Guess who! Yes, the Beautiful People questions are back for February. I debated whether to do this round, but then Jenny went and posted hers and declared that I was soon to post mine, so here I am. Last month I did Tip; this month I am returning to Charlie. As The White Sail's Shaking draws toward a close, Charlie is more and more involved in each chapter and thus has been occupying the greater portion of my brain. I hope, therefore, that you won't mind seeing him again.charlie bent, midshipman
1. If your character could be played by an actor, who would it be?
Jeremy Sumpter, if he would go to Neverland himself and stop growing up. I fixed on him after seeing "Peter Pan" (2003), but of course that movie was made nine years ago and Sumpter is now in his twenties. However, he still has a young-looking face and I believe he might be able to pull it off.
2. Does your character have a specific theme song?
There are a number of songs that remind me of Charlie, some more directly than others. I remember I picked Owl City's "To the Sky" and Andrew Peterson's "After the Last Tear Falls" some time ago. "Streets of London" by Blackmore's Night also brings Charlie to mind, although he has never been to London.
3. What's his worst childhood memory?
"I...had a fever. Walked a long way."
4. If your character had a superpower, what would it be?
Perhaps the ability to turn anything he touched into ice, ala Frozone. I never saw much use for the power, myself, but it is the only one I can see Charlie having.
5. If your character [wrecked] on an island with a bunch of other people, how could your character help the group survive?
A second question arises from this one, and that is whether or not he would want to help them survive. As to that, I suppose that, in a detached way, he probably would. However, Charlie has a great deal of the aristocrat in him and is not one to throw himself into any kind of brute labor. I could see him spending the entire time working out the island's exact location and its physical properties. It wouldn't help his companions, but if ever they were rescued it would be interesting information to have.
6. Is he married? If not, does he someday wish to be?
Charlie is fifteen, and he has no thoughts of matrimony at the present.
7. What is a cause he would die for?
Perhaps as telling a question would be, what is a cause he would kill for. But at any rate, I think one answer - there could be several - is that Charlie would die for honor. It would be stupid and he would know it was stupid, but he would do it, all the same.
8. Would he rather die fighting valiantly, or quietly at home?
Fighting. Or at least, he would like to think he would rather die fighting.
9. If a stranger walked up to him and told him he is the child of the prophesy, would he believe them?
If it happened in Boston, ten to one this stranger is going to smell heavily of alcohol. In that case, Charlie would remove them from his way with a wary smile, brush off his gloves carefully, and go on with whatever he was doing. Were the stranger of the darkly-cloaked, mysterious-Druid sort, straight out of legend and not to be denied, I imagine they would still find Charlie a difficult case. He would not like to be a child of the prophesy, and what he does not like he does not accept with good grace.
10. Do they prefer the country, or the city?
The city, if it comes down to a choice between those two alone. Charlie had enough of plantation-life when he was growing up and prefers the bustle and hustle of a place like Boston, although ships and the sea are his first love.
