Post by skyfire on Jul 15, 2009 22:32:34 GMT -5
[just to keep the other thread from going off on a larger tangent than is already gone.]
Testing a few romantic pairings for some different works I've been doing or looking to do.
#1
When she was a child, she always looked up to him. At 18 to her 8, he ended up playing "big brother" more often than not, and generally watched out for her when her parents couldn't. In her child-like innocence, she vowed that one day she'd be his wife. Sadly, her family ended up moving several states away when her father was transferred.
Fast forward a decade.
In high school, she was the "perfect" girl. Not only was she pretty, her upbeat attitude and good grades (which she worked very, very hard at) made her one of the more popular kids at school. Tragically for her, this also made her a target. Shortly after graduation - her 18th birthday - , a group of kids from her school decided to take revenge on her by luring her into a trap with the intent to humiliate, molest, and possibly even kill her. She was saved when her younger brother (who was 16 at the time) followed her. He fought everyone off, but at a terrible cost: he was left mutilated, and in defending her killed several attackers.
For the sake of her sanity, her parents felt it best to get her the hell out of there. They got in touch with the "big brother" type, who turned out to be such a successful businessman that despite not yet being 30 he's already regarded as a pillar of the community. Without a single hesitation, he agreed to put her up at his house. He even made arrangements for her flight and talked the dean of the local college into admitting her despite it being so close to the start of the semester.
However, the years haven't exactly been kind. His business cards say "Trouble, Inc.: Computer and Security Solutions." His mind and body, however, say "mercenary." He rolls A-Team style, doing jobs for everyone from humble charity organizations all the way up to Uncle Sam himself; for him, a "normal" mission is something that would kill another man several times over. He could easily parlay his degrees and his computer wizardry into a normal job, but too many people need his help.
He still sees her as the little girl he used to take care of once upon a time.
She's confused as hell.
* On one hand, she's horrified at what he's become and somewhat terrified at the prospect that he may have always been this way (it would be revealed that he did, indeed, have quite the violent streak; it took a lot to piss him off, but once that happened the other party was generally rendered into paste). The few who actually know him also recognize that his sanity has been affected by his line of work; the weight of everyone depending upon him and the burden of what he's been doing are getting to him.
*On the other hand, deep down inside he's still the just, determined, watchful person he always has been. He takes damn good care of her, and asks so very little in return; as long as she does her share of the chores and keeps up her GPA he's happy.
After coming to terms with who and what he is, as well as who and what she is, she ultimately decides that, for good or bad, she's never leaving his side again; with all the blood, sweat, and tears that he's put into taking care of everyone else, she feels it's time that she took care of him.
#2
The male half is a grad student.
As a kid, he was always happy-go-lucky. Not even being in a serious accident that left him with metal all throughout his body and a permanent strip of white hair slowed him down (he simply learned to amuse himself via refrigerator magnets).
As an adult, however, it's a little iffy. He's near the top of his class and making a killing selling insurance (he's so good a pitchman that he could sell Chuck Norris insurance to Chuck Norris), but as far as he's concerned it's just a day job; what he really wants to do is make a living as a mangaka. He's a good artist and a reasonably fine writer, but his plots are so outlandish that even with his pitch skills he's never been able to sell anything but one-shots and stand-alones; he's even struck out when it comes to Japanese publishers, despite translating his own works.
Enter the girl of his dreams.
A Japanese / Chinese cutie, she's enrolled in the teacher training program at the very same college and is an otaku of epic proportions.... such that she's actually purchased every last one of his manga to date; she gets so excited to learn that she could theoretically interact with her favorite author on a daily basis that she actually passes out right in the middle of a local anime convention. Her energy and fangirl nature help convince him to keep going, and his conservative outlook on life helps to keep her grounded and focused on her education.
Her parents, whose love overcame the cultural hatred between the two ethnic groups, are just fine and dandy with who she's seeing; not only does he honestly love her, he's a professional man who could easily support her.
Her rather ethnocentric grandparents, however, are pissed as hell. That their children married who they did was bad enough; their granddaughter dating a white dude is beyond the pale as far as they're concerned. The plot of the book would ultimately come to revolve around him trying to convince them that love should be what matters.
#3
As a child, the male half - a horror film fanatic - was mentally, emotionally, and physically abused by his parents... who later died under bizarre circumstances. He was shipped off to an aunt and uncle... who also died under bizarre circumstances after they started to smack him around too. Made independently wealthy by the collected life insurance policies, he officially splits his time between being a film student and his love of horror flicks.
The female half is a "recovering" emo girl and the daughter of somewhat wealthy parents. Spoiled by her parents' money, she really didn't have anything to worry about. This gave her the freedom to do as she pleased, and it ultimately caused her to become part of the emo crowd because she felt that it resonated with her. However, when she encountered the male half, she came to realize that there are people in the world who actually are suffering; her being emo without anything to really be emo over was effectively a mockery of real pain and misery. From this, she's been following him ever since...
... willingly playing "Misa" to his "Kira."
His studies as a film student are little more than a ruse to hide what he's really doing: mind raping those who he feels are abusing the weak and helpless, very often driving them to insanity or suicide. She knows full well what he's doing, as well as the fact that the deaths of his family members wasn't accidental (he did, indeed, either kill them or arrange for them to die). Yet she's still his cats-paw, helping him all the while and hoping that one day he might just come around.
Yes, they're villains.
Testing a few romantic pairings for some different works I've been doing or looking to do.
#1
When she was a child, she always looked up to him. At 18 to her 8, he ended up playing "big brother" more often than not, and generally watched out for her when her parents couldn't. In her child-like innocence, she vowed that one day she'd be his wife. Sadly, her family ended up moving several states away when her father was transferred.
Fast forward a decade.
In high school, she was the "perfect" girl. Not only was she pretty, her upbeat attitude and good grades (which she worked very, very hard at) made her one of the more popular kids at school. Tragically for her, this also made her a target. Shortly after graduation - her 18th birthday - , a group of kids from her school decided to take revenge on her by luring her into a trap with the intent to humiliate, molest, and possibly even kill her. She was saved when her younger brother (who was 16 at the time) followed her. He fought everyone off, but at a terrible cost: he was left mutilated, and in defending her killed several attackers.
For the sake of her sanity, her parents felt it best to get her the hell out of there. They got in touch with the "big brother" type, who turned out to be such a successful businessman that despite not yet being 30 he's already regarded as a pillar of the community. Without a single hesitation, he agreed to put her up at his house. He even made arrangements for her flight and talked the dean of the local college into admitting her despite it being so close to the start of the semester.
However, the years haven't exactly been kind. His business cards say "Trouble, Inc.: Computer and Security Solutions." His mind and body, however, say "mercenary." He rolls A-Team style, doing jobs for everyone from humble charity organizations all the way up to Uncle Sam himself; for him, a "normal" mission is something that would kill another man several times over. He could easily parlay his degrees and his computer wizardry into a normal job, but too many people need his help.
He still sees her as the little girl he used to take care of once upon a time.
She's confused as hell.
* On one hand, she's horrified at what he's become and somewhat terrified at the prospect that he may have always been this way (it would be revealed that he did, indeed, have quite the violent streak; it took a lot to piss him off, but once that happened the other party was generally rendered into paste). The few who actually know him also recognize that his sanity has been affected by his line of work; the weight of everyone depending upon him and the burden of what he's been doing are getting to him.
*On the other hand, deep down inside he's still the just, determined, watchful person he always has been. He takes damn good care of her, and asks so very little in return; as long as she does her share of the chores and keeps up her GPA he's happy.
After coming to terms with who and what he is, as well as who and what she is, she ultimately decides that, for good or bad, she's never leaving his side again; with all the blood, sweat, and tears that he's put into taking care of everyone else, she feels it's time that she took care of him.
#2
The male half is a grad student.
As a kid, he was always happy-go-lucky. Not even being in a serious accident that left him with metal all throughout his body and a permanent strip of white hair slowed him down (he simply learned to amuse himself via refrigerator magnets).
As an adult, however, it's a little iffy. He's near the top of his class and making a killing selling insurance (he's so good a pitchman that he could sell Chuck Norris insurance to Chuck Norris), but as far as he's concerned it's just a day job; what he really wants to do is make a living as a mangaka. He's a good artist and a reasonably fine writer, but his plots are so outlandish that even with his pitch skills he's never been able to sell anything but one-shots and stand-alones; he's even struck out when it comes to Japanese publishers, despite translating his own works.
Enter the girl of his dreams.
A Japanese / Chinese cutie, she's enrolled in the teacher training program at the very same college and is an otaku of epic proportions.... such that she's actually purchased every last one of his manga to date; she gets so excited to learn that she could theoretically interact with her favorite author on a daily basis that she actually passes out right in the middle of a local anime convention. Her energy and fangirl nature help convince him to keep going, and his conservative outlook on life helps to keep her grounded and focused on her education.
Her parents, whose love overcame the cultural hatred between the two ethnic groups, are just fine and dandy with who she's seeing; not only does he honestly love her, he's a professional man who could easily support her.
Her rather ethnocentric grandparents, however, are pissed as hell. That their children married who they did was bad enough; their granddaughter dating a white dude is beyond the pale as far as they're concerned. The plot of the book would ultimately come to revolve around him trying to convince them that love should be what matters.
#3
As a child, the male half - a horror film fanatic - was mentally, emotionally, and physically abused by his parents... who later died under bizarre circumstances. He was shipped off to an aunt and uncle... who also died under bizarre circumstances after they started to smack him around too. Made independently wealthy by the collected life insurance policies, he officially splits his time between being a film student and his love of horror flicks.
The female half is a "recovering" emo girl and the daughter of somewhat wealthy parents. Spoiled by her parents' money, she really didn't have anything to worry about. This gave her the freedom to do as she pleased, and it ultimately caused her to become part of the emo crowd because she felt that it resonated with her. However, when she encountered the male half, she came to realize that there are people in the world who actually are suffering; her being emo without anything to really be emo over was effectively a mockery of real pain and misery. From this, she's been following him ever since...
... willingly playing "Misa" to his "Kira."
His studies as a film student are little more than a ruse to hide what he's really doing: mind raping those who he feels are abusing the weak and helpless, very often driving them to insanity or suicide. She knows full well what he's doing, as well as the fact that the deaths of his family members wasn't accidental (he did, indeed, either kill them or arrange for them to die). Yet she's still his cats-paw, helping him all the while and hoping that one day he might just come around.
Yes, they're villains.