The Naughty List Tag: Icarus Edition

​Okay, I know I'm supposed to be publishing another back to basics article today, but between the prep and aftermath for Nerdy Noel 2.0 and being sick the last several days, I just can't seem to find the brain cells for a full on article. Besides, it's the holidays. It's time for something fun, so I've decided to do The Naughty List tag, created by Jenna Moreci. 

I had a really difficult time trying to decide between doing this tag for The Icarus Project and the Myth and Science universe, since I am working on a short story anthology for that one. So I decided to do them both! Today's post is for The Icarus Project, and I'll have the one for Myth and Science up next Tuesday.

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Before we get started, here are the rules for the tag, as given over on Moreci's blog.

1) Provide a brief description of your novel before beginning. NO MORE THAN 5 SENTENCES.

2) If your cast is fewer than 15 characters, you can’t use the same name more than twice. If your cast is larger than 15 characters, you can’t use the same name more than once.

I'm going to add another one for myself since the weekly flash fictions have kind of opened up all of my "universes," including the Icarus verse. While you might see a name or two from the Icarus flash fictions, I'm not allowed to use any characters that aren't at least mentioned by name in The Icarus Project rough draft as it stands now.

So far, I have roughly twenty-six named characters in the Icarus rough, so I will only be using a given character once. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll be part of the main cast, but if they're mentioned by name and given any characterization at all, they're fair game. 

The Icarus Project is set right about twenty years after we idiot humans obliterate the globe, at least for most of the planet's surface. As the first generation born within the oceanic domes comes into adulthood, they begin to challenge the status quo that's been in place since the end of World War III. Unfortunately, their parents' generation still holds most of the power, and they don't want to give it up.

1. Which character is SO into the holidays, they nearly cause a street-wide power outage from all their Christmas lights?

This would be Mrs. Cartwright, the Daedalus' downstairs neighbor, but she would feel horrible about it.

Mrs. Cartwright is an elderly widow whose adult children were living topside when the war went down, so she's more or less all alone. I can see her getting super nostalgic around the holidays, getting all her holiday decorations out of storage without realizing they don't exactly mesh with the complex's updated power grid, and accidentally causing a brown out for all of residential dome A.

2. Which character attends the office new years party with ONE date…and goes home with someone else?

This is Bev all over. She's a child of the capitol, ambitious to a fault, and Machiavellian in her thinking. If she's able to catch the eye of someone who can get her farther ahead than her date, you better believe she'd bounce on them in a heartbeat.

3. Which character is more than happy to steal Hanukkah gelt from poor, unsuspecting children? [Note: Hanukkah gelt = chocolate coins]

Mark Shannon wouldn't think twice about swiping candy from kids unless it was to giggle at their disappointed little faces. You can't hang out with Libby Galster for as long as he has, not only as her PR rep but childhood friend, without being a bit twisted in the head.

4. Fill in the blanks: I saw ____[character]____ doing a whole lot more than ____[verb]____-ing Santa Claus. They were full on ____[action]____. 

I saw Eric doing a whole lot more than questioning Santa Claus. He was full on interrogating him.

Sorry if it's cheating to change the wording just a touch, but it didn't make sense otherwise.

Eric Green is extremely logically minded, and his social skills aren't the best. If he were presented with a mythological being such as Santa, there's no way he'd let the jolly old elf get away before he'd asked every question he could think up.

5. One of your characters decides to pregame before church and passes out in the middle of the Christmas service. Which character is it?

Nina Williams has the tendency to overdo when she finds something she enjoys, so I'm going to say this one is her.

6. Which character hasn’t been seen since winter began because they refuse to deal with the snow?

This screams Eric's twin sister, Sarah. She doesn't do cold, which is one reason she works in hydroponics, the hydroponics dome is kept balmy year round. Not that the main dome and residential are kept cold, but well, not as much work is put into keeping them warm.

​7. Which character completely forgot about the holidays and ends up regifting to everyone?

Ah, and we finally have the main character, Pyrrha Daedalus. She's a sweet kid and rather fond of showing people how she cares via gifts, but she's also just a bit of a flake, especially when she's busy. Between her full-time job at Delphinius Biochemical, working on her thesis, and being a reluctant figurehead for a newborn project, she doesn't exactly have a lot of free time on her hands to worry about things like holidays.

8. Which character has such crappy luck, they only discover their potato allergy after pigging out on latkes?

This one's a tie between Pyrrha's mother, Ihsan Daedalus, and Charles' older brother, Edward Yang. Both go topside for missions and end up taken out by residuals of bioweapons used back in the war only to have their memories used to try and frighten coalition citizens into maintaining the status quo.

9. The Krampus has arrived to punish your very bad characters. Which character is kinda into it? 

It'd probably be an act to try and creep Krampus out enough to leave her be, but I can kind of see Liberty "Libby" Galster being just sadistic enough to get into punishment, even if she's the one being punished.

10. One of your characters should be on the naughty list, but has convinced Santa to clear their name. Which character is it, and what was their means of persuasion?

I kind of hate to put his name on this one, but I could see Dimitri Anderson for this one. He's gotten roped into doing some questionable stuff being one of Galster's assistants, but his behind-the-scenes help for those on the side of the underdog might just be enough to get him back in Santa's good graces.

That's the Naughty List tag for the Icarus universe. Please join me next week for the Myth and Science universe version of the tag, and please feel free to consider yourselves tagged in this one if you're a writer as well.