Character Interviews

I saw Mark walking towards the coffee house. Actually, I spotted him earlier as he was outside of the Faust House. Today the house is used as a faculty hospital for Prague’s, Charles University, but the legend of Edward Kelly still attracts the alchemist curiosity-seekers. He’s been calling me and texting me for several days. Finally, my flat-white-coffee is ready, and as I finish my first sip, Mark walks through the door. After a quick wave, he spots me sitting here at the table directly in front of a large window where I can see the park across the street, the traffic and the pedestrians, and of course, the Faust House.

Mark pulls the shoulder straps of his backpack off his shoulders and lets it fall to the floor. “Hello, Airodia. Thank you for meeting with me today,” he says while giving me a bare-knuckles fist bump. 

“Prague is the best place for our meeting, Mark,” I reply. “Would you like a coffee?” He tells me he’s already ordered his cup and asks if he can record our conversation. “Of course,” I say.

“Before we start, Mark, and I hope you won’t mind. I’ve seen the interviews with Drrea and Vallena that you have published. It looks like you ask the same twelve questions of everyone. This is pretty cool because you can treat the readers of the books with some common thread to compare our different personalities. But it’s not going to be my thing. Look, see what I got here is a place inside me with what an alchemist might call, a different brew or elixir.” Mark nods and shrugs with an accepting; it’s all good type of shoulder and head dance. I continue.

“Your first book, Starzel was a cataclysm of too many good stories and too little storyline. Don’t take me wrong, you can narrate a story, and your work’s composition is nothing short of impressive. Early onward, you are exceptional and elegant. But what you did to Trump and his lover was definitely on but since the remainder of the story was all meat and no potatoes, the read was laborious. Tedious may be the better word. Fittingly, here we are sitting in a coffee shop in the middle of what is the center of the art for telling stories. Prague is full of great stories from the occult to fiction and the purest fantasy. Spellbinders and hypnotic, every one of them. This is your city, man. If there was ever a location with a history appropriate for you, Prague is it.”

Mark’s coffee arrives, and he listens to me berating his craftsmanship while he slowly sips the elixir produced at the coffee shop. 

“There was some adorable you told us about in your next book, Love Reincarnate. Book 2 made me feel even more confident in your storytelling. So actually, I’m going to tell you something I’ve never said to any other author. After reading through Book 2, I was proud to be part of the story. Then Book 3, Aware Consciousness, begins to materialize. The invocation of thought transcends to words and spreads like rain across a fertile field. The previously hidden message included in previous books begins to reveal itself. Opaque but within reasonable sight of the reader. A hint of its presence, possibly the scent of it. Listen, it can almost be heard. Book 3 is the lightning strike. The sound of thunder is coming.”

Mark sips his coffee, his expression is that of a man at a high-stakes poker tournament; he’s unreadable. I watch him watching me as I wonder have I been too cold or does he understand the compliments I intend? Should I tell him further my advice? Risking my fate in his ability to never invoke my character again in his pros, perhaps I should find an excuse to leave our meeting. But, on the other hand, I do so very much want to tell him to add in first-party retrospective and thoughts of self-doubt and questioning motives. Reading a character’s innermost motives can add fascinating mischief to a story.

“I’m acting in a play later this evening. Would you and Kimberly like to come to watch? It’s a magic show with blacklights, and though it’s not cutting-edge, breakthrough science, you guys might enjoy a few hours of entertainment. So here, I’ll text you the particulars and leave two tickets at will-call should you find the time.” 

Of course, we would love to see your show, Airodia,” he says with a smile. The first sign of expression he’s shown since sitting down at the table with me. Thank you for the tickets and for taking the time to speak with me today.” He fastens his coat and slips the backpack over his shoulder. I watch him as he makes his way through the tiny cafe, and out he goes through the door.

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Intense and yet gentle and giving. I can imagine that’s how anyone who has ever had the privilege to speak to Kelv feels. By the time he was finishing the answer to question four, Are you Gender Specific, I somehow understood the depth of his one-word answer. He’s trying to separate the ego identity of gender naming. I recall the story of Tara when she was criticizing the monks for not allowing a female into the Arhant group. The chief monk said to her, there could never be a female monk. Tara understood right then and there that she labeled herself to be excluded from the ranks by her own label. Kelv said all that in his one-word answer. Please enjoy this interview with Kelv.

1. Who is your favorite band?
   Music is a different source of mental stimuli. It both arouses a sense of comfort, and at the same time, you can become highly energetic. For me, I like to listen to keep me moving toward a boom. That’s what I call the accomplishment of repeating a mantra 125,000 times. Buedi Siebert composed an album, Om Mani Padme Hum. I used to listen to the songs, but I haven’t listened to music over the last seven years.
   
2. What’s your name?
   I’m Kelv. It is customary in our civilization to introduce ourselves with our family number. The number represents the order the Cyborgs used to recruit the forty-four scientists they chose for their serum experiment. Each number represents the law from the Buddha’s laws for community living. Anyway, my family is twelve. Our law is, we will be of right intention here. The twelfth family is also the last family for the royal caste.
   
3. How old are you?
   In this form, 23. 
    
4. Are you gender-specific?
   No. 
   
5. Are you related to anyone in the story?
   No. I suppose if things had been different. That is, if I hadn’t taken the Bodhisattva vow, I would have married Vallena. But, intention is everything, so I guess I’m her husband; she’s my wife in a karmic sense. I’ll make sure to tell her when we land in the Buddha Fields. 
   
6. Where does your accent come from?
   I don’t have an accent. That’s an off-the-charts question, Mark. What made you ask that one? Do you ask these same questions of everyone?
   
7. If you were to define one or two of the most crucial problems facing you, what are they and why?
   First, the experiment is doomed to fail. Human suffering requires all five senses and the reaction to the senses are Karma. To transcend the trapping of Samsara all the karmic energy has to be used up. Without anger, we can’t burn up the karma of anger. Just because we can sense or be aware of anger doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. The serum deforms the DNA and handicaps the senses. It’s a crime. But what the Buddha told us is that Dharma doesn’t know karma, and if we can ascend to dharma living, all karma is dissolved. It’s a paradox within the paradigm.
   
8. What would a perfect world look like to you?
   It looks like this, chibusa! Everyone gathered in one place, chanting the lotus, emptied minds. Like I said, chibusa!
   
9. What needs to happen to get from the problems to the perfect world you defined?
   The King has no clue how to motivate the people to the river’s edge. Much the less how to get us all across the river. If Mahá was the King, and I trust one day, he will be. There would be a chance. The first thing I think we need is a sutra to guide us across to the other shore. That’s what I’m searching for out there. I’m making myself available to divine guidance. Sounds mental, I get that. But I couldn’t think of anything more important to do with my life.
   
10. If you weren’t a character in this story who would you be in real life?
    Sarvashura, maybe Bhaiṣajyaguru, or Manjushri.
    
11. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?
    I would have the supernatural powers of the Arhant and the Buddhas so that I would know how to take the people out of Samsara and back to the source.
    
12. What would you like to say to the reader?
    Thank you for taking the time to open your heart to our struggle. I pray that you will be free from all your suffering and the causes of your suffering.

Tight-lipped and controlled. She’s a seasoned politician, and professional at wording her answers to convey the answer indirectly and camouflaged. The interview went by at a brisk pace and without surprise. Shavarah clearly desires to play a larger part in the story and she probably deserves her own story at some point.

1. Who is your favorite band?
   
   Thank you for taking a few minutes to let the readers know — Something — about me. It’s nice to be something more than a one-sentence response to a question. Not that I’m complaining. Being part of the cast in the book is a great honor. What was the question again? Oh yes, my favorite band. The Renaissance period and Handel would be my choice of composer.
   
2. What’s your name?
   
   I’m Shavarah and from the third family. We have taken charge with upholding the vow we shall abstain from stealing here. The laws from the lord buddha are the purest and only laws that ensure humanity will liberate. Liberation is the ultimate mental state.
   
3. How old are you?
   
   I’ve had this conversation with Drrea and Danhip once. It was following the town hall meeting I held in their community. They took a lot of time explaining how gravity and distance from the center of mass play a role in the speed of light. I am a fair mathematician, but those space-time quantum theories are confusing for almost everyone. The best I can tell is I’m forty-one Earth years old. Sorry for giving such long responses to the questions. It’s just that I don’t get a lot of opportunities to be written about or read. 
   
4. Are you gender-specific?
   
   Yes. On Planet 444 there are both men and women. As you can see, I am a big-breasted woman with a round ass and wide hips. So, of course, when you combine those desirable curves with short legs, and you have a plump woman.
   
5. Are you related to anyone in the story?
   
   No? I mean, I’m not sure if there’s a man in my life or not. Probably a few kids, but none of us know anything much about me other than…. Oh wait, I can’t say because of my contract. It forbids me from giving away the story. You know, my one-sentence story. Please don’t take this as sarcasm. I genuinely love being a character in this book.
   
6. Where does your accent come from?
   
   I don’t have an accent. Most people sound like we’re all from Redondo Beach or Van Nuys.
   
7. If you were to define one or two of the most crucial problems facing you, what are they and why?
   
   The population growth may be slowing, but the people are scattering further away from the center. There’s a risk involved here. Those in the center will be different from those away from the center. The mind does that separation without our control. Even though we know that our minds will cause us-and-them phenomena, it still happens. Without the proper social management, leadership, and constant shared values and awareness, we risk becoming divided. As a whole, we are powerful and a force against Mara and the duality of samsara. We have to stay together.
   
8. What would a perfect world look like to you?
   
   Unfortunately, some people have already begun to forget the intention of our community. Liberation awaits, and Nirvana is how it looks.
   
9. What needs to happen to get from the problems to the perfect world you defined?
   
   Well, that’s the five million dollar question, isn’t it? A King with the charisma and the right intention is the answer. So far, this hasn’t happened. Maybe a divine bodhisattva visit or the Buddha himself.
   
10. If you weren’t a character in this story who would you be in real life?
    
    Trick question? I’m only kidding. I admire Kamal Harris so much. It would be my honor to be someone like her.
    
11.  If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?
    
    My work in the community and with the King is critical and more important than words could explain. There should be an entire novel written about the experiences and the community outreach of Planet 444.
    
12. What would you like to say to the reader?
    
    Thank you for reading these beautiful stories and giving us life. The other characters are so wonderful, and your interest in us is everything we exist to provide.