gourmandized | IC Inbox

[While Lust predominantly performs in the late hours at the theater, she spends plenty of time there when she isn't actually about to go on stage. She likes the atmosphere of the place, and her fellow theater folk. And of course it's a good place to be seen by the sort of men she makes most of her money off of.]

[And of course she keeps and maintains her elaborate performance costumes here. It's easier than carting them to and from her manor. The damn things need so much maintenance, though! All the thin threads and delicate scarves and strings of tiny discs and beads...they're always tearing and breaking. At least this time of evening, she can listen to the show as she works. Some of the other performers...they're extremely talented. And seem better trained, vocally, than she is.]

[Which is why she slithers backstage and curls her twenty five feet of thick tail beneath her, to see if she can catch Miss Wiggles after her performance. The woman's voice is simply breathtaking, and she's curious about her training. And if she has any advice she'd be willing to share.]

[Ima basks in the applause once she finishes her number. It means so much to her, but not for the same reasons Elsa Mars craves it. To Ima, it serves as proof that people can appreciate her for what she's capable of instead of merely what she is. And it's not that they're looking "past" her size, either; one would have to be literally blind for that. They simply don't mind, and that's profoundly liberating. Maybe even more than joining the freak show had been.

Ima slips backwards through the curtain after thanking the audience, guitar in hand, and wipes the sheen of sweat from her forehead (carefully, to avoid scratching herself with those knuckle-thorns). Those lights are hot, and Ima overheats easily as it is. But she's smiling to beat the band, and when she spots Lust, she gives the snake-woman a cheerful wave.]

Another splendid performance, Miss Wiggles.

[Lust claps delicately and slithers over to the Nymph, smiling amiably. It's really no wonder the other woman draws the crowds she does. And there's something quite charming about a Nymph with such a golden voice.]

You've quite the pipes, as the theater jargon goes. Would you like some water? The stage does take its toll.

[God, yes. She'd give just about anything for a cold drink right now.]

I'd love some, thank you. I always feel like I'm roasting under those lights...

[Lust doesn't move, save for a shifting of her tail, the lower portion unlooping and slithering off. Only to reappear a moment later wrapped around a bottle of water.]

Here you are. I always feel as though I crossed a desert in mid-summer by the time I'm done with my set.

[Now that's cool.]

Very impressive!

[She takes the bottle of water and drinks deep of it, then nods at Lust.]

I can only imagine--all I do is stand there and sing, but you have to dance in that heat.

And I'm a thing that loves the heat.

[But even so, performing is taxing.]

Thank you. The tail does come in handy. I was once asked how a Naga could possibly dance. I just laughed. There are so many benefits to every monster form, if people just think a touch creatively.

I agree! These tendrils of mine have definitely come in handy over the months.

[She can fasten the eyelets that do up the back of her dresses without using a piece of wire now! And that's just one of the benefits.]

Plus, I just love flowers, and now I grow my own without even making the effort!

Some of us seem to be given forms that are very suited to us. May I ask...your voice? Is that a lifelong talent, or something that came with your changing?

[There are plenty where a melodious voice is part of the bargain, after all. Not that it makes any difference, but it seems an easy way to bring up the subject in general.]

The voice is all me, though I didn't get much opportunity to put it to use before arriving here.

[She hadn't been in the freak show for very long, and before that? Perish the thought. As if her family would have tolerated Ima...no, Barbara making more of a spectacle of herself than she already was by default.]

Really? Have you had any training, any study in the musical arts?

[She doesn't know very much about the other woman's life before here, only that Ima has expressed she's quite happy now. That usually indicates a less than content previous life. Now she's curious.]

There were a few lessons when I was very young--and I sang in church a few times, too, before I started really embarrassing my family.

[Not even because of what she did, but because of what she was.]

Apart from that, I spent a few weeks back home singing backup for my boss. Just about all the freaks in the show were musically talented in one way or another.

Really? I'd assumed you'd had classical training of some sort, it's remarkable that you haven't. You just...picked it up yourself?

[How fascinating. Lust listens to music all the time, but she hasn't been able to match that sort of professional control simply by using her ear. Ima's a quite impressive young woman.]

I suppose. Is it really that impressive?

[Ima doesn't really have a gauge for this kind of thing; she spent too much of her life secluded from the greater part of general society.]

I certainly think so. I'm aware I have a very good voice, but I haven't the control over it that you do. I couldn't carry an entire performance on it alone.

[It's simply a part of her act, the focus is her dancing. She could do that and rely only on instrumental accompaniment, but she certainly couldn't be billed as a singer. Not to the same success.]

[If Ima were still human, her cheeks would be going pink right now...but as it is, she blushes a darker green instead.]

You're too kind. I never had any real solo performances back home...and you know, the woman I first sang backup for is here, too. We showed up in this world at the same time, but she's so busy trying to recruit for a new show of her own that she never got around to trying out here. I wonder if we'll ever sing together again.

...Ah yes, I know the woman you're referring to. I...don't think this venue is quite suited to her talents, from what I've seen of them.

[From what Lust's seen, the woman would be laughed out of an audition. And likely knows it, which would explain her lack of trying.]

You hardly need to sing behind anyone, anyhow.

[Ima's a little uncomfortable as she considers Lust's words, and it shows. See, she knows Elsa isn't as talented as the woman believes herself to be, and she knows the very high opinion Elsa has of herself can (understandably) rub others the wrong way. Still, Elsa is her benefactor and now friend. She might have kept Ima on backup due to ego, but Ima still owes her a hell of a lot. Elsa was the first person to look at her with something other than disgust or shame. She saw value and talent in her, and Ima finds herself now defending Elsa in much the same way Elsa's defended her before.]

It was her show, after all, not mine...and she was the first person to give me a chance. I hope she finds a way to start a new show here. She really did help a lot of us, back home.

[What neither Ima nor Lust know is that Elsa DID try out at the Typhon. She'd bombed and had been unable to rationalize her rejection for what it was, asking what time she needed to show up for makeup. Ima had only assumed Elsa had declined to audition based on her absence from the lineup, and Elsa had all too eagerly played along with that misconception.]

And now you've found a venue where you're front and center, and Miss Elsa can utilize her talents in organization. Which she seems rather good at.

[Lust is quiet a moment, but she likes Ima. So she continues in a conversational tone.]

There was a woman in my world, who gathered together all of us 'monsters', to help us, and protect us. And she did, I owe her a good decade of my life. But...well, the best intentions can turn very rotten, with time. One must be...aware.

[Ima's aware, all right--Elsa had killed one freak, the one she thought of as her sister, and made an attempt to kill another. And if Elsa could kill her surrogate sister, Ima fears what Elsa might do to a latecomer like her. But she's still overwhelmingly grateful to the woman...and she does genuinely love her, even though she'd been prepared to take part in Elsa's murder back home. It's a tricky combination of feelings to juggle, that's for sure.]

I keep it in mind, believe you me.

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WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, BARBARA. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 816.19.528.16 * wiggles has joined 816.19.528.16 <wiggles> Hello, this is Ima Wiggles. <wiggles> How can I get this machine to stop calling me Barbara? I don't go by that name anymore. <wiggles>** If you'd like to speak with me please leave a message!