Character Interview 1
AKA
(BEWARE THE SQUIRREL! FEAR HER!!!) 

So spoke Azarae and the Great Phoenix found it good.  Thus the Great Phoenix wrought upon the world this journal entry.

Baksrit: That was a sorry excuse to make something sound like scripture.
Deidrei: A few whacks on th' head might improve it.
Baksrit: Or knock him out entirely.
Deidrei: Like I said, it might improve it.
Baksrit: Touché.

1. What is your character's name?
Baksrit: My name is Baksrit of Albes or Baksrit Winterfur to Deidrei's clan.
Deidrei: I'm Deidrei Leafbright.

2. What is your character's name in another language?
Baksrit: Technically, what we're saying here is a translation of our names into another tongue.  Otherwise, the original versions might not be entirely understandable to someone else.
Deidrei: How does that work anyway?
Baksrit: All I can tell you is that it's some form of magic.  Beyond that, I don't know.
Deidrei: That's saying something.

3. How old is he/she?
Baksrit: When I met Dee, I was 19 years old, which means I was 20 when that whole Isen's Bane lunacy happened...and that makes me realize I'm close to being an old maid.
Deidrei: I'm a year younger than her.  My clan's all female, so we don' worry 'bout bein' old maids.
Baksrit: Lucky you.

4. What is your character's race/species?
Baksrit: I'm a weasel permanently locked in ermine colors.
Deidrei: I'm a squirrel.  I'm mostly gray, but I got some red in my bloodline somewheres.  You can see it in my "tear-stains".

5. Do they have a crush?
Baksrit: I'm presently being courted by this really nice weasel named Korin, a son of House Nerime.  We've been talking about getting engaged, but his finances and some worries about my fertility are slowing things down.
Deidrei: I don' think he cares whether you can have kits or not.
Baksrit: I know, but our families are annoying about when we'll be producing grandchildren for them.  Anyway, you haven't answered the question.
Deidrei: They're dead.  I don' want t' talk 'bout it.

6. Do they have many friends?
Baksrit: Other than Dee?  I have a few when my studies and work allows it.
Deidrei: Hah!  E'en if they ain't friendly, most people respect Baksrit, 'cause she's a mage who don' treat them like a bunch o' idiots.  Me, I got friends all o'er in th' clan an' 'round th' village where Baksrit lives.

7. What planet is your character from?
Baksrit: Planet?  As in those wandering stars in the heavens?  I don't do astrology.
Deidrei: Don' look at me.  I know diddly 'bout th' sky other than th' sun's in it during the day an' stars are all o'er th' place at night.  I can find th' North Star an' sort o' tell time by it, but that's it.

[Their world is provisionally named 'Crossways'.  Its location in space is unknown and irrelevant to the stories.  It's not meant to be an alternate version of Earth.]

8. Does your character like to eat?
Baksrit: Not really, but trust me, it's better than wasting away from hunger.
Deidrei: Eh, I'm like Baksrit.  Eating gets boring once I got th' edge off th' hunger.

9. What's his/her favorite food?
Baksrit: Oh, Pax, you're torturing me with this one.  My mother has this recipe for scalloped picayuna chops in curry and smothered in sauce.  I loved it as a kit.  But the accident turned me into a vegetarian.  I can't eat any meat without getting sick and throwing up.  It really irks me sometimes.
Deidrei: Hrm.  I really liked that carrot cake Thurry's wife made – Thurry's a hare who's retired from th' city guard o' nearby Loma, just so's you know.  I thought that was really good.  I'm goin' t' have t' see if I can take th' recipe back t' th' village with me.

[ Picayunas are small, woolly, llama-like nonsentient animals used in place of real world sheep.  The spellcasting accident Baksrit mentions occurred during her early apprenticeship and nearly killed her.  It also locked her colors into ermine phase and opened up her spellcasting abilities.]

10. What's his/her favorite drink?
Baksrit: Fruit juice and water mostly.  Too much alcohol can affect a mage poorly.
Deidrei: As in things tend t' blow up or burn down when a mage gets schnockered.
Baksrit: Exactly.  But it seems to be worse with me.  I got some pretty bad nightmares when I drank too much wine once, and I didn't even get drunk.  I shudder to think what might have happened if I had.
Deidrei: I stick with drinks that don' give me a whammy in th' mornin'.  Don' get me wrong.  I used t' guzzle wine like nobody's business after Lori– well, once upon a time.  'Twas a horrible night when they broke me o' th' habit.  Except for a couple o' mistakes since, I don' dare touch th' stuff.

11. Is your character annoying?
Baksrit: I hope not.
Deidrei: Only if I don' like you.  Heh heh heh.

12. What music does your character like?
Baksrit: I haven't given that one much thought.  The monks of the nearby order have a pretty good choir, although the castratos bother me for some reason.
Deidrei: Easy.  Those Tinery dances Baksit's mother taught her.  I was floored when I learned she could dance.
Baksrit: Oh, that's right.  Those are pretty good.
Deidrei: Especially th' Fire Dances.  Her mother taught her them 'cause she can actually make fire for them!  It was bloody mesmerizing when I first saw them.
Baksrit: Thanks.

[Tineries are the gypsy analogues of their world.  Castratos once existed in the real world.  They were singers who had been castrated as boys so their voices wouldn't deepen when they grew up.]

13. Is your character loved?
Baksrit: My family, of course, and Korin.
Deidrei: Family, friends.
Baksrit: Lovers.
Deidrei: Shut up.
Baksrit: Sorry.
Deidrei: No, no, I'm sorry.  [sniffs]  It just hurts when they die on you, 'specially when you can't do anythin' about it.

14. Is your character hated?
Baksrit: Probably.  I've made a couple enemies over the years and can expect more in the future.
Deidrei: Heh.  Most o' mine're dead, lucky devils.  Heh heh.  Blah.

15. Is he/she emo/goth?
Baksrit: Emu?  Isn't that a foreign bird?
Deidrei: What's a goth?

16. Is he/she straight, bisexual, or gay?
Baksrit: I prefer males, obviously.
Deidrei: I thought I liked only other girls, but after Wally, I don' know.  Kyrinn says I prefer certain people rather than a certain sex.  I'm really confused about it sometimes.

[For the record, Baksrit is straight.  As Kyrinn, a mouse opossum in Deidrei's clan, noted, Deidrei is actually a gender-blind pansexual rather than gay or bisexual.]

17. Is he/she a virgin?
Baksrit: Yes.
Deidrei: No, I was more curious on why e'eryone wanted me t' try a guy than anythin' else.  Before that, I'd count all those times me an' Lori fooled around, but no one else seems to.

18. Name 3 hobbies.
Baksrit: Er, do my studies count?  I enjoy learning about new spells.  I've also gotten back into learning Tinery dances, and what else?  I can't think of anything offhand.  Pax, I feel like a one trick skoitsy, all of a sudden,
Deidrei: Readin', learnin' new things, makin' life miserable for those who deserve it.  You know, fun things like that. [grins evilly]

[Skoits are horse-shaped litopterns (now-extinct hoofed mammals from South America) with short trunks and long ears.  As can be expected, they serve in place of nonsentient horses.  A skoitsy is the equivalent of a real world pony.)

19. Is your character normal?
Baksrit: No, that accident [see #9 above] changed me.  My spring shed doesn't give me my stoat colors anymore, plus I can't digest meat like I used to.  I've also been told that I look young for my age.  At least my spellcasting abilities have improved tremendously.
Deidrei: Who's normal?  In my family, Matty [Matreen, a red squirrel] is the most normal, but that's 'cause she's adopted.  Accordin' t' Baksrit, I'd have made a natural mage...
Baksrit: Perhaps better than me before the accident.  Dee's more sensitive towards spells than I used to be.
Deidrei: Yeah, it kind o' runs in th' family.  My aunt was trainin' t' be a mage when she died, and my cousin, Sybil's a seer.  She had a hard time controlling what she could see when she grew up.
Baksrit: Of course, that's less because she was using spells and more she was naturally using some abilities we mages have to build up as apprentices.
Deidrei: My other cousin Chloë, Sybil's big sister, has trouble keepin' her health up, but I don' know what that has t' do with anythin'.
Baksrit: Hearing that, I'm guessing she might be sensitive in her own right.  To what or even if she is, I don't know.
Deidrei: Then there's my baby sister Elsie.  Would you believe she's half skunk?  I couldn't either.  I didn't think it was possible, but there she is.

[Deidrei's bloodline may be partially inbred, through one of her male ancestors.  Her Artemin ancestors were far more conscientious about avoiding inbreeding.]

20. Is your character attractive?
Baksrit: I leave that for others to say.
Deidrei: You bet Baksrit is!  There's reasons people think ermines're gorgeous.  But not only is she almost all pure white, she also looks young and her fur's really soft.
Baksrit: That bothers me when you say that.
Deidrei: Heh heh. [tail flicks mischievously]
Baksrit: One of my brothers tells me that Dee's very attractive for a squirrel.
Deidrei: Er, is that the younger o' your brothers?  I don' remember.
Baksrit: That's Jaiken.  He escorted you at my sister's wedding.
Deidrei: Now I remember.  He was an okay jack, I guess.
Baksrit: He'd be thrilled to hear that, actually.  Anyway, Dee's confident, fit, and well-groomed but not some sort of eye candy trophy wife material.  That's why he liked her.  She was more real to him than some girls out there.

21. How does your character handle emotions?
Baksrit: That depends.  I think I've a little better control than normal, but then wham!  I get a sudden mood swing.  It only seems to happen when I'm under more stress than usual.
Deidrei: Oh, I figure I feel them as well as anyone else, but I don' show them a whole lot.
Baksrit: Squirrels are notorious for having a hard time hiding their emotions.  Their faces and voices can be as bland as any stoic, but their tails will betray whatever it is they're feeling unless they make an effort to keep it still.
Deidrei: An' that ain't easy.  It took me months 'fore I got my tail under control.
Baksrit: More so than with most squirrels.  Typical Dee, she didn't accept anything less than total control over her tail.  If you see her tail quivering, it's because she's letting it.  She might even be lying to you with it.
Deidrei: What can I say?  I got bored that summer.

22. Does your character have other forms?
Baksrit: No, I'm not a were.
Deidrei: What's wrong with th' one I got?

23. Does your character overreact?
Baksrit: Actually, I sometimes think I under-react because I can be overly cautious at times, and I have to be pushed to get things done in a timely manner.  It's a healthy trait when you're experimenting, but when you're on a deadline, it can be troublesome.
Deidrei: I don' think I do.  I try not to.

24. Is your character a criminal?
Baksrit: No.
Deidrei: Same here.  Actually, in the village Baksrit's living in, I'm half o' th' guard, as if such a little village needs a guard.  Most o' th' time, you just grab some o' your neighbors an' do what needs doin' or you send someone out t' fetch th' road wardens or rangers an' get them to do it.  But it keeps Thurry happy, so who am I t' compain?

25. Does your character go to school?
Baksrit:  Most people are taught at home, then they're sent out to learn their trade from someone.  I went into wizardry for my trade.
Deidrei: I'm like Baksrit, only without th' wizardry an' trade bits.  Much o' what I learned is self-taught, but I'm learning a few simple spells from Baksrit.  I wanted t' be a mage when I was a kit, but that got nixed 'cause my aunt went 'round th' bend.

26. What's his/her IQ?
Baksrit: My what?
Deidrei: What's an IQ?
Baksrit: Are you meaning how smart we are?  If so, I'd say above average.  It's pretty much a given considering I'm a mage and Dee bores easily.
Deidrei: Yeah.

27. Does your character have a disease/curse?
Baksrit: I don't know.  I'm healthy and all that, but there's some doubts about whether I can have kits or not.
Deidrei: No.

28. Is your character dead?
Baksrit: Uhh, no?
Deidrei: I think I would have noticed if I were.

29. Does your character have a family?
Baksrit: Yes.  My father, Antenius, is the head of House Albes, a merchant family in the nearby city.  I'm his eldest daughter and third kit.  My mother, Jasmine, is his second wife, and I'm the  eldest of her three daughters.  My two brothers, Fendric and Jaiken are from my father's first wife.  Jaiken's the younger, and he has bad luck with the females.  Fendric is married with a son and twin girls.  Of my two sisters, the elder, Dinaali is married with a daughter.  Our baby sister, Kinaila, is still single.  I've yet to marry.
Deidrei: Artemins don' marry, an' many o' us don' know who our male relatives are, nor do we care unless they're a son.  Havin' t' give up a son when he's weaned is really hard on some o' us, especially my adopted sister, Matty.  Lucky for her, she can visit her sons any time she likes.  I hear tell my Ma also had a son younger'n me, but she don' talk about him much, an' I don' remember him.  About my Ma, Bekka, she's th' Diana o' th' clan.  The Diana is our leader, by th' way.  I was expected t' follow in her footsteps, but I don' measure up. [frowns unhappily]  Matty's goin' t' be Diana instead, I think.  Then there's our baby sister, Elsie, who like I said before, is somehow half-skunk.  I've got no kits o' my own yet.

30. Has he/she encountered any tragic times in life?
Baksrit: My grandfather died after I became apprenticed.  He was really encouraging when I wanted to go into wizardry.  But the worst thing I can think of is the accident that nearly killed me as an apprentice.  We still aren't sure what happened, but I've since learned that somehow, it wasn't an accident, but I'm not privy to how that's so.  It took me months to recover and over a year for me regain my physical stamina.  I had to relearn how to cast spells, only to find they came easier to me.  Even all these years later, I'm still feeling the aftereffects of what happened.
Deidrei: Yeah, I have.
Baksrit: Her first love, a fellow Artemin named Lori, died saving her life, and she became a drunkard because of it.
Deidrei: Yeah, my family had t' put a stop t' it.  It was a nasty night.  I don' like t' think about it.
Baksrit: Then as if the AllCreator loves a cruel joke, there was poor Wally, but I think that's still too tender of a subject right now.
Deidrei: Yeah, it is.

31. What's the best time in your character's life?
Baksrit: When I became a journeyman wizardess.  It meant I was free to study what I wanted to when I wanted to.  And I was finally acknowledged to have the power to stand up with other mages.  You don't know how good that feels.
Deidrei: When me an' Lori fell in love.  It was like walkin' in th' clouds that night, an' we didn' e'en get t' th' hanky panky for a while yet!

32. If you could name 1 friend, which would you relate to?
Baksrit: I think it's fairly obvious.  Dee.
Deidrei: Baksrit.  She's a lot like a sister t' me.

33. Is your character single?
Baksrit: Yes.
Deidrei: Didn' we already answer this one?  Artemins don' marry single unless they leave th' clan 'cause they want t' be with their sons.

34. Has he/she developed any relationships?
Baksrit: Another repeat?  Or am I missing something?  Korin and I hope to be affianced one of these days.
Deidrei: I don' know if I can take another one.

35. Does she/he have an element?
Baksrit: I know some elementalism, such as the spells needed for the Fire Dances, but I don't think I have a particular affinity for any single one.
Deidrei: Er, I'm in my element when I'm in a forest or among trees?  I don' know.

36. Do you role-play your character?
Baksrit: What are you talking about?
Deidrei: Role play?  Why?

[Only when writing about them.]

37. Do you write about your character?
Baksrit: I'm missing something here.
Deidrei: I know I am.

[Yes.]

38. Does your character have a bad temper at times?
Baksrit: At last, something I can answer.  I'm fairly even-tempered unless I get pushed too far.
Deidrei: Word o' warnin'.  Don' e'er insult her maidenly honor.  She once punched someone in the groin with his beer 'cause he wanted 'tween her thighs.
Baksrit: Erf.
Deidrei: I don' fly off th' handle neither anymore, but if I do, someone's bound t' get hurt, an' it won't be me.
Baksrit: I've never seen you lose your temper except that once, but that was more like you going berserk.
Deidrei: Yeah, but I lost it a lot back when I got drunk.

39. Does your character get depressed?
Baksrit: Some of my sudden mood swings get like that.
Deidrei: I'm havin' a hard time o' it right now, 'cause o' that whole stupid Isen's Bane business.

40. What's your character's favorite animal?
Baksrit: I liked skoits as a little girl, but there aren't a whole lot of other animals about in the city.  In the village nowadays, there's these adorable little floppits out in the hedges.  
Deidrei: I don' know.  I never gave it much thought.

[Floppits are nonsentient rabbit-like mammals that fill the same ecological niche as real life rabbits.  They also serve the same role as pets and a food source.  Their exact taxonomic relationship to real life mammals has not yet been determined so they could be rodents, insectivores, or possibly even nonsentient rabbits from a lineage now extinct in real life.]

41. Does your character have any fears?
Baksrit: Yes, failure.
Deidrei: Ghosts.  When I'm around them, I can feel their presence, like bugs crawling around under my pelt.  When they show up an' sometimes e'en 'fore then, I freeze up an' lose my mind.  It's terrible, an' I hate it.

42. Does your character have any weaknesses?
Baksrit: Certainly.  I've found out that I can be thrown into a sort of trance if I'm not careful when dueling another mage.  It feels like I've been knocked halfway out of my body and into the next world.  I can't do anything with my body until I can pull myself back together.  It's very disturbing.
Deidrei: I dare not drink any wine, or I'll get drunk.  Most other drinks I can't stand anyway, so they're less o' a problem.  Also, I have a bad habit o' standin' up for people bein' bullied or o' pickin' fights with bullies.  I can get in way o'er my head.

43. Does your character look up to anyone?
Baksrit: There's my mother Jasmine and my former magister  Solomon.  Also my grandfather when he was alive.
Deidrei: My Ma, o' course.

[Magister is a title for a master wizard who's taken on an apprentice at some point]

44. Does your character like music?
Baksrit: Isn't this another repeat?  Of course I do, as long as the musician knows what he's doing.
Deidrei: I'd swear it was a repeat, an' I know I already answered it.

45. What's your character's favorite type of music?
Baksrit: I know this one is definitely a repeat.
Deidrei: Someone needs a few whacks alongside the head, I think.

46. Is he/she impatient?
Baksrit: Sometimes, if I'm not dragging my feet because I'm not confident about something.
Deidrei: I get bored easy sometimes, so more'n likely.

47. What's something funny about your character?
Baksrit: I don't know.  Dee?
Deidrei: Funny ha-ha or funny weird?  She's done a few things either way, but nothing that really stands out.  She normally just astonishes you with somethin' like dancin' or figurin' somethin' out that you didn' expect.
Baksrit: Dee's full of funny things, but she typically pulls them on other people.  Like this one time when a mink was flirting with us in an inn.  Dee pulls out her knife and starts playing with it as he gets more pushy.  She tells him she prefers girls, and he's all "I can change that, wink wink, nudge nudge."  Then Dee asks him if he wants to be her girl, all the while playing suggestively with her knife.  Let's just say he got the hint and got out of there fast.
Deidrei: [snickers]

48. Name 5 nicknames.
Baksrit: Do I have that many?  There's "Baks" but that's only by my sisters.  "Winterfur" might count, maybe.  "Little bit", I hate that one.  I can't think of any others right now.
Deidrei: Of course I do!  My main one is "sir".
Baksrit: [laughs]
Deidrei: Haha!  O' course, there's "Dee", as Baksrit's been callin' me.  There's a few others, but they're not fit for public discussion.

49. Does your character curse?
Baksrit: If you're talking about swearing, I do on occasion.  If you're talking about spell-type curses, the last one I did was convincing a rapist his, er, male parts were shriveling up.  Don't worry, I only planted the seeds of his delusion.  It wasn't long before he was doing it to himself.  Otherwise, I don't think cursing people is right.
Deidrei: Yikes.  I can't do th' spell thing, thankfully, but I do swear a bit on occasion.  It's hard though.  I used to swear a lot more 'til Ma tanned my hide.

50. This test is over, what does your character have to say?
Baksrit: If we're getting another pseudo-scriptural line to round this off, I'm lending Dee my staff for whacking someone alongside the head.
Deidrei: Heh.  I was thinkin' maybe somethin' a bit more humiliatin'....

And 'lo the squirrel threatened unspeakable things to my person.  If you've got any questions for the characters, feel free to ask them below.