It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light...

My name is Lara. I love Joy Division, which is totally the most important thing about me. You should also know I am quite sarcastic without having a firm understanding of sarcasm. True story.

I was born in Seattle, Washington, grew up in Kalispell, Montana (AKA HELL), moved to Melbourne Australia in 2003, and Christchurch New Zealand in 2010. I studied half a Bachelor of Fine Arts~Theatre Studies in University before switching to German so I could study abroad in Vienna (2001). Hence, I have studied English, German and Latin at a University level.

I am currently studying a Postgraduate Diploma of Social Work at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand while living in a flat affectionately known as the Lesbian Flat of Doom, with my friends _honeyspider and phfa and my cats, Ariadne and Echo and Alison's cat, Helios (they don't have LJs, they're not old enough yet), all of whom I love dearly.

I'll add anyone to my f-list if they ask, so feel free! I spend most of my time writing, talking about writing, or thinking about writing while watching Most Haunted or something Tim Minchin, Hugh Jackman or Dylan Moran related. Or singing. I love singing, and I'm actually good, which tends to help! I can play the flute and the piccolo, the guitar and the ukulele, and I used to play the viola but then I sold it to a 3-fingered man. True story.

( A very important thing to know, is that I ramble. So there is more under here! )

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There is a lot to be said when someone actually listens to you. It's nice to be heard.

What is also nice is Alina in a dress.

...that sounded creepy. But we were trying on clothes and... Anyway, she looked lovely! I tried on some of Leah's old clothes. A shirt with a sequiny EAGLETHING on it and a beanie. I looked SO hardcore, man. The beanie was TEAL. Because I be FO' REAL!

...that was hideous and I belong in a corner under a dunce cap.

The only character muse I have left in FG is Saint Patrick. Fucksticks. Memetime.

favorite character you’ve ever made ~ Since I already answered this by saying Flynn myeyesarehollow I guess I should talk about someone else. My second and third favourite characters are Peter Kemp and Thomas Littleton, in order. Peter father_peter pretty much made himself (and I have talked him to BITS in this journal because he's my main character. Just follow the tag if you care) and Thomas suave_thomas was an accident. I'll talk about him since I love him to bits and he's Hugh Jackman. Actually he is why I love Hugh Jackman...

He was a plot point in dirty_life to make Peter sad in the beginning and then later to make him happy, and Thomas didn't even have a journal (and was never supposed to since he was...like..dead!) but then I played him in a scene with Scout's Claire (how that is possible is a question for the Dirty Wiki (which is so handy!) and we all loved him. We decided he needed him to be a full character, despite being dead so I made him a journal and I needed a PB. Scout had just seen the 3rd X-Men movie (I had not) and kept showing me pictures of Hugh Jackman who (WAIT FOR IT) I didn't care about at that point. At all. I had seen him in the X-Men movies and just thought he was a hairy git (THAT HURT ME TO TYPE OMFG!). I am actually serious. And so as a JOKE I suggested I use Hugh for Thomas since the character was for Claire (and Peter. Oooooh Cletermas. The smut!) and it would make Scout happy. They convinced me to do it so I did. Without that, I never would have had my Thomas (SO, THANK YOU!). His backstory has changed significantly, as well as the reason he came back AND how because of moving games. He's alive now because I couldn't stand having him dead because I love writing him too much. AND I finally realised if I write the novel with Peter in it, one of the almost everything ever that has to be different is that Thomas HAS to be alive (because bringing people back in the novel will not happen. That's so Buffy/Supernatural). The death in the beginning that starts Peter's emo wangst (this is not true, Peter's emo wangst started when his sister died, but shhh) has to be someone else's.

Sorry, Stuart everscrumptious I love you SO MUCH. You are adorable and silly and Daisy Wenham. But I love Thomas more. He made me love Hugh Jackman. Who I now cannot get enough of. And who does pained acting better than I think anyone does. So you're being sacrificed in novel form. Live on in darker_london

favorite gender to play ~ Male. I love them so much more. Short answer!

Continuing on with the 30 days of RP meme:

day 05 - your favorite crackship ~ You know, most of my crackships in Darker London actually ended up as ships. Leah and I put her Nova and my Razvan your_razvan together for the lols and they ended up being really sweet. Tasha and Hope relinquite_spes weren't originally as serious as they turned out to be. There's the priest and the nun, Ciaran the_sacred_fire and Catalina. I can't think of any more, but it happens with startling regularity.

My favourite however, is father_peter Peter/Jillian. In a scene once, his narrative mentioned she had a nice arse and Leah thought that was hilarious and then we wrote an AU... Now in real Darker London he is in love with her sister and...you know...his WIFE. But I so wish he could be with Jillian because not only is it hot, it's AWESOMELY HOT.

In FG the totally random and non-sexual pairing of Michael and the Loch Ness Monster makes me grin!

day 06 - biggest pet peeve ~ In roleplay? Nikki. She couldn't write (or at least didn't take the time to) and she wouldn't read scenes or she would skim them and then respond. One time we were writing smut and she had her character spontaneously orgasm while apparently standing in the middle of the room, since her girlfriends had moved to the bed in the reply before that. And she missed it. She also never read anything except scenes she was in, which is fine, except then she would miss stuff and have characters post about things when they were no longer relevant or that made no sense with the other things they went on. She also couldn't separate IC from OOC in the worst ways and she made it so hard to write ANYTHING in case she might get angry or flip out. She hated IC conflict and since that's totally my favourite thing, that was an issue!

It is 5:40 am and I am still awake (I do, in part, blame shatters for this, but only lovingly!!) and I feel the need to state again what beautiful women I live with. Inside and out. I am so lucky, my god.

It's a Lesbian Flat of Doooooom full of loooovveeee! So thank you to both of you. ♥ forever.

And there is cat hair all over my keyboard because Ariadne is shedding like the dickens, but she's adorable and on me and I love her too!

Token ghost books I buy every time I come to the US acquired! Why they don't sell books like this in NZ and Australia is beyond me. Except in The Haunted Bookshop in Melbourne. Oh Haunted Bookshop, I miss you even though your owner is an insufferable twat. For some weird reason, the guy LOVED me though I thought he would hate me because I look like SUCH a square. But when I asked for something and obviously knew what I wanted I think that helped. Actually, he probably loved me because I practically bought out his entire 'hauntings' section over the course of a year. He said it was harder and harder to find books on hauntings because of the internet, but there are plenty to be found here at Hastings and I found lots in the UK as well. Whatever, Drew is a weird guy. And he runs the Melbourne ghost tour. Which I would TOTALLY recommend if you are in Melbourne and interested in ghosts! It's awesome! Lalala Linky!

ANYWAY, I bought a huge book of tales of haunted places, because those are my favourite. Obviously as I have about 30 of the things. And then I bought Idiots Guide to the Paranormal because it not only talks about ghosts but it has stuff about angels and demons in there too. Which is interesting research for FG. I read about Belial in the car! And there's a section on the exorcism of Annaliese Somethingorother which was what The Exorcism of Emily Rose was based on.

I love these books. There was only one book by Holzer though. No good paranormal section is complete without several Hans Holzers, please. He wrote over a hundred of the things. Holzer died in 2009 and I totally cried because I am a loser. But he inspired my Father Peter father_peter because I wanted a character who knew about the supernatural (and is the reason Peter was in Austria originally, because Holzer is from Vienna) and his ideas of mediumship are still what I use when I write my mediums in Darker London.

Also? Also? I kind of bought The Idiot's Guide because it has a section called Father Peter's last Exorcism which made me laugh because like...MY Peter's last exorcism was Svetlana except it didn't work and Thomas totally died and I laughed out loud IN the store while I was reading what has nothing to do with my characters and is about a Roman Catholic exorcist. So there I am in the New Age aisle, holding a book about the paranormal and cackling. A lady who was walking by gave me a VERY strange look.

It was awesome :D

I am late to the game with this meme because I didn't look at it closely enough to understand and Ren just had to explain it to me because I am a dork... So choose a fandom for the first part and a character I play (let's stick with FG for now unless you happen to be Clare!) for the second one and I will answer the below questions.

( my fandoms )

A) My OTP
B) The runner up
C) The anti-ship
D) My unpopular fannish opinion on said character
E) One person he/she never fell in love with, and why

AND:

Pick a character of mine and I'll answer:

01. What would your character die for?
02. What would they refuse to do under any circumstances?
03. What do they dream about?
04. What single object would they be most hard pressed to part with? Why?
05. What is their fondest memory?
06. What is their worst memory?
07. What or who was were their most significant influence?
08. What would be their biggest nightmare?
09. What makes them laugh?
10. Who is the most important person in their life?
11. Is your character a virgin? If not, who was their first?
12. Ask whatever question you want!

Early night tonight because my mommy is making me! :O!! For some reason, she thinks waking up at a reasonable hour is like...important. Pffft.

ANYWAY, Leah and Charlie I found this banner in my pictures and it's Ate and Apate! I have NO idea who made it, but finding it made me laugh. Especially the text on it!

I WANT KEIRA KNIGHTLEY'S FACE! BUT SHE IS TAKEN!

/tantrum

I can't find a face for Artemis. This is NOT a real problem, I'm just putting off packing by complaining about nothing ;)

Stupid packing.

You know what's awesome after having an emotional day and not sleeping for three nights? Awesome friends on AIM and a wonderfully weird housemate who narrates her kitchen-skills in a French accent.

Circe in the kitchen:

"I pour you on to ze potatoes like we are old friends and you have just returned from Versailles."

"Now I put zem in ze OVEN where it eez HOT like between mah LEGS."

"I will surVIVE. Like an ox. Or...a leettle marmoset with beeg arms!"