Sidekick

Chatterbox: Crowd Sorcery

Sidekick

Sidekick

Sidekicks in great stories come in many shapes and sizes: a jolly traveling companion, a dog or cat, a wise wizard who gives helpful advice, a goldfish in a bowl, a walking stick that talks. A sidekick gives the main character someone to talk to, which allows for dialogue and interaction. With two minds in the story, there’s the possibility for more action, tension, and more unexpected things to happen! 

I can imagine Quill, the moonlight girl I mentioned on the Hero and Heroines thread, having a friend, Colin, whom she meets because he goes into the forest at night to gather Silvercaps, special flowers that sprout up when the moon is shining but wither before dawn.

I might write: “During the daytime, when he was not off in the village selling his Silvercaps, Colin tended to sleep inside his favorite hollow tree trunk. So there were usually bits of bark in his unruly dust-colored hair, and sometimes a centipede would crawl out of his pocket or an ant would drop out of his collar. He scratched his head often and smelled like the forest after a rain.”

Now that we have a main character, Fable Thatcher, what sidekick will you imagine for her? A comical friend? A wise mentor? A romantic interest? Will your sidekick even be human? Let your imaginations run wild!

 

1. Name

2. Appearance

3. Background

4. Occupation or trade

5. Attitude toward main character

6. Strengths or special abilities

7. Fears, weaknesses, or secrets

8. How is the sidekick helpful?

9. What does the sidekick want most?

10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s)

 

Please note that you have until July 14 to create your sidekicks in time for voting.

submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 11:52 am)


1. Name


Athena


 


2. Appearance


Athena is a small peregrine falcon.


 


3. Background


When Athena was just a fledgling, lightning
struck her nest and killed her parents and siblings.  Miraculously, Athena was able to survive the
lightning strike and fend for herself. 
Once, when Athena was out hunting, and Fable was taking a walk in the
woods, they spotted each other, locked eyes, and instantly knew they were
renhearts.  Before she met Athena, Fable
felt like someone was missing from her life. 
Athena is that someone.


 


4. Occupation or trade


Athena hunts for herself and Fable.  She also teaches Fable about wilderness
survival.


 


5. Attitude toward main character


Athena is Fable’s renheart.  They are extremely close, and feel like
exactly what they are: two halves of one soul. 
They can communicate telepathically.


 


6. Strengths or special abilities


Athena is very smart and can fly extremely
fast like all peregrine falcons.  She can
hunt exceptionally.  Athena is tough and
can fight well using her talons and beak. 
She is funny and brave.


 


7. Fears, weaknesses, or secrets


Athena is deathly afraid of thunderstorms
because she was struck by lightning once. 
Athena sometimes makes foolish and arrogant mistakes.  She can’t judge people very well, so she
assumes everyone is bad until they prove they’re not.  Fable and Athena have no secrets between
them.


 


8. How is the sidekick helpful?


Athena teaches Fable about wilderness
survival, cheers her up, and lets Fable confide in her.


 


9. What does the sidekick want most?


Athena wants Fable to be happy and carefree.


 


10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s)


There! 
A sparrow flying under her!


Athena started to dive, but something caught
her eye, and she stopped in midair.  A girl
with deep, starry blue eyes stood there, looking up at her.  Athena could not help but stare into those
eyes.


At that moment, an odd sensation flooded
through her; one of home, and being loved, and Athena felt full, and true, and
powerful, and whole, and she could tell the girl felt that way, too, and then
she knew.  Athena was this girl’s
renheart.

~~~

Cappie says givu.  Give me what, Cappie?

Cappie also says chao.  You can *almost* speak Italian, Cappie!


submitted by Bounty, age 12, Crowd Sorcery
(July 2, 2014 - 10:25 am)

Name: Quilen

Appearance: 5'6" tall, brown hair, wears two miniature swords strapped to his back.

Background: Being part wood elf, he spent most of his life in the woods, though he takes frequent trips into town with his father.

Occupation or trade: Quilen occasionally helps his human father in his shop in town, he also loves adventures.

Attitude toward main character: Quilen has met (I forgot the heroine's name, grrr! The one that writes things that come true.) quite frequently and thinks highly of her.

Strengths or special abilities: Being half woodland elf, Quilen can talk to plants and animals and get help from them, and he's a pretty good swordsman.

Fears, weaknesses, or secrets: Quilen's powers occasionally backfire, getting him either whopped by a tree branch or chased by an angry moose. (Don't ask, long story)

How is the sidekick helpful? Quilen is brave and will fight to protect his friends.

What does the sidekick want most? World peace.

Quilen smiled as he looked down on the men with crossbows.

"Don't poachers ever learn?" he thought in amusement. Poachers loved these woods because hey where teeming with rare wildlife. He had stopped many before though so he could do it again. He leapt down noiselessly from the treetops and onto the ground near them and let loose a wolf-like howl. The men jumped and looked around the forest with terror in their eyes.

"What was that!" Said one of them in a hoarse whisper.

"Sounded like a wolf." Said the other. Quilen let out another piercing howl, and then let out a snake-like hiss.

"What's going on here!" The first one roared. Quilen  called on his wood elf side and silently talked to the trees.

"Get ready." he said. Then he leapt into the clearing. "Hey fella's! Over here!" The men swung around and stared at him, one of them quickly recovered his senses and aimed his crossbow. "Now!" He yelled. Out of nowhere, tree branches shot out, encircled the poachers, and lifted them high!

"AAARRGGG!"

"OOMMPPHH" They yelled simultaneously from up in the trees. Quilen burst out laughing.

"Gotcha!" He cried gleefully, and then he jumped back into the trees and disappeared. Someone would find them. Eventually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

submitted by Will, age 14, Georgia
(July 2, 2014 - 11:20 am)

 

1. Lara Viridis 
2. When she's in elf form she has waist-length siver hair that she keeps loose with two braids on the sides and a fair complexion, she wears practical clothes in dark brown, medium green or silver, she is 4 foot 10 inches and is 12 years old, she has beautiful green eyes. She can also become a small silver fox that has the same eyes.

3. She lives with her parents and older brother and younger sister in a hut in the forest about a mile away from Fable's village They aren't poor but they're not rich either. She spends most of her day learning magic and the properties of herbs and berries. In her free time she likes to prank the village and swim.

4. Learning and taking care of the house and her younger sister.

5. Fable is her best freind, they met just a couple weeks ago when Lara tried to get Fable to eat a piece of bread that, if she had eaten it, would have turned Fable into a partridge.

6. Lara is a fast runner and a strong swimmer, has a good knowledge of magic, her ability to turn into a fox helps them. She is witty and funny but can be serious and wise.

7. She is afraid of the dark; when she was young she got lost in the forest after dark and it wasn't until 5 hours later she was found, that also counts an embarrassing secret.  

8. Lara is helpful because of her physical abilities, knowledge of magic, and her ability to turn into a fox.

9. What she wants most is to go on a quest, have some adventure and succeed, along with becoming rich and famous.

10. The pond shimmered with life and beauty as Lara ran by its shore. She paused a moment; she should probably try to turn the  pond purple and back to practice her magic. But she paused a moment to think, skipping a rock that she found as she thought, "It's pretty boring living in the same village for 12 years. I thought adventure was supposed to come to you, maybe I'm supposed to hunt it down." She would pack her bags that night and camp by the village a mile down; maybe something would happen. Sure enough, later that night she tried to trick Fable into eating the partridge bread; it turned into a prank war in which Lara came out on top. Suprisingly it made both Fable and Lara want to be friends. Together they became best friends, serious Fable and Lara the trickster.

submitted by Juniper L., Elsewhere
(July 2, 2014 - 6:31 pm)

Name: Mararo Wing 

Appearence: Eyes that change with the passing seasons (example: cold blue in winter, warm greens and purples in spring, etc.) Rough skin that looks like tree bark and can blend in to nature like a chameleon. She/he/it has spindley wings that sometimes sprout leaves in spring and summer.

Background: Mararo is a tree sprite and has lived in the forest next to Fable's village her whole life. He has spent a lot of his time looking for something that keeps occuring in his dreams. 

Occupation or trade: Mararo is the apprentice under the forest chief. She hates it mostly because of The Prophecy, but partly because the chief is one of his parents.

Attitude toward main character: He's very frightened of her for a time, but as The Prophecy becomes complete they become friends and on occasion Mararo will tease her or make witty remarks.

Strengths or special abilities: Like most tree sprites Mararo can communicate with other races and species. Sometimes without knowing it her words trigger magic.

Fears, weaknesses, or secrets: When he looks at Fable he sees himself in her face: alone, burdened and something else unexplainable.

How the is sidekick helpful: Mararo teaches Fable languages that she knows, which unlocks magic in the both of them and helps them in their adventure.

What the sidekick wants most: To have his other parent back.

Crowd Sorcery sentences: Mararo was playing with words, mixing all the languages he knew into something different. "Lael! Manzuren?" She was waiting for it to happen again, the bright light to shoot from her hands again, but nothing happened. "But it was so magical!" cried Mararo. She dropped her hands as her parent called, "Mar stop that racket! Go to bed!" 

As Mararo went to bed she was thinking hard about the magic she had seen in her words. When Mararo woke, she had forgotten, not forever though. He would remember when he met the girl. The one who had magic in her words too.   

 

submitted by Lena, age 11, Durham, NC
(July 2, 2014 - 7:05 pm)

1. Dalytwinx Flystrayt

2. Short black hair, dark brown eyes that see suprisingly well at night

3. Dalytwinx is a Fledermouse, a human-bat shape shifter. He was shunned by everyone he met until she found Fable. Dalytwinx has had a strange history like all Fledermice and is happy to find someone he can finally trust. He has known there still are Believers, people who take Fledermice in, and he wants to find the Believer that is hiding his parents in his/her attic as bats.

4. Jack-of-all trades, fisher, pickpocket (only if he's desperate)

5. Dalytwinx likes Fable and is happy to find someone he can tell his secret to.

6. Awesome eyesight + hearing, can turn into a bat at will

7. That everyone will find out he's a Fledermouse and kill him -- People (Unbelievers) hate Fledermice, think they are evil and diseas- infested but they're not, they just can turn into bats. That Fable will betray him, that Fable will write that he dies at the hands of the Unbelievers.

8. He helps Fable to find the prophecy and her parents, he is also her "spy" -- ears and eyes work awesome in the dark.

9. To find his parents and to have safety.

10. Dalytwinx stopped. He thought he had lost the Unbeliever hunting party by now. Wait... stop.. about a half mile to the north. There they were. He was safe, for now. He also heard pen hittng paper, very close by. Dalytwinx wanted to investigate. As long as whoever was writing didn't recogniz him, he was okay. He walked, didn't fly. Too risky. After about 6 minuted of walking, he found an old shack. He opend the door, soundlessly. A girl, sitting at an old, crumbling desk, was writing. And crying. Dalytwinx thought her eyes were beautiful. So starry and mysterious. She looked up. <"Who are you and what are you Doing Here?"> she asked.

submitted by Lillian W, age 11, Minnesota
(July 2, 2014 - 7:11 pm)

1. Name: Phoenix Lilypad

2. Appearance: has red hair with blue streaks, a red and blue eyes, pale skinned with a fire tattoo on her arm and a water drop on her other arm, has dark, noticeable freckles, tall, skinny and has a slightly pointed nose.

3. Background: Her mother was a phoenix that could become human and a regular human father. When they had Phoenix, her mother turned to ashes and her father left her, despite she was mostly human. Now she is 13 and makes pastrys when she met Fable.

4. Occupation or trade: Makes pastries and breads. Also sells ripe fruit she grows in the forest.

5. Attitude toward main character: a bit mean at first(she had her reasons) then became nice and optimistic.

6. Strengths or special abilities: Can control fire, water and become a phoenix.

7. Fears, weaknesses, or secrets: Secret- hasn't told Fable about the phoenix thing yet...... Fear: people will be discriminating toward her if they found out about the phoenix thing. 

8. How is the sidekick helpful? She is helpful because when the run out of water that's clean,she can find it, or if there's a cold night and there in a cave on a mountain with no fire wood she can make fire easily and keep it going.

9. What does the sidekick want most? She wants to be helpful, but human.

10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s)

I ran down the steps of my bakery and grabbed my duffel bag. I was so excited to go on a adventure with this Fable. I stopped. I noticed when she asked for help I was snotty. I looked at the picture of my father and mother's wedding. I frowned. I quickly shrugged it off. I shoved it in my duffle. I looked around for my jacket. It was brown and leathery. I found it and put it in my bag. I also put my sleeping bag and some food in it. I noticed the untouched dagger on my desk. I also added that in. Not that I would need it. I think and see if I need anything else. I slap my forehead. "Clothes!!!" I blurt out. I blush but it's not like u can see it under my freckles. I shove everything in my drawer in my duffle. I also grab a small coin purse full of money in my pocket. I sling my duffle over my shoulder, put on a smile, and go upstairs to begin my journey with Fable.

Hope u enjoy Phoenix. I personal think she is unique. :3 

submitted by Ashleigh G.
(July 2, 2014 - 7:33 pm)

She is unique......and awesome! I'm going to vote for her/you.Smile

submitted by Laila G.
(July 14, 2014 - 6:35 am)

Aww thx :3

submitted by Ashleigh G
(July 16, 2014 - 10:17 am)

1. Arianna Chance

2 .Ari (everyone calls her that instead of Arianna) has medium length red hair and freckles. Her eyes are a startling turqoise blue and she is tall and lanky, taller than any of the boys in her village.

3. Ari's mother died when she was four years old. Her father raises her like the boy he wishes he had. He doesn't resent Ari being a girl, though, because she reminds him of his sister, who Arianna was named after. Ari HATES baking, but her father insists on teaching her  "at least something proper like a lady", so she is learning how to bake. Woe to all who come into the shop while Ari's trying to bake something, and even more woe who those who try out the product of her cooking.

4. Baker's assistant (she refuses to be her father's apprentice because she HATES baking).

5. She is the main character's BFF, but is always pushing the main character to try new and sometimes very unsafe things.

6. One of her strenghts is that she is very couragous and always up for trying new things. She doesn't think she has special abilities, but sometimes small unnatural things happen when she's around, like bread being baked and done in a matter of minutes instead of the average hour.

7. She masks her feelings around other people. She fears only death itself.

8. Ari would be helpful as a sidekick because she is strong and brave. She is loyal to her friends. She would like to think she is deadly to her enemies, but that is a little exaggerated.

9. What Ari wants most is to be a hero. Someone who others look up to and ask advice of. She will do almost anything, even deny someone else their chance to be a hero.

10. Ari took time like a baker, so she was usually up by about five in the morning. Once Ari started baking, everyone knew it. A disgusting sulfuric burning smell would fill the village. Some said Ari's baking could make a grown man cry. Others said it would make a grown man die. This is all proof that when Ari gets up, everyone gets up.

At about ten AM, Ari would leave the shop and greet the new day. Literally. "Hello sunflower!" "Hello Dandy!" Dandy was the cobbler's son and quite a handsome boy. "Hello little bug on my finger-ow, it bites! Goodbye, little bug on my finger!" Here she would shake the bug off and stomp on it thoroughly. 

submitted by Violet C., age 11, Washington
(July 2, 2014 - 8:56 pm)

Name: Calliope Profecia

Appearance: "Mud; everything the girl thought of herself was mud. Just dark, muddy hair, and dark brown eyes that resembled dirt after a rainstorm. Her body was thin, and she lacked strength, but not confidence."

Background: Calliope was born on farm outside of a poor villiage, where her parents and three older brothers worked all day, but she never really had any interest in watering tomatoes or sowing soil. Instead, she read books and wrote poetry, and taught herself to play on her mother's old piano. She had a loving family, and never really knew what it would be like to be without a family. When she isn't doing those things, Calliope sold their produce in the market every couple of days to make a living for a family with four children. The town is where she meets Fable, and decides to help her, because she leads a sort-of monontonous lifestyle.

4. Calliope sells the produce and foods from her family's farm.

5. Apon meeting Fable, she thinks that she might be able to help her, and she respects her, since it seems like Fable has been through a lot.

6. Calliope has a strange ability to play music. Within mintues of hearing a piece, Calliope can play the song, beatifully and flawlessly, on the piano. Though Calliope is a shy girl, not many people know about this simply amazing gift. So she knows how it feels to be stunned at yourself for a power you don't fully understand.

7. She has a box of secret seeds for plants- that can cure anything!

One night, while searching for firewood, Calliope's oldest brother dissapears, and now, she is scared that this could happen to anyone she values closely in life.

8. Calliope encourages Fable to write about only good things, and she helps her find her background, and who she really is.

9. Calliope wants become someone who is known for changing the world she lives in. She also wants her family to pay more attention to her, because she isn't really noticed because she is so quiet and shy. She also wants for her piano to be in tune.

10. CROWD SORCERY SENTENCES!

Calliope's fingers danced across the black-and-white keys. Most of whay she played was pieces she had thought up of in her head, and sometimes  it would be songs her mother sang to her when she was small. She had only been playing for a week, but the more she played her mother's old piano, the more she knew about music, it seemed. She used music to block out the world, because now that she was older, no one really paid that much attention to her anymore. It was her escape from her cold brothers who ignored everything she said and did. Maybe it was she didn't work on the farm, or that she was the only girl, besides her mother. This piano, which seemed enchanting, had been the most interesting thing in her life in such an eternity! But when she was about to begin another song, she heard her father's pungent voice from across the ceiling.

"Calliope! Time to go!"

She knew it was time. To begin the monotnous job of selling the farm's weekly produce, which was boring and sometimes sporadic; every once and a while people came to purchase the season's best fruits and vegetables. As she set up her cart, she noticed a young girl, about her ages, walking around the town, trying to be unnoticed. But Calliope noticed her, and the vendor next to her whispered, "The secret is out! That's Fable Thatcher, the girl who writes the future!"

By this, Calliope was interested. She was voracious to know more.

 

(Notes: "Calliope" is the name of the Greek muse for poetry and music. "Profecia" is the Spanish word for "prophecy".) 

submitted by Mary D.
(July 2, 2014 - 11:09 pm)

1. Seamus Overdale

2. Curly brown hair, blue eyes, two inches tall. Yes, two INCHES tall.

3. He had a nice life until Lycan (or whatever other villain is chosen) captured/killed his parents. He put a shrinking spell on himself to escape through a roof gutter and it'll wear off in three years.

4. He wanders, mostly living by a berry bush and acorn tree.

5. Hoping she can gain control over her power to break his curse.

6. He is determined and wise.

7. Birds, cats, and small yippy dogs.

8. He gives Fable good advice.

9. To not have to wait three years for this curse to be broken. And his parents.

10.      Seamus scrambled onto the roof as the rain pounded his face. Lycan/ Villain was coming. He knew it. He considered going back into the attic, but he would be dead either way. The attic door slammed open and Seamus whirled around to face his doom.

Lycan/Villain climbed up. "Lovely game you're playing," he/she snarled, "but I always win!"

"I can escape you! I have a plan!" Seamus screamed, lying through his teeth.

"Ah, the arrogance of youth," Lycan/Villain said silkily, "Pity it'll end so soon, eh?"

Seamus knew what he had to do. It was the only way out. He couldn't shrink Lycan/Villain, so........

He pointed his wand at himself.

"Horret!" he screamed.

He saw Lycan/Villains face contort to rage. He heard Lycan/Villain stomp after him. And he heard nothing as he was washed down the roof gutter and passed out. 

submitted by Brooke E., age 11, Arkansas
(July 3, 2014 - 8:01 am)

1. Name: Nola

2. A Bright twinkling blue eyes that people can't take there eyes off her when they see her.

3. Background: Grew up in the wild with the animals with no mom or dad. Only comes out at night.

4. Personality: Sercretive, shy, protective, mysterious.

5. Attitude toward Main Character: Sly and suspicious.

6. Ablities or Strengths: Has ability to turn into a graceful eagle. And spot things from miles away. 

7. Fears, Strengths, or Weaknesses: Afraid that somethings mysterious is going to happen with Fable Thatcher. She thinks she looks supicious from the beginning. Doesn'tknow if she should trust her.

8. How is the Sidekick Helpful: She thinks she might be the person to finally to understand her power and the prophecy.

9. What does the Sidekick want most?: To figure out who Fable Thatcher really is.

10. My Crowd Sorcery Sentences:

I heard an owl hooing. I knew it was time to wake up. The animals knew too. As I sat up, I heard a rustle in the bushes. I froze. I heard again, it sounded like a person. I took out my knife and slowly walked over to the rustling. Then she came out. She was a girl. I slowly lowered my knife and ran. I had no choice. I had never seen a human in my life. It wasn't my time to die or the animals. All I could do was hope.

submitted by Greta.V, age 11, Michigan
(July 3, 2014 - 8:14 am)

 

1. Name: Silva Backwood.

2. Appearence: Hazelnut colored hair, light smattering of freckles on his fair complexion and deep stormy grey eyes. He is tall and lanky and is an elf, about 5 foot 9 inches and is 13 years old.

3. Background: Has lived by himself for a little while, his family's house was getting extremely crowded with all his siblings so he decided to go off on his own so they (And himself) would have more room and enough to eat. 

4. Occupation or trade: Finding shelter, food and clothes, he also practices magic on a daily basis getting odd jobs so he can afford supplies for magic like books or potion ingredients.

5. Attitude toward main charecter: He is Fables only freind, they met a short while ago and are starting to get to know each other better.

6. Strenghths or special abilities: He is proficient in magic and can keep calm even in panicky situations, exceptionally bright. He can speak fluent tree and knows some animal speech.

7. Fears, weaknesses, or secrets: He is afraid that he'll live as a hermit his whole life. He has his own prophecy kept in the form of a song that he keeps with him in a crystal jar, that is a secret. He can be a little overconfident and cocky at times.

8. How is the sidekick helpful?: He provides her with knowledge of magic, can use it, and helps her figure out problems, he can also speak fluent tree and knows some speech of animals.

9. What does the sidekick want most?: Silva wants to have a house in a forest and have adventure his whole life.

10. Silva streched and peered out of the tree he was staying in his eyesight blurry,he tried to shake the sleep off but it was hard. Finally he just fell out off the tree which woke him up immediately, he drank some water from the rushing stream nearby and looked around wondering where he was, he had travled the whole day yesterday and now he looked around at completely new terrain. Perfect. He would spend the day exploring just like tommorow and the day after, or so he thought.

submitted by Juniper L., Elsewhere
(July 3, 2014 - 9:25 am)

1. Destiny Hart

2. She has short brown hair, pale skin and explosively blue eyes. She is 4' tall and around 10. Short, thin. 

3.Born the eighth daughter of an eighth daughter, she is bad luck. Her older sister Frost, seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, is good at water magic. Destiny finds kinship with Fable.(Frost has dark blond long hair, explosive green eyes, pale skin. She is short, thin, and fourteen)

4.Daughter.

5. Wants to be free of her curse.

6. Bravery, compassion

7. Hurting someone she cares about.

8. She's a good friend.

9. To be free.

10. Destiny sobbed. "N-no! Stay back or I might hurt you!"

"I can help!" called Frost, "Keep calm!"

"NO! I- I know you're a genius, and you're helping Mable- I mean Fable, but nothing can help me!"

"I-"

"Look out!"

A flash of fire burst from Destiny's palms. Frost quickly made an ice shield out of the nearby water jug. "I'm sorry!" screamed Destiny. "It's okay, Des! You barely scraped my palms." Frost said.

Destiny's parents ran in. "Frost! Your hands!" their mom yelled.

"I'm fine!"

Her father took one look at Frost's injured palms and turned to Destiny with a terrified look on his face. "Go to your room."

submitted by Brooke E., age 11, Arkansas
(July 3, 2014 - 12:36 pm)

I'm sorry! I meant Frost was Destiny's half sister. Sorry for any confusion!Embarassed

submitted by Brooke E., age 11, Arkansas
(July 4, 2014 - 2:06 pm)