Last of the Hollidailies

So today is the last day of Hollidailies, which is kind of a sad thing. I've been writing a lot more commentary than I'm used to and I think I've actually been writing a little more than I usually do. Last night when I was in bed, I had the most random idea for a story, so I think when I finish Snapshots, I shall write it. The idea was basically what would happen if Michael went for a walk on Christmas day and happened to run into Sharpe. I don't know what it is with writing those two characters together in scenes; I should've figured out by now that it doesn't work very well.

Outside my window, it looks like Narnia. No really, there's snow and icicles everywhere! And... I'm sick, so I might not be posting here for a few days. :(

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.

Resolutions

I suppose I should really update this today, so I'll blog about New Year's Resolutions. But since this is a writing journal, then they are going to be related to writing.

1. Write on a regular basis. That includes updating here at least twice a week once Hollidailies is over and working as often as I can (with schoolwork and everything else) on other ongoing writing projects.

2. Get to know some of my minor characters better and their relationships. I'd really like to focus more on Emiko Takahashi... because she's important.

3. Finish at least one large piece (either Snapshots or Once Upon an Alternate Universe or the chess story I've been thinking about). Snapshots would likely be easiest because I've already written a lot of that.

4. Finish the short-term projects I have. This includes the piece where Kiran comes to stay at the Liu house (and gets involved with the debate club), the Christmas Eve story I've been sort of working on, the incident where Wilson is teaching a physics class and decides to use a rather interesting method to keep his students awake and the more recent piece with Hideaki and Emiko.

5. Delve deeper into the relationships that first generation has (or had). I'd love to write a piece with the Maplewood students. And not just a short piece that's a page long, but something real.

6. This may be the wierdest one of them all, but I'd like to find a fellow writer whom I can critique and who will critique me (well, my writing).

7. Just because seven is a much nicer number than six, I'd like to develop Seven McAllistair a bit more as a character and find out where he fits in... if he does. By extension, same kind of idea with Aislynn Celeste.

And those are my New Year's Writing Resolutions. Happy 2009, everyone!

New Year's Eve Party

To make up for my patheticness at posting yesterday (I was trying to do five different things at once and I was a bit distracted), I'll write something for you today.

First off, a little bit of background information. I wanted my characters to have a (slightly disastrous) game of truth or dare at a New Year's Eve party at the Liu's house. So the characters present would be Michael's parents (duh), Mr. and Mrs. Adams, Hideaki's dad, Wilson, Tyler's mom, Nate's parents and maybe others. Oh, and Sharpe because Jon invited him over and for some reason, he agreed to come. Younger people present would have to include Michael, Scott, Sam, Evan, Tyler, Marie, Hideaki, Emiko, Kiran and Nate. Wouldn't that be a fun group?

So the extended fellowship goes into the other room. They've each had a little bit to drink (they're all at least 21, so no big deal) and the door between the room they're in and the room the adults are in is about half opened. Someone (Saunders?) suggests they play a game of truth or dare. Needless to say, neither Michael nor Sam is particularly excited about that proposition and Tyler's being cautious (as always). But they make a few rules and the game gets underway... needless to say, it'll be interesting.

No really. I'm just deciding how to narrate this piece before I start in on it. I could do the same third person narration I usually do or I could do first person. If I did first person, the most logical choice would be first person to Michael's POV. More amusing would be first person to Sharpe's POV, as he realizes that something is going on and he goes to stand by the door between the rooms. But none of the younger people can know he's there... or if Michael (or Sam) figures it out, neither can say anything to anyone else.

And this brings me to where I was meaning to go... to share something that I wrote with you guys. It was too late last night to post it here, so here it is today. Enjoy! This piece is actually going to be rated PG by the time I'm done with it, but this particular section is harmless. Trust me. Okay, it's just a short little paragraph-length teaser, but still. I actually wrote something. >.>

MPAA Rating: G
Characters: Michael, Emiko, Evan Saunders, others are present.
Word Count: 134

Michael stopped before he said anything and put a hand on Emiko's shoulder. Such an uncharacteristic motion for him. With a firm grasp, he pulled the Japanese girl closer to him and when she was facing him, her face only centimeters away from his, he gave her one look and hissed a few words in her left ear. "Don't even consider it" was all he said. Those words were meant for her alone to hear. He let his hand drop down to his side and quickly turned and paced out of the room. If she went through with Saunders' proposition, that would probably be just about the stupidest thing she'd ever done. Which is quite the accomplishment for her, he thought, the bitter taste of bile rising up in the back of his throat.

tbc.

Randomness yet again...

So I spent most of the afternoon watching Prince Caspian (the movie) instead of writing like I told myself I wanted to. While not comparing it to the book, it was a well-done movie. Which got me thinking... oftentimes when I write, I'll imagine my characters to be in a movie of sorts and just write down what I see... and sometimes what they're feeling (if I can manage that - ha!).

If my books were ever made into movies, I wonder who would get cast as my different characters. Like I said before, I definitely imagine Johnny Depp playing Siyamak (who is seriously a creep). Usually I just imagine people I know looking like my different characters, actually. But that wasn't what I was going to talk about.

What I was going to talk about today was I am completely not sure. No seriously. I have no attention span right now. But what I need to do is figure out the relationships within the first generation and continue this piece before I work more on the Christmas Eve Story and eventually Once Upon an AU.

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.

Maplewood Relationships?

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas Story Commentary and Other Stuff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quick Update, Christmas, Knitting, Quotes...

Since I have been failing so badly to post with anything relating to writing lately (and that's what this blog is about!!!), I feel bad for not continuing my Christmas Eve story today. Yay for writer's block and being sick. Not. I've been knitting like a crazy person over the past few days in a pathetic attempt to get Christmas gifts done by Christmas and today I taught my sister how to knit.

Did you know that one of my characters knits? Yes, Septimus McAllistair (though almost everyone just calls him Seven) does and he's quite good at it. He has a pair of black fingerless gloves he's made himself that he always wears. He's also kind of a computer geek and he's really smart. No wonder he gets teased a lot. Marie Wilson knows how to crochet and I'm guessing she's taught most of her friends how to do that also. Sam, Tyler and Michael probably both know how... Sam and Tyler just because they're willing to go along with whatever is happening and Michael because he is quite artistic.

And this last little bit is kind of completely random (my thought patterns are not linear, in case you haven't already noticed!), but most of my characters are somehow interconnected. There is some way that Sharpe knows Stephanie Rei (see this entry) because despite the fact it's not explicitly mentioned, that is Sharpe. He was the one who delivered the package... but he has no idea about its contents. My guess is that Stephanie contacted him and told him that she had something that was really important that it get to Emiko... and that Tetsuya wouldn't like his daughter having it. Which is rather true.

So yeah... I guess that's all I have to say tonight. Let me end with a quick CS Lewis quote this time. It has nothing to do with writing. "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God." ~CS Lewis

And God bless us, everyone! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, All!

I just thought I would say Merry Christmas to everyone!

Due to having family things going on today and tomorrow, I don't have time to make a decent entry here. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day, I'll have time to finish the Christmas Eve story... and let you know what happens to Kiran, Michael and everyone else. And why Sharpe is at the church!

To finish off, a Bible verse. "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." ~Isaiah 9:6

Take care, all and have a very Merry Christmas!
~Elizabeth

Short Post Today...

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

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

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

Christmas Traditions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emiko's Christmas: One Shot

I just thought I would take a break from the Christmas Eve story and write something with Emiko in it instead. Mr. Isaacs is the father of Donovan Isaacs (cousin of one of Hana Rei's classmates at school).

MPAA Rating: G
Characters: Emiko Takahashi, Tetsuya Takahashi, Stephanie Rei (Emiko's mother), unknown man, others by mention
Word Count: 536
Summary: Emiko reflects on Christmas and gets a mysterious visitor.

"Hey Mom, it's me. Emiko." For the hundredth time, she couldn't bring herself to pick up the telephone and call her own mother. Dad had already told her it was okay. It was Christmas after all, but the fourteen-year-old couldn't.

"Call her. She wants to hear from you, Miko." He had told her as he handed her the telephone attatched to the wall. Miko was her Dad's pet name for her, something that only he was allowed to call her. Tetsuya bit both of his lips together. It was him that Stephanie didn't want to hear from. Without waiting for his daughter to ask, he left the room, leaving her in privacy. Things would be better this way.

Five minutes passed and Emiko slid her polished fingernails along the plastic of the receiver. Five minutes quickly turned into ten and ten turned into fifteen until she heard a knock at the door. "Go away, Dad." A single tear dripped from her eye and fell onto her desk, splattering onto her laptop computer. "I don't wanna talk."

"I am not your father, Emiko." The voice came from the other side of the door. The voice obviously belonged to a man, but it wasn't quite deep enough to be her father's. And it was too quiet. "I just wanted to leave you something. You can call your mother now. Merry Christmas." Before Emiko could open the door, the person was gone. She narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, reached down for the present, which was wrapped in purple and black wrapping paper and took it inside her room.

As she tore open the paper, a typed note on a single sheet of paper fell out onto her floor. She picked it up and read what was written. Dearest Emiko, Turn to page 1085 and read the story that is recorded in Luke chapter 15, verses 11 through 32. You will find a story about two brothers and their father in this passage; Mr. Isaacs shared it with us last month at church. I love you very much and we pray for you every day. Please take care of yourself and your father. Merry Christmas. Love, Mom and Hana.

Emiko flipped open the hardcovered book to page 1085 and began to read. It was a rather interesting story about two brothers, one of whom ran away from home and when he went back, he wanted to be a servant in the house of his father. At the end, the father welcomed him back as a son. Emiko read the story three times through, but even at the end, she still didn't understand why the dad had done that. Surely if she'd done that to her own father, he wouldn't have forgiven her, would he? The kid had just wasted all of his dad's money! This didn't make sense; she needed time to think about it more.

With a sigh, she picked up the phone receiver and dialed the number to her mom's house. "Hey, Mom, Hana? It's me, Emiko. Merry Christmas. If you get the chance, call back, okay? There's some stuff I'd like to ask you. I'll talk to you later." With a gentle, but firm motion, she hung the phone back up.

Christmas Eve, Part IV

Go read Part One, Part Two and Part Three (in that order) before you read this if you haven't already. It'll make more sense that way. Characters and setting are still the same as before.

In other news, I'm still working on Christmas presents. Yay... or not. I'd rather be writing, but such is life, I suppose. This piece is actually going to turn out interestingly...

MPAA Rating: G
Characters: Michael, Kiran, Sharpe
Word Count: 277

As soon as he heard the voice, his head snapped up. He hadn’t heard it in probably fifteen or more years, yet the particular accent it held was ingrained forever in his mind. Such was his way with people; he remembered them by certain quirks they possessed. In her case, it was her unusual voice and the peculiar intonations she used. Slowly, he pushed himself into a standing position, grasping at the alter railing to aid his balance.

“What’s he doing here?” he could hear the harsh whisper coming from the opposite side of the room, despite the fact that there were other intermingled voices. The boy’s voice rose up over the others. “You didn’t invite him here, did you?” His hands were folded across his chest and Sharpe could see him leaning forward, nearly standing on his toes.

Kiran’s mouth dropped open slightly and she didn’t speak for several seconds. “Why would –?” she started, but she did not finish her thought. Instead, she turned around and flounced off towards where her aunt stood. Sharpe’s dark eyes watched for Michael’s reaction. Michael started after Kiran, but stopped after a few steps and then turned towards the front of the church. “What’s going on here, Michael?” Kiran's voice sounded both hurt and confused at the same time.

For a long moment, Kiran waiting for an answer and for that moment, Michael locked eyes with Sharpe. Sharpe’s narrow-eyed gaze was probing and Michael’s was quietly defiant. The Asian boy licked his top lip slightly. Seconds ticked on until a faint whisper reached her ears. “I don’t know.”

tbc.

Quick Update

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas Eve, Part III

Once again, this is a continuation of what I've been writing. Go back and read the other pieces first if you haven't already done so.

MPAA Rating: G
Characters: Michael Liu, Kiran Shasthri, Priya Shasthri, others by mention
Word Count: 344

“I’m staying with Aunt Priya over break. Mom and Dad’re still in India.” The matter-of-fact voice explained before Michael could even begin speaking. “She doesn’t live far from here, so she said it’d be alright if we went here for Christmas Eve service instead of her church.” The girl pushed a long strand of dark hair behind one of her ears and she bounced slightly on her toes, no doubt having the extra energy from sitting still in the pews for so long. The Christmas Eve service was nearly twice as long as those on Sunday mornings.

While Kiran was talking, Michael nodded absently. He had grown used to her chatter during the semester and a half she stayed with the Liu family as an exchange student during his sophomore year. For a moment, his thoughts drifted over back towards Sharpe. First seeing him here, then Kiran. What was going on with that? Was there something he didn’t know about? Seeing Kiran at a church wasn’t a strange idea to him; she had cheerfully gone with the Liu family every Sunday while she was at their house, except for the time she had come down with a nasty case of the flu.

“Well, maybe we can do something together. You, me, Scott, Sam and Nate.” Kiran kept talking and Michael was about to excuse himself when he saw an woman who looked like an older, thinner version of Kiran standing on the opposite side of the corridor, waving towards her niece. Michael smiled slightly towards Dr. Shasthri; he had met her once or twice before.

“Kiran!” As Priya Shasthri called towards her niece, Michael’s dark eyes caught a movement out of the corner of his peripheral vision. A head jerked up in a quick motion and Michael turned from Kiran to the shadowy figure and back to Kiran again, eyeing the girl suspiciously. He licked his top lip with his tongue. Surely there was something going on here and he wanted to know what that something was.

tbc.

AU Characters

So some of my characters have originated in the alternate universe and others haven't made their way into the regular universe yet, but Tem was originally an AU character. It's kind of futuristic stuff.

Tem is a time-traveler and she can basically travel through time. Well, she used to be able to do that until Calanon got furious with her for trying to go back and change something in history. She allows Isaiah and Jeremiah Lewis to time-travel with her and sends them all over the place.

Isaiah and Jeremiah Lewis are actually human. None of these other characters are... anyways. They've been anywhere and everywhere in history that I can think of and that's mostly thanks to Tem. They're orphans whose parents were killed in a horrible lab accident. Isaiah's a lot more outgoing than his brother is. Jeremiah's quiet, but very knowledgeable.

Siyamak's a creep. He reminds me of the Child Catcher on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or of Johnny Depp's version of Willy Wonka. Or really of anything I've seen Johnny Depp as... which is really only one thing, but whatever. Anyways, in his past, he did something incredibly stupid in a fit of rash decision making and he's running away from that. The only one who knows what it is is Kana.

Kana is Siyamak's own worst nightmare. She found out about what he did and she won't let him forget it... and he's holding one of her secrets. So they're constantly at one another's throats about something. She's alright for writing a girl, but she can be a little bit annoying... and a bit of a know-it-all at times. In fact, she reminds me a little bit of Callisto. Sort of.

Hal's the guy who keeps everyone together. He has no idea what Siyamak did or of what Kana's secret is, but he manages to keep Kana alive and Siyamak at least partway sane. Or as sane as one with a horribly tortured past can be. Hal actually has a halfway decent life.

I'm thinking that if I want to write a futuristic dystopian type story, these characters will be the ones to look into using. Them and the rest of the Feconi Order... and lots of other of the AU characters. I'm really not sure and right now I'm just rambling. Hopefully I'll figure out what's going on with the Christmas Eve story later so that I can write more for you guys to read tomorrow or this weekend sometime. That should be fun.

Good night.