Ask Sern!

Wow, it's late... By the time I post this, it might actually be Sunday. Sorry about that! Today was busy. Well, at least it was busy by my standards. Which basically means, I left the house more than once and actually did stuff. Yay for an active lifestyle. 

Anyways, the character up for interview this week is Sern Jesyn, father of Dertryn Jesyn, and also the former guardian of Sheth Terrem.  

Sern Jesyn

Sern is past the point where most people would be comfortable with broadcasting their age, but I'll embarrass him anyways: he's forty-seven. Right? *checks the timeline* Of course right. Anyways, he was born a Serdak, and as a young man, he was a dragon-rider/soldier. As such, he learned to be flexible and get the job done even when he didn't feel comfortable or was certain he had no idea what he was doing. If you need help with something, and ask him to assist you, he probably won't tell you if he has no clue how to get it done. He'll just figure it out, and you'll never know the difference. He married at age seventeen, and he and his wife, Syra, had two boys -- Nolan and Dertryn. 

One night fifteen years ago, raiders attacked Sern's town, killed Syra and Nolan -- then fifteen years old -- and kidnapped Dertryn. Upon hearing that searches of the nearby areas yielded no sign of Dertryn, a broken-hearted Sern disregarded his own physical wounds and left his mountain homestead in search of his son. His search only brought him near death with exhaustion, and did nothing to help him find Dertryn. A man in one of the last cities wherein Sern search forced him to take time for recovery, introduced him to Yahveh-Jeshua, and helped him find a new purpose in life, though Sern never gave up hope of finding his child. When a riot took Sheth Terrem's parents, Sern took charge of him, and became like a father to him, a fact which did not comfort Dertryn when he caught up with Sern and discovered his new situation. Sern and Dertryn have been estranged since, but a recent encounter brought them together again, and Sern hopes to regain what has been lost. Since his dragon-riding days, Sern has had many professions -- builder, repairman, tutor, evangelist, etc., as the situation demanded. Despite the fact that he lives often outside of his comfort zone, he is an introvert with little natural patience for incompetent or cruel people, and might be as likely to punch someone as turn the other cheek. He usually restrains himself, but it's difficult. 

Oh! Also, Sern was one of the few people to see Siran's (Sohrem's) predicament in Lans and make any effort to reach out to him, The response was underwhelming, but I'm sure it was at least remembered. Sern also insists on calling Sohrem by his given name (Siran), despite his protests. But I'm guessing it's more out of habit than from spite. Probably. Though Sern hides his thoughts and feelings so well, we might never know. 

Anyways, Sern will be around and taking questions through Wednesday, as usual. Since I've posted this so late, I'll try to post the results as late in the day as possible. Oh, um, about the punching thing -- he hasn't punched anyone who didn't deserve it in years, if ever. So as long as you don't start picking on people or physically assault him, he should be pretty polite. He's an adult, after all. He can usually handle himself with grace. Usually. *ahem* 

Also, I might take a break from the character interviews soon and start another series of some sort. What would you like to see? Writing tips? More music stuff? Lyme posts? Or would you rather keep going with the character interviews? (I'd probably come back to them at some point; I just might back off of them for a while.) Let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear from you. Well, not hear, obviously. Unless you want to send me an audio clip, or make a Youtube video, or something. But then I might just end up spending my entire day on Youtube and not do anything in regards to the blog. That wouldn't be very productive. But it might be fun... 

...But, as is ever the case with me, I digress. 

Character Interview #7: Sheth Terrem

Well, fellow digressors, it's the day before Thanksgiving. Wow. Where has the time gone? I mean, seriously. I can't believe 2015 is so near. There are a great many things I could put on my list of things I'm thankful for, but for now, I'll just share the results of Sheth Terrem's character interview with you all. I'll warn you in advance that Sheth, as a bookworm and an amateur historian, has certain obsessions which may be expressed through his answers. This is good for my lazy brain, which doesn't want to come up with extra questions to fill out the post. Whether it makes for an interesting interview remains to be seen. But anyways, here you are: An interview with the famous (or, er, not so famous) Sheth Terrem. 

Hey, buddy. How are you today? 

Buddy...? Isn't that what you always call Sohrem? 

Can't I have more than one buddy? And anyways, you were my buddy first, and I can call you whatever I want. So, what's your favorite food? 

I've learned over the years not to be a picky eater. My least favorite food would probably be keita bread, not because it tastes bad, necessarily, but just because I've had it so much. As for my favorite food... I like turkey. 

Turkey? Really? Out of all the food you've ever had, that's your favorite? 

I don't know. I'm not good at picking favorites. 

Huh. Turkey. Wow, what a coincidence... 

How's that? 

Nothing. It's an American thing. How do you feel about said fangirls? 

I wasn't aware I had any... 

Huh? Where have you been for the past couple of years? 

In Jaern...? Well, until recently. 

Oh, never mind. Listen, you have fangirls. So how do you feel about them? 

It seems a little strange, since I'm more used to fading into the background, but I guess I don't mind. I only hope people don't expect me to be perfect and always live up to their expectations. That could be a little intimidating. 

As a young kid, were you more interested in reading books and such, or was that something you enjoyed once you were older? 

My mother used to read to me, and I always enjoyed it. She did all my schooling, and taught me to read when I was seven. After that, we'd read to each other in turns, and eventually, she decided that she preferred for me to do all the reading aloud. My father never really got into it. He was more interested in the practical aspects of keeping the wagon together and such. I'm not even sure he knew how to read. He never approved of people sticking their heads into the clouds while there was work to be done. That made it a special thing between my mother and I. Though I do recall a few times where my father told me to keep reading, even when he pretended not to be interested. So maybe he enjoyed it, as well. 

So... Fangirls. What are your thoughts on them in general? 

I guess it depends upon how they handle themselves. I don't think infatuation is healthy, but it's only natural to admire people sometimes. So in that sense, I think fangirls are all right. Just so long as you don't make the person you admire the center of your life, or anything. 

Hm... So here's a question of my own: Have you ever been a fanboy? I mean, you read a lot, or used to, so you must have admired some character or historical figure in there, at least. 

I admire Rhedan, one of the instigators of the Rhenor Civil War. Well, technically, Dahker started it by attempting to overthrow the theocratic system. He organized a series of protests and speeches, and convinced a great number of people that the nation would be better off without Yahveh at the center. I think Dahker felt like the government was pushing faith on its citizens against their will, and he wanted to be free from it. But it got out of hand. 

*whispers* Grab some popcorn, fellow digressors. We might be here for a while. 

Excuse me? 

No, no, keep going. *eats popcorn* 

...I'm sorry. I guess I lecture too much. It's just a fascinating bit of history. 

Pleeeeeaaaaase? 

You must be bored. 

Procrastinating, actually. Go on. 

All right... Well, Dahker started a revolution, with the intent of reforming the government. It worked, but instead of just removing the expectation of belief, the unbelieving population turned on the Yahveh-followers, and tried to either kill them, drive them out, or make them renounce their faith. I only know what I've read in history books, but I get the impression that Dahker completely lost control of the revolution in the weeks after the rebels overthrew the system. 

Rhedan was a childhood friend of Dahker's, but he was also a Yahveh-follower, so he opposed the revolution, and then when things got violent, he helped a lot of other Followers escape into various tunnels and such outside of Rhenor territory, though by then it was called Khanor territory, and religious literature was forbidden. Some of them enocountered Kirat settlers and intermarried with them, which produced the Serdak, also called Dragon-Riders. Some left the mountains entirely and became the Reshen, the people in whose territories I've lived my whole life. And Rhedan and some others took a huge risk by venturing back into Khanor territory to witness to people and bring contraband literature to help those who still lived there and wanted to know more about Yahveh. Rhedan eventually gave his life while helping some believers escape Khanor law enforcement. Years later, Dahker left the Khanor and gave himself over to the Reshen, which makes me think that he didn't intend all the harm that came to be. 

Sooooo... Who do you think was right? 

Honestly? I'm not sure either Rhedan or Dahker were completely right or wrong. I don't believe the government should force anyone to believe in anything, however true it might be, but actually the revolution resulted in an outlawing of Yahveh-followership, essentially forcing people to say that He did not exist and forbidding them to practice their belief in Him if they did have it. If I had lived in their time, I think I would have been caught in the middle. But Rhedan ended up helping a lot of people, and he never gave up, no matter how bad things got. So you could say I'm a "fanboy" of Rhedan's. But of course, he was human just like everyone else, so I'm not blind enough to think he didn't have flaws. And... I just said entirely too much, didn't I? I'm sorry. 

No, actually, you aided my procrastination -- er, filled out the interview quite well. *ahem* What would you have said to your parents before they left if you knew they would (inevitably) die? 

...I think I still would have tried to convince them not to go. I would have told them I loved them, promised my father that I would stay sensible, and assured my mother that I would be all right. Now that I'm a Yahveh-follower, I would tell them about my faith and try to convince them to believe, too, but of course I didn't know about any of that back then. So... I guess that's it. I don't really want to talk about it anymore. 

Okay... Oh! Here's an extra question especially for Thanksgiving: What are you thankful for, Sheth? 

I'm thankful the Reshen still allow Yahveh-followers to practice freely, thankful that Sern stepped up and took me in all those years ago, and thankful that I met Yannah at Jaern. I'm also thankful to my parents for giving me a good upbringing, even if they didn't always get everything right. And since everything good comes from Yahveh, of course I have to be thankful to Him for caring and looking after me even when I make mistakes or question Him. And... I'm also thankful that not everyone gets upset with me for rambling like this. 

Oh, you get it from your mother. AUTHOR. You get it from me. Not your mother. I'm not... You know what I mean. 

...Right. May I go now? 

Sure. Happy Thanksgiving, bud. 

I'm not sure what that is, but all right... 

----------------------------------------------------------- 

Well, there it is, folks. I think Sheth's bookishness showed a little bit there. Just a little. That's okay; apparently, it's part of why people love him. It's also a very big part of why Sohrem doesn't like him, methinks. Oh, well. It's cute when he tells Yannah his stories. Maybe he should be a writer someday. 

Anyways. 

So what are y'all thankful for? I'm thankful for a loving family and friends who don't think I'm crazy even when I'm convinced that I am, for the means to treat this disease I have, and for the freedom to worship God freely and serve and write about Him without fear. I'm thankful for a brain that can still come up with stories, no matter how addled it might be, and for hands that can still hold a pen or use a keyboard so that others can experience those stories. I'm also thankful for my readers, who apparently find enough merit in my ramblings and far-fetched stories to keep reading them. 

How about food? Does your Thanksgiving dinner consist of traditional foods like turkey and pumpkin pie (the best parts of the meal, IMHO), or are you more unconventional? Will you watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? I'm really not sure about that last one, myself. It seems to get less and less interesting for me every year, but I'm a traditionalist, so I'll probably at least watch part of it. I wonder what balloons they'll have this year, or whether we'll mostly just see the reporters' heads blocking the way...? Oh, well. I guess any view is better than none. 

...But, of course, I digress. 

Ask Sheth!

Hey, digressors! Sorry I'm so late with this post; it was a busy day, preceded by busier ones, and there are more of the same fast approaching, so free time has been somewhat restricted. But without further ado, I shall introduce to you this week's character to be interviewed, Sheth Terrem. (Yes, fangirls,  please contain your shrieking, or we'll never get this interview underway.) 

Sheth Terrem

Sheth Terrem was born to Kheleth immigrants, and spent most of his growing-up years in the back of a wagon. His parents were merchants, largely of animals and their byproducts, but also of various other transportable goods. When Sheth was sixteen, the family made a stop in the Reshan-Shamindo bordertown of Lans and, while Sheth guarded the wagon, Shamindo cultists attacked the town and robbed him of both parents. The city council assigned him to live with Sern Jesyn, a Serdak dragon-rider turned evangelist who eventually led him to Yahveh-Jeshua. Seven years after moving in with Sern, Sheth is on his own, and has been called up for service in the Reshan Guard, despite his pacifistic stance. Now traveling with a ragtag combination of Reshen, Khanor, Shamindo, Kiratai, and Serdakai, Sheth struggles to stay strong in his faith without alienating certain others around him. Sheth is an introvert with a dry sense of humor, and loves books and stories. If he could be anywhere in the world, he would likely choose to return to his childhood home-base of Delnam and read a good book with his dog, Tori, beside him. (Poor Tori -- she must miss Sheth quite a bit, as I'm not convinced that the Guard allows recruits to keep pets.) Sheth is currently courting (or whatever you call the process) Yannah Delraen, and is in an uneasy truce with Sohrem Terahl, who assaulted him once for fighting with Yannah and making her cry (long story, Sheth and Yannah have since reconciled, and it wasn't really worth the assault). 

Sheth is the protagonist of 'The Follower', and also (arguably) of 'The Merchant's Son'. He's been bumped from that role for 'The Rescuer', but he's still in there, and he still has fangirls. Hm. I wonder if Yannah ever gets jealous...? 

Anyways, here he is, peopleses. Have fun asking questions. I shall do my best to post the answers a bit earlier in the day on Wednesday. 

Character Interview #4: Yannah Delraen

Hello again, fellow digressors! This past Saturday, I opened up my character, Yannah Delraen, for an interview. For those who might not be aware, this is Sheth's girl, the one on whom Sohrem had a crush strongly enough to make him try to kill Sheth. Yeah, it was interesting. But anyways, here are the answers to your most pressing questions. 

What is being in the Guard like? 

It's not quite what I expected. I mean, I knew that except near the borders, the Guard was fairly inactive. We don't get that many conflicts with other nations these days. But life at the base is actually a little boring outside of training sessions. But that could just be because I was among the younger recruits, so we had to take classes and such. Things get a lot more exciting on patrols. Or at least on the only one I've joined so far. But at the base, since I'm grouped with the newer recruits, it gets extremely tiresome. You'd think people joining the military would at least know how to act their age. They don't. Believe me. The officers are fine, and the people who have some experience under their belt are generally manageable. But I wouldn't be surprised if all recruits under the age of nineteen were discharged for disorderly conduct within the next six months. 

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised, either. But if they're not discharged, at least you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you'll probably advance more quickly than they will. Maybe. What was the hardest part about having to take care of your younger brothers? Or was it all extremely challenging? 

The hardest part was convincing them that they weren't going to lose me, too. Mother died, Aviram ran away, and Father acted like we didn't exist. But in the end, they lost me anyways. And I always knew deep down that it would happen, so it felt like I was lying to them. But I had to, or they would have lost whatever hope they had left, and where would we have been then? So I guess that was the hardest part. 

If you were suddenly reunited with your younger brothers and the government allowed you to take care of them again, would you leave the Reshan Guard without a moment's hesitation? Even if it meant not being able to say goodbye to the people you met there and leaving them all behind? 

I promised I would come back for them. So I guess I wouldn't have much of a choice. 

What about Sheth? 

He would understand. Or... he would recover. But either way, I have to look after my family, no matter what else I lose in the process.  

Which one of your brothers were you closest with? 

Aviram and I were close for a long time. I was his little sister, and we were both "big siblings" to the younger boys. I mean, the age gap between me and Rens is -- 

Whoa, hold up. Let's just clarify here: How old are your younger brothers, and what are their names? 

...Rensan is fourteen, Shan is eleven, and Joram is eight. 

Got it. Continue. 

I was just going to say that the age gap between me and Aviram is only a little wider than the gap between me and Rens, but I'm... older, I guess, in personality. So it sort of felt sometimes like Aviram and I were parents and our brothers were our children. After Mother died, he got... distant... but we were close once. 

Were you closest to your father or your mother? 

My mother, definitely. My father was... He wasn't cruel or anything. I did love him. Whether he loved me back is debatable. But Mother and I were more alike in personality and beliefs, and the two of them fought so much that I just found it hard to be close to him while I was still close to Mother. 

What are some of your fondest memories about your mother? 

...I... Carissa, I don't want to answer this question. 

Well, you have to. 

Well, I don't want to. 

I wasn't giving you a choice. 

I'm not. Answering. This. 

Come on, kiddo -- it's just a simple question. 

About my mother. 

Yes! 

My dead mother. 

Yeeeeesssss. 

I don't talk about my mother. 

You just did two seconds ago. 

No. 

I'll hurt Sheth. 

You do that fairly frequently. 

I'll hurt him again, and it will be your fault. 

You already did that. 

JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION, WOMAN. 

...No. I don't think I could choose one memory, anyways. They're all painful now. 

All this time, and you still don't have one memory you can look back on and be happy? 

I'm happy for about two seconds before I remember that she's dead. 

Well, what's a memory that makes you happy for two seconds? 

...I guess the time we stayed up late sewing a new tunic for Aviram's birthday. I was anything but a seamstress, so we kept having to yank out stitches. But she always had this way of making me laugh when I was upset. And I swear she intentionally made mistakes just to make me feel better. You could never tell with her. Then Joram came in and wanted to help, so she let him. That was one of the sloppiest tunics I've ever seen, but Aviram actually wore it a lot after that. I'm not sure whether it amused him, or whether Mother asked him to do it. But... actually, that was Aviram's last birthday before... See, this is why I didn't want to answer this question. 

Okay, okay. You can go now if you want. 

But now your readers will think I'm some stubborn, spoiled little brat like Dehlara. 

Ha. I think that's the first time you've called her that out loud. 

...I-i have to go. 

--------------------------------------------------- 

Well, there she goes, folks. I remembered about two-thirds of the way through this interview that Sohrem was attracted to her temper. That might have been a useful thing to take into account while I asked the questions. However, it did not occur to me until too late. She's generally kind and likes to help, but once she's decided to be stubborn about something... Jinkies. 

Okay, well, thanks for reading! Did you enjoy this interview? I'd love to hear your thoughts! (And I'm sorry about that spell where I didn't reply to any comments; I shall make an effort to be better about that now. Y'all are cool people.) Feel free to ask any questions that might take your fancy (serious or no) in the comments.

I shall also try to come up with a non-interview-related post in the next couple of days. Maybe something about NaNo, eh? A lot of people I know have written blog posts and such about NaNoWriMo already (some before the event began), and I haven't yet. That might be a good topic. And I have this terrible habit of jumping onto bandwagons as they're rolling off into the sunset. You guys have any ideas as to what I should choose as a topic? You're the readers, after all. I'm just a rambling, crazy writer sitting in a room with a laptop and a ton of books. How am I supposed to know what the public wants? Well, I guess I have a general idea, but... 

But, um... but whatever I was saying, I'm sure I digress. 

Ask Yannah! (Yes, I Do Actually Have Female Characters.)

Well, here it is, fellow digressors -- my first post of November. I was going to try being cool by referring to the blog by its initials, until I remembered that its initials would be either DOADS, DDS, or DADS, none of which are especially cool. Although dads are cool. And bow ties. And fezzes. 

Wait, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. 

Today, I present to you yet another lovely character for an interview. And yes, as indicated in the title of the post, this is the first character in the blog series who would not be likely to protest to being called "lovely." (Although Jorthen is a lovely man, and I'm sure he's used to hearing it.) 

Yannah Delraen

Yannah Delraen recently turned seventeen, but despite her easygoing manner, her spitfire temper, and her tendency to get flustered and blush, she is old beyond her years. The second-born of five children, Yannah was left to fend for herself and her little brothers when her mother died of an illness, her father stopped fulfilling his role as caregiver, and her eldest brother, Aviram, left to make his own way in the world. When the government took her younger brothers and assigned them to different families, Yannah was left alone with her faith broken and her purpose lost. She joined the Reshan Guard. and there met Sheth, Sohrem, and Jorthen. She has, in the months since, renewed her faith in what her mother taught her, become Sheth's best friend and eventually his girl, reunited with Aviram, and been stalked by Sohrem. (All this after her crush on Jorthen faded because she didn't like his bossiness.) She loves to draw, and is Shaetha Sohran's best friend, sort of an older sister figure. She's the sort to sit quietly in the corner and mind her own business, while silently firing off sassy comebacks to anyone who says something she doesn't like. She rarely says these things aloud, but entertaining the thought of them is her guilty pleasure. She is not a naturally forgiving person, but she is learning. (Fun fact: Yannah is the first character I ever based off of a real person. She was based off of me, actually, but she's since developed her own personality and doesn't even look quite like me anymore. A cousin, maybe, but not me.) 

From now until Wednesday, Yannah will be taking questions from anyone who wishes to ask her anything. I'm not sure whether her shy or sassy side will take the reins during the interview. It will probably vary based upon which questions are asked. 

But anyways, ask away! And now I must be off. It's the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I have not written anything for it yet. *guilty look* I did, however, submit 'The Merchant's Son' to a publisher at long last, so I don't have proposal-writing or editing to use as an excuse for my own natural tendency to procrastinate anymore. Drat. 

Uh, I mean... you see... 

*sigh* Never mind. I digress.