| Dramatis Personae |
| Fukusei Crystals |
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Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
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| Realms: Fukusei Crystals |
Tara Clea Alcyone
Her parents:
Leander Hector Hippolytos Alcyone
("lion of a man" "holding fast" "freer of horses" "kingfisher")Tara's father is from a well-to-do family which encouraged him and his sibling to explore the world. As a consequence Tara's father is a well-known and widely published archaeologist. He's also a tenured professor at an Ivy League school, which keeps him on for the luster of his name and his money-making capabilities. He's a very popular speaker at alumni events -- they love him coming back with fascinating and unusual discoveries.
While he's a US citizen, the family (interestingly enough, they were members of the "golden Greek" ethnic grouping1) came over from Greece only about 2 or 3 generations ago, and there's still family there. Like most of his names, Tara's middle name, Clea ("glory") runs in the Greek side of her family. This and his archaeological travels has given him a very "citizen of the world" feel, which is ably assisted by his handsomeness, his ability to "chameleon" easily in a variety of different cultures and situations, and his mastery of languages -- he speaks 4 or 5 fluently, and has a smattering of a handful more.
If you wanted to roleplay Leander Alcyone, he could maybe be described as being a charming and urbane version of Indiana Jones or a James Bond with heart. He's intensely pragmatic on digs, loves learning about people and cultures, and can move smoothly through high society. He loves his wife and daughter dearly, but is wise enough to realize they both need space to grow also.
Sunniva Ylva Alcyone
("sun's gift" "she-wolf" "kingfisher")Tara's mother is of Norwegian descent, with the classic tall, fair, graceful Nordic good looks -- Tara despairs of ever looking as gorgeously elegant and poised as her mother. Originally a dancer from a very wealthy Norwegian family, the young girl was swept off her feet by the charming and dashing Leander Alcyone, who was in Scandinavia on a dig as a grad student. After they married, she moved with him to the exotic (to her) US, becoming the toast of his social group and a rising star in the New York city ballet corps, where she danced until she had a knee accident. It wasn't enough to cause her to lose her poise or gracefulness, but it was enough to end her ballet career.
Undaunted (and encouraged by her husband), Sunniva went back to university for the training to embark on a business career. There she really blossomed, coming into her own as a woman who could truly inspire the best in others. In the business world she has advanced to VP status in the international company she works for, having become a valued trouble-shooter and an opener of new markets2. This has caused her to need to move rather a lot, but her husband simply smiles and keeps encouraging her to grow. She understands he needs his space to indulge his wanderlust, so she's happy to do so.
Sunniva remains in close contact with her family in Norway, and due to her life experiences she also is an accomplished master of social grace and business acumen. She has mastered several languages, both due to business needs and when her husband needed someone to practice with. It troubles her occasionally that her daughter only speaks two languages well, and two others sporadically, but whenever she worries too much Leander cheerfully reminds her of how long it took them to accumulate all the languages they both know between them. She could be seen as being very much like a very clever Grace Kelly, or perhaps a beautiful Katharine Hepburn, when she needs to be stern and business-like.
Tara Clea
Tara's birth was carefully planned to occur after her highly educated parents were in their early thirties. They wanted to be able to offer the best life options for their daughter and knew that'd be a good time for them to do so. Also (although neither of them would ever admit to it!), there was a bit of rebellion on their part there -- both sides of the family were constantly after them for grandkids, and they decided early they'd have children if and when they were ready!
Tara's life, as a consequence, has been well-planned enough that she's getting an excellent education and wide exposure to the world's variety -- and carefully un-planned enough to allow her the spontaneity to grow in the directions she'd like. One of the reasons her parents allow her as much educational latitude as they do, in fact, is because they know she's a bright, inquisitive child who, given half a chance, will explore and grow well on her own.
Due to her mother's love of dance, Tara was enrolled in ballet at three, which contributed greatly to Tara's usual light-footed grace. After several years of ballet (in the US and elsewhere), the little family ended up in a small town in Norway for a few years. Initially there were no ballet teachers to be found nearby, and also Leander wasn't wild about the damage toe-dancing did to his wife's feet, and so at that point Tara started being trained in ballroom dancing. This is actually her truest love when it comes to dance -- she finds it more lively and spontaneous than ballet, and is very disappointed it's considered perverted in Japan to dance while touching so closely. She still remembers ballet quite fondly, however (especially its evocative and romantic body language), and uses the stringent ballet warm-ups to stay in shape.
It was in Spain that Tara went through her "rebellious period" -- which she considers an unmitigated disaster, and is very glad her parents never discovered. It was at that time her schooling was being most closely monitored, her parents were away the most, and she was the loneliest, due to not yet having mastered the language or made any friends. In a fit of pique one day, the then-7-year-old Tara decided to run away to show her parents she didn't need them. She got as far as the middle of the city, and realized she had only a handful of pesetas, no idea where she was, no mastery of the language, and worst of all -- she didn't know her home address!
Tara was terrified, wandering alone and crying through the street marketplace, where several old Spanish abuelitas ("grannies") found her and tried to console her. One of them spoke very halting English, and between the two of them Tara managed to remember the name of the church she'd been taken to. The abuelita called the church, contacted the priest, and asked if he could come identify the poor lost little girl. He arrived, recognized Tara, and gave her a lift home -- after having a long talk with her over a hot chocolate. She was much chagrined, but very relieved to be home safely -- and inspired by the priest's heart-to-heart with her to be the kind of person her parents simply couldn't resist admiring and being proud of.
Tara picked up gymnastics in Spain also, where her parents signed her up for a class after school. She enjoys the sheer athleticism of gymnastics, and has no idea the kindly priest spoke to her parents about finding something for her to do with other little girls, so she'd be able to make more friends. For that matter, her parents have never let her know they're aware about her escapade; considering her increased understanding of personal responsibility and dedication to education, they're not likely to do so.
Another habit Tara picked up in Spain initially was following people through the city without being seen or getting lost. She was badly shocked by her small rebellion, and so decided to face that fear by figuring out how to always find her way home. For her tenth birthday she asked her parents for a cell phone with GPS on it, and since then she's used urban tracking to entertainingly get 'lost,' then use maps, a good knowledge of the city, and GPS to get herself safely back home. Needless to say, this is something she does only when she has plenty of time to devote to it. She's gotten good enough that she enjoys it now, and is no longer afraid of being lost.
Riding has been a particular joy of Tara's for almost all her life, from her earliest childhood. Admittedly, her riding at that time consisted mostly of sitting on a pillow on the pommel of her father's English saddle, with his arm around her middle -- but she loved those father-daughter moments. In later years, when her parents had a chunk of acreage in Florida, she'd ride for the sense of freedom as much as to satisfy her competitive nature. She was fairly good for a while too, in fact. The thrill of cross-country jumping not only gave her great personal confidence but also gave her plenty of adrenaline thrill. Compared to that, peer pressure wasn't an issue, and drugs or drinking paled to not being worth trying.
Tara's family is very physically active -- her love of dancing came from her mother, her love of riding from her father. She has learned to appreciate mental skills from her parents also. Anthropology is a fascination from her father, while she's developed an enjoyment of writing from her mother. She likes having things like this to share with her parents, even if occasionally only over the cell phone. Both parents call on a regular schedule, and Tara loves those times where she has one parent metaphorically all to herself.
As far as the last 5 or so years of Tara's life, Sunniva had her family living in the southern US for several years, due to being the company's district manager in that area. Around the time her daughter was finishing middle school in the US, Sunniva was offered the very difficult and challenging -- but also very politically powerful -- position of manager of the entire Asian branch of the company. Sunniva discussed it with her husband and daughter, and with their urging and encouragement, she accepted.
Unfortunately (as is often the case in Japan) it took about a year to get through all the paperwork from the foreigners. Sunniva spent most of that time in Japan working on getting the business up and running, and Leander had planned to go on a dig which the Chinese had only recently given permission for. The question therefore became: what about Tara? She begged to be taken along on the dig, promising to faithfully maintain her schooling if allowed to do so. With stern warnings about her being sent home if she didn't stay up to date, her parents reluctantly agreed to allow her to go. However, one of the things her mother insisted on was that Tara be able to defend herself adequately, and so for the past two years or so Tara's been taking aikido, and doing occasional target shooting with her dad.
That's how Tara came to spend her first year of high school on a dig on the Mongolian plains with her father -- which thrilled her to no end. Being no fool, she was extremely careful to stay up on her home schooling while there (since she didn't want to be sent away), and both her parents are quite proud of her scholastic efforts. Now the Japanese end of the business is up and smoothly running, her mother was able to purchase a nice old estate by a little coastal town with a good school. Tara lives there with the help3, and her mother intends to visit every weekend she can spare. She hopes her father too will be arriving for a few weeks' vacation in a month or two.
1 From what I've read, like the "black Irish," the golden
Greeks are a small enclave of curiously distinct genetics within a
particular ethnic group. Thus, just as the black Irish are a swarthy,
dark-complected, black-haired grouping within the more fair-skinned,
freckled, often-red-haired Irish, so too do the golden Greeks sport
curly golden-blonde hair amongst the usually black-haired Greek
majority. Interestingly, both genetic groups tan easily.
Also interesting (at least to me) is the occasional reference to the
golden Greeks in their mythology. Aphrodite, for example, is known
equally as "Golden Aphrodite (Aphrodite Chryseis)" or "Laughing
Aphrodite (Aphrodite Euphrosyne)," and Apollo also was supposed
to be Bright-haired. Golden-haired people seem to be closely associated
with good fortune to the Greeks as well to the Norse, and there are
interesting studies closely comparing Aphrodite (the classic version,
not the silly hussy she's always portrayed as nowadays) with Freya. (back)
2 I'm deliberately not naming the company, so you can make it whatever might be useful to the game. ;) (back)
3 Do you want me to figure out who these folks are, or is that something you should do? I suspect at least one of them is a long-standing family retainer, so someone Tara feels close to is there for her? (back)