Beautiful Siblings - Riley and Roxanne

Beautiful People time again, hosted by Cait and Skye.

This month's theme is siblings, which should be easy because I love writing about siblings ... but as I scanned though my current focus WIP's ... I realized that there are actually pretty few. For instance, in Water Princess, Fire Prince, siblings are either non-existent, absent, or spoilers. So, instead, I'm going to do the twins in book one of HaV Academy. Roxanne (the titular ROCKS) and her brother Riley (Or, as he's better known, the Plant Master.)

1. What is the first memory they have of each other?

They're twins, so they've pretty much always been in each other's lives. However, a specific early memory would be the day Riley's powers surfaced. They were about four years old, playing in their backyard when he got mad about not getting his own way (you know how kids are) in the game they were playing (they can't remember exactly what it was) and suddenly the grass started growing really fast and they were quickly lost in what was to them a jungle of weeds.

Their mom found them quickly enough, and soon after that, their dad kidnapped them for the first time and took them to his lair where they focused on control training for about a week (and her rock abilities surfaced when she started causing earthquakes.)

2. Describe their relationship in 3 words.

A common secret.

3. What kind of things do they like to do together?

Build. She loves designing and creating buildings, and he likes to fill in the details where she needs him to and watch her vision come to life. For the most part, her skills are limited to the building of lairs, especially her own, and as kids, their dad's. (She redesigned it about fifteen times before they were summoned by the academy.

As kids, they also enjoyed practice fighting each other. However, as they've gotten older, and the fights are now mandatory, they don't enjoy it as much.

4. What was their biggest fight?

Do you mean their stated fights as superhero and supervillain, or verbal fights over an actual issue? Do you mean one that takes place prior to the book, or during? Because like most twins who have everything and nothing in common, they've always had friction between them. As kids, most of their relationship was petty bickering over unimportant things, which neither of them actually took seriously. Once in a while, one would go too far and the other wouldn't talk to them for a week (or a month sometimes in Roxanne's case, since she's better at holding grudges), but for the most part, they got along, under their teasing. In fact, it's the absence of their bickering (and the fact that Roxanne's smile is now completely gone) that disturbs William when they get home from the Academy after graduation.

However, in book, I would say that their biggest fight is when Roxanne starts playing matchmaker for him (part of a villain's job - find a love interest for the hero, and then start kidnapping her, or in rare cases, him, as often as you can without completely breaking the victim). It's not so much that he minds the girl, because she really is perfect for him, but it's the principle of the thing, you know? Also, he wants her to loosen up and entertain the idea of romance for herself, which is something she's completely closed down (because it is rare for villains to marry, and even rarer if they're girls.)

And ... on that note, I'm having trouble deciding what to name the girl Roxanne picks out. Initially, I was going to do Rose, but that's now a different character in book 3. For a long time, it was Willow, but it's a bit too close to William for me to be comfortable with it. Other ideas: Fern, Iris, Ivy, and ... there was another one, but I'm not calling it off the top of my head. I want something to do with plants, but that's about all I know.

5. How far would they go to save each other?

If the other was truly in danger, they would risk everything, including revealing their true identities as hero/villain. Which is, for attendees of HaV Academy, a fate worse than death, because its grounds for getting your power removed. (And it's not a pretty sight. Depending on the power, it leaves the former super either dead, physically disabled, or mentally retarded.)

6. What are their pet peeves about each other?

Mostly little things. His constant teasing frequently gets on her nerves, while it annoys him how much she always takes things so seriously. That sort of thing.

7. What are their favorite things about each other?

She likes the fact that he'll usually do anything she suggests (because she really is the better planner of the two), And he loves the intricacy of her imagination.

8. What traits do they share? Mannerisms, clothing, quirks, looks, etc?

Parents ... they both have a superpower ...

But, really, they're polar opposites. She's an intense INTJ, while he's an outgoing, somewhat laid-back ESFP. She has black hair, gray eyes, and pale skin, and wears a lot of metallic colors, and sometimes jewelry. He had brown hair, green eyes, darker skin, and wears brighter colors, especially greens. He laughs a lot and is the life of the party, she rarely smiles (unless it's a carefully practiced diabolical grin as ROCKS), and usually just sits in the corner judging people. He has a lot of good friends, she has two or three best friends. (Riley, William, and she can't quite decide on Myr, her roommate at the acadamy, and sorta-kinda sidekick.)

9. Who has the strongest personality?

Roxanne, hands down. Maybe he's the more outgowing and loud, but she's far more intense than she is. She very much dominates the relationship/

10. How does their relationship change throughout your story?

They're never the closest of siblings. Indeed, if it weren't for the shared secret of their superpowers and the fact that they must keep them hidden, I don't know if they'd even be friends. In the beginning, they have their bickering, which is what leads to the Academy pairing them together as hero and villain, and then their lives going dual where they save all of their issues for when they're in mask and costume and get along almost perfectly in their normal clothes because they can't stand to be fighting if they don't have to be, then to emotions rising as the whole romance issue boils to the surface.

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