5 question Meme
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
Sev's five questions to me, cut for length.
1. What are five rules to live by?
Be willing to try (almost) anything once.
Look for the adventure in the ordinary.
Read (even just a little bit) every day. It’s like a vacation for your mind, letting you explore new and interesting places (and emotions, people and ideas).
Try to do no harm- and remember this goes for yourself as well.
Be open minded and tolerant; but not so much that you forget who you are and what you believe.
2. What's more important, justice or mercy? Why?
This is a very hard question. In any system there needs to be a balance struck between justice and mercy. Justice without mercy is harsh and may very well condemn those who are borderline, who might try to make something of their lives if given the opportunity and seeing up close what consequences await if they screw up again. At the same time those who have been wronged need justice and those who have hurt others need to pay for what they have done and be removed from the possibility of continuing to harm others. Mercy without justice teaches those who do wrong that they can get away with it. I think both mercy and justice are lacking without the other. Both are needed.
3. Who is your least favorite female character (in any series) and why?
I have a strange love/hate relationship with Kitiara from the Dragonlance books. I really enjoyed hating her. The books themselves had a big impact on me as the first real adult books I had read and what really got me hooked on fantasy, rpgs and the assorted geekdom that goes with all of that. Looking back on it, she was one of the first strong, kickass female characters I was introduced to. She was one of the villains though she had been friends with the main group of adventures when they are all kids and two of them where her half-brothers. She rose rapidly through the ranks of the Dragon Armies that were trying to conquer the world though a mix of competence, ruthless bloodshed and sleeping with her superior officers then discarding them.
On the one hand I have to admire her for knowing what she wants and doing what it takes to get it. One the other hand there is perhaps only one ‘good’ thing she has done in her entire life and that is save the life of her half-brother Raistlin when he was an infant. And even that is debatable given that Rasitlin is a rather morally gray character himself. She doesn’t care about anyone other than herself. She abandoned her brothers to certain death with barely a tiny and easily forgotten glimmer of regret. She is ruthless and will do anything to get what she wants without regard to who she hurts in the process. All of which makes for a great and effective villain, the kind who readers cheer when they meet their eventual downfall. And oh, did she get hers. One of the most satisfying ‘taking a villain down’ scenes I had ever encountered. As a character she was well done and over 15 years later she still provokes an emotional response. I don’t think I have ever enjoyed disliking someone as much as I have enjoyed disliking her.
There have been other female characters that I have disliked, many of them because of flaws in the writing and/or because they were weak characters as much as because of what the character did or didn’t do. But none of them have left an impression on me like she has.
(There were several really cool and kickass women in the books that I loved as well who made impressions one me, but that’s another several paragraphs right there.)
4. If you could move to any country in the world, with the requirement that you must stay for five years (though you can leave for vacation), where would you choose and why?
Thailand. Here is why in no particular order:
Assuming I’m working at an international school, I’ll be making a decent wage and most likely have housing taken care of for me. I’ll be able to save up a good amount of money and still be able to do pretty much what I want and be able to afford airfare to visit the US.
It is in a good location for me to be able to easily visit several other countries that I am interested in. And even getting over to Europe wouldn’t be that difficult/time consuming.
I love Thai food, and when I’m craving something different it is very easy to find a multitude of international restaurants.
I like the country and am interested in learning more about the culture and history.
I like the feel the country has of generally being relaxing and laid back.
Massages.
5. You've been tasked with creating a second Cable and Deadpool series. Anything goes. What's your plan?
I’d set it post the Second Coming crossover/ have it tie into the launch of the new heroic age. (which means I’m making certain assumptions about the outcome of Second Coming but shhhh)
Much like the beginning of the first Cable and Deadpool, Nathan is faced with the question of what to do now. He’s brought Hope back, Bastion is taken care of, the immediate danger is gone, things for the X-men/mutants are getting back to what passes as normal and Hope is doing her thing. He understands that he needs to step back and let her do what she needs to do. He is struggling to find that balance between being supportive and there when she needs him and respecting her independence and not being overbearing and overprotective. He has a mixed rate of success.
Wade is still working with Agency X so those characters will be making appearances as secondary and cameo characters. Mostly they will be around in context of whatever Wade’s latest mission is or slice of life moments, but they can also be used as backup firepower if Cable and/or Hope need it. Cable and Hope will receive an invitation to the Annual Agency X barbeque and hijinks will ensue. While Wade is still working as a merc for hire (‘cause semi-automatic weaponry and grenades don’t grow on trees you know) he tries to be a bit more selective about what jobs he accepts (“oh come on, he was a CEO, Nate, a really evil CEO. He was anti-Green Peace! And kittens I’m pretty sure he was anti-kittens!”). He also views the paying jobs as what he does to support himself so that he can then do ‘pro bono’ work, going after scum like kidnappers and such and generally trying to be heroic. He also has a mixed rate of success.
Cable occasionally comments that he doesn’t think killing people for free quite counts as pro bono work; but mostly he understands that Wade is trying to keep the collateral damage to a minimum and that the people he is killing generally deserve having Deadpool show up on their doorstep.
The main story arc will play on the theme of entering the new heroic age. Nathan needs to relearn what it is to be a hero (as opposed to simply surviving and keeping Hope alive) and how to make a difference in the world without trying to reshape the world. Wade also needs learn what it mean to be a hero; that it is not just the sweeping gestures and dramatic rescues but the everyday decisions as well. Nate must overcome his tendency towards grandiose plans and the belief that only he knows what is needed to ‘fix’ the world while Wade struggles with his own insecurities and psychoses. Mainly, they both need to learn that it’s okay to make a difference in small ways. (“Nate, man, it’s not your responsibility to save the whole entire world all by yourself.”)
While Hope will mostly be busy with her own plots in the main X-men title, she will be a reoccurring character as events bring groups together to deal with threats to mutantkind. There will also be the occasional family visit and times when Deadpool decides that she needs a break from all that saving the world and insists on a night of pizza, ice cream and remedying Hope’s shocking lack of knowledge of pop culture (“She doesn’t even know who Bea Arthur is! That’s like a crime against humanity!”).