Switches Gathering Part 3. Bellweather Unit.

We waited through 6 conventions and 3 years, but we finally had the Bellweather Unit present in person. Wast it worth the wait – definitely.

Ashley. Did you miss us? We missed you.

Question. How are you enjoying the day?

Taylor. Exhausting

Jess. How are you guys doing? [Cheer from audience]

Question. The Camarilla are a threat. They quote scripture. In season 1 Alder sees church and Camarilla as very different. What did Eliot tell you about the history? We love a good conspiracy theory

Jess. If he told me, I was asleep. I just saw Bob Frazer’s face. He just got it done. He was just going to rough something. Make people angry

Ashley didn’t know the connection. Taylor had a lot of scripture lines – ‘Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find…’ She didn’t know of any connection with the Camarilla

Jess. Where is Eliot Laurence when you need him?

Taylor thought he was trying to fit 5 – 10 seasons of information into 3 seasons. We were asking questions every day. Trying to make sense of it, what is the arc. They were probably given the information. People are due for a rewatch party. Got to know people and actions and who came back. Building community

Question. With your life so far, if it was a children’s movie, what would it be about?

Ashley wanted a Pixar movie. Just my life. What have I done? Lived

Taylor wanted a Disney movie. Animation. Hand drawn. Self Identity. The big questions – what drives you? [to Ashley] you experience these too. Turn 30, ‘Happily Ever After’, no problems.

Jess. I want a good answer. [Asks the audience for suggestions] She has immigrated countries, met these incredible people, as a warrior fighting witch, for 4 years and 3 seasons. Come from Africa. Don’t know what my accent is any more. [Taylor suggested Coraline or James] I’ve been with my high school sweetheart since I was 15 years old. He’s my best friend.

Taylor suggested An American Tail

Ashley asked if anyone had seen it

Taylor told Ashley it was ‘homework’

Ashley didn’t know, the ups and downs of life

Jess felt ‘we haven’t lived enough’

Taylor tells Ashley to ‘let the nice ladies translate’

[Translators, we have to translate now, so Ashley must stop speaking]

Taylor gives the microphone to Jess and says that Jess had a slightly more accurate answer.

Jess. Lilo and Stitch, because I am both an alien and a little girl who likes to surf and it is all about friendship

Question. When did you think ‘we’re headlining the show’, when did it hit you and who freaked out first?

Ashley felt it was when they were on Good Morning America. We saw ourselves on a billboard in Times Square

Taylor felt that it didn’t really hit her until the final season, then thought ‘this is it’. We did this. You just hope it keeps on forever, which isn’t realistic. Freaked out in hindsight. It was a massive burst of light and growth in my life. It pushed me to be a leader, to learn my limitations. When to push those boundaries and limitations. I get to keep that experience with me forever. You can’t replicate it. You can’t get it back. You have to honour it

Jess. That. Everyday on set have a mind melt moment. I look at the boots and smile. How did a girl from South Africa get here? Everyday, it still lives with me

Ashley feels you appreciate things more when they ended, like craving being back on set and in Vancouver and telling stories of characters we all love so much. Like doing a promo and seeing me on the prompter and I’d say something and fade out and they [Taylor and Jess] would jump in. In the US, Good Morning America was such a big thing. Holy Crap we can still do it

Question. What do you miss most about each other? Share one memory of each other when you feel down.

Taylor. 3am after a 20 hour shoot. There is a kooky childish side. If it is day 6 of that, we are only human we F** up a bit. We would get told ‘You guys need to be separated’, ‘Get some work done’, ‘Enough’. Talking and acting like siblings. Seems to be unique to you two [Jess and Ashley]. It sticks with me, the space to play, space to search and discover what it means to be a woman. A rarity

Ashley. The first memory is when they met me. One licked my hand and one licked my face. Simultaneously. It was a drama show, when there was crying or we needed comfort, when we struggled to be strong, we would form a circle, hold hands and feel strong. Miss that, feeling the love. Will cherish that forever

Jess. I haven’t come across …the chemistry we have is unique. Big complicated time in my life. Trying not to lose my job, survival. It was the people I saw every day, in the make up trailer, that kept me going. That sense of belonging and support

In season 3 two were down and we were wondering if we were even going to finish it. Jess and Amalia would look at Amanda Tapping and just ask ‘what can we shoot?’ Anything? Lost herself in it

Jess. There was an intimate chemistry, the chemistry with Lyne, where do I look? I miss it all. It became a world to me. I get homesick from time to time, hold hands with Ashley, get calls from Taylor, love from Demetria. How is it possible? How is it here? The love that we have for each other. New family connections [They held hands]