Questionable Questing

Trying to find a good paragraph to cut. But none of them will fit without proper context so I'll just give one of my favorite conversations so far.

"I don't appreciate you using my career in your schemes." The reporter growled with a certain amount of malice that even he was surprised at as he glared down at the lounging Miss Morningstar. The hangover from last night was still pounding in his ears while she was infuriatingly, beautifully perfectly lying out in the heady morning sun.

"Schemes he says," Miss Morningstar chuckled patting the chair next to her as a peace offering even as she slipped on her orange juice perfectly chilled in a champagne glass with ice in the other hand. "You make it sound so dirty. I don't plan on seducing you, I plan on romancing you. There's a difference."

"If you think having a relation with me will cause me to compromise my writings-" Charlie ranted, his words having the desired effect and piercing the nonchalance on Miss Morningstar's face that infuriated him so much for the first time this morning and yet it brought him no satisfaction as she raised an eyebrow in challenged and sat up forward.

"I can't believe you just said that," Miss Morningstar interrupted harshly like a teacher scolding a pupil rather than the queen he expected. An impatient tsk tickling the back of her throat as she leveled him an impatient look. "You think I sell my body to any young man with a charming smile and a penchant for radical politics? If I need another corrupt Journalist, a bribe would be much cheaper."

"What else could you want from me?" Charlie practically begged in disbelief because the idea that she wanted him for her own personal harem was so unbelievable and scandalous to him, he almost had to believe the corruption angle. Miss Morningstar could do a lot better than a failed Scion like him if that were actually true.

"Have you ever considered that a man who doesn't mind that his woman has an opinion and thinks wealth or skin color doesn't make you inherently superior is in incredibly short supply." Miss Morningstar retorted with a lifetime of experiences to remember. Her brown eyes glittering almost red from the glare of the sun as she wore a sardonic grin that didn't feel natural despite how easy she smiled.

"Perhaps it's because you keep stealing them." Charlie finally spoke out loud, still in disbelief and shocked he could even crack a joke at a time like this. It was his fortune that Miss Morningstar agreed as she fell into a shrill girlish laughing fit as she snuck a kiss on his hand before he could pull away.

Charlie is the name of the journalist?

Yep. He was meant to be a reflection of Charlie Morningstar herself, by acting as the more naive innocent version of her that existed before her couple hundred year exile on earth, but he's kind of become his own character at this point. Still keeping the naming convention because it fits very well and I love how he calls her Miss Morningstar since it reveals a lot about his character.

And avoids saying his own name again

Exactly, but how was the small snippet? I had to edit out a decent chunk of it and it's obviously in need of a lot more editing, but for a general feel for their voices what did you think?

Let me read it

I really like the difference of romancing compared to seducing and her placing the orange delicately in her drink

Nice. I hope the older style of talking isn't too distracting. I had open Robin Crusoe and some Dickenson the entire time I was writing comparing the two and deliberately trying to make my stuff sound less modern.

While she's obviously a very different character, a couple hundred years would do that to anyone, I hope I was able to include at least a little bit of the Original Charlie's personality bleeding through.

The older style is fine and Charlie feels unique here. Your own design

Thanks. She's an interesting character to write and that's what's important. But I sleep. You too. It'll help you feel better. Hopefully it all passes pretty quick. Night.

Sleep

Editing talk later