Unexplained Stuff

[DarkPhoenix]

Answers to some of the things you might have been wondering:

1. In chapter two, Charise mentions a certain video online to Ophelia. What the heck is she talking about?
Okay, here it is, de-mystified. It's a reference to a video I saw on YouTube, where a certain member of a certain band gets groped during a concert and tells the groper, "Heaven's not there, darling." I decided to reference it and hint that Charise and Ophelia were behind it (of course, they'd have been about 11-13 years old at the time, but...).

2. What does AJ stand for?
Aiden James.

3. What the heck does "Charise" mean?
Charise's name is meant to be a shortened version of her grandmother's name-- Charlotte Clarisse.

4. Why do so many characters have black hair?
It's the easiest hair color to match up, from one creator to another.

5. What's the deal with Angela?
She's a parody of characters from movies and TV shows set in the 50s.

6. Are LB, Mae, and Louie triplets?
No. LB was held back a few times, and Louie was skipped up a grade.

7. What is Cy's real name?
Cy's birth name is Cyrus Cloud.

8. What's the deal with Mae and Ophelia? Why is Mae so possessive/jealous?
It's a secret.

9. Why does Ophelia hate Dunstan so much?
Aside from him being a bad person? Well, she has her reasons. It comes up later on.

10. Why doesn't AJ understand that (insert female character) is not interested in him?
Because if he were a rational person, it would neither be funny nor interesting.

11. Why doesn't Charise ever mention her parents?
Because she and her mother... uh... don't get along.


If you have any questions that you'd like to have answered, PM me, and I'll put the answer up on here!

[DarkPhoenix]

12. So, Tiffani cut her hair. How did her parents react?
The answer will be in chapter nine.

13. What's up with Charise's dream?
It was prophetic. That's all I'm saying.

14. Did Charise leave Dunstan for good?
Maybe. Maybe not.

[DarkPhoenix]

15. Did AJ's story about the toilet really happen?
Well, it happened to me, pretty much how he tells it, except I was alone at my dorm.

16. How many members of All That Glitters were there?
Four-- Julianna Delorice, Preston Marlow, Beverly "Vicky" Victoria, and Joel Harris.

17. How long has Jeff been seeing Tacita?
Quite some time-- if you go back to the third chapter, you'll see Tacita make a mention of calling someone named "Jeff" near the end.

18. What is up with Emily's hair color?
1) The colors for the hairs I use on her are extremely muted.
2) I know people who started going gray in high school and college, so I didn't think it would be that out there.

19. So, how did Tacita and Charise end up friends? They're so different!
Despite having known each other since elementary school, they didn't become friends until high school. Tacita was in an abusive relationship, and Charise caught the guy beating up on her and scared him off.

[DarkPhoenix]

20. Who was the guy who gave the donation in honor of Charise?
Preston Marlow. And the woman he spoke to was Beverly "Vicky" Victoria.

21. So, was Ophelia's swearing in response to seeing Dunstan just a regular response to seeing him?
Yes and no. It's also supposed to be my way of making a reference. In the song "Hey Jude" if you listen closely, about two minutes and fifty-six seconds (roughly) into the song, you'll hear someone say just what Ophelia did. I thought it would be funny to have her "inadvertantly" reference it.

[DarkPhoenix]

22. Ms. Gibson's childhood was so weird, what with the strange gods and all. Are her flashbacks occurring in the same world that the CNC-ers live in?

Yes. However, there's a huge, huge, HUGE detail that wasn't mentioned. *Cough* Hint: Re-read some of the previous chapters. Something really off-kilter that might have made no sense back when you first read it might suddenly sound rather... familiar... in light of what you know about Ms. Gibson. Names and locations are key.

[DarkPhoenix]

23. Where is Oakdale?

You mean the real Oakdale, or the one in this story? There's various real Oakdales. However, the one in this story... well... I put a huge hint about its location in chapter twelve. However, it's not the SAME Oakdale as the real one. The fictional Oakdale (along with North Oakdale and Moriseaux City) are meant to be stand-ins for certain real-life places. Oakdale, for instance, has a smallish population, with very little to do for fun. North Oakdale and Moriseaux City are the exciting places, where you go when you want to have a good time. Indeed, they are known as party cities, and they are extremely popular tourist sites. Figured it out yet? Good. If not... just think about it for a while. All I'll say is that it is in the United States, and the state that it's in has been home to many celebrities (and gets celebrity visitors on a very regular basis, to the point where it's not uncommon to see celebrities walking the streets of the tourist areas).

[DarkPhoenix]

24. So, who's the other person who knows too much? Is it Charise? S? WHO IS IT?!?!

It's not Charise or S. It's someone who knows VERY well what Dunstan is really like. It'll be revealed soon. Very... very... soon.

[DarkPhoenix]

25. So, what's up with Valo?
Jessica "Valo" DeSidiro is a caricature of myself. That is essentially how I look and act (okay, maybe not that heavy, but you get the general idea). And yes, I do have the same job she does. And that plot about her trying to change things at work and all? Well, that's lifted directly from what's going on in my life now.

[DarkPhoenix]

26. In the party scene in chapter 15, Tiffani tells Brandon that Emily is her girlfriend. What's up with that?
Tiffani was lying so that Brandon might open up the door. She does not like Emily like that... not that there's anything wrong with it, of course.

27. So, what happened while Ophelia and AJ were alone in that room?
They talked about the stuff bothering them. No clothing removal or naughtiness took place. Sorry to get your hopes up.

28. So, which one is Brandon?
When the drama club is shown, look for the androgynous-looking guy with the emo-ish black hair, wearing an outfit that would not have been out of place on David Bowie in "Labyrinth." It's the guy sitting behind Emily in this shot:

[DarkPhoenix]

29. What's with the chapter marker for Chapter 18?
It's a reference to the DVD cover for the movie "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance."

[DarkPhoenix]

30. What's the significance of Ophelia's shirt in chapter 18?
Seize the Night = Take Back the Night.

[DarkPhoenix]

31. Who is Iris?
Iris is the girl who Dunstan cannot forget. But she is no longer going by that name in the present. Given that she is probably in her late teen or early twenties now, that should give you a rough idea of who might know her. Also, she appeared once in a previous chapter, briefly... it was a rather noteworthy appearance.

[DarkPhoenix]

32. Why does Eli look like LB Rivers?
The weird coloration doesn't help matters... if you saw the characters in color, you'd see that Eli has very pale skin and red hair. I just wanted him to look kind of nerdy and cool at the same time and forgot I used a similar look for LB.

[DarkPhoenix]

33. What's with the old-fashioned look for the chapter 19 chapter marker?

I wanted to have a sort of "idealized" look for Iris, to show basically how Dunstan views/viewed her.

[DarkPhoenix]

34. Are any of the people at the rehearsal characters from previous chapters?

Yes. Besides the major characters, there's Eli (Dunstan's friend), Jade (previously known as Iris), and Mark (her friend).

35. There seems to be a pattern with names. For instance, many female characters have the initials "J.D." or have a last name ending with D. What's with that?

Self-reference. My initials are "J.D." and my grandma's middle name is Emily. (Hmmm...) Oh, and Jade's last name is in honor of a friend of mine who died.

[DarkPhoenix]

36. Cy, S, Sheridon, and Gideon are working on music videos. Which songs are they using?
Cy is using Nickelback's "Someone That You're With," Sheridon is using ICP's "Under the Moon," S is using Ozzy's "You're No Different," and Gideon is using Queen's "Killer Queen." For a long time, I considered having S do Cy's song, but realized that given the people that S is friends with, he could very easily pull off a music video using "You're No Different."

[DarkPhoenix]

37. So, I don't get the reference. Who's the weird blonde guy talking about the "absence of evidence"?

That's supposed to be a reference to the TV show "The Boondocks," in which one of the characters, Gin Rummy (who looks a great deal like the guy shown in the story), often says that line.

[DarkPhoenix]

38. So, who's the girl in the sailor suit-looking outfit in the chapter 27 title picture?

That is Artemis, Ms. Gibson's mother.

[DarkPhoenix]

39. Jade's about the same age as Tacita, Charise, and Valo. So, how come she's shown teaching classes?

Jade is a graduate student. At my college (which the college in the story is based on), a lot of classes are taught by graduate students.

40. So, Gabby and Elizabeth got their powers because of an experiment gone wrong?

Yeah, pretty much. Elizabeth got her power because of a mishap, and Gabby got hers when Elizabeth basically made the same thing happen to her.

[DarkPhoenix]

41. So... Gabby is... but wait, I don't get it?!
Not to worry, I've created a highly simplified family tree. I left out a lot of "non-essential" stuff, so you can get the gist of basically who's related to who. I left out people like Charise's mom, all of the people in S's family, etc. because otherwise, the family tree would be ridiculously huge.