syren_fic | Nano: Sam and Alex: Ground Work

Okay, so. We have Sam -- the bisexaul human female. And we have Alex -- the intersexed urban faerie.

***

Sub-‘Kingdoms’ of Fairies:

Urban/House Fae: These are brownies and bogarts, but they are also Domovoi, laraes and penates, internet faeries, construction-sight faeries[1], Tenement Faeries (Liminality incarnate -- I think Alex is one of these) who hang out in dilapitated buildings and chat up the (crazy-or-not) homeless people -- all of whom can see them, for a variety of reasons. There may also be Business Sector faeries. Sort of like the laraes and penates (or possibly muses) of the Business world. These ones can be down-right malicious, if they feel like it. They pretty much personify the Wheel of Fortune in the tarrot deck.

and other house-spirits. The *tend* to be friendly towards humans (in a ‘good neighbour’ sort of way). Because they live in houses, they can handle iron without much, if any problem.

Seelie: Air and Fire spirits. Above-ground, birds, fae that live in trees, but aren’t actually *trees* (so not Driads, for example). Fae that have no trouble with daylight and quite enjoy it. Can’t handle iron.

Unseelie: Water and Earth spirits. Below-ground/rooted, burrowers, only come out at night ‘cause the sun is a problem for (some of) them. Can’t handle iron.

Wild Fae: Can be from any of the above designations, but have chosen not to align themselves with any ‘Court’ (or house, in the case of L&P fae). Some can handle iron, some can’t, although none of them particularly like to do so. Depending on their heritage, they may be able to take sunlight, or maybe not.

The Wild Fae and the Urban Fae may be part of each other. See, the Urban Fae are relatively safe from the Courts (who are like big inner-city gangs, if you will -- if you're not a member of one of them, then they're both out to get you) because there's so much iron and steel in urban areas.
Most of the Urban Fae are also 'wild' -- that is, they aren't alligned with either of the Courts -- However there are, of course, non-court-alligned Faeries who aren't Urban Fae, and there *are* urban fae (a rare few of them -- including a Seelie-aligned Business Muse who... yes... Who Inspired someone to buy up the scrappy tenement where Alex was living and turn it into Overpriced Condos... out of pure vindictiveness... Possibly because Alex wouldn't align?)

I think Alex's Construction friend -- Girdir? A thumbs-in-her-beltloops kind of (probably) woman who has super-prehensile toes and hair that's a bit like porcupine quills... (Tends to make bad puns. Maybe...) She's actually hanging around the site of the new condos... She may be a sort of fence-sitter... Maybe trust-worthy, maybe not... this may end up being part of the climactic altercation that the story is working towards. I think.

We'll see how that turns out.

***

Originally, Alex was going to be undercover, caught up in some sort of Faerie Witness Protection Program, or something -- at a local high school.
But I decided that it caused too many complications, so it got cut. (For a start, who the hell does Witness Protection in faerie? Although the idea has merrit, I think, it still... is wierd... I dunno... I may come back to it).

But, for now, Alex is just an urban faerie -- probably a tenement faerie. Dresses like a street-spook, perhaps. Ratty, third-hand, washed out black clothes, and skinny-skinny with a tendancy to look a few meals shy of fed.

***

The local highschool was originally going to be Canterbury. However, given how things seem to be leaning, I think I might have her at Lisgar instead, because that's right down town where all the in-fill projects and what-not are going on.

Sam has a friend (Jess, I think) who is... useful. She's useful, because she gives Sam someone to talk to other than The Audience. I'd like to avoid Information Dumping, because... that's annoying to slog through, from a reading perspective.

However, Jess may also be in the way. She can't see faeries, although she's happy enough to talk about the "as if they exist" or what-ever because she's a new-at-this Pagan, and is also rather into Brian Froud.
That being said... (1) It's really hard to talk about a character who has no designated gender when you've got two other characters discussing hir in the third person. A challenge, yes, but so's the whole story. And, (2)... I'm afraid she may be a bit superfluous. I mean, she's got a boyfriend (who is nothing to the story but a way for Jess to be hanging out less with Sam, thus giving Sam a reason to wander around Down Town Ottawa feeling dispondent and running into the same wierd street kid all the time) which means that she'll be out of the way for most of the story, but... If she's out of the way, why would I bother having her in?

Y'see?

So... I either have to come up with a reason for her existence as an actual Member of the Story, or I have to come up with a way of introducing Sam's life and stuff that happens there-in without her. (And, Ideally, without resorting to the use of a Diary... 'Cause I don't think Sam keeps a diary. A writer's note-book, maybe, but not a diary. :-)

Anotehr thought: Can I alternate view-points? Because I think the first chapter is going to be from Alex's point of view. The wrecking ball coming, and Alex having to get out of there *fast*, and hearing the laughter of the muse in the back of hir mind.
But I want most of the story to be from Sam's PoV.

However, I could, perhaps, alternate chapters in such a way that all of the story-happening-now bits are from Sam's point of view, interspersed with "what happened before" stuff (possibly in italics, possibly done in a very Folkloric (or something) style from Alex's point of view. Stuff that would explain the perpectual scrapping between the Courts, how the Wild Fae came into being and, these, how the Urban Fae came from them.
Which would be Information Dumping, but it might be so in a way that was really, really cool. At least that's the idea. :-)

Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions? Help? :-)

[1] they compulsively build things and move thigs around construction sites and then have the missing/mis-placed items blamed on Those Damned College Kids or whatever -- they're half super-sensible in a 'salty' way, as my friend Ami would say, and half trickster. It's a very odd combination, but may make for fun writing. I think Alex has a friend who's a Construction Faerie.