Did A Lot Of Thinking; That Counts, Right?

To start, sorry about the late post update. I got caught up on editing and lost track of time. I mean, on the plus side, it means that I have more for you fine folks to read. On the downside, aside from a late blog post, I'm still just editing stuff I wrote back in like March and April. I'll get to that though.

Let's start on that high note: two new stories for you to read. First up is that Lia story I was having issues with last week. Ended up being delayed for no reason. A whole week later and I still don't have the names figured out and updated, so aside from some minor sentence structure editing, this is exactly the same as it was last week. Whoops. Hubby and I are trying to brainstorm, though, and I did spend all week TRYING to come up with new names for everyone. So there's that. Don't know if it counts if I didn't succeed though. Either way, here's Lia's story. First thing starring her that I've written in about a year. Geez. Poor thing.

"Weirdo Among Misfits"

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Next story probably isn't too much of a surprise coming off the heels of a Lia story: a Willow and Devon story. I mean, I was in an X-Future mood the day before, it just seems natural that it would continue into the next practice. Especially with the prompt: "Write about a sideways glance."

"Mutual Teasing"

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I was nervous about that second story. In the past I've been a bit off when writing friends' original characters. And odd thing to admit when I'm a fanfiction writer, but I'd always be close yet still not quite right. I sent Ronoxym "Mutual Teasing" this morning to quickly read over, and I'm so excited by his response.

Ronoxym: "That was actually beautiful. It's nice to just look at the two of them and think about what might have been."

He went on to let me know that Devon was in-character. So... Yay! I win!

Now, if I could just win again by actually having something NEW written, not just polished before being upload to a few websites.

Anyway, as I mentioned, ironically after stating that I was going to take a mini-vacay from writing, I spent a great deal of last Tuesday trying to figure out the new names for everyone. I then realized that I never really rewrote Jamie Madrox to his Glitches version Cody. I put in a great deal of time trying to figure out how his powers worked, but nothing really on Cody himself. Even then, I didn't really solidify what I wanted to do with his powers. The simple way of explaining is that he can use fresh drops of his own blood to create temporary clones of himself. However, there has been a sort of head-canon about Lia that I wanted to bring to Glitches, and I don't know if Cody's way of duplicating himself would lead to that.

See, when I created Lia and luck of the dice decided that she was going to have the same exact powers as her mother, but none of her father's, I then unintentionally designed Lia so she looks like the spitting image of her mother. It happens. Some kids just pick up a lot of their looks from one parent, and barely any distinguishable traits from the other. However, the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed. Jamie's mutation is the ability to duplicate himself. That's in his DNA. DNA he was now sharing with his daughter. The way that happens is that his DNA is mixed with Amara's. So.... why not having Lia accidentally be a clone of her mother? Birthed naturally? Jamie's DNA mixes with Amara and, instead of duplicating himself, Jamie's mutation actually duplicates Amara. Jamie's body doesn't recognize it as a duplicate since Lia has Amara's DNA, not Jamie's so he doesn't re-absorb her like his other dupes. Amara's body doesn't have the mutation that would have her re-absorb her duplicate. Er go, no one realizes the natural cloning.

I personally think it's a neat bit of trivia, however, if Cody's powers requires him to use blood to duplicate, can it still work? Could his mutation still mix with Keahi's DNA upon conception of Lia? Could maybe that mutation use Keahi's blood via the umbilical cord/placenta to accidentally turn her freshly fertilized egg into a naturally growing clone?

Fun thought exercise, but it brings me back to the same issue: I'm too focused on Cody's powers and not enough on his actual character. I also still need to figure out Neo-Mystique for Devon's mother. She most likely won't come up until much, much, MUCH later in the series, but basic information about her might pop up in the meantime.

So, that's what I've been doing this week. No writing, but a lot of thought exercises to try to figure out and lock down the last of the Marvel-property rewrites into originals. While I'm at it, I realized that a lot of Lucas Kinney that made him who he is consists of elements I'm not bringing over to "Glitches": a naturally conceived/born child of a clone, time travel, knowing how he's going to die thanks to the time travel, his toughening as a youth plus his establishing the institute as his home thanks to multiple organizations wanting to capture and experiment on him, and the fact that he's pseudo-related to Wolverine as the man's artificial grandson. I tried to fix some of it by having my version of Wolverine rescuing Lucas from government-sanctioned experimentation, and then being a surrogate father. Still, there was just too much characterization I couldn't bring over. So, I might do with Lucas Kinney what I did with Marvel's intellectual property: use it as a base as I create my own version. 

As much as it pains me to do so, because the catalyst for wanting to write "Glitches" in the first place was to revive him, but I might have to do the same with Phfylburt's other character Lincoln as well. Part of his confusion and feeling lost is because he was part mutant, part Inhuman, and part fairy. He didn't know what race he was because he was a mix of non-human races raised by humans. On top of that, he had a disembodied voice constantly with him that only he could hear, and yet the voice was adamant that it wasn't a split personality or Lincoln's imagination. Darwin was positive that he had a separate soul and was somehow locked within Lincoln's body, even if neither of them knew how or when that happened.

Lincoln is just such a beautiful character with such depth and complexity. It's no wonder I mourned for so long after Phfyl killed him off. I can only hope for readers to be as connected to my stories. Even so, things like mythical creatures being real and a race of half-human/half-alien hybrids is getting too close to the Marvel realm again for my comfort. "Glitches" is going to be INSPIRED by Marvel's X-Men, not a complete rip-off of it. So, how do I tweak Lincoln to ignore the Inhuman and fairy sides of him? How do I explain his confusion when he discovered that his powers and mutation wasn't simply because he was Inhuman, it was because he's also part mutant and part fairy? How do I explain his irregular upbringing due to his father being the mute leader of the Inhumans; a man forced to have multiple wives so that each of the different subraces of Inhumans felt properly represented within the royal family?

Even if I could figure any of that stuff out, I haven't spoken to Phfyl in over a year after he slipped off the grid. I wouldn't feel right unless I went over the changes to Lincoln with him. As it is, redesigning Lincoln - but keeping his wings, his anxiety, and Darwin - still feels a bit too close to comfort for me. I know that if one of my friends took Willow, Lia, Trish, Jolene, or Amara, tweaked them so they were slightly different than they are now, but kept them mostly whole, I'd feel weird if I didn't OK it. There's a reason why authors tend to hate the movie/TV show adaptations of their characters unless the author had a hand in the change. These are our babies. If you change one thing about them, it's no longer them.

This is why I'm so nervous about keeping people in-character. If I even had one glance, one gesture, one bit of dialogue, even one word wrong and out-of-character then it shakes the foundation of the character for the creator.

I have time to figure out the Lincoln situation though, so I have some more brain exercises to do. Perhaps when I'm closer to being ready to roll Neo-Lincoln out I'll get back in touch with Phfyl.

OK. Enough X-Future/Glitches stuff. You pretty much have the idea of what I was doing this week in regards to that. However, since I really DIDN'T do any writing this week, I decided to use my break to finish my reading.

I didn't manage to complete "The Dark Prophecy" by Rick Riordan before the end of May, but I did complete it on Sunday, so I guess that's something. Only three days late. I also started up my June book already. It can either bump "Ready. Set. Novel!" off the "Red on the Cover" category, or it can fulfill the "Takes place in the UK" category. But first, let's check out my challenge thus far:

Challenge by Reading Books Like a Boss

OK, so, real quick before talking about my latest book read, a reflection on "The Dark Prophecy." All-in-all, I am enjoying the book series, but it's closer to "The Kane Chronicles" than Riordan's other works in regard to over-all enjoyment.

He did so well with the Percy Jackson series, and Heroes of Olympus. He's doing amazing with the Magnus Chase series. I don't know why he seemed off his game with the Kane Chronicles or Trials of Apollo. I think it's kind of the same issue though.

In The Kane Chronicles, you have Sadie and Carter Kane. They are practically polar opposites of each other despite being siblings. Sadie is arrogant, but has some redeeming qualities. However her magical prowess makes her seem a bit overpowered despite Riordan's attempt to explain the restrictions Sadie has on her magical reserves. Then there's Carter who can have random bursts of power but mostly tries to use his brain to strategize ways to conquer their problem. While I liked Carter more than Sadie, and they are both fully developed characters, for me, Carter seemed a bit underwhelming. I mean, these two didn't really leave much of an impact on me. I had to look up their names to make sure I remembered them correctly. When I put the book down, I could go days without going back to the story, and when I did I'd have to start the reading session by re-reading the last page or so of the previous chapter to remind myself where I stopped. I could barely put down any of the other book series Riordan wrote....

Then there's the Trials of Apollo. Apollo basically is Sadie's arrogance in Carter's lackluster build. Apollo was transformed into a hero, so he can't really do much of anything unless he has random blasts of godly power, so he mostly whines about how things were when he was still a god, pine over his multitude of lost loves, and strategize to try to find a non-combative way to solve problems. Then there's Apollo's companion and human master during his trials to regain his godhood: Meg. Meg is Carter's soft-spoken, near-forgetability wrapped in Sadie's near deus ex machina power set. Somehow these characters are likable, but I'm not passionate about them like I am with all of Riordan's other characters.

Heck, half the time I like Magnus Chase's sword Jack more than Apollo and Meg. This breed of hero just doesn't work for me, but that's not to say they aren't lovable to others. Like I said, they are well-rounded, and Apollo is redeeming his arrogant ways as he quickly realizes how hard it is to be a human, let alone a demigod.

Still, I liked the Egyptian gods Anubis, Bast, and Bes far more than I like Sadie and Carter. I liked the Karpoi Peaches more than Apollo and Peaches' owner Meg. I couldn't really see much difference between Josephine and Emmie in "The Dark Prophecy," and had to frequently go back and re-read to figure out who said what and who was where, because the women blended together for me.

The biggest disappointment for me? Leo. He was totally my boy in the Heroes of Olympus, and even after my week of feeling gross ended I still felt like Leo wasn't "himself" anymore. It was like someone was ghostwriting Leo for Riordan, and didn't quite hit the mark. As I mentioned above, the slightest change to a character can completely change the character, which is why I'm so nervous about Lincoln.

I don't want to discourage anyone, though. Like I said, some characters speak to me because of my own personality and upbringing, and others just don't click. It's the same to other readers as well. I might find Meg lackluster, while you might find her the most beautifully written character with a quiet strength holding her up against an emotional trauma that would normally crumble other 12yr olds. On the flipside, you might find Jack the sword from the Magnus Chase series an unnecessary and annoying plot device.

Now, as for my new book for June, well? I'm not sure about it yet. The dust jacket makes the story sound promising, which is why I picked it up in the first place, but then I started reading it.....

"Half Bad" by Sally Green is the first of a trilogy; very first novel that Green ever wrote. You can read the jacket copy on the linked site, but the overview of even that is that Nathan is a witch trying to find his father, but his father is dangerous and Nathan is caged and watched. Like I said, the concept seems so cool.

Still not sure about the actual writing of it though. Each chapter is short. Super short. Like a scene. The very first chapter barely fills a page, the second is only three paragraphs. The thing that threw me off the most though was that the entire book is in second person. An odd choice that brought Green lots of praise for her skilled use of it.

It's too odd for me, though. It's weird, having everything make ME the main character - the point of the "you" pronoun in second-person - is actually disconnecting me from the book. I'm not Nathan. It's hard for me to suspend disbelief far enough to get past the fact that I'm not Nathan. However, if the book was in first person or even third, my extreme empathy would let me connect with Nathan so much easier.

I'm an odd duck.

Four chapters in, sixteen pages, nearly done with the first part out of a six-part novel, and Nathan's hand was nearly burned off by acid. You'd think that would be enough of a hook. Yet, I'm like "alright, well, let's see this through...." I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'm hoping I can get over the weird narrative POV, because the story, if it were in a more traditional 1st or 3rd person, would have gripped me hard by now.

OK, well, it's now WELL past when I would normally post my blog update, so I should probably start prepping for writing group now. Save something to say for next week.

It's All Brewing

I don't know why, but I've really been shying away from writing lately. I keep thinking "I should go write now" only to then think "Eh, I've got chores to do. I'll write eventually." Chores to do!? Really!? I mean, yeah, they should take priority with how sloppy my home is, but still. I HATE chores. That's why they're CHORES. I'm not entirely sure why they are now taking precedence over something I thought I had a passion for.

Something I DO have a passion for.

I've fallen off the reading horse as well. I do little to nothing hobby-related when I'm home, and I barely steal away 15minutes at work anymore. When I do have down time, I find myself struggling to stay awake. I do Sudoku puzzles to try to keep my brain active, while not really needing to focus on a whole. Strange way to do Sudoku, but I'm a strange woman.

Every now and then I get flashes of stories developing in the background of my mind, but I never seem to be at a point where I can stop and write any of it down. It just stays brewing quietly in my head.

Hubby and I drove nearly an hour away to go to a movie theater - we live in the boonies - for back-to-back showings of "Logan" and "Beauty and the Beast" last week. I did use the drive to think some more about my stories, but, as the driver, I couldn't really write anything down. The same thing always seems to happen when I'm doing dishes. Or when I'm falling asleep, and I know if I stop to write down my thoughts as I'm trying to pass out, it will just keep me awake longer.

Perfect timing, Muse. Perfect.

I have thought a bit more about "Glitches" lately, though. That was what took up most of my driving time when Hubby and I went to the movies. Mostly trying to build more background for Lia's father Cody. Namely, what his connection is to Chayse's mom - who I believe I named Emily, but I'm leaning towards Margaret now - or Chayse's dad Ryder. I feel like Cody has to be connected with either of them for it to make sense for him to think of working at the school/orphanage in order to bring Lia there to train.

I thought that maybe he was Emily/Margaret's brother or cousin, but then I couldn't have Lia crushing on Chayse, which is a big part of her early character development. I then thought that maybe Cody knew Emily/Margaret via her deceased friend Cecilia. Maybe Cody was another brother along with Dominic - whom I think I'm going to name Mateo after all - or a cousin. Having Lia somehow related to "The Glitch Formerly Known as Wolverine" wouldn't be bad. However, I wasn't really much of a fan of so many characters being connected to him. Dom/Mateo is connected to Emily/Margaret via his sister, he's also connected to Fidget and Lucas after rescuing them, and he's already pseudo-connected to Chayse as an unofficial sensei. If I bring Colette over to "Glitches", Dom/Mateo is also a father to her. It just brings too much focus to him. Makes him too much of a central figure instead of one within an outlying ensemble.

I then thought that maybe Cody was Ryder's brother or cousin, but same issue about Lia/Chayse. A childhood friend, maybe? But I already have that with Ryder and Willow's father. Having both women vying for Chayse's attention be daughters of Ryder's friends? Too coincidental.

Briefly, I focused around the woman who inspired the orphanage/school the series is based in. Cody was Cecilia's boyfriend. Problem with that is she died in college while Cody would have been studying on the other side of the country in Hawaii. Bi-coastal college relationship? It's a stretch to begin with. Plus, how would he have met Cecilia's roommate Emily/Margaret? During the funeral? Would that be enough of a connection to draw him to her school when Lia's powers surfaced? On top of those complications, there's the fact that I had Cody falling for Lia's mom while he was in college. The timing just wasn't adding up. I could only think of taking a page from the Kitty/Gambit X-Future book: Keahi and Cody fell for each other as she helped Cody cope with the death of a loved one. It worked better for Kitty/Gambit though because they were helping each other grieve over Rogue's death.

For right now, I've settled on Cody knowing Emily/Margaret when they were kids. They were childhood friends who built a sort of sibling bond. They aren't siblings, so the Lia/Chayse thing isn't taboo, but that bond should also prevent people from wondering if there was - or will be - a hook up between Cody and Emily/Margaret. I actually don't have much figured out about Cody, so everything's pretty much still up in the air.

There's a lot to figure out, which is why I was able to think about it for nearly two hours and still don't have a definitive answer. I get credit, though, for at least mentally working on it. Right?

It also occurred to me this week that I still haven't officially written up a backstory for Jynna. I have the broad skeleton of her past, though.

Orphaned at a young age, Jynna was a street urchin that was abducted by a cult. One of the few religious in the area, the cultists were zealots who believed the numenera was a gift from The Divine as a way of communicating with the denizens of the Ninth World; proof that the gods exist. Jynna resisted brainwashing during her initiation, which lead the cult leaders to submit her and a few other unindoctrinated to "The Tests." Jynna and the others were forced into surgeries that started transforming their bodies into mechanical conduits for the numenera, as a means of "helping" the initiates better "communicate with the divine."

It kept her until she was fourteen, but Jynna eventually learned to manipulate the numenera enough to help her escape. By the time she did, the other initiates were either fully embraced by the cult, or had died. She was alone in the world, and quickly learned all she could about the numenera as a means to better learn how to survive with her new body. After a few years of isolation, beatings, and near execution at the hands of scared citizens, Jynna figured out how to both utilize her new powers, and how to hide her mutilations.

She still loathed what she was forced to become, and attempted to become a jack; working the less-than-lawful career bracket. It didn't last because she was no longer a jack, she was fully a nano. When she hit adulthood she embraced her ability to manipulate the numenera; now knowledgeable about the nanites that made up the world around her. Not only was she a proud nano, but she added to her body enhancements. She wasn't quite human any longer anyway, so she embraced what the cultists made her. She tried to remain as human looking as possible, and will never again allow someone to force her through surgery, but she was no longer above putting herself through further transmutation. She loved being able to work the numenera to her will, and her goal in life was to learn as much as she could about the power. If no other reason than to be able to return to the cultists as a Divine Avatar, then promptly tearing them apart so they could no longer torture another child.

I still need to get it to Hubby to approve. Then, perhaps I could start working out more details, such as the name of the cult and where it's based. I'm thinking of having Jynna be mid-to-late twenties when the game starts; depending on how old everyone else is in the party. So, I also have quite a few years to try to fill in gaps about. Finally, one of the components of my character build - as dictated by the actual rules of the game - is that I need to select another player's character as the one party member who knows that Jynna is a cyborg. If I decide Jynna's no longer going to hide that fact - probably not from her partymates at least - then I need to come up with a dark secret the other character knows. For instance, a command word that would shut down all the mechanical parts of her body. I was thinking, being raised in a cult constantly trying to brainwash her, that she does actually have a command word. I'll need to figure out what the word is, and what it does. Should be fun.

Finally, on the "thinking about writing counts as actually writing, right?" front, I did use a prompt to start up another Willow/Devon scene. I only managed to get about four paragraphs in before I had to stop - I don't recall why - but I have been thinking about how the story goes. The writing prompt was "write about a sideways glance" so it's a fun scene to think about.

I really need to stop slacking off and actually get back to that prompt, and other prompts since I'm not even done with all 31 January ones yet. I also should go back to character building for "Glitches" to help with the world-build. Everyone else in writing group has at least one story they're trying to continue and finish. Something that they can share progress about, and I just have this long list of individual prompts. People could comment about my writing in general, but they can't share thoughts about my story building abilities like we do with everyone else.

I need to pick a project, and stick with it.

In the meantime, perhaps I'll read "Please, Let Me Explain" in group. I don't recall if I've done that yet, and maybe it will drive me to finally finish editing/writing the darn thing.

For now, though, I do have another prompt typed up for your reading pleasure. It's the first narrative about Jynna that I wrote a month or so ago. It's just a vignette, but it does hit the "under 1000 words" limit that Ronoxym gave me. So I guess this counts as another entry for his challenge. I don't know if I really set up a lot about Jynna herself in this short, but I hope I set up the Ninth World setting of Numenera well enough.

"The Future is Bright"

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2015 Summer Writing Challenge Final Week - Multiple Man

This past week was even more pathetic than the one before. Shortly after publishing last week's post I attempted to drive out to my sister-in-law's to meet my nephew. Sadly, my car died on me while making the trek. It's been an annoying week of getting to and from work while also attempting to revive my car. We managed it - it takes a bit, but it starts up now; won't be taking it out of town, though - and so hopefully the next month won't be as stressful.

However, added chaos and nearly hitting my breaking point at work put a complete halt on my writing. I was so embarrassed to check in on this last week of the challenge. I had to let people know that while I did attempt to work on Multiple Man's rework this week - just like with Shadowcat last week - I didn't really get much further than what I had already come up with a few months ago.

Because of that - again, just like with Emily last week - a lot of what you're seeing in the below bio I thought up as I was writing it here. For instance, I had a fairly strong idea of what I wanted Cody to look like, but I didn't get around to writing it before Sunday, and as I wrote it out here different little things popped up. Such as the fact that he has scars, freckles - and Keahi's reaction to them - always wears sneakers, and that he needs reading glasses. Most of the backstory was created this morning as I was writing this, as well as Cody's hobby of gardening.

New Name: Cody
Basic Info: Age Not Figured Out Yet, 5' 11", 155lbs, Brunette, and green eyes
Powers: Tweaker Glitch; Sub-category: Soul-Splitter/Cloning
Cody is capable of converting a fresh drop of his blood into an exact copy of himself. These can be mindless drones with “hive mind”, but Cody has to spend all of his mental ability “remotely” controlling them. So, he usually defaults to the “Soul Splitting” part of his powers. This means that when he makes a copy he can make it autonomous by “gifting” it some of his consciousness.
The clone has the knowledge and personality that Cody selects - usually subconsciously via deciding what he wants the clone to do - and it is “locked” away from him while the clone exists. He can still “remotely” tap into that knowledge and personality as long as the clone is close. Cody’s ability to tap into the part of him birthed into the clone diminishes with distance. It completely “locks away” if the clone is ever 200 or more miles away; basic knowledge learned is a default that Cody would never have to “gift” to a clone and therefore will never lose it. If the clone is ever killed, that part of Cody’s consciousness returns to him; along with any new knowledge it may have picked up while away from him. However, the trauma of the clone's death gives Cody a migraine. He can also reabsorb a clone to get rid of it without causing that trauma. To do so, Cody needs skin-to-skin contact.
The almost instinctual reabsorption of the clones is due to his "soul" craving to be whole again; it's almost a gravitational pull. To prevent himself from accidentally absorbing a clone before he wants to, Cody tends to wear gloves and as much other clothing as possible while he has a clone nearby. Also because of this pull to be whole again, the closer the clones are to Cody the more mental control over them he has; allowing him to dictate their actions with little to no argument from them. Cody has had a few clones that wandered far enough from him to feel true autonomy, and it was a struggle to bring them back into the fold.
I may or may not create a story arc centering around Cody's darker side of his personality splitting off as a runaway clone that Cody was never able to track down and reabsorb. This would explain why he's so cheerful most of the time, and it would be fun to see the interaction once the runaway clone finally returns - or runs into Lia.
He can create multiple clones at the same time via multiple drops of blood. In turn, each of the clones may use their own blood to create clones of their own; breaking off some of the personality Cody gave them to put into the clones they make. So on and so forth. Cody can also decide how much or how little of himself to give each clone. The amount of himself he inputs into each clone determines both how many clones he can create in any given time, and how many clones the clones can create. The death of any clones Cody's clones create will give the clones migraines, just like Cody. If more than three of Cody's direct clones die and return to him within a half-an-hour his migraine gets so bad that he is completely immobilized. If six or more are killed within a half-an-hour of each other the trauma is so severe that Cody falls into a coma that lasts an hour for each clone past the initial six that were killed.
To prevent losing himself completely, he caps his clones at 25 clones of himself. There is further restrictions on the cloning. The actual mechanics are still being ironed out, but the fewer clones Cody makes, the more clones his clones can make; and the more generations of clones can be made before the only thing left are Hive Mind clones. The more clones Cody spawns, the smaller portion of his “soul” goes into each one, which means less personality to split into other clones. Generation chains are shortened. At 25 clones from Cody, each clone can only make Hive Mind copies because it doesn’t have enough of Cody’s core to split into other clones.
While it still hurts - and always will hurt - to draw blood in order to use his power, much like a diabetic who has to prick their finger constantly to test their blood, Cody has become used to the pain of blood draw from his fingers.

Physical Appearance: He keeps himself in good physical condition for a man his age, but he's not nearly as strong or buff as the other adult Glitches around the orphanage. He exercises to stay fit, not to be strong. He has light brown hair that he keeps in a short cut; just long enough to run your fingers through. His light green eyes are vibrant and have a sparkle to them; it's one of the first things that attracted Keahi. He keeps himself clean-shaven, and his face is a little round.
He doesn't have any piercings or tattoos, but he does have a bunch of little scars scattered throughout his body - mostly around his joints; wrists, knees, elbows, fingers - both from his klutzy childhood and from use of his powers later in life. He has a tiny scar just under his lip from when he bit through it in his youth.
He has a few freckles under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose. They've faded over time, but they become prominent in the summer when he has more sun exposure. Keahi thought they were adorable and would love to stroke ones on his nose like he was a cat.
He has a typical "dad" look to him. He wears casual slacks most of the time, but switches into worn jeans whenever he's doing an activity where he might get dirty: playing with Lia outside, doing yard work, construction/maintenance on the house, camping, etc. In the summer he's particularly embarrassing to Lia by wearing shorts; showing off his "pale, chicken legs" as Lia complains. Thankfully, he's not QUITE dorky enough to attempt the socks and sandals, but he does wear sneakers with white tube socks fully extended about half-way up his calf; almost as embarrassing. When he wants to take Lia to the beach or public pool - a rare occurrence, especially after Lia's powers manifested - Cody "dresses up" by putting on good old Bermuda shorts. Lia is NOT pleased with those. He'd probably even wear corduroy in winter if he could find any for sale anywhere.
As for his tops, Cody wears faded band or sports t-shirts with his jeans and shorts. The rest of the time that he's in his slacks he goes for light polo shirts, casual button-downs, or sweaters. In the spring and fall - or mild winters - when it's just a little chilly, he's been known to throw on sweater vests; argyle ones most often. Regardless of how casual or fancy he dresses, unless he's going to a formal event where dress shoes are expected, Cody will always be in sneakers. Being a single father for the majority of Lia's life proved that one should almost ALWAYS be in sneakers and ready to run after the child.
Not quite embarrassing, "Stereotypical Dad" enough yet, Cody's eyes are starting to fade. The guy has to whip out reading glasses. At least Lia convinced him to make THOSE a bit more fashionable. Simple, thin, black frames that fit his rounded face well to make him appear more sophisticated. All he needs is house shoes and a glass of Scotch after work and he'd probably be a typical 50's father.
Cody's color scheme has earthy spring-like tones. Light brown - typically just his pants, but brown accent in his shirts as well - and green, with a splash of yellow and blue.
Because his power is blood-based, he wanted a way to always be able to draw blood if the need arose. Before meeting Keahi, he would have a pin on him at all times. It would take a moment to undo it from his collar and prick himself, but it was otherwise fairly efficient. Although Keahi wasn't a fan of her husband having to injure himself, she wanted to make sure he could draw blood a lot faster if needed, and so they customized his wedding band. It's a bit thicker than a typical ring, and there's a secret latch that's hard to accidentally open, but one he can easily flick open with his thumb. He then can prick himself on the needle point of the latch.

The cartoonish nature of Chibis probably won't make this very useful to anyone besides me, but this is how I picture Cody:

Chibi Cody is so adorable and unthreatening... <3 data-blogger-escaped-td="">

The inspiration for Cody's ring; from the anime "Attack on Titan."

While not as impressive,
a Real World version of the above ring.

Personality: While it's not exactly a personality trait, Cody's klutziness and accident-prone youth made him very awkward as a kid. He was generally very friendly and outgoing, which helped him forge tight friendships and had him be likable by most of his classmates, but his awkwardness kept him from really connecting with too many people. His spontaneous cloning whenever he injured himself made him even more of a target for teasing and shunning, but even so, he kept a fairly positive outlook throughout most of elementary and early middle school.
When he was a young teenager the fact that his powers only manifested via blood, coupled with the knowledge that Glitches were considered second-class citizens and his very small friend circle, put him into a typical "gothic teenager" phase. While he never went so far as to purposely cut himself, he did become obsessed with blood and dark imagery.
Just before graduating high school - after nearly mastering his powers - the gothic phase ended and he returned to a cheerful, friendly, outgoing person. He was still a bit awkward, especially around women. This awkwardness was another winning trait in Keahi's eyes.
He remained optimistic and playful, losing most, but not all, of his awkwardness while with Keahi. Even now, especially around Lia, he tries to remain that person.
After Keahi's disappearance, the "helicopter parenting" that he learned from his own parents kicked in. He was terrified of losing Lia as well, and now he didn't have Keahi around to reign him back from the only type of parenting he knew. On top of that, his powers allowed him to take "helicopter parenting" to the extreme: ALWAYS having either himself or a clone with Lia at ALL times except for when she was at school; the school wouldn't allow him to hover.
He is EXTREMELY protective of those he cares about, and has no problem bringing out a terrifyingly dark version of himself to do whatever needs to be done to keep his loved one safe. While he doesn't get angry easily, he can become very scary when he gets frustrated.

General History: Cody used to be a huge klutz and very awkward when he was young. He was constantly injuring himself accidentally. Because of this, his parents were a bit overprotective of their accident-prone child. This helped instill the idea of "helicopter parenting" in Cody. It also kept him a bit on the outskirts of his class's social circle. He had friends growing up, but it was a tight-knit group of five. While he was liked well enough that kids wouldn't go out of their way to tease or bully him, he was still awkward enough that they had no problem teasing or laughing whenever he tripped up.
Cody's powers manifested when he was about 10, and that made things even more awkward for him. Now, whenever he would draw blood - which was fairly often given how accident-prone he was - at least one clone would spontaneously appear. Now people would tease him for the clones. This teasing was added to the intensity of the knowledge of his powers and what it meant to be a Glitch. He became Gothic between the ages of 13 and 17. He re-invented himself over Christmas break his senior year of high school - finally coming to terms with everything - and became his normal bubbly self. Not to many students liked him though, despite his attempts to befriend and help others. Mostly because he had his powers under control and used his clones to help himself study: allowing himself to study all of his subjects at the same time and then reabsorb the clones to get the information. He skyrocketed to the head of the class, but everyone called him out on the "unfair advantage" of having almost infinite amount of time compared to everyone else. Even though he was the top of his class when he graduated, this "unfair advantage" resulted in him simply being able to walk and receive his diploma, with no other acknowledgement of his GPA or the multitude of extra-curricular activities - clubs and sports - he participated in.
It stung to be shunned like that, but it helped him connect more with Keahi - who was actually kicked out of school due to her being a Glitch - and help her become courageous enough to attempt college after all. Plus, the Glitch-friendly Hawaii Pacific University appreciated both the vast array of extra-curricular and top GPA. They saw it as proof that even if he were to use his powers, it would be for positive development.
Cody and Keahi had a typical college relationship after he convinced her to go to HPU with him. He proposed to her when she was a senior at the college, and they got married shortly after graduating. Using his powers to absorb as much as he could while in college, he was able to quickly climb to the top of his field. Although I'm still not entirely sure what "field" that is.
While this is still subject to change, as of right now I have it set up that Keahi and Cody end up moving to Colorado to be closer to his family. The trick with this - which is why the location may change - is that Colorado is a great distance out of Cody's clone-range, and I wanted him to leave a clone at the family home while he's working at the orphanage. That way Lia has her childhood home to go back to if she ever wanted to return to a public school and/or after graduating from Emily's school. Having the family home be in Colorado would mean either
A) Cody sells the home which will be a huge shock to Lia's system since she was expecting Emily's school to just be a boarding school and she could come home during holiday breaks,
B) Cody either leaves the home with family with the understanding that he and Lia can take it back at any time, or he leaves it unattended completely over the years, or finally
C) Cody locks away a piece of himself as the clone lives it's own life out of Cody's home.
I'm rambling...
Cody started up gardening as a means of meditation, as well as further training of his powers. It is incredibly easy to prick one's self while gardening, and it's incredibly helpful to be able to clone one's self while doing yard work. Anyway, Keahi got pregnant with Lia a couple years into the marriage. They were a loving, playful, happy family for about seven years. Then Keahi heared about the environmental turmoil in the Ring of Fire portion of the Pacific, and wanted to join other Evoker Glitches in helping calm the area. After much debate, Cody agreed to her helping with one of his clones as her guardian. It changed his personality slightly to be without that part of him while it was with Keahi, but he tried to not let it affect Lia.
When his clone was killed, he created a new clone out of all of his compassion and paternal instincts in order to leave the best guardian he could for Lia, and then raced off to where Keahi was when she was attacked. He spent a little over a month attempting to find her, but even with his paternal self locked away in his guardian for Lia, he still desperately missed his daughter. He eventually gave up his search and returned home. He still makes a week-long annual pilgrimage to Keahi's last known location in attempt to find more clues about her disappearance.
Terrified of losing his daughter too, he vowed to NEVER let her out of his sight; a slightly empty vow since her schools wouldn't allow him to hover over her. He did debate homeschooling her so he could be around her 24/7, but he realized how much she needed the socialization and normalcy. The rest of the time, however, even when on his pilgrimages or at work, he always left a clone behind to be able to watch over his daughter. His own over protective parents didn't really see much wrong with what he was doing, and so without Keahi around to tease him about being ridiculous, no one reigned him in.
Lia's powers actually manifested when she was yelling at her father about not allowing her to grow up and be independent.
Due to being at the top of his field, Emily and Ryder reached out to him to assist with the orphanage and school when it evolved into a boarding school to help Glitches learn to control their powers. He turned them down originally, wanting to stay in his family home in case Keahi found her way back. He also wanted to keep his focus on his own child, not split it with children of other people; as noble as that is.
When Lia's powers became too much for him to train her alone, he called Emily up to see if their offer still stood. When she gladly welcomed him to join their staff, he sent Lia ahead to start her training while he tied up loose ends at home. Lia was ecstatic at first - thinking she was finally getting some independence - only to be mortified by her father's sudden appearance at the school as part of the faculty.

Boy, I'm good at writing backstory on the fly when I'm typing it here. Why can't that work the rest of the week when I'm writing the bios for the challenge?

Well, ironically, the week that I feel I did the least amount of work towards the writing challenge happens to also be the week that I win the random draw of a $10 Amazon voucher for participating. So, that's a positive for the week!

I don't have an e-reader, and so I downloaded the PC version of Kindle, and then purchased the three e-book short stories that Rick Riordan wrote as Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles cross-over tales. He wrote them as incentive to buy the paperback versions of some of his books, but knew that some people won't buy the paperback since they already had the hardcover - me and Hubby being such people - and so he later released the stories as e-books, and I had been meaning to buy them for a while now. So, thanks, Ali Luke, for the voucher prize, and the ability to finally have these stories!

The only thing I really did this week for the challenge was Ali's Mini-Challenge for the week; figure out what I'll be doing with the momentum from this challenge. As I mentioned last week, I had already decided a few weeks ago that my writing group - Struggling Writers Society - would be doing its own month-long writing challenge in August.

Well, it kept me until about 11pm on the first to finally decide on what my challenge would be, and post on the group's event page. In the end, I decided that I was going to keep the momentum going with X-Men.

I haven't touched X-Future: The Second Generation Begins in almost two years. Mostly because of how tedious it is to sort through all the posts in order to come up with the plot I'd translate into prose. Well, that's my challenge this month. I want to get at least one new chapter up before August 31st.

Not really off to a good start. It's the fifth and I have yet to even open up the forum to start cataloging the posts I'd be translating. I'm hoping to whip my butt in gear now that the car is running and the Writers’ Huddle challenge is finally done. I'm hoping to at the very least have the posts figured out by Sunday, and the posts I'll be reworking into prose sorted by my next post next week.

I'm also thinking of letting you folks know how I did with the other mini-challenges Ali pitched our way.

Here's to a more productive writing week again.