Story Interviews

soundofmind

soundofmind · Aug 16, 2018

Introduction: Hello!! I'm soundofmind, aka sound, and my story's called The Lost Dragon! It's my LMS novel, so I update it once a week if you're interested in reading! Just forewarning (though you should know b/c of the info thread) that there will be spoilers here, and also I have more info in the writer's corner here!

Link: First Chapter of many!

Brief Description of Story: This story follows Clandestine - a monster hunter with a mysterious past and forbidden magic, and James, who is... well... a bunch of question marks, at least, at first. Though he does give off kind of a cowboy vibe. Maybe it's the jacket? The hat?

What starts as a casual business agreement for their mutual benefit - making money, since they're both pretty much broke - explodes into a much bigger storyline filled with monsters, dragons, goblin turf wars, corrupt kings with evil plans, and an even darker force watching... and waiting for the right time to wake.

And in the midst of all of this, they'll have to dig up their pasts and everyone else's to make sense of it all. Or at least a small portion of it. Yay.

Story's Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Setting: In the fantasy world of Nye - a world recently devastated by a worldwide string of magical catastrophes that spanned twenty years. They're only eighty years out, and are still crawling their way back to recovery.

Preferred Type of Questions, If Any: Anything to help me hammer out the plot, or specific cultures - how different people in different parts of their world relate, and feel about recent events, and each other, and blah blah. Religion? Politics? World-building things I guess, and plot plot plot. BUT I WILL LITERALYL GOBBLE UP ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL SO THROW ANYTHING AT ME PLEASE

Other: We have a map! A blurry map!

[b]Introduction:[/b] Hello!! I'm soundofmind, aka sound, and my story's called The Lost Dragon! It's my LMS novel, so I update it once a week if you're interested in reading! Just forewarning (though you should know b/c of the info thread) that there will be spoilers here, and also I have more info in the writer's corner [url=https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=124&t=108698]here[/url]!

[b]Link:[/b] [url=https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/work/soundofmind/The-Lost-Dragon-11-141286]First Chapter[/url] of many!

[b]Brief Description of Story:[/b] This story follows Clandestine - a monster hunter with a mysterious past and forbidden magic, and James, who is... well... a bunch of question marks, at least, at first. Though he does give off kind of a cowboy vibe. Maybe it's the jacket? The hat?

What starts as a casual business agreement for their mutual benefit - making money, since they're both pretty much broke - explodes into a much bigger storyline filled with monsters, dragons, goblin turf wars, corrupt kings with evil plans, and an even darker force watching... and waiting for the right time to wake.

And in the midst of all of this, they'll have to dig up their pasts and everyone else's to make sense of it all. Or at least a small portion of it. Yay.

[b]Story's Genre:[/b] Fantasy, Adventure

[b]Setting:[/b] In the fantasy world of Nye - a world recently devastated by a worldwide string of magical catastrophes that spanned twenty years. They're only eighty years out, and are still crawling their way back to recovery.

[b]Preferred Type of Questions, If Any:[/b] Anything to help me hammer out the plot, or specific cultures - how different people in different parts of their world relate, and feel about recent events, and each other, and blah blah. Religion? Politics? World-building things I guess, and plot plot plot. BUT I WILL LITERALYL GOBBLE UP ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL SO THROW ANYTHING AT ME PLEASE

[b]Other:[/b] We have a map! A blurry map! [img]https://img00.deviantart.net/66dd/i/2017/259/9/6/outlands_map_good_by_sound_of_mind-dbno1ui.png[/img]

Mageheart Creator

Mageheart · Aug 16, 2018

Yes. Just yes.

Excitement that you made a thread for this aside, I'm dying to know more about Clanny. Mainly more about this forbidden magic of hers. Is it just forbidden because it's magic, as is the trend in Nye, or is it especially forbidden, because it's even more crazy than most types of Nye magic?

soundofmind

soundofmind · Aug 16, 2018

OMg,, YAYYYY <3

@saen Clanny's magic is "forbidden" only in a sense that it's outlawed but it is very much rare and unique to her, because few other humans have it. Aaaand I've gone and spoilered it haaaa

Spoiler

Clandestine has dragon magic as a result of magical experimentation on her as a child, but it's complicated. She doesn't have it in the fullest extent of power that she could possess, because she's not a dragon. And she also rarely ever uses it because, amongst humans, it's dangerous to do so.

She has the ability to create fire and any fire-related substance at will, along with heat in general.

It would freak people out if she started bending any pre-existing fire, or grabbed it or something. But it would be even more mind-boggling for someone to say, witness her make fire-balls in her hands out of nowhere.

Fire is a tricky element in terms of the magical rules 'cause fire isn't as tangible an element as water or earth, or even air really. But I stick to the rules that for regular people, if the fire ain't there already, they can't just start it themselves sort of thing. So that makes Clandestine very unique in that respect.

OMg,, YAYYYY <3

@saen Clanny's magic is "forbidden" only in a sense that it's outlawed but it is very much rare and unique to her, because few other humans have it. Aaaand I've gone and spoilered it haaaa

[spoiler]Clandestine has dragon magic as a result of magical experimentation on her as a child, but it's complicated. She doesn't have it in the fullest extent of power that she could possess, because she's not a dragon. And she also rarely ever uses it because, amongst humans, it's dangerous to do so.

She has the ability to create fire and any fire-related substance at will, along with heat in general.

It would freak people out if she started bending any pre-existing fire, or grabbed it or something. But it would be even more mind-boggling for someone to say, witness her make fire-balls in her hands out of nowhere.

Fire is a tricky element in terms of the magical rules 'cause fire isn't as tangible an element as water or earth, or even air really. But I stick to the rules that for regular people, if the fire ain't there already, they can't just start it themselves sort of thing. So that makes Clandestine very unique in that respect.[/spoiler]

Lael

Lael · Aug 16, 2018

So tell me about dragons. Are they uncommon in Nye/are they a rare sight?

BluesClues

BluesClues · Aug 16, 2018

OKAY BUT WAIT THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION

did you name the magical world of Nye after Bill

soundofmind

soundofmind · Aug 16, 2018

@Lael Oof. There's a whole lot to unpack about dragons lol

So OVERALL: Dragons are like people! They're just... very large, scaly, and dragon-shaped. They're human-like in mind, but because of their age and origin, they're considerably wiser, smarter, and more knowledgeable.

Dragons are uncommon in Nye because they're unique in that they don't really uh... reproduce? Not in the way you'd think. They don't give birth to other dragons or anything. Their form is very tied to their magic, cause each dragon is basically "assigned" to an element and is in a way, the "god" or "creator" of that element. Clearly I'm stuck using """"" because I don't have official terminology LOL but yeah.

Dragons aren't seen so much. They never were, but even more so they are not seen at all ... not anymore, anyways haa. Ever since the calamity dragons have devolved into more myth than reality, and some people even say stuff like "the dragons have abandoned us" - basically the same kind of thing as "the gods have abandoned us" kind of feel. LOL

So they would be a very rare sight indeed.

@BlueAfrica omg blue ,, ,, im,, , , , ~~actuallyreconsidiering renaming it because of that haaa :,)~~ , ,, dEAd LOL no I didn't unfortunately :,) i just thought it sounded ,,, nye-ce

@Lael Oof. There's a whole lot to unpack about dragons lol

So OVERALL: Dragons are like people! They're just... very large, scaly, and dragon-shaped. They're human-like in mind, but because of their age and origin, they're considerably wiser, smarter, and more knowledgeable.

Dragons are uncommon in Nye because they're unique in that they don't really uh... reproduce? Not in the way you'd think. They don't give birth to other dragons or anything. Their form is very tied to their magic, cause each dragon is basically "assigned" to an element and is in a way, the "god" or "creator" of that element. Clearly I'm stuck using """"" because I don't have official terminology LOL but yeah.

Dragons aren't seen so much. They never were, but even more so they are not seen at all ... not anymore, anyways haa. Ever since the calamity dragons have devolved into more myth than reality, and some people even say stuff like "the dragons have abandoned us" - basically the same kind of thing as "the gods have abandoned us" kind of feel. LOL

So they would be a very rare sight indeed.

@BlueAfrica omg blue ,, ,, im,, , , , [s]actuallyreconsidiering renaming it because of that haaa :,)[/s]  , ,, dEAd LOL no I didn't unfortunately :,) i just thought it sounded ,,, nye-ce

BluesClues

BluesClues · Aug 16, 2018

STAY THE COURSE SOUND KEEP YOUR WORLD NAMED AFTER BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY PLS PLS PLS

also nye-ce I AM #DEAD

Lael

Lael · Aug 16, 2018

Oh my goodness lol. Anyways, tell me what nefarious things Blackfield is doing this time.

Mageheart Creator

Mageheart · Aug 17, 2018

~~I admit I always think of Bill Nye when I see the world's name.~~

Tell me about my boy James! I already know about him from roleplays, but I want to know everything about childhood. Give me the deets on what little James was like, and maybe a little bit of Larrel's past, too?

BluesClues

BluesClues · Aug 17, 2018

So given that people are like "the dragons have abandoned us!" I imagine dragons in this world are revered and respected? Has that changed with their disappearance? Do people doubt their existence or resent their disappearance?

Mageheart Creator

Mageheart · Aug 17, 2018

Do you have a supporting character that doesn't show up too often, but still plays a big role in the story? Or do any supporting characters that do tend to stick around?

soundofmind

soundofmind · Aug 19, 2018

AAAAAAAAA SO MANY QUESTIONS ALL OF A SUDDEN AAA OKAY

@BlueAfrica I WILL KEEP IT AS NYE FOR NOW LOL ~~at least until the next draft~~

But I'm gonna uhhh answer your question tho so I can go in order of person

So given that people are like "the dragons have abandoned us!" I imagine dragons in this world are revered and respected? Has that changed with their disappearance? Do people doubt their existence or resent their disappearance?

This differs greatly depending on who you’re talking to and from where. I’m going to stick strictly to the human population and just ignore the other fantasy races unless you ask about them lol just b/c TIME for me at the moment. But uh.

Yes dragons are/were greatly respected but over time always kept their noses out of inter-personal conflicts between other races and people groups. They’ve always been very passive “overseers” who only intervene when most necessary and over time humans especially grew bitter towards them for their inaction and refusal to take sides in what dragons viewed as petty conflicts. They are respected for their power, and originally, for their benevolence, but the latter is left to how different people groups perceive them.

The Letteran kingdom had a whole [currently unnamed] religion built around namely the earth dragon but other dragons are revered for their magic. Magic is worshipped, but those who practice it are heretical radicals who are basically trying to be like “”gods”” (Dragons). Their logic is like, “magic belongs to the gods and anyone or anything outside of them that has magic is unnatural.” So they very much ascribe to the: “the gods have abandoned us” narrative upon the dragons’ gradual disappearance . GENERALLY. Ofc there are always exceptions but yeah.

People in the Western Isles feel more indifference towards dragons. Some of the indifference stems out of bitter resentment but most people there basically are like “well f dragons anyway, we’ll do fine w/out them.”

The popular viewpoint in Goulon is that dragons and magic have been holding humans back for ages and that humans never should have been so reverent of them in the first place, or dependent on magic.

In the Moonlight Kingdom, it’s never publicly confirmed that dragons existed. The powers-that-be have basically erased dragons from the history books and while adults who were alive during the calamity know they did, there are kids growing up who don’t know they’re a thing or doubt their existence.

@Lael OKAY SO a lot of what I’ve told you is actually CANON tho lol (the passing events of the Outlands aren’t necessarily canon, but everything you know about James and Blackfield up to that point is). SO uHHHH IDK WHAT TO TELL YOU. BUT IN SHORT? Blackfield’s trying to figure out a way to extend his life and get a bunch of power so he can keep ruling and also take over the other kingdoms :,)

AAAAAAAAA SO MANY QUESTIONS ALL OF A SUDDEN AAA OKAY

@BlueAfrica I WILL KEEP IT AS NYE FOR NOW LOL [s]at least until the next draft[/s]

But I'm gonna uhhh answer your question tho so I can go in order of person

[quote]So given that people are like "the dragons have abandoned us!" I imagine dragons in this world are revered and respected? Has that changed with their disappearance? Do people doubt their existence or resent their disappearance? [/quote]

This differs greatly depending on who you’re talking to and from where. I’m going to stick strictly to the human population and just ignore the other fantasy races unless you ask about them lol just b/c TIME for me at the moment. But uh.

Yes dragons are/were greatly respected but over time always kept their noses out of inter-personal conflicts between other races and people groups. They’ve always been very passive “overseers” who only intervene when most necessary and over time humans especially grew bitter towards them for their inaction and refusal to take sides in what dragons viewed as petty conflicts. They are respected for their power, and originally, for their benevolence, but the latter is left to how different people groups perceive them.

The Letteran kingdom had a whole [currently unnamed] religion built around namely the earth dragon but other dragons are revered for their magic. Magic is worshipped, but those who practice it are heretical radicals who are basically trying to be like “”gods”” (Dragons). Their logic is like, “magic belongs to the gods and anyone or anything outside of them that has magic is unnatural.” So they very much ascribe to the: “the gods have abandoned us” narrative upon the dragons’ gradual disappearance . GENERALLY. Ofc there are always exceptions but yeah.

People in the Western Isles feel more indifference towards dragons. Some of the indifference stems out of bitter resentment but most people there basically are like “well f dragons anyway, we’ll do fine w/out them.”

The popular viewpoint in Goulon is that dragons and magic have been holding humans back for ages and that humans never should have been so reverent of them in the first place, or dependent on magic.

In the Moonlight Kingdom, it’s never publicly confirmed that dragons existed. The powers-that-be have basically erased dragons from the history books and while adults who were alive during the calamity know they did, there are kids growing up who don’t know they’re a thing or doubt their existence.

@Lael OKAY SO a lot of what I’ve told you is actually CANON tho lol (the passing events of the Outlands aren’t necessarily canon, but everything you know about James and Blackfield up to that point is). SO uHHHH IDK WHAT TO TELL YOU. BUT IN SHORT? Blackfield’s trying to figure out a way to extend his life and get a bunch of power so he can keep ruling and also take over the other kingdoms :,)

soundofmind

soundofmind · Aug 19, 2018

@saen !!!

Tell me about my boy James! I already know about him from roleplays, but I want to know everything about childhood. Give me the deets on what little James was like, and maybe a little bit of Larrel's past, too?

Shoot sae….. it’ll be LONG LOLLLLLLLLLLLL LOOKIT U ASKIN FOR EVERYTHING LOL But because it is almost past my bedtime I’m gonna do my best to summarize okay u ready?

Spoiler

James grew up on a farm in the outskirts of the Moonlight Kingdom territories. For the first ten years of his life? He was honestly fine. He grew up on the farm with a peaceful life with his father Allen and his mom Jane. As soon as he was old enough to walk he started helping his father out on the farm in whatever way he could, and his mother and father spent a lot of time teaching him how to read, and do math, and whatever other essentials. He was a very smart, precocious kid, who in this modern day and age would be way ahead of average students, especially in terms of English(reading comprehension and an ever-expanding vocabulary) and math.

His little sister Larrel was born when he was eight, and he adored her. He was a doting brother and was always trying to teach her how to do things, like read, and write, and WALK lol.

But everything changed when the goblins attacked.

Goblins and humans have been in ongoing turf wars, especially closer to the borders of the current human kingdoms. So the goblins? Were plowing through to reclaim their land. Moonlight Kingdom forces were not near enough to give any assistance or protection during the attack. The Hawke family was on their own.

So what ended up happening was, in those deciding seconds before the goblins overtook them, Jane got on their fastest horse with 3-year-old Larrel strapped to her chest and little ten-year old James holding around her waist behind. And Allen slapped the horse into a run and they sped off while Allen stayed back to distract the goblins long enough for his family to make enough distance and escape.

Jane told James not to look back. But he did. And as his father grew smaller the further they got, he saw just enough to see the goblins overtake his father.

So that was uh………….. traumatizing.

Fast-forward. Jane as a single mom with her two kids is a refugee in the nearest town and they have nothing but the clothes on their backs and the horse they rode in on.

So they sell the horse, and the one family heirloom piece of jewelry that Jane wears around her neck, and they have barely enough to get back on their feet.

Jane and James are thrown into work out of necessity. Living in the city is dramatically different from living out on a farm, and James ends up working as a servant boy for a wealthy family and also works at the library organizing books. So he’s got like…. two part time jobs at 11.

James is an emotional mess, having no time or resources to really process his emotions of grief or anything as he’s trying to just make money to keep his family afloat. Jane is shut down and emotionally absent. Larrell keeps asking where their papa is. No one is happy. Everyone is stressed. Sleep deprived.

So a few things happen during this time. One, James meets Carter, the son of the wealthy family he works for, and they become sort of friends. Carter is two years older, and James finds himself looking up to him, in an envious sort of fashion. James also sneaks off at his library job to read said books he should be sorting. He starts getting in trouble for that. A bit too often.

About a year in, Jane starts seeing someone. James is 12 now. A man named Richard who owns a smithing/armory business and is one of the leading entrepreneurs in the Moonlight Kingdom as far as weapon-making goes. He’s one of the first to start making guns.

Richard takes and interest in Jane (and some pity) and Jane and Richard end up getting engaged.

James does not approve. For one, it’s too soon. Two, he doesn’t like Richard (in short, he thinks Richard is using his mom and will take advantage of her, doesn’t think he’s trustworthy). So James gets even more emotional. He’s livid - but it’s a quiet anger that he keeps to himself.

At the same time the engagement is announced, James’s work life starts to fall apart as well. He loses his job at the library for slacking off one too many times and just reading instead of working. And he also learns that Carter’s family will be moving to the capital so that Carter can join the military school.

It’s this time between Carter’s move and the wedding that James begins hatching an idea - to run away from home and go join the military school with Carter. He’s been blissfully informed by the starry-eyed Carter that it’ll be amazing and allthegoodthings™.

Long story short, the day just before his mom gets married, he sneaks out. Larrel catches him in the act, and at 4, asks him where he’s going. Much to his regret, he tells her he’s just going to leave for a little while and he’ll be back. ~~Something he’s never forgiven himself for.~~ And then he leaves.

Carter and Carter’s family are the ones who made his running-away from home and joining the school possible. Carter informed him that he couldn’t assist in James’s “escape” because of timing not overlapping and working out, but set a date for James to meet Carter and his family at the capital and a place. So James goes off to travel on his own, “borrowing” one of Richard’s horses to run off with.

He’s embarrassingly unprepared. He gets off-course about half-way. Gets caught in a wintry snow-storm. Thinks it’s the end.

Gets lucky and Mickey shows up. Why Mickey’s all the way out there? A feeling in his gut. He’s lookin’ for mages. Runs into James instead. So he takes James into his little underground dwelling and nurses James back to health and IN SHORT LOL blows James’s mind and tells James all about magic and how it’s not bad and those few days James spends with Mickey - to him - almost feel like a dream after he leaves, but they mark him for the rest of his life so… man, what an impression to make on an 12 yr old.

SKIP SKIP he makes it (by the help of Mickey stocking him on food and supplies and DIRECTIONS lol) to the meeting point w/Carter. Carter helps him falsify documents so he can join w/out parent permission or people digging up stuff on him and sending him back home b/c they find out he’s a runaway. James takes on his first fake name. Tiberius Hemming. He enlists into the school under that name.

He and Carter become very close during their time in school together. They’re both at the top of their class, but James is always a few steps ahead of Carter (for which, Carter is resentful). Teachers would label James a “prodigy,” or “exceptionally adept.” But what James really was was a boy throwing himself into school so he could be a part of something and forget his family, and all of the negative emotions associated with them.

And for the first few years, he did, pretty much. He was happy to be away and felt like he was doing great.

When he hits his teens, things change, but uh, that’s not so much his CHILDhood anymore. ~~Also I’m tired and lazy now lol~~ SO UHH HOPEFULLY THIS FUELS MORE QUESTIONS OR WHATEVER

MOVING ON

Do you have a supporting character that doesn't show up too often, but still plays a big role in the story? Or do any supporting characters that do tend to stick around?

THOSE WOULD BE COWELL and MINDY!

I’m still figuring out how I want to do with their side-story, but they become something of a detective-like duo that is key to digging up evidential dirt on Blackfield that exposes him as a corrupt king. That’s after their fateful run-ing w/James and Clandestine though. They run back into the main duo and group back in the Moonlight Kingdom and find that they have the same motives and choose to work together. Or something. It kind of gets fuzzy from there forward tbh. I still don’t really know what kind of evidence they’d be finding anyway and that terrifies me so :,)

@saen !!!

[quote]Tell me about my boy James! I already know about him from roleplays, but I want to know everything about childhood. Give me the deets on what little James was like, and maybe a little bit of Larrel's past, too? 
[/quote]

Shoot sae…..  it’ll be LONG LOLLLLLLLLLLLL LOOKIT U ASKIN FOR EVERYTHING LOL But because it is almost past my bedtime I’m gonna do my best to summarize okay u ready?

[spoiler]James grew up on a farm in the outskirts of the Moonlight Kingdom territories. For the first ten years of his life? He was honestly fine. He grew up on the farm with a peaceful life with his father Allen and his mom Jane. As soon as he was old enough to walk he started helping his father out on the farm in whatever way he could, and his mother and father spent a lot of time teaching him how to read, and do math, and whatever other essentials. He was a very smart, precocious kid, who in this modern day and age would be way ahead of average students, especially in terms of English(reading comprehension and an ever-expanding vocabulary) and math.

His little sister Larrel was born when he was eight, and he adored her. He was a doting brother and was always trying to teach her how to do things, like read, and write, and WALK lol.

[i]But everything changed when the goblins attacked.[/i]

Goblins and humans have been in ongoing turf wars, especially closer to the borders of the current human kingdoms. So the goblins? Were plowing through to reclaim their land. Moonlight Kingdom forces were not near enough to give any assistance or protection during the attack. The Hawke family was on their own.

So what ended up happening was, in those deciding seconds before the goblins overtook them, Jane got on their fastest horse with 3-year-old Larrel strapped to her chest and little ten-year old James holding around her waist behind. And Allen slapped the horse into a run and they sped off while Allen stayed back to distract the goblins long enough for his family to make enough distance and escape.

Jane told James not to look back. But he did. And as his father grew smaller the further they got, he saw just enough to see the goblins overtake his father.

So that was uh………….. traumatizing.

Fast-forward. Jane as a single mom with her two kids is a refugee in the nearest town and they have nothing but the clothes on their backs and the horse they rode in on.

So they sell the horse, and the one family heirloom piece of jewelry that Jane wears around her neck, and they have barely enough to get back on their feet.

Jane and James are thrown into work out of necessity. Living in the city is dramatically different from living out on a farm, and James ends up working as a servant boy for a wealthy family and also works at the library organizing books. So he’s got like…. two part time jobs at 11.

James is an emotional mess, having no time or resources to really process his emotions of grief or anything as he’s trying to just make money to keep his family afloat. Jane is shut down and emotionally absent. Larrell keeps asking where their papa is. No one is happy. Everyone is stressed. Sleep deprived.

So a few things happen during this time. One, James meets Carter, the son of the wealthy family he works for, and they become sort of friends. Carter is two years older, and James finds himself looking up to him, in an envious sort of fashion. James also sneaks off at his library job to read said books he should be sorting. He starts getting in trouble for that. A bit too often.

About a year in, Jane starts seeing someone. James is 12 now. A man named Richard who owns a smithing/armory business and is one of the leading entrepreneurs in the Moonlight Kingdom as far as weapon-making goes. He’s one of the first to start making guns.

Richard takes and interest in Jane (and some pity) and Jane and Richard end up getting engaged.

James does not approve. For one, it’s too soon. Two, he doesn’t like Richard (in short, he thinks Richard is using his mom and will take advantage of her, doesn’t think he’s trustworthy). So James gets even more emotional. He’s livid - but it’s a quiet anger that he keeps to himself.

At the same time the engagement is announced, James’s work life starts to fall apart as well. He loses his job at the library for slacking off one too many times and just reading instead of working. And he also learns that Carter’s family will be moving to the capital so that Carter can join the military school.

It’s this time between Carter’s move and the wedding that James begins hatching an idea - to run away from home and go join the military school with Carter. He’s been blissfully informed by the starry-eyed Carter that it’ll be amazing and allthegoodthings™.

Long story short, the day just before his mom gets married, he sneaks out. Larrel catches him in the act, and at 4, asks him where he’s going. Much to his regret, he tells her he’s just going to leave for a little while and he’ll be back. [s]Something he’s never forgiven himself for.[/s] And then he leaves.

Carter and Carter’s family are the ones who made his running-away from home and joining the school possible. Carter informed him that he couldn’t assist in James’s “escape” because of timing not overlapping and working out, but set a date for James to meet Carter and his family at the capital and a place. So James goes off to travel on his own, “borrowing” one of Richard’s horses to run off with.

He’s embarrassingly unprepared. He gets off-course about half-way. Gets caught in a wintry snow-storm. Thinks it’s the end.

Gets lucky and Mickey shows up. Why Mickey’s all the way out there? A feeling in his gut. He’s lookin’ for mages. Runs into James instead. So he takes James into his little underground dwelling and nurses James back to health and IN SHORT LOL blows James’s mind and tells James all about magic and how it’s not bad and those few days James spends with Mickey - to him - almost feel like a dream after he leaves, but they mark him for the rest of his life so… man, what an impression to make on an 12 yr old.

SKIP SKIP he makes it (by the help of Mickey stocking him on food and supplies and DIRECTIONS lol) to the meeting point w/Carter. Carter helps him falsify documents so he can join w/out parent permission or people digging up stuff on him and sending him back home b/c they find out he’s a runaway. James takes on his first fake name. Tiberius Hemming. He enlists into the school under that name.

He and Carter become very close during their time in school together. They’re both at the top of their class, but James is always a few steps ahead of Carter (for which, Carter is resentful). Teachers would label James a “prodigy,” or “exceptionally adept.” But what James really was was a boy throwing himself into school so he could be a part of something and forget his family, and all of the negative emotions associated with them.

And for the first few years, he did, pretty much. He was happy to be away and felt like he was doing great.

When he hits his teens, things change, but uh, that’s not so much his CHILDhood anymore. [s]Also I’m tired and lazy now lol[/s] SO UHH HOPEFULLY THIS FUELS MORE QUESTIONS OR WHATEVER
[/spoiler] 
MOVING ON

[quote]Do you have a supporting character that doesn't show up too often, but still plays a big role in the story? Or do any supporting characters that do tend to stick around? [/quote]

THOSE WOULD BE COWELL and MINDY!

I’m still figuring out how I want to do with their side-story, but they become something of a detective-like duo that is key to digging up evidential dirt on Blackfield that exposes him as a corrupt king. That’s after their fateful run-ing w/James and Clandestine though. They run back into the main duo and group back in the Moonlight Kingdom and find that they have the same motives and choose to work together. Or something. It kind of gets fuzzy from there forward tbh. I still don’t really know what kind of evidence they’d be finding anyway and that terrifies me so :,)

Mageheart Creator

Mageheart · Aug 19, 2018

Oh, wow! I never thought James' backstory would be like that-

Wait just a second. I recognize the name Carter. Isn't he one of the big baddies in the story?

soundofmind

soundofmind · Aug 19, 2018

@saen YEAH HAHAH uh,,, SURPRISE! Carter and James have a big falling out post-graduation when they're both in the royal guard. It's very ... sticky. But I mean, honestly it's for the best because they never had a healthy friendship anyway. Carter has always been manipulative of James, and jealous/envious of James's favor w/other people and him just... being better at stuff lol. It's funny how that works. Carter also constantly lords over James how James owes him for the big favor he did in getting James into school w/out his parents or anyone else finding out. So it's... yeah probably for the best that didn't keep up.

James didn't really realize just how manipulative Carter was until spending so much time away from Carter. And that was a tough realization for him to come to, especially since Carter had been there for him so much during hard times in his life.

But then Carter and James end up becoming enemies and well. It's kind of really sad...

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