Welcome, reader, to the latest Character Development Thread! These shared story exercises help budding writers develop their characters alongside the characters of other budding writers. No formal sign-up is necessary; one can simply jump right in. Just make sure to review the OP and the last few pages first.
If the length of the thread has become a bit daunting and you need a recap, or if you simply need another question about the threads answered, just post in the discussion thread
and we’ll do our best to help you out.
This particular thread focuses a bit more heavily on character interaction than usual. It is recommended, though not required, that your characters come with specific goals in mind.
Many thanks go to nrjxll, Killer Clowns, SolipSchism, Corvidae, electronic-tragedy, Darkblood Carnagefang, Strix Obscuro, Gault, Night, and gameknight102xx, among others, for helping to prepare the thread.
◊Somewhere in the vastness that is the multiverse, there lies a great city. Born from a mix of modern technologies and ancient magic, it has become a crossroads between many different realities, resulting in a wonderfully varied populace and a mostly near-futuristic cityscape.
This shining Capital prides itself on being a place of opportunity. It’s up to the inhabitants to make something of it.
- Current Time: Night (~10:00 PM)
- Current Weather: Cloudy
edited 12th Oct '15 12:20:03 PM by Yomegami
Crazy Kiwi
Market Street - Book Store —> Pub
Nick grabbed Jackson's arm and dragged him out the door in his haste to go.It's not like he's even allowed to drink alcohol, Kris thought. She followed Marie and Adam at a more sedate pace.
When she entered the pub it was easy to spot Teri, James and Wolfe talking with a tall scruffy-looking guy.
James looked up as she approached and smiled. He introduced her and the Not-Chaos-Hunters to Henry.
Kris ordered herself a drink and dug out her cigarettes and lighter.
It's a bird.
Old City - Fallen Flags Coffeehouse
"Oh there's no need to apologize," Moreena answered. "In fact, I think that my own situation might not have been all that different from yours." She moved over to the door. "And yes, I'm still quite interested in the Park."
Waterfront - Experience
"Heh, I'll eat pretty much anything myself," Garkin said, eventually settling for a dish with an interesting name he'd never dare to try and pronounce, before following Qrlil's gaze out through the window. The approaching sunset was very nice to look at.
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
[Market Street ~ Book Store —> Pub](Howell)
Howell smiled pleasantly—or at least as pleasant as one of his smiles could be—and waited quietly until everyone else had left the bookstore. His smile faded slowly and steadily away. He unfolded his hat, reaching and failing to catch the red ball before it rolled out. It fell to the ground and bounced once before he managed to seize it cleanly out of the air. The small feat brought the smile back for just a moment. He stuck the ball back into his pocket, then took his hat and hung it around his shoulders, letting it rest on his back.
He stuck his hands into his pockets and walked slowly to the door. He turned around as he reached it, pushing it open with his back and laying his eyes upon the store one last time. It seemed so quiet. He wondered briefly whether anyone was working there at all. If not, then he was the last one there.
"Don't worry," he said to the store, his voice gentle and reassuring, "can't be lonely forever."
He smiled, stepped outside, gave the wall beside the door an encouraging pat, then stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and walked off, tailing after the others.
Howell was a little slow to enter the pub, taking each step carefully, as though he were treading through a minefield. At one point, he reached for his hat, but didn't pull it back on. He just held onto it.
His strange eyes wandered around the room, seemingly visiting every single corner that wasn't occupied by anyone he knew. When he finally spotted Adam and his friends, he stuck his hands back into his pockets and immediately sashayed over to join them. Once near, he leaned over and asked, "Think they ever do karaoke here?"
every little word and every little step
Crazy Kiwi
Teri looked at the lizard-like entity. "Dunno about this pub, you'd have to ask the staff. I do know there's a wicked cool karaoke bar over in the Visitor's District - we went there last night."
Wolfe smiled at the memory. "Yeah, it was fuckin' awesome. Never seen such a list of songs before."
Kris grinned. "Whaddya reckon? Same again tonight?"
Teri nodded. "Too right!"
James chuckled at his companions' reaction to the mere mention of 'karaoke'. He turned to the newcomer and extended his hand. "James Turner."
Mr ship
[Market Street-Pub]
Henry looked at the new arrives and exchanged pleasantries with them. He quietly sat back with a fresh cigarette and let them talk amongst each other before he heard them all talk about something called 'Karaoke' getting his attention.
"What the hell is 'karaoke'?" He asked getting their attention.
Meiko's Cafe
Naoko didn't seem to sense Samantha's slight irritation and merely nodded. "Understood." she replied like she was being told to complete an objective. Kiyumi came up from behind them and gently pat Samantha's shoulder. "Don't give them too hard of a time, after all there is nothing like a little fun to lighten up the seriousness of a mission." she said with a grin. At Samantha's question about the underground city the two ninjas looked at each other and thought about it for a moment.
"Actually, no I haven't. Which is odd since I've lived here for quite some time. Maybe it's supposed to be secret." she replied. Naoko thought about it some more then answered, "I have never seen it myself but I heard a rumor about it. A place where people sell their magic wares in a sort of black market.
Visitor's Terminal
Midori thanked the receptionist for his time and was sad they didn't learn anything else about it but agreed with Sophie that perhaps it was time to leave. "Yeah, we should go. I bet the others are waiting for us to come back. Hopefully Samantha doesn't scold us too much." she replied. She thought about how they were going to get back quickly and imagined Sophie would probably fly them to the cafe and blushed a dark red.
Museum Park
Kyana lowered her gaze. This man clearly got his hands on something that was potentially dangerous or very secretive from the way he was acting. "Too bad, I really want to see it!" she shouted and jumped far in front of him and unleashed a wall of flames behind her. She didn't want to use force but clearly words weren't going to work.
"Now tell me what it is and who gave it to you. Clearly you knew someone was after that other rock of yours which didn't appear to be special to you. But this one is. Why is that?" she growled at him, her scarf sparking in response to sucking up some of the fire to make sure it wouldn't go out of control.
"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"
Laugh and grow dank!
[Waterfront - Experience]
Angua stuck out an idle tongue, scanning down the list of side-dishes. "Aright I uh- I think I'm gonna order the scallop bread for starters, with a side of clam soup with scallion... Aaaand we can just see where it goes from there!" She shut the menu with a quick snap, setting it down on the table and giving her order to a passing waiter.
yey
[FALLEN FLAGS COFFEEHOUSE (OUTSIDE)]
Lara paced leisurely, waiting for the other two.
She saw Moreena approach the door. They were ready to leave.
"I guess we keep going, then." She said, starting off with a stroll.
It's a bird.
Waterfront - Experience
Garkin took the opportunity to make his own order as well. "And a number C-21 for me please," he said, not bothering with the proper name, which sounded vaguely similar to something a Kri'krit might have come up with. He smirked a bit at the memory. His first meeting with those guys had been pretty interesting.
Once finished, he turned to look at Qrlil.
"I think you said that you would tell us a bit more about your universe, right? I'm definitely still pretty curious."
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
Visitor's District - Visitor's Terminal -> Outside Visitor's Terminal
Sophie shrugged. "I have no idea what Samantha's reaction is going to be, really. I just hope she doesn't go on about it too much." She sighed, before turning and leading the way out of the Terminal.
Once back outside, she stopped and glanced in the direction of the New City, or at least the direction she thought the New City was in. She had to admit; she was a little disappointed that their day out was coming to an end. That being said, she did have one more idea for Midori and herself before they had to meet up with the others again.
"I know I mentioned this on the way out here, but do you think we have time to watch the sunset?" she asked, "I mean, I know you got to see a little bit of it on the way here, but I bet the view's pretty amazing from the top of one of those skyscrapers." She smiled sheepishly, noticing Midori seemed to be pretty flustered as it was. "If...that's something you'd be interested in, anyway. If not then no big deal, we can just fly to the cafe and be done with it. Or just skip flying altogether and just take the bus."
New City - Meiko's Cafe
"If that's your mindset, then you're going to be in for a very rude awakening," Samantha said to Kiyumi, her eyes narrowing slightly. "When you have a job to do, you finish doing it. You don't randomly slack off in the middle of it. Especially since later on you'll be taking on tasks that will kill you if you let down your guard for a second." Her hands clenched into fists. "Both Sophie and Midori need to understand that, and I'll do whatever it takes to get it into their heads."
She waved her hand dismissively. "But back to the subject at hand." She frowned thoughtfully. "If what Naoko's saying is true, then that sounds like a better place to look than the random shops we've been trying to find before now. However, this underground city as a whole is probably our best bet at finding a Pleroma fragment. I don't even know why we're trying to find those in a shop."
She paced back and forth for a few moments. "Either way, it sounds like we might have to deal with some...criminal scum." She stopped, then smirked. "Nothing I'm not used to. I might actually enjoy that more than this job." She glanced between Kiyumi and Naoko. "And it sounds like the perfect warmup for your lot before your first meeting with the Bleaksteel."
At that point, she noticed that the cloaked being was still staring at her. She gave it another shrug alongside a look that seemed to be asking "What do you want?" before turning back to the ninjas. It could stare all it wanted as far as she was concerned; she was in the middle of something right now and she sure wasn't going to interrupt it just to see what it wanted.
Old City - Fallen Flags Coffeehouse -> Outside Fallen Flags Coffeehouse
"Really?" Eliza asked, looking rather surprised, "So...you were adopted too? Or at least whatever the god equivalent to that is?" She frowned. "...If you don't mind me asking. I knew it took me a while to spit out that bit to you, and I don't want to force you or anything."
She grabbed her sandwich before she followed Moreena to the door and out of the establishment, only to have Lara suddenly take off.
"The least you could do is wait for me to get back in my mech first," she called after the other girl, before shaking her head and sighing. "...I think I might have triggered something in her."
She then walked back over to her mech and got back inside of it. It took her a little bit more effort this time as she had to juggle getting in with holding her sandwich and making sure the filling inside of it didn't spill out everywhere. When she finally did get back in, she opted to leave the front door open this time, again just to make it easier for her to eat. Once the mech was back on its feet, she strode off after Lara, taking a bite along the way.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Waterfront - Experience]
Qrlil refocused on her menu again as the others placed their orders. Since she was not wanting to take too much time now that they already had - and also since she was still feeling oddly spontaneous - she decided simply to pick something and get on with it. An entree called a 'shshlsh platter' caught her eyes, and, mostly because of the name, she decided that she might as well try it. I'll leave it up to you to decide exactly what this is...
"I will have the C-12 meal, including a drink," she said in imitation of Zerrimus, whose own choice looked even less intuitive to pronounce. (She actually thought she could manage a try at it, but she didn't want to look silly in front of the others if she got it wrong). Her head turned in his direction as the waiter left their table. "And yes, I did say that, didn't I? That is actually part of the memories I mentioned the sunset bringing back - there was no ocean, but it still looked rather like that sometimes in the city where I was hatched..."
She rested her arms on the table and laced long grey fingers together. "So, where shall I begin?"
[New City - Meiko's Cafe]
The cloaked alien being continued to stare motionlessly at Samantha, apparently ignoring all else around it. In fact, it was moving so little that visitors to the cafe might well wonder if it was in fact some kind of strange decoration the owners had left there.
edited 1st Sep '15 8:44:56 PM by nrjxll
[Museum Park ~ East (Headed South)] (Buso, Akira, Miyuki)
"At times, willingness to help is all it takes." Buso said, nodding approvingly.
He turned to watch as Akira sped over to Miyuki and gave her a returning hero's hug. Buso's own small smile was invisible, though one could see a slight shake in his shoulders and hear his low, murmurous laugh, sounding almost as smooth and collected as his speaking voice. He knows her well. Very... very well.
He allowed them their little moment, however brief, with no further interruption. When Miyuki discussed the relative ease of the mission and asked about Miyuki, Buso tilted his head slightly said, "She... followed after you. Didn't you two ever cross paths? Does she know that you've already got the rock?"
[Museum Park ~ Northwest (Near Central Canal)] (Buyer, Kyana)
The man stopped in his tracks as soon as the first flame erupted in front of him. His eyes widened and his brow lowered, as though he was caught between a sudden acute wariness and complete disbelief at what he was seeing.
"Oh no, come on... no, no, no no..." he muttered under his breath, taking a few steps backward. Glancing rapidly between the flames and the girl who seemed to be able to control them, he wiped the sweat from his brow, sucked in a lungful of air, then shouted, "Sorry, I don't discuss personal matters with thieves!"
He took a quick glance to his left, then quickly broke into a sprint in the same direction, aiming for a dense cluster of trees.
[Market Street ~ Pub](Howell, Adam, Henry, Jackson, James, Kris, Marie, Nick, Teri, Wolfe)
Howell glanced at Henry and shrugged. "I dunno either, but I'm told it goes well with booze."
Then he turned his attention to James, put a hand to his chest and answered, "Someone else." He did manage to shake James's hand with no additional monkey business.
sorry for the briefness. Got some other things that need attendin'
edited 2nd Sep '15 10:27:23 AM by Ryuhza
every little word and every little step
It's a bird.
Old City - En route to Museum Park
"We all are, more or less," Moreena answered. "Didn't I mention that before?" She watched Eliza climb into her mech and hurry after Lara, and followed along. She briefly glanced down at her current physical form, studying her hands with a slightly solemn look on her face.
"The first millenia or so is a bit of a blur by now, but I remember how I suddenly manifested within the Storm of Creation, fully conscious and aware of what I was, but all alone and with no experience or memories. It was... confusing to say the least."
Waterfront - Experience
"Well," Garkin began. "Since you just mentioned the place where you were hatched, maybe you could start there. What was it like?"
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.Meiko's Cafe
Kiyumi grimaced a bit at Samantha's tone. Perhaps she was right. In a way, she felt a bit sorry for her. She was a teenager like them, but from everything they learned it didn't sound like she had the time to be able to act like one. Even though Kiyumi and the others were being trained as ninjas, they still had free time to do whatever they wanted, to be kids because they didn't really have a set destiny in front of them. But it was different with the magical girls, the constant battle they had with the Bleaksteel must have lasted as long as they could remember.
Her mood changed as Samantha seemed excited about entering the underground city as she too was interested and pumped to see it. She only hoped Sasha would be ok with letting them have the day off tomorrow. She guessed she could always make up an excuse like a family emergency. "Sounds like a plan. I'm up for it." Kiyumi replied. Naoko just listened and thought about the underground city before looking back towards the figure who was eyeing Samantha. She raised a brow, wondering what it wanted, and was hoping it wouldn't start a fight in the middle of the cafe and involve innocent people.
Visitor's Terminal
Midori blinked at Sophie's suggestion to watch the sunset but nodded. "I'm ok with that, it would be awesome to see it from on top of the building." she said with a smile. Even if being carried bridal style was a bit weird to her but she was having lots of fun with Sophie regardless.
Museum Park
Kyana glared and brushed away her fire before giving chase after the man. She kind of was affiliated with a thief no matter the circumstances but this man definitely was suspicious. A part of her worried why he gave up the rock so easily, and hoped it wasn't something dangerous that would hurt the others. Her eyes widened when she remembered Miyuki and the others. She was supposed to meet up with them after the rock was taken. But maybe she could lead the man towards them.
Because he was heading for trees, she stopped her fire and continued to chase him shouting, "Stop! I promise I won't hurt you if you just tell me what is going on!"
"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"
[Waterfront - Experience]
Qrlil glanced from Zerrimus to Angua, observing that both of them were listening intently, and smiled almost without thinking about it. She was flattered by the display of interest, and she also thought that this might be a good way to distract her mind from some of the worries and concerns that she seemed to keep suffering from even now.
"The place where I was hatched, where I spent my whole childhood, was a city on my homeworld named T'lj City. More precisely, T'lj is the name of a," she paused to think of the right phrasing, "a valley in the shape of an inverted hemisphere into which the city is built. There is a network of bridges linking the towers of the city not only with each other, but also with the cliffs around them. Children growing up there like to play on them, and everyone goes up there for the view." Unconsciously, she shifted into a more wistful posture. "Our building materials have a crystalline appearance, you see, so at sunset and sunrise, the towers and bridges refracted the light of the sun in a very mesmerizing way." She hissed. "Though I only ever saw it at sunset. I think you have both noticed that I am not the type of person who is up at dawn."
She leaned backwards in her chair. "I wish I could show it to you - I do not know if I am very good at describing things. I showed Xavier a simulation of it at the Resort, but there are no simulation pods at the embassy suite, and you don't have implants I could do an overlay with."
[Museum Park ~ Northwest (Near Central Canal)] (Buyer, Kyana)
The man made it to the trees, quickly navigating through as many as he could before swiftly pulling himself behind one, praying that she hadn't spotted him doing it.
He rolled his eyes and almost groaned when she made him her offer. He waited a moment, then spoke up, hoping that the density of the trees would make it too difficult to immediately pinpoint where his voice was coming from.
"Yeah?" he called out between breaths. "Sounds like a pretty good deal!" He paused another moment, eyes darting around, looking for options. "What's your name, fire lady?"
every little word and every little step
Visitor's District - Outside Visitor's Terminal
Sophie smiled herself. "All right." She then pulled out her pendant again. "Watch your eyes."
At that, she activated it and transformed again. Once that was said and done, she approached Midori to pick her up again. Then she hesitated and took a step back.
"Before we take off this time...is there another way you'd like to be carried? I went with the bridal style earlier since that seemed like the best way to not drop you, but I'm pretty sure we both know the other...implications of that and I don't want to make you feel too uncomfortable."
New City - Meiko's Cafe
Samantha grinned. "Then it sounds like our plan for tomorrow is set. Just need to wait for Sophie and Midori to return with more information." She stroked her chin in thought. "Though if we're putting that off until tomorrow, we also still have the rest of tonight to fill. Unless our shift is really going to last that much longer."
Then she glanced towards the cloaked being again, which after all this time was still looking at her. "...But we'll talk about that right after I see what that person wants, because the staring's getting damned annoying."
At that, she approached the being. "Can't keep your eyes off me, huh? Do you want something from me?"
Old City - En Route to Museum Park
Eliza frowned. "I don't remember you mentioning that. Then again, maybe my memory's just foggy. Today's been kind of crazy."
She grabbed another bite of her sandwich and finished swallowing it before asking her next question. "So basically, you just...came out of something like the Big Bang? In that case, how did your families form? Did you just bump into each other randomly and went with the first group of people you met, or was it something more organized than that?"
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[OLD CITY (HEADING TOWARDS MUSEUM PARK)]
At Eliza's reminder, Lara halted her pace until the others caught up. It hadn't occurred to her that getting inside a mech, all the while holding a sandwich, took time.
She listened while Moreena began to retell her past. The sheer coincidence baffled her, that all three were orphans, though through different means.
"Well, look at us." She smirked, "The Three Orphaneers."
Attitude is prohibited
[Museum Park - East]
"I never saw her." Said Miyuki, turning her head towards the direction of the place she'd ambushed the man a few moments ago. "I did say she'd have to make her own way back if she wanted to follow me..." She paused for a moment. "Regardless, I'll go after her if she doesn't come back in a minute." She turned to Akira. "Hold on to this. Try to stay out of sight." Then she passed the rock to him, and began to wait.
"I wonder what's so special about this, anyway?" Said Akira, examining the rock in his hands.
Not entirely dead.
[New City - Meiko's Cafe]
The cloaked alien inclined its hood slightly. "I apologize if I have offended, young lady," it intoned, though its voice remained somewhat monotonous. "My awareness of social protocols has diminished in my old age, and my knowledge of human customs is limited to begin with."
It glanced briefly at the cup of coffee, then back at Samantha. "As for what I want: that is a question with many possible and lengthy answers. But my attention was drawn to you specifically by the nature of the nexus you seem to be wearing. It seems familiar, and I am wondering if I might have perhaps met a pair of your friends earlier."
Crazy Kiwi
Market Street - Pub
Teri turned to Henry. "Karaoke is a leisure activity. They have a machine that plays the background music of songs and displays the words on a screen and while the participants use a microphone to sing the song. It's a lot of fun. If you've ever loved singing along with your favourite songs and always wanted to get up and perform, you'd probably enjoy it.""Sometimes," said Wolfe, "they have competitions and give out prizes to the best singers. A mate of mine and I won the prize for duets one night when I was still on Earth."
Kris looked at Howell, reassessing him. She had at first thought he was being humorous in a smart-arsed kind of way, then wondered if he lacked the capacity to comprehend human idiom, but his response to James had her inclined to think he was being deliberately rude and it raised her hackles. "Someone else" in-fucking-deed! There was no way on Earth - or any other world, for that matter - that he could have missed that James was giving his name and expecting the same courtesy in return.
James was too astounded for words. It was the most bizarre response he had encountered in all his travels. He wondered if the alien was unaware of humans and their customs. Did it think that he was pointing at it and calling it "James Turner"?
edited 3rd Sep '15 7:21:08 PM by Wolf1066
It's a bird.
Old City - En route to Museum Park
Moreena gave Eliza a look of faux indignation before smiling. "I don't look that old, do I? New deities come into being every now and then, and I'm certainly not one of the first. I spent my first few centuries traveling throughout my universe, until I eventually discovered some mortals who were worshipping me, which was a pleasant surprise at the time. Later, I found out that there were quite a few other mortals who didn't, and things sort of... went downhill from there until my father found me.
She turned to Lara. "Hm, that is quite the coincidence actually." She chuckled. "The goddess, the mech pilot, and the fire-and-ice girl... I bet there's a book like that somewhere."
Waiting on Gault for Garkin.
edited 3rd Sep '15 6:43:46 AM by Corvidae
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
Old City - En Route to Museum Park
"Er...I didn't mean it that way," Eliza said somewhat sheepishly, "Just when you mentioned a 'storm of creation,' that was just the first thing I thought of. Plus in most legends, that sort of thing happens once and then never again unless the world gets blown up."
She shrugged. "Anyway, it sort of sounds like your father just found you and decided to take you in. Which is pretty much what happened with me, except Darius found me and introduced me to Father." She frowned. "The exact details...are something I don't feel entirely comfortable talking about at the moment."
She then took yet another bite out of the sandwich, which at this point was about finished. "There probably is. People can come up with some weird stuff sometimes." She chuckled a little. "Now I'm curious as to what it could be about."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
Laugh and grow dank!
[Waterfront - Experience]
"That sounds amazing!" said Angua, head propped up on an elbow. It was clear from her expression however that the words didn't really mean much to her, beyond painting a pretty picture behind her eyes.
Turning to face Zerrimus, Angua asked, "What about you? What's your home like?"
yey
[Waterfront - Experience]
"I certainly have, at that," Qrlil agreed cheerfully, "though now that I think about it I have possibly not paid as close attention to your dietary habits as I perhaps should have."
She studied the menu somewhat casually again, glancing over at Zerrimus. "Though since I myself am not that hungry, perhaps I will try that."
Part of her thought she should be focusing more closely on the menu, or perhaps on the restaurant in general, but she found her attention drawn instead by the window and its view of the setting sun. Though the sun was not setting directly over the ocean, it still colored its waters in shades of purple, red, and orange.
"This is nice," she remarked. "And it rather brings back some memories."
[New City - Meiko's Cafe]
The being in the hooded black cloak continued to stare fixedly at Samantha, its glowing eyes not blinking. It completely ignored the cup of coffee set in front of it. Occasionally it hissed softly, apparently intending the noise only for its own ears - or whatever it had under the hood.