GilliansTenQuestionsTHE TEN QUESTIONS 1. Where does your character get their laundry done? Describe it and the people they might encounter there. Having someone else do my laundry is one of the few luxuries I can indulge in. And I do, with no regret, by arrangement with a merchant in the city. His name is Syd and he owns the mercantile called The Blue Bucket down by the harbor. I come in three times a week and examine items he's considering purchasing for resale. Ore, jewelry, tools-—if it's from the earth, I can hold it and not only tell what metal and minerals are in it, but also whether they've been transmuted. Syd finds this ability extremely helpful in his business, and in return for my service his wife Mury, who is a washerwoman, does my laundry. Occasionally Syd will give me the odd coin as well, but this doesn't happen very often. More often than not, instead Mury sends me home with raisin buns for myself and a few fish heads for Ginger (which I make her eat outside, much to her disdain). Most of the time I work in the back room while Syd attends to the store in the front, but sometimes the seller is still present while I'm there and I end up examining the goods in front of him. Syd is always close by in case what I have to report isn't positive. I don't mind doing this. I find pleasure in routing out the weasels trying to con a merchant just trying to make an honest living and I enjoy watching Syd's reaction if the results are negative. He used to be in Amber's Navy, you know. 2. Does your character sleep well? If the character has dreams, what kind of dreams are they? When I was little I would often have dreams where I could fly. I would just hop up on the sofa in the parlor—something I was expressly forbidden to do—and dive off head first. Instead of hitting the floor, I would effortlessly swoop up to the ceiling and fly around the room. If the dream went on long enough I would always find an open window somewhere and escape to fly over the fields surrounding the estate. I think these dreams are why I chose to specialize in air magics—I wanted to fly, just like I did in my dreams as a young child. They were very pleasant. As I got older (six days after my thirteenth birthday, to be exact) obstacles started appearing in my flying dreams—either I couldn't find an open window, or if I managed to get outside, low branches would get in my way. Eventually I stopped having the dreams altogether. At school I've started having these dreams where I'm looking for something but cannot find it. The something changes from dream to dream—sometimes it's a nondescript box, sometimes it's my brother Jonathan, sometimes I don't know what it is but only that I must find it. There's a sense of impending doom in these dreams, as if everything depends on me finding the something. I always wake before I do. I occasionally will have dreams about the Magic. Sometimes it's a beautiful, comforting angel that envelops me in her wings and I feel this overwhelming sense of peace and beauty and hear promises of hidden knowledge. I like those dreams. Then other times the Magic is a squat, ugly demon who laughs at me while encouraging me to use it, that the more I explore and question and pursue it, the more it owns my soul. Needless to say, I don't like those dreams. 3. Your character gets into a discussion about death and dying. How would your character describe the perfect death? The perfect death? Not the perfect murder, but the perfect death? What kind of question is that? What is perfect about death? Yes, everything dies—even the royal family can die if their injuries are severe enough—but that doesn't mean we should blithely accept our fate, like sheep being led to the slaughter. Death means the end of our lifetime of the pursuit of knowledge, experiments unfinished, research unanswered. It's a huge waste. All right, all right...I guess if pressed to respond to the precise meaning of the words (Gillian rolls her eyes) I would have to say the perfect death is one in which I don't die, but ascend to a higher level of existence where my questions are answered and I can continue to pursue knowledge. Heh. Well, more realistically I'd settle for the accumulation of what I've accomplished in my lifetime not just disappearing, but somehow faithfully preserved. I suppose I should start keeping a journal to that regard. Hmmm. 4. Describe your character's personal bedroom or suite. Where is it located? Describe the contents of the room. What is the style of furniture? What items are of importance and why? Part of my bargain to stay at University is that I work part time in the university library. Shortly after I started work, I discovered a room at the very top of the tower the library is housed in that wasn't in use. As I was having roommate problems at the time—she was only at school to find a husband, she was allergic to Ginger, and her life's ambition was to be a cheerleader—I requested to move into the unused room. The university agreed, as long as I added another six hours a week to my work schedule. I accepted their counterproposal. I was pretty sure I could use those six hours in the library to study, rather than work. It was all a matter of appearance. I only needed to appear as if I was working. Not that I don't have a good work ethic. I mean, I do work in the library to keep it maintained, but there is only so much tidying up that can be done after books are reshelved, y'know? If I don't have anything to do, then why shouldn't I study? It would be a waste of time otherwise, and I have Lord Feldane's expense to send me to university to consider. So I moved into the small room at the top of the tower. My walls are round, plaster over brick. The plaster is coming off in places, but I don't mind. The floor is wood that needs a good sanding and varnishing, but I have it covered with a few rugs so you can't really tell—especially over that weird brownish stain in the center of the room... There's no fireplace, but the library let me move a little coal stove into the room that I vent out the window. Oh, yes, I have two windows, on opposite sides of the room. They even have glass in them! They face east and west so I have a lovely view of both the sunrise and the sunset. I love my windows, and I love the view—the room is up on the fifth story. Ginger sits in the windows and watches the birds. The roof is close enough, angling sharply across the tower, that she can jump to it from either window and get in and out that way. Aside from a little stove and two windows, my room has a small wardrobe (the door hangs off-plumb a bit, but I can still get it closed), a bed, and a table stacked with my textbooks and all the books I've borrowed from the library below and my research experiments into the Philosopher's Stone... I have a chair, too. It doesn't sit completely flat, but it's painted blue and blue is my favorite color so I forgive it. I have no key to my door to keep it locked. My current research is hidden among my schoolwork, so that it's not obvious, and that's about the best I can do to hide it. Previous research notes I've hidden in the library itself, behind books on the shelves. Again, it's about the best I can do. Paranoid, am I? Perhaps some. But this is important research, and I believe I'm on the right track. It wouldn't do to have my effort stolen right from under me. That's about all that's in the room. There are a few lamps, of course. A number of candles, mostly stubs. A coal bin filled with coal that the university provides. A couple of patched quilts on the bed. Ginger has a food and water bowl, though she hunts and is mostly self-sustaining. I don't have a lot on the way of personal effects. Not that I think they're silly or anything. I just don't have any myself. There are too many other things to spend money on, not that I have much of that myself, either. There's not really space to study in this room. When I want to study, I go downstairs to the library and spread out on one of the huge, dark wood tables. It's more comfortable. I do practice magic in my room, though. I don't need a lot of space for that and Ginger is (usually) helpful. 5. How would your character describe their perfect mate/spouse? Tall, dark, and handsome. And very rich. Heh. Well no, not really... Intelligent—perhaps this is snobbish and presumptuous, but I couldn't abide someone who was less intelligent than me. Kind, not just to me, but to everyone, including the servants. Especially the servants. Financially secure (yes, it would be nice to never have to worry about money again). Dare I even dream about this requirement, that he is actually in love with me and not just an arranged marriage of some sort? Handsome is icing on the proverbial cake—I'd happily accept less than Greek God in appearance if he was intelligent and kind. 6. Describe your character's life ambition. Is this their personal goal or is it one forced upon them by their peers/parents? At the present it's to find the secret to the Philosopher's Stone. I want to gain the ability to transmute ordinary metals into gold. Well, yes, I know that any third circle adept can do that already, but there's a taint present so merchants won't pay for transmuted gold anywhere near the price they will for the real thing. I believe there's a way to transmute without leaving a taint, and that's what my research is all about. With that ability I can provide enough money for my family so that they no longer need to serve in a Great House, and so that my brother Jonathan, who suffers from Apathy Syndrome, can get the proper medical care he needs to live. 7. Which Elder Amberite does your character respect and look up to? That's a hard one. Instead of one royal, I think it'll have to be two. Prince Gerard, because he has a reputation of being kind and thoughtful to those of rank below him. And Princess Fiona, for she is the most intelligent and the greatest sorceress of the family—and a woman to boot. Which Elder Amberite does your character despise? Why? It would have to be Corwin. He returned from shadow after all those years of being thought dead and completely threw Amber into chaos. When he and his brother Bleys mounted their coup, thousands of Amberites died in defense of the throne. Then after he escaped from prison—Why didn't King Eric just kill him and be done with it? He was far too dangerous to be allowed to live. I'll never understand that—Amber started being attacked by demonic forces. Thousands upon thousands of Amberites died in the Battle of Garnath, and Lord Feldane himself was forced to leave his responsibilities to his estate to fight in the Patternfall War on the other side of the multiverse. House Feldane never really recovered financially from that and we all suffered. There were a number of nights as a child that I went hungry because there was no food. Everything changed, for the worse, when Corwin returned out of shadow. I wish he'd just stayed there. 8. Your character finally has a break from classes. Describe their perfect day off. Where would they go? Would they want others around or be alone? A perfect day off for me would be one that also included a day off from working in the library. I could do what I wanted, whether that was spending time in my research uninterrupted, or studying downstairs in the library uninterrupted, or practicing my magic uninterrupted... Are you sensing a trend here? Ginger thinks I need to get out more. I don't know exactly what she means by "get out." Take a walk? I walk back and forth to classes everyday! Interact with people? I do that in classes too. Well, some. Go walk through the park and enjoy the flowers, or go into the city and see the sights? I have little money to spend in the city, but I have to admit I like flowers. You can find so many examples of the magic ratio in nature and I have some ideas for a calculus equation to predict the weather... Sometimes, if I'm feeling really mischievous, I'll fly over the fields or the woods outside of the city. I really enjoy the wind on my face and the fleeting feeling of freedom. Everything else being equal, I think I'd rather be alone than with other people. I mean, well, I find that most other students think I'm weird, or boring, or both. I just can't seem to get interested in who is dating whom and what the latest fashions are and this thing I cannot fathom called "team spirit." I want to talk about schoolwork, and research, and how great math and science and magic are, and they all look at me as if I've sprouted two heads. I get along fine with the professors—no great surprise there. But other students? Not really, though they seem to think I'm great to talk to about all their problems. I get that a lot when I'm working in the library. I'll be reshelving books back in the stacks and for whatever reason they just start talking to me, just small talk at first, but before I know it I'm hearing about their boyfriends or girlfriends and how hard school is and all about their problems at home. Heh. I don't ask for it, so it must be my body language or something that says, "Hey, listening board here!" I can't imagine finding someone who would want to date me. Honestly, I just don't have time for it, anyway. A relationship would just get in the way of my research. Yep. 9. University offers numerous opportunities to interact with different races and species. How well does your character fit into new societies? Do they have any prejudices? If so, why? I don't have many prejudices, I don't think. It comes from being at the bottom of the social and status ladder—there's no one else below me to look down on! I suppose you could argue that I have some prejudice against the nobility, for I see how they treat everyone else. But as for different races and species, they're all just there. They have their own customs and likes and dislikes and those are interesting to hear about, but what knowledge do they have? That's really what I judge people on aside from how they treat each other. In the end, I think it's knowledge that's the common denominator between all the different races and species. We are at university, after all. It's knowledge that brings us together, that binds us and surpasses all the cultural and physical differences. I may not be able to communicate effectively with words to someone from another shadow, but give us the common language of math or science or magic and we'll do just fine together. We'll learn from each other, and we'll both be greater people from the experience. 10. What would provoke your character into committing a greater evil, such as murder? (Gillian gulps) I would consider committing an "evil" act in order to save someone close to me, like a brother who is dying. I would do most anything, I think. Anything. Family is all I have. OTHER INFORMATION (Known friends, clubs, political ties, etc) Friends? There's Syd and Mury from The Blue Bucket, of course. Syd keeps me informed of the odd bit of news in the City, and Mury keeps me eating her raisin buns—she says I'm too skinny. I think Mury just misses having someone to fuss over. Her son died in the Battle of Garnath and her daughter married and left Amber. Then there's Becca from the kitchens. I first met her when I was looking for scraps and milk for a newly-acquired Ginger. Becca has huge brown eyes, black curly hair that frequently escapes the confines of her head scarf, and pale skin the color of cream. She's sweetly pretty and sweetly-tempered. Not the brightest candle in the room, sure, but we happily talk about cats, as she cares for several herself. And if I miss supper, Becca can sometimes get me a plate of leftovers. She cares for her elderly mother (it's just the two of them) and I can appreciate her familial dedication. I don't think Becca would accept coin from me (it would be rude, anyway, for it would imply I was above her in status) but I'll drop a coin or two where I know she'll find it, when I can. There's also the Head Librarian, Professor Hobbs. He's been at the school since, well, from his appearance it looks like since before Dworkin created the famed Pattern. He's a little hard of hearing, but I think he's pretending, as it appears to be conditional. Professor Hobbs and I get along famously because we both love books. I think he senses in me a kindred spirit, so to speak, and I know likes to show me off to the other faculty. "Oh, Gillian, where is that book on economics trends surfacing in the post-war Golden Circle shadows?" he'll call out to me as he's talking to the Head Professor of the School of Business. I know exactly where it is, for I've looked at ever book on every shelf in the university library, and I never forget. Heh, both a blessing and a curse, my memory. I never forget anything. Anyway, Professor Hobbs has been very kind to me. He gave me the little coal stove for my room upstairs above the library, and the wardrobe and bed to use while I'm a student here at university. He's a great wealth of information and a master at research. He can make the card catalog sing for him! If Knowledge is the Holy Grail, Professor Hobbs is her Knight, always in pursuit. Yes, a kindred spirit. Though a few of my various professors have encouraged me to join the clubs that they sponsor, I don't belong to any, for I consider clubs a colossal waste of time and effort! All right, to be fair, I suppose that strictly depends on your motivations for attending. If all you intend is to socialize, then clubs are a perfect venue for you. Or if you're not clever enough to come up with your own theories and hypotheses and need to sponge off the efforts of others, then clubs are also the perfect venue for you. If, on the other hand, you are involved in serious research, then clubs eat away at your time and energy, both of which are in finite supply. As I said, they are a colossal waste! I don't have any political ties as such, though I do approve of methods of governing that follow along the classic lines of a republic. (Yes, I understand that I live in a monarchy and that doesn't look to change ever, since the royal family is nigh immortal.) I support the ideal of guilds and unions to protect the craftsman and merchant, though I know in practice greed and the lure of power are more often involved than not. It's a shame, really, that as intelligent men and women we often allow our baser emotions to dictate our actions. |
