Character List: Once Upon an AU

So, there are quite a few characters in Once Upon an Alternate Universe, so I thought I should organise a list and show them to you, along with a bit of connection so that you can know who's who when you're reading.

There are more students, family and staff members (as well as other characters) in this story, but here is a bit of an outline of a few important ones.

Just a brief note about student alliances...
Fellowship: Fully dubbed as the "fellowship of misfits" by Evan Saunders, this group includes Saunders, Tyler Martin, Michael Liu, Scott and Samantha Adams, Marie Wilson and most recently, Kiran Shasthri.
Comrades: Unofficial name (again, given by Saunders) for the group that follows Emiko Takahashi around. Emiko Takahashi, Tatiana Valdez, Katie Myst, Ricardo Martinez, Ron Flinn. There are more...

Maplewood Students, circa 2005
Michael Liu: A fairly level-headed sophomore at Maplewood Academy. Provides a voice of reason for his friends. Member of the Fellowship.
Samantha Adams: One of Michael's two best friends who would do just about anything to help one of her friends if they needed her. One of the best students in their sophomore class. Fellowship.
Scott Adams: Samantha's younger twin brother whose plans (or lack thereof) get him and his friends into a whole lot of trouble sometimes. Fellowship.
Evan Saunders: Future class valedictorian at Maplewood Academy. Though bossy at times, he generally means well. Fellowship... and the one who gave them their name. Often just called by his last name.
Tyler Martin: Athlete and all-around nice guy. He and Saunders are best friends. Known for being one of the few Christians on Maplewood's athletic teams. Also a member of the Fellowship.
Marie Wilson: A fairly quiet friend of Samantha's whose aspirations are to work with special needs students. Fellowship.
Kiran Shasthri: The exchange student living at the Liu's house for the semester. Outspoken about what she belives, but sincere. Newest member of the Fellowship.
Emiko Takahashi: Archrival of the Fellowship (especially Evan Saunders). Slightly spoiled daughter of Tetsuya Takahashi. Knows Hideaki Sato from Japanese school. Comrade.
Katie Myst: Close acquaintance of Emiko Takahashi. Blonde cheerleader. Peppy past the point of annoyance and seems to have something particularly against Samantha. Comrade.
Tatiana Valdez: Emiko's sidekick who is always seen with her. Enjoys gossipping.
Victoria Chapel: Evan Saunders' girlfriend who is very involved in music and theater. On good terms with almost everyone. No alliance.
Julianna Miller: Shaun Ackerman's niece and a close friend to Katie Myst. Was dating Scott Adams for a few months during their freshmen year.
Hideaki Sato: Transfer student to Maplewood Academy who happens to know Emiko Takahashi from Japanese school.
Kyle Wilson: Marie's older brother who is in eleventh grade. Plays sports and is a close friend (and fellow Christian Athlete) to Tyler Martin. Has been dating Kathryn Saunders for over a year.
Kathryn Saunders: Evan's older sister who enjoys cheerleading. Is dating Kyle Wilson. Gets along with Katie Myst, but thinks that the situations that Katie gets herself into are immature.

Staff Members at Maplewood, circa 2005
Jedediah Sharpe: Former chemistry teacher at Maplewood. Graduated Maplewood in 1988. Now teaches Latin and AP chemistry. Tough taskmaster and difficult man to get along with and tends to be disliked by most of his students. Runs the Chess Club and Forum Philosophorum.
Candace Pruitt: Chemistry teacher at Maplewood. She has been teaching there since at least 1980. Strict, but fair. Helps out running the chess club.
Shaun Ackerman: History teacher at Maplewood and a Maplewood graduate in 1987. Outspokenly Catholic, highly energetic and loved by almost all of his students. Uncle to Julianna Miller.
Peter Screwtape: Principal of Maplewood Academy who has been working there since 1995. Named after two of CS Lewis' characters.
Hugh Avery: Former physics and now math teacher at Maplewood. Graduated in 1983. One of the few teachers who gets along well with Sharpe. Hosts Operation Numbers, the math club.
Josiah Alton: Administrator at Maplewood and former biology teacher. He has been teaching there nearly as long as Candace Pruitt has and they are close friends. Surrogate father to Sharpe. Father to Jennie Alton.
Laura Clarkson: Young biology teacher at Maplewood who recently moved from Texas to California. Talkative.
Anthony Wilson: Physics teacher at Maplewood. Single father to Kyle, Marie and their three younger siblings. Hosts the Film club. Enjoys having a lot of fun with his students. Addicted to movies and coffee.
Aislynn Celeste: The young math teacher at Maplewood who graduated from Northpointe in 2001. Older cousin to Keith Chandler.
Seven McAllistair: The IT worker for several of the local private schools. Recent college graduate. Expert with computers and anything technical.
Amy Kerrington: Technology teacher at Maplewood. Works closely with Seven McAllistair whenever he comes to the school.
Rem Argentium: A young history teacher. Enjoys art and is quite good at it. Younger brother to Seneca Argentium and a graduate of Northpointe. Former classmate of Aislynn Celeste. Quiet.

Family Members
Jonathan and Mei-lani Liu: Michael's parents who are hosting Kiran Shasthri for the semester. Jonathan graduated from Maplewood in 1985.
Tetsuya Takahashi: Emiko's father and a local politician. Maplewood graduate in 1988. Archrival of Sharpe.
Jennie Alton: Eldest daughter to Josiah and Sherry Alton. Mentor to Marie Wilson. She is working on getting her master's degree so she can work with special needs students.
Priya Shasthri: Kiran's aunt who is a professor of physics at a local university. She was Sharpe's university advisor.
Stephanie Rei: Emiko's mother. Divorced from Tetsuya Takahashi. Mother to Hana Rei. Lives in the UK with her younger daughter.
Seneca Argentium: Rem's slightly older sister who does research at Nicholae Kwaitkowski Labs, Inc.

Other Characters
Ming-yue Tam: Kiran's best friend from back home at Melanthios.
Nate Winters: Scott and Samantha's cousin who also attends Melanthios and is a good friend of Kiran's. Enjoys playing with fire and technical stuff.
Keith Chandler: Chess champion from Northpointe Academy and younger cousin to Aislynn Celeste.
Hana Rei: Emiko's younger and estranged sister who lives in the UK and attends Alcantha. She is genuine and sincere. Her best friend is Callisto Verity.
Callisto Verity: Hana's best friend and the chess champion from Alcantha. Enjoys getting into arguments and is very competitive. Thirteen-years-old.
Donovan Isaacs: A slightly crazy student at Alcantha who is the same age as the Fellowship. He goes to church with Hana's family on a regular basis.
Sophia McAllistair: Cousin to Seven McAllistair and the same age as Nate Winters. Lives just outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her family.

A Duel of Wits, Part One

I really needed to write something... and preferably a piece when I wasn't being particularly nice to any of my characters. I'm thinking this gets worse before it actually gets better and you get to see a little bit of Michael's interactions with Emiko here. And Sharpe (as always) is awesome.

This takes place a few weeks into their sophomore year of high school (September 2004) because Kiran Shasthri is around and it's specifically stated that this happens in September because it's still warm.

Characters: Sharpe, Michael, Emiko, Samantha, Scott, others by mention
Word Count: 1000
Rating: G
Summary: Michael and Emiko have to figure out a way to resolve their differences.

Sharpe’s lips narrowed as he sneered. One hand was clenched around an Earlenmeyer flask with a pale green liquid filled nearly to the brim and the other hand was loosely fingering a long stick. He whipped the stick up against the chalkboard, scattering chalk dust throughout the classroom. Several students gasped. No one said anything; it was silent with the exception of a beaker full of bubbling liquid in the back fume hood.

Out of everyone in the room, both Emiko Takahashi and Michael Liu seemed to be the only ones who even remained slightly calm after seeing Sharpe’s reaction, and neither of them for a good reason. Kiran Shasthri was sitting in the back corner of the room, her eyes wide with fear; Samantha’s eyes were gently closed, showing a resolved expression on her face. But it was obvious she was angry… and obviously so. Scott gritted his teeth together and clenched his right hand into a tight fist. Whatever was about to happen was not going to be good and he knew it. He had known his best friend long enough to know when something was going on and Emiko was better than just about anyone else at irking any one of them in the homeroom of twenty people. And today, she was at the top of her game.

“Miss Takahashi.” Sharpe’s words were cold as they cut through the air, even amidst the warmth of the air that September morning. Emiko glanced up at him, a nauseating smirk playing on her face. Michael’s steady glance shifted towards Sharpe, then back to Emiko as quickly as it had left. “Mr. Liu.” It was now that the Asian boy frowned slightly. “A word with both of you. Outside. Now.” He motioned to the door that led into the nearest hallway and turned to pace towards it.

Emiko smirked at Michael. “Look who’s in trouble now,” she commented, careful to keep her voice low enough so that Sharpe wouldn’t easily be able to hear. After shooting a feeble smile over at Scott, Michael turned to leave and follow Sharpe. Scott felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. It was not very often he believed in what his sister often called a sixth sense, but the sophomore was sure that this was one of those times he did. And this sixth sense was yelling at him to do something. Because it just wasn’t fair.

It hadn’t been Michael’s fault… nor had it been Emiko’s. It had all happened so fast that even Scott had possessed some difficulty keeping up and knowing exactly what had come to pass. One moment, Michael was swapping history notes and talking about chess strategies with Evan Saunders and the next moment, it was like Michael and Emiko were in some sort of stalemate, Sharpe looking on with a sinister expression of both intrigue and loathing in his eyes. Only one thing had been said and Scott hadn’t been paying enough attention to tell what that something was. And now, all three of them were outside, except for Saunders, who was now passing notes back and forth with Victoria Chapel.

“You think they’ll be okay?” Scott leaned over and placed a hand on Sam’s shoulder. It was rare to see Scott devote even most of his attention to one person or one thing; often Michael had commented that Scott could easily be quite a bit more brilliant if he’d only learn to concentrate on one thing at a time. The younger twin had always brushed his friend’s remark off without even as a second thought.

Sam nodded. “They have to be,” she replied, her rough voice hardly even a whisper. “It’s out of our hands now and the best we can do is trust that Sharpe won’t let either of them react.” There was a short pause and Sam waited for the conversation between Kiran and Tyler to resume before she continued. “And that he won’t bait either of them in the process.” She shifted in her seat so that she could see outside, but Sharpe’s back was turned towards the window; she couldn’t see his face at all.

“Mr. Liu, I have given you plenty of chance to explain yourself, yet you have chosen not to take advantage of this.” Sharpe’s voice was considerably lower in volume, but higher in pitch than was normal for him. “Same for you, Miss Takahashi.” His voice dropped to a hiss as he spoke Emiko’s name. “Perhaps both of you should come up with a way to solve your problems without creating as much of a commotion in my classroom.” One of his eyebrows arched slightly.

Emiko met Sharpe’s steady gaze with a smirk. “How about a duel of wits?” A smile still playing on the corners of her lips, she turned towards Michael. “Well?”

The Asian boy thought for a long moment, then nodded. “Name your terms,” he replied, his voice slightly tentative.

“Ackerman’s classroom, after school.” She glanced up at Sharpe for a moment, but he said nothing. “You bring one of your friends and I’ll bring one of mine. Other than that, we both come alone.” There was the slightest pause. “Agreed?” She stuck her right hand out and twirled a long strand of dark hair around the fingers of her left hand.

Michael reached to shake Emiko’s hand, a showing a slight wince as he made skin contact with her. “Agreed, but we allow Mr. Sharpe to be present, as well.”

The girl smirked. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” She let go of Michael’s hand and dropped her voice to a low whisper. “Four o’clock. See you then.” With that, she turned and flounced back into the classroom, leaving Michael to wonder what he had gotten himself into. But he would have to wait and see. Right now, it was Emiko’s turn and it was little use to predict what she was planning to do next. He’d just have to sit and wait it out.

tbc

Once Upon an AU- Ideas

Since this is an alternate universe piece, I thought I'd play around with history a bit and change a few things. Some of them are major things.

1. The main characters (Michael, Scott, Sam, Emiko, etc.) all go to Maplewood Academy, which is still in existence. But it won't be if Tetsuya Takahashi has anything to say about it. He wants it torn down because all he sees is corruption within its walls. Unfortunately, he doesn't know anything about the coalition of the four schools... or of the prophecy.

2. In the middle of the story, Hideaki transfers to Maplewood and stays with Michael's family for the rest of the school year. This is their junior year of high school, so the year after Kiran comes to stay with the Liu family.

3. This hasn't been firmly decided on in the regular universe, but for this piece, Emiko and Hana are full sisters. Tetsuya and Stephanie split up after Stephanie was pregnant with Hana. Hana and Emiko have still never met face-to-face.

4. General storyline with all the other characters is still the same. Sharpe is still acting as double agent (he'll never get away from that role!). Ackerman still gets killed at the beginning. They still need a new history teacher to replace him. Rem Argentium is his new replacement. Aislynn Celeste is still the young math teacher under the tutelege of Hugh Avery. Seven McAllistair is still the person who comes in and repairs the computers.

Because of this, well... at Maplewood, school uniforms were required. I'm assuming they'd still be required now. So students have to wear uniforms. Teachers have to wear something similar to uniforms. That will make things interesting...

Emiko tugged on her tie and gritted her teeth. Not only did she have to wear khaki pants (Merlin forbid she wear a skirt!) and a black polo shirt, but she had to wear a burgandy jacket and a ghastly burgandy and silver striped tie to boot. Why couldn't she have gone to some public school instead of a place with a dress code stricter than just about any other institution and a whole bunch of prep kids on top of that? The girl sighed. At least her best friend was transferring here for the rest of the year. Rumor had it that he'd been kicked out his old school, so his uncle and aunt decided to send him here instead. To Maplewood Academy. Home of the Uber Geeks.

Emiko's talking about Hideaki... and the "uber geeks" is mostly a reference to Saunders. Yes, I am bored. Insanely bored. And I got this idea during class today and had to come back to scribble it down. It's not good yet.

Character Feature: Sharpe

Just to let you know, I will be finishing this when I am able to type more proficiently, which may or may not be anytime soon. I was going to release this on Thursday, which would be Sharpe's thirty-ninth birthday, but I decided to release what I had earlier.

This picture was drawn by leedom111. The artwork
belongs to her, not to me.

Full Name: Jedediah Victor Sharpe
Date of Birth: February 19, 1970
Birth Family: Gabriel (father), Amanda (mother), Michael Hosea (older brother)
Adopted Family: Josiah and Sherry Alton, Jennie and Mandie (younger sisters)
Place of Birth: New Jersey, USA
Place of Residence: Riverdale, CA. A small apartment (313B Janus Avenue) close to RHS.

High School: Maplewood Academy
Year of Graduation: 1988
Extracurricular Activities: Interscholastic Chess Team, Students Assisting Teachers (SAT)
Faculty Advisor: Candace Pruitt

University: Silicon Valley Institute of Higher Learning (in San Jose, CA)
Years Attended: Fall 1988-Spring 1994
Academic Degrees: BS in Chemistry, Minors in Biology and Physics, Masters in Chemistry
Faculty Advisor: Priya Shasthri, PhD
Extracurricular Activities: Research, Tutoring underdivision students

Former Jobs Held: Research Associate at Kwaitkowski Laboratories International
Current Employment: Chemistry teacher at Riverdale High School, head of the science department, homeroom instructor
Current Employer: Peter Screwtape
Extracurricular Activities Led: Forum Philosophorum (aka Debate Club) with Shaun Ackerman, Interscholastic Chess Team with Candace Pruitt

Series Connections: Maplewood, Riverdale
Allies: Candace Pruitt, Josiah Alton (despite disagreeing most of the time), Jennie Alton, Jonathan Liu, Shaun Ackerman, Hugh Avery, Amy Kerrington
Enemies: Tetsuya Takahashi, Kiyoshi Sato, Laura Clarkson, Peter Screwtape
It's Complicated: Michael Liu, Emiko Takahashi

Stories:
Snapshots Through Time: Chapter One: The Leather Book; Chapter Three: A History Lesson; Chapter Four: Sharpe's Dark Secret; Chapter Five: The Eleventh Hour
Maplewood Chronicles: Making the Squad; Maplewood Chronicles 2; Seeking Solace
University Days: Just Alright
Riverdale and Beyond: A Christmas to Remember; A Good Idea; Substitute Teacher; A Sophomore Saga; Annoyance; Jellyfish; The Dance; Bombing?; Just Another Ordinary Day

Character Connections:
Tetsuya Takahashi: Tetsuya Takahashi and Sharpe went to school together. They were in the same homeroom when they were students at Maplewood (Snapshots, ch1) and were both part of the Interscholastic Chess team (Snapshots, ch5). Sometime during the first month of school, Sharpe made a snide comment at Tetsuya's expense. Takahashi retaliated and things only got worse from there. They have never gotten along with one another and they will never get along with each other, either. However, at the end of their senior year, something of a most curious nature happened. On their day of graduation, Sharpe slipped an old chess piece into Takahashi's hand with a short note. Since then, they have been civil to one another, but barely so. It is only a matter of time until things explode in their faces and something very bad happens.
Candace Pruitt: Candace was Sharpe's high school chemistry teacher and the person who originally recommended him for the SAT program (see above). She was also the faculty sponsor for the chess team. Although strict, Candace has a good understanding of people and she is willing to take chances in order to get the job done. This has saved Sharpe on a number of occasions, most notably when she hired him as the physical sciences teacher at RHS for the 2000-2001 school year. Their relationship mostly consists of mutual respect mixed with a bit of annoyance.
Shaun Ackerman: If you didn't already know this, Shaun Ackerman is the history teacher at RHS and is incredibly religious. He and Sharpe have been acquainted with one another since high school because Shaun graduated in 1987. Shaun also co-runs the Debate Club with Sharpe; having two people who are extremely polarized in opposite directions may not have been the best choice on Candace's part when she asked both of them to be staff advisors. They seem to interact in a similar manner as Captain Picard and Q (on Star Trek: TNG) do. Despite all of this, there is a mutual respect. When Shaun is killed at the beginning of Once Upon an Alternate Universe, Sharpe is both upset and regretful.
Laura Clarkson: Sharpe and Laura have a love-hate relationship taken to the extreme. She's the biology teacher at RHS and originally from Texas. He is her boss and they are both able to figure out every possible way to irk the other. She finds out he is afraid of jellyfish when he is helping her prepare for one of her labs and she (innocently) asks him if he wants to go to the staff Valentine's Day party.
Hugh Avery:
Jennie Alton:
Jonathan Liu:
Hideaki Sato:
Michael Liu:
Emiko Takahashi:
Kiyoshi Sato:
Rose McGonigall: Rose was probably Sharpe's only close friend in high school.
Peter Screwtape:
Priya Shasthri:

Background:

Personality:

Physical Appearance:

to be finished at a later date

Substitute Teacher, Part I

In Snapshots (chapter one), I make the reference that Sharpe was out of school and missed a staff meeting. Here's what happened on the day he was sick...

MPAA Rating: Mild PG for language
Characters: Sharpe, Alton, later on this will include the usual culprits surrounding RHS including staff and students alike...
Word Count: 699
Summary: Right before Snapshots Through Time, Sharpe is forced to stay home sick and chaos ensues as there is a different substitute for each class. There's also the issue of the staff meeting after school...

Sharpe tried to stand up but only a moment later he was sitting back down, the tips of his fingers resting gently on the side of his head. The side of his head was throbbing and if he did not lie down, it would only get worse. He should be leaving for school in less than ten minutes, but the thirty-some-odd-year-old man sincerely doubted he would make it in today. He bit his tongue slightly in an attempt to concentrate better and figure out the last time he had been absent from classes. It had only happened a few times since his university days; the chemistry teacher did not get sick easily and nor was he one to stay home if he knew he was not contagious.

“Damn.” Sharpe leaned back and fell onto the bed, letting his head hit the mound of floppy pillows he had set up. He had no choice other than to call Josiah Alton and request a substitute teacher be sent in. In all the years he had been teaching at the school, he had only been absent a grand total of twice. Once was an incident involving a close acquaintance from high school and the other time, Josiah Alton had insisted upon him staying home. Unless he was contagious or somehow a danger to other people, Sharpe adamantly refused to get someone else to teach his classes.

In his mind, few people were competent enough. Surely Josiah Alton would be able to handle the material, as would Laura Clarkson, but could either of them keep his classes in order the way he did? Likewise, Hugh Avery had a firm grasp on the thermodynamic principles he was covering in his sophomore chemistry class... and he could supervise the AP lab. The few people who Sharpe viewed as able to discipline his classes would likely not understand the subject material; he put some level of trust in Shaun Ackerman to keep classes in order. There was a strong doubt in Sharpe’s mind that the history teacher knew about enthaply and entropy and how to explain that to a bunch of sophomores and juniors.

He managed to sit up enough to reach for the phone and dialed the Josiah Alton’s cell phone number. When he placed the phone within a few inches of his ear, he was greeted with Josiah’s warm, but level voice. “What’s going on?” Josiah seemed surprised to be receiving a call from Sharpe.

“Could you find a substitute for me?” Sharpe would have spoken more formally and completed his thought, but he was having a hard enough time thinking right then; he did not see it necessary to maintain his usual sense of dignity. Around him, the dim lights in his apartment flickered a couple of times and he made a mental note to have them fixed as soon as he could manage to climb up on the ladder. As if that would be happening any time soon.

“Sure. Everything alright over there?” There was a certain pause in Josiah’s voice that conveyed his concern. He knew it was unlike Sharpe to miss school for anything; the current chemistry teacher had been like that even as a teenager.

“Fine.” Sharpe clipped his answer into a one-word response; to anyone who had met him before, it would be blatantly obvious he was lying, but right now, he could hardly care.

On the other side of the line, Josiah scribbled a quick note down on a piece of paper and frowned. “If you’re sure...” With his other hand, he stroked his salt-and-pepper colored beard a few times. He knew Jedediah wasn’t likely to take care of himself very well; after all, he and Sherry had raised Sharpe from the time he was fourteen onwards. “If you need anything, call Sherry. And I mean it.” Alton found that his sentences were truncated also. After that thought, Alton hung up the phone.

Sharpe set the phone down on the receiver and climbed back into bed, rubbing his left temple. It would be best if he could rest; he could already tell that today would be a very long day.

More Snapshots Updates

So not only does Dr. Shasthri come into Snapshots, but other previously AU characters come into her encounters, as well. Like Seneca Argentium, who is a research assistant at the labs owned by Nicholae Kwaitkowski. Seneca's... interesting... for lack of something better to call her. Sharpe used to work at one of Kwaitkowski's research labs before he was fired, so that's the connection... and now Seneca works there and she's the one who helps Dr. Shasthri. Not that she was there when Sharpe was, but she is very much involved in the gossip that happens around the workplace.

I've also established the residence Dr. Shasthri goes to... and who lives there. I'm happy about that because I've sent Dr. Shasthri there and she just arrived, so we'll see how that encounter actually pans out when it gets written. Luckily, she isn't super-suspicious about people or this wouldn't work. I love writing new characters because you can manipulate them to do whatever you want until they start to get personalities of their own.

Major change of topic here... as far as Once Upon an AU goes, I still want to know what Ackerman knows! Obviously he knows something that will upset Peter's regime at RHS (and that's what gets him killed), but I really want to know what that something is!

Maplewood Relationships?

I'm really needing to figure out how the characters in first generation at Maplewood get along with one another before I continue with whatever else I am writing. Like the fact of how Shaun Ackerman and Stephanie Rei both fit into the picture.

Shaun Ackerman is a graduate in the class of 1987, a year a head of Takahashi, et al. Given Maplewood's small size, they would have known each other when they were students. Same thing goes for Sharpe and Ackerman. It's known that Sharpe and Ackerman don't get along very well when they're adults, but this could be attributed to a conflict of ideologies and personalities. Shaun's very outgoing and scatterbrained. Sharpe is introverted and deliberate. (Think Q and Captain Picard here and you'll get the general idea!) Ackerman is also very strongly Catholic and he is outspoken about being so. While Sharpe doesn't necessarily have anything against the idea of Christianity (or Catholicism), the fact that Shaun is a bit pious grates on his nerves. Same thing with Kiran, actually.

I'm not sure what came to pass between Ackerman and Takahashi. If I can figure that out, I'll be able to figure out whether or not Takahashi had motive for ordering a certain person to kill Ackerman at the beginning of Once Upon an AU. If not, then I'll have to resort to using Peter Screwtape, which would be a little bit annoying. Okay, that would be more than annoying because he's a power player in most everything else and that role gets old quickly.

Second character I need to fit in is Stephanie Rei, Emiko and Hana's mother. She did go to Maplewood and she is friends with Sharpe. That much I do know. She's either a year ahead or a year behind the main group of students, making her the same age as Shaun Ackerman (and Emily Royal, who is Evan Saunders' aunt) or putting her in the graduating class of 1989. She needs to be close enough in age to know the main characters fairly well if everything is going to work out with Takahashi and Sharpe and all that. If she's the same grade as Ackerman, that might come into the storyline somehow.

In Once Upon an AU, I have a character who is a hired assassin. I'm not going to tell you guys who it is yet and only that it's not Sharpe. Sharpe couldn't do that. Anyhow, said person basically has their hands tied and can't do anything but follow orders at the moment. It'll be interesting to write, to say the least.

Christmas Story Commentary and Other Stuff

I spent another day knitting instead of writing, which is unfortunate for my sadly failing writing skills, but it's all good. I've decided on a few things in response to the Christmas Eve story. Sharpe does have a good idea of what was in the package for Emiko. If he did, why does he deliver it? To answer this, I need to do a little background information on Sharpe and a little bit more on how he and Takahashi know each other.

Sharpe's thoughts on religion are different than those of most of my other characters. He does know what he believes. He grew up in a Christian home, so he has been to church. However, right now, he is extremely angry at God for a multiple number of reasons (which I don't feel like going into right now) and he hasn't really been to church since he was a teenager. He still holds many of the same ethical principles as are taught in the Judeo-Christian belief system. His anger is directed first and foremost at God and secondly at people who call themselves Christians but don't act as such.

Takahashi, on the other hand, is adamantly against any type of organized religion, whether it be Christianity, Judiasm, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, dancing around a campfire and worshipping the sun... need I go on? He would do anything and everything in his power to prevent Emiko from getting the copy of the Bible that Stephanie sent.

If I may digress for a moment, Sharpe and Takahashi don't get along at all. They met at the beginning of ninth grade as students at Maplewood Academy and Sharpe said something he shouldn't have said to Tetsuya. Things escalated from there. When they're adults, they are coldly civil to one another.

Back to the point here. Sharpe's going to do almost anything he can in order to make Takahashi angry. He is fairly neutral towards the idea of Christianity, so ensuring that Emiko gets the Bible that Stephanie sent would be a perfect way to do just that.

This leads me to believe that Sharpe and Stephanie would have been friends... or they would have known each other somehow. Given that Stephanie used to be married to Tetsuya (they're now divorced), it was probable she was a student at Maplewood. She would have been at least a year younger than the main group... or perhaps the year ahead of them (same year as Shaun Ackerman). I need to think a little more about how they know each other. Likely either she and Sharpe are good friends (and kept their friendship up throughout the years, which would be a bit odd for Sharpe) or he owes her something and there's a story waiting behind that.

So instead of writing, I was trying to knit a sock. But maybe tomorrow I'll write more. I'm not sure. I still need to figure out where the other Christmas story (the one with Michael and Kiran at the church) is going. It'll be interesting...

Short Post Today...

Yet another half-effort entry in this journal because I'm pressed for time trying to finish Christmas presents and all that before tomorrow... hopefully I'll get more done in the actual story later on this week. Sorry it won't be done before then.

But I know who kills Shaun Ackerman!!!!! In the Once Upon an Alternate Universe piece, I mean. Not in the real world or anything like that. Hideaki sees Ackerman get shot, but doesn't know who did it. Sharpe has a pretty good idea of what's going on, but he'd never say anything unless he's certain. No one else knows what's going on... not even Candace.

And I am enjoying myself greatly right now. Plotting is so much fun! Especially plotting whilst procrastinating on finishing up Christmas presents. Alas, I'll just work on them tomorrow, right?

Christmas Traditions

Well, thinking about the holiday season that is coming up on us (and that Hanukkah already started for anyone who didn't know that), I've always wondered what some of my fictional characters do for the holidays. So I've compiled a short list of some of their traditions...

Liu Family: Since Jonathan is a pastor at the local church, all five of the Liu children are always somehow involved in the annual Christmas Eve service. Usually Andy will play his violin, Michael will occasionally work backstage (depending on the year) and Elizabeth and Cassandra are in the choir. After the Christmas Eve service is over, their family will go home and get ready for bed. In the morning, Johannah Liu (Jonathan's younger sister) will come over and they will read the Bible story as a family. Then, they'll open presents. In the afternoon and evening, they'll make a large dinner.

Adams Family: Scott and Sam's family spends Christmas in a similar way that Michael's family does, but after the Christmas Eve service at their church is over, they go over to their uncle's house (their uncle is Shaun Ackerman) and their whole family attends Midnight Mass. On Christmas, both Shaun Ackerman and Julianna Miller (Shaun's niece - I'm not sure how she's related to Scott and Sam quite yet) come over and they all spend Christmas together.

Sharpe: Except for the Christmas Eve story that I'm working on, Sharpe really doesn't celebrate Christmas. Sometimes he will go over to the Alton's house; other times he will just stay home and work on what needs to be done as if it's any other day.

Donovan Isaacs: Donovan's kind of an interesting case because he goes to school abroad as a high schooler. Sometimes his parents will come over from America to England to visit for the holidays and he'll go to church with them. Other times, he'll go to church with Stephanie and Hana Rei (Emiko's mom and half-sister) on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, Lucy (his second to youngest cousin... there's six of them!) will wake them up and they'll all open presents. That afternoon, usually Uncle Edmund will take him, Connor, Steven and Emrick out to the movies while Aunt Alexandria, Lucy, Sarah and Beatrice stay home and cook the meal.

I really wish I could know how my other characters celebrate the holidays. Hugh Avery is Jewish, so he celebrates Hanukkah. Aislynn Celeste celebrates Christmas with an interesting mix of French and Polish traditions that she learned from her grandparents by whom she was raised. Kiran would go home for Christmas and spend it with her parents, except for the story I'm working on right now (her parents are on a missions trip) where she spends Christmas with her aunt.

P.S. Oddly enough, I spend more time at my computer when I'm at school than when I'm at home. Isn't that wierd?

Quick Update

I won't be writing any more of the Christmas Eve story tonight (unfortunately), but I wanted to talk some about what I've noticed about my characters and how stories flow... something that came to mind as I was drafting the next piece in a word document. I'll probably finish that and get it uploaded tomorrow or Sunday or something like that. And this was because I was working on Christmas presents and then I got busy with some other stuff. Like socks.

Anyhow... in the Christmas Eve piece, the main character is technically Sharpe, though it changes POV several times. When I was writing Sharpe's parts, they were a lot more reflective and less rushed. There hasn't been any dialogue with him; no one knows for sure what he's thinking and people certainly know less of what he's saying.

When I've been writing Michael (and Kiran), there is a lot more dialogue and the story actually moves along. But it loses some of the individual touch and reflection that Sharpe brings along. Kiran's nearly as talkative as Scott is.

And to go read where Kiran first meets the group, read this story. She also meets Sharpe later on in that piece; I haven't written it yet. You get a bit of Michael's narration in that piece. Just so you know... Riverdale's mascot is a knight, Michael (and Scott and Sam) all live on Chestnut Avenue, Sam wasn't talking about Evan Saunders... Scott has no sense of direction whatsoever, Ackerman got fired and re-hired over the summer thanks to something that happened with Sharpe (that'll be fun to write!), and Victoria Chapel and Evan Saunders date throughout high school. Oh, and Sharpe's favorite color is purple.

I can't wait to write more of that and I'll be bringing in the idea of the Debate Club and a plot idea for writing that. It should be fun. And I can't wait to write about why Ackerman was fired and how he got rehired over the course of about two months. Silly administration...

Sharpe's Relationships - Adults

These are just a few of the relationships Sharpe has... I just felt like outlining a few for you guys. Hopefully you already know who these characters are, but I provided brief notes on who's who. All these characters are adults during the RHS-timeline; maybe in another entry I'll look through various interactions with students.

Candace Pruitt: Candace was Sharpe’s high school chemistry teacher and she’s now the vice principal at RHS, where Sharpe teaches chemistry.
The relationship between Candace and Sharpe went from being the typical “faculty member being fed up with student” mixed with a little bit of respect to more of a friendship between equals. Candace was originally the one who got Sharpe involved in the SAT (students assisting teachers) program at Maplewood and she was the one who pulled a few strings to get Peter to hire him, despite his less than satisfactory record.

Jennie Alton: Jennie is Sharpe’s “little sister”. She works part-time at Maplewood and is a continuing studies student in the evening.
Jennie and Sharpe have an extremely close relationship and she knows more about him than probably anyone else does. He refers to her as his sister (and she calls him “her brother”), even though they are not biologically related. Their friendship is closer than that of Sharpe and Mandie.

Laura Clarkson: Laura is the biology teacher who is originally from Texas. She appears to have a crush on Sharpe, which he doesn’t return.
Laura and Sharpe really have a love-hate relationship. He hired her because they needed a biology teacher who was at least halfway competent (Josiah Alton was moving to administration) and Laura has always been curious about Sharpe. Somewhere along the line, the curiosity turned into a one-sided romance. I’m still not sure what’s going on there; it’s a storyline that I really haven’t explored much yet.

Shaun Ackerman: Shaun is the PhD. history teacher at RHS who especially enjoys causing controversy in his classrooms. He graduated from Maplewood in 1987.
Interactions between Ackerman and Sharpe are, if nothing else, fun to write. They are also incredibly difficult because they interact like Captain Picard and Q from Star Trek TNG do. Not only do they co-run the Debate Club (that must be interesting), but my suspicion is that they knew each other when they were students at Maplewood. Ackerman is incredibly religious and Sharpe is... not.

Hugh Avery: Hugh is the math teacher (and former physics teacher) who is friendly and personable. He graduated from Maplewood in 1983.
Hugh Avery is friends with everyone on the staff team, but he’s one of the few staff members who actually chooses to interact with Sharpe (versus a forced interaction). He and Sharpe became friends during the 2000-2001 school year and since then, they have been playing a series of (harmless) practical jokes on one another. Not that anyone would believe Avery if he said anything...

Jonathan Liu: Jon is Michael’s dad who graduated Maplewood in 1985 and is a pastor at the local church.
Jon sort of served as a casual mentor to Sharpe while they were in high school (during Sharpe’s freshman year). In essence, they lost contact for several years (more of this is detailed in Snapshots), but now that Michael is a student in Sharpe’s homeroom...

Tetsuya Takahashi: Sharpe’s former classmate, now a local politician and a member of the school board.
I should dedicate an entire entry to what’s happened between Sharpe and Takahashi, but in short, they went to school together. They were in the same homeroom. Sharpe made a snide remark at Takahashi’s expense and Takahashi took offence; things just escalated from there. Now, they are coldly civil to one another and Emiko Takahashi is in Sharpe’s homeroom so things are about to get interesting again...

Aislynn Celeste: Aislynn is the graduate student who works with Hugh Avery in the after school math program, Operation Numbers.
Aislynn and Sharpe confuse one another... they're both a lot more alike than either knows and yet they won't be finding that out the easy way. I'm really looking forward to writing more interactions between them because Aislynn's curious as anything about other people (naturally this extends to Sharpe) and Sharpe is puzzled by Aislynn, especially after observing how she interacts with Hugh Avery.

Forum Philsophorum and Other Clubs

This entry is dedicated to a brief history sketch of the RHS Controversial Issues Club, otherwise known as Forum Philosophorum.

Staff Advisor: Sharpe
Secondary Advisor: Shaun Ackerman. Occasionally Josiah Alton will step in and assist in moderating debates.
Years of Operation: Fall 2000-Spring 2002. Students lost interest. At this time, Sharpe was the only staff advisor.
Fall 2005-Winter 2005. Stopped by administration (Peter Screwtape) due to "controversial content", which turned into a huge yelling match.
Some Known Student Members: Michael Liu, Emiko Takahashi, Samantha Adams, Kiran Shasthri, Evan Saunders.
Oddly enough, the list of known members does NOT include Tyler Martin, Marie Wilson, Scott Adams and a number of other prominent characters. Tyler doesn't like debate, Marie really doesn't like Sharpe and Scott just doesn't want to do it.
Purpose: To provide students with the opportunity to discuss and debate controversial issues, including but not limited to the following: religion, ethics, technology, politics, war, social justice and many, many other things.
AKA: The "Debate Club" (Emiko Takahashi)

Other Clubs
This isn't a complete list, but here are some of the other clubs around RHS...
Film Club: Staff Sponsors: Anthony Wilson and Hugh Avery (duh). Looks at various films, both contemporary and historical.
Student Council: Staff Advisors: Josiah Alton and Candace Pruitt. Elected student government.
Media Productions: Staff Sponsors: Becky Rodriguez and Laura Clarkson. They write and edit the school newspaper and put out the forms of media on campus.
Writing Club: Staff Sponsor: Julia Perry. Students gather to improve their writing skills and occasionally talk about books. Sam is the president of the Writing Club during her junior and senior years of high school.
Operation Numbers: Staff Sponsors: Hugh Avery and Aislynn Celeste (and also Jason Hartley). These are a group of students who spend time working with low income students and finding ways to make math and science more interesting and fun.
Chess Club: Staff Sponsor: Sharpe. Group of students focuses on developing chess strategies and competes in local tournaments. Assisted by Alan Harrison (2005-present) and Candace Pruitt.
Technology Club: Staff Sponsors: Amy Kerrington and Jason Hartley. Helps maintain school club webpages and focuses on other forms of technology.
Student Service Club: Staff Sponsors: (various, but it has included Jennie Alton). This is a group of students who do community service. Marie Wilson helped start it during fall of 2003.

NB: Most clubs have two staff sponsors, particularly those that are larger or require more organization or, in the case of Forum Philosophorum, deal with controversial issues.
Sharpe is probably the only staff member who is the main sponsor for two clubs. However, since the Debate Club (using Emiko's words) was not in existence for a few years, this is not very surprising.

And now for a bit of a treat...a snippet from a Forum Philosophorum meeting... (Kiran's POV, third person)
MPAA Rating: G. Sharpe's being his typical self.
Characters: Kiran, Sharpe

A dark haired girl raced through the courtyard. She was wearing loose pants, a shirt and a sari wrapped around her. It was trailing in the wind as she ran; she hoped she wasn't late. It wasn't her fault, really. She had been talking to another student when she realized that two o'clock was quickly approaching.

Her dark skin blushed as she nearly ran into the person who she least wanted to see at that moment: Mr. Sharpe. The arrogant chemistry teacher had already blatantly told her that she wouldn't be allowed to take most of his advanced classes, despite the fact that her transcript proved her quite capable. She had a theory that it was just because he wouldn't stand for anyone with religious convictions in his classroom and she had set out to prove that here.

"Miss Shasthri," a cold voice spoke as she took a moment to straighten herself up. "It is very nice of you to come. What, praytell, brings you here on such a fine afternoon?" The voice was sickly sardonic and Kiran could feel her heart sinking.

"Sorry, Mr. Sharpe, but you didn't say I couldn't join the philosophy club," she replied with a smirk. "So, if you'll give me one of those paper things to fill out..." Sharpe's glare was intense. "...please."

Sharpe lifted an eyebrow as he held his pointy stick out towards her. "Well, it will be interesting to see how well your religion holds up," he sneered. Despite this, he handed her a paper to fill out and she set to work answering the questions.

Some Known Maplewood Students

Here are some of the known Maplewood students. Obviously there are more than this, but here are some that come into the other stories... or at least their kids do.

Class of 1983
Hugh Avery: current math teacher and former physics teacher at RHS

Class of 1984
Nicholas Saunders: father to Kathryn and Evan Saunders

Class of 1985
Jonathan Liu: father to Michael, Andy, Elizabeth, Cassandra and Hannah Liu
Jeremiah Liu: father to Mei-ling and Jenna Liu
Felicia McGonigall: mother to Scott and Samantha Adams
Melissa Royal: mother to Kathryn and Evan Saunders, wife to Nicholas Saunders.

Class of 1987
Shaun Ackerman: history teacher at RHS.
Emily Royal: younger sister to Melissa Royal

Class of 1988
Tetsuya Takahashi: father to Emiko Takahashi
Kiyoshi Sato: birth father of Hideaki Sato, deceased
Eugene Kim: classmate and close friend of Tetsuya's
Andrew Tam: father of Ming-yue Tam
Jedediah Sharpe: chemistry teacher at RHS
Rose McGonigall: mother to Nate Winters
Mac O'Brien: father to Frances O'Brien

Class of 1990
Johannah Liu: younger sister to Jonathan and Jeremiah Liu

Class of 1991
Jennie Alton: part-time employee at RHS

Class of 1994
Mandie Alton: younger sister of Jennie Alton

Class of 1999
Victoria Lim: recently hired as the physical sciences teacher at RHS

Victoria Lim is one of the younger teachers at RHS. As a comparison, graduate student Aislynn Celeste (who works under the direct supervision of Hugh Avery) finished up her last year at Northpointe Academy in 2002.

Thirty Pieces of Silver, Anyone?

I've been plotting for Once Upon an Alternate Universe, also known as the continuation to this piece (go read that first!) and I have something really cool in mind for Aislynn Celeste. Simply because she is who she is and I'm planning to take advantage of that, as any author would. Basically what happens is that Sharpe's life ends up being one giant lie for a good cause, Emiko must ignore her father's wishes and take matters into her own hands as far as her life goes and Kiran Shasthri and Nate Winters go on a secret mission to uncover what really happened to Ackerman. Meanwhile, the Fellowship (Michael, Scott, Sam, Hideaki, Evan, Tyler and Marie) must decide where they're going to stand in the conflict and remember that betrayal comes from within their ranks... and with thirty pieces of silver.

Starring
Sharpe
Emiko Takahashi
Peter Screwtape
Aislynn Celeste
Kiran Shasthri
Nathaniel "Nate" Winters
Donovan Isaacs
Tetsuya Takahashi
Hideaki Sato
Michael Liu
Scott Adams
Samantha Adams
Marie Wilson
Tyler Martin
Evan Saunders
Featuring
Shaun Ackerman
Dr. Shasthri
Laura Clarkson
Hugh Avery
Sophia McAllistair
Ming-Yue Tam
Callisto and Ali Verity
and many, many more...

No, but seriously... this is going to be so much fun to write!!! I'm really excited to actually get around to writing it. I've been planning some out as ideas have come (mainly at meals when I've had a few extra minutes and my notebook with me). I have huge plans for certain characters and I am greatly excited about that... particularly for Aislynn Celeste. I know what I'm going to do with her and how I'm bringing her into the story.

This piece is going to involve a lot of my characters, not only from second generation, but also from first generation and from abroad. Like the teachers at Riverdale (Laura Clarkson, Hugh Avery, Ackerman and Sharpe are the only ones metioned specifically) will be making appearances or be in the story. Peter Screwtape is the principal of RHS. Dr. Shasthri (Kiran's aunt) was Sharpe's university physics professor. I'm not sure what she'll be doing in the story, but it'll be interesting. Callisto, Ali and Donovan live in the UK. Sophia is from Arizona, but she knows Donovan. Ming, Kiran and Nate are all from New York. Laura Clarkson is originally from Texas and Aislynn's originally from Canada somewhere. Sharpe was born on the East Coast, but moved to California when he was a teenager. I'm pretty sure most of the other characters are SF Bay Area California local.

Oh, do I love playing around with symbolism, allegory and the meanings of names!!!

Since other characters come into this story, I guess I should mention the sister schools. There's four of them.

Maplewood Academy:
Location: California.
School Colors: Burgandy and Silver
Mascot: Gryphon
Known Students: Sharpe, Tetsuya Takahashi, Shaun Ackerman, Jonathan and Jeremiah Liu, Rose and Felicia McGonigall, Mac O'Brien (et al.)
History: Was founded in 1953. First Dean of Students was Angel Carlston. Lost ability to exist due to lack of funding and was forced to close in Spring of 1999. Campus is now the site of Riverdale High School.
Culture: Maplewood is the only one of the four schools that is not a boarding school. It schools kids from sixth through twelfth grade. Uniforms are required.

Northpointe Academy:
Location: Canada
School Colors: Dark Purple and White
Mascot: Falcon
Known Students: Aislynn Celeste (also her father)
History: Northpointe was founded in 1950.
Culture: Most students here are exceptional at various forms of art. School uniforms are not required for most purposes. Classes are taught in both French and English; nearly all students who attend are bilingual. This is a mandatory boarding school: starting at age ten, students are offered dormitory rooms to share with others their age.

Melanthios Boarding School:
Location: New York
School Colors: Green and Black
Mascot: Vikings
Known Students: Kiran Shasthri, Nate Winters, Ming-yue Tam (et al.)
History: Founded in 1909, Melanthios is by far the oldest of the four schools in the coalition.
Culture: Melanthios places a high priority on academics. They accept students from seventh through twelfth grade with suggested (but optional) boarding. School uniforms are casual, but must be worn to most classes and on special occasions. When students are not in uniform, there is a fairly strict dress code to follow. Classes are small and there are approximately 500 students attending Melanthios at any given point; about 450 of those are boarding students. Melanthios was originally only a boarding school, but opened its doors in 1972 to become open to daytime students, as well (hence its full name).

Alcantha Instructional Institution:
Location: Northern England
School Colors: Navy Blue and Gold
Mascot: Sharks
Known Students: Callisto and Ali Verity, Hana Rei, Donovan Isaacs (et al.)
History: Alcantha was founded in 1949 and houses students mostly from the UK.
Culture: If nothing else, they're strict. To attend Alcantha, boarding is required. Students must wear uniforms at all times outside the dorms, except if official permission is given; they are not allowed to wander the halls at night and there are many more rules. Many students who attend here come from rich families. Alcantha leans neither towards academics nor arts nor athletics.