Character development M.M

Character

Michelle —

A. IMAGE – Michelle is small and petite with a small round face. Sh e is slim and slender, has a dancers body and moves very gracefully.

B. VOICE – Aggressive and very matter of fact.

C. DESIRE- To have a family and to be accepted by the family that she has left behind.

D. CONFLICT- Michelle has experienced a miscarriage. In arias eyes, the conflict is her body and she is struggling with this and she begins to self loathe heavily which stems from her lack of acceptance in  her family when it comes to her sexuality and how she chose to conceive her child as well as whom she is choosing to parent with.

E. ACTION- Michelle tends to deflect and blame which causes her to go in circles as she attempts to heal

Aria —

A. IMAGE – Aria is tall with a curvy figure and a round full face. eyes that pierce upon contact, the type of face that everyone thinks is always mad “Resting bitch face”

B.VOICE- Soft spoken verbally but what shes saying is always very heavy and factual and aggressive most of the time.

c. DESIRE — to have a family with aria but even outside of having a child she just wants michelle. she gives in and goes through the process to have a child with michelle but she does it more so for michelle to be content with her and not leave her for her not wanting the same things. shell do anything for michelle to the point that it is unhealthy and this leads to pointing out her bigger issues which are with being loved and accepted.

d. CONFLICT– aria desires to be accepted and always goes above and beyond even when she doesnt want to just to please people, this is how she wound up where she is now with michelle post miscarriage cause she agreed to do something she really didnt prefer to do.

e. ACTION- aria stays around despite being unhappy with the circumstances and through this action is where all of the lessons come from

 

Family dinner, prompt #1 M.M

Marvin sat down hastily after getting his plate.

“I told you, ma, I dont wanna eat. I dont even understand why I need to be here at all. nobody in this family pays any mind to me until I fuck something up, so there’s no point in me really even being here”, said Marvin as he picked at his plate showing no interest in the meal Ma had just taken hours to prepare.

Olivia sat directly across from Marvin, blatantly annoyed.

“You make no sense, Marvin. you’re apart of the family and if ma wants you here for dinner it doesn’t matter how much the rest of us dont really care for your presence.” scoffed Olivia as she rolled her eyes, placing her hand on her cheek and looking down at her untouched food.

As soon as Marvin was about to muster up a comeback Levi barged into the dining room.

“HEY BITCHES” shouted Levi as he joined Marvin and Olivia at the dining table. “This is why Im so happy im the baby and none of you live here anymore. I couldn’t take y’all interrupting dinner for your childish antics. If I wanted a soap opera I would turn on Univision. can y’all just stop before ma comes out here you know she just wanted everyone together a few more times before everything changes.

Changes. That was all Levi had to say to remind Olivia and Marvin why they were here. despite their complete and utter disinterest in all things Ma, they knew their attendance was required. There was only allowed to be one outcast in the family and Georgie had made sure to fill that position very quickly after his departure into adulthood.

“And dont mention Georgie either, y’all know how Ma gets when she hears his name. I want to try and make this as enjoyable as possible” continued Levi as he reached for the Italian dressing.

“I dont care, Levi, im over this. Im tired of having to jump evey single time ma says so all because Georgie the prodigal son couldn’t do his one job of staying underneath Ma’s ass so that the rest of us could move on with our lives. im over this. I want to live my own life without being summoned to these unbearable boring family dinners every time y’all —”

marvin was cut short by Ma’s entrance. Ma, in all her exhaustion, had the biggest smile on her face despite all the drama that had to take place to get most of her kids to dinner. In her hands she carried a pitcher of juice, and on her face she wore all the stress that she could not ever seem to escape. None of that mattered at that moment because she had what she needed, even if it was forced and even if she had to fight tooth and nail to make it happen.

Prompt #2 M.M

Aria began walking up the stairs, carrying the pain of the last 48 hours heavily with every step. It felt like every step weighed more than the last as she got closer and closer to the house that no longer felt like home. 

 

“Do you remember the plans we had for this wrap around porch, Michelle?” Aria said slow and dry to Michelle as she continued to make her way up the stairs. She once was so excited to  mount these stairs daily but now she walked nearly lifeless with no motivation beneath her feet. No more excitement for wrap around porches covered in bright, comfy colorful furniture that we planned to lounge around on on sunday mornings. Rose was supposed to be running around in the yard that we worked so hard to keep up with, and Michelle would be watering her Pansy’s and Celosia’s as they bloomed in the crisp fall air. I would slowly sip my coffee and breathed in the life that I had waited so long for. This was no longer the reality that this dreary porch captured. Instead we would sit here weekend after weekend, with cold hard blank stares in our faces and hurt in the deepest parts of our hearts. This porch wouldn’t host guests for future birthday parties, nor would Rose and her friends sit on this porch and devour snacks and pop over homework dates. 

 

Aria paused as she approached the last step that lead to the front door.  We had painted the door a rustic maroon ish color and of course Michelle couldnt let the season go unnoticed as she made sure to place the seasonal rug that matched the bright garnished wreath that graced our front door just in time for fall. The front door that sealed and harbored a vast amount of emptiness now that all the plans had changed. Nothing was the same here, nothing could ever be the same. We couldn’t possibly be happy here now that life had stepped in and dealt us a hand that was foreign to our eyes, making us unable to move.