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Jun 20, 2011 18:27

[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: b-thugg
AGE: 19
JOURNAL: grotesques
IM: inhereDITARE
E-MAIL: hypocrisised[at]gmail[dot]com
RETURNING: arakhnes, disillusionists, punchouts

[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Marla Singer
FANDOM: Fight Club
CHRONOLOGY: part-way through the movie: when Tyler disappears and the Narrator declares to her that "Tyler left"
CLASS: none of the above. she'd lean towards anti-heroic tendencies if she was into that kind of thing.
SUPERHERO NAME: n/a
ALTER EGO: Marla Singer and perpetual parasite

BACKGROUND:
Marla's world is normal. It's akin to that of the world of muns -- heroes and villains are only in comics and movies, no one has superpowers, the president's the same of that of 1999, and it's generally realistic and even somewhat boring. Okay, extremely boring. But this is the world that Marla Singer lives in. Not much about her is known. In fact, she's almost purposefully shown to be a mystery, appearing one day at the testicular cancer support group with no words besides, "This is cancer, right?" while smoking a cigarette.

But Marla is the mysterious woman in black. Nothing is known about her. At all. No backstory, no history, and while the book may touch on that subject (as it mentions that she keeps her mother's fat in the refrigerator to add to her lips), the movie does not. And we're playing in the movie's game.

So she has no history. While she may have family, parents, siblings, cousins, maybe she went to school, maybe she got a degree, none of that matters in this context. Marla is the mysterious woman in black.

However, like the Narrator who went to the support groups without having any real of the "needed" issues, Marla did as well. She attended every therapy session, every support group, for no reason but to watch the crying and because it's cheaper than a movie. She's a faker. A tumor, as the Narrator described her. And when he finally confronted her about it, they decided to split up the days and exchange numbers in case they needed to come into contact with one another again. And she isn't seen again for quite some while.

But that's because the Narrator became too obsessed with Tyler Durden to bother going to these support groups. And she knew this because she cheated, going on his days as well as her own. After a month or so of him missing these sessions, she finally called him (not before taking a bottle of Xanax too) and the Narrator, deciding that her rambling about death hairballs isn't relevant to his interests, left her hanging and walked off.

And this was where Tyler Durden entered her life.

For those unfamiliar with the premise of this plot, Tyler Durden and the Narrator are technically the same person, with Tyler being an alter ego thought up to deal with his inability to take control of his life and so on and so forth. (I don't play the Narrator or Tyler. I will not describe this for you.) So to her and to anyone watching this from the outside, the Narrator was Tyler Durden. They're one and the same. Tyler Durden doesn't exist. At least, not in the way that the Narrator thought that he did.

So when the Narrator left her hanging on the phone, having overdosed on Xanax, Tyler went to her apartment and they started a fabulous game known as sport-fucking. Which involved them fucking each other. A lot. (Remember, she still thought Tyler was the Narrator.) Actually, that led to a lot of problems between the two, with the Narrator acting completely different to her in and out of bed. He refused to talk to her and it often led to her storming out of the house. This continued for days, weeks, even, with the Narrator determined to keep her as far away from him as possible in order to preserve his and Tyler's relationship, and with her under the belief that he was simply in it for the sex.

However, that hadn't stopped her from calling him over to check to see if she had a lump on her breast. She didn't, and it was at this point that she showed that she truly cared for the Narrator (or who she thought was Tyler), and wasn't just in this "relationship" only for the sex. The last time Marla really spoke to the Narrator was after another night of sex where he brought up himself and Tyler, using the term "us", which confused Marla and made her demand for him to explain. Of course, with him being a little ninny and Tyler pulling the devil-on-his-shoulder deal, the Narrator clammed up, even after she asked what had happened to his hand.

So, of course, she stormed out.

Marla didn't return until a long while after, when the house had become a "living, breathing thing", filled to the brim with shaved monkeys. It was after the Narrator's accident and Tyler's disappearance, with Marla approaching while he stood in the yard, drinking. And basically went a little nuts at her, shouting about how Tyler left and how he was gone. And if we remember correctly, Marla was still under the impression that Tyler was the Narrator so it sounded a little insane to her. Which was probably the reason she turned and ran off.

She's pulled from here.

Though if one's too lazy to watch the movie and curious to find out what happened, the Narrator realizes that he's Tyler, they meet up, she yells at him, he sends her off on a bus, his shaved monkeys kidnap her, etc, etc, etc.

Seriously, guys, just watch the movie.

PERSONALITY:
Marla's philosophy was that she might die at any moment. The only real tragedy, she said, was that she didn't.

Marla is a strange woman. This is unsurprising as it seems everyone in this movie is rather strange, but Marla stands out. She, at first, appears at a rather disturbing time for the main character, seeming so surreal and out of place that many viewers thought of her to be the figment of imagination instead of Tyler. She has no sense of consideration towards others or anything that sets itself as dignity. She does whatever she wants, whenever she wants, however she wants, and doesn't really give a damn about anyone else around her. Just by the way she appears and dresses, it's obvious that she has no concern towards how others perceive her or what they think of her. She sets her own standards for how she wants to be taken as, and even if it's in a negative light, it in no way bothers her. This makes her seem like she carries herself on a pedestal, viewing other people's problems as entertainment and something to mock. She does this frequently, going to support groups and coming off as a "faker" because she has no actual reason to be there. However, Marla's "true" reasons to being there makes her come off as very similar to the Narrator simply on the fact that they both shared the same interests. While Marla didn't have any of the listed problems like testicular cancer or sickle cell disease, she's a woman craving attention and the care from others. When people believe that someone is dying, they truly wish to listen to them and part of Marla only wants is for people to hear what she has to say.

However, Marla rarely displays that side to her. In fact, she never displays it. She comes off as rather cold and harsh, even manipulative, with no real attachment to others are or even worldly possessions. She doesn't seem particularly interested in the people around her, and whether that's because of her intoxicated mindset or simply because she doesn't care can be debated. She does show a great interest in herself though, but not enough that she cares about her well-being. This leads to the need of having someone around to care about her, often the reason why she goes through suicidal cries for attention, in the hopes that someone, anyone will honestly care about her and show her some display of affection.

This becomes exceedingly difficult and apparent when she goes into her relationship with "Tyler Durden".

Despite her own self-destructive tendencies, Marla is a very strong and competent woman. She's by no means frail, and even though it does seem that she needs someone to "save" her, she has no dependency on others and even appears to have somewhat of a loner personality. This as said before, makes her seem cold and uncaring towards others when that's not the case. She's been shown to be able to handle anything that's thrown at her, even overdosing on pills and being able to live through it. It could be from the fact that she refuses to let anything bring her down, or the irony in her philosophy and inability to die. If someone pushes her down or pushes her around, she won't stand for it and will immediately push back. Marla isn't a woman to be underestimated simply because she seems so out of it half the time, and will willingly fight back and even start a scene if necessary.

She's incredibly tough and hardy, physically and mentally, and even though she went into the relationship with Tyler, with some sort of lingering attachment, hoping to truly come into something that would show her the some sort of caring and endearment, she's not the type to stand around and just let herself be abused. In fact, when the Narrator started treating her incredibly harshly and after weeks and weeks of having to put up with the strange sort of split personality act he was playing under, Marla threw in the towel. Part of her contains the same sort of instincts that all women have, a maternal thing that wants to heal those that are broken, but even in a relationship that horrible, she's not the kind who will just stick around and put up with the abuse, no matter how much she may like or care for the other.

However, as rude and vulgar as Marla may appear, she's not a completely horrible person. She's a little twisted because of past experiences, and maybe extremely messed up in the head. However, she can be considerate as well as slightly horrible, showing that when she stole meals-on-wheels trays from dead people, that she had gotten an extra one for the Narrator. When she was in the middle of yelling at the Narrator, when he had gotten her kidnapped and almost injured, she was quick to change gears upon seeing him horribly wounded. She's by no means a terrible person.

Like everyone else in Fight Club, Marla is just severely rattled around in the head. Some seeing her as another part of the Narrator, they do share extremely similar traits. Lack of control, but not quite the need to gain control of everything, lying and faking, and the slow spiral into a world of self-saboteur and destruction.

POWER:
IMMORTALITY Marla Singer's only wish is to die. Therefore, she will not be able to. While she can sustain little cuts and injuries, anything fatal or life-ending will immediately be regenerated. If she were to lose an arm, it would grow back. If her head were to be cut off, it would be immediately healed. She cannot gain any sort of sickness that will kill her and she'll simply heal from anything that will try to do so to her. Marla Singer cannot die.

CIGARETTE CONJURATION A slightly dumber power, Marla will be able to create cigarettes with a snap of her fingers. However, she can only create one pack a day and they never taste as good as going out and buying some.

[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:
[ the feed clicks onto audio and there's a few minutes of rustling before the sound of someone taking a long drag from a cigarette and then exhaling into the mic. ]

Superheroes, huh? A bunch of juiced up men running around -- oh, excuse me -- flying around in spandex that gives too much definition to those tiny fucking dicks of theirs?

[ another exhale of smoke ]

Hmm. Maybe it's the Xanax that's making me dream up this fucking shit. Wouldn't be the first time. Though maybe I just didn't take enough if I'm here and not there.

[ she laughs and then begins to hum ]

Gotta get off, gonna get
Out of this merry-go-round
Gotta get off, gonna get
Need to get on where I'm bound...

LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE:
It was the same night. The same night over and over again. Yesterday was sickle cell anemia, tonight was pneumoconiosis. It was really the same thing at every meeting though. People would arrive (she would arrive late), they would talk, there would be meditation, and then everyone would cry it out. Hug it out, as well. She generally didn't participate in that part unless it was demanded of her to find a partner. She much preferred to sit back and watch. This was by no means out of some sadistic enjoyment or anything of the like, but sometimes she could hear the whispers of their words as they sobbed into each other's shoulders and it was the tiniest bit soothing.

Sometimes she would hug them. But she never cried. Not real tears, anyways.

It's obvious why he called her a faker. But wasn't everyone? She was never quite the existential thinker anyways though. At least, it didn't particularly interest her. What was the point of being profound, thinking about those out of body things? The only real out of body experience that interested her was one that involved losing your body altogether, and that only mattered when it happened.

Dying, that is.

It wasn't that she was one of those people who were fascinated with the idea of death. She was just aware that at one point, she would die. It could happen whenever, however. But it would happen and she might as well live in preparation that that would happen. She wasn't afraid. She had long embraced the idea. It was just a pain knowing that she hadn't yet and it wasn't for the lack of trying. Nonetheless, that wasn't what coming to these groups were about. No, it wasn't really about making herself feel better about death. But sometimes, she needed a pick-me-up and a good laugh.

Or a deluded reason.

Nonetheless, she went every day. Of course, she promised that she'd go only on certain days, but where was the fun in that? Following the rules and being a stickler for everything lawful. She was lying to begin with, why should she try toeing the line further? As the session ended, the woman got to her feet, taking one last drag from her cigarette, exhaling the smoke slowly before dropping the stub and stepping it out, not caring that she was still indoors. A few people sent glances her way and she was quick to ignore them and shrug them off, pulling her feathery black coat around her shoulders.

She stopped at the door, taking one last look around the room, chairs shoved to the back as people bustled towards the refreshment stands. He wasn't here. He had stopped coming to every support group. Testicular cancer, cervical cancer, diabetes, so on. What did he have that was so much better than this? She knew how much he depended on these groups -- after all, he made such a huge scene about it, grabbing her and shaking her. She had to smirk at the thought, already lighting up another cigarette as she turned and walked out the door, moving down the steps.

She needed to know what he found that was so much better. It wasn't fair for him to keep it from her if he found a replacement to the support groups. After all, she needed to get better too, right? How inconsiderate.

"Oh, um! Excuse me, ma'am?"

The woman turned, glancing over her shoulder as a large man hurried down the steps towards her. He looked flustered and she let out a deep breath of smoke, almost in his face as he approached. "Yeah?"

He hesitated, looking around. His name tag read "James". "Have you seen Travis lately? He's missed the last couple of meetings and it seemed like you two knew each other."

Travis. That was one of the many names that he used at these meetings. Always a different one. Rupert, Travis, Cornelius. Always a new, stupid name. She smiled though, this sickly sweet sort of smile as she sucked in some more nicotine, rolling the cigarette between her fingers. "Nope. Can't say that I've seen him." She turned on foot, moving down the darkened street already without another word, especially not a goodbye. It was nagging at her to know exactly what Travis or Cornelius or whatever had found instead of these sob-fests. Didn't he care about her at all? How horribly rude.

Marla Singer took another drag from her cigarette, crossing the street without a second glance, cars coming to a blazing stop at her approach, twisting to avoid hitting her. They came close but they never did hit her. That was the worst part.

FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
Is there anything else about your character that you feel we should know, that isn't covered in any of the earlier sections? This field is optional.
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