Galen Howard.

dreamwidth

gentlyiced — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:38:33 GMT

Abax is moving, so the DreamWidth journal will be over here. Unless I change my mind again.

Part Deux

gentlyiced — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:58:41 GMT

PART TWOOOO

CLANG.

Galen felt a grin of satisfaction spread across his face as he hit something - it went wider when it occurred to him that he’d shut his eyes as he swung, what the hell - , and immediately felt a thud through the floorboards, near his feet. The scream of electricity had died down almost completely, strange silence broken by the occasional fizzle of a spark. He cracked an eye open in time to see the Doctor buzz by, pushing past the music-stand-turned-weapon.

“You’ve practically killed it!”

Galen’s eyes shot open all the way, just then, and he took a few steps towards the spot where the Doctor was now crouching, still gripping his makeshift weapon, just in case. The Doctor’s tone dropped a fair amount of guilt onto his shoulders, until he realized that he had no idea exactly what he’d practically killed.

“You told me to knock it, I fucking knocked it,” Galen said, not intending to sound so much like a defensive teenager. He leaned forward to see over the Doctor’s shoulder. “What is it, anyway?”

“Lost, first and foremost,” the Doctor said idly, and when he sat back, Galen saw - and not without questioning his sanity - a small creature about the size of his hand, sprawled on the floor in front of him. It looked kind of like a tiny version of one of the Labyrinth goblins. Whatever it was, Galen had knocked it right into next week. Oops.

“They don’t quite have proper names, these little guys; they’ve been called so many things throughout time and space that whatever they were called has been lost almost completely,” the Doctor continued. Galen shifted to the left, set the teetering old music stand on its feet, crouched down so he could get a better look. It was jarring that the thing actually did look like a living thing, and not a muppet. The Doctor broke him out of his thoughts: ”You know the urban myth about gremlins?”

Galen pursed his lips skeptically, letting all the talk about time and space slide for now. “I’m guessing you don’t mean the kind you never ever buy in Chinatown,” he said. The Doctor looked completely nonplussed. “Uh, never mind. Yeah, I do. Screwing with electronics and stuff, right?”

“Yes, well, that was their source of energy on their home world, before it was lost. They drift, finding planets that use electricity for power, and presto, energy smörgåsbord!”

“Back the fuck up,” Galen interrupted, and immediately decided to cut the swearing when the Doctor met his eyes, because shit, that look was worse than dad’s. That look was like, everybody’s dad. At once. “I mean — wait. These things are on earth, eating our electricity? Like, actually? Are we in danger?”

“Oh, no,” the Doctor said dismissively. “Well, yes, but not because of these creatures. There are remarkably few of them, and the most they can manage is a relatively small amount of wattage at one time — nothing to worry about, aside from - oh, well, an amplifier exploding, but look, crisis averted! I was wandering by, noticed the energy spike, thought I’d have a look.”

The gremlin-thing twitched.

The Doctor and Galen’s eyes were drawn back to the thing, and Galen watched as Doctor Bowtie pulled a crinkling, metallic-y drawstring bag from his coat pocket. You know, as you do. Carefully, he picked up the creature and tucked it into the bag.

“I’d best be going, get this little guy somewhere he can munch on all the wattage he wants without crashing any more concerts.” The Doctor stood, and Galen followed suit; no way was dude leaving without answering a few more questions. Galen had —

Shit. Dude was leaving without answering a few more questions.

Galen followed after him, through the backstage door, through one of the empty, black, backstage hallways - everyone was probably on fucking lunch, or something - and through another door that was nearly invisible, in this low light —

Okay, that — Galen wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole. The blue, phone booth-like thing was tucked into what must have been a storage closet, or something, giving off an eerie blueish glow, and a hum that seemed to match said glow. There was something creepily alive about it.

Police Public Call Box, the sign on the door said. PULL TO OPEN.

One of the doors suddenly creaked open to reveal the Doctor’s head, and Galen jolted in surprise. The man smiled. Galen stared.

“Thanks for the help, Galen,” the Doctor said with a friendly nod, edging out the doors a little. “Like I said, best be going, but good luck with the concert! — Oh, no, no, that’s bad luck, isn’t it? I mean break an arm! — No, leg. Sorry. Old man, me, getting my centuries confused; the switch isn’t for a while now, I do believe.”

Galen wouldn’t have known what to say if he tried, so he defaulted to: “Uh, thanks… dude?”

“Rock on. Dude.” The Doctor grinned again, winked, and disappeared back into the box, closing the door behind him. The door opened again only a second later. “You might want to take a step back, but watch — you’ll like this bit.” Smiling like a small child on Christmas morning, the Doctor vanished again, and the door clicked shut.

Galen did as he was told, lest some other crazy unknown alien thing jump out of the darkness, and watched — all of a sudden he heard a metallic scraping noise, which gradually began to pulse, like the dead motor of a lawnmower… it took him a second to realize that the police box in front of him was fading in time with the metallic pulses, growing fainter each time. Soon enough, it was gone, and Galen wasn’t sure if the noise was echoing, or if he was just imagining it.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been standing in the pitch-black closet, staring at the wall, working through whatever the hell had just happened, when he heard Brad’s distant voice:

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS BEAUTIFUL HAPPENED TO MY AMP?!”

[writing] Galen Encounters The Doctor, Part ONE!

gentlyiced — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:54:44 GMT

This is from a few months ago, but I realized I hadn't posted it anywhere other than tumblr. So here's a short little thing I wrote. (About the psychic paper: it's not a genius thing in this case; it's a latent psychic thing... thing.)

After playing this many shows since coming to the UK, Galen was positive that he knew the names of - or at least recognized - everyone on the tour crew. He made sure that he did, wherever they went; he wanted to know who they were working with — and besides, he felt that it was common courtesy. So, of course, Galen was fairly certain that the tall guy with the bow tie was in fact not a crew member.

With a couple of hours left until the show, the band had been at the venue for a while, now. Galen, bored out of his mind, had already left the bus and was milling around, offering to help where he could — and that’s when he first saw him. Galen didn’t think much of it, at first; the man was crouched behind an amp backstage, adjusting something, but as soon as he looked up, Galen noticed that he was completely unfamiliar.

The man went back to whatever he was doing, and Galen waited a moment, peering at him, before taking a few steps in his direction. It could have been nothing; just an extra pair of hands backstage, but he wanted to be sure. The guy looked pretty out of place.

“Hey, excuse me,” Galen started to say, startled by the emphatic “Yes!” of a reply he got when the words were barely out of his mouth. The guy didn’t look up, though, so focused was he on whatever was happening with the back of the amp. Whatever it was, the amp was giving off an annoying, shrill noise. Galen eyed it for a moment, shifted his weight, waited for the man to acknowledge him further.

He didn’t.

Galen ran a hand back through his hair, trying not to pay any attention to the ‘shit is weird’ vibe he was getting. “Have I seen you here before? Do you work here?”

“Oh, yes, yes, of course I do. Love the music business, me,” the man said absently, finally looking up from whatever the hell he was doing. The annoying noise stopped. Then the man stood up to his full height - several inches taller than Galen, dammit - , tucked something into his pants pocket and gave his red suspenders a stretch. Even if he wasn’t supposed to be in here doing weird things to amps, Galen had to respect a guy who could fearlessly sport the Hipster Professor look.

“I’m local, see. Tech support, electronics, all that,” the man continued dismissively, and Galen wasn’t sure whether to believe him. “Heard the Counter-Curse were in town! Big fan. So — sorry, sorry, I’m in the way, aren’t I? D’you — I dunno, need to start carting these amplifiers out? I’ve had a look, they’re all fine. Mostly all fine. Not sure about this one here.”

When Galen didn’t say anything, he made a face as if he were stopping the next outpouring of word-vomit, then slowly said: “You… are crew, aren’t you?”

Galen chewed on the inside of his mouth for a moment. It was decided: Bow tie guy was either some weirdo who had snuck in, or really dense. “I’m Galen.” Beat. “The singer of the band, dude,” he finally said, and the skepticism in his voice must have been obvious; bow tie guy looked very briefly stumped. “Can I see your pass?” Galen indicated the one he had threaded through his belt loop, and watched as the man fumbled around in his pockets.

“Let’s see… I know I took it out of my coat… ah-ha!” He grinned, producing an old leather card holder, and flipped it open in the direction of Galen’s face, stepping over the amp. “I’m the Doctor, tech support and repairs! I was called in to double-check all of your equipment for —”

“Uh,” Galen interrupted, leaning to the right so that he could see the Doctor behind the, er, ‘pass’. He pointed to it gingerly. “Sorry to be a bummer twice in a row, Doc, but there’s nothing on that paper.”

“What?” The Doctor flipped it around, brow furrowing, and looked like he was about to toss it behind him before deciding that that would actually be a bad idea. He tucked it into his back pocket, goofy expression quickly turning impatient — and then unreadable. “Oh, alright, you’ve got me,” he said hurriedly, looking past Galen, then pulling something else out of his pocket. “You can go on and call security and kick me out, but I need you to do something for me first, Galen.”

Man, that vibe was getting worse. “What?”

“I need you to duck, right… NOW!”

Galen didn’t think, as the Doctor’s hand flew towards his face; he just ducked. That annoying noise came back, above his head, and then there was a crash behind him, and the Doctor dashed by. Cursing loudly, Galen thought he’d just let some crazy-ass bow-tie-and-suspenders-and-word-vomit guy outsmart him, but when he turned around, the Doctor was still in the room. He was standing on one of the other amps, some glowing green flashlight thing - the source of the noise - aimed directly down at it. And it was sparking.

“What the hell?!”

“Galen!” The Doctor yelled, just as the amp sparked loudly. “Galen the American! You play baseball, don’t you?!”

Galen stared, dumbfounded, the only things in his immediate line of sight the Doctor’s ass and a dangerously sparking amplifier. “Wait — What? No!”

The Doctor craned his neck to look at him, grimacing like whatever he was doing with the noisy flashlight was taking a lot out of him. “What? That’s rubbish! Well — you do now! Get something you can hit with and get over here!”

Galen felt insane for following through so quickly, but he turned, scanning the small back room for something even remotely akin to a baseball bat (and offhandedly wondering why the hell no one else had heard this madness and come running, yet). All the mic stands had been taken out, already, so Galen grabbed a disused music stand that screamed high school band room and rushed as close as he dared to the Exploding Amp of Death. It was hard to think with all this noise, and Galen had to raise his voice: “Okay, what the hell am I doing?”

“When I count to three,” the Doctor called over the cacophony, “I’m going to lower the sonic screwdriver’s frequency, which will allow our little - aaaah - friend to hop out, and when that happens you need to knock him!”

“Knock him?”

“Yes, knock him! One, two —”

“Shit!”

“Three!”

PART TWO!

HOW'S MY DRIVING?!

gentlyiced — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:08:17 GMT

I put a lot of time and work into keeping Galen oiled and in proper working order, so I'd love to know how I'm doing! Questions, comments, stabs, please leave your thoughts here. Concrit is strongly appreciated and encouraged.

- Ace

abax permissions

gentlyiced — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:39:41 GMT

Backtagging: It's okay! We all have lives. Just... preferably don't take ten years between each tag? And if something goes way too long, we'll talk about handwaving it!
Threadjacking: Please ask first.
Timezone: AST (GMT -4)
Preferred Method(s) of Contact: AIM: vworping, Plurk: moikay, PM: this journal
Prose/Action Spam/Depends/IDEK: It depends on the thread. If it's more serious and requires prose-y type descriptions, then I'd prefer prose.
Fourthwalling: Galen can be fourthwalled as looking like that one guy from that one band. I don't mind. ;P
Killing/Injury: Both should be discussed with me beforehand.
Comfort Levels: I don't do smut unless I'm super comfortable with you.
Personal HMD: OPTIONAL! HMD
Personal In-Depth Permissions: OPTIONAL! Off-comm Permissions

ill link this other shit later, I'm on my phone!

ART DOOMP.

gentlyiced — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:29:29 GMT

Last year's doodles vs. this year's doodles. That's a decent improvement.

Terri, Daph and Brad in ~dreamland~

Okay Galen I know you're mad at me

GRAB SOMEBODY SEXY TELL EM HEY

HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE HIS NAME

Oh shit, it's Sanjaaaaal

GALEN FEAT. BELIAL

Redraw of an oldie I posted a while back...

Oh hey BtE!Verse!

OH HEY LOOK IT'S NY NOVEL COVER

ONE YEAR, OCTOBER 25 BABY

please mom, they're coming for me [ABAX APP]

gentlyiced — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:55:20 GMT

player information.

name: Ace
are you over 18?: AH AM TEN. PLUS TEN.
personal lj: aishlin, but I rarely use it these days...
email/msn/aim/plurk/etc: paintedbench at gmail dert cerrrrm, vworping on AIM, moikay on plurk!
characters in abax: Nobody!

in character information.

name: Galen Howard
age: 28
sex: M
race: Human
height: 5'8"
weight: 140lbs
canon point: Galen arrives a few months after his ordeal with Sanjal and the nightmares. The media freakout surrounding the mysterious mass-unconsciousness at the Counter-Curse’s final show has finally started to die down, and Galen has finally started to get back into the groove of things. He’s working with his radio station in New York City (albeit part time, at the demand of his co-runner, who still thinks he needs to stop working himself so hard) as well as working regularly with his bandmates on their fourth album.
previous cr: Noooooope.

physical appearance:

(In addition to the description I’m about to give, you can also direct yourselves to my art tag! There’s something about drawn Galen that his PB doesn’t quite emit.)

The first thing one notices about Galen (especially after first seeing him through concert footage, music videos, etc.) is that in real life, he doesn’t look intimidating at all. Stage Galen and Real Life Galen are almost two completely separate entities.

We’ll start with the general appearance: Galen is short for a guy his age, at five-foot-eight, and fairly lean from years on stage. His hair, which is usually kept around shoulder length (although it’s been shorter AND longer, however his bandmate Daphne will never allow the latter again, if she can help it) is such a dark brown that it might as well be black. It’s generally fairly lifeless and unwashed, as Galen often gets distracted from showering. He has weirdly small teeth, a nose that has earned him the nickname ‘piggleface’, and hazel eyes. There isn’t a whole lot to be said about the rest of him — he has slender hands and feet, can’t grow facial hair to save his life (another thing his bandmates are thankful for) and nicely shaped legs that never see the light of day. No comment from Galen on that part.

Real Life Galen likes to dress in comfortable clothes, which usually means hoodies, skinny jeans (he’s worn then so many times that they’ve practically form-fitted themselves to his ass, so they’re comfortable as hell), t-shirts, sneakers, and the like. He does get dressy when the mood hits, though; the right tie, vest or jacket comes along and he’s all over that shit. He spends a lot of time holed up, working, though, which calls for comfort, so comfort is what he goes for.

Stage Galen is all about Galen… well, not wanting to be Galen. The ties, jackets and waistcoats come out (a change from the beginnings of Stage Galen, when Real Life Galen couldn’t rub two bucks together to even buy a tie or suspenders because why the fuck would suspenders be thirty bucks), as well as some dramatic makeup, care of Terri. The stage makeup can range from liberal and theatrical application of eyeshadow to full-on skull paint (which is a hit during the Halloween covers of Skeletons on Parade, buuuut I digress). Stage Galen loves combat boots, too, as well as rolled up sleeves, fingerless gloves — anything that fits Galen’s personal idea of ‘badass’. There’s an attitude that comes with it, too, which is playfully evil, but this is the appearance section aaaand I’ve already talked too much.

Tl;dr: He can go from grunge cupcake (gently iced, get it, HA HA) to curbstomper in 2.0.

world information: This world isn’t much different from the world we know and live in today. It’s present day. Obama is the president. Terri can get married in six states. Ghosts may or may not exist, depending on who you ask — and the same goes for demons, monsters, and other creatures of the night. If they do, Galen has never encountered them — or most of them, anyway.

The important part of this world is how dreams work. For most people, dreams are just dreams, as we know them. There are certain people, however, who are special, in that they have a certain presence that makes them a little more visible to whatever lurks inside of dreams — a bit like working at a butcher’s all day and then going into a forest where wolves are known to live. Your chance of interaction with wolf teeth just went up about ten percent.

Galen is one of these people. He doesn’t know how it works (or even know that it’s a thing, really), nor does anyone else; he just knows from his experience with a sentient nightmare that he, for some reason, was chosen to be gradually ‘primed’ to host a particular nightmare that used him to access the waking world, and that these people, despite getting chosen for being the most ‘compatible’, still have their bodies worn out by this weird sort of possession — just not as fast as other people.

This doesn’t happen often, though, and it just considered another one of those creepypasta urban myths. While other things still hold the possibility of being real, Galen knows for sure, at least, that this particular thing is. And it’s fucking terrifying.

history: Galen has a fake Wikipedia entry, but it's generally unhelpful aside from the little info nuggets.

Galen was born in Yonkers, New York, just outside of New York City. He was raised by his dad, an undertaker and funeral director. Galen's mother, who was on maternity leave from work (as a high school drama teacher), suffered from headaches and hallucinations that increased in severity in the three years following Galen's birth, and one night - whether accidentally or not, although the Howard family prefers to see it as an accident - Patty Howard overdosed on sleeping pills and passed away in her sleep. This has had a major impact on Galen's life, growing up, and unfortunately this - in addition to Galen's dad's job - became bully fodder as he got older.

Galen's father kept his family life and work as separate as possible, but, of course, Galen was naturally curious about what his dad did for a living. Nathan, never one to want to over-shelter his child, would talk to Galen about what he did and everything it entailed. This has given Galen an interesting outlook on death; discussions about Nathan Howard's job often led to many a long, speculative discussion about what happens after the body dies. This is both a good thing and a bad thing: Galen doesn't necessarily believe in Heaven or Hell, and therefore is open to most beliefs, but the sense of "if not that, then what?" has proven to be a little distressing at times.

Growing up, Galen was an imaginative, playful kid, captivated by science fiction, ghost stories and all sorts of creative (and often morbid) things. Instead of playing with most other kids, he spent the majority of his days after school dragging his closest friend, Jeffrey, around and proposing all kinds of adventurous scenarios to avoid the bullying he was prone to from his peers. He made and kept a handful of friends as he grew up, however it didn't make school any less difficult for him. Galen did a lot of his growing in middle and high school, and wouldn't be the driven, I-don't-care-what-people-think-anymore person he is today without experiencing the crap he went through in those years. Near the end of high school, the bullying started to die down, but it had made its mark.

When Galen turned sixteen, he was given his father's old Gibson Les Paul Studio from his college days; a big deal, in Galen's eyes. He had an aptitude and an interest in music, and while learning to play the instrument was a frustrating and time-consuming experience, Galen never gave up. He eventually won a contest to play a song he'd written at his graduation, and ignoring the fact that he ad-libbed a hearty 'fuck you' to his tormenters in the middle of the song, it was a good showcase of his talent and only the beginning of his journey into music.

He went to community college, wanting to stay close to his dad, but hoping to find a career in something other than the family business. Galen took courses in business as well as media studies, hoping to find work in the music business. He worked at the campus radio station on the side, moving up from crew gofer to having his own hour-long spot on the air on Thursday nights. Galen enjoyed having the freedom to talk about and present his own taste in music - and his own demos, occasionally - and felt driven to pursue his career even more. He was already in a band with a few friends, but as time went on, it got more serious, until Galen decided to drop out of college to get the band - a budding The Counter Curse - noticed by the world.

It almost killed them - Galen especially, who never knew when to quit or even sleep, some days - and they almost got to the point of packing up and going home, but they were eventually signed to a label, working their way up the ladder the same way Galen had in college. It was another few years until they made it big, and make it big, they did: a world tour, a million albums sold, and more press coverage than Galen knew what to do with. It was stressful, and it almost dragged Galen down, but his dad, his friends and his band wouldn't allow it.

The band continued to make music and tour without any major setbacks. They had their ups and downs, their shitty crew members, their oh-fuck-food-poisoning in Atlanta, their cancelled shows, their fan drama, their one summer on Warped where Galen smashed his face on an amp like a genius, and other such band adventures. Galen teased his dad a lot about being sweet on a woman down the street, and at this point, still isn’t sure if dad is considering asking her out or if it’s just not a relationship that’s going to happen.

Anyway, in the final few weeks of touring their third album, Galen started suffering from nightmares. They weren’t outright nightmares, at first; they were just unsettling dreams, but these dreams had one constant: there was a dark figure on the horizon, and with every dream, it seemed to be getting closer. Galen didn’t think much of it first, and certainly didn’t want to burden the band with it, so he left it alone.

They continued to get worse.

As the figure in his dreams got closer, the nightmares started to worsen; they went from bland and creepy to outright nightmarish. The words ‘let me in’ were prevalent in these dreams, and he would find himself saying them without intending to. Soon, a nightmarish version of himself would appear, mocking him, saying those same three words, as the figure in the distance continued to get closer and closer. The closer it got, the worse the nightmare-self would seem, until Galen finally found a way to fight back — but once he did, it was too late. The figure had caught up, and the next time Galen went to sleep - which was after keeping himself awake for nearly two days straight - the nightmare took him over.

The band wasn’t completely clueless, though. In the couple of weeks leading up to the final blow, they’d been paying attention to Galen’s state, and managed to get some info out of him, little by little — enough to start looking for help. They were told that on occasion, a nightmare would slip free of its own volition, like this, and hungering for power - without necessarily knowing why - it would look to the waking world to drag dreamers into its very own kingdom. It had happened before, and trying to prevent it this time was a gamble, so the woman they went to for help - known only to the band as Rhi - told them to let it happen, but gave them something so that they would enter Galen’s dream, rather than the nightmare’s domain, when they were pulled in. Willing to try anything to help Galen, they did it; the show went on that night, and Galen, who was clearly not the same person he was when he went to sleep, eagerly took the stage. With a snap of his fingers, all four thousand concert goers - and the band - fell asleep, with no guarantee that they would wake up.

While this was happening, Galen was shoved as far into the corner of his dreams as possible, harrowed and convinced that everything he remembered from real life was a dream, and everyone he’d known had been imaginary. This had been done to ensure that he wouldn’t interfere with what Sanjal had done — because in the end, even though Sanjal had taken control, he (or it, I should say) was still a nightmare in Galen’s head, and one he could take control of.

The band found him that way, after fighting their way through his dreamscape: curled up in the bedroom of his childhood home, confused, scared and sure of absolutely nothing. All was not lost, though. It took some convincing and some retelling of old memories, but they managed to pull Galen back out of the dream confusion, and bit by bit, the Galen they knew returned.

From there, they left, and went to find Sanjal. It took some more fighting through nightmares, but this was a good thing; Galen learned how to take control of his own dream to give himself and the others the upper hand. This, essentially, is what allowed them to beat Sanjal, and when they did, everyone who had been pulled into the dream was returned to their rightful place: on the floor of the arena, confused, and with no real recollection of what had happened.

This, of course, caused an uproar in the media that saturated all of the press coverage and interviews The Counter-Curse had for the next several months. In addition to this, Galen spent a lot of time mentally healing from what had happened; it wasn’t impossible, but it was hard, for a while. He was jumpy, and at times concerned about what exactly was real and what wasn’t — not a good thing, considering his already prominent fear of developing schizophrenia, like his mother. The nightmares never returned, however, and thanks to work and music being a distraction and his own willpower, he worked through it, and everything gradually went back to normal. People stopped asking them about it in interviews - “no, we don’t know what happened, it was a fuck up with the ventilation or something, can we talk about the music” - and the band at least had a lot driving their next album. (Galen could never quite get over his kneejerk, frightened reaction to the words ‘let me in’, though; at least, not in those following months)

It’s at this point that he arrives.

personality: Galen Howard is very much an entertainer, and that shows in his personality. He's rather sociable and is able to talk and make friends fairly easily -- this has helped in both his radio and musical aspirations. He genuinely cares about people, and has good intuition. He can think quickly, and he's articulate when he needs to be -- which, of course, doesn't exempt him from swearing like a sailor in casual conversation. He's a good listener, though, which makes him easy to talk to, and his need for everything to go smoothly - bordering on perfectionism - makes him eager to help others when he can. Sometimes he can get wrapped up in this.

Galen is a hard worker, almost to the point of obsession -- at least, when it comes to his music. He'll work himself into exhaustion until things are just right, which has affected his health and well-being in the past, and while it usually results in good work, in the end, from him, it's a continuous worry for the rest of the band.

Growing up in the wake of his mother's death, and then dealing with bullying, Galen garnered a certain amount of anger as he got older. It's something he's aware of, and he channels it into his music, but it isn't always easy to control. Galen, when put in a bad mood, can fly off the handle and become unapproachable. He gets sarcastic, irrational, and usually lands himself in an angry pool of self-pity without even realizing it. At this point, it's best to just leave him alone; argue with him and he'll have a lot of shit to apologize for once he's calmed down enough to think properly.

Another important part of Galen's personality can be summed up in a word: Gryffindor. He has his prejudices (mainly with anyone who reminds him of the people who gave him a hard time in school) and absolutely has his tendency to disregard the rules and put himself in danger for the sake of others -- even when it's something as minor as withholding his problems from people close to him so that he can deal with them on his own (which only occasionally works out, as it definitely didn't in the case of the nightmares).

There is a thought constantly haunting Galen's mind, and it has been for a long time: his biggest fear is developing schizophrenia, like his mother, so he's often concerned that some of the things he sees and hears aren't really there. The increased risk of schizophrenia is actually mainly what has kept him out of drugs. He already has a genetic predisposition, he doesn't want to play with fate any more than he already is. He drinks occasionally, but not excessively; Galen doesn't like the idea of being out of touch with his higher thinking. It would also interfere with his work, so yeah -- no thanks, bro.

Galen is very much a martyr. He's always leaving himself all over the stage for the fans, and doesn't hold much regard for himself -- like with the way he works himself into exhaustion for his music. He'll take a bullet for a friend, get into danger for the greater good, offer up his last cigarette if he thinks you deserve it. He's that kind of guy.

He has his downfalls, like anyone else. He's kind of obnoxious, especially when he's in performance mode. He teases people, and while it's good-natured, sometimes he can take it a little far. When he thinks something is wrong, he will be loud, and you will know about it. And sometimes he doesn't know when to stop talking. He also tends to overthink things if he's left alone for too long, which is why he and his bandmates are such a good team; they force him out of some of his overdwelling perfectionism.

abilities/powers: Galen has a very well-developed musical ability; he can play guitar, piano (to an extent) and sing. He writes music, too, but all he knows about theory is stuff he taught himself and picked up from other people over the years. He can also lucid dream pretty extensively, now, after finding the right 'muscle' to control his dreams, before, but that's hardly useful for anything practical (unless, of course, any other nightmares wanted to come at him bro). Another thing is his intuition, which I guess is worth mentioning -- it's not like some crazy psychic clairvoyance, but he just gets vibes about things sometimes. That's all. And sometimes they're right.

first person sample: [ When Galen wakes, it's with a start, and with a gradual realization of his surroundings. He curses, then closes his eyes, but the dream doesn't change... probably because it's not a dream. His voice is quiet: ]

Fuck. I'm awake?

[ Oh, hey, it's drafty in here -- probably because of the paper slip. The toe tag is the next thing he notices, and while the phone in his hand briefly distracts him as he leans down to look at it, he's determined to see the tag first... Fuck. Of course, the first thing he associates with a morgue might sound strange: ]

Dad? Dad! What the hell? Where are you? [ Beat. ] Dad?

[ No answer. He checks the phone, then, praying for some kind of 'ha ha, punk'd' message, but... nothing. He starts flicking through it, wary of the flickering lights in the room, and that's when he notices the little camera light... dangerface. ]

Alright, this is not fuckin' funny. I'm so not in the mood for dicking around, so somebody better get their ass in here and explain. It's freezing, I can't feel my hands, and I have a headache the size of fucking Texas.

[ Time to... get off of this table? GOD THIS PAPER SLIP IS... PAPERY. HIS DIGNITY! He looks at the camera again, then at the toe tag, expression turning a little more wary. ]

Someone just tell me what the fuck is going on?

third person sample: An image came to life on the screen, and Galen could finally see the weirdly cheerful-looking face of his dad there to greet him. It was kind of cute, thinking of dad using Skype. He wasn’t totally a failure at modern technology, but he had his moments. The cute part was probably the fact that he always seemed so proud of himself when he figured out how to work these things.

“Hey,” Galen greeted. His dad gave him a little wave in return.

“Hey. Haven’t slept this week, by any chance, have you?”

Galen snorted. “Dad, it’s my job to look like death warmed over. And for the record: I have.”

Dad rolled his eyes and took off his reading glasses (fucking hipster glasses, Galen didn’t care what dad called them). “Sure. So how’s it going? According to my calendar with cute little stickers, you’ll be home a week from tomorrow.”

“You bought stickers? Are we experiencing some empty nest syndrome?” Galen had to try not to laugh at dad. It was difficult.

“Actually,” dad began, “they’re left over from your potty training calendar. I believe the correct word is recycling.”

“Oh my god.” Dad. Why. “The calendar’s on the fridge and you use it as a conversation piece when you have guests, don’t you.”

Dad laughed his ‘I look like I’m quietly amused but I’m laughing out loud on the inside’ laugh at that. Galen was totally right. Totally right. “Yup. So — you didn’t answer me. How’s it going?”

“Fine,” Galen shrugged, repositioning the laptop. “The last few shows’ve been as great as ever, nobody’s burnt out yet. We got some pretty cool swag from some kids outside Memphis a few days ago. Brad’s collection of me plushies is slowly and creepily growing, uh — yeah, I can’t believe we’re in the home stretch.”

“Time does fly,” dad said. “You think ending a tour is crazy, you should have seen my expression when I found those stickers.”

“And I’m still not potty trained,” Galen joked. Brad happened to walk by the door at that exact moment, and gave Galen the most quizzical look he could muster. What timing.

“Ooh, are we talking to dad?” Brad asked, like there was any question. Of course Galen was talking to his dad on Skype on a Sunday evening. It was a thing.

“Hi, Bradley,” dad called, although there was no need; Brad launched himself onto the couch next to Galen, unbalancing the laptop and landing his head in Galen’s lap, where said head was almost knocked in by said laptop’s corner. Brad sat up, however, and Galen fixed the laptop as dad pretended to be motion sick from the whole scenario. It was things like this that made him feel like he was a high school student again; Brad being a goof, dad humouring him, and Galen mediating the entire thing.

“What up, daddy-o?” Brad slung an arm over Galen’s shoulders so he could lean in closer, which basically meant taking up the entire screen. “You been hitting on any more hot old chicks since we last parlayed?”

“I can’t keep them away, actually,” dad replied, very matter-of-factly. “You know, it makes going to work very difficult.”

Brad gave dad the suggestive eyes. “I bet they wanna be on your table, if you know what I’m sayin’ —“

“Oh my god, shut up.” Galen reached over and shoved at Brad’s head, forcing that image right the fuck out of his mind. Ew. Ew. “This? This is why you’re not allowed to talk to anyone.”

“Your dad loves me,” Brad argued, pushing his way back into the camera’s line of sight once again. “Don’t you, dad?”

Dad chuckled. “Like one of my own, Bradley.”

“See?” Brad started playing with the hair accessible to the hand he had around Galen’s shoulder. “By that logic, I’m totally just as much of Howard material as you are. What say you, Mister G-How? Scorn my jokes further?”

“Always, because your jokes suck.” Grinning, Galen rolled his eyes and tugged his head a little away from Brad’s hand, but it didn’t do much.

“So how are you doing, Bradley?” Dad played with the light next to the computer monitor, making the picture freak out for a second.

“I am excellent, thank you for asking,” he said. “Working the mothershit off of my ass, as per usual.”

Galen narrowed his eyes. Mothershit?

“Yes, I’ve seen some of the professional photos from the last few shows,” dad said knowingly. “It’s a wonder you manage to stay vertical at all.”

“Magic, my friend,” Brad said, shaking his head. “Pure magic, I can’t explain it any other way. This showmanship was bestowed — “

“Unto you by the god of rock,” Galen and dad finished together.

case no: 02-03-82

It would be really cool if Galen's toe tag could say 'Nathan Howard' on the Funeral Director line... because I'm terrible. If not, that's fine! I thought it an appropriately disturbing addition for him, since that's what his dad does. Mua ha haaa?

ART DUMP

gentlyiced — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 03:52:19 GMT

(goes with something I wrote that I will post soonish)

FUCKING DRAWIN ON THE BUS

NANO RELATED WOOOOO plot change

SuperGalen because I C O U L D

Galen Hairvolution

i told you dawg

gentlyiced — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:45:34 GMT

moar art

gentlyiced — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:58:15 GMT

College Galen. I bought a Pentel Pocket Brush yesterday and wanted to use it on something a little bigger/more sustained than sketchbook crap. I need oodles of ink practice, but I liked how this came out.

BUS CRAP.

gentlyiced — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:11:41 GMT

I missed drawing things on the bus.

Flurry and I were like "what if Dakota told Galen she was a dragon and he totally didn't believe her", so this happened.

I read volume one of Locke and Key on the way to school, as well as The Man With The Getaway Face, so I was all jazzed to do some thumbnails... and then my stop came up so QUICK FINISH.

The angle on this makes it look weird because I was sneaking a photo in the student lounge. The pool of blood (CAN'T FORGET THE BLURD) and the words "he'll get his silence" were cut off. >O

Drawing this on the bus was a dumb idea. I got upset. Go me. Anyway, the intention was never to kill him; they liked the ~poeticness (or something) of someone who associates himself with silence having his ~right hand man~ silenced. So he survived, but his voice kinda really didn't.

I'm gonna redraw these and properly finish them later.

this is now an art blog

gentlyiced — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:05:27 GMT

Here is a magical musical timelapse video of me working on the piece under the cut:

ART DUMP.

gentlyiced — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:09:31 GMT

Hush.

For gloryisbullshit

AND NOW FOR SOME TWOSHORTLIVES ART

This was in-universe fanart done by a Prey for Morning fan. In reality, I did it to make Chris mad.

gentlyiced — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:37:27 GMT

This is a placeholder for a solo interview with Brad Keaton.

Because that can only go well.

I just realized I never put the finished Character Survey of Doom here.

gentlyiced — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:23:18 GMT

Body and Appearance

1. Describe the character’s height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Galen is about average height - 5’8” - and has long legs. I guess I’d describe him as average - he’s always moving around, these days; always getting lots of exercise. This is a major improvement from being a gawky stick figure when he was younger. There’s almost something feminine about his shape. Almost.

2. How old is he?
Argh, in which storyline? In the NaNo, he’s 28. In BtE, he’s 32. Right now, he’d be 29 (although if I’d gone with my original plan of his original ‘verse being in the future, he’d be 2 right now, bwahahaha).

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
I think this depends on the persona he’s displaying at the time. Galen slouches all the time, when he’s just being Galen. But when he’s being Galen On Stage or Galen “I Got Dis” Howard he stands up straight like a proper rock ‘n’ roll gentleman.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Galen is very fit, which I think I already mentioned. He’s been in the hospital a few times to recover from exhaustion, and I think I said something about his iron intake in the past. Needs moar. Also, I’m not yet sure if this goes for one universe or all of them, but Galen has latent schizophrenia that will show up later on in his life, like his mother had. (I always feel really horrible about this because possibly developing schizophrenia is one of the things that scares him most :( )

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
I always seem to describe him as ‘striding’. If he knows where he’s going, he’s pretty purposeful and confident with his movements. He’s pretty good at not falling on his face when he trips over things; Galen can catch himself. Sometimes.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Galen wavers between ‘handsome’ and ‘pretty like a teenage girl’. Galen doesn’t really find himself attractive at all. Growing up, no one really did - skinny and awkward, hey-o -, so that’s still what he feels like inside. He’ll mess around with makeup to try and look like a different, not-Galen person and see if that makes any difference. It blows his mind when fans go on about him being pretty, or hot, or whatever, because he just doesn’t see it.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Pale motherfucker. It happens when you rock all night and sleep all day. Galen is alright with that, because he doesn’t ever tan; he just burns. And when he burns, he bitches about it. A lot.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Longish (almost always between mop-head and shoulder-length), black, thin-ish, generally unwashed, usually in a bedhead state.

9. What color are his eyes?
There is some debate over whether they are green or brown. They are~~HAZ~~ hazel.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?

~~NOSE~~ He has a long scar down the side of his right hand from Brad snapping a guitar string when they were sitting together, once, before a show. He also has little teeth. It’s weird.

11. What are his chief tension centers?
Base of his skull, front of shoulders. Let’s pretend I know what I’m talking about.

12. What is the character’s wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
It’s pretty varied. Galen wears whatever is comfortable - hey, skinny jeans can be comfortable, okay - and whatever he damn well feels like wearing, especially if it passes his strict ‘hey this looks good on me’ test. A lot of it is loose-fitting - with the exception of the jeans, of course - and on the darker end of the colour spectrum, but he does have a couple of ridiculous, bright-coloured shirts from events and fans that he sometimes wears to shows and things. Galen doesn’t have a ton of clothes with him on tour, though. Less laundry. He enjoys converse, beanies, and fingerless gloves.

His stage clothes usually consist of vests, more skinny jeans, plain t-shirts, dress shirts, fingerless gloves, and the occasional eyepatch. I NEVER SAID HE WASN’T WEIRD.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
His stage clothes are like wearing a soggy, smelly pile of old laundry, so his regular clothes kind of have to work, or he’d just… shrivel up and die of eternal discomfort. Galen hates having gross ‘civilian’ clothes.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
I JUST SAID THIIIIIIIIIIIIS.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxer briefs, bitch. Colourful ones.

Speech

1. What does this character’s voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
High-ish (for a guy, anyway) and a little nasally. These days, his voice has… hoarsened (that’s a word now) a little, from singing and smoking, but he can still do a pretty good Queen Elizabeth II impression. When he sings, his voice is pretty huge, and absolutely unique. (This is part of why I tend to think of Gerard when I think of Galen - his voice is phenomenal.)

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
There’s a lot of expression, inflection and openness in the way Galen talks; he’s definitely not monotone. He talks easily, so long as he’s in control of the situation, which is why he was so good at the radio station gig in college. If something unexpected/scary/etc. happens, though, he’ll hesitate, trying to find the right words to get things under control again.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
I imagine he sounds sort of like Gerard? I don’t know how much being from New York rather than New Jersey would affect his accent. He still says ‘harror’ and ‘ahsome’, anyway, in my mind. He should also be banned from using the word ‘like’ in casual conversation. He actually tries to stop himself from doing that but it rarely works.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
English is his first language, obviously. From touring, and just because he’s a knowledge nerd, he knows enough French to have a verrrry basic conversation, enough Spanish to go out for a beer with someone (he did surprisingly well in Spanish in high school), and enough German to yell things at a crowd and not get mauled for sucking at it. He tries to learn bits of languages from everywhere they’ve been so that everyone feels included, even a little bit.

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
No, but he swears like a sailor when he’s pissed off. He has a habit of reverting to “I’M AN ANGRY TEENAGER YELLIN ATCHU!!!!11!!” when he gets super angry.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
Again, radio thing, so he’s pretty good on the spot.

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Eloquent, but throw him into a stressful or scary situation and he’s like WUT WUT WUT FUCKWUT.

Mental and Emotional

1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?

Galen is pretty right-brained about things. He’s book-smart, but mostly with things that involve critical thinking, like english, philosophy, sociology - things of that nature. When it comes to applied stuff, like math and science… not so much. His proficiency in science died by the time he got to high school. ANYWAY, yes, he’s pretty intelligent when it comes to those things. He’s also learned a fuck of a lot from being in a band and touring for seven years.

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?

Aaaaahhhh this question. He kind of does both, in that he doesn’t take forever to deliberate, so he’ll make decisions quickly and hope he decided on the right thing in whatever time he had.

3. Describe the character’s thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?

I should know this, from all the things I’ve written. I… think he’s logical to a point. After all, like I said, he’s pretty right-brained, and does things based on feelings, a lot - but he can be logical if he has to, albeit reluctantly. He’s definitely idealistic.

4. What kind of education has the character had?

Galen graduated from high school and went to community college for two years before he dropped out. He occasionally wants to go back to school, but figures that he’s learned more through his career than he ever could in school.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?

ALL THE THINGS. He just loves to learn, especially about people and how they work. He’s pretty interested in sociology and psychology, as well as paranormal phenomena. … What, that’s legit.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?

Galen is an extrovert with introverted tendencies. He thrives off of other people but internalizes a lot, and insists on shouldering a lot of problems himself.

7. Describe the character’s temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?

Galen is pretty easy-going, but he has a short fuse. His moods tend to shift somewhat easily, but he’s most often cheerful and quite optimistic. Don’t let the easygoingness with others fool you, though - when he wants something done, it’ll get done, and he’ll drive himself into the ground until it does. He just tries not to be a tyrant about these things, because being an asshole does not a productive team make. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t blow up in faces on occasion, though - because after enough dogging, his patience just goes kaput.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?

He responds pretty well. It depends on the person or situation. He’s usually pretty good with meeting people for the first time, unless the person is going out of their way to be a douche, in which case Galen has sarcasm on reserve. Galen usually jumps right into new situations ~~unless they involve stalker nightmares~~

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?

Galen will most definitely act, once he knows what he wants or has decided that the cause is worth going for. He doesn’t like waiting around for things to happen.

10. Which is his default: fight or flight?

Fight. Galen is ~~a Gryffindor~~ not afraid to confront most things, now that he knows what he’s capable of. Running away is pointless, to him; it leaves the problem out there to strike again, and that’s worse than whatever bullshit you go through to fight back against it in the first place.

11. Describe the character’s sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?

Jokes are great. Puns are stupid but great. Perverted jokes (as long as they’re clever) are awesome. Galen has a pretty dark sense of humour, but he loves to make people laugh, or at least smile. He also loves inside jokes, and going off on tangents of silliness like a mature adult (like joking with Cass about derpherders and making Chris puke).

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?

Bluuuuuh let’s skip ahead a few years to where I’m not sure what’s going on. Originally, this one AU (Burn the Evidence, which is a stupid title but it stuck, dammit Billy Talent) was supposed to be legit onoesdemons with running away and identity-hiding and blah blah blah to figure his shit out. But I was thinking, schizophrenia is hereditary, so if that had been what happened to Patty in the first place, then maybe that is what happened to Galen. So… in some future, somewhere, Galen may have developed schizophrenia, like his mom, and flipped out and ran away, thinking it was something else entirely… which is really sad, because he’d been paranoid about developing it for years, so when it finally happens and he doesn’t actually realize it… my heart. Needless to say, he doesn’t deal with it the way he should, and I have no idea where the hell it’s going to go.

Of course, that’s one AU, so it could go much differently in the original ‘verse. I don’t know. I haven’t had the chance to work it out. I think it would be a really interesting thing to explore, though.

13. What moments in this character’s life have defined him as a person?

Asher’s birth, his mom’s death, visiting dad’s work for the first time and talking to him about it, the first time he picked up dad’s guitar, fucking up his high school graduation, getting into the radio program, meeting Brad, Terri, Daph and Mitch, getting signed, dodging beer bottles, living in a van, hitting it big, yada yada.

14. What does he fear?

Losing control of his life, losing his sense of reality, schizophrenia, being completely alone, snakes, losing his sight or hearing.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations?

Being able to say he’s made a difference is a big one. Whenever he’s done he just wants to be able to look back and feel satisfied. He also wants to fall in love, someday, but he’s not counting on it.

16. What is something he doesn’t want anyone to find out about him?

Galen really, really does not like talking about what happened to his mom, and it’s annoying because interviewers ask about his family all the fucking time. About him, though… I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ve been writing him long enough to know his darkest secret, yet.

Relationships

1. Describe this character’s relationship with his parents.

Galen doesn’t really remember his mom, but what he does remember is dark hair and lots of smiling.

His relationship with his dad is really good. They would talk abouteverything when Galen was growing up, and some of it was pretty deep stuff; Galen was a pretty clever kid, and Nathan worked at a funeral home, so Galen had lots of questions and Nathan always had good answers. Even now, Galen is afraid of swearing around him, and whenever he does something outrageous with the band, a little part of him is always like oh shit, what’s dad gonna say? They still have a good relationship, though, and Galen calls him a lot.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?

Originally, Galen was an only child (sometimes I think about going back to that) but he has a younger brother named Asher. They have a good relationship, too, at the core - they talk all the time, Galen visits when he can, and Galen desperately wishes that Ash could just quit school and come on tour for the rest of forever, both so he can keep an eye on him, and so that he can have his brother close by. Galen has always considered himself Asher’s protector.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can’t stand?

There’s one cousin I haven’t thought of that Galen likes a lot, on his dad’s side. His mom’s side of the family isn’t the greatest, particularly his cousins Becky and Colin. They’re yuppie hipster douchebags and he’s disliked them since he was four. I… haven’t given his grandparents any thought, what is wrong with me.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?

His band. Brad, Terri, Mitch and Daphne. He’s spent way too long in close quarters with them, all of them baring their souls to each other to not consider them his family (Brad is the crazy uncle J-Dog, just so everyone knows). They’re the best friends he’s ever had.

Somewhere, floating around in the Nexus, Galen really cares about Chris, too. Everything about how they know each other is weird and nonsensical, since they’re identical fucking twins and Chris is, y’know, a reincarnated Victorian gentleman who sees ghosts, but Galen has started to feel protective of him, the same way he does his brother and other close friends. You can also tell he feels this way because he’s come to enjoy trolling him with Cass.

5. Who is/was the character’s best friend? How did they meet?

Galen’s best friend is Brad, technically. They met in community college, and the two of them were the original founders of The Counter-Curse. Galen doesn’t exactly hold him in higher regard than his other bandmates, though. It’s just that Brad is like… representative of a very important time in his life, and they’re on an almost inhuman wavelength with the way they’re in each other’s heads. Brad acts like an insufferable weirdo most of the time, but Galen knows Serious Brad quite well, and has had a lot of important life discussions with Serious Brad.

6. Does he have other close friends?

There are others but I don’t feel like talking about them ~~because it would all be bullshitting~~

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?

Galen makes friends pretty easily. It’s almost creepy (at least, as I’ve found through RP) because he tries to appeal to a person’s good side, even when he doesn’t realise he’s doing it. It’s why Galen is the only lookalike Chris doesn’t hate. Galen is just generally likeable, I guess.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?

Friends become family, so… family. He’d be lost without those people in his life.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?

Galen is single. He’s had a couple of girlfriends over time, but they never worked out (and one became the bassist of his band, hur hur hur. They joke about that relationship now). He doesn’t really like the idea of upholding a relationship while his life is as nuts as it is. He… may have a thing with this one redhead in a particular city, though.

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?

No. But he does have cross-country pining issues that he tries to ignore.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh, his first crush… some girl in school I haven’t though about, I NEED TO DO MORE WORK. His latest crush is Dakota Murphy. Like, super crush. Her and her stupid flat humour and awesome hair and enigmaness and the fact that he has to work to get her to laugh and DAMN YOU DAKOTA.

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?

A sense of humour, understanding, someone who meshes with the way his mind works.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?

No and… no. Galen doesn’t think he’d be a very good dad.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?

Tai the Bag of Dicks Blogger. Normally Galen can ignore tabloids and media and other bullshit like that, but Tai gets under his skin so badly, he would so trip her if he thought no one was watching.

15. What is the character’s sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?

I hate this question, so thankfully it came with the scale. Galen is a 2. He really believes that sexuality is fluid, and everyone’s obsession with finding an orientation label to stick themselves under is stupid. He’ll mess around with guys if it feels right, what of it.

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?

Galen enjoys sex and likes having it. It’s not extremely important to him, but if the opportunity presents itself and the time is right, he’ll go for it. He doesn’t go for groupies, though. Dakota is pretty much the only exception to this, and I don’t even know how that happened. I just know they got drunk, got freaky and Galen turned into a puppy dog, the end.

Beliefs

1. Do you know your character’s astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?

Yes! Galen is an Aquarius (born on 3 February). He fits it really well, actually. I have this habit of creating characters, giving them a birthday and then having them fit their sign almost perfectly.

Many Aquarians, in tune with their celestial heritage, are idealists who champion the highest principles to which humanity can aspire. However they are also extremely independent thinkers. When confronted with authoritarian demands or dogmatic principles to which they do not subscribe, they rebel. They may hesitate to take the initiative at times, but once they decide a situation or idea is worthwhile, they become involved and aggressive in pushing it forward. They don’t mind being asked to do something but they resent being told to do it. Those who want to gain their favor will help share the work load without being asked.

More here.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?

I guess I’d describe Galen as spiritual. He’s technically Anglican, I think, but I’ve always described him as ‘agnostic-ish pseudo-Christian’. He wants to believe in Heaven, doesn’t want to believe in Hell, and doesn’t know if he wants to believe in God. The sort of outlook he got from talking to his dad about what happens when the body dies has almost made things difficult, in a way, because there are so many possibilities out there, and Galen, himself hasn’t seen any proof that God exists - after all, why would God make his mom suffer? He thinks he believes that there’s something bigger than everyone out there, but there’s nothing they can do to change things. He thinks he believes in some form of destiny; that some people are destined to meet, not necessarily that there’s only one destined outcome in life.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?

It’s pretty basic. Don’t be a dick and people won’t treat you like shit. Karma is a legit thing. Don’t feed the trolls. Things like that.

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?

Galen is both tolerant and curious. Unless the beliefs involve, like, killing people or doing something equally ‘what the fuck’, of course. He respects that other people are different and lets them do their own thing, as long as they don’t get on his back about his beliefs.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?

Uh… I can’t really think of any, see above. I’ll think about this one some more.

Daily Life

1. What is the character’s financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?

Galen is pretty well off thanks to his career, but he lives modestly anyway. A lot of his money goes to his dad and his brother, as well as the radio station he works with on and off tour. He has a pretty nice apartment in New York but that’s about as swanky as it gets.

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?

Well, he went from middle-class to rock star, which has changed over several years. It hasn’t affected him adversely, though - see above. He doesn’t go out on huge spending sprees or have enormous parties or anything like that.

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?

When he’s not on the tour bus, he lives in an apartment on his own. When he’s off tour, he’ll stay with his brother and/or dad in Yonkers quite often, too. His apartment is in okay condition; he has someone check on it every once in a while when he’s touring to make sure no one stumbled in and died, or anything. And when he’s living there, he does a decent job of keeping it clean. He likes kidnapping Asher when he’s on summer break and making him stay for a few weeks. (Pff, ‘making’ him stay.)

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?

Fucking boots. Jackets he’ll never find the time to wear. Books, music, magazines (especially ones with TCC stuff in them so he can draw on all of their faces; they have a collection of those for some reason), bad horror movies, Asher’s WoW account (WHY DOES HE FUND THIS INSANITY), his own WoW account (which he only uses when he has time and Asher wants to go questing - and then Brad joins in, and everybody regrets everything), other interwebs subscriptions I can’t think of right now, annnnnnd gear. Galen likes buying gear for the band.

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?

OH GEE I WONDER WHAT IT IS GALEN DOES FOR A LIVING.

Galen is a ~rock star~, although he giggles a little whenever he calls himself that. He’s a musician; he writes music, sings, plays guitar sometimes, and is gradually getting better at piano. He records with his band, The Counter-Curse, sells albums, tours the world, never sleeps, breaks things, gets called rude names on the internet, and he fucking loves it. He wouldn’t trade his job for anything in the world. It’s more than he ever thought possible, and he’s doing it with his favourite people - and yes, he is good at it. Good at writing, singing and performing. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, obviously, but in the grand scheme of things, he rocks dat shit and he loves it.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?

He loves reading about weird, quirky things. He reads a lot of books, goes exploring for new music, writes, takes lots of walks, Skypes with Asher and dad, browses /r/creepy and /r/nosleep (YES GALEN IS A REDDITOR get off me — actually, it’s mostly /r/nosleep, because /r/creepy is no longer all that creepy), and… yes, other stuff.

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Galen eats what he can, when he can, and tries to get enough of everything. It’s easier when he’s not on tour. On tour, it’s a lot of fast food and microwave crap, and a lot of energy drinks (Starbucks + energy ftw). Daphne is the health-conscious one in the band, so she makes sure they’re always stocked up with greens and has been known to sit on Galen if he hasn’t eaten anything healthy in a few days. He doesn’t drink that much, after it nearly became a problem near the beginning of the band’s explosion, but when he does, it isn’t much. Galen, someone who likes being in control of most situations, doesn’t like the thought of getting plastered and doing things without his higher thinking’s permission.

Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite: ASSOCIATIONS!

1. Color? dark teal

2. Smell? rock (it’s a smell, trust me)

3. Time of day? early evening

4. Season? fall

5. Book? uhhhhh skip

6. Music? mcr b-sides

7. Place? OUT THEEERE THERE’S A WORLD OUTSIDE OF YONKEEERS

8. Substance? uh. cotton. like hoodies.

9. Plant? sunflower

10. Animal? shaggy black dogs. like a friggin newfoundland dog or something.

art dump + plot notes

gentlyiced — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:15:04 GMT

Here is the skinny on the new stuff I've been writing:

- once upon a time, Hush (a personified nightmare that Jack came up with and I can only hope to write properly) was obsessed with Galen's mother for reasons I haven't quite figured out, and fully intended to keep her insider her dreaming state forever
- unfortunately, due to outside circumstances, Galen's mother died and Hush lost his chance
- twentysomething years later, when Galen got older, after years of Hush kind of lurking in the background, Hush stepped in again
- now, Jack and I already went one direction with this, where Chris and Galen both had to deal with Hush
- in this 'verse, Chris isn't there to help bail Galen out, and Hush, manipulating Galen's weakness for wanting to have known his mother, successfully traps Galen
- Hush then puts Galen inside two separate dreams, both to keep him occupied/distracted, and to, uh, enjoy his company
- the first dream is not much different from Galen's real life; he's in a band, they're fairly successful, and Hush's role - although he appears to be a different person, and he manipulate's Galen's mind to fill in the blanks that come from a nightmare trying to play human - is a tour manager, or something like that. Something that puts him close by.
- the second dream is in a bit more of a fantasy realm, which I have dubbed Magic And Shit; something Hush thought Galen would enjoy as - erg - a weird sort of 'present'
- however, Hush holds power here, and Galen works for him, tricked into thinking he has loyalty and admiration for this figure because he supposedly saved Galen's life twice; once when he was younger, when the volatile lower class (or something, still working this out) rioted and killed a lot of people, and when Galen himself was taken and had his vocal cords severed with Some Kind Of Cursed Pointy Object as a kind of mocking 'fuck you' to the man in charge, whose super pretentious leaderly name happens to be His Eternal Silence or some shit like that
- HERE HAVE YOUR RIGHT HAND MAN BACK AND UNABLE TO TALK MR. SILENCE SIR
- thanks to Magic And Shit, Galen can pull some Time Lord shenanigans and kind of head-talk through touch
- ALSO FIRE LETTERS IF HE SO WISHES but that's so over the top (except when they're about to stomp some heretics)
- for extra confusion, everyone Galen is friends with in the other dream is a sort of enemy in this one
- ANYWAY
- when he's awake in one, the other is just waved off as a dream, and he's positive that the one he's in is the real one
- the connection between these dreams is one person: Dakota (of course) who has managed to slip past Hush's defences and into both dreams to try and wake Galen up
- I should probably add that this is before they've met in real life, and Dakota's either wandered in through her own dreams, or she's just FROM ~dreamland~ and was sent by whoever is trying to get rid of Hush
- in dream number one, she's Dakota The Mysterious Redhead Not-Groupie and Galen is totally taken with her, but things keep getting in the way/Mr Tour Manager Guy is like "she's bad news yo" or... something
- in dream number two, she's one of Those People, and things are more difficult; Galen doesn't want to listen to her, because she's questioning all of his beliefs, and he should be turning her in for saying these things, but he doesn't, because he has this weird 'I think I know you' feeling, because it's like she's telling him the same thing about his 'boss' in his dreams... and what the hell's up with that?
- so Galen can't get the guts to get rid of her, and eventually wants to hear what she has to say, and THEN after all the getting trolled and yelling at her psychically and getting angry, he starts to ~like her~
- ANY
- WAY
- eventually, thanks to Dakota, Galen starts to question things, and maybe the two dreams start falling apart and like... crazily mixing
- I HAVEN'T GOTTEN THAT FAR BUT THAT'S THE GIST OF IT.

So here are some concept sketches and stuff I've done, mostly for the Magic And Shit side.

hi I'm an aspiring graphic novel illustrator and I can't draw clothes, THAT'LL WORK OUT WELL.

I experimented with black hair, and I actually think I like this more.

hueg art dump.

gentlyiced — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:54:38 GMT

For a 'verse that probably won't go anywhere, now. I was just in a mood and wanted to draw something creepy.

In-progress colouring of Chris's past self, Henry, and Ellie.

Galen, Chris and Cass!

Galen complaining about my WoW habits...

Galen meets Textbook Ghost.

Chris and Textbook trolololol.

A result of Galen and Cass using Galen's face to troll Chris.

Shit picture but I liked this.

Bluh mother's day bluh

This was for an IJ RP that I was briefly in, where Galen could control shadows. Yep.

Drawing II final project that was secretly for our Killjoys 'verse... sssh. ... WHY AM I POSTING THIS HERE IT DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH GALEN.

Sketch of Chris and Hush from a series of threads Jack and I did a few months back. This sounds so dirty out of context. HE'S JUST STEALING HIS VOICE RLY.

More Shadowshitgalen.

Technically Desolation Row Gerard, but DRGerd IS Galen, so...

Nightmares. Hushverse.

Another Drawing II project, based on Hushverse. Hush's room of photos of Galen's mom in the months before she died. Full view here.

Not Galen-related but Gerard Way now owns this, I am JUST. SAYIN. ~~And I will shout it to the world~~

NOOZ

gentlyiced — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 02:59:19 GMT

~GALEN'S MAGICAL STATUS UPDATE~
For people who may glance at this and give a gosh darn.

- Everything from the original The (Un)Real World 'verse is getting retconned. Like... everything.
- As he was in the beginning, so shall he be again: Galen now has no siblings, like he did last October when he barged on into Acetown. Asher might show up in some AUs, but by default he's no longer there.
- I'm reworking his story like crazy right now, because long story short, I feel like he could be doing much bigger things. These things may include magic and nods to Doctor Who. I'm still figuring it out. Also, the AUs mentioned several posts back are out the window. I'm still trying to retain some of his original flavour, though.
- GOD I FEEL LIKE I'M DOING SPRING CLEANING.
- There has been a +100 increase in brolocity between Galen and Chris since November, and Galen is smug that he's the only Chris-twin that Chris doesn't hate
- ... I actually think that's it for now.

Here is a post of gratuitous Howard Family Photos.

gentlyiced — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:48:43 GMT

MOM & DAD

It never occurred to me until recently that the both of them have been in movies that he and Ash would've totally dorked over.

And of course, Asher McNerdpants:

That is all.

IN-UNIVERSE WIKIPEDIA PAGE

gentlyiced — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:36:06 GMT

profile

Galen Howard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Galen Howard

Galen Howard

Background information

Birth name	Galen Anthony Howard
Born	February 3, 1987 (age 24) New York, United States
Origin	Yonkers, New York
Genres	Alternative rock, post-hardcore
Occupations	Musician, radio personality
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	2008-present
Labels	Carbon, Hangman
Associated acts	The Counter-Curse

Galen Anthony Howard (born February 3, 1987) is an American musician and radio personality who has served as lead vocalist and co-founder of the band The Counter-Curse since its formation in 2007. He is also the co-founder of the New York-based alt-rock radio station SNAFU-102, and is the host of a number of its shows while both on tour and off.

Contents1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Music
2.2 Radio
3 Personal life
4 Discography
4.1 The Counter-Curse

Early life

Galen Howard was born on February 3, 1987 in Yonkers, New York to Patricia Howard (1963-1991) and Nathan Howard. He was raised in Yonkers, New York, and first began showing an interest in music in the second grade when he volunteered to sing God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen in a school Christmas pageant. Howard admits that he "threw up afterwards, but I think I felt something special, even at that age".

His father, a funeral director, has been "a huge driving force" in his life, and has "given me the kind of wide open outlook on life and death that most kids never get to have". Nathan Howard, once a musician in college, gave Galen his prized Gibson guitar for his sixteenth birthday. "I think he knew that I knew that all I wanted to do in life was make music. I didn't want to follow in his footsteps, and he supported that".

In school, Howard withstood several years of bullying for reasons that are not uncommon; interests, friends, and most frustratingly for him, his father's profession. These things would later become a driving force behind Howard's music and songwriting.

At the age of 18, Howard "musically crashed" his high school graduation, ad-libbing in the middle of the song he'd written for the occasion to cuss out his long-time tormentors. "It seemed like such a good idea at the time," he is quoted as saying. "Now I know that doing that was like letting them win. I definitely regret it. But I was just a stupid, angry kid, I guess."

Howard attended Borden High School until he graduated in 2005. He then attended Westchester Community College, deciding to pursue Music Business, but dropped out in 2008 after The Counter-Curse became his main focus.

Career

Music
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Radio
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Personal life

Howard owns an apartment in New York, New York, but has been known to stay with his father in Yonkers when he is not working on music or radio.

Both Howard and bandmate Daphne Dill have admitted to having a short relationship in college that "ended on good terms, obviously". Counter-Curse lead guitarist Bradley Keaton has also alluded to a possible relationship with the singer, but Howard has dismissed it as "Brad just being Brad and screwing around. He's straight as a board".

Howard lost his mother to mental illness at the age of four, and refuses to discuss the subject with anyone outside of close friends and family.

Discography

The Counter-Curse
Studio albums

It's a Trap! (2008)
Fourth Floor Fire (2010)

top

Ongoing list of songs TCC covers (this is J's fault):

gentlyiced — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:25:37 GMT

The Airborne Toxic Event: Sometime Around Midnight
Ludo: Skeletons on Parade (this would be the most fun in the fucking world to end a show OH MY GOD THIS IS HAPPENING)
David Cook: Kiss on the Neck
Circa Survive: Glass Arrows
Adam Lambert: Down the Rabbit Hole (I am just pissing myself imagining a band that sounds like TCC doing this song, shut up)
Billy Talent: Devil in a Midnight Mass
The Offspring: Stuff is Messed Up
Bob Dylan: Desolation Row (becuase OBVIOUSLY)
Murder By Death: The Desert is On Fire
Adele: Rolling in the Deep (shuffle wouldn't not let me put this on)
OneRepublic: Come Home
Ludo: Lake Ponchartrain (switching out the names would be fun as hell)

And sometimes the entirety of Ludo's Broken Bride EP because Galen is really taken with it.

SUBJECT TO UPDATING, oh god.

[ooc] now you know i'm bored. (incomplete)

gentlyiced — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:35:05 GMT

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Galen is about average height - 5'8" - and roughly the same width as a twig (he's still not as skinny as Asher is, though). He doesn't look unhealthy, though. Most of the time.

2. How old is he?
Uhhhh he's all over the place. In his original universe, he's 28. In the futureverse, he's 32. Technically, currently, he's 29.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?

'Nuff said.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Physically, he's pretty fit from performing, although he's encountered some problems thanks to exhaustion and not quite eating properly. Galen has always been a little bit anemic, which is something else from his mom's side of the family (THANKS MOM). He doesn't get enough iron.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
I always seem to describe him as 'striding'. If he knows where he's going, he's pretty purposeful and confident with his movements. Otherwise, he's an awkward turtle until he has a handle on things.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Galen ~~HAS A GREAT NOSE no Ace this is not the place for your creepy nose love~~ wavers between 'handsome' and 'pretty like a teenage girl'. Galen doesn't really find himself attractive at all. Growing up, no one really did, so that's still what he feels like inside. He'll mess around with makeup to try and look like a different, not-Galen person and see if that makes any difference. It blows his mind when fans go on about him being pretty, or hot, or whatever, because he just doesn't see it.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Pale motherfucker. It happens when you rock all night and sleep all day. Galen is alright with that, because he doesn't ever tan; he just burns.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Uh. Longish, black, hasn't been washed in you-don't-want-to-know-how-long.

9. What color are his eyes?
~~HAZ~~ Hazel.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Aside from his NOSE? -- I'll stop that. He has a ridiculous scar down the side of his right hand from Brad's fucking UNCUT GUITAR STRING. Dammit, Brad.

11. What are his chief tension centers?
Base of his skull, front of shoulders.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
It's pretty varied. Galen wears whatever is comfortable - hey, skinny jeans can be comfortable, okay - and whatever he damn well feels like wearing. A lot of it is loose-fitting - with the exception of the jeans, of course - and on the darker end of the colour spectrum, but he does have a couple of ridiculous, bright-coloured shirts from events and fans that he sometimes wears to shows and things.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
His stage clothes are like wearing a soggy, smelly pile of old laundry, so his regular clothes kind of have to work, or he'd just... die of eternal discomfort.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
On the job, it's mostly shit like this:

And in real life it's jeans and t-shirts and hoodies and scarves and sunglasses and all that fun stuff. Sometimes at the same time.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Briiiiiiiiiiefs.

Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
High-ish and a little nasally.

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
He talks kind of quickly, but it's not like it hinders anything, and he talks easily enough to do pretty well with that radio show.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
I imagine he sounds sort of like Gerard? I don't know how much being from New York rather than New Jersey would affect his accent. He still says 'harror' and 'ahsome', anyway, because that's how he rolls. He should also be banned from using the word 'like' in conversation.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
English is his first language, obviously. From touring, and just because he's a knowledge nerd, he knows enough French to have a very basic conversation, enough Spanish to go out for a beer with someone, and enough German to yell things at a crowd and not get mauled for sucking at it. He tries to know bits of languages from everywhere they've been.

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
No. But he talks like he's sixteen and swears like a sailor when he's pissed off.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
Again, radio thing, so he's pretty good on the spot.

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Eloquent, but throw him into a stressful or scary situation and he's like WUT WUT WUT.

Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?

4. What kind of education has the character had?

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?

10. Which is his default: fight or flight?

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?

13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?

14. What does he fear?

15. What are his hopes or aspirations?

16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?

Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?

6. Does he have other close friends?

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?

Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?

Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:

1. Color?
2. Smell?
3. Time of day?
4. Season?
5. Book?
6. Music?
7. Place?
8. Substance?
9. Plant?
10. Animal?

END
{{ Get the HTML here so you can do it yourself. }}

[au character mix] burn the evidence

gentlyiced — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:14:51 GMT

Playlist on YouTube here.

Loreena McKennitt: Incantation

Muse: Apocalypse Please
it's time we saw a miracle
come on it's time for something biblical
to pull us through
and pull us through
and this is the end
this is the end of the world

Muse: Hysteria (Instrumental)

The Dear Hunter: What It Means to Be Alone
prayers from above were never answered quite enough
with your heart on the crutch, maybe you're asking too much
now the only one you have is...

Green Day: Give Me Novacaine
drain the pressure from the swelling, this sensation's overwhelming
give me a long kiss goodnight and everything will be alright
tell me that I won't feel a thing
just give me novacaine

Billy Talent: This is How it Goes
shitty weather, bad timing, lucky penny glued to the ground
dirty look from total stranger, hope you get lost and you're not found
take a look at what we've become, nothing more than silhouettes of
a pretty family on a postcard, picture perfect - I don't want it!
so I hold my breath til my heart explodes
'cause this is how it is and this is how it goes
you can steal my body but you can't steal my soul

Billy Talent: Burn the Evidence
in a garage beside a house, there is a luxury sedan
and for his next monthly instalment, he's gonna go out with a bang
boy who always did what he was told
was promised to be king when he was old

My Chemical Romance: Sleep
"sometimes I see flames, and sometimes I see people that I love dying"
"and I can never... I can never wake up."

Placebo: Running Up That Hill
(mostly just picked this for its sound, shut up)

My Chemical Romance: S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W
he burns my skin, never mind about the shape I'm in
I'll keep you safe tonight
move your body when the sunlight dies
everybody hide your body from the scarecrow
everybody hide

David Cook: Bar-ba-sol
oh where I've been sold and spun again
long before me like a dream, falling in between
I feel sick, I feel nervous, I know just what I did to deserve this
oh I know it's not a dream

Eisley: Invasion
something's not right, I can feel it inside
something's not right
you, you would take the breath from my throat
and you, you would take the cherished people that I hold

How to Destroy Angels: The Believers
body trail beside the water
leads the lambs into the slaughter
hands and knees we all atone
path is paved with blood and bone
trembly hands reveal their purpose
blisters form beneath the surface
no one gonna make us leave
we're the ones who still believe

Florence + The Machine: Drumming Song
there's a drumming noise inside my head that starts when you're around
I swear that you could hear it, it makes such an almighty sound
there's a drumming noise inside my head that throws me to the ground
I swear that you should hear it, it makes such an almighty sound

Mother Mother: Sleep Awake
protecting you, protecting me
I throw the evidence into the trunk and drop it in the sea
lie awake, I sleep awake
I sleep with one eye on my bedroom door, the other on the cake
protecting me, protecting you
carving away our fingerprints out of our fingertips until they're smooth

Muse: Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture)

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: 3:14 Every Night

Linkin Park: Waiting for the End
waiting for the end to come
wishing I had strength to stand
this is not what I had planned
it's out of my control
flying at the speed of light
thoughts were spinning in my head
so many things were left unsaid
it's hard to let you go

My Chemical Romance: I Never Told You What I Do For a Living
stay out of the light
all the photographs that I gave you
you could say a prayer for me too
but just get in line and I'll grieve you
can I meet you, alone?
another night and I'll see you
another night and I'll be you
some other way to continue
to hide my face

My Chemical Romance: Heaven Help Us
heaven help us now, come crashing down
and hear the sound as you're falling down and
out this old hotel, and I can't tell if I've been
dreaming or sleeping or screaming or waiting for the man to call
and maybe all of the above, 'cause mostly I've been
sprawled on these cathedral steps while spitting out the blood and screaming
someone save us

Nine Inch Nails: The Beginning of the End
down on your knees
you'll be left behind
this is the beginning
watch what you think
they can read your mind
this is the beginning
I got my mark, see it in my eyes
this is the beginning
well my reflection I don't recognize
this is the beginning

[art] masta post

gentlyiced — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:00:30 GMT

HERE IS A MASTER POST OF ART AND OTHER SHENANIGANERY:

* Doodles, Polyvores, parts of final Foundation Photography project and final Drawing I project.
* Subeta meme
* Character mix
* Bucket list
* Bus doodling
* Galen and Chris doodles
* More Polyvores

[art] crap I drew on the bus to school

gentlyiced — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:22:38 GMT

I was drawing Galen with a guitar before I could stop myself, and then didn't want to erase it.

Also, it's impossible for me to draw Brad without something ridiculous on; in this case, a feather boa.

... Mitch and Daph's guitar straps have turned invisible, apparently.

Stuff from a Save My Soul-verse thread that hasn't/probably won't happen. idk, all of a sudden I was listening to The Sharpest Lives and drawing it.