Chapter Text
Introduction
Plot and Themes:
Nemori is the story about how others' ambition and selfish desires and impact the lives of those around them.
15 years ago, Marielle Payne disappeared without a trace, a missing person's case that was never solved.
But she is not a missing person's case. She is a daughter, a sister, an aunt to people who are trying to live their lives with the echo that she left behind. And more than that. She's a woman caught in the grip of a nefarious organization and, unbeknownst to those on the outside, she's still trying to get home. In the story, we not only meet the Payne family, shaped by a 15-year-old loss, we also meet those who did this to them.
The Gryphites Nemori, a Secret Society looking for the thing that turns people into monsters more than anything else; the promise of eternal life, youth, and health. In their eyes, it really is rather selfish of those who hold the key in their veins not to jump onto the opportunity to sacrifice their freedom, health, and maybe far more than that, to give it to them.
Characters and Relationships
Nemori has a rather big cast because of the Gryphites Nemori (Gryphons for short) having quite a few members, but I'm just going to introduce the important ones here
The Payne Family:
The family at the center of the story, separated by the Gryphons' hunt for immortality.
On the inside, we've got Marielle, outspoken, impulsive, and always one botched blood donation away from dying from anemia. She misses her family desperately, but she's glad she's got some people in her corner within her prison who make it bearable. The fact that the Gryphons recently took another girl, around the same age that she was when she was kidnapped, really rocks her world.
On the outside, we meet, besides Marielle's parents, her older brother Jonathan, his wife Clarice, and their 15-year-old daughter Hannah.
Nate had to deal with the loss of his little sister as well as the constant stress between not giving up on finding her and knowing it was probably not going to happen. He's about to find out the improbable option was the right one in this case.
Clarice is kind but assertive, and the old tragedy only bonded her more to the family.
Hannah never knew her aunt personally, but she knows about her. It is fair to assume that her love of crime fiction and true crime comes in part from living with an unsolved case. It will just not be a cold case for very long now...
Melody:
Melody is the Gryphons' newest victim. Recently taken from the orphanage she was living in, she's still adjusting... well, let's rather say she's dealing with having ended up in a cult / secret society... and the fact that the person who acted like she wanted to adopt her ended up being an agent of the organization.
The Resistance
Not everyone within the Gryphites Nemori is cut-and-dry evil. Very luckily for the protagonists, we have a quartet of people who would also like to see this place burned, as diverse as their reasons for joining up were. Dr. Scott and George from the med bay, Annie the resident IT girl, and Jamie, guard and external spy. The scary part about this is, that even with this much help on her side, Marielle has still been trapped there for over a decade...
The Gryphons
The main antagonist within the secret society is Anomine, unscrupulous, paranoid, arrogant, aka exactly the kind of guy you want in charge AND in control of your life. If Marielle's hate for him could be transformed into electricity, the entire town would be lit up for decades. We've also got Josefine Cerreta, the true brains of this organization, Williams, the muscle, and Thomas, who, trust me, you will learn to hate
General Info
I'm currently in my first draft (more or less. I kinda wrote this story down entirely when I was younger, but this will be the new and improved version that hopefully makes some sense XD) and I'm hoping to publish it one day.
Genre-wise, I'd probably say Thriller with a touch of mystery. It's going to be a one-off book, not a series, and it touches on topics such as family, friendship, grief, trauma, power-dynamics, and sacrifice.
blood is included and it will occasionally end up outside of bodies ;)