Post by ruby tuesday thompson on Jun 11, 2013 15:58:04 GMT -8
| [atrb=style,width: 420px; background-color: efefef; background-image: url(http://24.media.tumblr.com/0478144b9f16c95a37367d1aca56b45c/tumblr_mkfax8tDxp1s97ldco1_500.png); padding: 5px, bTable] RUBY T. THOMPSON EIGHTEEN | BI-SEXUAL | SALES ASSISTANT | HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT | JENNA MCDOUGALL THE INTERVIEW HELLO. THANKS FOR COMING IN TODAY. SHALL WE START WITH YOUR NAME? "Well hi! And don't worry about it. I've never been interviewed before so this is exciting for me..." She laughs, a small childish giggle that exudes genuine happiness. She never has been interviewed before and she really is excited that somebody wants to. "I mean I don't know what you want it for but I think it's going to be fun!" There's an accent to her words that signals the fact that she wasn't born in Brunswick, or anywhere else in America for that matter. She sits upright - it's obvious her posture is something that has been carefully practiced over the years - but one leg is tucked underneath her which maintains an air of casualness. "My name's Ruby, but nobody really calls me Ruby, only my mum calls me Ruby. Most people call me by my middle name, which is Tuesday. Yeah yeah, I know - goodbye Ruby Tuesday. My dad really loves the Stones and the only way he'd agree to my mum calling me Ruby was if 'Tuesday' came after it. This one time he told me he was joking but my mum agreed to it so he just went with it... I'm not sure how much I believe that version of the story but I've never heard much about it from my mum. I don't really like using my first name because of that other song, y'know, the Kaiser Chiefs one? Every time I walk into a room it was just 'RUBYRUBYRUBYRUBAAY!' and it slowly drove me insane." The speech flows from her smoothly and confidently, to the point that it almost seems rehearsed, which it sub-consciously has been after spending eighteen years telling the same story every time she introduced herself. "I got away pretty easy, you should meet my siblings: Honky Tonk Woman and Jumpin' Jack Flash..." There's a pause to allow for the interviewer's reaction, a cringey smile grows on her face before Tuesday bursts out with another small laugh, more out of embarrassment than at her own joke. Her head briefly dips down and her hand is raised to her face to hide the embarrassment as she raises it again. A hue of laughter remains in her voice as she continues. "That was terrible, God, I'm sorry... Now I think about it, there are probably a few people who don't even know my real name. I usually introduce myself as Tuesday unless it's a formal situation - oh, you want my surname too? Right! Right. Thompson. Ruby Tuesday Thompson. Believe it or not." THAT'S A NICE NAME. WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING? "I work at my family's bike shop!" Tuesday announces with a proud smile. She calls it her family's bike shop, despite her mother having little to nothing to do with it, the rest of the family do. "I have done since I was, I don't know, tiny I guess. For a while I think it was technically unpaid labor that I called 'helping out my dad', although he did give me an allowance. A few years ago it became more official and he actually started paying me, and I had proper shifts and things. We don't sell any actual motorcycles, it's more accessories. Helmets, jackets, all of the usual, and probably some random stuff you didn't know you needed but feel the need to buy anyway. There's also a garage 'round the back where the men in the family do a few repairs and upgrades, maintenance kinda stuff. My mum won't let me go in there, otherwise I would be a total grease-monkey - I think she knows this, and that's why she forbids me- but I don't mind working on the shop floor. I get to talk to a lot of interesting people that I might not meet otherwise and hang out with my golden retriever Blossom all day. She's the shop mascot." The smile remains, yet her enthusiasm seems to falter as she moves on to the next subject. "I also have a college fund already saved up a saved up from, uhm, doing beauty pageants." She doesn't look like the kind of girl who would be doing beauty pageants, sitting there in worn out skinny jeans ripped at the knees with lovingly beaten-up Converse and faded Bruce Springsteen t-shirt. The ends of her hair have been coloured neon green, but unfortunately for Tuesday it's only hair chalk, and the silver ring in her right nostril has to be removed prior to any pageants. "Not the overly-glitzy and a little bit unnerving Toddlers and Tiaras kind, I might add." Words along the lines of "but I do love Honey Boo Boo" are added as a quiet afterthought, though that is a different conversation for another time. "It wasn't something I ever did by choice... My mum wanted me to do it, and I wanted to make her happy. Then it turned out I was pretty good at it." There's a small shrug, the girl is clearly awkward about owning up to her secret pastime. She shifts in her seat as if the movement embodies the discomfort she feels inside. Her hands, well maintained and manicured in a way that contrasts heavily against the rest of her ensemble, rest in her lap. Again her head tilts down, blonde hair falling like two curtains on either side of her face, this time to look at her hands. She lifts it gently before she begins to speak again, brushing the blonde tresses away from her face. "I wouldn't go as far to say that I hate it... But I'm kind of done with that part of my life now. I started when I was, I don't know, four? Five? I'm eighteen now. I might not act it most of the time but I'm practically an adult now. I'm in my last year of high school and I want the time to pursue different things, embrace my own passions. I feel really bad telling my mum that I don't want to do it anymore." Her voice fades away as if she's finished with her answer, prepared to move on to the next question, though something in her mannerisms imply that there is more to come. "I think I'm a little worried that telling her I don't want to do pageants anymore could somehow end up being synonymous with me telling her that I'm on the local roller derby team." Either one would be a face worse than death in Tuesday's eyes. Roller derby is a contact sport that can be pretty violent at times. Not the ideal hobby a pageant mum would want their daughter taking part in, or many other mothers for that matter. "Other than that... I'm just a normal high school student. I start my senior year when the summer vacation is over!" INTERESTING. WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN? "Well, I probably wouldn't consider the pageants much fun... I don't really like the competitive atmosphere there. It's like Mean Girls with nice dresses, the other girls will compliment you but you can't help feeling like it's all false. But that's a completely different thing! I weirdly enjoy working, because it doesn't really feel much like work, y'know? Not to say that my dad relaxes rules for me or anything, he tries to make sure it's practice for when I have a real job... But he lets me listen to what I want when I'm in on my own, so I basically run around tidying up and signing along to Busted all day, or dancing with Blossom. I serve some customers and have some of the best conversations of my life. It's great! There's also the roller derby, of course... I've roller-bladed since I was a little kid. It was just a hobby and an occasional form of transportation, I never thought that I could make anything out of it. I was in the shop one Saturday afternoon and a group of them came in, three derby girls all on rollerblades. I don't know what my dad's policy of rollerblading in the shop is so I let them carry on... Anyway. We have this bulletin board where we advertise all kinds of different things. A lot of it is usually to do with motorbikes, understandably so, but there's also a lot of stuff that's going on around Brunswick like gigs at the local music venues, the motocross stuff my brother does, carnivals, so on and so forth. You catch my drift, right? So they came in to ask if they could put a poster on the board, meanwhile I peed myself because these girls were so cool. I decided to go and check it out because I'd heard of it but I didn't know a lot about it but I'd never seen it." Tuesday pauses at this point, to think about what she's just said and what she is about to say. The way she talks about her first roller derby experience is comparable to the way other people recall the moment they first saw the love of their life across a crowded room. "I grabbed some of the guys and went down thinking it would just be a fun way to spend a Saturday night. Instead I just became infatuated with it instantly, it wasn't like anything else I'd seen before. I just wanted to be a part of it so badly and I didn't care what I had to do. There was just this pull." It's the first time she's told the story in such great detail. She's always had to be careful about who she told about the derby and who she told about the pageants in case risking the word getting back to her mother or people finding out about the pageants and tearing her apart about it. Her storytelling becomes more animated, her eyes widening and her hands moving around as she gets excited by the memory. "Then I found out that there were auditions coming up so obviously... I tried out. I didn't know a lot of the trick shots or the jumps that they use, but they said they could teach me all of those later. It was my speed that got me on to the team." Once again her joy shrinks back down to make room for the guilt to come to the surface. "I didn't tell any of my family at first because I just didn't know what they would think about it. Mainly my mum, but I had this crazy idea that if I told my dad and my brother they would try and steer me away from it or want me to tell her or something. I hated keeping it from them, especially when it was the thing that I had so much passion for. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops and share it with the world but instead I had to be careful who I spoke to about it. I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to get away with keeping it a secret and my brother ended up finding out accidentally when he came to a bout one night, completely oblivious. We told my dad just because I couldn't stomach keeping it from him and I knew he would be the understanding parent. I feel bad because it's like we've pulled him into our secret too, but both of them are so supportive of me. We make up excuses about things my mum wouldn't be interested in, then I go to practice and bouts and they come to watch. I wish I could share it with my mum." There's a small frown as she thinks about her mother, completely in the dark about the situation. She thinks her prized daughter is preparing for her exams extremely far in advance and helping her father with business stuff... a lot. "It's a contact sport so thinks get rough, it's really not unusual to leave the rink with bruises of all shapes and sizes. That's why it gets so hard to keep it from my mum. Most of my allowance goes on cover-up make-up. But I'm not an aggressive person once the skates are off, I swear! It's like the most exhilarating anger management around." There's another small chuckle like an audible full stop. Teeth press on her bottom lip as she thinks for a few moments about what she can move on to talk about. "I also skateboard some. Nothing fancy, I just have a cruiser and a longboard and use them to get around when the weather's good. I go to a lot of motorcycle events to help promote my dad's shop, or to be honest just out of interest. I have to go on the back of his because my mum refuses to let me get my own. I play soccer every now and again. I wouldn't have minded going in for the girl's team at school but it would just be another commitment to try and fit in with everything else. I don't really know how good I actually am at soccer anyway so maybe it's a good thing that I keep it casual? Ahaha. I also love music, I don't actually play anything but I like to go and see bands play when I have the chance. Sometimes they're like, established bands but sometimes there are these little local bands. I round up some friends and we just hang out and see what's new on the scene, it's never a bad way to spend a night. I like to watch my brother do his motocross - he does quite well, taking part in these tournaments and getting sponsored and stuff. I think the fact he's making a name for himself and has the possibility of a career ahead of him is the only reason my mum lets it slide." Her voice trails off, nose scrunching. "I have to spend a fair amount of time dress shopping or in salons prior to pageants. I wouldn't call it the best use of my time, but it gives me time to study or just sit back and chill for a while. I think that's me in a really, really big and rambley nutshell? I go to school, extra classes Mondays and Wednesdays, derby practice Tuesdays and Thursdays, working in the shop at the weekend. Then there's pageant prep and pageants when necessary as well as derby games and my brother's motocross. If I say I'm bored, I'm lying." WOULD YOU SAY THOSE ACTIVITIES REFLECT WHO YOU ARE? The wording of the question puzzles her a little bit, it wasn't really the kind of thing she had been expecting from the interview when she arrived. "Well. I guess they must do in some way, because I choose to do... almost all of them on a regular basis." Tuesday doesn't really read into it much further, but the implications of her hobbies and the activities she chooses to take part in say more about her than she thinks. One of the biggest is the pageants that she continues to do for her mother. She tries to find some enjoyment in them, but there are much better things she could be doing with her time. Yet she continues to do them because of her mother. Tuesday takes her family very seriously and she cares about them a lot, so these pageants are like a small sacrifice. It would be nice if her mother gave her a little more freedom in life in return but the girl doesn't complain. Her brother's motocross is also another thing that's just because of family. She likes going to see her brother competing, but it's more than likely just because it's her brother. If the situation was different she wouldn't really care for it, certainly not enough to make a conscious effort to go and watch. The same thing applies to helping her dad out in the shop. A lot of kids would work for their parent's business because it's the easiest way to get a job but Tuesday would end up in there even if he didn't pay her to do so. Really, her helpfulness isn't just limited to family members, she'll lend a hand anytime if you ask her to. She tries to avoid being one of those overly-helpful folk who is so eager to assist that they end up sticking their beak into everybody else's business, even if it is unintentionally so. The roller derby itself has less significance to her actual personality - she enjoys the rollerblading and the strategy of it all, and it's wonderful stress relief, but there's never a hint of aggressiveness from her outside of the rink. She's a very sweet girl who tries to see the best in everybody, even if it's not really there. Instead of snapping at people she saves up all of the irritation to be unleashed during games. However, it's the fact that she tries to hide it, or the pageants, from different people that is of more importance. She tries to please everybody even if that means her own passions have to be concealed or pushed to one side for a while. In some cases quite literally, considering the amount of concealer she has to spread around her body if post-bout bruises are still visible pre-pageant. It would be quicker for her to bathe in the stuff. Soccer is quite simply a reflection of her more athletic and possibly more evidence of her boyish tendencies. It's also a good excuse to hang out with her friends, quite like the concerts she attends. The atmosphere in music venues is something she enjoys, along with the synchronous movement of all the bodies... until somebody knocks her bruised hips and she wants to keel over in pain. Finally, Tuesday's schedule is almost always busy with something. School, shop, pageants, derby. Rinse and repeat. Thankfully the four are yet to overlap in any severe kind of manner. There has been an instance or two when she had to go straight from a pageant to a bout and one or two days her dad has taken pity on the girl after a competition and allowed her to have the day off work. But she understands that nothing in this life is free and wants to try and make the best of it. No matter how busy her schedule is, she will always find time firstly for her friends, and then secondly for herself. A COOL CAT LIKE YOU MUST HAVE A TON OF SUITORS FLOCKING TO YOU, HUH? Tuesday pulls a face, awkwardly scratching the back of her head. "Uh... aha, no, not really." There's an awkward half-smile as she wishes she had a way of squirming away from this question. "I've... never been in a relationship?" Her voice trails up towards the end of her reply as if confessing to this would cause the interviewer to move on to the next question. She isn't so lucky, as they sit directly across from her awaiting further response. "As well as banning me from the garage, my mum's always stopped me from dating. She never had much to worry about because guys just don't like me in that way. I'm one of them, y'know? I join in with their burping competitions and play Xbox with them. I'm their bro with boobs, not girlfriend material." Tuesday pauses to wonder whether the interviewer has managed to do the math yet, picking up on the implications of never having a relationship. "The combination of my dating ban and guys having little interest in me anyway... It means that I've never been kissed." She sits awkwardly for a few moments. 'Guys' is a very specific word to use, which is why she doesn't feel entirely comfortable using it. The interviewer seems to sense that there is still something to come and waits, trying to see what else she will come out with if they give her the time to do so. "I haven't really talked to anybody about this so it better not leave this room but, I'm not sure if I like girls as well as guys." She's a very honest girl, possibly slightly naive in her belief that there is no chance that the interviewer will ever tell anybody about this. "I'm not really sure though. Because I've never kissed a boy or a girl so I don't know how I could possibly know for certain but there are some girls who... make me feel... l-like guys do, I suppose. I'm not ashamed by the possibility of it. I haven't told anybody because I'm not even sure about it myself yet. How awkward would it be to tell everybody you're bi-sexual and then decide that you're not? I'm just waiting until I'm sure. Whenever that will be. Because I've never, like..." Her struggle to articulate the words shows her difficulty in trying to understand the situation herself, never mind try to explain it to others. "I've never had a crush on a real girl in the flesh. You know, sat in front of me. But there are definitely some famous women and, ahem, some that I've admired from a distance I suppose... I mean, is that different somehow?" COOL BEANS. THEY SAY YOUR FAMILY SHAPES WHO YOU ARE. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOURS? The change in subject seems to relieve her, like the bright light that had been shining in her eyes has been removed. "Why, I love my family. There are five of us if you include Blossom... The others being me, my mum, my dad and my brother. We all live together in a pretty basic suburban kind of house. My brother's only a couple of years older than me so nobody really expects him to be moving out just yet, nobody complains about it anyway. I like having him there. As for my parents... My mum, I love her, but I think that our interests kind of lie in different places. Sometimes it, it feels like her whole life revolves around pageants and getting me ready for pageants. I honestly don't know what she does with herself the rest of the time. I can tell she wishes that she had a more girly-girl daughter which I'm definitely not. She must feel like she has two sons sometimes... That can make things awkward between us but I do my best to humor her when I can. My dad on the other hand, he's the best. We get on so well, so easily. He's never been against the pageants per se, I think he always felt a little bit weird about it, though he let my mum do it anyway. I think that's why he's so okay with the roller derby, because I finally have an opportunity to do something that I want to do. It's just such a shame that we all have to keep it from my mum and that we can't all enjoy it as a family... Maybe one day we will. At least, I hope we can." AND YOUR LIFE? TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PAST. I'M EAGER TO HEAR. Her head gently tilts to one side. She's already shared a lot about herself and her past, so she tries to think of the best route to follow without repeating herself all over again. At least most of the information is already covered. "I suppose my birth would be a good place to start, right? In case you haven't noticed I was born in Australia, Sydney to be specific. My brother was born there too. Both of my parents are native Australians, which means that a lot of my family are still over there which gives us a good excuse to go over and visit when we can. I can't complain about a good excuse for a holiday. I don't remember an awful lot about living in Australia because I was pretty young when we moved to America. Whatever age I moved from Australia is probably the age I started doing pageants but I can't remember which one that was, so... Sorry!" She shrugs, laughs gently. "I'm just glad I've managed to maintain my accent. I mean, not that I don't dislike American accents obviously, but I just really like my own accent. But I digress!" It takes a moment for her to recall what she's just told the interviewer. "Moved to Australia, started doing pageants... I started school around then too, probably. Doing the pageants didn't stop me becoming the tomboy that I wanted to be. It wasn't even a 'I prefer to hang out with guys instead of girls but I still hang out with some girls' kind of situation, this was full tomboy mode thanks to the influence of my dad, my brother and kids at school. I was a little bit excitable and the boys sometimes played rough - maybe it was foresight into my roller derby future - but I never got into trouble. I wasn't really a teacher's pet but I did what I was told. I didn't mind helping out and I stayed behind for extra classes when I could." It's only a sentence or so, but that really covers several years of Tuesday's life. Her childhood was very average so there isn't really much to talk about. "Sometimes I had to do my homework whilst I was getting ready for pageants or in the car on the way to some kind of motorcycle event, but I got to see a lot of different places when we traveled around. And I'm not sure why I'm talking in the past tense because really that's still how I do things now! Or at the counter in the shop, that's a personal favourite." For some reason, it's this moment when she realizes that nothing much about her has changed since she was a child. She's just a taller version of her younger self. Retelling her history makes her feel boring because not much has happen in terms of individual life-changing events. It's always been the same schedule, a formula that worked the first time and has been used consistently since. "Uhm... What else is there that I can tell you that's mildly interesting? I think I've bored you enough already now. I got my dog Blossom when I was seven years old and she's been my best friend ever since, even if she has four legs and can't speak English. I'm one of those people who thinks that their dog can understand what they say and I have no shame in that! She knows every secret I've ever had. Like a fluffy little diary." Her eyes scan the room as if a random object will fall into her gaze and suddenly give her inspiration for another aspect of her life she's yet to divulge information about. "I don't really fit in at school, although that's probably something else I imagine you've guessed already. I do have friends, of course, all of us outcasts tend to stick together in some form. It does mean that kids try to push me around from time to time but I just walk away before they wake up the derby girl inside of me. My brother helped to look out for me when he was in high school and it meant that I always had a place to eat lunch, but he graduated and I had to learn to fend for myself. I work hard just so I always have something to fall back on if I ever need it. The shop might not be there forever, I can't be a pageant queen for the rest of my life - as much as my mom wishes that I could be - and I have no idea if I'll be able to make a career out of derby, so I have to have some kind of safety blanket." What about a secret? Everyone has a secret. She pulls a face, reminiscent of a frown. "I've already told you my secret, really. You just didn't know that it was my secret." This is a dangerous game to play when she's so anxious about her mother finding out about the derby. She's also told this complete stranger how uncertain she is about her sexual orientation. Quite frankly, there isn't much else left for her to hide from him. Feeling like she has little choice in the matter, she tucks some bright blonde hair behind her ear. "It really changes depending on who you are." Her lips press together as she carefully considers her words, the huge smile that's permanently plastered to her face has suddenly fallen away in exchange for a look that's part guilt and part concern as to who this information could be shared with. In reality she's already shared it with the interviewer, but something about disclosing it specifically as a secret just seems... wrong? "I kind of lead a double life. Feel free to insert some kind of Hannah Montana joke here." Slowly but surely, bit by bit, the story comes full circle. "Some people know about the pageant stuff I do for my mum and not about the roller derby... But some people know that I'm a derby girl and don't know about the pageants. Very, very few people know about both - which is basically my dad, my brother and a couple of girls on the team. And now you, I guess. I had to tell somebody and I knew that my dad was the only person who would understand. Like I said, my brother found out accidentally. He came to one of the bouts one night, completely oblivious. He was just there with his buddies to hang around and watch some sport. Yes, it's a sport. Anyway, both of them are really supportive and come to watch me at every game which is awesome. Unfortunately, my mum falls into the earlier category of not knowing. Honest to God, I don't know what she'd do if she found out, which is what scares me so much. My brother's motocross concerns her enough, if she knew I was taking part in an aggressive contact sport she might have a nervous breakdown. And then not wanting to do the pageants anymore either would just... like, kill her. I don't think she has much of a hobby outside of being a pageant mum, as mean as it sounds. I've become a master of camouflage make-up to to hide the bruises I always end up with, a couple of girls on the team found out and helped me out a lot, taught me how to blend it all and apply it properly. We all feel so awful having to keep it from my mum but we're yet to find the right words or moment to break it to her. The team's doing so well and I want her to be proud of me but the mere thought of me doing something like that would destroy her. I'm amazed I've been managing to keep up with both for all this time, I mean... there are posters up in the shop. Thankfully she doesn't spend a massive amount of time in there and I don't think she'd have much interest in it anyway." She sounds more confident in the words than she looks. If this was a movie, there would be little to worry about. Her mother would find out about the derby and things would be rocky for a while, but then she would see how happy it made her daughter and there would be an emotional moment as they came to an emotional understanding and that would be the end. Unfortunately, Tuesday's life is not a movie. There is no script, and it's this unpredictability that frightens her. Realistically her sexuality could also be considered a secret, but she doesn't try to conceal it in the same manner that she does the pageants/the roller derby. ALRIGHT. TIME'S ALMOST UP. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DREAMS. QUICK! Her eyes widen - it seems like a big question to be faced with in a limited amount of time. Tuesday pulls yet another strange face as she thinks. "Uhm, well, roller derby is under consideration for the 2020 Olympics... If it gets approved and I somehow made it on to the team then that would be incredible. But I know that's like a crazy-ass pipe-dream. Not impossible, but not exactly easy to achieve, y'know? Otherwise I think I'd be happy just to take over the shop and hang around in Brunswick. Maybe if we can expanded and I could go and live somewhere else for a while? I try not to think too far into the future because God only knows what's coming around the corner." AND THAT'S A WRAP. IT WAS NICE GETTING TO KNOW YOU. "Oh! Is that everything?" She looks at the interviewer for clarification before standing up. "Oh, cool. It was nice to meet you too! I enjoyed this. You'll probably have to do a lot of editing to this, I'm sorry I got a little carried away," She apologizes with a sheepish look as she grabs her backpack from underneath the seat. "If you actually need anything else just give me a call. Or you can almost always find me in the shop, or at least somebody who'll know where I am." There's another genuine, friendly smile back on her face just like the beginning of the interview; clearly it's a quality that she never needed to practice for her pageants. It's just who she is, like a bubbly little ball of sunshine. All about the rose-tinted spectacles and trying to find the best in people when she can. "Thank you for having me, goodbye!" Her backpack is thrown over her shoulders, thumbs hooked around the straps as she almost bounces out of the room. One final toothy smile is flashed behind her, hand raised up in a small wave as the door is pushed open and her figure disappears. BEHIND THE MASK PHOEBE | SEVENTEEN | GMT | ALREADY HERE | JAC ARMSTRONG (IT'S ABOUT TIME, RIGHT?!) Tuesday, how do you feel about giving an rp sample?  She's also super sorry to whichever admin is unfortunate enough to have to read through this beast. |
