The White Knight, draft 1

The White Knight

He launches himself over his allies,
Darts crookedly across the field
Surrounded by enemies, he retreats.

He calls out for assistance,
Now joined by a hooded man.
They launch their counter-assault.

Battle rages on and in the
End, few are left standing.
Black retaliates. White retreats.

King is protected by only his castle.
White makes his move, capturing
Black’s last competent defense.

Knight to f6. Check. Fails
to see the smallest soldier, who
Knifes him. He is killed.

The sacrifice is not in vain.
Cloaked figure to f5. King falls.
Checkmate. White wins.

Draft one of a poem due today for Creative Writing. I thought you might enjoy it...

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

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.

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.

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

Dead Characters?

Well... let us hope that none of my fictional characters wind up dead before the end of Snapshots. No seriously... with Sharpe surrounded by one person whom he doesn't like and having the other person in the room be the only person who can make him feel incompetent... well, let's just hope that no one dies. And I'm planning to work in a flashback between Sharpe and Takahashi. Yes, another one of those... only this one would beg the question of what the chess piece means.

Yes, in case you hadn't figured out (or I haven't told you - haha), chess has an important theme in Snapshots... and in just about whatever else I write. And Takahashi has one of the chess pieces... so does one of my characters who is very much dead.

Also, Dr. Shasthri has the rare ability to make Sharpe feel incompetent. I think this is probably something going back to when he was a student at university, seeing as how she was one of his professors. Not that she deliberately makes him feel stupid...

Brief Snapshots Update

So, I've worked on continuing on Snapshots. I decided to combine chapters five and six into one chapter because they're both short and they flow together with only a few quick edits. I finished the chapter and hopefully I'll get it typed up and edited so that it makes sense.

Yes, it will be rated between PG and PG-13 for one of the flashback sequences. Everything else is pretty mild as far as rating would be concerned, so that's a relief. I'm really excited to be working on this again because in this chapter (and in the next one), you find out a lot about what Sharpe was like when he was younger.

Which means I need to write another side piece with him and Dr. Shasthri first, just to see how they interact and their history. I was walking around campus earlier tonight because I needed to think (big novelty there, eh?) and a scene kept playing through my head. Sharpe was talking with (or yelling at?) someone, so maybe I'll just write that scene. That someone could have easily been one of two people and one of those is Priya Shasthri. The other person it could have been is Alton, but I doubt it. I don't think Sharpe would get upset enough to yell at Alton.

But I need to re-write the prologue sequence I drafted awhile back and work that into one of the flashbacks (which earns it at least a PG rating). And I also found out something interesting about Tetsuya Takahashi. He and Sharpe were on the Interscholastic Chess Team together in high school for at least a little while... or that's what Sharpe says.

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. ^_^

10 Random Facts Game!

So on Facebook, I was tagged in a note to post random facts about myself. Just because I can, I decided to switch it around and do it for one of my characters. This time, it's a guessing game! There are ten clues per character. All five are known characters and four out of the five are quite well known.

Character One

1. I work part-time at a school.
2. My grandmother came from Poland when she was a girl and she loves to cook the most delicious foods for me when I go visit!
3. Although I don't remember Dad, he was the one who named me.
4. No one except my family knows this, but I have a younger sister. I've only seen her a few times and haven't seen her at all in the past ten years, but I know she's still alive. I really want to meet her again someday.
5. Most of the students I teach are taller than I am. It isn't that hard if you aren't even five feet!
6. I used to be afraid of toasters, of all things!
7. I almost always wear skirts and blouses and rarely wear jeans.
8. I'm actually not from the USA. I was born and raised in Canada.
9. I speak fluent French and English and sometimes I'll switch back and forth! Like now! *starts speaking in rapid French*
10. I absolutely love mathmatics.

Character Two

1. Although I'm most well-known for playing basketball and football, I'm also on the school swim team.
2. We - Kyle and I - lead prayers before and after games at school with other Christian athletes.
3. I'm probably the only African American person in these stories. Well, me and my family. But I'm the only prominent one.
4. My favorite class is history and my favorite historical period is the Industrial Revolution.
5. I live in an apartment with my sister, our mom and Aunt Dolores.
6. My favorite thing to do on the weekends is hang out with my friends and do whatever they're doing, as long as they try to get into trouble!
7. My middle name is the same name as one of the prophets in the Bible.
8. My birthday is May 22nd, which is unfortunately, about a week before finals. At least it isn't during finals week!
9. I really actually don't like ice cream all that much.
10. I like most of the books we're forced to read for school.

Character Three

1. I'm fluent in both English and Spanish... and I know a few random words in French and Italian.
2. I have a pet named after a book character.
3. My least favorite board game is Monopoly.
4. I spend a lot of time with my cousins. Whether that's good or bad is anyone's best guess!
5. Though I'm not really a vegetarian, I usually don't eat a lot of meat stuff. I just don't like the way it tastes and I never have.
6. Both my older sister and I are adopted.
7. I'm probably one of the craziest people you'll ever meet! Or at least Callisto seems to think that.
8. I go to a boarding school in the UK that requires a school uniform.
9. I love drawing in the margins of my notes during class.
10. My family celebrates Las Posadas in the days just before Christmas, but we don't celebrate Thanksgiving.

Character Four

1. I'm learning Japanese. Unfortunately.
2. I have a single tatoo on my left shoulder and five piercings, all in my ears.
3. I used to take dance classes.
4. I tend to hang out with the cheerleaders at school half the time and the "bad kids" the other half.
5. I hate my homeroom teacher, but who doesn't?
6. My best friend taught me how to play chess.
7. I kind of have a crush on my best friend.
8. I have a half-sister I've never met, but we've talked before.
9. I moved four times before I was in junior high.
10. I love thunderstorms, especially when the electricity goes out.

Character Five

1. I was partially named after a book character, of all people.
2. I enjoy drinking coffee when I can, though I rarely do.
3. I was offered a job twice by the same person.
4. One of my most used endgame strategies is queen sacrifice.
5. I am left-handed.
6. I can read music written in the alto clef.
7. I am fluent in two different languages, one of which is uncommon.
8. I share my birthday with a famous chemist/physicist.
9. I was homeschooled for about a semester in junior high.
10. The first prom I went to was one that I chaperoned.

I'll post the answers sometime later this week, most likely. Best of luck! I'll also finish tagging with characters (where applicable) once I post the answers. I don't want to give it away.

If you're interested in the answers, they can be found here.

Lost Chess Pieces, Part 2

I'm stress writing right now, so this may not make a whole lot of sense. I'm just going to warn you in advance... just in case you'd rather not read on. But we finished exams and then it's home for me tomorrow.

Onto the actual writing portion and continuing sort of where I left off with the chess idea...

MPAA Rating: G
Characters: Hideaki, Emiko Takahashi
Word Count: 497
Warning: Mild swearing. Once again, it's Emiko...

Buzzzzzz. Buzzzzzz. Buzzzzzz. Hideaki's cell phone vibrated its way off the table and onto the hardwood floor of the San Rafael apartment he was living in with his dad and Uncle Joe. For the last three hours, he had been trying to do the homework Mr. Umeki assigned, but it was no use. He could translate from Japanese to English just fine, but going the other way still confused him, even after years of studying the language and the culture on Saturday mornings. He ran a hand along the line his bandana made until it reached the tight knot tied in the back of his head. Right now, his writing looked like knots to him. Time to take a break and see who had called. It was probably a wrong number again - he seemed to get a lot of those - but it wouldn't hurt to check. Oddly enough, she hadn't left a message; he frowned.

Emiko usually left messages, unless something was really wrong. Last time she'd called and not left a message was when her dad's political campaign went horribly awry and he'd ended up throwing her out of the house for the night in a fit of rage. She had ended up spending the night at his house... and the rest of the weekend. And that was when he had taught her how to play chess. That had been about a year ago and he smiled fondly at the thought as he pushed the redial button and waited for an answer.

"What the hell's going on with you?" The shrill voice came from the opposite side of the phone line and Hideaki winced, nearly dropping the phone onto the messy floor of his bedroom. Well, that answered his question. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks and there was an awkward silence in which neither party spoke.

"I... uhm..." Hideaki frowned and picked up an old wooden chess piece, this one a black rook. It had been given to him by a friend and absently, he twiddled it in the forefingers of his right hand as he held the phone to his left ear. "You were the one who called me." Sometimes stating the simple truth was the best. "Hey, maybe you should come over or somethin'." He could hear the clicking of fingernails against something hard on the other side of the phone as he awaited an answer.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. I'll be there in half an hour." Emiko grabbed her car keys and slammed the door shut, not even bothering to leave a note for her father. He wouldn't ask where she was; he never did. Despite the fact that it would be nearly an hour drive in commute traffic from her San Jose home, Emiko automatically halved the time it took. "Bye." Without waiting for Hideaki to answer, she flipped the phone shut and dropped it into her purse, climbed into the car and sped down the street.

Emiko's Lost Chess Piece

I have such bad writer's block right now... it's not even funny. My brain is completely dead from yesterday's physics exam. Anyhow, onto something more interesting than my rambling about real life before I bore you all with complaining about exams, the weather and just about anything else I can think of.

This is a little snippet of the chess piece I've been planning out. Yes, there's a greater theme than just Emiko going on. It actually has more to do with her father and with the rest of first generation (like Sharpe) than with Emiko, but I just felt like writing Emiko today.

MPAA Rating: G
Character: Emiko Takahashi
Word Count: 268
Warning: Very mild swearing (one word... it's Emiko's POV)
Timeline: May 2006, so during their junior year of high school

It was lost. She had looked around her entire room for it, torn everything apart and thrown her clothes across the floor in an effort to find the missing piece of wood. To anyone else, it wouldn't be anything special; it shouldn't have even been special to her, but she had found it in her backpack after school about a week ago and had taken a liking to it. The Japanese girl couldn't explain it. Her father's expression was unfathomable when she'd shown him the trinket.

But now it was gone and she couldn't find it. Damn. The girl kicked her soccer ball across the room, hitting the door. Was it really gone? Where was it? More importantly, where had the bishop come from and who had given it to her? She licked her top lip, a nervous habit she'd developed over the past few years. She only knew of one person who knew how to play chess: her friend from Japanese school. She didn't even know how to play. Slowly, she picked up her cell phone, went to her contacts list and dialed his number.

Ring. Ring. Ring. "Hey, you've reached me. Obviously I'm not here right now. Leave a message and I'll call you back, okay?" She got the answering machine. Emiko's eyes narrowed and she clenched her teeth in disguist. It figured that the one person in the world who might be able to help her would be out of reach. Without leaving a message, she shut the phone. It was no use. She'd have to do this on her own, just like everything else.

tbc?