The Making of: Icarus & Daedalus: 1st short story, Part 6.

I’ve been having trouble making the time for this project, but it’s not forgotten (at least by me).


This episode, I have to figure out something about the competing thief and what the heck is he talking about. Secondly, I did a little editing and will try to remain consistent within 3rd person limited, 1 character POV per scene. I do plan on hopping heads though.

The competing thief. He must have different combat abilities and magics than these two. Secondly, he needs to be confusing to the protags. I think I’ll have him be affected by magic spell that damaged his brain during prior case theft attempt.

THE COMPETING THIEF - David "Fiery Rain" McGill

He stole the MacGuffin first and triggered a defense that had multiple effects - temporary madness, magic/reality warping near the victim, predatory magical creature attraction. It is known as the Rem Delirium Curse of Devil's Harmony Cervantes originating in 1810 A.D, Spain. His partners ditched him and sold they the MacGuffin to a broker and then to Hugo Lamb. Thief recovered his senses, tracked down backstabbing partners (Milton Hilliard and Linda Ducksworth), then the broker (Bryston Suttles), and now is following the transport.

Abilities: Good combat. Fiery Rain is known by this moniker as he creates a glowing orange sphere in his palm, which can emit a barrage of fiery projectiles that look similar to orange/yellow tracer bullets. Magic of course.

THE MACGUFFIN

I decided to figure out the MacGuffin and it is known as The Supenaturalist Almanac. It’s an abnormally powerful laptop with a private and extensive database of worldwide bizarre magical and unexplained phenomena. There are no hoaxes here, these are the real deal, and some may have very important supernatural resources to exploit.

THIS SECTION OF STORY

Very different level of detail in this section. Different day different mood. On other drafts, 1st section will likely grow some meat on it as well.

And back to the story.

____________________________

ICARUS ON THE PHONE W/DAEDALUS. DAEDALUS HAS RESERVATIONS ABOUT THIS JOB, THEY JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THE MACGUFFIN LAST NIGHT. ICARUS REASSURES AND REMINDS DAEDALUS ONCE IT GETS TO MONDRIAN HQ THEY’VE MISSED THEY’RE OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE MACGUFFIN. “TOO LATE NOW.” ICARUS LEAPS OFF OF A BUILDING AND LANDS ON TRUCK.

2:20 AM, January 30th, 2019, Optimus, Tennessee, U.S.A., Earth, Universe 742.

Icarus paced, the air warmer than the heart of the last three women he had slept with. He felt the low caffeine-like levels of adrenaline that usually came at this time. He rechecked his gear when he heard a little voice in his ear.

“I don’t think this is a wise move. We can still call it off you know,” came the mellow tones of Daedalus over the earpiece. Only Icarus and Daed’s family would realize that he was actually worried.

“Are you an old woman?” Icarus pulled out his nightvision goggles, his favorite pair, Owl-360 model, reminded him of old movie Aviator goggles. I’m like a kickass Snoopy he thought to himself. He slipped it onto his forehead.

“Your mother knows otherwise.”

“Nice. Now, that’s my bro who kicked an entire police squad’s asses.” Icarus slipped the goggles down where it fit above his black and red menpo. He played with the dials making sure the adjustable nightvision was calibrated correctly. He tested the goggles’ light-adapters by looking from the night sky down to the streetlamped overpass with its minimal traffic. Smooth function.

“That’s an exaggeration and you’re dodging the point. We don’t even know what’s in the case, just that it’s important to Hugo Lamb.”

“And that’s enough for me. We have to take the shots we get.” Icarus spotted a driver speeding and swerving and knew that within twenty minutes Mr. Nascar will have crashed the car.

“Yeah, I know but…”

“But nothing. Mondrian and his estate have higher security, this is a cakewalk in comparison.” He could feel Daed caving in.

“Yeah, but we’ve had no prep time.”

Coming around the corner was the tractor-trailer he’d been waiting for. It looked perfectly ordinary, but Icarus knew the case was there. He thanked Carl in his head for the tip that led them there.

“Prep time is shorter than you think. It’s showtime.” The truck drove past. Timing had to be perfect. Icarus ran and leapt thirty feet down towards the moving truck.

***

COMPETING THIEF SEES ICARUS LAND ON TRUCK AND IS TICKED OFF THAT SOMEONE ELSE PICKED THE SAME TIME TO STRIKE.

Fiery Rain McGill gritted his teeth, attempting to maintain his composure through a storm of feelings, distorted perceptions and racing tangential thoughts. He sat in a navy electric SUV, engine running, watching someone land on the truck. He turned the old fashioned radio to AM and surfed to a stationless station of white noise, which seemed to help him concentrate. He drove onto the highway and began to follow the truck, hoping the man on top was a hallucination brought on by the rem delirium curse he had been enduring this past week.

His mind wandered as he followed the truck. He thought of his kids and his ex-wife. He knew he’d wronged her and while that kind of thing didn’t bother him on the job, she was different and it hurt to think about what he’d done. He wasn’t mad at her for leaving anymore. He regretted sleeping with her sister, but they were drunk and she was hot and he knew his excuses were weak and true at the same time. At least she let him see the kids.

Out of the periphery of his vision he saw the cup holder, slowly travel along the floor and up the passenger side door, stop there, and vibrate with distant church bells he was hearing. The small vid screen near the rear mirror kicked on and showed a recording of his recent betrayal by Milton and Linda. It was soundless and poorly shot like a security camera. Part of him knew it wasn’t real but he kept flicking his eyes back and forth from the road to the vid.

He saw all three of them hovering around a safe, with himself at the safe picking the electronic lock when all of a sudden he saw his body fall back and shake, he saw his body rise up and saw himself talking to things that weren’t there as Milt and Linda slipped around him, took the case and left him there to get caught. His eyes had been locked on the vid too long, he looked up and saw an impending wall, he abruptly turned the wheel, right wheels coming off the ground slightly, but uncrashed.

He dug his nails deep into his left hand drawing blood. He needed concentration somehow. He couldn’t start to think about how the dashed white lines started to look like morse code. He knew the morse code was a message from his ex-wife at the same time as he knew none of this was happening. He turned up the white noise and opened the window to get some cold air. The truck was still there, at least he hoped it was the real truck.

***

_______________________________________________________

I think I may write the entire 1st draft with section headings still in place before I do another post. I don’t want this to take 200 posts for a darn short story.

Peace,

Nick.

The Making of: Icarus & Daedalus: 1st short story, Part 5.

I’ll be diving into the plot outline I wrote last time. I start with my all caps scene descriptions and then start writing those scenes until it’s time for the next one.

______________________________________________

ICARUS ON THE PHONE W/DAEDALUS. DAEDALUS HAS RESERVATIONS ABOUT THIS JOB, THEY JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THE MACGUFFIN LAST NIGHT. ICARUS REASSURES AND REMINDS DAEDALUS ONCE IT GETS TO MONDRIAN HQ THEY’VE MISSED THEY’RE OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE MACGUFFIN. “TOO LATE NOW.” ICARUS LEAPS OFF OF A BUILDING AND LANDS ON TRUCK.



2:20 AM, January 30th, 2012, Optimus, Tennessee, U.S.A., Earth, Universe 742.

Icarus paced, the air warmer than the heart of the last three women he had slept with. Weird for January. He felt the low caffeine-like levels of adrenaline that usually came at this time. He rechecked his gear when he heard a little voice in his ear.

“I don’t think this is a wise move. We can still call it off you know,” came the mellow tones of Daedalus over the earpiece. Only Icarus and Daed’s family would realize that he was actually worried.

“Are you an old woman?” Icarus pulled out his nightvision goggles, his favorite pair, Owl-360 model, reminded him of old movie Aviator goggles. I’m like a kickass Snoopy. He slipped it onto his forehead.

“Your mother knows otherwise.”

“Nice. Now, that’s my bro who kicked an entire police squad’s asses.” Icarus slipped the goggles down where it fit above his black and red menpo. He played with the dials making sure the adjustable nightvision was calibrated correctly. He tested the goggles’ light-adapters by looking from the night sky down to the streetlamped overpass with its minimal traffic. Green is for go.

“That’s an exaggeration and you’re dodging the point. We don’t even know what’s in the case, just that it’s important to Hugo Lamb.”

“And that’s enough for me. We have to take the shots we get.” Icarus spotted a driver speeding and swerving and knew that within twenty minutes Mr. Nascar will have crashed the car. Dangerous moves should be left to the pros. Pros like me.

“Yeah, I know but…”

“But nothing. Mondrian and his estate have higher security, this is a cakewalk in comparison.” He could feel Daed caving in.

“Yeah, but we’ve had no prep time.”

Coming around the corner was the tractor-trailer of his dreams. It looked perfectly ordinary, but Icarus knew the case was there. He thanked Carl in his head for the tip that led them there.

“Prep time is shorter than you think. It’s showtime.” The truck drove past. Timing had to be perfect. Icarus ran and leapt thirty feet down towards the moving truck.

______________

Next time I’ll include this section and the next one, essentially expanding as I complete sections. I’ll leave my all caps outline in there as that’s how I work. I delete the outline at the end.  My first draft is usually quite sparsely written as above. 

Peace,

Nick

The Making of: Icarus & Daedalus: 1st short story, Part 4.

Taking longer than last entries. I’ve had less time to work on this project lately. But I have been productive. Here are a couple of entries for our heroes ala The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (sort of).
____________________________________________

ICARUS SNEED

Real Name: Icarus Sneed
Aliases:
Occupation: Thief, vigilante, revolutionary
Known Relatives: Mary Lou Sneed (mother)
Group Affiliation: Partners w/ Daedalus Scott, aka.the Oni Brothers. Mentored by Ogun Thoth
Education:
DOB:
Ht: 5'10"
Wt: 170 lbs.
Eyes: blue
Hair: light brown
Skin: caucasian
Appearance: Lean, handsome, trendy.
Abilities: Combat skills focused around his speed/agility, superspeed, enhanced dexterity, thief skills (streetwise, fast-talk, B&E, stealth, climbing), acrobatics, parkour.
Equipment: Lots of B&E equipment.
Personality: The Promoter ESTP, charming, impulsive, materialist/hedonistic, realist, optimist, improvise, flashy, actor/the gas pedal, spytech/technophile, Gray Mouser, Lancer, The Charmer, Loveable Rogue, Chaotic Good, Fragile Speedster, Badass, Roguish Male, Wise Guy.
Interests: Women, good food/drink, helping the little guy as long as he's pretty well off financially
History: Born and raised on the streets of Optimus, TN by his single mother, a transplant from Mississippi. Got in/out of trouble by getting into Parkour. Petty street criminal for years. Graduated high school and joined Schwa Balice’s cat burglar crew, going into higher tech and magical techniques. He learned ninja-ish skills. Sticking with Balice, Icarus was able to advance to higher-grade jobs. he learned the criminal and law enforcement subcultures of Optimus, TN.

Icarus struck out on his own and has become a favorite instrument of Ogun Thoth, a Pawn Shop Owner with a hand in both the black and ordinary markets. Icarus was caught during a daring robbery on Hugo Lamb’s estate (CEO of Mondrian Industries). Off to prison.

Icarus met a quiet, oddly out of place man in prison, named Daedalus Scott. While Icarus already knew and was friendly with a large number of folks in prison, Daedalus was practically unknown to the inmates, until he recognized him from the news as that fellow that had ended up beating up a large number of cops during an Occupy Optimus protest outside of Mondrian Industries HQ. Intrigued and rather bored in prison, he became friends with Daedalus. Icarus found him calming and trustworthy in a sea of scheming and posing prisoners. Icarus had always been apolitical but found himself sympathetic to Daedalus' left-wing enthusiasm. He didn't buy it all the way, but he was sympathetic.

After a particular discussion Icarus realized they were both screwed by Hugo Lamb and Icarus proposed a Robin Hood approach, once they got out of jail. Daedalus thought it was a good idea and was released early from prison. Icarus killed some time until oddly enough Ogun Thoth pulled some strings and got him out on a reduced sentence six months after Daedalus. Ogun Thoth clearly implied he will call in a favor later as repayment.

Icarus found Daedalus, after hitting one of his stashes to get some more money and a new outfit. Daedalus was living in a horrible apartment in a poor neighborhood and working multiple shifts at fast food joints and working as a bouncer at night clubs. Icarus, brought Daedalus to his place and they'd be roomies as they planned their revenge on Hugo Lamb, and got rich in the process in Icarus'mind.

They settled into a warehouse in an industrial part of town with a large office looking over the warehouse floor that's been converted to a bedroom apartment. There they began to plan thei Robin Hoodery upon Hugo Lamb.

__________________________________


DAEDALUS SCOTT

Real Name: Anthony Daedalus Scott
Aliases: Daed (usually pronounced Dead), Blue Oni
Occupation: Thief, vigilante, revolutionary
Known Relatives: Ronald David Scott (father-English/Art Teacher), Michelle Sarah Scott (mother-Math Teacher), Isaac Ulysses Scott (2 yrs older brother), Nicole Oshun Scott & Olivia Isis Scott (the twins 4 years younger)
Group Affiliation: Partners w/Icarus Sneed, a.k.a. the Oni Brothers. Mentored by Bantu Ochoa
Education:
DOB: 4/24/87
Ht: 6'
Wt: 220 lbs.
Eyes: dark brown
Hair: brown-black, short cut, goatee
Skin: brown
Appearance: Burly, tends to wear earth tones, and loose fitting comfortable clothing. Right shoulder Black Panther Party tattoo. Left shoulder Black Star tattoo (references to anarchism and Black Star Line).
Abilities: MMA, well rounded education in the liberal arts, arcane knowledge, enhanced strength/endurance, beginner level space/time magics.
Equipment: Until Icarus, lots of books and himself.
Personality: The Counselor INFJ, quiet/shy, patient, altruistic/ascetic, idealist, pessimist, planner, subtle, reactor/the brakes, magic-centered, Fafhrd, Hero, Nice Guy, The Reliable One, Neutral Good, Mighty Glacier, Badass Bookworm, Noble Male, Straight Man.
Interests: Zen Buddhism, Revolutions, anarchism, socialism, The Black Panthers.
History: Grew up in working class suburbs of Atlanta, child of 2 teachers. Scholarship to the Ascension Academy, a rather well respected school in Optimus, TN. There he excelled in his studies as well as a talent for mind/body magics based upon yoga, meditation, martial arts, and the philosophies behind them. At the age of 18 he was greatly impressed by a presentation by Bantu Ochoa a guest speaker and soon after a humanities professor (focused on history and sociology) at the Ascension Academy. Prof. Bantu liked Daedalus and they engaged in extensive after school discussions. Daedalus became involved in the social justice movement under Prof. Ochoa's guidance. Prof. Ochoa also attempted to train Daedalus in time/space perceptual magics but Daedalus wasn't a natural at it.

During a particularly large Occupy Optimus protest in front of Mondrian Industries, Hugo Lamb sent in a large contingent of Pinkertons to bum rush the show. The cops followed up and Daedalus attempting to protect the protesters as they fled, assaulted a large number of Pinkertons and then the cops jumped in against him. He was subdued and eventually sent to prison.

While in prison he met and slowly became friends with Icarus Sneed. He realized Icarus was typically apolitical, but intelligent

After a particular discussion Icarus realized they were both screwed by Hugo Lamb and Icarus proposed a Robin Hood approach, once they got out of jail. Daedalus thought it was a good idea and started to work on plans. Pressure from social justice movements and good behavior while in prison enabled Daedalus an early release.

Daedalus wishing to live in Optimus had minimal support. His family was still in the Atlanta area. He applied for jobs, but the economy was rather horrible. He ended up working at fast food joints and night shifting as a bouncer at several clubs on weekends.

One day Icarus showed up and brought Daedalus to his place and they'd be roomies as they planned their revenge on Hugo Lamb.

They settled into a warehouse in an industrial part of town with a large office looking over the warehouse floor that's been converted to a bedroom apartment. There they began to plan their Robin Hoodery upon Hugo Lamb.
_______________________________

Next time I’ll be tweaking the plot and just diving into the writing. Remember I’m mostly doing this on my lunch hour after I’ve eaten, so fast, I am not.

Until next time, true believers!

Nick.

The Making of: Icarus & Daedalus: 1st short story, Part 3.

Two main things to do, I think, before I dive into just writing and seeing what comes.



1. Narrowing down on I&D’s abilities.


2. What’s the short story going to be about?

***1. Narrowing down on I&D’s abilities.

Icarus I have a decent feel for and he’s totally Ninja/James Bond criminal on a budget.

Daedalus, strategically should really be a cyberpath, monitoring the net, phones, electronic surveillance, etc. But I don’t want him to be convenient. I want him to be a Zen, bookwormy strong guy. That’s a gut desire, not necessarily thought out. Being a cyberpath makes them the perfect team. The agent and the control. But that’s no fun. I want them both in some kind of action, so I’m going that route. Inconvenience also makes for excellent opportunities for plot complications. Making life difficult for the main characters is key. Enough excuses, that’s what I’m doing and I’ll figure out how to do the rest later.


2. What’s the short story going to be about?

I recently re-watched the Firefly episode, The Train Job. So, how about a small heist story. I think I’ll heist a tractor trailer truck carrying a MacGuffin for Mondrian Industries.

Sneaky heist w/drivers unaware vs. stick-up?

MacGuffin will turn out to be way more important than I&D thought. Not sure how though.

May have multiple people after MacGuffin turning into hot potato like heist ala Snatch, but not too much as it will make the story too long.

Probably will have them keep MacGuffin and sell other stuff not realizing what they possess for later story.

1st version plot outline:

ICARUS ON THE PHONE W/DAEDALUS. DAEDALUS HAS RESERVATIONS ABOUT THIS JOB, THEY JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THE MACGUFFIN LAST NIGHT. ICARUS REASSURES AND REMINDS DAEDALUS ONCE IT GETS TO MONDRIAN HQ THEY’VE MISSED THEY’RE OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE MACGUFFIN. “TOO LATE NOW.” ICARUS LEAPS OFF OF A BUILDING AND LANDS ON TRUCK.

COMPETING THIEF SEES ICARUS LAND ON TRUCK AND IS TICKED OFF THAT SOMEONE ELSE PICKED THE SAME TIME TO STRIKE.

ICARUS SETS OFF ECM DEVICE TO BLOCK ALL COMMUNICATIONS WITHIN 100’ AND STARTS CUTTING A HOLE IN THE TOP OF THE TRUCK. SLIPS INTO TRUCK. LOOKS AROUND WITH FLASHLIGHT AND FIND STHE RIGHT BOX, SLIPS IT IN A DUFFLE BAG SLUNG OVER HIS SHOULDER, CLIMBS ON THE ROOF.

COMPETING THIEF MOVES TO TAIL THE TRUCK AS IT PASSES. HE WITNESSES ICARUS LEAP ONTO OVERPASS WITH A NEW BULKINESS. HE CUSSES AND IS ABLE TO GET OFF AT THE RIGHT EXIT.

DAEDALUS POV, WORRYING ABOUT HIS PARTNER, WHEN HE SPOTS HIM IN THE REAR VIEW. ICARUS SLIPS IN SHOTGUN SEAT AND THEY PULL OFF. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY.

DAEDALUS SPOTS TAILING CAR (COMPETING THIEF) & TRIES TO LOSE IT.

INTERNAL MONOLOGUE OF COMPETING THIEF AND SERIES OF BIZARRE CONSPIRACY THEORIES HE HATCHES AS TO WHO ICARUS AND DAEDALUS ARE AS HE TAILS THEM.


WHILE ICARUS COMPLAINS THAT HE’S A BETTER DRIVER AND THEY SHOULD SWITCH PLACES. DAEDALUS ADMITS HE’S NO NASCAR MAN, NOTES THAT IT ISN’T REALLY POSSIBLE TO SWITCH DRIVER/PASSENGER IN A HIGH SPEED CHASE. THEY ARGUE AND DAEDALUS DOESN’T QUITE CLEAR ANOTHER CAR, TOTALING BOTH CARS IN THE PROCESS. AT LEAST IT’S A STOLEN CAR (SILVER LINING).

COMPETING THIEF SEES THE ACCIDENT AND ICARUS/DAEDALUS HEADING AWAY ON FOOT DOWN A SIDE STREET. CONFIDENCE IS HIS. HE FOLLOWS DOWN A NARROW STREET AND DAEDALUS PUSHES A GARBAGE DUMPSTER IN FRONT OF COMPETING THIEF’S CAR. CRASH!

ICARUS & DAEDALUS NOD AT EACH OTHER AND SMILE AND ICARUS TELLS DAEDALUS, 3 BLOCKS TO A PARTICULAR OPTIMUS CITY METRO (TRAIN/SUBWAY) STATION.

METRO STATION IN SIGHT, COMPETING THIEF COMES FLYING OUT OF NOWHERE AND LANDS IN FRONT OF THEM.

CHOREOGRAPH YUEN WOO-PING STYLE BATTLE WITH COMPETING THIEF SPOUTING OFF VERY ODD ACCUSATIONS AND OUT LOUD THOUGHTS WHILE ICARUS AND DAEDALUS ARE QUITE CONFUSED.

THEY DEFEAT COMPETING THIEF AND GET ON A TRAIN.

THEY GET HOME TO A WAREHOUSE THEY’RE RENTING AND LIVING OUT OF WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE OFFICES IN AN INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT OF OPTIMUS.

THEY DISCOVER THE CARDBOARD BOX CONTAINS A BLACK CARBON FIBER BOX THAT THEY CAN’T GET OPEN OR DAMAGE.

Needs more work and a clear ending that does not feel too episodic. 

Until next time. 

The Making of: Icarus & Daedalus: 1st short story, Part 2.

Having second thoughts about Robin Hood mode. In cyberpunk/urban fantasy, setting in our surveillance society it would be very difficult to perform Robin Hoodish activities without anonymity like Zorro. I think I may have to come up with less controversial day job to counter the all-surrounding danger of attacking the rich and powerful. These two aren’t all powerful and the rich (their targets) can afford the best science and magic, as both are publicly available.



Contemplating, giving them Zorro identities of Red and Blue Oni. They would wear practical black helmets/body armor and if unmasked have face paint ala Chinese Opera to distract from their features and voice modulators to reduce VR.

Hmm. Not sure this is a good idea. Will this get too deeply James Bond/Mission Impossible?

***

I just thought about Casanova Quinn from Casanova comics. I’m doing high action; maybe I’m flipping out too much about level realism within a cyberpunk/UF setting. This brings in some Illuminatus Trilogy thoughts, but don’t want to wander too astray, just a dang short story for now.

In addition, most jobs can be done without need to declare it Robin Hooding. They can be selective about targets/jobs and after they liquidate loot into cash, they can donate anonymously to causes. They can reserve Red/Blue Oni strikes to non-profitable demonstration moves. This way they can merely appear to be selective criminals. I think I’m onto something.

***

I’m going to commit to the idea despite reservations and see how far I can go with it.

SOP for sneaky missions is that Icarus does sneaky/undercover work while Daedalus monitors and helps as best he can. Daedalus also can act as the cavalry in combat.

BACKGROUND IDEAS:

ICARUS

Born and raised on the streets of Optimus by his single mother, a transplant from Mississippi. Got in/out of trouble by getting into Parkour. Petty street criminal for years. Joins Schwa Balice’s cat burglar crew, going into higher tech and magical techniques. Higher-grade jobs. Learns Criminal/Law Enforcement subculture of Optimus. Ogun Thoth (character I already developed) becomes Icarus’ Sheelba. Jail stint for daring robbery on Hugo Lamb of Mondrian Industries.

DAEDALUS

Grew up in working class suburbs of Atlanta, child of 2 teachers. Scholarship to Optimus Magic School. Learns magical subculture of Optimus. Taken in by Mage-Mentor. Discovered radical L-wing politics/activism, radical mentor becomes Daedalus’ Ningauble. Jail stint for illegal activism against Hugo Lamb of Mondrian Industries.

TOGETHER

They met in jail, Daedalus quietly radicalizing Icarus. Icarus providing some fun. After talking, they discover they both feel wronged by Hugo Lamb. Revenge via Robin Hooding proposed by Icarus. Accepted.

Daedalus is released first, Icarus second. Daedalus has established crappy job, and crappy apartment, while doing legwork. Icarus arrived later applauded Daedalus’ work, but with his connections, he can do it up faster and better.

Need fast money to upgrade for full revenge. Decide to do minor hit on Mondrian Industries, enough for money but not too many problems. Working on bigger plan to harass Hugo Lamb. Feeling Monte Cristo-ish.

REMEMBER: Need at least one contact for illegal equipment of the techie kind and magical the magical kind.
REMEMBER: Need at least one source (outside of Daedalus, Icarus and their mentors) of jobs.

Most of today’s session was like pulling teeth and most of the ideas I liked happened in bits and pieces after lunch hour was over. Sentence here and there during afternoon workday. I like the direction.


Nick

The Making of: Icarus & Daedalus: 1st short story, Part 1

I’ve been rather inactive on Sci-Fi Media and so for fun and hopefully for someone’s amusement I’m going to be writing short story and sharing the different steps in this blog. I’m doing it in a word program first then copying and pasting it. I’m doing this at lunch at work. At home, I have other stuff to deal with and a larger project I’m working on, which get priority. I am clearly an amateur writer so don’t take my methods as necessarily something to copy. I’m no expert, just sharing my current process. Today is all about….




BRAINSTORMING.


I have some headway here. I have a speculative fiction universe I’ve been playing with for years in my head and I’ll just use that setting for this piece. It allows me to fill out the world for future possible projects.


SETTING


Mix of urban/contemporary fantasy with cyberpunk primarily. It’s a parallel earth so history varies at times. I’m not going full on Turtledove. Secondly, magic is not secret but integrated into general society and has been throughout history. I’ll limit things there for now. Don’t want to digress too much.


Secondly, likely going to set it in my fictional city ala Metropolis and Gotham – Optimus, TN. City founded on the ashes of Linden, TN (sorry folks, I had to put it somewhere with a lower populace) after a major accident. Re-built rapidly. Population roughly 2 million creating sprawl in counties surrounding Perry County.


CHARACTERS


I’ve wanted to do an urban fantasy version of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser forever and have played with other duos. I don’t want it to be a straight copy and I want it to reflect my brain and me. Anyone can create do some find/replace searches on Fritz Leiber’s work to modernize it, but that’s unethical, likely illegal and boring. Therefore, it is more the main source of inspiration rather than an adaptation. Although I think an urban fantasy, adaptation of F&GM could be awesome in the right person’s hands and I would love it as a TV series. However, that’s a digression.


I keep a database of cool names I make up and any imagery I associate with it. My action duo will be Icarus Sneed and Daedalus Scott. I have nothing associated with them ahead of time. I know they need to be somewhat opposites, but have enough in common for the Bromance to work.


I do plan to make Icarus the wilder of the two, but I have no intention of making Daedalus be an inventor of any kind despite the naming. It’s a gut choice that I’m fairly well settled on.


I also tend to like my heroes to be heroic even if they are a bit shady. Therefore, they need to have some altruistic tendencies to make me be excited about the project.


Being how I am, I’ve longed to do something Robin Hoodish, so now I’m thinking about Zorro and Iron Monkey (Kung Fu movie). I’m not 100% on the Robin Hood thing, but I’ll test it further.


I have a predilection and start thinking in personality types. I don’t do this all the time, but I check it out.


First Thoughts:


Daedalus – INFJ the counselor – Quiet, sensitive, patient, altruistic, nurturing, artistic, hints at psychic.
Icarus – ESTP the promoter – Loud, charming, popular, confident, impulsive, fun, clever, optimistic, daring, excellent wheeler/dealers, hints of hedonism.
I started a little chart below that will expand as I hit other sites to get the brainpan moving. I check out the Fafhrd/Gray Mouser entry at TV.tropes.org. That leads me to the Bash Brothers entry, then Action Duo. Since both characters will be badasses, Action Duo is irrelevant. Not a sibling team, clearly different names. I want both to be decent at combat and thief skills. I’m leaning Daedalus strong man, Icarus nimble ninja. Magic is much harder to jack-of-all-trades with in my universe so powers are narrow and more internalized closer to kung fu wizards and superheroes. More Naruto-ish than Gandalfy universe. Sort of Red Oni, Blue Oni, but personalities are somewhat reversed.


Since I’m working on duo options, I check out characters in the left hand column to check out possible relationships and wander away from F&GM for now.


Off to Duo Tropes. Browse around. Adventure Duo that consider themselves part of La Resistance and do things Just Like Robin Hood.


Daedalus: quiet/shy, patient, altruistic/ascetic, idealist, pessimist, planner, subtle, reactor/the brakes, magic-centered, Fafhrd,


After visiting TV tropes.com…


Hero, Nice Guy, The Reliable One, Neutral Good, Mighty Glacier, Badass Bookworm, Noble Male, Straight Man. 


Icarus: loud/charming, impulsive, materialist/hedonistic, realist, optimist, improvise, flashy, actor/the gas pedal, spytech/technophile, Gray Mouser,


After visiting TV tropes.com…


Lancer, The Charmer, Loveable Rogue, Chaotic Good, Fragile Speedster, Badass, Roguish Male, Wise Guy.


I’ll go with this for now. Lots of time wasted wandering around TV tropes, but it can feed the brain. Next time, more brainstorming, probably on their pasts, how they met, why they’re friends, etc.


Nick