    Alisa works days as a hostess/waitress at the local Old Chicago. She is very laid-back and casual, but that just disguises how hard she actually works. A lot of people like to say it, but Alisa has actually been told by her boss that he probably would have gone under without her efforts. You may find her sitting on one of the 6-tops reading a book if no one else is there, but that's because she is literally That good, and that translates to her music. She can lie down with her bass and stare at the ceiling, but she can keep up with whatever the band decides to play. The only time she drops the casual attitude is when her mother is around, when she gets very stiff and formal, and often won't even make eye contact- just stares straight ahead and answers everything with 'yes, ma'am' or 'no ma'am'.
Besides her mother, the only blood relative Alisa is aware of is her father, and honestly she doesn't know him that well- for as long as she can remember the man has worked long hours trying to support the family, and often stays at the office for days at a time. He seems like a decent and meticulous man, quiet and reserved, but she has no real concept of what to think of him, and that is one of her greatest regrets.
Alisa is a fairly tall woman, standing 5'11 and weighing in at 156 lbs. She is not a skeleton, and she really doesn't care to be. Her complexion is fair, her eyes are blue and hazel (yes, two different colors, i know), and she has very dark, honey blonde hair that is just a few shades short of actual brunette. Also, she has very long, powerful fingers, allowing her to play the bass with much more ease than her counterpart.

An interesting note on Alisa is her sense of fashion: as an additional rebellion against her mother's strictures, Alisa took to inverting her clothing's normal occasion for wear- when she should be wearing something very nice, she puts on the most punk outfit she has, but when she could, or should, put on casual clothes, she wears incredibly beautiful ensembles. To put this in perspective, she shows up to work in a lovely, long-trained black dress, but for a wedding she wore steel-toe boots, torn black jeans, and a paint-spattered concert t-shirt.

Alisa's weapon of choice is her Dean Metalman 2A Demonator bass guitar. This was actually given to her by her neighbor, whose son had bought it so that he could join a rock band. Alisa had thought she knew the woman well, and was honestly surprised that she didn't just throw it away. Alisa still isn't sure what to make of the gesture, but decided to take it as a very odd (and very generous) compliment. Honestly though, Alisa doesn't care- she just loves the guitar, and takes every opportunity to play and tune it.
    PS: later on in the series, I planned for all the members to receive instruments as requests to play or as straight-up gifts. Alisa's is going to be an Ibanez SR300 in Iron Pewter.
    PSS: While she doesn't do so often, Alisa can speak Common Eastern Slavic (read: Russian) fluently.
   PSSS: If it wasn't already obvious, Alisa's style of dress is punk rock/Goth
   PSSSS: Alisa is also one of the most vocal of the band members. She is a very passionate speaker, and is endlessly quotable (see above). For some reason, whenever I think of something the band might say, it usually comes out of Alisa's mouth- it's not a bad thing, it's just...weird. Most all of the band members are supposed to be talkative, so why is hers the only voice that sticks out? idfkoc
PSSSSS: Alisa is the only one besides Baron who smokes- clove cigarettes. She rolls them herself. She doesn't smoke much, maybe every other day, if that, just when she needs to relax... or help talk down another member of the band.

Benjamin "Big Ben" Rodriguez-Guzman
Position: Percussionist

Upon first seeing Big Ben, you would think to yourself that he is probably the last guy you would expect to be in a band- he just doesn't seem like the instrumental type. A few years ago, Ben probably would have agreed with you. He grew up among gang violence, and through much of his life he has been a known brawler. But he doesn't do that anymore...
Ben really doesn't know what happened to make him get out of gang life. Maybe he got in one fight too many, maybe he grew jaded and disillusioned to what the gangs preached. All he knows is that he got out of bed one morning, stared at his feet, and said, "What the fuck am I doing with myself?" He left the gangs shortly thereafter, on surprisingly good terms (probably because no one was stupid enough to try and come after him and his), started going back to school. He had been in his father's construction business for years, and is considered a master mason, but he recently developed an interest in actual architecture. That, and music...

Music has always been in the background of Ben's life-there, but not recognized. Over the years, however, he has started to notice patterns in everything, from schedules to construction din to child's play and the rise and fall of conversation. It is this innate understanding for rhythm that makes Ben such a superb percussionist.
As stated, Ben never had any aspirations of being a musician of any sort. He only started playing drums after he messed around with a pair of his nephew's drum sticks as a joke, and found that he liked it. It is further testament to his sheer talent that only a few years later he is such a masterful percussionist, although his simple age could have also been a factor. Most young men who play drums do so because they either want to play loud or fast, or both. Ben, being much older, as well as himself, is interested more in the technical side of things. Oh he can play fast, most certainly, but it is the rhythms he can string together that will make your jaw drop, not how fast or loud he can pound the drum heads (in fact, Ben prides himself on being able to do something much more difficult on a drum kit- play quietly).
As I mentioned earlier, Ben is a mason and a construction worker, which demands he work both hard and smart. It has also helped him establish much of who he is as a person- big, strong, skilled, thick-skinned, and methodical. While it has forced him to prove how macho he is (much like the gangs he grew up in), it also gives him a chance to be the big brother to many of the people he works with (or father, in some cases), and that attitude translates over into the rest of his life. He cares deeply for all those he is close to, and tries his damnedest to make them happy. Man, woman, young, old, doesn't really matter to him. He is out to help other people, which makes his job oddly satisfying in a way, because it allows him to help people he has never met, "but then again, any job can do that. I just think mine is a little more... tangible".
In addition to building things as a vocation, Ben is an honest-to-God handyman, who simply enjoys building and fixing things as a hobby. His house may not be in a good neighborhood, and was an absolute wreck when he first got his hands on it, but he has put a lot of elbow grease into it, and has seriously raised the property value on it. Porch, pipes, gas, electricity, doors- he's fixed everything in his house at least once, but rare is the case where he has to fix it again any time soon.

Ben is the oldest of the band, in his late early 30s at the start of the series, and he thinks and acts like he is 40. He is a big man too, standing 6'4" and weighing 270 lbs, making him the second tallest of the group, second only to the Baron. His skin is very brown, both from his Hispanic heritage and from spending endless hours out under the sun. His eyes are a brown so deep they seem black, and he keeps his long, black hair in a pair of rattails that are often tucked under his shirt so they don't get in the way. He has a few scars from his years of fighting, and his hands and feet are heavily callused.

Ben has never married, but he has been and still is with his long-time girlfriend (who is unnamed, as of the time of this post). They are very passionate about one another, which means they love a lot, and fight a lot, and make love to make it up, and start all over again. Despite how it may sound, they are both very level-headed people who bear deep respect for one another. If Ben is being stubborn, she is often the only one who can talk some sense into him. She is also very vocal about the amount of time he spends with the band, especially the female members (which is a joke, and they both know it- he is a father figure to them, and she loves them both to pieces).

Ben typically wears boots, jeans, a plain t-shirt, and a pair of black shades. He doesn't need to dress or act like a badass- he just is. He is usually pretty laid back, but also focuses very well, kind of like Alisa, which works well, considering they work together to keep the band on cue.

Ben's drum kit is usually pretty substantial, so I won't bother putting down Everything he has at his disposal. I'll just say that he collects drums and cymbals, because he never knows what will come in handy or what sound will be perfect for the set. This allows him a great deal of versatility, but also makes him very aware of space limitations, because some nights the venue might only have space for him to set up a standard number of pieces (1 bass, 1 snare, a couple of toms, and a couple of cymbals), so he has to pick his tools wisely.

PS: Ben drives a full-size Ford panel van. It totally looks like a creeper van, but it is also the only vehicle that allows the band to move all of their gear without a trailer.

Jonathan ‘John’ Anthony Jacobs
Position: lead singer/ rhythm guitarist

“Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it”
These are the words that John lives by- he strives to learn about everything he can, so that he will not be caught by the mistakes made by others. He is a deeply introspective, methodical man, incredibly intelligent, and a serious perfectionist.
He’s also dying, but we’ll get back to that.
John grew up in a world of many homes. His parents divorced and remarried early, and then his father divorced again. He bounced from household to household, never able to keep anything constant in his life
Except music
He took his studies very seriously, and managed to get into college on the coast, far from both sets of parents. He managed to graduate near the top of his class, majoring in history and philosophy, though he could have taught some of his professor’s classes, which he did for a while as a grad student.
Then, when he was 22, he was diagnosed with leukemia. This might have set many people back, but John outright refused to let it run his life- he accepted it, he put himself in treatment (which he continues to this day), and he got on with his life.
That life is very active- he is a serious weightlifter and runner, and works out every day. If you didn’t know better, you would have said he was your basic bodybuilder, a meathead, but one look in his eyes and you will realize the depth of your mistake. Especially if you work out With him, because he is a tutor and a physical trainer. Not only that, he is the person local coaches contact when they need their kids either in shape, in grades, or both, because John doesn’t care who you are or who your parents are. His job description is, quite simply, to get your ass in gear. He works his charges hard, but the results have earned him his reputation.

This translates directly into his work within Undertaken. Where the others are fairly casual (and he does get so too, never you mind), John is the motivating force behind the band. It takes many members to make the band, but John is the one that helps them focus and get things done. Like deciding set lists from the huge repertoire the band has as a conglomerate, or setting up shows to begin with.
As mentioned, John is, physically anyway, similar to a typical bodybuilder: he stands 6’1 and weighs close to 200 lbs. His eyes are a deep brown, with a glint of almost predatory intelligence. He keeps both his face and his scalp clean of all hair.
John also has several tattoos, but none so prominent as the swastika on his right bicep. Most people take one look at this, his bald head, and his fair skin and automatically assume that he is a Nazi. Now, nothing could be further from the truth (John hates the Nazis with a passion), but he looks forward to people voicing this assumption, because it allows him the perfect opportunity to launch straight into his favorite history lesson- a ten-minute lecture on the appearance, history and mythology of the swastika for the thousands of years it existed Before Hitler and his political party laid their hands on it. John has given this lecture to just about everyone he has ever met, including every member of the band, because if there is one thing he despises as much as judging someone for their racial background alone, it is making assumptions about something based purely on what your narrow perspective of that something is.
“There are always two sides to a coin, and infinitely many sides to the world”
John plays rhythm guitar, backing up Puppet’s melodies. It’s not that he can’t play his own solos- he’s been playing guitar for the better part of 20 years, he can play just fine, and has in fact played lead in a couple other bands over the years. It is a simple matter that Puppet’s skill so far surpasses his own that he doesn’t see the point in contesting the fact. He is competent enough to see how far he still needs to go, and humble enough to admit the fact. Besides, he has vocals to cover.
John’s voice is deep with a strong timbre, a voice smooth and strong as polished steel, but can register as low and thick as a growling bear. It commands attention from the first syllable to the last, which is good, because each song he sings has a message worth listening to, and John makes sure that you catch every single word.


PS: while John is a weightlifter, he moves with none of the stiffness typical to a meathead, but with a smooth and easy grace and looseness of limb that comes from lots of running, dancing, martial arts, and yoga. While the gym is where he does a lot of his work, John is still a perfectionist, and is always adding new exercises to his already vast repertoire, so that he can be prepared for every possible problem, strain, or injury.
PSS: While Puppet is the one who plays it the most often, the band's acoustic guitar is actually John's
PSSS: John is really into meditation. And when I say that, I mean really into meditation- as in he once put in nose plugs and earplugs and meditated next to an active beehive for a couple of hours. Not one sting. He said it was very calming.
PSSSS: I feel it necessary to say again: John Hates Nazis. With a Passion. If a skinhead tried to come into one of his shows and start sieg heiling, John would kick his ass (for reference, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsdQc2r7TPE the ass-kicking starts at around 1:30). What John wants is to bring some awareness to the fact that the swastika has a much longer and more storied history than the fucking Holocaust, and to try and bring back the days when it could be viewed without disgust. Is he going to be successful? Probably not, but change has to start somewhere.

"Baron" Bradley "Lee" Calloway
Position: Keyboardist/Instrumentalist

Out of the entire band, Bradley is probably the most odd. Where the rest of the band shows up at gigs in something ranging from street clothes to grunge-wear, Bradley shows up in a suit and top hat. Where the others are tuning guitars or setting up kits, he is sitting down at a piano, or setting up his own. And where the others have their dedicated position, Bradley tends to jump around doing whatever needs to be done; or, that being done already, doing whatever the fuck he wants to do.

I'll get back to that.

Honestly, not much is known about Bradley's past; not because he isn't willing to talk about it, but because no one has bothered to ask. Except maybe Ben- then again, they seem to know and respect each other on a completely different level.
    If you were a betting (wo)man, you might guess that he used to be gang-related, and I would say that would be a pretty smart guess. Is it true? You'll just have to wait and see.
    Same could be said for his natural charisma and sports expertise; he might have played ball somewhere, but I will leave that up for discussion for now.

What IS known is that one night he rode up to a bar one night, sat down at the old piano, and started taking requests, throwing in his own favorites and making up tunes when people didn't request fast enough to keep his hands busy. One of the future members of Undertaken happened to be there that night, and started talking to him between songs. It turned out he was moving into town, and in need of camaraderie. Said member introduced him to the others, and something just clicked. He was the last of the six to join, but it was his initiation that gelled them as cohesive unit.

    During the day, Bradley does freelance technical work, and rebuilds cars for fun and for profit. By night, he can be found behind the counter at one of the local bars, plain black apron over simple t-shirt and jeans. He has a welcoming personality, a quick mind, a sharp wit, and a good memory, but also an impressive stature and a foreboding glare, allowing him to play the enforcer as well as the barkeep.
And before you even ask, yes someone decided to see if he was ‘that tough’ and the answer was indeed yes. That particular man has never come back to that bar, and it is rumored he hasn’t been seen since.
It is also through Bradley’s circumventing of the establishment circuit, prior to finding a stable gig at XXX’s, that the band started to get gigs. Lee spreads the word, the band gets allowed a performance, the band does great, people trust Lee’s word a little bit more; begin again.
Now, Bradley can be a character by himself. Onstage, that is a level unto itself. He is a born performer, who can pull songs out of his ass and hat, put them together in the same set, and it will not only sound fantastic, but he will keep up commentary the entire time. He can mesh with the crowd, inciting none of the usual awkwardness that most band members do when they try to mingle with their audience.
Also, like I mentioned before, Bradley doesn’t limit himself to one instrument- sure he plays the keyboard under ‘normal’ circumstances, but no performance is exactly the same, and Bradley is prepared for everything. He is, hands-down, the most instrumentally diverse member of the group; he could pick up the instruments of any of his bandmates and play it to a decent degree, as well as almost a dozen more of various types. The band’s diverse musical backgrounds give them a vast repertoire to draw and create from, but it is as much Bradley’s instrumental arsenal that gives them such a range of sounds as anything else.
Speaking of which, Bradley is also incredibly quick at writing music, and knows more songs than any two of his bandmates put together.

Bradley is a black man of tall and relatively muscular physique, standing 6’7” and weighing about 232lb. He has close-cropped black hair, and blue eyes that are normally hidden behind a pair of wrap-around shades. He normally wears oil-stained jeans, a plain t-shirt, and heavy biker boots- the sole exception is when he has a gig, where he will show up in a charcoal-grey suit. The suit is a little old, and has obviously been torn in multiple places, but Bradley keeps it meticulously clean, and sews all rips with silver thread. This look, in the dim fog of a smoky bar, makes him look like a member of the grinning dead come back for a night of mischief and debauchery.
Bradley regularly works as a mechanic, even if he isn’t getting paid for it, simply because he loves getting his hands dirty. At any given time, he has at least five vehicles around his house, only two of which will likely be working. One is his modified Ford-350, which can double as a tow-truck if he needs it to. The other is his bike, a Harley of an as-yet undecided model, which is his usual mode of transportation.
I feel it necessary to note that while Bradley has a talent with people (to where he rarely goes home from a gig alone), it doesn’t mean that he is that shallow of an individual. There is a point, either during one of these stories or in a prequel set, where he is running late to a gig, sees a pair of girls broken down on the side of the road, and stops his truck for the sole purpose of trying to get them running again. And when it was clear their night of clubbing was ruined, he covered them to get into the band’s show for free. And no, he didn’t go home with either one of them
Because he is a mother-fucking Gentleman.
Final note: You don’t call him ‘Brad’. He will kill you. His name is Bradley. If you know him through the circuit or through the band, you will probably know him by his epithet, ‘Baron’. And if you are really good friends with him, he might let you call him Lee. But you do not call him Brad. Ever. Unless you enjoy getting something, or a few somethings, broken.
PS: Bradley is a regular smoker. His usual brand is Parliaments, but he also smokes Lucky Strikes, and occasionally enjoys a Djarum Black Cherry, because yes. He doesn’t smoke because he thinks it makes him cool; he does so because he enjoys the nicotine. Yes, he knows it’s bad for him- but he also is quite aware of his own mortality, and knows that not smoking wouldn’t keep him from dying; it would just postpone it for a while. Some people don’t agree with this mode of thinking, and that’s okay with him, because they aren’t him and he isn’t them.
Are you starting to notice a pattern here?

I didn’t honestly intend to post Bradley yet. He was going to be one of the last reveals, right before Puppet, but for some reason I couldn’t force myself to do the write-up for Kant yet.
…
Well shit, now I guess I have to…


The way the band speaks is kind of like this: John is the highly intellectual and philosophical, but very long-winded. Alisa is smart, sassy, and endlessly quotable. Ben doesn’t talk much. Bradley is the charismatic, the flirt, the guy who can talk to anybody about anything, and make it interesting. Since the other two band members haven’t been introduced yet, I shall explain them thusly: aioangaj’spdmgans;lnasf’lkbnaskn’gas’pngas;lkngaslknlnlkdnalsn;onhasngki’asnoogvnaskldg;sngasdgkn’skldngai’osnglklsagknks’noasgmnasvaskgn;lasfoba’spfngalsnk/glksnlk vna;slngaong/lkasnga;lsnvao;vn.

Next up, Kant Aras
just can't get to him Right this second

**EDITS!!!**

Okay, I’ve been meaning to get these background posts finished, and I haven’t been doing them
Buuuuut, I have other things I want to get to, so to save a little bit of time, I am going to put the last two band members in one, big post. So
Without further ado:

Kant Aras
Position: Melodic bassist

Out of all the members of Undertaken, I feel as if I have given the least amount of thought to Kant, which admittedly is not at all fair. He was one of the first people I actually had a character model for starting this project; more specifically, his character model was one of the real-life images that clicked in my head and brought on this whole line of thinking. So really, it is kind of rude to leave Kant so much by the wayside. Unfortunately, that’s just how it happened.
Still, I’ll give you what I’ve got
Kant is a slightly short man of about 5’7, and about 145 lbs. He has a deep tan and black hair, and a face that is constantly smiling. He has a good smile, and a good laugh. He has a great sense of personality and of humor, and an unbreakable aura of confidence around him.
Kant comes from a long Moroccan family line, which came to the US a few generations back in pursuit of financial success, which they found. Three generations of his family have run a catering business that, after a number of rocky years and instability has become a booming success. Kant has been a part of this business all his life, and is well-versed in tending to the wants and desires of others. He is great with people, and is incredibly comfortable walking among them.
Or performing
Because his family also does entertainment, in the form of music. Out of all the members of Undertaken, Kant is the only one who could be said to have any real kind of ‘formal’ training- he has been practicing and mastering music under his family’s tutelage and encouragement for most of his life.
So what does his family think of him joining a metal band? Confused, uncertain, but they realize that he enjoys playing that genre, so they encourage and support his decision.
Yeah, yeah, perfect family, I know. Thing is, that will also bring its own problems to the table (later post; MUCH later post)
If there were any word that could describe Kant’s position in the band, it would probably be joker. He loves making people laugh, being the center of attention. While everyone in the band is good at what they do, and especially at performing, Kant is the true extravert among them- the natural showman. And it doesn’t hurt that he is incredibly good at putting on a show.
Kant plays the melodic bass, playing the more complicated licks complementing the guitars and/or making up his own solos. He is insanely good at that, with his fingers flying up and down the neck of his five-string bass. The only person who can honestly, truly outshine Kant in terms of sheer soloing capability would be Puppet, and Puppet beats everybody.
However, this comes at a price. Kant can keep up and play with the band just fine, but when he starts playing to the tune in his head, he can get lost on that tangent, unlike his co-bassist Alisa, who is very good at playing in the here and now, and keeping the band on track.
And yeah, Kant is great with people, definitely on par with Alisa and Bradley. He may be the short guy in the band, but with his sheer self-assuredness he might as well be seven feet tall. Smooth, funny, and adaptable, he is just fun to talk to.


Logan Devereaux
AKA: Puppet, or Pet
Position: Lead guitarist

Finally, we have Puppet. This is the main character that made me go, hey this could really be pretty cool. She is the glue that holds the band together, and the talent that stands above everyone else. If the rest of the band are competent and skillful, she is a grandmaster in terms of skill and ability. Thing is, they Are masters, so what does that say about Pet?
Once again, I am ahead of myself.
Logan’s background is pretty hidden, and while I really want to tell you guys, it’s also kind of spoiler-y. Maybe later. What I CAN tell you is that she is the youngest member of the band, the smallest member of the band, and the quietest of the band. Where all the other members can be and generally are talkative, Logan is legitimately scared to interact with people in a large social setting.
So, obvious question: if Logan has that bad of social anxiety, how can she perform in a rock band to any degree of success? I mean, she’s the lead guitarist- besides the singer, she has to get the most spotlight out of the entire group. Well, onstage, that is true, and onstage she isn’t ‘Logan’, per se.
It is actually a fairly common phenomena among performers, that the best musicians and stage performers in the world are actually introverts. Why? Because for the most part they are the only ones who have the patience and discipline to spend all those long and lonely hours attaining perfection and mastery over their chosen area of influence. It’s just when they are onstage, they flip a switch in their brain- they ACT like extroverts, like they love being the center of attention. Get them offstage and they are generally much more relaxed and reserved.
Logan is like that: just a bit more severe.
On-stage, Logan goes into a kind of trance, where the shy and reserved girl simply ceases to exist, and this hypnotic musician steps into place. This aspect rarely speaks, and only does so in a rare moment of back-up vocals, when she sounds distant, ethereal. Oh, and not only is she insanely good at playing guitar, she also can do things that don’t really even seem possible. She got the nickname Puppet on the circuit because while she plays she moves and dances in this peculiar, jerky fashion that would make it impossible for any normal human being to play whatsoever. Not only can Puppet perform in this fashion, Puppet thrives in it. The crazier she dances, the more the crowd cheers, the more energy she gets. She literally is powered by the crowd; while she is performing, she literally lives and breathes for them.
And people love that.
Now, like I said, once the performance ends, she is back to her normal self. She is quiet, shy, and is really nervous about talking to people. So, she tends to stick close to one of the other band members, like Ben or John, because they afford her a form of protection. Thing is, she doesn’t necessarily dislike people; she likes people just fine, they just make her twitchy, because she has no idea how to talk or react to most people.
The other band members love the spotlight. She is happy to let them have it.
Anyways
Logan, as I said, is small. She is only about 5’3, and barely weighs a hundred lbs. She has shoulder length hair that is dyed yellow and electric blue, and is slightly spiky. She has wide, expressive eyes, and soft, cupid’s bow mouth. She is 21, but you would never know unless you looked at her ID- she looks closer to 12 or 13. Honestly, even though she doesn’t talk to people much outside of the shows, people love to be around her, because she does the most adorable things. Like, she loves sugar. You could have her in the middle of a crowd of a hundred people, freaking the fuck out, and you just hand her a cupcake
She will be your best friend, and until she can finish and forget the taste of that cupcake, there might as well be nobody around.
Kind of like a kitten. Don’t know where that came from, but it fits.
So what does Logan do to pay bills?
Well, for one thing, she doesn’t have many bills to pay. And for another, her social anxiety doesn’t really matter in getting a job, because her job rarely requires her to do much social interaction. She is a professional homesitter. She occupies houses while the owners are away. I know, sounds weird, especially considering how tiny she is- but the idea is that if a house looks like it is being lived in, if there are people going in and out, if there are lights going on and off at random intervals, if there are groceries being brought in and garbage being taken out, then the house is far less likely to be a target of criminals, because too much chance of getting caught.
Even better, since it is often the best houses that are most in need of protection, Logan often gets to spend weeks or months in lavish apartments or great mansions, and all she needs to do is make sure the place stays clean and that she doesn’t leave the oven on. And she can still go about her normal life, since housesitting requires virtually no work at all.
Now that I think about it, Logan is just fine with individuals. Sure, she might be a little nervous until she gets where the conversation is going, but after that, as long as she can handle the conversation, or simply knows the person in question, she can deal with one on one just fine. Buuut, you get two or more people trying to talk to her and she has a goddam panic attack..
Now, because her job lets her stay in generally generous spaces, the band often practices wherever she is. They are clean people, after all, and limit their work to small spaces, like one room in the house that they dedicate as practice space, and keep clear of everything else. It makes keeping all the gear together and getting practices together much, much easier. And, as an added bonus to the owner, not only does the increase in traffic mean that very few criminals are going to target the house, but with men like Bradley, Ben, and John walking around, virtually no one is going to be stupid enough to try anything.
I am soooo not done talking about Logan- she’s one of my favorite characters. But this post has gone on long enough.
Next up, Relationships! How the band got together and what they think about each other!

This is the kind of stuff that John says all the time


While Alisa might say something like this:

Logan: (Abrupt change in direction) Just one second, guys...

Finally getting this one out- don't really know why it took me a week.
Oh well,
probably been spending too much time here anyway.
*throws notes on the table*

Kant and Ben grew up in the same area; went to the same high school??? (more likely, ben knew some kids who went to kant’s high school- he is too far ahead in years to have been in school the same time as kant

Ben met John at a bar where both of them happened to be playing

Alisa was at a friend’s wedding where Kant’s business was catering. Both of their bands at the time were playing, and they got in a little competition of “Keep this beat if you can”, and generally just rocked out. They got a standing ovation when they finished.

John and Logan met in a college history class (John was probably a grad student or a guest instructor

Logan met Bradley in a bar where she was hanging with some friends.

Over time, they each talked to each other, introduced each other to everybody else, and finally just started practicing, playing and performing as a band.
*Ben and Bradley know each other from ‘before’, supposedly, and have some sort of unspoken pact of respect, but they haven’t told anyone else.

and that is that.
See you next week

You ask me what my songs are about- they are about people who are hurt and heartbroken. Not necessarily heartbroken from problems with love, though I do write songs for them to, but just more often for people who are heartbroken because the world is a cruel and mean-spirited place, a place that breaks you down and doesn’t even give you the chance to stand back up before kicking you back down again.

…people ask me all the time why I worked in coffee shops when I have such crippling social anxiety- it’s because coffee shops are one of the central hubs of human life, and often one of the more unfortunate ones.
Every day I go to work and I see people at their absolute worst- from rude, short-tempered, and impatient to worried, lost, broke, broken, and everything in between. I am the person who deals with everyone whose bad day is just beginning, or whose is about to get much worse.

I cannot count the number of times I have had to call an ambulance because someone has shot up in one of the bathroom stalls

Or listened to a touring band who hasn’t hit it big bemoaning their bad luck

Or heaven-forbid the number of fights that have broken out

But I keep coming back

I serve coffee to people who are rude to me, and to people who maybe can’t pay, and to people who break down crying at the register when they think of how much their bosses are going to yell at them that particular day.

And I hold the hands of the junkies who overdosed in the bathroom until the ambulance can arrive

And I listen to the complaints of every wannabe musician that walks in that door

And I try my best to break up fights and clean up after them, no matter how scared I am

…

And I sing

And I play my guitar

Even and especially when I think nobody is paying attention to me
And you want to know…


…why?


Because I know that pain, I know that heartbreak

I have felt scared, and beaten-down, and alone,

And people came to help me,
Tried their best to make my life better when they didn’t have to

That’s why I do this.

Because I may be scared, I may be anxious, I may be embarrassed to death,

But I keep smiling, and I keep serving
Because maybe nobody notices
Maybe nobody cares
But maybe once
Just once!
I can make somebody’s day
Perhaps for one split moment that I may never realize
I lifted someone up and gave them the strength to keep going when they had given up on themselves and on their lives

And maybe I can’t

Maybe I can’t save anyone

But I am going to try

And keep on trying

Because if I can help one person

If I can help one person smile

If I can let one single person have a better day

Then that is enough
If I can inspire one person to get through their day, then all that anxiety is worth it.

…

…

I write these songs,
And I play them,

Because so many people are out there in the world filled with a feeling of emptiness

And they try and fill that void with whatever they think can make them feel worth something,
Even if it’s just to themselves
And I know that there are many other people out there who use those same things simply because they enjoy them
Be they drugs, alcohol, or penises
And I am happy for those people

But I don’t sing for them

I sing for the people who feel empty
For the druggies who don’t know why they do drugs, and the drunkards who don’t know why they drink, and the people who have sex every night even though they don’t feel a god-Damn-THING…

Because they are the ones that need it

Because they need to know that they aren’t worthless, that their lives do mean something,

And it may not be much

It may only be to me,

But they all mean something…

Everyone does

Even if only for the briefest imaginings in the dreams of the universe
Less than a blip on the heart monitor of the human race,

You matter

And I want people to know that…


..even in their worst moments,

When it feels like they’ve got nothing left

Nothing worth living for,

That not a single person in this world was born into it to live alone

Every last one of you touches innumerable lives
Even if only for a moment
A moment too brief to even realize you crossed paths

Because in that moment, even the smallest action can mean something

To someone who has nothing else

~Logan Devereux

Had a talk a couple of weeks ago with my Personality Psychology professor about Logan. Debating about whether or not I should post it

"Searching for Purity in all the Wrong Places"

"Intrusive Thoughts of the Death Drive"

'Theography'

Two album titles and a song


One day while the paparazzi were following her, on an impulse Alisa drops into a place like Team Sporting Goods, has a shirt made up, and changes right there.
When she walks out, her shirt reads: LEAVE ME ALONE!

Not Tonight; Another Day ~song title

Pit bike junkie ~t-shirt

Logan has a button that reads: I <3 my Rottweiler
Alisa has a purse/satchel that reads: Pretty in Punk

Ben’s niece watched ‘it’ and is now terrified of clowns. So, the band, under john’s direction, sets up a psychological experiment to condition the coulrophobia out of her

Arthur Miller originally wanted to stage ‘death of a salesman’ on a giant face and head, to represent how willy loman was lost in his own mind. Miller could never get away with staging a performance like that. Could Undertaken?

The Devil’s Mused

Emote:
• Agony
• Vigor
• Tired
• Terrified
• Disgusted

Alisa herself says she is not a fashion template, fashionista, or designer of any sort; she just makes clothes she likes using basic knowledge she has picked up or clothing she saw and liked personally. Those include particular styles and colors. Nice and formal she she doesn’t have to, punk rocker when she really should look nice.

Logan has named her written collection of works and music.

____ smells like coffee and freshly turned earth

Bradley and one of the waitresses at one of the bars he works at started actually doing the Redd’s Apple Ale commercial. That is, if a customer is indecisive about the drink they want, the one who is unoccupied will throw an apple at him, and both will go about their business as if nothing ever happened.

Undertaken vehicles-
Logan- 82 toyota tercell, copper
Ben- ford econoline panel van
Bradley- convertible, tow-truck or utility truck, bike (Vulcan?), ___, ___
John- Jeep wrangler- older model w/ crack in the windshield
Kant- Volvo sedan; late model
Alisa- doesn’t have one (at least to start with)

When Alisa’s roommate leaves , she leaves her Dodge Intrepid and bike. Is she: a good friend, a lover, either of the above but murdered, obsessed fangirl whom the band had to put down?

Count has never liked being called Brad, and his girlfriend cemented the sentiment. He also didn’t allow anyone to summarize her name

For a long time Alisa kept track of her dreams as a way to study her subconscious and thereby better understand herself. Her ponderings and musings upon her own mind were put to paper and music, eventually becoming her personal debut ‘Dream Journals’
“Am I Who”, “I Did Not Decide”, “Corpse Collection”, “Midnight Stallion”(Big Nightmare, in other words)
This would have been with one of her early bands

For Undertaken: ‘war art our father’. Our history is written in blood

Alisa found a pair of balck, Eddie Bauer jeans on the side of the road. One leg had ben ripped to shreds. She haphazardly stitched them up and now they are her favorite pair of pants




My last couple of posts are all kind of linked. I was digging around and came across one of my idea notebooks from a few years ago, and decided to transcribe everything over.
Gods, I'd forgotten about half this stuff...

“More Than Mortal”

“Immortal Coil”

Escape Plan: an album that deals with growing up one way, and realizing later on in life that the path you walk doesn’t suit you, and then with you trying to escape a world that doesn’t want to let you go; and you break free, only to discover that you have destroyed yourself, because the world was you, and you were the world
John

Course/Coarse Language- album dealing with the language barrier and how it both defines and separates cultures
Ben, probably

Lexicon- Inner Me
Alisa

Forever Never ~Undertaken

Born Bloody~ "Undertaken"

undertaken
realized: part of the reason for alisa's insomnia is that she, like John, has taken a saying to heart
don't let your soul rest uneasy
ergo, if she isn't feeling well, if she feels that SOMETHING isn't right in her life, she will stay up to try and make it right
and she fixes that thing, and then finds something else. and when that is done something else shows up
and years of this, tacked onto her history of clinical insomnia, means that she sleeps very rarely, but gets a lot of shit done

holy crap; it's like John

Two things:

Alisa is a proud supporter of Zoo Jeans

In case anyone was wondering, the title of this topic (Mausoleum Mansion) is the name of Undertaken's breakout album (can't believe I never mentioned that before)

i think this is relevant. maybe?...

Curator's Headstone
can't decide if this would be best as a band name, an album, or a song

probably a band