Cast Page
As of 2006-05-12:
Primary Cast Members
Keith Onzeker: Keith Onzeker (it’s Dutch) is a twenty-something college dropout living in a small apartment in an old building overlooking the Ithaca Commons in Ithaca, New York. Formerly an English major at Ithaca College, Keith makes his living as a temp and tries his best to be a writer. In many ways, he’s just spinning his wheels, waiting for something to happen.
As it works out, something does happen, when Keith discovers what looks like a six inch tall fairy with her foot caught in a tangle of metal and a storm grate down the alleyway between Center Ithaca and Home Dairy. Needless to say, Keith’s life changed.
As a boy, Keith and his friend Trudy liked to listen to his grandmother tell Scottish fairy tales (albeit ones that weren’t exactly Scottish to begin with). One common tale she told was how mortal men should not see fairies in their true form. If they did, they would receive the Mark of Death. This has now happened to Keith. However, because he saved Sonata’s life, he has been granted one Boon before he is killed. Keith has chosen to be inspired to write one enduring piece of truly classic literature — a work of the sort that will become a staple of the literary canon and a seminal work in English Literature.
Keith is rather unusually calm about his upcoming death — it feels simultaneously unreal and yet completely expected to him, and the synthesis of the two emotions seems to keep him on an even keel. He is clearly passionate about his literary dreams, however, and confronted with an early death his first thought was in achieving lasting literary significance.
Trudy Glick — A jazz clarinetist who has been a good friend of Keith’s since grade school, when she used to go over to Keith’s house and listen to Aggie Macintire’s stories with him. Trudy seems at least partially nuts and entirely sarcastic, and spends much of her time mocking those around her — most particularly Keith. She also seems immune to criticism — particularly when her own life choices are brought up.
Most unusual among those life choices is her decision (so she claims) to be “Housefree by Choice.” There’s some evidence to suggest Trudy is being honest — she had the money to buy an iPod, for example, instead of putting that towards some kind of permanent shelter. Trudy is a smoker and makes questionable choices — including having relationships with men purely on the basis of wanting to have someplace to sleep when it’s too cold to sleep outside.
Despite Trudy’s weird ways, and despite the nagging and grief she gets from Keith over some of her life choices, Trudy seems doggedly devoted to Keith as a friend. Trudy also wants to retain her right to show up at Keith’s any time of day or night and shower or store some of her stuff.
Malachite: A Lieutenant of the Barony of the Lower Finger Lakes Region, Malachite is a creature of magic, mystery and majesty. He also seems to be something of a blue collar fairy — getting to do the gruntwork that his superiors come up with. In this particular case, that gruntwork involves granting a Boon to Keith for his service in saving Sonata’s life. After that Boon is completed, he’ll kill Keith. Nothing personal — it’s just his job.
Malachite is sardonic. He doesn’t usually get fazed by anything that happens, and he generally has a cynical joke to be made about any given subject. He apparently has a sense of honor and duty, however, and when confronted with the cold fact that Keith is being killed for seeing Sonata even after saving her life, he has at least some guilt over it. It’s worth noting, however, that “some” guilt is not the same as “a lot” of guilt. And hey, he just has a job to do.
Malachite’s Glamour is of a suave, handsome latino man with a mustache and beard. He used to have a black male glamour instead — and was quite proud of it — but gave it up in disgust when black glamours became trendy. It’s not entirely certain if he’s offended out of sensitivity or because he disdains popularity. It might be both
Malachite isn’t happy about being forced to accomodate Keith’s boon — especially now that the boon seems to be impossible. He’s even less happy that Keith’s been marked for death in the first place. He feels that Sonata should be reined in far better than she is. However, he’s going to do his duty to the best of his ability regardless of his feelings.
Sonata: A six inch tall fairy with wings and incredibly wide eyes. According to legend, the sight of her means the person who sees her is marked for death. Keith, having seen her, knew this fate but decided to help her escape from the tangle of wire she was stuck in. The fairy seemed pleased and shy after being rescued, and spoke only in musical notes. She then flew away, and almost certainly will never appear in this strip again. I mean, what are the odds?
Sonata is the daughter of Garrison, the Baron of the Lower Finger Lakes Region. Her mother apparently spends most of her time in New York City, and Garrison is apparently not inclined to discipline or even keep tabs on Sonata. As a result, Sonata innocently goes poking around Ithaca, spreading a rash of humans Marked for Death in her wake. She doesn’t understand the consequences of her actions, and actually seems to be more shy and cheerful than amoral.
Mercy: Mercy (or “Mercedes Curie” in the mortal world) is a fairy official in the same Barony as Malachite. While technically subordinate to Malachite, she has an imperious bearing around him. She is a Corrigan — a fae seer — who traditionally was of the Seelie Court, whereas Malachite is traditionally of the Slaugh. Offended by Malachite’s forcing of her to acknowledge his authority in her own office, while he was requiring service of her, Mercy has been quietly waiting for a chance to turn the tables on the Redcap. Getting evidence that Malachite and Trudy are spending time together willingly, apart from Keith, has given her that chance. She is now blackmailing Malachite into doing her bidding as necessary. Mercy’s true form is as a blue skinned fae with something of a “dominatrix librarian” vibe going on. Her preferred glamour is a black woman — something that Malachite finds to be annoyingly trendy among the fae, right now.
Secondary Cast Members
Agatha “Aggie” Macintire: Probably we shouldn’t tell her name here, since it hasn’t been in the strip yet, but I think we can get away with it for now, don’t you? A determined and sardonic woman who (at least ten to fifteen years ago) enjoyed telling fairy stories to her grandchild and her grandchild’s friends. Aggie is of Scots descent and married a man of Scots descent and is that particular kind of American who obsesses about a heritage that couldn’t possibly matter or be that pure given that her family first came to the Americas sometime around 1600 as fur trappers. Still, she puts a lot of stock into her Scottishness, and is at least somewhat disappointed her daughter married a “Dutch boy.” She enjoys giving her daughter grief about it, but then it’s probably safe to say she enjoys giving her daughter grief in general.
Elizabeth “Libby” Macintire Onzeker: Keith’s mother. As of about ten to twelve years ago (how firm do we have to be with these things, anyhow) she was a hard working Kool Aid Mom (at least where her son’s friend Trudy was concerned). Against her mother’s (mostly tongue-in-cheek) wishes, she married a man with a Dutch surname instead of a Scottish one, and she seems to enjoy arguing with her mother about that fact.
Jack Olejniczak — Keith’s apartment-mate and another good friend. Jack and Keith were college roommates at Ithaca College. When the pair decided to drop out, they elected to remain roommates. Keith and Jack have been extremely close, but there is now a tension between them. Jack is currently dating Mary, which seem to be where some of the tension is coming from. Keith has also not yet told Jack he has been Marked for Death, following Jack’s blowing him off the night he first saw Sonata.
Mary Walker — Jack’s girlfriend. Keith introduced them. This seems to cause Keith a certain cognitive dissonance. Mary believes quite strongly that Keith wanted to date her, only to have Jack do it instead before he could. She thinks it’s unfair that Keith seems to resent her presence as a result. More than anything, she wants to broker peace between the apartment mates and be considered “one of the gang” by everyone involved.
Doctor Stanley Glick: The father of Trudy, Doctor Glick seems to have a pall around him — a sense of foreboding seems to cling to him. His presence was enough to spook Libby.
Cherry — Keith’s cat. Friendly and affectionate, as cats go, but possesses a brain the size of a walnut.