Just for fun, an amusing idea borrowed and adapted from something that did the rounds on facebook a while back, please play: If you were kidnapped by aliens/pirates/zombies/a supervillain, and the main character from your work in progress was sent to rescue you, would you be saved or screwed? I actually have 3 1/2 main characters in mine, and my safety would depend on which one came to rescue me: If it's Sigrun (she's the half), I'm quite safe; she's basically a badass. If it's Emily or Ragnar, it could go either way depending on whether they manage to avoid getting shot. If it's Joel, I'm totally screwed.
Well, which is it? Aliens? Pirates? Zombies? Or a supervillain? If Aliens, 50/50. Hopefully one is female so he could use his handsome mug and gorgeous eyes to charm her into letting me go. If she's hot, he might sleep with her to distract her so I could escape. Pirates? Just how badass are these pirates? Probably screwed, unless they can use a piano player on their ship. Zombies? I'd probably be screwed. Supervillian? 60/40 in my favor if there was time to formulate a plan using his brain rather than brawn. ETA: Amending that to 70/30. He got himself out of Soviet Russia on his own at age 18, so I have faith in the boy.
I would say it would depend heavily on whether my MCs have decent intel, and can help in a timely fashion. So on all accounts it is 50/50 as to whether I am screwed or saved. Zombies would be the easy group from the options, as they can be dispatched by war-frames without wasting munitions to achieve that goal. As for the Alien aspect, they would probably want nothing to do with a Terran that has no status for bargaining, so they would probably just hand me over with out much of a fuss (granted most don't want to deal with a Galaxy class warship, let alone the much larger Centurian ship with more deck guns and missile batteries that would dissuade most out of getting into a fire fight.) Cause in space you don't mess with anything bigger that you, unless your suicidal. For the others it is all dependent on time basically.
Honestly They’d probably come up with an elaborate heist-style rescue plan, get distracted by the details, wander off to do something else, forget I was kidnapped... and then accidentally rescue me several chapters later while knee deep in an unrelated subplot.
Let's see... Wesley Stanton from Scarlet Whisper: If he could free me by hacking a computer I'm probably fine. Otherwise I'm dead. Lily Evrard from Scarlet Whisper: Depends how dangerous by kidnappers are. Aliens and supervillains would probably be an issue. Zombies and pirates would probably get chopped to pieces pretty easily. Lana from The Arcane Conflict: Depends where in the book. At the beginning it would basically be a random 10 year-old versus aliens/zombies/pirates/supervillains, so that wouldn't end well. By the end I'd probably be fine. Somewhere in the middle, it would depend how dangerous they were. Sorena Elseir from the Arcane Conflict: Again, depends how dangerous they are. She's a decently skilled mage though, so I might be fine. Phaun Varkthos from the Arcane Conflict: I'll probably be fine. If he feels like saving me that day. Ayen from Children of Fate: I feel bad for the zombies/pirates/aliens/supervillains.
Male Protagonist: If he decides that rescuing me is profitable for him, or that he has a specific duty to rescue me within his definition of his duty (if, say, he discovers that I'm his third cousin, or if he got me into this situation in the first place), I'll come out alive and well. If not, I'll die while he drinks his wine and feels only the tiniest bit bad. Female Protagonist: She'll probably try, and she might succeed. If she gets captured, he'll come get her and probably bring me along if it's not too much extra trouble.
If my MC can use his brain, I might get out alive. If not, well... I can only imagine him encountering the aliens/pirates/zombies/supervillain, pulling out his switchblade, and either running at them with it or throwing it at them and missing. I don't think either of us would get out alive in that case.
Eden Rei: One man army? Check. Terminator-style resilience? Check. Demon sword? Check. Bleeding heart idealist? Check. Iespher: This lean, mean killing machine would mount a daring rescue, with or without his crew. If he could be persuaded. Theodric: I would be just fine, because Theodric comes with an army. It would also cost so, so much money. Actually, I guess I'm still screwed. Lithiel: Same as the above, but more likely to start lopping off fingers when the payments run late. Flogg: Would not get out of bed on my account. If he did, would only make things worse. Morrion: I'll take my chances with the aliens/pirates/zombies/supervillain, thank you.
Let's see.... If it was Samuel... I would be saved, then sassed about being captured in the first place. If it was Kristol... She would rescue me, ask if i'm alright then proceed to mock me about being captured and then go on about how great she is and how screwed I would have been if she had decided not to rescue me. (Though deep down she would always come to the rescue and be relieved that said person was alright)
If it were Helen Chert, captain of the SNV Santarnica, I’d be safe. If it were Mishu Jerni, protagonist of my fantasy, I’d be...kinda screwed. If it were either Amos Garnier or Kevin McKinley... Yeah, I’m dead.
To be fair, if Ragnar decided to kill me instead of rescuing me, I wouldn't be surprised, I'd consider it fair payback.
I have two stories in progress. I used characters from each of those stories. -Eliza Cole I'd be screwed. She's just a young Durham University student. Her most daring adventure was to drink an entire bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and dance with her roommate, Victoria Lee, on front of the men in the Loft night club. My only hope from her is that she's an athletic volleyball player for the university team. Victoria is loyal enough to help. And she's an Archaeology student who's good at figuring things out with clues. -Asagun I might have a chance. Asagun is very fast, strong, skilled, tall, and has very good sight, hearing, and sense of smell. His long 2,107 years of experience makes him wise. Plus, he has a coalition army of elves and orcs.
Fate would save me. I hope. I'd probably have to pay him or give him food because he doesn't do anything for free, but I like to think that he'd save me before negotiating his payment. Gabriel would try to save me, but he's not really a fighter. He might try to bribe them with cookies.
Well, pirates are the only adversaries on the list who could exist in the universe of my WIP, so this only pertains to them. There are two MCs: I'll call them the Old Man (he bears an old wound and needs a crutch to get around) and the Young Boy (he's only twelve, but he's from a distant Northern hunting culture and is surprisingly formidable). If the Old Man were to rescue me, his (meaning my) only chance would be if the pirates are susceptible to diplomacy. The Old Man is a sly guy with a silver tongue, and might be able to talk the pirates into releasing me. I wouldn't bet on him, though. I think my chances would be better with the Young Boy. He has several attributes that would help a lot. First, he's brave to the point of being stupid at times. Second, he's a trained hunter and can move with great stealth when he wants to. Third, he's phenomenally accurate with his bow and arrow. If he can avoid capture, he'll get me out, and I'd frankly feel sorry for the pirates. If he can't, at least I'll have some company in my captivity.
All of my characters are capable enough to save me. They have different talents to help. If I would say who would be less likely to be able to save me, it would be Princess Melody and not because she's a damsel in distress type princess but because she's leaning towards a type of pacifist then the rest of them.
