Application for Kitty Butler - Tipping the Velvet.

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

Kitty had been sitting, smoking at her dressing table, waiting for her turn to head onto the stage. She hadn’t been there for rather a long time, but she had missed it, and persuaded Walter to help her get back into her original show. Not the one she did with Nan, and certainly not the strange one she had done with Walter, after hearing how Nan couldn’t watch it the one time she had snuck in to watch.

She got to her feet, smoothed off her evening jacket, put her top hat at a slightly jaunty angle, checked her basic stage makeup a final time and did up her waistcoat. Her name was called, she picked her cigarette up from the ashtray with one gloved hand and then her cane with the other before heading to the door. Upon opening it, she found herself in an entirely different environment to the stuffy backstage corridors of the Palace in Canterbury. There was a mouse and she suddenly felt intimidated, like she had been thrown in a strange world, where she knew nobody and nobody would understand why she was wearing a suit if she tried to explain. Someone was playing games. The mouse was talking.



Mickey coughs theatrically. "'What is your name?'"
Kitty hesitates, swallows, and decides it would be best to be cautious with this strange world. She’s used many stage names and alibis in the past, another one won’t hurt much, so she answers in a soft voice with a slight Cockney lilt to it, “Kit Butler, at your service.” She gives a polite smile and a tip of the hat with the hand now gripping her cigarette quite tightly.


"What is your quest?" asks the Cat. It's perched, suddenly, on the roof of one of the gate-stiles.
She smirks and starts to sink into her stage persona, adding a little more drawl to her voice and lowering it an octave or so, “To find the prettiest girl in all London town, of course,” With this, she gives the cat a bit of a wink, thinking she could easily act her way out of such a strange situation. This really was just like acting, except she was being questioned by a cat and mouse duo. How odd. Onstage, she really was the sort of person who would say ‘London-town’ with a straight face.

"'What is the average w..?'" Mickey frowns down at the notebook. "You know, I don't really see why that's important." He flips a page. "'If you could be granted three wishes, what would they be?'" Smirking again, she takes the final drag off her cigarette, stubs it under her foot, then lifts her hat to run her hand through her hair in thought, “You know, I think that’s between me and whoever’s granting them, don’t you?” Not to mention, the only wishes which could come into her head right now were ones of Nan and how things used to be, six years or so ago. She wasn’t about to share that with a mouse, especially if she wasn’t even going to share that she was a woman in drag with them. She just rather hoped she was doing a good enough job for nobody to notice.

"Or," the Cat says, examining its tail with interest, "if you were a genie and someone you were trying to
give three wishes to was trying to trick you into giving him more, what would you say?"

“Well, I would commend them on their quick thinking. I don’t know what I’d do, though. Everybody thinks they deserve one more chance than they actually have, do they not?” Well, she certainly did. She’d thought she could have one more chance with Nan, she’d kept all those letters, all that money, everything, for the hope of another chance. It had not come.

Mickey looks rather nonplused at the next, but reads, "'When the revolution comes, what skills will you be able to barter for food?'"

This time, she looks up, rather confused, as not only was she being questioned by a mouse, she was being questioned about a revolutionary. “I…am an entertainer, not a revolutionary. I only went to that one Socialist meeting in the hope of finding a friend. So I am afraid I would not partake in any such thing, I don’t get myself involved in politics.” She smiles, hoping nobody was going to jump out at her for that answer or something, but the truth is, she wouldn’t have the first clue what to do if there was a revolution.

The Cat rolls its eyes in a friendly (and rather disconcertingly out-of-sync) way, and asks, "Milk, dark, or white chocolate?"
“Chocolate comes in white?” Kitty raises an eyebrow, but shrugs, as it’s hardly important. In fact, it seems like a rather out of place question, after those about wishes and revolutions, but she prefers this sort of question, so answers simply and clearly, “I do think it would have to be dark.”

"'Choose the two coolest: robots, pirates, fairies, bears, ninjas, monkeys, vampires, or humans,'" says Mickey, giggling a bit as he goes through the list. "'Explain.'"
This is met with several blinks as she tries to take in the list of things she mainly hasn’t heard of. Then try to come to terms with what she’s supposed to be judging about them. “I don’t think I’m a particularly good place to judge anything, saying I don’t know what I’m judging or what a ninja or robot is. But…I suppose I will say monkeys and bears. Because humans, however wonderful they are at one moment, can hurt you deeply the next. They’re never…consistent, I suppose. Then again, if they were, wouldn’t life be boring?”

"Great!" Mickey flips through the blank pages of the notebook at top, cartoon-y speed. "Well, I think that's just about it! Oh, and I'm supposed to ask, 'for your safety: are you carrying anything sharp?'"

“By no means. I have a cane, which is good for hitting people over the head,” she had no actual experience of this, but imagined it would be, “but nothing sharp, no.”


((This is Kitty Butler from Sarah Waters' novel, Tipping the Velvet. I have notes on her being a woman pretending to be a bloke here, and that post is probably a tad more useful than her Profile. This is also Bernard/Duckula/Shaun, btw.))

Comments

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Being an effeminate male himself, Setsuna didn't automatically see a problem, but something seemed to nag at the back of his mind once he saw "Kit Butler"; however, it was promptly ignored in favor of offering out a piece of white chocolate.

"Yes, chocolate comes in white," Setsuna said, almost a little annoyed about that. Everyone kept saying it wasn't chocolate!* "And, uhh...why are you wearing makeup? That's really girlie." At least, it looked like makeup, and Setsuna didn't know the first thing about the stage. Rather ignorant kid, on a lot of topics.

*No one had bothered to explain to him yet that, really, it wasn't.

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

Kitty looked over at the chocolate curiously and took some, "Hmm. Where on earth did something like that come from?" Ah, the makeup. She hadn't anticipated that would be a problem, but it was an easy one to explain as a man or woman. "Oh, well, I'm an actor. I'm on stage, we wear make up all the time, so the people can see us properly." She tried the chocolate and smiled, "Not bad, this, though."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

"I don't really know where they make it," Setsuna admitted. "But this one comes from Disneyland, which you're at." The makeup explanation got a puzzled look, but Setsuna accepted it. "An actor.... They make guys wear makeup too?"

He was never going to act. Ever.

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

Disneyland? She raised an eyebrow, then thought she'd clear that up in a moment. "They do. It's so the lights don't reflect off your face and make you just a blur of white." She was perfectly confident in telling him that, as it was completely true. "Disneyland? We're not in Britain?" Then again, this young man didn't seem very British either.

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Setsuna thought that over for a moment, blinked, and decided, definitely, he was never acting. "You could wash it off now. You're not going back any time soon, I wouldn't think."

As for the question, "No. They say this one is supposed to be in Southern California. Only we can't leave, and the rest of California seems to be missing."

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

It didn't take long for Una to place the clothes and manner. (As she'd told Amelia Underwood once, the nineteenth century was her favourite after the twentieth.) And the delivery of the phrase "London-town" definitely caught her ear. It wasn't unlike something she might have said herself, somewhen and somewher else.

"Good afternoon," she said as she strolled into the entrance plaza. "Una Persson, at your service. An entertainer, you say?"

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

Kitty tipped her hat politely, "Afternoon, ma'am." Well, she presumed it was afternoon; the sun was brighter here than it had ever been in London, but the smog might have had something to do with that. "And yes, I am. Worked in some very famous music halls, back in London." Not that any of these people seemed to be dressed or to speak like anyone from her time or country, even.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

"Music halls? Really?" Una's face lit up. "Which ones, may I ask?"

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

"You know them?" She smiled, and thought for a minute that if she was to be here for a long while, someone who understood why she was done up as a man would be rather helpful. But for now, tell the truth, but play it like a man. "Well, there was the Trocadero, I rather enjoyed that. I was also in a panto at the Britannia, there was the Royal Theatre in Holborn, and many smaller ones in the East End, but they were a bit more...rowdy, for want of a better word." She smiled a proud smile, talking about it, as she had missed it, even if some of those theatres had bad memories as well as good attached, and she had just been about to get back on the bandwagon when she got dragged here.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

"I know them well," Una said, grinning. "Had a rather good run once at the Britannia myself, and the Coliseum, although that's probably after your time rather. And some good times outside of London, too—always had a soft spot in my heart for the Sunderland Empire."

[yousir-mesir.livejournal.com]

Percy was the type of gentleman who could spot a fop from miles away, and therefore automatically gravitated towards the front entrance to greet the new-comer and wish them all the luck in the world. The Park could be a very harsh place for a person with foppish sensibilities; he honestly hoped this young man was pretending just like him.

He approached the young man (his clothes that struck Percy as quite dapper and put together) and bowed at the waist. He knew men as ... pretty as the one he saw before him, so he thought nothing out of the ordinary. "Afternoon, sir."

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

Kitty grinned at the gentleman who approached her, and tipped her hat in greeting, then held it to her chest. If nothing else, it drew attention away from her possible curves. "Good afternoon, sir, it's a pleasure. I am correct in thinking you to be one of the gentleman from the 18th century previously mentioned to me, yes?" He certainly looked a little behind her times.

[yousir-mesir.livejournal.com]

"Oh, so I've been mentioned? Sink me!" Then Percy laughed, high-pitched and rather loudly, suddenly reverting to his idiotic alter-ego. "Well, that is surprising, and yes, it is correct. My name is Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet, but please," and he paused here, striking a somewhat tall pose, "do call me Sir Percy, or just Percy should the occasion arise."

"And as for yourself, sir, would Mr. Butler do or would you rather I call you Kit?" He paused and cocked his own hat to one side, taking an interest in the top hat the man place to his breast. "We've only just met so I suppose calling you by your first name before I've gotten to know you would be presumptuous."

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

Kitty subconciously noticed him observing her hat, so tucked it under her arm, "You are a knight, sir? Well, I must say I am rather honoured. I've never met a knight in my life." She bowed her head in respect, then pushed her hair back to where it was supposed to be. "You had the courtesy to ask, so by all means, Sir Percy, use my Christian name. After all, you gave me permission to use yours. And yes, your reputation as someone from the past appears to precede you, sir."

[yousir-mesir.livejournal.com]

"No need, no need. The Prince of Wales will bestow a knighthood on anyone who stays in his favour. Od's fish, I earned mine for being the only man to ever question the cut of his sleeves. Horrible taste, I do say, but my bravery was one of my finer moments."

"I dare say, what you call the past is my present. What exactly is your present, my good fellow?" He dressed differently than some of the others he had seen - Percy guessed that Kit Butler was from somewhere right in the middle of his present and someone else's future, if that made any sense.

[quite-ironical.livejournal.com]

"Pardon my curiosity, sir," Strange said as he approached, "but what part of London are you from?" He feels it would be wrong to ask 'what year' first off, but it was something of a comfort to hear someone speak more closely to what his own ear was accustomed. The mode of dress was a bit odd to him, but this gentleman was certainly a long way off from manner in which other park residents clothed themselves.

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

Kitty tipped her hat in greeting yet again, surprised by how many people had come just to see her. Then again, this gentleman seemed more of her time than anyone else. "I am from Kent, actually, but I currently am living on Stamford Hill. What with being on the stage, I travel around a lot, you see. Why, are you a Londoner yourself?" Well, it was pleasant to meet someone from closer her time and place, at least.

[quite-ironical.livejournal.com]

Strange bowed his head in response to the greeting, then shook it at the question. "I lived there for a time, though. Regrettably, I did not attend the theatre often at all, but I suppose that did have something to do with the company I kept." He smiled, trying not to think of said company, as it only made him recall how his life had been then, so very different from what he was left with now. "No, I am from Shropshire, in fact."

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

She smirked and was a little more relaxed with someone who knew at least some of her world, "It's excusable. After all, I never attended the theatre. May I ask what sort of company you do mean, though, Mr..." She paused, "I'm sorry, your name, sir?"

[quite-ironical.livejournal.com]

"My manners do seem to grow more corrupt by the day," he sighed, exasperated with himself. "Forgive me. I am Strange, Jonathan Strange."

Of course, there was every likelihood that this fellow came from another world, one parallel yet different from his own, the way everyone in this place did seem to. He knew he would have to explain carefully. "I should mention before I come to that, that the world I am from has magic. Which might not be the situation where you are from. Many people here claim to come from worlds without magic entirely, which is astonishing to someone of my experience. I am a magician, you see." He may have straightened up imperceptibly at that.

"So the company I keep is generally limited to my students and men who I have served with in wartime, as well as an unfortunate number of gentlemen working within the government." His expression, which was always ironic to some degree, grew moreso at that. "Although before I was swept off to this place, I was spending rather a lot of time with Lord Byron. And while he is certainly no actor, I would say that he does tend toward the dramatic side of life."

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

"Okie-dokie, Kitty. You ready to find out which of our excitin' lands you're gonna live in?"

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

She paused at the use of her real name, but then answered, "If you're the one that hands them out, by all means, yes."

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

"How'd ya like to live on Main Street?"

[kit-invelvet.livejournal.com]

"Sounds reasonable enough to me. Who do I pay rent to?" Wait...where did she get money. Unless it was free like the food apparently was.

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

Mickey giggled. "You don't hafta pay rent! Your mail will go to Kitty (http://community.livejournal.com/dizzy_land/tag/kitty). Welcome to the Happiest Place on Earth!"

((Aaaand, your contact info goes here (http://community.livejournal.com/dizzy_backstage/1307.html), as usual. Thanks! :D))