November 4, 2017 :: Today's Words: 2,935 :: Total Words: 4,082

Introduce a character who worships Luna.

Timothy van Stratten knelt before the altar in his room. It was just a shelf in his closet with a box on it that he kept everything in until it was time for him to express his devotion to his goddess. Now that everyone else was asleep and the moon was out, it was time.

He lifted the lid of the navy blue shoebox and gently lifted out two LED votive candles and holders, which he set carefully on either side of the box after he turned them on. Then he lifted out a gauze-encased item and replaced the lid on the box.

He unwrapped the item from the gold and blue scarf he had filched from his mother’s closet and spread the scarf over the shoebox. Then he set the Princess Luna My Little Pony toy atop the box and carefully combed out her mane and tail.

Satisfied, he clasped his hands over his heart.

“O Luna, Princess of the Moon,” he intoned softly, “I have come to express my devotion for you. All of my talents belong to you. Just tell me what you need from me and I will do it.”

Timothy sat back on his heels and waited for several minutes, as always. He was certain that one day, his goddess would speak to him and tell him what she needed him to do.

When nothing happened, he sighed and bowed his head reverently, then carefully wrapped the toy in its scarf and replaced it in the shoebox, along with the candles. He pushed the box into the back corner of the shelf, behind some of his clothes, and crawled out of the closet.

He closed the door gently and got into bed.

Someday, Princess Luna would talk to him.

He knew it.

A new character arrives, wearing a razzmatazz piece of clothing, and carrying brand new computers.

Robin poked at the keyboard of her work computer. It was moving really slowly lately. She’d put in for a replacement months ago, but nobody had gotten back to her. Or if they had, she hadn’t seen it. Her computer probably hadn’t received the message.

She was trying to get organized for the upcoming work Christmas party, but being unable to make lists and assign tasks to her workgroup using the intranet was slowing her down immensely. If only the company was more willing to allow everyone to meet during work hours.

Someone knocked on her office door. She shrugged; she wasn’t getting anything done anyhow, so an interruption wasn’t exactly going to cause a backlog.

“Come in!” she called.

The door opened and a tall person backed in, pulling an AV trolley. Their light brown, curly hair was past their shoulders, pulled into a low ponytail.

Their long-sleeved t-shirt was blindingly neon green, with a two-inch-wide band of blue sequins sewn across the chest, just below the armpits. A narrow strip of the same sequins adorned each sleeve, running from shoulder to wrist.

Their blue jeans were worn and looked comfortable, though the thread used to create the topstitching on the back pockets was a shimmery gold, and there was a double stripe of reflective tape running down the outside seam of each leg.

“Um… hi?” Robin said, uncertain as to who this person was and what they were doing in her office.

The person turned around. It was a man, she saw now, with a clean-shaven face and pale blue eyes. The knees of his jeans were patched with a silver fabric, and he was wearing a low-slung leather tool belt with rhinestones studding the bands.

“Hi!” he said, and smiled. “I’m Jake. Here to replace your computer. Carter said you put in for a change months ago, and you finally got to the top of the list.”

Robin now saw that the AV trolley was loaded down with computer parts, from cases and cables to keyboards and hard drives.

“Oh! I’m so glad to see you! I’m supposed to be organizing this year’s Christmas party, and I can’t even get on the intranet to assign tasks.”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, that’s definitely a sign that something’s wrong. Can I have a look?”

Robin stood up and moved to the chair she kept for visitors to sit on, and Jake took over her spot behind the computer. He poked and prodded, moved the mouse around a lot, and typed a bunch of things very quickly on a command line prompt, then turned to her.

“Your hard drive is definitely on its way out. Is there anything you’ve saved there that you need to be able to access again later?”

“I’m not sure what’s only saved locally and what’s been backed up to the main system.”

Jake pursed his lips and turned back to the computer. “How long have you been having trouble accessing the intranet?”

“Um, about a month?”

He nodded and stabbed a finger at the monitor. “Yup, that’s what I figured. Anything you’ve been working on since about September 1, that’s not been backed up at all. You’re lucky I came when I did.”

Robin watched as Jake selected a hard drive from his trolley and plugged it into her computer, then started it copying over her files.

“So, um, how long is this going to take, do you think?”

Jake shrugged, not moving his gaze from the computer screen. “Not sure. Copying could take a while. You can go to the break room and hang out if you like. I’ll come get you when I need your input again.”

Robin grabbed her phone and tablet from the desk and headed to the break room. Those both still connected just fine, so she could do a few things in the break room. The main thing she needed the computer for was the size of the monitor, which made it easier to see longer spans of time and more people’s assignments at once, and the primary project management program, which didn’t have a mobile app.

A mysterious stranger gives your character a quest. They must deliver nuclear power plant to Achird.

Alaina woke up slowly in the near-dawn haze in her cabin. Her bed was cozy and warm, and she wasn’t sure at first what had wakened her.

Another single knock at the door, just a sharp rap. That wasn’t a tree branch.

She sat up and slipped her bare feet into her red crocheted slippers and pulled her brown cardigan off its hook, wrapping the belt around her waist as she shuffled across the wooden floor.

She opened the door holding her shotgun; years living alone in the woods had taught her a lot about safety.

A tall, burly black man stood in front of her. His bulk filled the doorway, and she was instantly on alert. This was no lost hiker; he was wearing a pristine black pinstripe suit, white shirt, and red power tie. And sunglasses.

“What do you want?” she snarled, setting her feet firmly in place.

“Alaina Martlett?” the man asked. His voice was deep and foreboding.

“Who wants to know?” she responded.

“CSIS sent me.”

Crap.

She lowered her shotgun, just a bit. “If that’s true, how many frogs are there in the pot?”

“Three, as long as the cat doesn’t catch any.”

Alaina sighed and stepped aside. The man stepped through the door, turning sideways slightly to fit. He removed his sunglasses and tucked them into his breast pocket.

Alaina closed the door and put the gun away, then pulled out a rough bench from beneath the kitchen table. She gestured to it and the man sat down. Alaina put more logs on the stove and sat in her rocking chair, turning it so she could see him.

“Why are you here?” she asked. She rested her hands lightly on the arms of her chair and forced herself to rock slowly, though she was ready to leap and run if need be.

The man reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and withdrew an envelope. “I have a mission for you.”

Alaina snorted. “I’m out of the service, they know that.”

He shook his head. “You’re never out of the service. You know that.” He held out the envelope.

Alaina took it reluctantly and opened it. Several sheets of information were inside, along with a couple of pictures. She looked up at the man. “You’ve been briefed?”

“I know all of the details of this mission. I’m your handler.”

Alaina rolled her eyes. “Bob and Jill couldn’t come, I take it?”

“Bob and Jill are why I am here,” he said.

Alaina narrowed her eyes and looked at the man, assessing him carefully. This wasn’t someone she’d known previously, not anyone she’d ever worked with. “What’s your name, then?” she asked, and looked back at the papers in her lap, scanning for the vital information.

“Apollo.”

She looked up. Serious as heck. “All right then. Apollo.” She returned to her reading.

Apollo sat still as a statue, watching her flip pages.

Finally she looked up at him. “So they want me to… what? I mean, nuclear power plants aren’t exactly my area of expertise.”

He shrugged, his shoulders blocking the light now beginning to peek through the window. “But you are good at moving things. And at convincing people to do things they would not otherwise do.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and touching his fingertips together. “Achird will tell us if it’s correct. We need you to get the plans and get us in.”

Alaina rolled her eyes. “How long?”

“We don’t know. To get the plans, maybe a week? Ten days? Finding Achird will take longer, and getting in to see her could…” he shrugged again. “We don’t know.”

She looked at the papers in her hands again and shook her head. “And if I say no?”

“Your father is in a very expensive facility.”

Leave it to the government to find her weak spot. Family was the only thing she’d do this for, and they knew it. Her goddess, well, she could find another hot spring if need be. But her family… she had only one of those.

“When do we leave?”

“Tonight. I am authorized to give you the day to get your things together and organize yourself, say goodbye to anyone you need to take your leave of.”

Alaina launched herself out of her chair. “Best get started then,” she said, heading for the door. “You go do… whatever it is you do in those clothes in the woods. I’ll meet you back here when the sun starts to set. Around six o’clock,” she added when he looked puzzled.

Introduce a character who worships Helios.

Travis Hart watched from the clearing as Apollo made his way through the woods from the cabin. He was leaning up against the helicopter, smoking a cigarette and debating whether it would be worthwhile to pull out his phone and try for some reception.

“How’d it go?” he asked, dropping the cigarette on the ground and grinding it beneath his boot to make sure it was out. No forest fires allowed.

“Okay, I think,” came the reply. “She was suspicious at first, but I’d expect that of anyone living out here by themselves.”

“Eh, she’s like that anyway,” Travis replied. He climbed back into the ‘copter and Apollo followed him.

“You know her, then?”

“Yeah, I always flew her missions way back when. Kinda surprised Bob and Jill aren’t on her this time, actually.”

Apollo nodded. “She said the same thing.”

“So what is it then?”

A pause. “They’re indisposed.”

Travis snorted. “A polite way of saying they’re either on another mission or captured.” He fired up the bird. “You don’t have to tell me which, it’s not a big deal to me. Never liked Bob anyway.” They lifted off and he glanced over at his passenger. “Where to? I’m assuming we’re back here at nightfall.”

Apollo nodded, then shrugged. “You choose. I have some reading to catch up on.”

Travis grinned. “You don’t mind if we go to the coast, do you? I have something I want to check on.”

Apollo sighed. “Whatever you want. You’re the one who has to explain the gas usage to the number-crunchers.”

“Yeah yeah, it won’t take that much extra.”

Apollo merely pulled out a thick book and opened it to a marked page.

Travis turned and headed for his favourite spot on the BC coast, a little inlet just north of Lax Kw’alaams. He landed on the beach and hiked up into the forest, where he soon came upon a Quonset. The building was quiet and he went in to gaze appreciatively at the machine that was being built inside.

He ran his hands adoringly over the casing. “Soon you’ll be ready to run,” he murmured.

“She’ll be ready sooner than you think,” said a voice behind him. Travis turned and smiled at his engineer wife, Marlena. She came and stood beside him. “It’s almost finished, Trav. Just a few adjustments left. I think I’ve managed to correct the errors NASA made in the original design.”

The Helios Prototype had been a disaster, but Travis knew that he could have helped them if NASA had just hired him for the project. Marlena, bless her soul, had agreed and taken on the project of resurrecting the Helios. And now, nearly 15 years later, it was almost ready.

“When she’s ready, test flight and then unveil her to the world,” he said softly.

Your character enters Bhutan. There see an ice cube. How do they react?

Travis and Apollo picked up Alaina right on time. She had spent some time in the spring, communing with Sirona and saying goodbye, then closed up her cabin and prepared it for her absence. She made sure the fire was out in the stove and packed her backpack with a couple of changes of clothes, a toothbrush, a comb, and several hair elastics. Anything specific she could pick up during the mission, and mostly she didn’t need anything special.

She settled into her seat in the helicopter and patted Travis on the shoulder. “Good to see you again, Travis.”

“Back at you, Alaina!” he replied and shot her a toothy grin.

“Where to first?” she asked into her headset.

“Gotta switch out for a jet,” came the response. “’Copter’s no good for what we’re doing.”

She nodded and stared out the window at the night sky, consumed with thoughts of that Reanimation Trophy she’d seen on Kraz.

At the military base where they left the helicopter in favour of a plane, she noticed several people she vaguely remembered from her days as a CSIS operative. She waved cautiously but none of them returned the gesture. Either they didn’t remember her or they were under orders to pretend they didn’t know her. Either way, best to keep to herself as much as possible.

Once they were in the air, Apollo retrieved a laptop from an overhead bin and settled it in front of Alaina. She wrinkled her nose. “What’s this?”

“Your computer.”

“I don’t use computers,” she said, and picked up the machine to hand back to him.

He pressed it upon her. “You need one this time. Details.”

Alaina sighed and opened the computer. “Okay, tell me what files.”

Apollo reached for the power button and she slapped his hand away. “I said I don’t use computers, not that I’ve never used them.”

She turned on the machine and turned to him while it booted up. “Well? What am I looking for?”

He sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out another envelope. “This.”

Alaina rolled her eyes and took the envelope from him. She opened it and looked at the lone piece of paper in it, which contained a password key and a folder name.

She logged in and immediately changed her password, then navigated through the directory to the file folder indicated on the paper.

“Which file?” she asked as a window opened on her screen. “There are too many to sort through.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I think you’re just supposed to know or something. They didn’t tell me anything. Seemed to think you’d know what to do.”

“Of course they did.” She sighed. Just like CSIS, assuming past and current operatives had more knowledge than they did. “I guess I’ll start at the beginning and work my way through, then.”

The rest of the flight consisted of Alaina reading file after file of information about the nuclear plant plans she was supposed to retrieve and about Achird, the scientist the plans were to be delivered to.

“It’s good I’m a quick study,” she said at one point.

When they landed, she looked up from the computer screen, where she’d been playing Minesweeper for the last hour or so. “Here already?”

Apollo woke from a nap. “Apparently so,” he said, stretching.

Travis emerged from the cockpit. “We’re here,” he said. “It looks okay on the ground out there, but we had to circle a bit before we could land. Bhutan isn’t the safest place right now.”

Alaina frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Apparently there’s a Lhotshampa rebellion going on.”

“Ah.” Alaina remembered reading about the efforts of the Bhutan government to expel the Lhotshampa people from the country. Made sense that they’d rebel against that. “We should probably get through this as quickly as possible, then.”

The men nodded and they all deplaned together. Then Alaina set out on her own for Thimphu, the capital city.