History Characters / AlouettesSong

%% commented out nonexistent trope * LawGiver: After Richard takes power to stop the war on Osnome, he realizes the ruling power must be taken away from royalty and devolved to the common people. When Dorothy asks what he is about to do now that he has absolute power, he will LampShade his intentions by saying, [[IncrediblyLamePun "I'll give them each a tablet now and call on them in the morning."]], [[spoiler: realizing his role is all the more ironic given that he is Jewish ]]

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Unrequited for the longest time. His first clue that Margaret really cares about him is when she awards him her first kiss for defending her against bullies during recess. They promise to be each others' dearest friend as a consequence. Martin took her to his senior prom while [[TeenGenius Margaret was a sophomore in college]], where they have a great time. He restates his friendship but declared he is gay and is afraid of disappointing his parents if he comes out. She understands. However, Martin crosses the line when he pays for Margaret's weight-loss surgery. She's furious he wasted the opportunity to buy a car and says so, also swearing [[IncrediblyLamePun she will screw him over big time someday]] as revenge for his martyrdom. He believes she's enraged at him for his presumptuous behavior. He couldn't be more wrong, even if she needs a miracle to prove that to him.

* MyBelovedSmother: Highly authoritarian and punitive attitude toward everything her son is expected to do. Will yell, scream, and even [[ArmorPiercingSlap physically abuse]] him to enforce her will.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: When she finally does consummate her marriage (conceiving her baby at exactly the same time), the experience totally and completely rocks her world.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: When after he obtains written consent to marry he finally does consummate his marriage (conceiving his baby at exactly the same time), the experience totally and completely rocks his world. He also does some research at a public library to find something to [[TheImmodestOrgasm rock his new wife's world too]].

* SpeedSex: Subverted. Early in their discussions while courting, Richard confesses his great fear of Dorothy's physical beauty because he feels this would be the inevitable result of consummating the marriage in its due course. Dorothy later overhears to her horror psychological warfare waged by his mother against his father, accusing his father of always being "a one-stroke wonder." She therefore determines to research a [[WomensMysteries "no-stroke" method]] [[spoiler: (coitus reservatus plus male and female kegels combined)]] for him to begin gaining confidence with her. It's one of the many things he loves her forever for.

* HairOfGold: From the original continuity, but taken UpToEleven into platinum. Contributes to her AngelicBeauty.

* NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: Averted. [[UpToEleven She's just doubly special, that's all!]] Her official diagnosis is atypical autism, a form which affects reasoning but not behavior.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Served in South America during the Iran/Contra affair. Marc was a civilian government operative embedded in his unit. Witnessed first hand Marc's ruthless side as he interrogated a village jefe' (chief). When the jefe' refused to talk Marc marched out the villagers then torched the place. When the jefe' still refused, Marc executed the villagers. When the jefe' refused yet again, Marc executed the jefe'. All Robert could do was report the incident through his chain of command, but he now hates Marc with a passion.

* AngelicBeauty: In this continuity, no woman living has her natural coloring in skin, eyes, or hair. (See also her entry under Expy).She has an hourglass figure and is in perfect shape from hard physical labor and athletic activity. Under pressure to marry, she had been fruitlessly looking for husband material, and discovers him only by accident. The age difference concerns her, but decides to help him mature into a man she could later marry.

** When the teens are trying to escape from Nalboon's ship and change out from prison clothes, ThePeepingTom Martin peeks at an indirect reflection of her naked, wondering what about her could cause his friend Richard [[YouNeedToGetLaid to turn down a free pass]] by Margaret with both his and Dotty's permission for helping to saving the ship, he concludes she's so beautiful even Michaelangelo's David would take notice. So does he. After everyone's dressed again and Martin and Dotty are marching side by side, she looks down and teases him for it.

** Inverted. For Richard's help in defeating [=DuQuesne=] she gives him a free pass to let Margaret deflower him, since she will stay a virgin until marriage, without consequences to their relationship. Richard turns Dorothy's offer down.

* HairOfGold: From the original continuity, but taken UpToEleven into platinum. Contributes to her AngelicBeauty. See also her entry under Expy.

** The main 'danger' in the 'magic' Dorothy is about to use will be extreme culture shock.

** She steals a small amount of Margaret's honeymoon champagne afterward to celebrate, admitting to Sitar once she succeeded restoring Richard she's doing this because sometimes victories can be bitter ones.

Richard Seaton, son of Deborah and Jack Seaton. Born in Westmont, New Jersey. Brown hair, sky-blue eyes. Nearsighted, wears oversized aviator frames. 16 years old. Height about 5 foot eight inches, weights 180 pounds. Shoe size 13. Usually sedentary, rides bicycle for transportation. IQ in the 160's. Sophomore in college, double-majoring in fine arts and in history, boarding except for weekends. Nicknamed "Rick".

* {{Cincinnatus}}: He explains he promised the Lady Kondal he'd step down as soon as the crisis was over. He announces his successor will be the people of Osnome themselves, and explicitly abolishes the monarchy for this reason. He calls for elections to take place inside two of Osnome's solar years, and will assemble a five person temporary council to write a constitution and maintain order. He will step down the moment the council is in place.

* {{Determinator}}: He's had a terrible childhood, both at the hands of bullies and by his own parents. He took advantage of an opportunity to skip grades into high school at 11, then created a three year option by cramming summers with electives plus remedial second year English.

* DrivenToSuicide: Jack gets jealous of his son being in college and decides what was good enough for him, being trapped into marriage with a child and a shitty job, should also be good enough for his son. Richard will be allowed to finish his current semester before being put to work in the mail room, with a marriage to be soon arranged for him. Jack justifies this by twisting out of context the message there can be no life for a Jew outside obedience to God and His Commandments. Being yanked out of the sanctuary of college back into a hellish environment is more than Richard can live with.

** Rescuing a girl from being crushed by a subway train in spite of near certain horrible death if he fails - they both live and the girl falls in love with him instantly, but he can no longer finish out his final semester.
** Sacrificing his fiancee' Dorothy under her orders, to save millions of people neither of them know - he goes catatonic, but Dorothy somehow survives and rescues him from it.

* SlowClap. Dorothy is in utter awe of her 16 year old friend who in only weeks has grown from boy to man. She is as proud of him as proud can be, grinning at him in delight and adoration through her tears. She stands only a few feet away and applauds him all by herself.

* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: Richard's far more mature and reverent attitude after surviving his adventure to Osnome and returning to earth. In the safety of Rabbi Jacob's residence he finally has a nervous breakdown. He kneels, complains to God how devastated he feels, and begs that if He is a good God at all to please grant him a merciful death immediately. The Rabbi, in the meantime, calls an ambulance for him, where they place him in a psychatric hospital for a while. He gets better.

* SpeedSex: Subverted. Early in their discussions while courting, Richard confesses his great fear of Dorothy's physical beauty because he feels this would be the inevitable result of consummating the marriage in its due course. Dorothy later overhears to her horror psychological warfare waged by his mother against his father, accusing his father of always being "a one stroke wonder." She therefore determines to research a [[WomensMysteries "no-stroke" method]] [[spoiler: (coitus reservatus plus male and female kegels combined)]] for him to begin gaining confidence with her. It's one of the many things he loves her forever for.

* AllWomenAreLustful: Once she's deflowered her sex drive makes up for lost time. Martin tells her she's "a lot of fun in bed", but when her alternate personality "Star Child" takes over she's "an absolute joy in the sack."

** After retaking the ship with Dorothy's and Richard's help, she has Marc strapped down to a table while he's unconcious. When he wakes up, she [[Literature/TheSilmarillion recites lines]] threatening to let Dorothy execute him per Presidential orders unless he surrenders. He lets her know he understands exactly the role she is playing, exactly whose role she sees him in, [[BewareOfViciousDog Dotty's role in taking him down]], and yields.

* SharingABody: Caused by [[GoneHorriblyRight treatment at a charity hospital for aphasia]]. When Martin declares his love for Margaret and nicknames her "Star Child", the lovers use that as a codename for her uncanny intuitions. Nobody realizes until much later the source of those intuitions has an an actual life of her own, that "Star Child" is the original child, and that Margaret is armor that the original child built to protect herself.

* StableTimeLoop: She presents Martin with incontrovertible proof a descendant of their had interfered with the past to ensure Alouette's propulsion technology can operate at all. She strips herself stark naked while telling him she loved him as long as she has known him, crediting her feelings to his kindness, compassion, and acceptance since grade school. She removes his shirt, kneels loosens his belt, when his trousers are finally down she looks into his face and tearfully begs him to love her. She describes him as her only chance at having a happy future. By now he's emotionally overpowered by everything she's said and done. This immediately changes Martin's orientation from homosexual to bisexual. The couple makes mad passionate love on the laboratory floor.

18 years old, college freshman in the engineering department. Butter-yellow hair, dark (forest) green eyes. Height and weight not given but implied to be slightly taller than average and in excellent shape. Heir apparent to the Crane fortune resulting from The First's inventions but controls almost none of it. IQ in the 130's. Trained to brown-belt in Okinawan karate by family retainer Shiro Higa. Christian, liberal Methodist. Member of a church which accepts gays.
* BetaCouple: With Margaret.

** Martin is the next to learn. During his honeymoon, he observes his wife behaving differently. An innocent girl who can't talk or understand speech is standing before him instead. He deduces that this innocent girl is the real Margaret, and that since Margaret is profoundly gifted this girl who built Margaret [[SuperIntelligence is intelligent beyond human comprehension.]] That's when he begins to formally address her as "Star Child" the individual, rather than simply refer to her as Margaret's subconscious skill set.

Martin Reynolds Crane The Second. He answers to "Robert", as he makes it clear he prefers that over Reynolds. Martin's father, Sylvia's husband, and eventually Margaret's father in law.

* HeadsOrTails: Being the financial backer of Alouette makes him the legal owner of the craft. Before the newly married Martin and Margaret depart, Robert uses his prerogative as owner to choose who will command. Since they're both equally talented, he chooses Margaret based on a coin flip. [[DeadPanSnarker Martin warns his wife not to let it get to her head.]]
* HiddenInPlainSight: He bought an abandoned building to hide Alouette in during construction. Cover story for the building was that Robert was giving back to the local community and starting a vocational technical school. The plan is to gut the building to make room for the hull as it's built.

** During final preparations for Alouette's departure, Margaret delegates to Sylvia the responsibility for furnishing the craft with frozen food, beds, freezers, and other applicances.

* TenderTears: Margaret was captured and taken to a luxurious chamber, where she wakes up as Star Child since she's received no verbal cue to wake up otherwise. Star Child wanders around and discovers Sitar, waiting in tears. Even though Star Child cannot communicate her concepts by speaking, reading, or writing; she can communicate in gestures, quickly learning Sitar is waiting to be raped once again by Nalboon's son, [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething flag captain of his father's vessel.]] Star Child cries in sympathy. She reaches out and tastes Sitar's tears... the tears resemble salt-substitute she vaguely remembers her sister-self (Margaret) using to season her food with. That is to say, Sitar's tears are potassium based. Sitar touches Star Child's face and tastes one of her tears in return, to get the shock of her life. Star Child's tears are based on SALT, a grain of it worth an ounce of gold, wealth others of Sitar's kind would kill for since it's essential for making armor with. Sitar figures out quickly that one of Star Child's tears could help cure an arenak enclosure the size of a house. It drives home the concept of the preciousness of sentient life in any form being more precious than anything: her kind, alien kind, and eventually even her enemies.

* MadeOfPhlebotinum: Human biology, being sodium based, means their tears are made of salt, the rarest and most precious substance on Osnome. Sitar is shocked to her core the moment she tastes a human tear. She now realizes ALL sentient life is precious everywhere in the universe.
* TheMigration: Once she witnessed the final two scions of Mardonale's royalty kill each other off, Kondal confiscated the [[CoolCrown Overlordship]], decreeing none would wear it again without her leave. She led all the people who would follow her to the opposite side of the the world by sea, to found a new homeland.

* ProudBeauty: Everyone else who has ever met has has seen her only in a head-to-toe shroud with only her eyes showing, so her beauty does not distract her listeners. Even Dunark sees her only this way at first while being tutored by her regarding the First Cause.

* TheRainman: The combination functions as a give-or-take 'normal' profoundly gifted personality. Margaret does all the social stuff and routine intellectual stuff, and Star Child does all the intellectual heavy lifting.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Lost princess unaware of her origins and hidden in plain sight. Her social rank is earned posthumously by her mother, a laboratory technician gathering nuclear weapons secrets begging in her final message to home to save her baby before killing herself to avoid capture and torture. The then crown prince, Roban, brings her to Kondal into a closed adoption to foster parents of gentle birth. Enlists to avoid boredom,and stays enlisted until suddenly promoted to Crown Princess by now crown prince Dunark shortly after Princess Triani gets killed in action.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Second cousin to Dunark. Betrothed to him while they were both still toddlers by respective families.

* PurpleEyes: From the original continuity. Contributes to her AngelicBeauty.

* GrayEyes: Represents an unearthly intellect hidden from everyone, including her... Her own intellect, however high, is merely ordinary in comparison.

* GreenEyes: Reflect his talent for healing both [[MrFixit machines]] and his potential for healing [[IntimateHealing Margaret's heart]] through unconditional love.

* RainMan: The combination functions as a give-or-take 'normal' profoundly gifted personality. Margaret does all the social stuff and routine intellectual stuff, and Star Child does all the intellectual heavy lifting.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * AlphaCouple: With Richard.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * AlphaCouple: With Dorothy.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * BetaCouple: With Martin.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * {{Expy}}: Combination of both Mulan and Anastasia, if you can imagine such a thing.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Of course.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Of course.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * Expy: Hillary Rotham Clinton

%% commented out as TypeLabelsAreNotExamples * SlidingScaleOfBeauty: Level V.

%% commented out as TypeLabelsAreNotExamples * WhatBeautifulEyes: Her eyes are Level I. You'd want to stare into them forever...

* BadassPrincess: From several points of view at once:
* TheBerserker: When fighting [=DuQuesne=] for control of the ship with nothing more than a Bowie knife.
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample and duplicate entry * {{Berserker}}: Has the potential to perform violence on a grand scale.

18 years old, college freshman in the engineering department. Butter-yellow hair, dark (forest) green eyes. Height and weight not given but implied to be slightly taller than average and in excellent shape. Heir apparent to the Crane fortune resulting from The First's inventions but controls almost none of it. IQ in the 130's. Christian, liberal Methodist. Member of a church which accepts gays.
* {{Badass}}: Trained to brown-belt in Okinawan karate by family retainer Shiro Higa.
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * BetaCouple: With Margaret.

* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: Richard's far more mature and reverent attitude after surviving his adventure to Osnome and returning to earth. In the safety of Rabbi Jacob's residence he finally has a nervous breakdown. He kneels, complains to God how devastated he feels, and begs that if He is a good God at all to please grant him a merciful death immediately. The Rabbi, in the meantime, calls an ambulance for him, where they place him in a psychatric hospital for a while. [[ItGetsBetter He gets better.]]

Belongs to a tightly knit group of families who in turn belong to a Conservative Jewish synagogue run along tightly authoritarian lines, including arranged marriage for teens. Richard is utterly repelled by the experience, and it doesn't help his emotional balance that his parents severely punish him for the least sign of deviance. [[ItGetsBetter Dorothy helps rehabilitate him based on her own far more loving outlook of the faith.]]

* GenreSavvy: On several occasions:

** Gives Martin the order to launch as [[JapaneseSpirit "Alouette... HASSHIN!!!"]], in tribute to Richard's idealism helping her this voyage even possible. [[spoiler: Richard overhears while still 's prisoner and it gives him exactly the hope he needs for later.]]

%% commented out per ExplainYourExamples * GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: "Beloved Mother Of Us All" is how part of the inscription on her white marble tombstone reads.

* TheGoodShepherd: Her pastoral contributions are pivotal to the novel.

* CultureClash: The very first Kondalian to observe [[WomensMysteries an exotic Terran practice]], performed by Dorothy upon a catatonic Richard to try to bring him back to reality. [[KissGusting She's initially shocked and disgusted]], then fascinated. She realizes the rest of her people are simply not ready for this. [[KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge She'll keep this secret to herself for now... and Dunark.]] Dorothy explains to Sitar before she begins, that what she's about to do is indistinguishable from magic, and that's why she explained it as magic, to discourage curiosity seekers.