YESH!!!! SOLARPUNK!!!!!!

Name: Holly 

Job: artist/designer/architect... Basicly is a really good artist who designs anything you can think of from dresses to buildings

Age: 13, but has a job

Appearance: Light-ish skin, big gray eyes, and many freckles. Has very curly scarlet hair that goes down a little below her shoulders. Usually wears gray leggings and an oversized pink sweater, with brown, lace-up boots. Holly carries her sketchbook everywhere.

Personality: kind and a little shy, though still daring. She's nice to everybody, but if somebody is putting down her friend (of which she has many) they'd better be ready to face some serious scolding... And in the case of protecting her much-made-fun-of little brother, Lott, a little Tai Quon Do. She is often made fun of for various reasons, including being an "artistic hobo", and standing up for others so much, but Holly is used to it.

Backstory: Holly's family is kind if poor, and Holly, being the oldest child, went to live on her own so her parents could use a smaller, more affirdable apartment. Holly's a hard worker, so she got into a boarding school in the capital city, and works doing art commissions and like activities to pay her salary.

What has been happening?

Summary of what has happened so far:

Ramae's door gets stolen.

Mel steals Ramae's things, but Ramae and Alarie take the things back from the thief. 

Darius hires Nahla to convince Mr. Rhyker.

Alarie realizes the library's doors have been stolen. Ramae advises her to call Nahla.

Nahla arrives at the library and calls Darius.

Darius, Alarie, Ramae, and Nahla are at the library and working on Darius' plans for the door when Nadya arrives with some roses.

Darius sends Nahla to the warehouse. Ramae heads home. Nadya walks past Ramae's house.

Ramae is attacked on her front porch by a mysterious gangster (or something). 

And that's all so far! The main plot is that everyone will come together to expand Citali, but they find something.  

Nahla~

I bike to Darius's warehouse on the outskirts of Citali. The warehouse is nestled right next to the city wall, which has embedded turbines that spin like pinwheels. If I were to follow the road past the warehouse, I could exit Citali, traveling through the rest of the nation.

The warehouse was built by Darius, too. It has giant bay doors, with panels of stained glass making a hammer and paint palette design. I park my bike and walk into the warehouse. Rows and rows of shelves reach to the ceiling, three stories high. Workers ride ladders that slide along the shelves, letting them reach everything at any height along their row.

"Hi," I call out. "Darius wants me to collect a box of stainless steel ornaments for doors?"

A man slides on his ladder towards me, climbs down his ladder, and faces me. "And who are you?"

"Nahla Alain, messenger." I take my messenger ID card out of my pocket and show him.

He examines it and nods. "That looks good. What did you say he needed?"

"A box each of door handles and finials."

"Come on, I'll get some for you."

He leads me to the back, climbs the ladder there, and takes two wooden crates from the shelf. "These should be enough... need help getting these on your bike?"

I nod, we head outside, and he gives me a couple of bungee cords to tie the crates onto the back of my bike. I thank him and start biking back.

* * *

I bike by Ramae's house on my way back to the library. Her door's still not replaced, and she's propped an old canoe, paint peeling off the wood, against her doorframe. On her porch table is spread out her usual pile of papers and books, with a notebook and pen on top. Her chair isn't pushed in -- I think she just went inside. Maybe she can help me carry these crates, I think. They're pretty heavy, and the stack keeps tilting slightly, making me get off my bike and adjust it -- again. I lean my bike against Ramae's porch and climb the steps up to her canoe-door. 

"Hello?" I call. "Ramae? It's Nahla. Can you help me out with something?"

No reply.

I walk into her house. A chair is knocked over at her dining table, which seems strange. Whenever I've seen her at the library, she's a total neat freak -- except her papers, of course. "Ramae? Are you in here?"

I keep walking, down her hallway and up her stairs. As I climb to the landing, I see her -- but am confused.

Someone's tied her to a chair and tied that to the post of the stairway. "Ramae? What in the world?"

"I thought you'd never come in!" she says, laughing a little. "I didn't want to call -- in case the people who attacked came back..."

"Who in the world?"

"I really have no idea. I was sitting on the porch and then someone attacked me from behind!" She tells me the whole story. 

"Yeouch. C'mon, we have to get to the library and tell Alarie. This is serious." I help her up and follow her down the stairs and outside. She quickly sweeps all her writing stuff into a crate of her own and puts it on her own bike and helps me transfer one of the warehouse crates to her own bike. Together, we bike towards the library.  

Darius~

As I wait for Nahla to return with the supplies, I take a glance around the library. It has a spiral staircase in the central room leading up to a balcony on the second floor, and stained glass solar panels curved into a dome on the roof. Very nice design.

But design was my cover, concealing my true intentions. Sure, I was passionate about architecture, but what I really wanted to do was stock Citali with renewable energy sources. I did it subtly, a few solar panels there, a few trees here, but I felt like I was preventing the inevitable. An energy crisis.

It had happened a long time ago, leading to the destruction of the city that used to be here, and eventually to the creation of Citali. But it could happen again.

Nahla arrives with my supplies, interrupting my worried thoughts. "Good job," I tell her. "Now let's go outside so I can paint some designs on the door without the fumes clogging up the library." 

Okay, that's it. I can't stand just watching this and not joining any longer.

Name: Lena Forester

Job: Arboreal bioengineer (nicknamed "bonsai artist" by many) in training. Arboreal bioengineers are responsible for the planting, design, and upkeep of Citali's many trees. They make sure the trees are structurally sound, healthy, aesthetically pleasing, and not interfering with other things like roads and more conventional-style buildings. As such, Lena lives in the Treehouse District of Citali, which features houses in the branches of trees that connect to each other with boardwalks, robe bridges, and ziplines instead of roads. The network of paths in Treehouse District is very confusing, but Lena knows it quite well.

Age: 15

Appearance: Long, kinky black hair, blue-green eyes, very freckly skin. Wears tomboyish clothes (t-shirt, cargo pants, sneakers, an assortment of skateboard pads), which never seem to be perfectly clean. Uses a battery-powered hoverboard, like a skateboard but without wheels, to get places in the city, and is rarely seen without it.

Personality: Very outgoing and energetic, with a sizable adventurous streak. She's bouncy, but not chaotic; incurable perfectionism and innovativeness are what got her a position with Darius Gamma when she's only a teenager. No matter what, Lena always has a plan...which is by no means guaranteed to work.

Koda says kiyy. What, are you imitating a red-tailed hawk all of a sudden?

Ramae~

And then she realized. One thing led to another; the attacker, her attacker, was the thief.

I look up, an idea suddenly forming in my head. How could I have not seen it before? And how could I have just written it down? I run out of the library, my papers flying.

I see Nahla and Darius sitting by a lamppost. I run up to them, probably wild-eyed, panting, and looking crazy.

"I've figured it out," I say.

"Figured what out?"
Allarie is behind me.

"I know who the thief is!" I say. "At least, the basic idea. It's the person who kidnapped me!"
Allarie looks interested. "Go on. Did you see them?"
"Yeah," I say. "It was dark, though.

"Pretty gruff guy. He had a bandanna on. Obviously had muscles too. He was really big, somewhere in the high six feet."
"What about hair color?" asks Allarie. "Eye color? Anything?"
"His skin was really rough," I say, "looked like he had darkish brown hair. I'm not sure, though."

Allarie looks happy. She starts to whisper to Nahla.

"Thanks, May," she says. "If we can catch them..."
Darius looks up. "We can test for fingerprints on the hinges of the doors."

Thanks, Air! <3

-Holly-

I wander down the streets of Citali, staring at the gigantic buildings
surrounding me. I'm searching for the library, or an art store, or anything
comfortable to me. That leaves the options rather limited.

I'm not looking where I'm going as I walk into a small, dark alley.

I'm tall. That's never made much difference; I'm usually trampled anyway.
Now, apparently, it's not a good thing.

Bang! Bang! I hear gunshots, and I'm too terrified to scream.

"Don't move. We know who you are, door-busting-girl-attacking-" I
try to find my voice.

"I-I-I'm not a-a-a... Bad person! I'm... Just... Me?" I stammer
meekly. A bright light glares in my eyes, and I start to scrunch into a ball.

The light switches off and a bug huff evaporates into the August air.
A girl stomps past me into the sunlight, and as she gets closer to the
brightly-lit street, I see a thick black ponytail.

"I'm... Sorry..." I whisper as she stalks off. Suddenly she whips
around.

"It's my fault. I was trying to catch somebody. He attacked me..."

"What did he look like?" I ask, suddenly curious. "I've seen
some pretty shifty characters around when I was looking for..." I feel a
blush creeping to my neck. "Somewhere associated with art."

"Was he really tall? Muscular, wearing a red bandana with dark hair and rough skin?" The description is so accurate, I recognize him immeditley. The one who... I don't even want to think about it.

"Yes! He attacked me, too!" I say eagerly. The girl points at my leg. I glance down, and suddenly my legs flood with pain. My right leg is cut badly, gushing blood, and my left legging is ripped, showing a large bruise and a scrape.

"Yah... He..." I wince, "Trampled me. I was in his way, I guess. He shoved me against a wall and punched me, then while I was dizzy he threw me on the ground and kept walking... Right over me, I guess."

"I can see that. I'm Ramae, by the way, but I like to be called May. Are you new in town?" I feel grateful to have a friend already.

"I'm Holly, and yes, I'm new in town. My family couldn't afford to send me to school and have an apartment. I'm the oldest child, so I offered to move out and work to pay my salary. I do art commissions."I hold out my sketchbook. May takes a look.

"I like it! Where were you exactly when the man trampled you?" May asks.

"That's just it... I have no idea. I was lost in the first place."

"Come over to my house. I know this city like the back of my hand. If you can describe it, I can find it. Plus, my other friends are waiting for me!"

We start walking, May skipping, me limping.

Soon we're walking up a stone path to a large house. I've never seen such a huge house just for one family.

"Welcome to... The house of May!"

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Okay, guys, I'm more than a little confused... can you help?

Mel is a girl. Danie has pretty much left, which is why this hasn't really been asserted, but this is what was said in the character description:

Name: Mel

Job: Thief.

Age: 15

Appearance: Short, curly, and brown hair. brown eyes. Wears jeans with many rips and holes, and a tanktop.

Personality: Resourceful, clever, sneaky. knows pretty much all of the polices tricks. Slightly mysterious, and doesn't like to make friends. A loner. 

So... Ramae/St. Owl described the thief/attacker as:

Pretty gruff guy. He had a bandanna on. Obviously had muscles too. He was really big, somewhere in the high six feet.

So... ? I'm guessing either Ramae got it wrong and is thus leading everyone on a wild-goose chase, or the thief is not Mel, it's someone else. Mel just saw the open door and went in. She didn't remove the doors or attack Holly or Ramae. That (the second option) is what I'm going with for now, unless someone corrects me and I realize I was totally wrong. :-)

Nahla~

Alarie leads Darius and me to Ramae's house. We sit on Ramae's front porch, waiting for her to arrive -- she said she'd catch up, since she needed to collect all her writing stuff. As Alarie paces the porch, murmuring ideas to herself, Darius spreads a new sheet of paper on the deck table between me and him. 

"We just need to... get enough people together," he mutters, drawing a sketchy map of Citali. "Architects, of course, and bioengineers and engineers of the streetcars and bikes. Artists. Librarians and writers. Messengers because they know Citali." He scribbles a list of names on the side of his map. "Citali is the center of innovation. If we can't get enough people together to save it... then I'm not Darius Gamma." He grins and brushes eraser crumbs off his sketch. "I am definitely getting this started. There's so much we can do."

I'm about to lean over the table and add a couple of names to his list, but then Ramae comes running up to the house. 

"Hey guys!" she shouts. "I've found someone who can help!" She gestures to the street. There's a redheaded girl in torn leggings and a sweater walking behind her. "This is Holly, everyone. She knows our thief."

Alarie grins, and Holly grins back as Alarie pumps her hand. "Alarie, head librarian of Citali," she introduces herself.

"Holly, new designer in Citali."

Ramae says, "This is Darius, and Nahla. We're all working to find the attacker. Here, come on in." Ramae pulls out her house key and unlocks her door, leading us in. Darius sits at the kitchen table, still scribbling, while Alarie sits on the couch next to Holly, Ramae pulls up an armchair, and I sit on the fluffy rug.

"Holly was attacked. She knows where the attacker has been, but she just needs to figure out exactly where, because she's pretty new to Citali," Ramae explains. "Holly, can you describe?" she leans forward in her seat to listen. 

"It was in an alleyway. Between two really tall buildings."

"Were the buildings solar?"

"Solar?" Holly sounds confused.

"With multicolored stained glass panels. Most of the central city buildings have lots, so they are super noticable, but the ones more on the outskirts of Citali get their power from the turbine walls, so they have less." Alarie explains.

"Yes. Definitely solar. One of the buildings had the panels like shingles on the dome, and the other one just had it as windows."

I notice Holly's leg is bleeding. I dig around in my backpack on the floor next to me and pull out a roll of gauze, handing it to the younger girl. She nods thanks and starts winding it around her leg as Ramae says, "A dome... Alarie, you live closer to central city than I do. How many buildings have domes?"

Alarie starts ticking them off on her fingers. "The library, the city center, that new restaurant, the large greenhouse... there are a lot."

I pick up her list. "The office of that streetcar engineer that just got solar, the main power processing plant, the potter's shop."

Ramae's eyes light up. "The pottery shop? Yes! They have the shingles on the dome, too!"

Alarie chimes in. "And right next to it is the building with solar windows, the apartment building!"

"Let's go," they say together. Ramae turns to me and Holly. "Can you stay here? With Holly?"

I nod, and Holly nods at me. "We got it." 

Mind if I jump in here? 

~Lena~

I race through the streets on my hoverboard, weaving through a maze of pedestrians, trees, and streetcars. The boss is out on a business visit, and I have to get to the library, where he said he'd be. I have just had the best idea of my life! But when the large yet grace ful building whizzes into view, I can tell something's wrong. A pair of doors the size of the doorless grand entrance are lying on a tarp on the ground, with plans to paint the beautifully carved designs. Darius' work, obviously. But why is there no one here except a security guard dozing in the sun? I wake him, and he startles before putting on a comically suspicious expression. "And who are you, girl?" he asks. "I'm Lena Forester, arboreal bioengineer, and could you tell me where Darius Gamma went?" 

He shrugs. "Dunno. I heard 'im talkin' 'bout a Ramae somebody, but then he left an' I thought I'd take a little nap, quiet-like." He shuffles his feet a little, looking uncomfortable. "Uh, listen, kid, d'you mind not tellin' my boss Allarie 'bout this?" I raise an eyebrow at him but say, "Sure thing." I climb the steps of the library, and as usual stop a moment to admire the breathtaking solar stained-glass art in the atrium. Then I climb a flight of stairs to the main computer lab. A few minutes and a search of the city databases later, I'm off, with one Ramae Sentisete's address on a slip of paper in my pocket. She lives a bit further from the city center, in the opposite direction from Treehouse District. 

When I reach the right house, a cat is sunning itself on the porch, and there's a canoe propped in the doorway in lieu of a door. "Darius? Sir?" I call inside, hoping to high heaven he's here. If he's not, I don't know where to find him. I hear people talking inside the house, and then suddenly he's there. Oh, thank goodness! "Lena? What is it?" I am practically bouncing with excitement. "I have just had the BEST IDEA. For that old city center building, you know, Citali Commons? Well, I was thinking..." The boss cuts me off. "I think you'd better come inside, Lena. This might take awhile."