Prom Night, Pt. 1
Okay.
No, I'm not well. Don't ask why, won't tell.
Which leads, in turn, to me being creative.
Now, during the last few days, I re-discovered Prom Night, the first background story for an extremely minor character in a Feng Shui campaign.
Feng Shui is a RPGization of Hong Kong action movies, and the campaign was oriented towards the police flicks - such as Supercop or A Better Tomorrow. The character was the department rookie. The other major characters were Samantha Lee, a karate cop along the lines of a female Jackie Chan, and Arthur Lloyd Schneider, an Englishman in Hong Kong, who behaved similar to Dirty Harry. They worked under Chief John Destine of the 13th precinct, who was 40-50 years old Vietnam veteran and ex-Special Ops sniper. He's married to Miho Destine (*yes*, Miho of Sin City fame; she is, admittedly, one of the scariest chars out there. But she's mellowed a bit.) with whom he has one daughter, Reiko.
James Tong, the character about whom this story is, in a way, becomes later the rookie of the precinct. This means that he'd kick ass beyond words if he was anywhere else - the 13th precinct has, in this story, a reputation as "a para-military organization." Due to some personal interactions with fire, he's the expert on arson in the city; his parents burnt to death before his eyes when he was 6 or so, and since then he did his best to learn *everything* about fire, and how to save people from burning. He originally wanted to become a firefighter/medic; during the course of this story it changes to policeman. In this story, he's sixteen, goes to school, and has finally mustered up the courage to ask Lin Ziyi, daughter of city wide known mobster Lin Tsi and best friend of Reiko Destine, to accompany him to the ball before they change to Senior Year. And she agreed.
This one starts as romance, but rapidly devolves to tragedy/romance. People will recognize I've changed my journal subtitle; it's true.
This thing is about 50% complete, and German was the original language, which is why I'm posting both a German and an English version.
James Tong schlenderte langsam und gelassen zu Ziyis Haus. Es war der Abend des großen Abschlußballes, der Wechsel zur Oberstufe, oder, wie die Amerikaner es nennen würden, Senior Year.
Und er hatte sie endlich gefragt. Lin Ziyi, der Schwarm seines Lebens, das Mädchen, dass er seit sechs Jahren vergötterte, dass er geliebt hatte, seitdem er zehn war, dass ihn nie wahrgenommen hatte.
Also hatte er vor drei Monaten seinen ganzen, nicht vorhandenen, Mut zusammengenommen und war zu diesem Engel gegangen, und sie gefragt, ob sie mit ihm zum großen Ball gehen wollte.
Ziyi war ekstatisch gewesen. Niemand hatte sie gefragt, alle zu scheu, oder zu sehr besorgt, was ihr Vater mit einem Jungen machen würde, der es wagte, die Tochter des Lin-Clans anzusprechen.
Die Triaden nehmen Familie normalerweise recht ernst.
Und dann war dieser schüchterne, niedliche Junge gekommen, und sie konnte sehen, dass ihr Vater, ihre Familie, ihr sozialer Stand ihn nicht im geringsten kümmerte.Es war herzerfrischend. Es war wunderbar. Und diese großen, dunklen Augen, Spiegel ihrer eigenen, sahen tief in ihre Seele, und berührten ihr Herz.
Es hatte ihre ganze Selbstbeherrschung gekostet, nicht vor Freude nach Hause zu *springen*. Sobald sie daheim war, musste sie unbedingt Reiko anrufen, hatte sie damals gedacht.
James Tong strolled slowly and relaxed to Ziyi's house. It was the evening of the big prom dance, and they were about to enter Senior Year, as the Americans called it.
And he had finally asked her. Lin Ziyi, the crush of his life, the girl whom he had been adoring since six years, whom he had loved since he had been ten, whom had never seen him.
So he mustered up his entire, non-existent courage three months ago and had asked this angel whether she wanted to accompany him to the big prom.
Ziyi had been ecstatic. Nobody had asked her, everybody had been far too shy or too scared what her father would do to a boy who dared talk to the daughter of the Lin clan.
The triads tend to take family pretty seriously.
And then, this shy, cute boy came to her, and she could see in his eyes that neither her father nor her social standing nor her family disturbed him one little bit. It had been refreshing. It was wonderful. And these big, dark eyes, mirrors of her own, gazed deep into her soul and touched her heart.
It had taken all of her self-control not to jump for joy on her way home.
As soon as she arrived home, she'd call Reiko, she had thought then.
No, I'm not well. Don't ask why, won't tell.
Which leads, in turn, to me being creative.
Now, during the last few days, I re-discovered Prom Night, the first background story for an extremely minor character in a Feng Shui campaign.
Feng Shui is a RPGization of Hong Kong action movies, and the campaign was oriented towards the police flicks - such as Supercop or A Better Tomorrow. The character was the department rookie. The other major characters were Samantha Lee, a karate cop along the lines of a female Jackie Chan, and Arthur Lloyd Schneider, an Englishman in Hong Kong, who behaved similar to Dirty Harry. They worked under Chief John Destine of the 13th precinct, who was 40-50 years old Vietnam veteran and ex-Special Ops sniper. He's married to Miho Destine (*yes*, Miho of Sin City fame; she is, admittedly, one of the scariest chars out there. But she's mellowed a bit.) with whom he has one daughter, Reiko.
James Tong, the character about whom this story is, in a way, becomes later the rookie of the precinct. This means that he'd kick ass beyond words if he was anywhere else - the 13th precinct has, in this story, a reputation as "a para-military organization." Due to some personal interactions with fire, he's the expert on arson in the city; his parents burnt to death before his eyes when he was 6 or so, and since then he did his best to learn *everything* about fire, and how to save people from burning. He originally wanted to become a firefighter/medic; during the course of this story it changes to policeman. In this story, he's sixteen, goes to school, and has finally mustered up the courage to ask Lin Ziyi, daughter of city wide known mobster Lin Tsi and best friend of Reiko Destine, to accompany him to the ball before they change to Senior Year. And she agreed.
This one starts as romance, but rapidly devolves to tragedy/romance. People will recognize I've changed my journal subtitle; it's true.
This thing is about 50% complete, and German was the original language, which is why I'm posting both a German and an English version.
James Tong schlenderte langsam und gelassen zu Ziyis Haus. Es war der Abend des großen Abschlußballes, der Wechsel zur Oberstufe, oder, wie die Amerikaner es nennen würden, Senior Year.
Und er hatte sie endlich gefragt. Lin Ziyi, der Schwarm seines Lebens, das Mädchen, dass er seit sechs Jahren vergötterte, dass er geliebt hatte, seitdem er zehn war, dass ihn nie wahrgenommen hatte.
Also hatte er vor drei Monaten seinen ganzen, nicht vorhandenen, Mut zusammengenommen und war zu diesem Engel gegangen, und sie gefragt, ob sie mit ihm zum großen Ball gehen wollte.
Ziyi war ekstatisch gewesen. Niemand hatte sie gefragt, alle zu scheu, oder zu sehr besorgt, was ihr Vater mit einem Jungen machen würde, der es wagte, die Tochter des Lin-Clans anzusprechen.
Die Triaden nehmen Familie normalerweise recht ernst.
Und dann war dieser schüchterne, niedliche Junge gekommen, und sie konnte sehen, dass ihr Vater, ihre Familie, ihr sozialer Stand ihn nicht im geringsten kümmerte.Es war herzerfrischend. Es war wunderbar. Und diese großen, dunklen Augen, Spiegel ihrer eigenen, sahen tief in ihre Seele, und berührten ihr Herz.
Es hatte ihre ganze Selbstbeherrschung gekostet, nicht vor Freude nach Hause zu *springen*. Sobald sie daheim war, musste sie unbedingt Reiko anrufen, hatte sie damals gedacht.
James Tong strolled slowly and relaxed to Ziyi's house. It was the evening of the big prom dance, and they were about to enter Senior Year, as the Americans called it.
And he had finally asked her. Lin Ziyi, the crush of his life, the girl whom he had been adoring since six years, whom he had loved since he had been ten, whom had never seen him.
So he mustered up his entire, non-existent courage three months ago and had asked this angel whether she wanted to accompany him to the big prom.
Ziyi had been ecstatic. Nobody had asked her, everybody had been far too shy or too scared what her father would do to a boy who dared talk to the daughter of the Lin clan.
The triads tend to take family pretty seriously.
And then, this shy, cute boy came to her, and she could see in his eyes that neither her father nor her social standing nor her family disturbed him one little bit. It had been refreshing. It was wonderful. And these big, dark eyes, mirrors of her own, gazed deep into her soul and touched her heart.
It had taken all of her self-control not to jump for joy on her way home.
As soon as she arrived home, she'd call Reiko, she had thought then.