Dark Redemption: Overview

"Jake! Are you sure this is a good idea?" The sound of Alannah's hiss barely made it to the freckled boy's ears. Alannah, better known as Al, frowned and narrowed her eyes as she placed the bracelet around her left wrist.

"Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"This had better work!" She glared over at her best friend, who could only smile. This was the moment he'd been waiting years for, but Al wasn't so sure. Both teenagers closed their eyes and plunged into the darkness. Moments later, Jake opened his eyes and blinked.

"Uhm, Al?" He looked around for any sign of his best friend, but all he saw was a cloaked figure who was quite a bit taller than he was and obviously male. He turned towards the being. "I don't think we're in Gale's Games anymore..."

And so the adventure begins...

As the dynamic duo begins to travel the world of Almendrim, strange things begin to happen. There's a war brewing in Sininen over who's going to be the next ruler of the free world and there have been rumours in the East that an ancient magic is growing more and more powerful. Back in the "real world", things start to go awry and a young mage who possesses the ability to travel between planes tells Al and Jake that the fates of both worlds are intertwined. Even worse, Kwaitkowski's research manager told them that they only have a set amount of time in the virtual world. Can Al, Jake and the others find a way to stop this terrible force from being released and get back to their world before time runs out?

In this epic tale, you'll see a variety of old friends, such as Ashiaro, an experienced ranger; Eirhian, a jaded healer who has her own agenda; Mark, a young bounty hunter; Tem, a snarky mage who can control time; and Synistra, an ancient being with an insatiable desire to unlock the secrets of the past.

You'll also meet new characters, such as Ceryn, a young female assassin who's too pretty for her own good; Rochben, a knight who is committed to upholding justice... and of course Alannah, Jake and the rest of their friends and family.

Stay tuned for more information!

Return of Digit Island!~

Well, I'm thinking about resurrecting Digit Island yet again, albeit with some changes and some alterations to character histories so that they don't all know each other. <_<

Scene: An abandoned stone courtyard. The sun has gone down and there is a chill in the air. Two humanoid figures are facing one another. The taller one, clearly belonging to a male, is sitting and the shorter, standing a short distance away, hands on her hips.

"Are you sure these are the seven?" the female asked, her voice incredulously high, especially for her. "They look... weak."

The other figure spoke a few sharp words in his native tongue. "They are human, Tem," he replied, switching back over to common. "It is the will of the High Council that this be done and as part of your discipline-"

Before he could continue, the one addressed as Tem interrupted. "Yeah, yeah. I know," she narrowed her eyes. "I just don't think they'll be ready when the time comes. But don't say I didn't warn you."

The man stood up, taking some effort to push himself into a standing position. "Take the twins with you," he replied, his voice barely audible, even in the dead silence of the night. "They'll remind you not to lose faith in humanity... yet."

Enter Isaiah and Jeremiah Lewis, age 19.

"We're going to be late for classes!" Isaiah grabbed his bookbag and ran out the door, dragging his brother behind him. Today was the first day of classes at Veritas Academy and the older of the twins had his introduction to engineering class in less than five minutes. Jeremiah, as usual, was lagging behind.

"Just hold on... there's no need to rush," Jeremiah grabbed his notebook and managed to barely get his set of house keys out of the lock before he was yanked away. Another typical morning to another typical day, right? Wrong.

"Hey! You two. You're with me today." Isaiah frowned; he'd heard that familiar voice before and it always meant trouble was close behind. Before either of the brothers could say anything, they were whisked off to a campsite. Tem was up to her usual tricks again.

Meet the Chosen Seven:

SCOTT ADAMS, your average fifteen-year-old high school student from California who enjoys theater, hanging out with his friends and just generally having a good time,
SAMANTHA ADAMS, Scott's twin sister who is an avid storyteller and a caring friend,
NATHANIEL "NATE" WINTERS, Scott and Sam's fourteen-year-old cousin who is originally from New York who has an aptitude for technology and setting things on fire,
KIRAN SHASTHRI, one of Nate's best friends from school who wants to be a medical missionary when she grows up and is rarely seen without her flute,
MICHAEL LIU, a quiet fourteen-year-old with a mysterious past,
KEITH CHANDLER, a thirteen-year-old kid from eastern Washington who talks to inanimate objects and lastly,
EDWARD McALLISTAIR, a sixteen-year-old football player from Texas with a superiority complex to boot.

Together under Tem's instruction and the watchful eyes of Isaiah and Jeremiah Lewis, can these seven young teenagers work together to save Digit Island before it falls? Or will Tem's skepticism about the strength of humanity prove accurate once again?

Quick Update

So, I just wanted to let you know where I've been recently. No, I haven't been writing much at all, at least nothing fictional and really not much worth reading. I've just gotten back into working on A Duel of Wits and am probably about a third of the way through part four. This part is far more difficult because at least two characters are in this scene and I'm not used to writing either of them! And Sharpe isn't making anything better, as he is not cooperating very well with me right now.

And as a completely random side-note that has nothing to do with writing, I didn't know that tone of voice could carry over the internet like it does. Actually, that doesn't surprise me too much. When I'm writing (yes, I'm going to tie this in!), characters all have very distinct voices and tones that they use and I can picture them talking when I'm writing things down. So it doesn't surprise me much that I can pick up on vocal intonation of real people in writing~

A Duel of Wits, Part Three

Part Three of A Duel of Wits.

I finally was able to get internet access when I had my computer. Hoorah for taking the laptop down to campus and getting wi-fi at the library!!! So, here you go and I hope you enjoy this. =)

Part One // Part Two

Rated: G

Candace could have kicked herself in the shins for being that wrong. Nearly four and a half hours later, she walked into the staff break room with the sandwich she’d just purchased from the cafeteria. The rest of her morning had been unusually uneventful, other than having to warn Katie Myst and Ronald Flinn to stop talking during class. Come to think of it, even Emiko Takahashi had been more than well-behaved during class. As she entered the lounge, she spotted Shaun Ackerman conversing with Laura Clarkson and Hugh Avery in hushed tones. Not far away, Josiah Alton, the once biology teacher and now administrator, ate his lunch – a cup of soup – in determined silence.

Upon seeing Candace, Josiah motioned over towards her. Relieved to not feel compelled to enter into whatever gossip Laura was spreading, Candace took the seat next to Alton. After a moment of silence, she began to eat her lunch.

“Did you hear what Takahashi’s been planning?” The question from Josiah came as Candace took the first bite of her sandwich. The slightly older administrator smiled. “Go ahead and finish before you answer.”

It took a moment for Candace to swallow the bite she’d just taken. “I take it that you’ve talked to Peter about it?” When Josiah nodded, Candace continued, her voice indignant. “He’s just about the most selfish, arrogant jerk who’s ever lived and I don’t think he cares about anyone else, even that brat of a daughter of his!” In all truth, her heart ached for Emiko, but she refused to admit that aloud. The sophomore caused way more problems in classes than any other student.

Josiah set his soup spoon down and frowned slightly. “Have you talked to Sharpe yet?” There was a short pause. “He has just as much experience and rank as Shaun does and Peter seems to hold him in high esteem.”

Candace shook her head. “Peter said not to, so no.” The clipped tone of her voice told Alton that there was more to her words than she was saying. “And I don’t think he’ll be at the staff meeting later, either.” As succinctly as she could, she told Alton what had happened earlier.

“Unless Peter has something to say that Jedediah hasn’t heard before, I really doubt there’s any reason for him to attend the meeting, other than to help keep the peace.” A grim smirk played across Alton’s face and Candace noticed that Josiah was probably just about the only person she’d ever met who used Sharpe’s first name.

“To keep the peace,” Candace echoed. “If things go how I think they might, you’ll probably be the one doing most of that.” She glanced over at Hugh Avery, making eye contact with the pre-calculus teacher for a short moment before turning back to Alton. “You know most of the staff does not agree with either of us, but I doubt they would want the school closing, either.” She dropped the level of her voice down to a low whisper in an attempt to avoid being overheard. Avery glanced over in their direction, but continued in his own conversation.

Josiah nodded. “Becky already promised she’d support whatever decisions I made, provided that I do everything in my power to keep Maplewood operating and I already know where you stand on this... and where Shaun does.” He took a moment to glance over at Ackerman. “Hugh’s likely to go along with whatever Amy decides, as is Laura, though she’s a bit more easily persuaded.”

“And Takahashi’s damn good at getting people to like him.” Bile rose up in Candace’s throat and Avery turned to glance over at them. “And to listen to what he has to say.” She didn’t feel the need to explain herself... both she and Josiah had known Tetsuya since he had been a student of theirs and he’d changed very little over the years. In fact, Candace firmly held the belief that few people truly changed through the years, particularly those after a person graduated high school.

“That’s what I’m concerned about,” Josiah replied. “With the exceptions of us, Hugh, Shaun, Jedediah, Helen, Lynn, Anthony and Jason, we have a pretty young staff here. Amy’s still young, but she has a good head on her shoulders, as does Julia. I trust them to make the right decision for the students.” His smirk turned into a frown and he glanced towards Laura once more. She was still talking to Ackerman. Hugh Avery was nowhere to be seen and Alton assumed he left the staff lounge. “The rest... well, I’m not so sure.” He took another few bites of soup. “But it’ll all work out in the end, I suppose.”

“How can you be sure?” Much to Josiah’s chagrin, this question did not come from Candace Pruitt. While Alton and Candace had been speaking in hushed tones, Sharpe had entered the staff lounge and was now standing directly behind where Josiah sat. Hugh Avery took the empty seat on the opposite side of Candace.

“I just know,” Josiah glanced up to make eye contact with Sharpe. “Call it a result of faith; call it wishful thinking; call it whatever you want, but I just know everything will somehow work out. Even if it’s not in the way we expect.” He motioned for Sharpe to take a seat and the Latin teacher obliged and sat down. “How long have you been standing there, anyways?”

“Approximately ten minutes, which was sufficient time for me to know the entire contents of your conversation,” Sharpe admitted after a moment. “I walked in just after Candace mentioned Miss Takahashi.”

“So it’s true then?” Hugh Avery had turned towards Candace, choosing to engage her in conversation instead of actively listen to Sharpe make up a good excuse for eavesdropping. He was sure he’d hear about it later. “Tetsuya’s really trying to close the school down?”

Candace narrowed her eyes at the teacher who had once been one of her students. “Yes, but you’d better keep that voice of yours down,” she hissed. Years of teaching had made her far more imposing as an authority figure; anywhere else she probably would not be heeded, due to her small stature. “Peter doesn’t want anyone to know yet, not even the heads or the senior faculty members.”

Avery frowned. “So I guess I’d better pretend this never happened, eh?” Only the slight twinkle in his blue eyes contradicted his apparent seriousness towards the situation.

Candace gave one brief nod. “Josiah and I are the only ones who should,” here she emphasised this word, “know. However, both you and Sharpe and only God knows who all else do. So you’d best shut that mouth of yours, Avery.” It was rare for Candace to call any of the teachers – other than Sharpe – by surname only.

Sharpe nodded at what Josiah said. “I apologise, but as you know, I have sufficient motivation to be concerned, given the situation and who is involved,” his voice was lower than Candace’s voice had been earlier. “As should everyone else.” He paused for a moment and glanced around the room, his dark eyes settling their attention on the clock. “If you will excuse me, I have a few last-minute preparations I must make before class this afternoon. I must make my apologies that I shall be late to the meeting this afternoon, but Peter should start without me.” With that, he took his leave and exited the lounge.

The older teacher frowned. The scientific part of him was so curious to find out what prior engagements Sharpe had after school that would cause him to miss such an important meeting, but his common sense told him it was a bad idea to ask. If it was meant to be, he’d find out. But first, he had to get through the rest of the afternoon, including an appointment with Amy to meet the new IT manager for the school district.

tbc

Quick Updates

So... I finished part three, but I don't have a USB device to bring it to a computer with internet access and therefore, it won't get posted until I do. Sorry about that. Until then, I shall tell you a few things I have realised about characters and writing in general, just to prove that I have not fallen off the face of this spinning planet.

1. Seven McAllistair used to attend Northpointe Academy, where he knew Aislynn Celeste, Rem and Seneca Argentium and Keith Chandler. He is now the IT manager for the school district and works with maitaining the Maplewood Academy webpage and other technological stuff.

2. Rembrandt Argentium and Aislynn Celeste knew each other quite well when they were still in school. In fact, they were in a relationship at one point, which Aislynn broke off for an unknown reason.

3. Tyler Martin and Victoria Chapel are Rule Enforcers (similar to hall monitors) at Maplewood. This is a bit surprising because normally, tenth graders aren't allowed. Apparently they really needed a few good members.

4. There's quite a bit more to Emiko than what meets the eye at first. Even more than I'd ever imagined.

5. Hugh Avery was one of the SATs (basically teacher's assistants) while in high school.

6. Candace calls just about everyone by their first name, except for Sharpe. Alton calls Sharpe by his first name. Hugh Avery also usually calls people by first name only, but Sharpe uses surnames for people.

Hmm... and I think that's all I wanted to share. Hopefully I'll have regular computer access within a week or so or I'll be able to find my USB so that I can upload stories. <_<

A Duel of Wits, Part Two

Go read Part One if you haven't already done so. This is a continuation of the same storyline.

Characters: Sharpe, Michael, Emiko, Fellowship, Candace Pruitt, Peter Screwtape
Rated: G

“What was that all about?” The quiet query came from Tyler Martin and the tall African American boy sat back in his chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the black countertop. However, before Michael could answer, Sharpe re-entered the room, followed by an older-looking woman. There was a frown on her face and she was speaking in hushed tones to Sharpe.

“Yes, I am aware of that, Candace,” Sharpe’s voice was equally as quiet and Michael had to strain his ears to pick up even that much of their conversation over the sounds of Katie Myst talking excitedly to Kiran Shasthri, the latter choosing to ignore the perky cheerleader. “You must also remember that I have personal business to which to attend this afternoon.” Absently, he removed a small object from his pocket, gave it one glance and returned it to its original position.

Candace was frowning, her already thin lips pulled into a line. “Not that again, I hope.” Though she was at least a head shorter than Sharpe, her presence was imposing, especially as she glared at him through her spectacles, which were pushed down on the bridge of her nose. “Peter will not be pleased and that will not be beneficial for anyone involved.” She paid little attention to any of the students who were in the classroom, especially since most of them had gone back to their normal activities of passing notes and exchanging answers to the homework for Ackerman’s history class.

Sharpe nodded. “I understand, but I have obligations at four o’clock this afternoon.”

“What time will they be done?” Candace tapped her foot against the tiled floor a few times, an old habit of hers that she’d picked up from her roommate at university. Or maybe Priya had picked the habit up from her; Candace didn’t know and right now, it was not important.

The younger of the two shrugged. “I do not know,” he replied simply, his dark glance circling around the room before returning to Candace. “But as a teacher, I have given students my word that I will be present if I am needed.” There was an awkward pause and he turned back to face some of his homeroom students, making eye contact for a brief moment with Emiko Takahashi. “They need me more than Peter does. Now, if you will excuse me, we can talk about this later.” With that, he crossed over to the front of the room, leaving Candace standing near the door in the back.

The older woman frowned slightly, then walked out of the room, shaking her head. Getting Sharpe– and many of the other younger teachers– to come to these meetings was just about as bad as giving Saami (her cat) a bath. But this meeting was something that was absolutely necessary if they were ever going to resolve their differences and figure out how to save the school. A small muscle near the corner of her mouth twitched. Perhaps Maplewood was not meant to be saved, even by her. As Candace thought about it, it made her sad; the further she walked from the small classroom that Sharpe held his classes in, the more she realised that this might be the end of everything. All that she had worked for all these years might come crashing down, just because some of her co-workers were too immature to swallow their pride and just cooperate with one another. No, she could not let that happen. She would not.

Her resolve steadily increased and firmed itself until she walked into the building that held the offices. She searched her memory in an attempt to figure out why Peter was calling this assembly. Did it have something to do with the school board meeting that she had missed the week before? She knew something must have been said– by Testuya Takahashi, no doubt– and the teacher frowned to herself. Tetsuya had been one of her students back when he was in high school and the chemistry teacher was even the least bit surprised to find that the man had not changed. Before, he was the president of the Student Council; now, a politician who had much power over the school board of Maplewood Academy.

With each passing second, she could feel her heart pound in her chest. She had gone to meet Peter several times before, so why was today any different? She reached out to knock on the door, but it was already part-way open.

“Come in, Candace,” a nasal voice sounded from inside. The voice unmistakably belonged to Peter Screwtape, the principal of Maplewood Academy. “There’s some things we need to talk about before the staff meeting.”

Candace let herself into the rather spacious office that Peter had claimed for himself as soon as Mark Wheeler had vacated his position. “You know I had family obligations the night of the board meeting,” she began, but before she could continue, Peter held up his hand. After a few moments of standing near the doorway, Candace entered the room and took a seat, sitting perfectly upright in her chair. “But I hope that Mr. Takahashi hasn’t gotten his head turned upside-down yet.”

The corners of Peter’s lips turned up the smirk that Candace knew all too well. “Basically, yes,” he admitted. “You know how Tetsuya is, though. I seem to recall you mentioning that he was in your class when he was still a kid.”

The chemistry teacher nodded. She had been teaching at Maplewood for over a quarter of a century and she’d seen her fair share of students pass through the halls, easily learn the rules to name chemical compounds and several tricks to solving the mathematical problems associated with the physical sciences, but fail to learn what she’d termed as the important lessons of high school. “More stubborn than the rest of us put together,” Candace offered. Perhaps Peter didn’t need Sharpe, but Candace felt she did. The younger man always knew how to stand up to the principal.

Peter tilted his head downwards and it was a full minute and a half until he made eye contact with Candace again. “Candace, you must not tell any of the other teachers about this until the meeting, but Takahashi wants the school to close down.” As soon as those words came from Peter’s mouth, Candace paled. There was no possible way this day could get worse, was there?

tbc

Character Theme Songs

So, yesterday my sister and I were talking about character theme songs. I was thinking about some of my characters and what theme songs they would have. So... here goes nothing! Oh, and some of these characters have more than one song.

Scott Adams

"Gibberish" by Relient K
Reason? It just fits him. Plus, my roommate made me sit down and listen to the song and one of the first things I thought of was how well it would fit Scott.
Lyrics
Youtube

Samantha Adams

"Friends" by Michael W. Smith
Reason? In one of my earliest stories, my characters were all going off to college at different schools. Sam gave Michael a CD with this song on it and told him that he'd better listen to it.
Lyrics
Youtube
"Shine" by Newsboys
Reason? It's a little off the norm (like Sam), but it talks about being a witness with your actions.
Lyrics
Youtube

Emiko Takahashi

"Always Have, Always Will" by Avalon
Reason? There are parts in her life that she really does want to obey and do what she ought to do, but there are also parts in her life where she rebels against her father and/or against common sense. This song talks about the story of the prodigal son.
Lyrics
Youtube (Disclaimer: There were only about 2 videos for this song. I chose the one that fits Emiko better.)

Johannah Liu

"Does Anybody Hear Her?" by Casting Crowns
Reason? Fits her perfectly. I don't think I need to say more because her story comes out in Snapshots. This is also one of my favorite songs.
Lyrics
Youtube

Kiran Shasthri

"Jesus Freak" by dcTalk
Reason? The line "I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak" really shows how she lives her life. She's not afraid to talk about anything relating to Christianity... no matter what situation she finds herself in.
Lyrics
Youtube

Sharpe

"Stained Glass Masquerade" by Casting Crowns
Reason? I have a whole playlist dedicated to him, but this song is the one that's been standing out in my mind. This is one of the two main reasons why he refuses to go back to church (though he eventually breaks his promise).
Lyrics
Youtube
Other songs on this particular playlist that I think fit him pretty well are "In the End" (Linkin Park), "Everybody's Fool" (Evanescence) and "Facade" (Jerkyll and Hyde soundtrack). I'm not linking to any of these; if you want to read the lyrics or hear the songs, you're going to have to look them up for yourself. Sorry.

Nate Winters

"Fireproof" by Pillar
Reason? Inside joke with Nate and I couldn't resist. One thing that you must know about Nate is that he has always been a bit of a pyromaniac. Musical style of this song also fits
Lyrics
Youtube

Callisto Verity

"The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World
Reason? She's usually looked down upon by being too young for whatever she tries to do and spends her life living in the shadows of the "big kids".
Lyrics
Youtube

These are just a few songs that remind me of my characters. I'd really like to get a better list together someday. I'm still trying to find good ones for characters like Michael, Hideaki and several other additional characters from my list of characters who are more prominent.

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.

Alternate Universe

So... last night I was thinking about the alternate universe and here are a few things I've come up with.

1. Maplewood Academy is still in existence. A few of the teachers from Maplewood are still there (ie, Candace Pruitt, Josiah Alton). Yes, they were characters at RHS, so that's not too odd.

This presents a bit of a problem, as Maplewood required Latin for all its students. There is no Latin teacher at RHS (he retired around 1990, which is about fifteen years before Once Upon an AU takes place).
My solution? Well, we know that Sharpe is fluent in Latin (and took at least three years of it in university). I'd like to get him teaching Latin. But that would leave us without a chemistry teacher at RHS, right? Wrong. Both Candace Pruitt and Josiah Alton are definitely capable of teaching science classes. Candace used to be the chemistry teacher at Maplewood (in the CU), whereas Josiah taught biology. Neither of them really teach anymore by the time the RHS stories take place. Candace is working in the office as the vice-principal and Josiah works with other administration stuff... and occasionally substitutes for other teachers.

2. Hideaki needs to transfer to Maplewood partway through the year. He can't be there in the beginning, but he has to come into the storyline somehow.

If he does end up staying with the Liu family, this could potentially be interesting. This takes place their sophomore year of high school, which would mean that Kiran is staying with Michael's family. If Hideaki joined them, there would be seven kids in the house; that's quite a lot!
If this was not AU, this could cause some potential problems with the general timeline of the other stories. Hideaki isn't supposed to get to know anyone in the fellowship (Michael, Scott, Sam, etc.) until the end of their junior year. However, he does know Emiko quite well by that point.

3. Keith Chandler, Aislynn Celeste, Rem Argentium and Seven McAllistair?

I need to figure out some way to bring these four characters in. Aislynn helps Hugh Avery run the after-school math program at RHS, so she'd probably do something similar at Maplewood. I was thinking that Rem Argentium is the new history teacher. I am not so sure about Seven and what he could do, other than he could potentially come in and fix computers or something like that. And... Keith. I have no idea where he's going to come in. Same thing with some of the Alcanthan students (ie, Callisto Verity, Hana Rei and Donovan Isaacs... and some of their friends).

4. Since this is the AU, then I can give my characters cool powers... maybe. Or maybe not. *shrugs* I've been debating back and forth with that for quite some time and weighing the pros against the cons of the situation.

I already know that Seven has a photographic memory, but that's not too special. And he's always had that; it was part of his original character concept. I'll have to figure out how "realistic" I want to make it. The more realistic it ends up being, the fewer characters who are able to do crazy things will be running around. Though a certain character still needs the ability to disguise herself extremely well...

And those are just a few of the things I've been thinking of recently. Hopefully this piece might actually get written for once, instead of just sitting there with nothing to do. But it'll all depend on how much I figure out about this particular version of the AU I want to build.

KC

So... I finally figured out where Keith comes from and how he's connected to the rest of what I've written thus far. That requires a little bit of background info, though.

In the chess story I am planning out, various students at RHS are competing for the top slot in the school, but I've never really said what that means. Whoever wins the RHS final match will meet the school champion from Northpointe Academy. The Northpointe champion is Keith Chandler.

This actually makes a lot of sense because he's told me that he knows Rem Argentium (who graduated from Northpointe) and I know he's related to Aislynn. She tends to mimic other people's physical looks and mannerisms, but he does that with personality and quirks, so it would make sense if they're related.

The champion between RHS and Northpointe will then go onto play against the champion of the Alcantha vs. Melanthios match. Hmm... this makes me wonder if Callisto is going to show up somewhere because both she and Hana (Emiko's half-sister) go to Alcantha. I don't know yet.

But I was sitting at some meal over the past couple of days when I realised where KC comes in. It was totally wierd because I did not know that before. Yes, most people call him KC.

I still don't know where Seven McAllistair comes into all of this. I know he's really good with computers and it wouldn't surprise me if he had also gone to Northpointe at one point or another. Northpointe is located in British Columbia, Canada; it's a magnet school for the gifted and talented, especially those who live up north and on the western half of the USA. Melanthios works the same way for those who live on the East Coast and Alcantha is similar for those who live in (or around) the UK.

Hoorah for random new characters and the fact that they actually fit into the story!!!

Checkmate!

So, I was playing chess last night with a friend of mine and an idea came to me. Chess has an important place in almost everything that I write, so I was thinking about bringing it in one major time and uniting a lot of my characters, especially those from the younger generation.

Later, I should probably get out my chess set and actually play out various games or something.

Scene: The Intrascholastic Chess Tournament
Universe: Alternate Universe
Location: Riverdale High School gymnasium
Finalists: Michael Liu, Emiko Takahashi, Evan Saunders, Hideaki Sato
Coach: Sharpe

Four advance to the finals.
Going into finals (by points scored):
First Place: Hideaki Sato (x)
Second Place: Michael Liu (x-5)
Third Place: Evan Saunders (x-7)
Fourth Place: Emiko Takahashi (x-8)
Whoever wins a game will advance to the next round.
X is an arbitrary positive integer.

First Round:
Evan Saunders (white) vs. Emiko Takahashi (black)
Verdict: Emiko ends up beating Evan Saunders. Her strategy is to develop her pawns and bishops, whereas Evan plays heavily with knights, rooks and often his queen. At the end of the game, one of Emiko's pawns reaches the end of the board and turns into a queen, forcing checkmate and ending the game.

Second Round:
Michael Liu (white) vs. Emiko Takahashi (black)
Verdict: Midway though the game, Michael checks Emiko's king with one of his rooks. Her queen captures the rook (eliminating the threat), but one of Michael's knights captures Emiko's queen. A few moves later, he lost his queen to one of Emiko's bishops. At the end of the game, Emiko has a bishop and a knight, while Michael has a rook and two bishops out on the board. You can probably guess how this ends.

Third Round:
Michael Liu (white) vs. Hideaki Sato (black)
Verdict: Unknown. None of the characters will tell me what happened yet, which makes me think it ends in a stalemate.


In other news (which is completely off-topic!), I came up with a new character idea. I don't know what he's like or where he fits into the story, but here's what I have of him so far...

Name: Keith Chandler (aka KC)
Age: 15
Race: Human (at least, he'd better be!)
Gender: Male
Appearance: Straight hair that is long enough to be tied back into a pony-tail (slightly longer than shoulder-length). Always wears a scarf and gloves of some type. Usually wears either regular glasses or sunglasses.
Quirks: Tends to adopt mannerisms of people he is around. Doesn't wear a watch, but can tell the time within a minute.
Pets: Lewis, a gold dust day gecko (rather on the larger side)

Other than that, I really don't know anything about him yet. There is definitely a chance that he knows Rem Argentium, which would tie him into Once Upon an AU. But I really don't know for sure yet. KC's brand-new, so there are still a lot of mysteries about him that I don't yet know.

But he's a character who knows a heck of a lot more than he's saying, which is really starting to irk me!

Edited to Add: I know where KC comes in. And I know what happens at the end of the RHS chess tournament. Hideaki doesn't want to participate in the Interscholastic Chess Championship, so he forfeits to Michael. Michael doesn't want to do it, either; he just wanted to see whether or not he could beat Hideaki. So Emiko ends up playing. And I think I'm going to let Sharpe narrate this piece, even if it's from a third-person POV.

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.

A Little about Emiko

First thing, in honor of April Fools Day (which was yesterday), A Good Idea? is a piece I wrote back in 2007.

In more serious business (which isn't the reason why I'm up at this hour), but I've been thinking a lot about Emiko Takahashi recently... most specifically how she gets along with her fellow classmates and the teachers at RHS, as well as her parents and half-sister.

Scott Adams: No one in the fellowship likes Emiko Takahashi and Scott especially dislikes her. Because of his social status, he has a difficult time. He could easily be a member of the popular crowd, so he feels like he has to give Emiko a chance because of this, but he also knows that none of his friends feel the same way towards her. Scott's attitude is such that he often believes the best in people, unless they give him a really good reason to believe otherwise. So he can't help extending that to Emiko... to some extent. However, he gets really angry with her when she bullies his friends.
Samantha Adams: Out of everyone in the fellowship, Sam harbors an especially strong dislike (bordering on hate) towards Emiko. She just can't seem to accept the fact that Emiko just might become part of their group later on and she doesn't see why Michael puts up with Emiko.
Evan Saunders: It's said that the only person who has gotten into a physical fight with Emiko Takahashi and actually won was Evan Saunders. Evan hates the fact that Emiko likes picking on his friends (and on the other students) and he'll stand up to her, even when no one else will.
Hideaki Sato: Hideaki is probably Emiko's only real friend. The two of them met at Japanese school and he'll do almost anything for her and she for him. Hideaki was the one who originally taught Emiko how to play chess and he's one of the few people she actually respects. Much later in the storyline, they end up dating.
Tetsuya Takahashi: The relationship that Tetsuya has with his only daughter is rocky at the best of times. He tends to be very controlling of those around him and Emiko is no exception. However, what he soesn't take into account is that Emiko is very much like her mother and rebellious at the core. This drives Tetsuya and his daughter apart even further, leading to severe consequences for everyone involved.
Katie Myst: Katie is originally a character from the AU. She's one of the cheerleaders and hangs with the popular crowd. She knows Tyler by association (and knows he's a Christian) and has a crush on Michael. Surprisingly, Katie and Emiko don't get along very well. While Katie is very perky, Emiko hangs with the almost punk kids within the popular crowd. They argue constantly when they're forced to work together. However, both have adopted the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend ally". Katie is able to make the fellowship miserable in ways that Emiko never could... or would.
Sharpe: Sharpe and Emiko have a very interesting relationship and this is mostly because of what happened between Sharpe and Tetsuya when they were in school and because of the AU. For some reason (this differs whether the story is AU or not), Sharpe feels it necessary to keep an eye out for Emiko. He does this quite well, but he enjoys seeing how she will react if he does certain things. As with most things, this goes both ways and Emiko constantly pushes Sharpe. Things really start to go downhill when Michael tells Sharpe that Hideaki and Emiko are dating.
Michael Liu: I'm really not sure how Michael relates to Emiko. He doesn't particularly like her, but he doesn't harbor a strong dislike towards her, either... at least not outwardly. Michael is the kind of person who will stand up for what he believes, but he also won't argue if he doesn't think it will do any good. This is probably why he doesn't argue much with Emiko. Oddly enough, there is some amount of mutual respect between the two, but to anyone who knows them, it is more like a stalemate. Emiko knows she'll be in major trouble if she crosses the line with Michael and he knows the same thing about her. But when Hideaki and Emiko start dating, everything changes.

NB: The whole Hideaki/Emiko story doesn't take place until the fellowship are all college students. Michael basically flips out at Hideaki (they're roommates at the time). Michael's having a hard time with this and needs to talk to someone and for some reason, he doesn't want to talk to his parents. Since he's not talking to Samantha and Scott's studying abroad, the next most logical choice is Sharpe.

Shiny New Character!

Introducing brand-new, shiny character! I got an idea for a story when I was sitting in CORE lecture and this character won't leave, so I figured I should write a little bit down about him.

Tarachand doesn't exactly live in our world. Instead, he lives in Almedrim (Seleweno, Sininen, to be mroe exact) and he's a member of a monastic community. He's about seventeen years of age and has been living there for about a dozen years.

Their culture is very different from ours. They count the years by solstices and the way the twin moons align in the sky. The monastery is dedicated to a monotheistic religion, worshipping Anilfirin (Elven name). The Tamesians are the ethnic people from which the Winged Raiders com.


Character Name: Tarachand Paras (“Tarachand” is Sanskrit for “star”, “Paras” is Sanskrit for “touchstone”.) I do really enjoy using Sanskrit names.

Birth Date: Morning after Winter Solstice. Lunn and Carn were aligned (during Solstice, they are only aligned every third Solstice). He is currently about seventeen.

Place of Birth: Sobotaj, Sininen. This is one of the southeastern most communities and it is under the constant threat of war from the Dark Elves and raids by the Winged Raiders.

Residence: Monastery of Anilfirin in Seleweno, about twenty miles north of Cynelic

Race: Human, possibly tainted by Tamesian blood somewhere up the line.

Height: Five foot, ten inches.

Weight: ~150 pounds

Clothing Sizes / Styles: He tends to wear loose clothing and mostly long robes, which is what everyone wears at the monastery. When he has his choice, he will remove his outer robes, preferring a simple tunic and pants instead. His clothing is well-worn and patched in many places and with all sorts of colours of cloth.

Hair Color: Almost black. He is from the south eastern region of Sininen and they tend to be darker.

Hair Length: Straight and long enough to pull back into a ponytail. He tends to braid it at night so that it will not tangle.

Eye Color: Dark with golden flecks around the rim, signifying that he has Tamesian blood in him and is an outcast because of that.

Handedness: Right-handed. Everyone in their monastery has been forced to be right-handed, at least to write and eat.

Jewelry: None. No jewelry is allowed at the monastery.

General Appearance: Tarachand is of approximately average height, weight and build for a young human male. His dark hair reaches down well past his shoulders and is fairly fine. He often keeps this tied back. His skin is pale compared to his family, but naturally darker than the others at the monastery and it has a slightly jaundiced tint, due to the small bit of Tamesian heritage he has.
The clothing he wears is worn and tattered around the edges. His hands are perpetually covered in ink stains and often, he will walk around the monastery without shoes on, especially during the summer.

Relationship with Family: Tarachand doesn’t really know his real family because he was dropped off at the monastery when he was a small child to be placed under the care of Ahbahs Nirav (the Abbot). He considers Nirav to be a father to him and their relationship is very close.

Key Family / Relatives: Ahbahs Nirav

Relationship with Friends: Jahangir is one of the other members of the monastery. He is almost heretical for his beliefs and enjoys questioning the practices of the others. He is somewhat rash in his ways and stands up for what he thinks is right. One way that he dissents from the main group is that he believes that there is beauty in everything, not just in the culture of the monastery. Seeing truth and beauty in the pagan beliefs is more than enough to put him at odds with Tarachand, who has grown up believing everything that Nirav has told him to be true.
~Ellywn is a female wanderer who has settled down for a short time just outside of the monastery. Originally from Cynelic, she was taken in by Elven adoptive parents (their own children had long since left home) when she was a child after her parents died of the plague (similar to influenza). When she was sixteen, she left home and has been travelling since then. She is fairly caring, though she recognizes that life can be stripped away from people in an instant, so she tends not to form emotional bonds to people easily.
~Ahbahs Nirav, or simply Nirav, is the Abbot of the monastery. He is about eighty-five years of age as humans reckon time and he has cared for Tarachand since the boy was young. As the head of the monastery, he is in-charge of and responsible for everything that goes on there. He adheres strongly to the old traditions, even if they are considered out-of-date by some of the other members. To him, there is no excuse to deviate from the law and if you do, strict punishments are to follow. However, if one follows the law, Nirav is very kind and benevolent. He prefers to teach by example, rather than speaking. There are weeks where he will only speak while in prayer to Anilfirin.

Key Friends: Jahangir, Nirav, Ellwyn

Educational History: Tarachand was schooled at the monastery since he was a young boy. He learned to read and write and the basics of mathematics. When he was twelve, he began his training as a scribe. Because he is a scribe, he has learned how to read Common and Elven, the two main written languages of Almendrim.

Work History: Scribe training from the time he was twelve until he turned fifteen. He has been a scribe at the monastery since then.

Skills: Cooking, planting, harvesting, mending, transcribing the ancient manuscripts

Bad Habits / Vices: Vanity. Despite not being able to own very much (monastery rules), he really cares about how he looks... most of the time. He is very proud of his hair, but hates his eyes.

Quirks: He tends to bite his lips together when he’s focusing really hard on something or occasionally when he is working.

Best Qualities: Follows the rules, contemplative, emotionally and mentally stable, a good worker

Worst Qualities: People pleaser, vain

Key Childhood Experiences: Not remembering his family and being dropped off at the monastery when he was about five-years-old.

Key Teenage Experiences: Meeting Ellwyn, scribe training.

Sexual Background: Everyone entering the monastery has to take a vow of celibacy, which may only be broken if said person leaves the monastery.

Personal Goals: To be able to belong somewhere and be accepted by people. Because of this, he is a people-pleaser.

Morality / Ethics: Tarachand is legalistic about following the rules of the monastery, as he was raised there. When he meets Ellwyn and begins wondering if the solitary life is right for him, he feels bad for questioning what he’s been taught all his life. Tarachand is religious and worships Anilfirin.

Style of Speech: Not as formal as Nirav, but more formal than an average human of Almendrim would speak and quite a bit more formal than a human of the Shadowlands (ie, our world) would normally talk.

Other Important Details: Other than the fact he’s a brand-new fantasy character? Really nothing.

Joint Story Characters

So, one of my friends and I decided that we should write a story together and we were each pulling characters from other things we'd written. I haven't actually written a lot of these characters very much or recently, but it should be interesting.

Lucius is from a piece that never really got off the ground. We needed a captain for the ship and he'd make a good one. Original character concept for him was medical, but I think captain fits him better... honestly. Janus is... uhm, interesting, to say the least. His real name isn't widely known, so he's usually called Janus by everyone else. I've written Kiran before quite a bit and I'm getting comfortable with her. Nate hasn't been around much recently, but he's an old character of mine and was originally in a fantasy story. Aislynn is orginally from the alternate universe... and she was originally Canadian. And Seven... well, Seven is just plain wierd. He comes from Seattle, Washington, but about 100-200 years into the future.

Lucius Touchstone

Lucius is the captain of the ship. He appears to be of northern European descent, of medium height and have rather paled features. He prefers to dress in casual clothing instead of the uniform and he holds a special hatred for dress clothing. He has an athletic build.
He is usually patient with the other members of the crew and is easy-going, but he does have his limits. There are a few rules that are his pet peeves around the ship and if you follow those, you’re good. He is celibate, but enjoys flirting. He also enjoys having a drink every now and then, though (according to Janus) he drinks too much.
Lucius possesses the ability to pass through solid objects. In other words, he can walk through walls and whatever else pleases his fancy. Since he has the tendency to run late for meetings, this can come in extremely handy at times. Originally, he was trained at helm/navigation controls.

Touchstone squirmed as he tried to sit patiently in the dress uniform. Whoever had made these things must have wanted the officers to be as uncomfortable as possible. His hair was neatly combed back and everything looked nice. He glanced at the time-keeper in the room on the star base. It read 2103 STT, which meant it was approximately 9:00 PM, standard Terran (Earth) time. He sighed; the dinner had started four hours ago. Even his patience was starting to run low and the Admiral had not yet given her speech.
“Hey, light beam,” a voice whispered over towards him. Only one person would have called him that: Lucius turned to see Maria Hernandez, the head of the science team on the SS Dreamer – the ship that had been forced to retire from service – lean over towards where he was sitting. He nodded a quick acknowledgement. “Just thought I’d let you know that it was fun serving with you. Ana’s going to miss seeing you.”
Lucius smiled as he thought of Maria’s four-year-old daughter. He had taken a liking to the little girl during their two year mission. Things would not be the same on the new ship he was going to be assigned to. For one thing, the SS Dreamer had primarily been a science research vessel, so most of the crew members aboard were devoted to the sciences, with minimal staffing in other areas. He had been the chief medical officer and the third officer – the person who usually commanded when both the captain and the first officer were detained.
The new assignment would be on the SS Veritas, which was an investigation ship. Touchstone would have frowned, but didn’t want to give Admiral Preston – Junior Admiral as though she may be – even the slightest hint that he was frowning at her speech.
“And, lastly,” Lucius breathed a sigh of relief; the Admiral was almost finished with her long-winded speech, “I would like to congratulate Commander Lucius Touchstone, who will be the First Officer of the SS Veritas.” There was applause coming from all over the room. Lucius gasped, completely shocked that he had been named as the first officer. Surely there were others with more experience than he had. “Congratulations, Commander.”
It was a full hour later when Lucius finally arrived back at the quarters he was staying in at the star base. He had started to undress when he heard a buzz that indicated someone was outside his door, waiting to see him. He slipped a grey t-shirt over his bare chest. “Come in.”
The admiral entered, still dressed as formally as ever. “I just wanted to offer my congrats, Luc,” she said with a smile. “There’s a full report coming later, but you won’t be leaving for another week. Perhaps we can get together for some coffee and chat for awhile?” The admiral’s overall demeanour had changed drastically from her formal self.
Lucius thought for a moment and nodded. “Yeah,” he said, suddenly thinking it odd that he had so many nicknames. “How about tomorrow, Sarah?” He returned the first name address just as Admiral Preston had given it, though there was a sudden clip to the tone that was unusual for him. Admiral Sarah Preston agreed. The two would meet the next day. They had so much to talk about; the cousins hadn’t seen each other since before Lucius had begun medical school. But talking could wait until later; right now, all Lucius wanted to do was catch up on some well-needed sleep.

Ophiuchus “Janus” Dylan

Orphiuchus Dylan is much better known as Janus around the crew. This is because no one knew his real name for the longest time. Occasionally, he will be called by his surname, Dylan. As an inhabitant of the desert planet, Janus’ darker skin tone helps protect him from the sun. He also has dark hair and dark eyes and is taller and thinner than an average human. He is never seen in anything not covering his arms and legs; even when he does medical exams, he usually leaves his sleeves pulled down all the way. He is used to a warmer, drier climate and gets chilled easily on the ship.
Janus is fairly anti-social and has a rather snappish bedside manner. He is easily annoyed, but slow to anger. He believes that knowing is better than not knowing and will tell his patients exactly what is going on, even if they do not want to hear. When annoyed, he gets very blunt in his mannerisms. He keeps most of his personal life hidden from the other crew members. He is a brilliant man, but difficult to work with for most people. Despite being a doctor, he tends to neglect his own physical and mental health at times.
On the ship, Janus is basically in charge of everything medical-related. He is not the ship’s counselor (that job falls to Danielle, as she is empathetic). He performs check-ups and has the power to authorize incompetence for medical reasons. He doesn’t usually fight physically, but rather chooses to heal or use his powers for defense. He is telekinetic, meaning he can move objects with his mind. He is also weakly telepathic, but he hates using this unless it’s necessary.

Janus frowned to himself, making a careful note of where each object had been laid out by the previous chief medical officer on board the ship. Whoever it had been obviously lacked any apparent reason for arranging the instruments as such. Gritting his teeth together in annoyance, he set to work, arranging things as he saw fit. With a wave of one hand – this was unnecessary – he moved the main computer monitor over to the opposite side of the room. A good doctor should be able to operate without all this fancy equipment; people from the city were ridiculously spoiled.
Just as he was finishing up, the door leading to sickbay from the main corridor opened up with a whoosh and Janus turned around. He still had not figured out how to lock the doors around here. In walked Seneca Argentium, one of the young science trainees who worked under Tiffany Aigel, one of the crew members for whom Janus held a decent amount of respect.
“Ensign.” Janus’ greeting was curt and he stood up in a less-than-graceful motion. He locked eyes with Seneca for a moment. She had absolutely no ability to hide her thoughts; even a weak telepath could easily pick up on what she was about to say. “Aigel sent you down here. Tell her things are all working.” Likely Aigel would come down later and check things out for herself... or Touchstone would. Or he might send Seylem or McAllistair. The lab tech was about to protest, but she left the room and Janus was left to his own company again. This was just how he liked it. So why had he signed up for this, again?

Kiran Shasthri

Kiran is on the shorter side of average, but still within normal height and weight range for a human. She has very dark hair, dark skin and eyes that look almost black. Her hair reaches down just past her shoulders and she usually ties it back with a bright hair tie. When not in uniform, she can be seen wearing brightly colored clothing. She also has her ears pierced.
Kiran is emotional, caring and fairly confident most of the time. She loves her friends and family more than anything else in the world. Amongst the members of the Squad, she’s fairly talkative and good at offering ideas... and asking them if they’re sure something will work. She has a fairly scientific mind and she would have gone into medical training, were it not for the discrimination on her home planet against elementalists becoming doctors. She is also known for her occasional sarcastic humor that creeps into the conversation at unexpected moments and for carrying her flute around almost everywhere with her.
As a member of the Investigation Squad, Kiran works to help uncover the mysteries of anything that might have gone wrong on the planets they visit and help fix things. She is also a dual elementalist, controlling light and dark. Light is more dominant and takes the form of a light ray radiating from her left hand and occasionally a sphere floating in mid-air. She can also bend light rays. Darkness is harder for her to control and it manifests itself in a shadow cloud coming from her right hand. She cannot create light or dark.

Fifteen-year-old Kiran Shasthri awoke with a start to the sound of her bedroom door opening. She blinked a few times and pulled a few strands of dark hair out of her face before sitting up. Much to her chagrin, it was Ming-yue Tam, her best friend and roommate, who had woken her – and Shelby and Monica, the two other girls in their room – up.
“You’ll never guess!” Ming grinned, plopping down on her bed. Kiran rolled her eyes and jumped off the top bunk, landing on her feet with a soft thud.
“What happened this time?” Kiran groaned. Leave it to Ming to be awake at this unearthly hour. Granted, Kiran knew that her best friend didn’t sleep; it was part of her mutation. The two girls had met when Kiran first started attending Melanthios Academy about a year and a half ago.
“You got a letter,” Ming replied, handing Kiran an envelope. It was addressed in perfect script and old-fashioned lettering, complete with a seal and a mysterious logo.
Kiran pulled her dark hair back and arched an eyebrow, taking the envelope from her friend. After examining it carefully for a trap, as they had been taught to do, she opened it carefully. “Our esteemed science professor is going to have my corpse as the next anatomy specimen,” she muttered under her breath.
Dear Kiran “Yin-Yang” Shasthri,
Your presence has been requested at a celebration. Please come to my house on December the second. The address is enclosed.
Sincerely,
Mr. W
Ming snatched the letter from Kiran’s head and skimmed it quickly. “So?” she asked, the pitch of her voice rising nearly an octave. “You going or not?”
Kiran frowned. She hadn’t been away from the Academy since she came, with the exception of going home briefly last Christmas. She was one of the fortunate ones. Most of the students were run-aways and outcasts from their own families. At least she still had a family who cared about her enough to want to do what was best for her. And as much as she fought with her older brother, Ekram, they were still close.
“We have a biology exam later today,” Kiran pointed out. “And band rehearsal after that.” She was one of the flutists in the band at their school. “And like I said, I’ll probably be the next cadaver if I leave.”
Ming shook her head. “So, if anything happens, just use your powers. How bad can it be?”
Kiran sighed. “Ming,” she began, carefully considering what she was going to say. Her best friend was one of the few recipients of her outbursts; she was usually pretty calm, but this was something she felt strongly about. “I believe that we were given our powers to help other people, not to make personal gains and certainly not to hurt other people. It’s what Dad was always trying to tell us when we were younger, but before I came here, I never really heard what he was saying.”
Kiran paused for a minute to observe Ming’s reaction. “It’s one of the things I’ve learned since coming here,” she continued. “Not only from the professors, but from you and George as well. I used to always be afraid of what my powers would do, but now I’m not, thanks to you guys.” George was a friend of theirs at school. She smiled slightly. Her power to turn herself and whatever she was touching invisible or into a shadow or beam of light had manifested itself when she was at school one day, nearly hurting one of her classmates. “I can’t go.”
Ming groaned. “Aww,” she pleaded. “That’s just the reason why you have to!” A sly smile crossed her face. “Or I’ll ask the Professor to use an alternate means of convincing you.” She grinned. “Sheesh, take your flute and books with you. Study while you’re there and you can’t miss anything too important here!”
Kiran arched her eyebrows as she stood up, put on a comfortable shirt and leggings and wrapped her blue and purple sari around her. She knew that she shouldn’t be leaving – not with the biology lab later that afternoon – but her curiosity wouldn’t leave. She just had to know who this mysterious Mr. W was and what he wanted.

Nathaniel “Nate” Winters

Nate has bright red hair, pale skin and freckles all over his face and body. He’s a little taller than average in height and the only thing that stands out significantly is his bright hair. He also has green eyes. When not dressed in uniform, Nate often wears jeans and a solid colored t-shirt.
In personality, Nate is very quick to react to anything and everything. He’s generally good around people and well-liked by his peers, though he does have a temper. He can be incredibly charming one moment, but yelling at the other members of the Squad the next. He is – and always has been – fascinated by all things technological.
Nate is also a member of the Investigation Squad and has the ability to control fire. He cannot create fire, so he must have a constant source of flame with him (usually in the form of an old lighter he carries around with him).

“That’s the last time you’re put in charge of the computer club, young sir!” An angry voice pierced through the disgustingly wet air of New York City. Nate could feel his freckled skin grow nearly the same color as his red-orange hair and he sank into his chair.
“Sorry, sir,” Nate muttered under his breath. So far, this was the second time during this summer that his foolishness had caused trouble, but who was counting? The first time was creating a computer program that was able to solve math and science problems by simply being told. This time was for creating a program that judged art and had poorly judged the skills of their school art teacher.
“Now, kindly take your things and go home,” the supervising teacher ordered, pointing a long, bony finger towards the door.
Nate picked up his backpack and could feel his heart sinking further and further down. Frances, a close friend of his, excused herself, telling the teacher that she needed to go home to take care of her baby brother. She met up with Nate in the halls outside.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, shifting her books to a more comfortable position as they walked through the streets of NYC together. She and Nate lived in the same apartment building and always walked to and from school together.
“Nothing,” Nate said, narrowing his eyes. He could still feel that envelope in his pocket. Frances frowned and Nate regretted that they were such close friends.
“Okay.” He dug the envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Frances. She read the writing on the paper inside and smiled.
Attention: Nathaniel Winters
Your attendance has been requested at Camp Aestas. You will leave tomorrow morning from the New York airport. Please see the list of items to bring.
Cordially,
Mr. Docens
“Isn’t that good? At least you won’t have Mr. Frost mad at you for the rest of the summer,” she offered.
“Whatev,” he muttered. But he knew he had to go, partially because only ten people had been accepted. It wasn’t like there were going to be a hundred kids and he wouldn’t be missed; he had the odd feeling that this was something important, unlike all those e-mails he’d received in his inbox before he finished writing the program to weed out spam messages and installed it.

Aislynn Celeste

Aislynn is a shapeshifter, so her appearance tends to vary based on whatever mood she finds herself in. She’s slightly less than five feet tall and naturally has blonde hair that’s short and blue eyes and light skin with a few freckles. She likes to dress in casual clothing whenever she has the chance, which consists of skirts and blouses. She has a tattoo on her shoulder, but often uses her powers to disguise this into her skin.
At a first glance, Aislynn is fairly happy-go-lucky. She often smiles when she works and spends time getting to know her fellow crew members. She is incredibly talkative and enjoys discussing various subjects, whether they be personal or academic in matter. Speaking of academics, her favourite subject in school was mathematics. On a closer examination, one will find out that Aislynn has always hid the deepest of her emotions from other people and she will often go into her room and start crying for no apparent reason.
Aislynn is fresh out of the academy and works at the helm and navigation controls.

It had been the first time Aislynn stepped into the Dance Hall since she had taken waltz lessons when she was in her fourth year as a student here. Having declined Justin's invitation to go during their final year, she had not come here at all that fall, winter or spring and the young professor sighed. Around her were beautiful pictures and the ceiling had been painted to look like a faerie tale castle. Like she was home once again where she truly belonged.
She laced up her dance shoes moved out onto the hardwood floor. As she closed her eyes, she felt like she was her father’s little girl once again, that her dad would come home after a long day of work and ask her how her dance lessons with Madame Barnes went. She would smile, giggle and show him how they learned to point their toes or spin around in circles. Her mother would not smile, but Demetry... Demetry would pick her up and twirl her around in his arms, lifting her high enough to touch the sky. She was his little princess.
And then it all changed when Demetry didn’t come home from work one night. Aislynn could barely remember, but she remembered Clarissa screaming at the government official who came around to their house... then her mother started crying, objects started getting thrown and eventually things got so bad she went to live with her grandparents. She was no longer her daddy’s little princess. Aislynn spun into a pirouette and as she made her second revolution, she spotted someone standing in the doorway out of the fleeting glance of her peripheral vision.
As soon as she could get both feet back on the ground, she turned to see who had been lurking in the doorway. The professor turned and could feel her cheeks glowing red as she found herself looking into the face of Nicholas Gunner. “Oh!” She glanced around, hoping that the other professor wasn’t taken aback by her horrible dance skills. “I’m sorry about that... did you want to come in and dance?” There was a short pause as she looked at him, still unsure of what to say.

Septimus “Seven” McAllistair

In appearance, Seven is of average height and average build. Nothing seems atypical about him at a first glance. He has pale skin that often carries a jaundiced tinge and non-descript brown hair. Glasses cover his orange-grey eyes. He often wears clothing that does not appear to be well-kept, a result of growing up in a lower-class family and getting used to dressing as he does. He cares little about his appearance or how he comes off to people.
Seven is probably one of the most awkward, unemotional people you would ever meet. This is largely due to the fact that he has a computer chip implanted in his brain and has since he was a young child, the result of a scientific experiment. He is naturally good with facts and uncomfortable with what he doesn’t know. He is also uncomfortable around people and their emotions.
He possesses a naturally photographic memory, but due to scientific research when he was younger, he has a computer chip implanted in his brain, which allows him to control computers with a single thought or to teleport himself (and occasionally others) through a computer network. Seven works tactical on the ship, but can also help out in engineering if need be.

He logged off of his computer and told it to shut down. Normal people would have needed to push buttons on their computers to do such a thing or at least speak to the machine, as technology had advanced enough for the newest computers to take verbal commands, but all he needed to do was think at the machine and it would do his will. The adolescent’s grey eyes stared at the blank screen curiously, as if he wished he would have persevered at that last project he was working on; he needed to crack that code.
With a slight frown on his face, he ordered his computer back on. This particular code was much trickier than any of the ones he had worked with before and the fourteen-year-old’s lips thinned in sheer determination, the one human emotion he could still feel thoroughly and with the intensity of any normal person. Septimus was well aware that he could be over-analyzing the situation, but perhaps he was wrong.
The boy flexed his hands and pulled the knitted fingerless gloves back onto his wrists. These blue garments had been his latest project, along with perfecting the latest violin piece his mother had chosen for him to learn. His glasses reflected the rows and rows of letters, numbers and various colors that littered the screen of the computers. With one thought, all the numbers were put in bold font and the letters in italics.
Seven stroked the side of his head. Brilliant. With another thought, the numbers had disappeared and the letters rearranged themselves to reveal the message, which read McAllistair: Meet me at the South End of the computer labs at the University tomorrow at precisely 17:45. I have something to give you. If you are not there at the designated time, you will not see me. He had solved the code; now all he had to do was find out the identity of the mysterious sender.

NB: Neither Justin nor Nicholas Gunner belong to me. Danielle also does not belong to me, nor does Aigel or Seylem. All the other characters do. This list of characters is for a story that one of my friends and I are writing together, so it should be interesting.

Character Featurette: Callisto Verity

Through the rest of this year, I will be going and making mini-character Featurettes for characters whose birthdays fall on a particular date. For the sake of some of my characters who happen to be twins, I may have one character featured on their birthday and the other featured the day after or something.

So today's character to be featured is Callisto Verity.

Full Name: Callisto Jasmine Verity
DOB: January 9, 1993 (Most of my stories take place ~2004, where she would be about thirteen years of age.)
Family: Damien Verity (Father), Nora (nee Wallace) Verity (mother), Ali and Lara Verity (sisters), Daniel Verity (brother)
Place of Birth: England
Place of Residence: England

Series: Alcantha
Character Connections and Relationships:
Ali Verity: Ali is her (younger) twin sister and the two of them get along passingly. Ali's a lot more outgoing and girly than Callisto is.
Emrick Page: Emrick's one of Callisto's best friends. He comes from a wealthy family and Callisto, Ali and Hana often go over to his house to hang out over the summer. He is the fourth of six brothers and sisters.
Hana Rei: Not only is she Callisto's best friend, but she's also Emiko Takahashi's half-sister. For every bit that Callisto is argumentative, Hana is sincere and apologetic.
Donovan Isaacs: Donovan's three years older than Callisto and is the cousin of Emrick Page. He and Callisto have a mutual dislike for one another.

General Info: Callisto is quite pugnatious and she tends to get into arguments a lot with other people. She also studies quite hard and frequently has a book with her when she's not surrounded by them. But she's not your most well-behaved teenager... she tends to break some of the rules at Alcantha, just to see if she can get away with doing that, something that lands her into a whole load of trouble with the Monitors.

She originated in the AU, so she's not quite... normal, shall we say? Like her hair is naturally lightish brown, but it was dyed purple on accident. She's also at that stage in her life (during the main stories) where she alternates between thinking that "boys are cute" and the "boys are icky and nasty and have cooties". So she's interesting in that aspect, as well.

I'm really not sure what else to say about Callisto other than she's just plain wierd. If you have any questions about her, you can ask and I'll try to answer them, I suppose.

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!

Snapshots Update

I finally figured out where I think I want to go with Snapshots and it's great because it'll tie into the chess story I've been playing with in the back of my mind for quite some time.

Chess is kind of a recurring theme throughout my stories. Hideaki Sato is known online as the black rook, Sharpe was the Interscholastic Chess Champion for three (out of four) years in high school and it's quite often that the fellowship members are seen playing chess while hanging out. Usually it's Michael and Evan... and sometimes Tyler. It's also stated that Hideaki teaches Emiko how to play chess.

So that got me thinking... how do I bring this theme into Snapshots? This morning, I came up with a logical answer and it answers two of my questions at once! The other question was (of course) what is Dr. Shasthri doing at Sharpe's apartment at some unearthly hour?

I figured that the only reasonable answer was that she needed him for some reason. Most likely, he had requested something from her before he graduated and left university. I decided to run with this idea... with no thoughts as to what he had asked her for. This morning, I got my answer: a chess piece.

When he was a student at Maplewood, Sharpe bought a used chess set at a garage sale. A few of the pieces were missing when he originally bought it, amongst them a white queen. Somehow, Dr. Shasthri is able to find the person who sold Sharpe the chess set (something I don't want to reveal until later, as major spoilers are contained within) and he was able to find some of the missing pieces. Originally, only the white queen and two black pawns were missing, but I am changing that so it was the white queen, a black pawn and one of the black rooks.

So she is able to get this and the man is fairly reasonable. He claims he would deliver it himself, but he doesn't remember to whom he sold the set or how to contact said person when Dr. Shasthri tells him. Now that she has the piece Sharpe requested, she's tried to hunt him down. He doesn't leave a forwarding address or anything when he leaves university, so she has to go see where he applied for work and then contact them. By some amazing coincidence, she talks to her niece on the telephone and Kiran gives her the necessary information she's been missing all along: where Sharpe works. From that, she is able to find out where he lives fairly easily.

And thus she shows up at his apartment at an unearthly hour. She would have come earlier, but she was hosting dinner and a movie for some of her chemistry and physics students.

Now I know and all is good with the world. Okay, not really, but Snapshots is back on. I also happen to know who gets which chess piece, so that should be fun to work with. As to be expected, Takahashi still holds the white king; that wouldn't change. I've modified it around a little bit according to what happens in Once Upon an AU and some of the other brief stuff I've written since originally thinking of the idea. ^_^

Character Featurette: Seven McAllistair

I fail at posting when I'm at home. Anyhow, I thought I'd do a brief character feature because it is someone's birthday today! Apart from being JRR Tolkien's birthday, it is also Septimus (AKA Seven) McAllistair's birthday. So happy birthday to him. I sound so wierd, saying happy birthday to someone who doesn't even exist. Seriously.

I don't know a lot about Seven, but here's what I do know. He was born to William and Clarissa McAllistair as the seventh of eight children. William is a professor of classical studies (Latin and Greek) at WSU in Seattle. Clarissa teaches music and plays in the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. His family isn't particularly rich, but they have enough to live on. Seven went to the local public schools throughout primary and secondary schooling.

Nothing about Seven's appearance stands out as particularly unusual, except for his eyes. He has slightly paled skin (due to being inside all day) and straight hair the color of light mud. His eyes are a sort of grey-orange color; the closest natural color one can describe them as is amber. He usually dresses in hand-me-down clothing and he almost always wears a pair of black fingerless gloves he knit himself. Yes, he does knit.

I'm still trying to pin down Seven's personality. On one hand, you see a geek. He's kind of... awkward, for lack of something better to call him. He's that geeky kid who knows the answer to literally every question a teacher asks (having a photographic memory kind of helps!). His speech is so incredibily stilted that it isn't funny anymore. He doesn't use contractions. At all. On the flip side, he believes in using any means necessary to achieve what he needs. So he could be pretending to be kind of clueless and awkward, but I really don't know... I guess the only way to answer that would be to write him more!

His hobbies and activities include knitting, lots of computer work, violin, tech work for local stage productions and lurking in the library behind a really BIG book.

Lastly, a quote that I think does exemplify Seven's attitude, specifically towards his moral compass... "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." It's an Isaac Asimov quote, but it does fit Seven...

Snapshots, a Brief Scene and Seven...

I finally figured out the catalyst I need for Snapshots because Michael and Sharpe have been sitting there for the longest of times and it's getting more than awkward. So, someone's going to knock on the door to Sharpe's apartment... and I know who that someone is!

I've also been toying around with the idea of writing a scene between Sharpe and probably Michael where Sharpe tells Michael to choose his words carefully because they are as influential as one's friends. And then, Michael could snap back at Sharpe about how he thinks Sharpe doesn't choose his own friends carefully enough. Sharpe would totally hate that. He chooses his allies strategically. Sometimes, it's based on duty (like Tem... long story there) and sometimes it's more personal, like how he chooses to cooperate well with Amy Kerrington.

Seven McAllistair's character has also recently intrigued me. He grew up in Seattle with six older siblings and one younger one. His father is a professor of classics (like Greek and Latin, but especially Latin) at WSU (the one in Seattle) and his mom is a music teacher. He is somehow related to Sophia McAllistair (probably cousins or something), but they've never met. This much is about all I know for sure about his character background and there's so much I haven't explored with his character yet. He's kind of wierd... I mean, he has amber-grey eyes that look almost orange. Yes, that's natural for him.