Well, my first thought was Denner, as of course anything that has something to do with memory seems up his alley.

But, I think it would be far more interesting to see that sort of story with Donagut playing the protagonist. Piecing together a mystery is very much his style, of course, and I think his film noir style of first person narration would work very well with that. I can even picture the opening scene. Donagut stumbles out of bed in his crappy Nuwar apartment, realizing that it is already evening. Now, Donagut prefers to sleep in, of course, but this is more than his usual sloth, and his head is swimming. He stumbles down to his preferred watering hole, only to find that he is aggressively not wanted there anymore, which he learns when the bouncers and a few of the patrons attack him! He manages to escape, and while trying to clear his head down a nearby alley, he spots a wanted poster with his likeness on it, dated "as of" what Donagut thinks is three days from now?!? What could all of this mean? And can Donagut, perhaps with a little under-the-table help from Burkes and Millia, piece together what happened and clear the dogged detector's name?

I mean, I'd read that...

The Donagut idea sounds good!

For my characters: Sharaka would be furious as hell, with her love for mind magic, but the looking for clues part might be interesting. Elphimas is currently suffering from a massive amnesia they can't do anything about, and discovering anything about that is gonna take time, but they could star in a minor accident where they had to rewrite something kinda big and they come back because they have the nagging feeling they lost something important... Amaruo would also have some potential, to show the contrast between his usual Lazy Grace facade and the frantic cog-turning behind it. Soooo all in all there are some cool splinters of an idea but nothing solid.

The curse-selling harpy (Hanara, was it?) could also bring out something interesting from her. She deals with goods both rare and useful enough that some client with means might have her memory edited for safety, after a single deal or after a whole series of services. That is, if Hanara is the kind of gal to wake up with a big sack of gold she knows nothing about and choosing investigation vs shrugging and carrying on with her life. (although certainly a shady client might want to skip the annoying step of actually paying the curse-seller that remembers nothing about the entire deal)

Yeah, Elphimas crossed my mind, as well, for the same reason you mention.

I like the Hanara idea, too. I almost wonder if it would end up being a similar "twist" as Brentain's "Research" where Hanara maybe intentionally cursed herself to forget about something she did/something she saw. Part of me wants to tie it into a sort of gangster story, like Hanara unwittingly helped curse/kill a powerful crime boss, and the memory wipe was a way to make sure they wouldn't find out (maybe the criminal organization has mind mages or something). That could be an interesting story, with Hanara basically putting herself in danger without realizing it.

I think another angle to take with this sort of story would be a split story with Morgan and Larasa, where they've been separated by some sort of effect, and one - or both - have lost their memory, and they need to piece everything together and find one another. If it were a modern story, I would have each one have half of a photograph, Morgan having Larasa's picture, Larasa having Morgan's, and when they meet up, they put the photograph together and see that it fits. In a fantasy setting, I suppose it could be a small painting or sketch or something, but it doesn't have quite the same effect to me.

Oh, this I like. Maybe it could bring back the mind/soul/body conflicts from her introduction? Maybe she had to do a shoddy job on herself in order to avoid a sudden interrogation/divination that would target a specific part of hers so the other parts start to pick the self-infliced Aura apart and/or try to restore her wholeness? I.e. sealing the part of her soul that wanted to curse/kill the boss so she could lie convincingly to her pursuers (and explore why would she go against her interests after maybe being involved with them) or, as you said, splitting the memories of her involvement to avoid to be discovered via telepathy.

Going a bit wild here, but... the gangster thing could also tie with Donagut's story? Like, Hanara cursed him first to further her plan or just following the boss' orders (causing his fall from grace) than had to resort to cursing herself to get out of a tight spot. So now Donagut has a hunch he met Hanara during his forgotten days (she worked for the boss he was investigating, probably) and she's the best lead he's got (and there's still the boss' deranged second-in-command to take care of?) while Hanara knows damn well what she did to him (and feels possibly guilty?) but she needs him as backup to recover something she left behind in the boss' lair (aka the splinter of her own mind/soul?) so there's A LOT of tension between the two as they figure out the way forward, with subtle tells that feed each other's wariness/paranoia.


What about matching cameos? Or exchanged tokens?

I think that would turn into a fairly long story, but I really like the set-up. Considering Hanara's first story was a slow reveal of the protagonist as the villain, there would be an interesting sort of symmetry with her second story being a villain playing a reluctant protagonist. And with Donagut already well-established as the local sleuth, a lot of the leg-work of establishing is pretty much already done. It's definitely a match-up I've never considered before, but I do like the general idea of it.


Maybe it's not even a picture, but some sort of two-part amulet like those broken-heart necklaces people (used to?) have. Morgan has one half, which has Larasa's name on it, and Larasa has the other half, with Morgan's name on it. So, when they lose their memories, they don't even remember their own names, and all they have is the name of the other one. When they eventually meet up and discover that the amulet/pendant/necklace thing fits together, they piece together that they must be the name on the other side, and proceed to solve whatever the larger mystery is together, recovering (probably) their memories in the process.

Sounds like a good story to me!


Well, Barinellos, since you brought it up, who would you cast in a story like this?

This popped into my head this morning. Enjoy!

Exellent! I loved the closing line, that's the kind of tidbit I imagined to keep the reader's wheels turning as things happen. And the dog puns are... sufferable enough, I guess

Sorry for the late response.
Partly it's because I... Kinda can't remember all my characters anymore. Of them, I wonder distinctly how Aerik would handle things, considering his history is a big part of who he is and directly tied to his magic as a state of mind.
Admittedly, part of that is also just me kind of wanting to play around with Pax as a plot device too.

Sri Hara would be another choice, but depressingly it's not actually an unusual experience for him. They say an elephant never forgets, but... He's old. And tired.
And that's more profoundly sad to me than that statement can convey.

Branching a little, Tryst might be an interesting character to run through the plot. Maybe the fine print on a particular contract went a bit wrong.

Maral might make mighty mesmerizing missing memoirs.
... Gods, I just tortured that sentence...

Then there's Zhiran, though that would make for a short story considering he keeps an entire library of memory crystal back ups.

For a flip, and a bamboozle at that, a young lady scared and adrift, only to find out that it was the personality the Duchess had prior to becoming what she is. I honestly don't know if I'd feel more pity, terror, or emptiness if we ever got a glimpse into what turned her into what she is. I could only imagine what's left of her would be terrified of becoming it again.

Ooo, that would be amazing.

Alright, Huey, I think it's your turn for a story type, if you want to.

Alright, I'll go for high society intrigue! Be it a straight genre story with the protagonist playing the strings of the ubiquitous intricate machinations or a gordian knot thing like Daneera did with the Fae, who among our creations would shine in these respectable nests of vipers?

The first one who jumps to my mind is Antony. Being already well-ingratiated with high society on his home plane, I can absolutely see him having to play the long-con game of political or social intrigue on some other plane, possibly at the instruction of The Duchess.

I would also like to see either Syl or Chardis or both play this kind of game. In some ways, it's a little like their scheme on Novoya in The Pale Priestess, but that plane is a lot more back-water than I would imagine a high society intrigue story would be. Still, this fits a little into the general plan I've always had in mind for the Dual-Walker's "origin story." It would be fun to see Syl in particular playing the intrigue game.

Considering that he is royalty himself, a story where Aamir has to traverse the political minefield would be very interesting, particularly if it were from his own court. With all the work Barinellos did with the thread about Aamir's family, it would be very interesting to see some sort of shake-up within the family. Maybe Aamir's father, the Emperor, has taken ill, and "evidence" has arisen that Dehul, the heir apparent, has poisoned him. Aamir doesn't believe it, but rather believes that one of the other high-ranked princes, or perhaps advisors or even foreign powers, are trying to put a specific someone on the throne. To find the culprit, and save his father's life, and free Dehul, Aamir must carefully tread the political landscape of D'Shan.

I'd read that.

In a weird way, I'd enjoy seeing Beryl in this position. Perhaps she finally returns to Aliavelli and manages to fully or partially reconcile the the Nameless with the Families, and finds herself in the unenviable position of having to mitigate both in the negotiations between the sides, being seen as someone with a foot in both camps. Of course, neither side completely trusts her, and so there is a ton of tension.

That also reminds me that I should probably get back to the Thorneau storyline one of these days...

My first thought was of Antony as well, but I think Gintrue had a different social dynamic that would cause Antony some real issues. Amplified by the fact his fame is null on another world. So, all told, I don't know that he could handle, say, court life on most worlds.

With that said, there's clearly a dark edge on Antony, no matter how affable he is, and while I think he'd avoid strenuous effort like the plague, if pushed, I think he'd go down some pretty nasty corridors if left no choice. He'd try to rationalize like hell afterwards, but you can't unscramble an egg.

Next up, I similarly just assumed their was some courtly intrigue in the Twins past. They probably cut their teeth on schemes and intrigue.

Aamir is spectacularly I'll suited for court intrigue. He's too soft hearted to play the game of thrones. However, in such a scenario that you laid out, he undoubtedly wouldn't remain passive. He'd merely find someone more suited to finding answers than himself. Now, who that might be, I actually have no clue. I'm not sure how connected Aamir is to many other walkers, outside Raef. (Raef would not be suited for such a task either. Though of an earnest bearing, he's... Kind of a thug otherwise. Plus he's well established as being a TERRIBLE liar)

I shudder to seriously think of the state of Alliavella right now.

Yeah, I don't disagree with you, but of course, Antony is a consummate actor, as well. Admittedly, he doesn't strike me as the improv artist type, but I think that once he learns the role he's meant to play in that type of situation, he would play it...well. Not perfectly, of course. But well enough. Or, his arrogance with screw the whole thing up, which would also be fun to read!


I would say that I have a particular story from their pre-spark days about 45% crystallized in my mind. And it very much does involve scheming and intrigue, as well as manipulation, deception, and any number of other nasty things the Dual-Walkers perfect later in their lives. I don't know if that story will ever get written, what with my output lately, but it's sitting in the "To Write" list, to be sure.


Yeah, I mean, you'd be the one writing it, so I'll naturally defer to you. But I kind of like the idea of someone "spectacularly ill suited" being forced by circumstance into those sorts of situations. Huey mentioned Daneera's foray into the politics of the Fae Courts on Morvata, and I think she fits that bill, too, although she managed to play the game better than anybody suspected she would. So while I agree that Aamir would be out of his element there, I actually think that, as our wayward Orcish would say, that's a feature, not a bug.


We've also established in cannon that Aamir is acquainted with Oleetaka, but unfortunately, I think Oleetaka is even MORE ill-suited for court/political intrigue than Raef would be, considering his upbringing and experiences since ascending.

We just need to get Aamir a friend more suited to manipulation, clearly.


Yeah...