Tag Archive | character: rin

The Kraken of World/Story Development, part Two: Conflict (For Into Lannamer)

Oct26

I found this thing: http://kittyspace.org/leviathan0.html and I’m gonna play with it because I’m finding it instructional!

4. STUDY YOUR CONFLICT

The conflict in Into Lannamer is three-tiered.

Primary is the conflict between Rin & Girey: She wants to save his life; he wants to return to freedom in the south.

Secondarily is the conflict between Rin/Girey and everyone who wants to stop them from going somewhere – or anywhere.

On the same level as this but separate is the weather. They leave the south in the middle of the rainy season and will end up in the north in the cold season. The weather’s going to be an issue.

This conflict comes about because the two nations have been at war longer than there have been nations, because Girey is very full of himself, because Rin is very bad at explaining herself and not interested in negotiation, because they both have meaning to their respective people & enemies beyond the meaning they have to themselves. Rin wants a project; Girey just wants to go home, even if home doesn’t exist anymore.

“5. OUTLINE YOUR STORY
No, seriously. Outline your story.”

Okay. 🙂 /goes off to do that/

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/998433.html. You can comment here or there.

The Leviathan of World/Story Development, part One (For Into Lannamer)

Oct25

I found this thing: http://kittyspace.org/leviathan0.html and I’m gonna play with it because I’m finding it instructional!

1. DETERMINE YOUR SCOPE
Oh hey I know this one it’s in the title!
The personal scope of Into Lannamer is very tight – it’s Rin and Girey. It’s their struggle to cope with the world being over, and what that means for both of them.
The background, the villains – that’s three personal stories, too, thee people with reasons to want to hurt Rin and/or Girey and one person who wants to pull Girey back to the far South. They all have very intimate reasons.
The background, that’s far wider, but it’s all out of focus. That’s the struggle of peace (of losing the war/of winning the war) after generations of war. It’s shaking everything. But we’re only seeing the tremors as they shake Rin and Girey.
Geographically, the scope is most of the continent, from [City continually renamed] in Bithrain to Lannamer up in the north of Calenta.

2. DESCRIBE YOUR CHARACTERS
Rin is a career army medic faced with the end of the war. She’s a royal daughter who never sought to climb the army’s hierarchy further than the authority she needed to do her job with minimal interruption, and thus she’s an Optio (lieutenant)

Girey is the only son of the king of Bithrain, and while he has not been “spoiled rotten,” he has been pampered and spoiled more than is probably healthy. He took to the field with a given rank, and had not truly earned his way up to that rank in duty, sense, and respect before he was captured by the Bithrain.

Esnees, Esnetrennesnees, is Rin’s uncle, older than her mother and the Emperor’s second-born child. He long ago accepted that he would not inherit his father’s title, but he has been grooming a specific set of his nieces and sisters as options for rule; if they rule, he believes he has a better chance of being the power behind the throne.

[2 more redacted]

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/998038.html. You can comment here or there.

A Meme and a Writing Game – ask my characters things!

Oct4

Okay! I stole this from [personal profile] balsamandash, whose post is here; they stole it from [personal profile] thebonesofferalletters, whose post is here. And because October goes up to 31, I have 31 characters. The characters are from 15 different settings (Counting Fae Apoc, Addergoole, & Doomsday as separate…) so there’s a good chance your favorite setting is on here.

Here’s the game. I have a set of characters numbered from 1 to 31. You may ask them any questions you’d like, and you can keep the conversation going. You can ask them ICly or just as yourself. They will respond with an honest* answer and as people ask questions, I will update the post with who correlates to what number.

* they might lie!

You can:
ask multiple questions to one character.
ask questions of as many characters as you’d like.
ask the same question to different characters.
ask more questions of characters that have already been revealed.
ask additional/clarification/tangential questions in response to answers.
jump in on another answer/conversation if the subject sounds interesting to you and/or your character.
use original or fannish characters to ask/comment
leave your own character for people to ask questions to if you want, be it as a list form or as a singular character who you would like to play with.

1. Tess – The Planners
2. Rin – Reiassan/Rin & Girey
3.
4. Aoife – Vas’ World
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13: Basimontin –Space Accountant
14. Aquilina – Doomsday Academy
15.
16. Reynard – Fae Apoc
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29. Evangaline – The Aunt Family
30. Edora – Things Unspoken
31.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/989105.html. You can comment here or there.

A Wedding, a drabble

Sep19

Two of Arinyanka’s younger cousins were helping her dress, while a third and fourth stood behind her on a stool, braiding ribbons into her hair.

On the other side of the room, two more of her cousins were doing what they could with Girey’s hair and beard. He was reading, holding the ancient scroll carefully while layers were draped over and around him. There was no complaining. He hadn’t spoken, as a matter of fact, since she’d handed him the scroll.

He looked up. There were eight other people in the room with them, but he looked directly at her. “This isn’t in any of the Bitrani histories.”

Rin opened her mouth to answer, but he beat her to it. “It wouldn’t be. We – the priests removed so much as heresy.” He set the scroll down with the reverence it deserved; a cousin stepped in immediately to clasp bracelets on both Girey’s wrists.

He cleared his throat. “I -” He shifted to Bitrani and tried again. “I understand.” His gesture, short as it was, took in the finery he was wearing, the Bitrani royal colors a repeated note in clothing that was otherwise entirely Calenyena.

“You don’t mind?” It was a foolish question, but the Girey she was wedding this week was so different from the one she’d kidnapped. She found herself still expecting some complaint, some whining.

He smiled crookedly. “Of course I mind. But I was always going to go to a state marriage, before. And this… this is a state marriage all right. Just… gaudier.”

Rin chuckled quietly. “Don’t tell me that Bitrani get married in mud and dirt colors, too?”

“Mud and dirt,” he agreed solemnly, “and don’t forget dust.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for getting married in silk and finest linen, then.” Her shoulders settled and Rin found herself smiling. “Not even itchy army-issue wool.”

“I suppose I can live with it.” The cousins were looking at him strangely. Girey laughed, a short sound she still didn’t hear often. “For you.”

Anti-slump prompt call

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/982493.html. You can comment here or there.

Something Later in the Rin/Girey timeline, just for fun

Jan19

Rin/Girey/Reiassan has a landing page here. The prompt was “something hot;” I ended up with something cold. Whoops!

“Remind me again why we’re up here?”

It was snowing; it had been snowing since they left the capital – no, in truth, it had been snowing since before winter had properly arrived. Southern-born Girey was miserable in the cold; Rin’s first tour of duty had been further north than this, and she was in her element.

“Well, we’re up here to check on a few problems that have been brought to the Emperor’s attention. And we’re up here because it’s harder to assassinate us on the road.” They were on one path out of seven to their destination, neither the most obvious nor the most hidden. “Ah, here.” She tilted her head. “A way-station. We can thaw out your bits.”

“My bits?” It was impossible to see his eyebrows through the layers of hood and scarf Girey was wearing, but Rin could hear the raised-eyebrow tone in his voice.

“Your bits.” She stifled a chuckle. “It’ll take a while to heat up, but it looks unoccupied.”

Half an hour later, they were down to three layers of clothes, their coats and hoods dripping dry by the doorway. The fire was burbling along merrily in the fireplace, and the tiny cabin was warming up quickly. “So.” Rin raised her eyebrows. “How are your bits doing?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/886921.html. You can comment here or there.

Knowing Where His Place Is

Oct27

Egarengar had known things when he married Inatalana.

He had known that it was a political match first, a financial match second, and a match of compatible personalities third.

He had known that her title was so much higher than his as to be on a different ladder altogether, and that they were distance enough related that, if they had been goats, they would not have even had the same colors in their coats. He had known that she was a daughter of the Emperor, and that they would be expected to have many, many children.

He had known that he was stepping into a subordinate role, but one where he would be respected and honored, treated as a peer and not as an employee.

He had known all this because he paid attention, because he asked pertinent and impertinent questions, and because he had an extended family to tell him those pieces he hadn’t noticed on his own.

Watching Girey, he realized the young Prince had none of that. He did not know who Arinyanca was, not in the context of Lannamer. He didn’t know what position she’d offered him, in giving him the bracelet which Egarengar had carved. He didn’t know where he would stand in relation to the court he had been thrust into. All he knew was that Arinyanca had plucked him from a tent and dragged him across the length and half the breadth of Reiassan.

And yet, he was still standing, just behind and to the left of Rin’s shoulder, looking unfortunately Princely. And, more importantly, he looked as if he would smash the face of anyone who insulted Arinyanca.

The girl could hold her own, of course. She was Inatalana’s daughter and Egarengar’s. But Egarengar smiled to himself. He might not understand it yet, but the boy had found his place.

Written to [personal profile] kelkyag‘s prompt, or at least near it.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/837569.html. You can comment here or there.

Gone Fishing, a ficlet of Rin/Girey

Apr18

I asked for three prompts; this is [personal profile] rix_scaedu‘s.

“This is not.” Girey frowned at the long pole and the thin braided line. “This is not how fishing is done.”

Rin stretched her legs out over the small lake. “It’s not ocean fishing. Don’t you have lakes in Bithrain?”

“Of course we have – well, a couple. But we fish the ocean.”

Rin baited her hook and tossed her line in again. “So do we. But we also fish the lakes.”

“With a little hook and a little line? What can you catch with that?” Girey nevertheless imitated her movements. “With a worm?”

“Ooh, I’ve got a bite.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/705166.html. You can comment here or there.

March Is Women’s History Month – day three: Rin and her MOther

Mar20

March is Women’s History Month, and so for March I’m doing vignettes about or questions regarding any of my female characters, one/day from the 10th-31st.

The prompt post is here; please add more prompts 😉

This one comes from [personal profile] kelkyag, who asked for a continuation of Mother Knows… and Further Discussion Follows.

Rin & Girey are the main characters in my work-in-progress novella Into Lannamer.

“He comes from good blood.” Arinya’s mother Inatalana was watching her speculatively, chin on her hands. “He’s well-spoken-“

“You said that already.” Arinya/Rin smiled at her mother. “You have seven daughters, you know. You’ve got, what, seven grandchildren?”

“Twelve. You’ve been gone a while.”

“You don’t need for grandchildren and you don’t need for sons in law.”

Inatalana’s voice turned serious. “How many people have tried to kill you in the last year?”

“I was in a war.” Girey had, at least, not tried to kill her, although if he’d tried to take her as a war-bride, that might have changed quickly.

“I don’t mean in war, Arinyanca. I mean the people who’ve tried to kill you since the surrender was signed.”

Rin found herself squirming like a naughty schoolgirl. “They could have been after Girey.”

“They weren’t.” Inatalana shook her head. “You know they weren’t, Arinyanca.”

“Rin.” She corrected her mother without thinking of it, then ducked her head in apology. “I mean…”

“You’ve spent a lot of time down in the dirt, haven’t you?”

“War tends to be messy.” She rolled her shoulders, not quite able to look her mother in the eye. “They really were trying to kill me, weren’t they?”

“And they will, until you provide an heir. Why do you think Elin’s getting married so precipitously, and to such a… questionable sort?”

“If her husband is questionable, what would that say about a Bitrani Duke?”

“I’d say,” Inatalana dropped her voice to a bare murmur, “that a Bitrani Prince would be the perfect match for an Imperial Princess.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/695518.html. You can comment here or there.