🔥 BUG VON KIESLING🔥

HUMAN/ZOMBIE

FEMALE

SHE/HER

24

ASSIGNED ALBUM

SHOULD WE KNOW BETTER THAN TO WONDER?

by The Names Of Our Friends

 

TRIVIA

- 6'3" and bisexual.

- April 8th

- Loud, active, social, and very passionate.  Charismatic as all hell.

- Not very book-smart.  Did poorly in school and has trouble putting her (extremely strong) feelings into words.

- Plays the drums; likes playing anything fast and/or with interesting and changing time signatures.

- Her hair length can range from shoulder-length with microbangs all the way to thigh-length with bangs that almost cover her eyes.  She usually lets it do its thing until the length annoys her, then cuts it herself.

- Gets into too many fights.  

- Openly transgender and bisexual; she's proud to be involved in a lot of local queer advocacy groups and events.

- Likes parties, skateboarding, and roller coasters.  A bit of a jokester, and more than a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

- Can chug any drink at the speed of sound.

- Generous and good at spotting random items of interest.  She tends to wander around and notice shiny coins, cool rocks, and neat bottle caps, which she absent-mindedly picks up and carries with her until she meets someone new.  It's not uncommon for her to approach strangers, stoned and friendly, and unfurl her hand to reveal a trinket she's found, ready to ask, "do you want this?"  She'll happily give away anything cool she finds.

- She's outgoing, but not as high energy as someone like Molly.  She looks forward to meeting new people and laughing/joking/talking about cool things, but apart from the constant jogging of a leg or tapping of a finger to keep herself occupied, Bug actually comes off as a little out-there, but very chill.  She's interesting, constantly moving, and friendly, but not always Excitable/alert/bouncy.  Molly feels like she's eager to take in and observe the world around her, whereas Bug feels like she's having fun BEING something to observe and navigating her environment.  When things are good, she coasts through life wearing a pair of Heelys, a headset, and a charming smile.

- Played sports all throughout school!  Hockey and gymnastics were her favorites.

- Casually into speedrunning video games.

- Very irresponsible with money!

- Totally reckless driver, but she's never gotten into an accident, so... 

- Obsessed with the Mad Max franchise.

- Hilda is her little sister!

- Molly is her best friend!

- Joseph is her... whatever they are.  

- Bug is a zombie--someone terminally ill with a relatively rare disease that gives her invulnerability to any lasting damage to her body, but plagues her with intense hunger, headaches, and a promise of a terrifying death.  One day, after an unknowable amount of time (it could be anywhere from days to decades) she will Go Feral, a colloquial term used to describe the disease's shift to its second phase, at which point the host dies but the body is kept alive--no longer invulnerable but now capable of transmitting the disease through the uncontrollable physical attacks it launches on everyone in its surroundings.  Most zombies, Bug included, choose to be implanted with a device that senses the hormonal shifts associated with going feral and administers a lethal dose of poison to the system; a sort of "mercy killing" and safety measure meant to prevent the sufferer from having to Actually experience turning, timed so that it strikes as soon as the body is no longer in its pseudo-immortality phase.  However, these "kill-switches" are known to, on Extremely rare occasion, fail, which happened to a man living on the same street as the Von Kiesling girls' childhood home, and is how Bug contracted the disease in the first place.

- Bug feels like, because she is sick, likely to devastate her friends with an untimely death, and potentially dangerous (though the odds of a kill switch failing would be 1 in millions and millions), she should stay away from committed relationships, parenthood, and even just being a present and reliable friend for her loved ones.  She alternates between traveling and partying for long periods of time, meeting new people and making new connections while she waits to die, and realizing that she is wasting her precious time away from the people who mean the most to her, snapping out of it and rushing back home to tell her friends that she's sorry for leaving them, welcomed back in with concerned but open arms, grateful to be around the ones she loves.  After too long at home, though, she gets restless and concerned that she's a ticking time bomb, and the cycle starts again.

- This cycle is extremely hurtful to Hilda, who desperately wants her sister's presence and approval, and whose abandonment issues and trauma (in part, due to being Present during the attack that got Bug sick) cause her to spiral when she feels like Bug is severing ties.  Every time Bug leaves, she does so with the intent to die away from home, believing herself to be giving her friends a peaceful rest of their lives. She happens to survive each time, but this isn't guaranteed for any amount of time, and it still means that every time she leaves, her friends, ESPECIALLY Hilda, have to mourn her as if she's actually dead.

- Joe also struggles with her lack of ability to let herself Want things--especially when it comes to her future.  Bug is too scared to face her own mortality head on and decide to Live Anyway, which is a problem when she and Joe are deeply, obviously in love with each other.  She struggles to commit to trying to maintaining a healthy relationship just yet, afraid that Joe doesn't realize what he's signing up for (he does; she cannot make the decision of what is "worth it" for him) and that she'll fail if she tries to establish stability in her relationships.  She's come a long way already, though; Joe's patience and unconditional love, friendship, and understanding (along with Molly's and Hilda's) have allowed her to acknowledge and honor/act on her feelings for Joe, communicating more openly with him even if she's not ready to apply certain labels or rules to their relationship.  Joe has made it clear that if their interest is mutual and exclusive, which is currently is, then he is willing to navigate things on THEIR terms and not necessarily by trying to mold their relationship to fit pre-existing notions of what "romance" looks like.  This is a huge relief to Bug, who would one day like to enter a more traditional relationship with Joe, but right now has more work to do before she can fully accept and Chase the future she wants with him.