*swelter*

[green_dreams]

It's finally going down. Only 28'C (37 with the humidex, who's counting?).

Rain is promised for Wednesday and Thursday. Thunderstorms might happen tonight. That would be nice.

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Random thought: how do vampires under tension or startled into an ungoverned reaction react? Flinching makes sense, and can stick around, but there's a whole catalogue of human reactions that just don't apply anymore. Gasps, sweating, accelerated heartbeat--yes, they *might* still happen out of unconscious habit. But once you're dead long enough that you've dropped the habits, it seems bland (and honestly uninteresting) to never display reactions. What takes their place?

(I don't particularly require people to care about this, I just find it oddly fascinating in the same way as the "What do emotions feel like when you're a wraith and don't have a body? If you strip away the tension in the pit of your stomach, the tensed muscles, the adrenaline, the cold sweat, all of that, then what exactly are you feeling when you feel fear?" question.)

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No lines currently disrupted in the London Underground. Earls Court Station is running on reduced facilities.

Comments

[laurewyrm.livejournal.com]

Watch people play poker. That could give lots of ideas of how to display emotion without actively trying.

Shifty eyes, a raised brow, a nervous finger twitch.

As for the scientific aspect, fear is caused by adrenaline released into the bloodstream. Would vampires even feel fear as we know it? Or would a dangeous situation simply cause them to logically conclude they might be in peril and should therefore act?

[torrain.livejournal.com]

*tips hat* Will check out the poker thing.

And no, I don't think vampires would feel fear as we know it, although I think it would be a lot more similar for them than for wraiths; they still have a body, and they can still sense its reactions, even if those reactions are different. Emotion still has a place, though, so I don't think they'd necessarily react perfectly logically (some might, but if they did, I think I could figure out how to portray one reasonably well).

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I would argue that even years after losing a limb, people suffer from phantom pain. One could argue it's all in your head anyhow...

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's all in your head; the reactions I'm describing have a practical physiological application. They're either intended to get you ready to deal with a threat or they're symptoms of your body getting ready to deal with a threat. Dead bodies don't do that anymore.

But a lot of it, even if not all of it, is in your head, which is why I think it should change. Five, ten, maybe even twenty years, okay--you keep the same reactions. But a hundred? Two hundred? After you've gone into torpor once and had your memories of being human run through the meatgrinder by a Beast with decades to play and the inside of your head to do it in? It just--rings hollow, somehow.

[psyco-path.livejournal.com]

In my vision of vampire land reactions are a way of separating the weak from the strong. Reflexes like flinching don't happen in dead tissue.

I think that sweating blood is stupid. I prefer a flush when nervous or in a life threatening situation.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

> In my vision of vampire land reactions are a way of separating the weak
> from the strong. Reflexes like flinching don't happen in dead tissue.

A valid point, but kind of dull to roleplay, and doesn't give the other players much to react to. I imagine vampires might have a set of reactions other vampires would pick up on; I'm just poking around looking for a non-strictly-living-body-based set of reactions that other players could pick up on.

(I've been playing the shoulda-coulda-woulda over Marcon. I don't usually play old vampires, and I keep thinking of things that might have worked better for Jamie. Subtle differences.)

> I think that sweating blood is stupid. I prefer a flush when nervous or
> in a life threatening situation.

Agreed.

[psyco-path.livejournal.com]

You know. Diddy and I had a conversation about this. Elder vampires are incredibly boring to roleplay. It's suppressing the humaness in the player and being the coldest corpse around.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

Because of your seeming obsession with the London Underground, I think I may grant you one of my travelcards from London, as well as one of the maps of it that I picked up while there.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

It's an obsession with London in general, but Underground stuff is always cool. That would be much appreciated.

[amazon-syren.livejournal.com]

When you are a wraith and feel fear (big fear, at least), I would think it would be mind-numbing terror -- the sort where you can't think anymore because you're panicking?

Does that make sense?

[torrain.livejournal.com]

That does make sense. Works especially nicely with wraiths, too.