In Between Days series

22
Apr
2014

Portrait of a Character – Takara Sato

Portrait of a Character – Takara Sato

Takara Sato, the treasure, is very important to the timeline.

Origins

I wanted Empress Hoshi to have just one daughter, and one pair of twins. Hence Takara and Takeo were born. Takara was to be the elder of the two. These would be the children fathered by Chip Masterson. The only child younger than them is Izo. Jun, Kira, and Arashi are older.

Portrayal

Barking Up The Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Zhang Ziyi as Takara-Sato (image is for educational purposes only)

Zhang Ziyi as Takara-Sato (image is for educational purposes only)

Takara is played by Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

I wanted a very beautiful Asian actress who could believably be the person to continue Empress Hoshi’s dynasty.

Without Takara, the House of Sato falls. She ends up being the only one of the six royal children to reproduce.

Personality

Barking Up The Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Zhang Ziyi as Takara-Sato (image is for educational purposes only)

Zhang Ziyi as Takara-Sato (image is for educational purposes only)

Privileged and beautiful, Takara is the apple of her mother’s eye.

While Hoshi has no problem allowing her sons to run wild, she takes more interest in Takara, and who Takara is marrying. Part of this is some sexism on Hoshi’s part. However, that works with how I write the Mirror Universe, as most women are in low positions there. Hence Hoshi particularly wants Takara to marry well. Takara Sato’s choices multiply during the alternate timelines in Temper.

Relationships

Tommy Digiorno-Madden

Portrait of a Character – Takara Sato

Sailor Mercury

During Temper, Tommy in particular is interested in Takara, who often dresses quite a bit like the Sailor Mercury anime character.

He is so interested that he threatens to fight Joss for her. Joss wisely bows out, telling Tommy that she does not interest him and doesn’t want to fight. However, Takara favors Joss. But this is mainly because he is the first-born of his family. And, in this alternate timeline, he is a baseball star, whereas Tommy is a common (to Takara) soldier.

Tommy’s wrath also extends to Charlie Tucker, son of Tripp Tucker and Beth Cutler, but Charlie is on the surface of Lafa II and doesn’t experience Tommy’s threats first-hand.

When the timeline is restored, they meet as children, in Fortune. And, later, Norri bequeathes her callidium-laden earrings to him, urging him to use them for dream contact.

I will explore this later, as the idea intrigues me.

Charles Tucker IV

Barking Up The Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Zhang Ziyi as Takara-Sato (image is for educational purposes only)

Zhang Ziyi as Takara-Sato (image is for educational purposes only)

When the prime timeline is restored, Chip and Lucy are able to smuggle the twins to the forests of Lafa II. With Tommy and Joss gone back to the Prime Universe, Takara’s sole prospect is Charlie. Fortunately, they fall in love, and wed later, and become parents.

Their son, Charles V, marries the daughter of Takara’s half-brother, Ken Masterson, and Charlie’s sister, Betsy Tucker. That daughter is Denise Masterson (in the Prime Universe, Ken’s daughter is Kelly, and her mother is as yet unknown).

It is their grandson, Charles Tucker VI, who succeeds Jun and Kira as the Emperor Charles I. Takara’s family is presented to Hoshi on Hoshi’s deathbed, in Who Shall Wear the Robe and Crown? and Hoshi complains about the pollution of Tucker blood into the Sato genome.

In He Stays a Stranger, Takara helps to get her mother out of the Lafa System, in exchange for agreeing to return to the royal fold.

Theme Music

Her theme song is Tori Amos’s God.

Prime Universe

It’s impossible for Takara to have a Prime Universe counterpart. Her analogue is Marie Patrice Beckett.

Quote

“You already had the fight. Everybody got a prize.”

Upshot

I like Takara Sato, who has a kind of chameleon personality, depending upon which timeline she’s in. I’m not so sure where else I can feature her, though.

Posted by jespah in Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Portrait, Times of the HG Wells series, 15 comments
18
Apr
2014

Review – An Announcement

Review – An Announcement

An announcement to the family – a big one.

Background

Barking Up The Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Norri| Red | An Announcement

Norri (Red)

This was a Star Trek fanfiction prompt about family. Rather than have Leonora come out, I decided to instead have her announce that she had met someone special. That person is Melissa Madden. Leonora is, of course, happy.

Plot

Barking Up The Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Catherine Bell as Melissa Madden (image is for educational purposes only) | An Announcement

Catherine Bell as Melissa Madden (image is for educational purposes only)

In Fortune, I had rather vaguely established how the two women had met (and then more detail is offered in Red, which was written much later), but not the aftermath.

This was a good chance to show that scene, particularly since I already had a bit of background of Norri’s father disapproving to some extent. While Dino isn’t necessarily homophobic (albeit some people read him that way), the way I see him is that he’s a bit huffy that his little girl is growing up perhaps a bit too fast. After all, her brothers, Alex and Phil, have not yet declared their love for anyone. So this statement of hers changes everything and upends his world a bit.

Hence I feel it is more that Dino is a bit blindsided by the declaration. Belinda, his wife, sets him straight, and the story ends with a promise to have Melissa over, and soon, so that she can meet the family. There is even a brief reference to her brother Phil’s violin playing, another shout out to Fortune.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

In particular, to get Norri in front of more readers, I think the little story works pretty well. At some point, I’ll write their first dinner together, I imagine.

Posted by jespah in In Between Days series, Review, 5 comments
15
Apr
2014

Spotlight on Original Nonsentient Species – Perrazin

Spotlight on an Original Nonsentient Species – Perrazin

Perrazin were almost an afterthought originally.

Background

As I wrote the In Between Days series, it became necessary to create nonsentient food animals for the Calafans. Furthermore, I had already established that both Doug and Melissa enjoy hunting, partly for sport, but mainly for food. In Together, I briefly mention perrazin and described them as big, blond buffalo. By the time of Temper, I wanted to start that book with a hunting scene, so it was time to show perrazin.

Origins

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Highland cattle | Perrazin

Perrazin (these animals are actually Highland cattle)

When I first came up with the idea, this absolutely was what I was thinking of. These animals are actually Highland Cattle.

Imagine them with tusks and you’ve got perrazin (puh-RAH-zen).

Omnivorous and nasty, perrazin will graze and will eat olowa much of the time. But if the opportunity presents itself, they will also eat linfep. Prickly and unpredictable, they will charge at anything they find strange. And, as Doug says while hunting them with a phase bow, they find a lot of things to be strange.

They graze and hunt in packs, almost like a cross between cattle and wolves. During the hunt, it’s also revealed that they’re rather lazy hunters, preferring that a meal simply fall into their metaphoric laps. When presented with the opportunity, they can also be cannibals, a fact that shocks Melissa.

They also, according to Lili, taste like a cross between beef and pork. She jokes to Naurr, in Dear Naurr, Dear Lili, that she’s practically eating one all by herself during her pregnancy with Joss.

Upshot

Every culture and every society needs animals. Often, in canon, animals were overlooked when planets were explored. It seemed as if most places were animal-free! And that’s just not reality here, and I seriously doubt it would be the case on any planet where we find life.

I feel that there will always be diversity, and there will be animals that maybe don’t look like this, but they might fill similar niches. Viva perrazin!

Posted by jespah in In Between Days series, Spotlight, 6 comments
11
Apr
2014

Review – Half

Review – Half

Half works as a play on words.

In response to an Andorian Week on the Star Trek Logs site, I decided to do a short story on a teenaged Talla. Talla is a canon character, the daughter of Shran and Jhamel.

Plot

Barking Up The Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Shran with Talla as a young girl | Half

Shran with Talla as a young girl

In keeping with canon, I decided that the pirates from the abysmal These Are the Voyages episode would be back, and they would again be looking for the Teneebian amethyst. Furthermore, Talla is, in canon, a half-breed, and her pea green-colored skin would give that away immediately. Shran, in canon, often referred to Jonathan Archer as a ‘pink skin’.

I extrapolated this to mean that Andorian society would be accepting of this kind of casual racial prejudice. Therefore, Talla suffers persecution by her classmates, for the color of her skin. In order to try to tell them off, she claims that they still have the amethyst. This gets Shran back into trouble.

Trouble

Barking Up The Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Aenar | Shran | Jhamel | Talla | Half

Aenar and Andorian, Shran and Jhamel

Forced back into hiding, Shran bids farewell to his family and seeks refuge on Malcolm‘s ship, the USS Bluebird.

And then Malcolm, along with his crew, including Ethan Shapiro, comes up with a plan to get rid of the pirates, once and for all. Inadvertently, his solution also presents a solution for Shran, Talla, and Jhamel, and the problem of their mixed marriage fitting in, in Andorian society.

The story dovetails well with later Emergence stories, Fortune, and even the E2 timeline.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

I meant the story to be a bit of fluff, and that’s about all that it is. I think I accomplished what I set out to do. However, the bar wasn’t exactly set that high.

Posted by jespah in In Between Days series, Review, 10 comments
08
Apr
2014

Portrait of a Character – Preston Jennings

Portrait of a Character – Preston Jennings

Preston Jennings is one of my earlier creations.

Origins

Before Lili, I needed someone who would serve meals to Captain Archer. This does not only mean before she joined Starfleet; this would also be for before I had even created the character. Preston predates Lili, and goes all the way back to More, More, More!

Portrayal

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Billy Zane as Preston Jennings (image is for educational purposes only)

Billy Zane as Preston Jennings (image is for educational purposes only)

Preston is played by Billy Zane.

I like the actor’s suave charm and handsome air.

Personality

Pleasant but sometimes prone to meltdowns, Preston is just trying to get ahead. He’s also one of the four gay men on the ship (the others are Dave Constantine, Lucas Donnelly, and Frank Todd). When the Xindi War breaks out, he seizes the opportunity to do something different, and transfers to Navigation. He is the first person to admit that Lili is a far better cook than he ever was. This is put on display in Before the Fall, where Will Slocum pretty much misuses his talents in a cooking competition with Lili and her partner, Brian Delacroix. Will continues to joke about burdening Preston with Lili’s work, in The Continuing Adventures of Porthos – The Future Cat.

Relationships

Lucas Donnelly

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Billy Zane as Preston Jennings (image is for educational purposes only)

Billy Zane as Preston Jennings (image is for educational purposes only)

During both kicks back in time, Preston and Luke end up together.

Neither of them are 100% thrilled with this; Dave Constantine is considered to be more of a prize. But they make the most of it, even though they aren’t necessarily compatible.

Hikaru Sulu

It’s only in Mirror Masquerade where this happens, and only in the Mirror Universe, in an altered timeline.  Preston is, just like in the Prime Universe, serving food. But there is no Lili (her counterpart is dead), so he still has that job, whereas in the Prime Universe, he switches over to Navigation.

When Sulu and Mayweather are switched, Sulu flirts with him in the chow line, and Preston gets a major promotion, to Captain’s Man. But it’s all for naught, as Carmen fixes the timeline and everything goes back to the way it’s supposed to be.

Mirror Universe

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Billy Zane as MU Preston Jennings (image is for educational purposes only)

Billy Zane as MU Preston Jennings (image is for educational purposes only)

In the Mirror Universe, Preston never stops serving chow, both in the correct timeline and in the Mirror Masquerade alternate timeline.

However, in the Temper alternate timelines, he is not seen working in the kitchen. Is he dead? Absent from the ship? Working elsewhere? The truth is, I just didn’t write him. But there’s no reason why he can’t end up in a related story, at a later date.

Quote

“Are you sure we don’t have to prep for this?”

Upshot

I don’t really know this character well enough, and would like to rectify that at some point.

Stay tuned.

Posted by jespah in Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Interphases series, Portrait, 11 comments