The Calpurnia Mission: Chapter 3: Between Life and Dark

This chapter is the first time the siblings travel into an unknown realm to retrieve a key, as it is their assignment from Fairscourt who they stole the keys from. He makes a deal that if Calpurnia brings back all the keys which were distributed to all the other people trapped in Delvion, he won't turn them over or in for punishment.

And so..it begins.

This world is darkness – and anything that the dark touches is torn apart by monsters. The only safe place is in the halo of light. This is where the siblings meet the first of the people they sentenced to this life – and the consequences.

Between Life and Dark
Yep. I'm super good at naming chapters. If only it was my full time job.

This story was totally inspired by Alan Wake. However, there is no fighting or anything. Just that light-dark type concept. I found this story fairly easy to write because it had a pretty easy and common arch to it. Arrival, discovery, journey, negotiation and return. I needed this story to set up future moral problems and to give the characters something to build into.

I still needed this story to help set up how the keys work and how people lived in this world and what the remains of that would look like.

I gotta talk about Derko!

Derko
Derko is Calpurnia’s older brother. I write of him: Black hair, very bright-light blue eyes. Sharp features but friendly expression. He is lean but broad shouldered. Probably 6’0. Derko is often referred to by others as being handsome, some of this is due to his very bright eyes and some due to his more charming and outgoing personality.

Derko could be considered Calpurnia’s polar opposite – but the two are more alike than meets the eye.

They are siblings, they were raised in the same environment making them having very similar traits or ideas. I tried to be as aware of this as I could. It made some things easier, like I didn't have to explain out their relationship or build it up, it was pre-existing. It made other things harder, like linking core beliefs and how they cope and view their choices.

Derko is perpetual motion. He fills silence with words and is almost always doing something. He is open and emotional and somehow finds the silver lining in almost everything. He had a wonderful sense of humor, even when his jokes fall flat. He can connect with people easily and people tend to like him back.

I made Derko different than most stereotypical "older brothers" or knight-in-shinning-armor types in his total and absolute belief in Calpurnia. A trait that is echoed through all his relationships but never more concentrated than with his sister. He is so proud to be an older brother and his faith in Calpurnia is unshakable and he never, ever fights her battles without her permission or controls her as a sexual or totally independent person.

During dark times, he calmly tells Calpurnia she can get them out of it. In public, he sides with her even if he might believe she is wrong - and that's who he is - he sides with her, he does not direct her.  This is a key mark of their relationship.

I built into him luck – he is lucky, one of those people who has things go their way at odd times. This tends to be because he is so open, is always working and is generally positive. He has some magic to him - he possesses eidetic memory for written words and images – although, I made sure to consult silence on this trait – he is not always 100% accurate but accurate enough in most cases.

Derko, for all his adult-ness, is an innocent, he's one of the good guys and as a good guy, he takes a lot of hits. In essence, he wears his heart on his sleeve – his mood and thoughts are mostly always known and he does not keep new secrets well.

What he hides mostly is his own pain which are caught in the silence and stillness he is running from.

Derko has clear problems with authority of for those he believes is trying to control him. While he has such potential to learn and be guided, he tends to have some barriers up. If he believes you are an enemy, it's hard for him to soften. If you are friend, it's hard for him to harden.

He is volatile, impulsive, arrogant...He can be foul mouth, aggressive and antagonistic. He can explode in rage or excitement with equal and disastrous force.

The most upsetting thing about Derko is that he is a natural leader and very gifted and he does not see it or he throws it away.

What I Learned
No one is ever what they seem.

Writing Derko is exhausting. I find the words I take away from Calpurnia spawn 10-fold in Derko. I always have to keep an eye on him when he is around – he is always moving, talking, grunting, huffing.

I spent a lot of time trying to make him funny and make his jokes funny and then I learned he's not always funny, he is just always trying to be funny and crack a joke. Making Derko's jokes "bad" makes him as funny as when he lands a humdinger of a joke.

In order to give him credibility, I built in very soft moments that displays his self-doubt. For Calpurnia, he tries to be as strong and fearless and optimistic as possible. Sometimes, he doesn't quite feel that way. His internal narrative is that he is a hero on a hero's quest and as the hero, he will always triumph through the bad times.

Throughout this collection of stories, there is a shift in Derko from a wild-child to someone who is a leader and a good friend. But keeping him positive in the face of betrayal and beatings was difficult. How do you keep someone upbeat ALL the time while still keeping them as a creditable and strong character? Instead of hiding his hurts, I found places he could display them.

Derko is my comic relief. He is loveable, making his flaws and weaknesses more forgivble. He is lost potential, unhealable saddnesses mixed with humor and a need to be type of heroic he cannot define. In the fabic of who he is, he both isolates and connects.

Calpurnia nails Derko best by saying “I wear my darkness on the outside, he wears his on the inside.”

Key Rules of Derko
Derko follows the follow list:

• He tries to protect, help, save and support anyone in trouble
• When things are bleak as a way to pump himself up - he will claim it is only a "hero's struggle"
• He curses frequently – but almost never in front of Calpurnia
• He gets aggressive easily at preserved threats
• He is a show-off
• He has the same black hair and traits of Calpurnia, but most people do not think they are siblings
• He's probably hungry
• He says a LOT of words – often run-on sentences, messy thoughts and over-talks his points. It gets worse when he is stressed
• He is a pacer – when thinking or agitated, he will pace in a specific formation
• When really upset, Derko plays with his hair, running his hand through it
• He is not a bad fighter and he can also take a hit
• He never stops believing in the good of people – at least, not for long
• He uses nicknames – Calpurnia is Cally, Schuylar is Sky, Rebelein is Reb. 
• He will get angry if someone attacks Calpunria, even if she is in the wrong
• If children are involved in a situation, Derko will do anything to protect them
• If he can make a pun about it, he will. Even if it is not funny. Derko’s humor is as much an attempt as it is a success

Fin
If you have questions about them or The Calpurnia Mission you can email me at StoriesbyMaddie at gmail or TheCalpurniaMission at gmail.

What? I like gmail.