A Character Comparison

After recently getting the impression that a certain Phoenix Wright character was a lot like one of mine, I got the idea to try matching the characters from that game to others I created myself. I'm not sure precisely when I started playing Phoenix Wright, but the majority of my characters were created before I had ever heard of it. So this is just a compilation of interesting coincidences, I suppose.

1. The One Who Started It All: Jake Marshall

While his Wild West persona is the most obvious thing about him, for some reason he seriously reminds me of Smith. While I don't think the blues guitarist carries a flask with him or references Texas often, their basic behaviour and tone really seem to be the same. Low-key, a little snide... It's a little hard to say precisely, but there's definitely an eerie similarity there. Their expressions seem to be the same as well. Now here's hoping I don't start writing Smith and suddenly find him calling everyone "bambina" or "hombre"...

2: Kicking Rear with a Loveable Smile: Desirée DeLite

Although I don't imagine her being quite as devoted to her man as the lady above, I think Cayman might be a good match in this case. Both are thrill-seekers, get (and spend) a lot of money because of their husband/boyfriend (who is notably less strong), and give off the impression that they can more than hold their own despite their sweet smiles. They're both pretty determined and active as well, and I could really imagine Cayman using the same poses and gestures as Desirée. I'm not so sure that Cayman drives a motorbike, but anything's possible.

3: The Big-Hearted Big Guy with Not-Such-a-Big Brain: Dick Gumshoe

I didn't think I had any major characters in this, but then I realised a certain scruffy detective is actually a lot like Edwin. Neither could ever be called the brains of the group (of, if they can, the circumstances are pretty dire), but they're still good for a lot more than comic relief. They have their own useful skill sets, both of which include being the imposing one who'll take a hit if it will help the rest of the group keep going. Interestingly, Gumshoe is my favourite character in the series, and Edwin, while not quite up with the competition among all of my other characters, was good enough to receive one of my favourite names for a boy.

4: We Take Our Crimes Seriously: Lana Skye

While there may be an "Adrian" in the game, Lana is the one who reminds me of my own Adrian. Rather cold, rather outspoken when angry, and not terribly much range of facial expression overall. Both have more or less been criminals for a span not entirely voluntarily, but, more importantly, both defend their little sisters fiercely. They may not seem all that similar in, say, the severity of their crimes, but there's definitely a connection.

5: Arrogant Within Reason: Maximilian Galactica

While I still get the feeling that this is a little contrived, somehow I quickly identified Max with Harold. Although both have rather wild hair—Harold's is neon green and spiked—Harold isn't nearly as "fabulous" (nor does he overuse, or probably even use the word), he doesn't call anyone "sweetie," and he doesn't have any interest in magic tricks. Yet both are ambitious and competitive, with rivals in their own group (both of which end up losing their romantic interest battles to the formers). As far as I've gathered, both also come from large families that they don't talk about because they're busy with their current occupations and don't really want to talk about it, as non-traumatic as it may have been. I can't imagine Harold using any of the same poses as Max, and the former has a much more casual speech pattern overall, but somehow they seem alike. Oh, and both of them do their best to not go by their given names.

That's all I can think up for now, but, with the number of characters I have, I could have missed some really good ones. I could try for a second instalment of this if anyone's interested.

Prompt Writing #5

Here, have a little emo excerpt. It's about the only interesting thing Cora has going for her before she was in circumstances where she wouldn't be able to show up at her house for this prompt.

Prompt [Yeah Writers blog]:

"Your character opens the door to their house to a stranger claiming that they are siblings. What happens next? You decide."

Randomly Selected Story and Character: Chemists, Cora

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cora had only just dumped her bookbags on the living room floor when she saw the boy on the couch. With bowl-cut hair a little lighter a brown than hers, he gripped the bottom edge of the cushion and kicked his short legs, making himself bob on the springs.

"Oh, hey, Cora!" he chimed, waving with his left hand. The orange cloth of his oversized jacket slunk down to his elbow. "How was your day?"

The worst one I've ever had.

"Get out of my house, punk. No idea how you got in or what you think you're doing here, but—"

"Hey!" He pouted. "That's no way to speak to your little brother! I'm gonna tell on you."

"Excuse me?" She let her cold stare rest on him. "You're the one trespassing. If anybody's 'gonna tell on' someone else, it sure isn't going to be you. Now get out before I kick you out."

The boy leapt to his feet. "But, Cora!"

"Shut up!" She ground her teeth, hunching and forcing her fists into the front pocket of her black hoodie. She hadn't taken it off since she'd found it that afternoon, so she knew well enough there wasn't anything in there. "I have had it with everyone today, and I am not going to be whined at by some psychotic little boy, too!"

Still snarling, she took a step towards him. "Now, get out."

He shrank back. "A-are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! And you're not going to be, either, if you don't beat it!"

It took a second of glaring at the boy before she registered the tears running down her face. Swearing, she pulled up her hood a little more and looked down.

"C-Cora?" He timidly tugged at the wrist of her hoodie. When she didn't respond, he choked. "I-I'm sorry! I'm Vash's little brother—I-I was just joking around... Don't cry!" He wrapped both hands around her wrist. "I-I wasn't trying to be mean or anything..."

Taking a deep breath, Cora shook her hand out of his grasp and wiped her face. "Good for you. Don't try to be mean when you grow up and get a girlfriend, too, huh?"

She folded her arms, frowning down at him. Vash's brother, was it? Why had she thought he'd only had a sister...? Well. It was hardly important. 

"Run back home, all right?" She kept her voice stiff. "I have homework, and I don't need anybody's little brother distracting me."

Now, a certain someone's older brother distracting her... was unavoidable. 

No—no, it was. He was done with her. She would be done with him. The end. No more Moe. No more stupid bull**** about her looks and getting jealous and—right. No more of it. Homework. She had homework. Some pretty nasty thermochemistry junk, to boot...

"Cora?"

She didn't drag her gaze away from her backpack. "What?"

He was hugging her from behind before she knew he was even approaching.

"Do you want a little brother?" His voice was muffled in her hoodie, the dummy. "Just for today? You look lonely."

She stiffened, shutting her eyes and letting out a long breath. "I don't need anyone. Go back home before it gets dark."

He let go. "Okay..." Trudging along in front of her, he went to the still-open front door and stopped. He looked over his shoulder at her and then turned back towards the outside.

"...Can you make tea?"

"Huh?" He whipped around.

Cora lowered herself onto the couch, dragging her bookbag with her. "You can stay long enough to make me some tea if you really feel the burning need to do so."

"Okay! I can do that!" He ran up behind the couch and leaned over it, putting his face near hers. "Where's the kitchen?"

She sighed and pointed him to the right door. "Don't break anything."

"Yes, ma'am!" He scurried towards the entryway. "I mean, no, ma'am. I won't break anything!"

"Okay." Setting her book in her lap, she paused. "What was your name?"

Already in the kitchen, he peeked around the doorframe. "Noah."

She grunted in response. "Well, the less you say to me, the longer you get to stay, Noah." She pulled out a pencil and twirled it between her fingers. "If I'm going to have a little brother, he's going to be well-trained."

"Okay!" He stepped back in the doorway. "I—" He suddenly froze up, wide-eyed. Cora checked the door—it was still open, but it hung open all the time without anyone barging it—before looking back at Noah. He made a motion to zip up his lips, smiled, and hurried for the kettle sitting by the stove.

Ah. If only all boys would do that.

The Action Girls

Somehow I got it into my head that I should rank my fighter girls in order of badbuttery. So here we are.

(Spot number one should probably belong to Rin, but her story hasn't been posted yet, so we'll skip over her for now. Ena should also be on here, but she has so little characterisation at this point it's hard to rank her.)

1. Michelle (The Long and Winding Road): She's not a part of the main story, and, at this point, I'm not entirely sure if she'll actually come up in discussions, but I would really like her to. My head-image of her is some sort of cross between Joan Jett and Pat Benatar. While she would qualify as "Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse," she somehow seems to have, um, died in it a lot sooner than 5 or 6 on this list. Anyway, she was Emile's fiancee and kicked some serious rear in her time. She has the survival skills and combat skills necessary to get up this high on the list, and the calm and faithful way she handled her upcoming death (although she kind of got burnt alive by paranoid villagers before she could be zombie-fied as she expected) gets her the top spot.
2. Kaliause: Scatterbrained is certainly her normal mode, but thankfully her muscle memory doesn't seem to have been hit by her brain injury. Surviving on her own on a wartorn planet certainly isn't easy, nor is trying to keep Tommy alive when he stumbles across her path, but she handles it with the kind of ease that cements her spot in second place.
3. Loretta May: She may be a city girl, so she's not so experienced with wilderness survival, but she still hasn't had it easy. Surviving an abusive father and a bunch of other experiences with misogynists (although she does tend to think of all men as women-haters), she can handle herself just fine, whether she's executing a flawless robbery or striking and knifing her way out of a dark alleyway.
4. Cerise: A dark mistress of magic, she has to "mask" herself just to prevent her aura from attracting everyone's attention. She may not have skill with weapons, but when she can detonate an area in a snap, why bother tossing knives?
5. Rachel: Up against zombies and vampires alike and still having a blast with it, she plows herself across America with nothing but an RV and a good attitude. And a gun (which is why she's a bit lower than some of the close-combat users) and some friends, of course.
6. Charlotte: While her older brother and a few kindhearted villagers may be how she got through the worst part of the apocalypse, by the beginning of her story, she can hold her own against zombies and humans alike. A bit handicapped in total wilderness survival but an expert in scrounging through the remains of civilized areas, she's been through a lot but has come out rather bright and cheery. She's also very goal-driven, and not too terrible a shot.
7. Andromache: Although she could easily be called a pampered princess, that hasn't stopped her from getting a feel for the soldier's life. She may not be that tough physically, but she's got a good handle on magic and more than enough heart and loyalty to make up for it. She will be knocked down, but she will get back up.
8. Darla: Fearless in battle (perhaps not so much with real life), she can take a hit and deal one, too. She's not so hot once she's swordless, but she'll find a way to get her (or her opponent's) weapon back, and she's not afraid to take a few wounds in the meantime.
9. Pink: With a determination that can rip up mountains and cast them into the sea, she will not stop or take a detour. She's an average fighter and hasn't much experience with weapons, but she can run like nobody's business and, in her story, that's the only physical strength she really needs.
10. Scarlet: Fierce and proud, she'll whatever she has to to help her loved ones, even if that means bristling under the enemy's control until she can find a way out. She's not very tough physically, but she can figure out how to put a Cyber suit to good use, and she's not afraid to do so, either.
11. Michelle (Crime or Punishment): She may be quiet and a drug addict, but she's still a trained policewoman in an urban area, and she will kick rear by hand, gun, or nightstick. Only her fluctuating mental status keeps her down on the list.
12. Danielle: She's been trained as an assassin from a young age and can handle her job. Unfortunately, her story gets around to breaking her down more than 11.
13. Vanessa: She may be young and untrained, but she has a killer instinct and a pretty good trigger finger. Beware all who challenge her.
14. Athena: Being cast out from civilization, she's tough and knows how to survive. She's combative to a fault, but she'll still expend some of her strength to lend a hand.
15. Kori: A bit paranoid and bewildered, but she can use her brain, and she has excellent endurance. The whole bit about launching her corrosive blood at others or at inhuman barriers doesn't hurt her status.
16. M: She really has no idea what's going on, and she's not in terribly good condition physically. She does, however, have an astounding magical ability that only continues to grow stronger, along with her will, in the course of her story.
17. Josephine: She's rather frail and too lost to be very determined, but she's a swift runner and can be surprisingly strong when it comes to helping her allies. 
18. Helen: More stubborn than determined, she still has guts and isn't afraid to chuck a stiletto heel hard at somebody.
19. Sophia: Although she's a bit timid at the beginning of her story, she still develops and is fiercely devoted to her friends and getting them out of the cage alongside her.

These Dreams

I had a bizarre dream this morning, but I can't remember it for anything now. It would have been nice to have the time to write it down.

I've been considering starting a dream journal for a while. My dreams rarely fail to amuse me, but just like my story ideas—or, more extremely than my story ideas—they fade in and out of my mind. I've tried just rehearsing events that happened, but if I don't write them down—sometimes telling others doesn't even do it—it'll be gone by the end of Genetics class.

Dreams are good for a lot more than vague amusement, too. The idea for Chemists came from one of my dreams. The idea for Entrapped came from the dream of a friend of a friend. Even if loads of pons firing is total rubbish, there are some interesting little gems to be retrieved in all of it.

Would you be interested in reading some of my dreams on here? I still have a few fairly recent ones—and the legendary twin squirrels dream—I could put, though I can't guarantee I'll remember anything that comes up later, or have any sort of predictability as to whether I dream something interesting or not. Nor can I say any of it will be worth reading, but it could give one of us some inspiration, I think.

Any recommendations for dream journals? I still have a mostly-empty moleskine (apparently they're a big deal) that I used a bit in NaNoWriMo, and I had been considering using it. I'm probably not going to be able to type everything up here in time, so I'll have to write it down somehow.

Also, I name a lot of my blog posts after songs...

New Fiction Idea #4

This might be the first novel I tried to write. "Tried," because the main character was so flat (especially compared to the other characters) I just starting writing scenarios to scare the crap out of him, and needless to say the entire story went totally downhill. It originally came from a dream, and I feel like I might give it another shot someday, so here's a slightly revised outline of it.

Title: Chemists (originally Scientists)

Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Protagonists: Jacob and Scarlet, sixteen-year-old boyfriend and girlfriend. Scarlet is very stubborn and determined, and although she can be sweet she usually only shows her soft side to children and Jacob. Jacob is usually quite content, but if he doesn't get what he wants he'll be very uncooperative.

Other Main Characters: Abel, a second-generation genetically enhanced sixteen-year-old. He's very friendly, even tolerating the ridiculously competitive "Rip" (Harold) as his arch-nemesis. He plays guitar, has been in love with Cora for a while, and has always wanted to be a Fire Elementalist.
Cora, a sixteen-year-old girl with very good looks, though she always wears an obscuring black hoodie and doesn't go after boys. She's very smart but acidic towards others.
Jordan, a seventeen-year-old Cyber who hits on Scarlet like nobody's business. The crooked-smile type, he can be quite nice, though he's devoted to the war cause.

Antagonists: The Cybers, a group of particularly technologically advanced rebels going against the world government and kidnapping recruits for their ranks.

Setting: The skies of (probably) Earth in the future. Jacob is onboard a Chemist (those defending the world government) skyship, and Scarlet on a Cyber skyship. The Chemist ship functions as a training ground and school, and the Cyber ship is a training ground and attack unit. Both sides have access to Elementalists, people who after absorbing Celestial Matter gain the ability to control fire, electricity, water, or shadows.

Plot: Jacob and Scarlet are alone in Jacob's house when a Cyber ship comes to kidnap them. They flee, eventually becoming trapped in a building, where the desperate Jacob subconsciously absorbs Celestial Matter and passes out. He wakes to find himself on a Chemist ship—while the Cybers were taking Scarlet, some Chemists came down and saved him. The Chemists immediately enroll Jacob in their classes and training sessions, and he has to deal with all of this and becoming a Fire Elementalist as he tries to use the Chemists to find Scarlet. Scarlet, meanwhile, struggles to find Jacob and resist the Cybers as they prepare her to battle for them. Both realize the sides and the war aren't quite what they thought they were.

Point of View: Third person limited to Jacob, with updates from Scarlet as well.

So, a beloved idea of old undergoing development to be something interesting, hopefully. We'll see if I actually write it.