Make Your OTP (One True Pairing)!

I put my first book each year out in February. This year, I hoped to coordinate that release with Valentine’s day. (Sadly, it didn’t work out. I needed an extra week to polish the book properly.) But I had already come up with a cute idea for a Valentine’s themed stream to promote the new book release.

After some discussion, we decided to go ahead with it a week later. Unlike most of the streams we do for book promotions, which just involve showing up to chat, this one involved some planning.

Everyone participating in the stream with me is a fan of table top role playing games. The concept was an old style dating game where the participant gets to ask questions of a group of 3 available dating options. The catch is that they don’t know who the available options are. (And in this case, they have to try to guess which of my book characters they’re talking to, in addition to choosing who they’d like to date.)

For this to work, I had to provide some base details about each of the characters to the people participating in the stream, so that they could pretend to be those characters. For some of the participants this was easier than others (some have read more of my work than others), but I wanted to make it fun for the people watching – most of which haven’t yet read most of my books.

The people who participated in the stream were my good friends Flutterdye and Itswuf, as well as my husband Gh0stpeppr. (Click on their names to visit their channels.) (If you’re looking for my twitch channel, it’s over here!)

I thought it might be fun to share my initial stream notes. If you’re interested in viewing the resulting madness, you can find the VOD on youtube here!

Flutterdye’s Date Options:

Sentomoru (played by Gh0stpeppr)
From the Mystical Island Trilogy. Sentomoru is lord of the island when Catilen and Damien first arrive to explore the mysterious island that appears off the coast of California, where they live. He is a mysterious figure who has spent his entire life on an island which hops through various dimensions. He is an incredibly powerful sorcerer and, on the surface, extremely charming. He has a considerable ego and is used to being praised and told what he wants to hear. As such, he’s fairly adverse to criticism, and doesn’t react well when things do not go his way. He prides himself on being an extremely good host, and runs a magical bathhouse which is the main feature of his island. His power connects him so strongly with the island where he lives that he can modify it or any building on it at will. (Sentomoru’s special nickname is Midnight Star.)

Liam Barrows (played by Itswuf)
From the Celestial Serenade. Liam is an accomplished military officer. Prior to the dragon’s arrival, he was stationed near Washington DC, but after he relocated to Antarctica to watch over Earth’s most valuable assets. For most of this time he bore the rank of Major, though he became one of the world’s most decorated officers in the wake of the dragon’s destruction, and is known to be the top expert in developing tactics to combat it. He is generally known as a dry and humorless (though he does have a somewhat dry and dark sense of humor). Liam is a no-nonsense individual who prefers blunt honesty, and thus has been labeled somewhat short and moody due to the brief and blunt way in which he communicates. He has a low tolerance for anything he considers to be superfluous.

Lilith (played by me)
From Dream Things True. Lilith was the first woman created by the gods to serve as wife to Adam – the first man. Unfortunately, she was not the only candidate presented to Adam, and he rejected her because she was too strong-willed, choosing instead to marry Eve, making her the mother of all. Rejected and dejected, Lilith spent many years wandering alone before she was eventually drawn to Lucifer and his cause. After Lucifer’s exile into Hell, he sent her to guard his interests in the sacred temple where Eve also dwelt. She is an enigmatic and sultry individual. Rumor has it that she excels in the seduction of both men and women. She has demonic wings and horns, and an oddly anachronistic sense of fashion.

Itswuf’s Date Options:

Salis (played by me)
From the Celestial Serenade. Sails has two distinct phases; younger Salis is a selfish and self-centered individual who tends to think little beyond his own interests and desires. He is a socialite who thrives at parties and drifts ever towards socialization. He is husband to the Caltaran Empire’s greatest warrior, Kantis, and sister to Alrayia. He is often compared to a peacock. Salis mellowed after the dragon’s attack, however, becoming a shade of his former self. He put aside his childish nature and dug into the work set in front of him, becoming both industrious and dedicated to the various tasks required to stave off his civilization’s utter destruction. This older Salis is far more somber and less prone to giving in to his passions.

Asuk (played by gh0stpeppr)
From Dream Things True. Asuk is a warrior who hails from the far north region known as Vesald. There, warriors tend to live in wandering clans. The Vesaldi are known for their prowess on the battlefield, and are often hired as mercenaries by the surrounding kingdoms. Asuk is known for being abrupt and blunt, and she knows next to nothing about diplomacy. However, she is an extremely skilled warrior and tactician. Like other members of her clan, she favors leather armor and a wields a battleaxe.

Loki (played by Flutterdye)
From Eternity’s Empire. Loki is a Jotun, but she was plucked from the remnants of a battlefield by Odin the All Father, and raised as his daughter, alongside Thora. Loki has an aptitude for illusion magic, which makes her prone to trickery and pranks. She is known for being a force of chaos, and often this leads her to develop a bad reputation. From a young age, she realized that her people – the Jotun – were ill treated by her adoptive clan and tried to establish contact with the Jotun leaders so that she could assist. After Odin’s disappearance, she was accused of attacking an imperial convoy and exiled, at which point she became the queen of space pirates. Loki is a chaotic individual who acts according to her own whims of the moment, but she’s also extremely intelligent and tends to have a difficult to trace long-term plan.

Gh0stpeppr’s Date Options:

Alrayia (played by me)
From Celestial Serenade. Alrayia is the mysterious wife of Anten Larath (a member of the Caltaran High Council) and also Salis’s sister. Born to a poor family, she also helped raise her brother after their parents passed away. Her’s is a rags to riches story which eventually resulted in her marriage to Anten. Alrayia is a quiet and unassuming individual. If her brother is the sun, then she is very much the moon. Alrayia is often snubbed by noble lades, but is favored by many of the male councilors her husband works with. She has an incredible knack for ‘good guesses,’ and can often predict when a baby will be born, or when an event will be delayed or canceled. Rumor has it that she has a touch of the Oracle’s ability to see the future (though if this were true, she would have been taken to live among them long ago).

Catilen (played by Flutterdye)
From the Mystical Island Trilogy. Catilen is a literature professor working in San Francisco. She has a deep love of nature and history. She is also a very powerful empath, which allows her to sense the feelings of those surrounding her. This has caused her many troubles throughout the past, so she suppresses and hides her abilities, wishing she could be rid of them entirely. Catilen is also a practicing witch, and uses her connection with nature and magick to keep her abilities under control. She has a deep thirst for mystical knowledge and isn’t afraid to take risks in order to learn more about either magick or her own abilities. Catilen is a particularly sweet and kind individual who is always willing to extend a helping hand to others.

Ares (played by Itswuf)
From Eternity’s Empire. Ares is the lord of war, and an accomplished and celebrated warrior. His reputation is such that he is known even far beyond great Olympus, where he hails. He is known for having a spectacularly bad temper and gruff sense of humor. His reputation also includes a spectacular lust for blood. However, there are some indications that not all aspects of this reputation are deserved, and it seems some of his behavior may be the direct result of meddling from Zues. It is possible that Ares has a softer side as a devoted guardian rather than a war mongerer, and this would be especially true if he found someone he felt was worth protecting who also returned his affections.

The Question Pool

To make the game easier to play and prepare for, I provided a set pool of questions to choose from. This allowed me to provide the required information to the players ahead of time, but also avoided the need to have very detailed knowledge of either the characters or what happened in the books. I also wanted the players to feel free to have fun with the way they answered (serious or silly).

1) If you described yourself as an animal, what animal would you be?
2) How would you describe your perfect date?
3) What nickname would you give yourself?
4) What’s your best pickup line?
5) What do you consider the most important trait in a partner?
6) How would you propose?
7) What special gift would you give your partner?
8) If you were to receive a special reward, what would it be for?
9) What is your hidden talent?
10) Where is your favorite place to spend time?
11) What color best describes your personality?
12) How do you relax in your free time?