Villain – Dawnelle Nymeron : scene

“I can’t help, but wonder why you’ve been wanting to see me, your Highness,” I said tentatively. I had a vague idea and the way she looked at me only affirmed it, but that still didn’t explain why she’d called upon me of all people. Sure, I’d done everything to gain her attention and the daughter heir of Helos was known to pick her favorites among the Watch, but that wasn’t all of it. Her words all but encouraged me to speak openly and who was I to deny her?

For a moment, she was silent, studying my face intently.

“I think both of us know very well why you’re here,” she finally said and I knew we were done with the niceties, done pretending. Her voice was firm and serious, lacking anything that had let her appear girlish before. It seemed to fall off her like a mask when she reached out for me, carefully running her fingers over the bruise along my jaw line. Whatever Damian had put on it, had reduced the swelling, but it still stood out clearly against my fair skin, as the rain had washed off his efforts to conceal it.

“Take off your shirt,” she said curtly.

“What? Why?” This time I didn’t need to fake surprise. This was definitely going a tad fast for my taste.

“Just do it,” she commanded, making it clear that she wouldn’t be disobeyed.

I opened my mouth to say something, but then remembered where I was, alone with the heiress of the godsdamn Empire and Naerya was nowhere in sight. Even if she was, what would she have said?

Letting out a breath, I started to unbutton my shirt. Shrugging out of it still hurt and I knew better than to bend down and pick it up from where it had fallen to the ground.

It took me a lot not to back away as Dawnelle ran her delicate hands over my torso, examining the miasma of bruises that riddled my chest. She made a disapproving sound and my breath hissed sharply through my teeth when she exerted pressure on my ribcage.

“What’s he making you tell everybody? Training accident?” she asked abruptly, looking at me with eyes that suddenly sparkled with anger, before she sighed and her hazel eyes suddenly filled with something close to compassion.

“I’m sorry I drew attention on you and your friend this morning, but you seemed to have it coming with Valyr from the beginning. He hates you very much, doesn’t he?”

I merely looked at her, not comprehending.

“Dahlia tells me what he does and before you ask, yes I know that she works for him, but she’s loyal to me. Nothing about this night will leave either of our lips.”

“Uh…I’m sorry…your Highness?”

What I really wanted to say was: What the fuck is going on here, but given my position I decided to mind my manners, waiting for something to actually make sense to me tonight.

“Who are you trying to kid here, Raphael?” she said, rather exasperated. “Okay, let’s talk freely here. You look like a smart guy, so I’ll make this easy for you. Let’s just say we both have a common enemy and I want your help in acquiring some…information.”

Villain – Dawnelle Nymeron

~character sheet~

Name: Dawnelle “Dawn” Nymeron

Age: 22

Appearance: With her five feet and two inches Dawnelle can be rightfully considered ‘short’, just like her father. The dark lilac eyes run in the family along with size, but unlike her father and her brother, Dawnelle’s hair isn’t silvery white, but a curly dark brown. In a way this sets her apart from her father’s line, even though it’s not a secret that neither her nor her older brother Raeyn have been born in wedlock since her father never married.  I try to avoid further descriptions like ‘slender, but curvacious’ and similar blah-blah, because it’s just redundant. Let’s just say that yes, most people think of her as attractive, though ‘pretty’ probably wouldn’t be the word to describe her (unless she’s in one of her ‘girly’ moods)

Family and Background: Neither her nor her older brother Raeyn know their mother(s) as their father has been known to never have engaged in anything else but occasional affairs. None of them is really bothered by that fact as it has been part of their upbringing. Likewise, Sirius Nymeron tolerates Dawnelle’s affairs with a certain indifference. Nonetheless, Dawnelle is probably the only one (except Raeyn at times) who has every experienced the Eye as a loving and caring father as she grew up without wanting for anything whether materially or emotionally.

Unlike her brother though, Dawnelle always loved to learn about politics and state craft. From the beginning she has been a much more apt and active student than Raeyn had ever been and some might say that she had a hand in his disappearance, being declared heir after the search for her brother remained futile.

Even as a child, Dawnelle was known to be sly and liable to sneak out of the Palace with her brother. Even though she openly led a very sheltered life in the Palace she quickly learned the harsher facts of life on the streets and learned to use that knowledge to her advantage. If you were to describe her in three words, ruthless, calculating and vindictive come to mind, but then again she can be compassionate and caring as well (in some really irrational way she actually cares for Ares, in her own way…). Like her father, Dawnelle is one of those characters that wear different masks, depending on the situation. Also like him, she knows how to use certain situations to her advantage and openly manipulates not only those beneath her, but more than that, her equals.

Motivation: Dawnelle is one of those villains who rarely do anything without reason. Like her father, she’s dominant and a ‘born ruler’, albeit an often ruthless one. One day, she wants to step up to where her father is now and become the next Eye, ruler over the Empire of Light and to achieve that she does whatever necessary, from merely using her charms, to outright blackmail and manipulation. Until now, she hasn’t openly killed yet and openly she loves to play the innocent girl, but one never knows.

Is your character a Mary Sue?

Just got this test from Saint-Know-All’s blog and it rather amused me (not just the fact that the test has appalling grammar at times 😉 ) I just did that test with most of my main characters and they scare anything between 7 and 9 points, which definitely disqualifies them, being Anti-Mary-Sues so to say; hey, mission accomplished.

But let’s face it; I’m really trying to make my character different, to avoid some of the most common (poor farmboy becomes most powerful wizard of a strange land (called “the strange land”) and kills evil king after finding Mysterious Magical Sword of Super Powerz (or: the Sword of Truth? ;)) Nah…

Of course there’s the one or other cliche every (fantasy) author has to deal with, so it’s basically impossible to avoid writing something that hasn’t ‘been there’ yet in one form or another. Yes, Light is very dystopian and the Shadows are basically thieves and oh did I mention that my characters live in an abandoned space ship, while this is in no way a science fiction novel? – Okay, end of cliches here…

As long as it’s just something general and something that MAKES SENSE (please don’t give me that omniscient super-hero with absolute super-powers and not even a fart of a moral flaw…) then the use of cliches is okay. At least in a certain dosage. Then they enable you to twist those cliches around and make something entirely new of it, to break certain rules and conventions. In this case, cliches and the occasional Mary Sue-aspects of your character can be helpful. Again CAN not WILL BE. In the end it just really depends on what you as an author make of it.

One of my (numerous) rookie mistakes as a writer has been ignoring the borderline of original writing and fanfiction. Light started out rather flat, borrowing a lot in terms of general motives etc. from other fantasy series that I really liked. No need to say that this is not the way to go and I suppose a lot of this happens on a rather subconscious level. In the end however, it’s your own ideas, your own twists and your characters quirks and ambiguity that obliterate cliches. What can I say? Since I’ve started to write how and what I wanted to write instead of focusing on how other authors ‘did it’ my writing has changed – and improved – a lot, but that’s part of the learning process.

And yes, I should be editing One right now, but I’ll probably spend the weekend trying out different approaches and see which one works best 😉