Beautiful People: Parental Edition (Tare)

It’s time for Beautiful People again! Which is a monthly blog linkup, hosted by Sky at Further Up and Further In and Cait at Paper Fury, with lists of questions to help writers get to know their characters better!

(…Y’know, just in case you have been living under a rock and haven’t heard about it. 😉 )

I also hear it’s kind of its anniversary so YAY!

Anyways it’s awesome and you should totally join in the fun, so go click this beautiful picture (see what I did there?) and see the other posts and link up with a post of your own if you should so choose! (Hint: you totally should!)

This month’s Beautiful People theme is the Parental Unit. Because they are often sorely neglected in YA fiction — sad, but true — due to being quite the nuisance for getting in the way of our young darling protagonists going off on horrendously dangerous quests, and besides that we evil writers tend to mooostly have them dead or killed off for convenience’s sake. Ahem. But parents in fiction, specifically YA, can be awesome when done awesomely! …I just am not that great at it. >.<

But since I’ve been messing about recently with an idea for a prequel to my Kedran’s Wood series, I thought I’d try doing Tare’s parents for this. They actually fall into the usual category for the series in general, I’m afraid (*cough*dead*cough*) but I want to explore them a bit in case they make appearances, however brief, in a prequel.

So. On with the party!

Let’s see if I can be sneaky enough to manage this without descending into complete spoiler territory! 😉 *rubs hands together with maniacal laughter and an evil grin*

Tare

Questions

1. Do they know both their biological parents? Why/why not?

They’re both dead by now (yeaaah, sad, I know. I told you, we’re evil writers. >.>) but he knew both of them at one point. His father when he was very young, and his mother then, and when she found him again… It’s not like he knew her a very long time after that, but yes, he did know them.

2. Have they inherited any physical resemblances from their parents?

His black hair is from his father, but I think you can see a resemblance to both his father and mother in his face. His father was more of a broad-shouldered type, and I think Tare inherited his mother’s slighter build. They both had similar bright blue eyes too, and though Tare’s are darker now, he did originally inherit his eye color from both.

3. What’s their parental figure(s) dress style? Add pictures if you like!

His father’s was much the same as his own — a lot of dark, and a black leather jacket. In fact, Tare at one point wore the jacket that had once been his father’s, which his mother had saved for him. Tare’s mother wore simple but elegant dresses of different varieties.

(Some resemblance to Tare’s father and mother…)

4. Do they share any personality traits with their parental figures? And which do they take after most?

Both of his parents were very strong minded people. Tare’s father was also very much of a lone-wolf type person who tried to help others and indirectly be a hero — not for heroism’s sake, but because someone needed to do it. That’s very much a trait of Tare’s. Tare’s mother knew exactly what she wanted and didn’t let anything pull her back, but also knew when to compromise for those she loved. But Tare mostly takes after his father, strong, silent, and out to do what he has to do.

5. Do they get on with their parental figure(s) or do they clash?

Not having known his father past a very young age… hard to say. I wouldn’t say he “got on” with his mother too well, being rather standoffish by the time she found him again, but I wouldn’t say they clashed, either.

6. If they had to describe their parental figure(s) in one word, what would it be?

His father: Strong.

His mother: Golden.

7. How has their parental figure(s) helped them most in their life?

The memory of his father’s strength keeps him strong often, and his mother’s independence but love and pulling him from a hard place in his life have shaped him somewhat as well.

Tare

8. What was their biggest fight with their parental figure(s)?

He doesn’t remember any with his father, who was killed when he was quite young. With his mother, they had a fight about whether or not they would stay where she suggested they live. Tare was not big on the idea. Mostly, though, there wasn’t much in the way of argument.

9. Tracing back the family tree, what nationalities are in their ancestry?

A bunch of Irish on both sides, and I think some Italian from his father’s side and maybe some Russian from his mother’s side. And of course, Tare will occasionally say something about having a fairy in his background too, but pffft, who would believe him about that…

10. What’s their favourite memory with their parental figure(s)?

A memory of his father throwing him in the air and laughing and catching him, when he might have been three or so. And when his mother found him.

“Tare . . . Tarragon,” she called after him.

He halted. Half turned. Then glanced back, wary.

“Do you know who I am?” her voice came soft on the cold wind down the alley.

His eyes looked deep into hers, wisps of her golden hair blowing around her face as she stood perfectly still some paces off, watching. Waiting.

Long moments passed.

His voice came at last, low, emotionless, with a simple statement.

“You’re my mother.”

~Son of Kedran’s Wood, KW 0.5