Sunday, January 8, 2012

Leap 32 - Gone With the Wind

     So, I was listening to some country the other day and when Draggin' the River by Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert came on it started me to thinking about my NaNo08 character Rayella who vanishes and the fact I'd never really thought about *how* she disappeared.  But first, some back story.
     Rayella McGinty's DNA was altered as a child so that she has the ability to shift into some animals and communicate telepathically with all animals.  With these abilities, a strong sense of justice, and much training from Robin (a school friend) and Batman she joined the Teen Titans.  Shortly after joining the Teen Titans she was also selected to be the current Guardian of Terran Animals, a position that has been passed down since nearly the beginning of time and has given her extra abilities and strength.  While with the Titans she met and fell in love with the newest Guardian of Marine Animals, Garth aka Aqualad.  They even married secretly.  Unfortunately their marriage didn't last as she found him cheating on her with an Atlantian.  And shortly after that she found out she was pregnant.  Her anger at Garth coupled with wild pregnancy hormones causes her to attack him, a big Guardian no-no causing both to temporarily lose their positions and some abilities.  She continued crime fighting for a little bit after she discovered her pregnancy but soon, for the safety of herself and her unborn, Fauna 'retires'.  A month or so later, just as her pregnancy was beginning to show, Rae herself vanished, unwilling to admit to others that she was pregnant and unwilling to betray that she and Garth were married.  I originally had her going to the Black Forest on the Germanic border where there is a little, hidden monastery where the clerics know about the Guardians.  But Bruce and Dick know all her alternate identities, would be watching the airlines and there is no way she is taking a ship, what with morning sickness and her recent divorce from someone so connected to the sea.  So instead she goes to Oklahoma where she knows the former Guardian lives to establish a new identity so she can travel to Germany later.  Now, as for how she 'vanishes'.  Here's what I've come up with.
  • Blow up her apartment.  - It's a bit destructive.  - I didn't have her in an apartment earlier in the story.  *She could send a British rep to commission the building of her new apartment.  * Makes reentering Gotham society rather ... interesting.
  • Push her car into the river.  - Where in Gotham would she push her car into the river?  Seems like a waste of a perfectly fine piece of equipment.  - It would be a bit cruel to her family, as they think her mother died in a car accident.  She leaves letters for her father, Bruce and Dick so they will know she's not dead but still.  * Once again, society.
  • Simply disappears.  What's the fun in that?  How would she travel?  By bus?  Cab is trackable.  So is train.  And car.
  • She could have a public fight with someone as Rae then disappears.  But with who?  Not her father.
  • Say she is going on a trip someplace, then doesn't check in.
Do you have any other ideas?  Which one do you think is best?

Top image from I have forgotten where.  Bottom image from Getty Images.

4 comments:

  1. No. No. Maybe. No. Maybe. Does that help? -doodlebug

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with Deanna, you should go with your 3rd and 5th ideas. I'd combine the two ideas. Here's how.

    Start off with Rae going on a "trip someplace". She could be headed by car to a Family Reunion in the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma during the summer. But she never arrives, instead she disappears, no one can reach her by phone, they can't find her car. Rae simply disappeared.

    Where did she go? Rae went to see the Former Guardian, established her new Identity and then hops on a plane headed for Germany. And then you can continue with your story from there with the ideas that you already have for "Her trip to Germany".

    I think that what you have at the end of the back story, that you posted above, would work fine. It just needs to be expanded upon and it'll work!

    I hope that helps you out! And if you have any questions or need more help just give me a call or shoot me an E-mail!

    -Luke-

    ReplyDelete
  3. err...how DOES one vanish and then end up in Germany in modern times? Does she have any old friends in the military who could hide her on a cargo transport plane heading to Europe whilst simultaneously making it look like the economy made her lose her job and home, resulting in her living on the streets but then simply...disappearing?

    ReplyDelete