Three characters, five questions. A meme borrowed from Melissa Dominic and her Dark Dark Cities. These are the guys hanging around in my head.
Noam Patel (writer, lost boy, mirror-gazer)
1. What would they kill for?
Noam would never kill for anything. At least that’s what he would say. He’s a quiet man with very simple passions. It takes a lot to get a rise out of him. Gentlemanly contests of intellectual dexterity and fortitude are really more of his speed. However, if pushed far enough, he would kill to protect those he loves.
2. What is the one thing they love to do most?
Sitting on the roof in the sunflower garden. Watching Elliot paint. Working on stories. Maybe not writing them, per se, because he tends to fidget over details more than he should. Noam just loves to sit with pen and paper, on the subway or in a restaurant, scribbling down things that he hears and sees and dreams about.
3. What do they dream about?
Noam dreams of everything. He dreams of the jungle and the Dust Bowl and the ocean and the desert and the circus and mermaids and warriors and people who live in mirror-worlds. He dreams about Elliot and London and diving bells.
4. What’s their biggest fear?
Noam is afraid of getting hurt. Just until he finds a reason not to be.
5. What single object would they be most hard pressed to part with?
His notebooks and his typewriter. He can’t have one without the other.
Dan Crowley (worker bee, facebook addict, parasite devotee)
1. Who is the most useless person they know?
There is not a single person in Dan’s life that isn’t useless in one way or another. His family, his co-workers, his girlfriend Sarah. None of them really care about Dan, take him seriously, or have anything useful to contribute to his life. He just hasn’t had the nerve cut them out yet.
2. What is the worst thing they have ever done?
Dan’s settled. He looked around, decided he couldn’t do better for himself, and hid behind a cubicle.
3. Would they lie or keep a secret from the person they love?
That goes without saying. He’s done it to keep someone that he doesn’t love.
4. Do they have a goal in life?
To amount to something. To amount to anything. To find the woman of his dreams (Karla, wherever you are) and be happy for once.
5. What have they always wanted to do but are afraid to try?
What hasn’t Dan wanted to do? He wanted to write, and be a journalist, and report from war-zones, and write novels, and fall in love, and feel like his life was worth a damn. One day, Dan is going to get there though.
Casey Way (insomniac, survivor, boy with a hole in his heart)
1. What would they die for?
For Joel. For Mariska. For the tiny patchwork family he’s made for himself in spite of the nightmares and the sleeplessness and the traps.
2. Who is the one person they trust the most?
Mariska. She’s his step-sister, his best friend, his confidant, his war buddy, his partner-in-crime. Casey’s learning to trust Joel that way too, one day at a time, because he loves Joel. He needs Joel; he wants to make him happy, with the white-picket fences, the mortgage and the four-door sedan in the driveway. Casey just needs time.
3. If they were guaranteed an honest answer to one question, who and what would they ask?
Casey would ask his father “Why?” Why Mariska, why did he do it, why did he have to hurt all of them, why couldn’t he have left, why didn’t he get help, why couldn’t he have died somewhere else, why why why why why
4. What is the one thing they never want to forget?
The way Joel looks when he’s sleeping, when it’s still pink out before the sun comes up, and his skin is warm against the sheets, and it’s quiet and Casey just wants to be near him and listen to him breathe and sleep and never wake up.
5. How might they die?
In the old house, a can of gasoline, and a match.
