Well, the time has come to decide which story lines will be used in The Gift.

Over the course of last week I presented six possible story lines with six different spirit characters introduced as part of them. If a storyline involving a character is not chosen it will not exclude that spirit from showing up in another storyline but the primary spirit characters will get a slight bonus over other spirits in the stories as they play out.

If a storyline is selected then it will be further fleshed out later when we assign human protagonists to them; that is to say, the intros will likely change a little, but nothing significant.

As a quick review, the story lines presented can be summarized thusly.

A) The protagonist lost his/her younger brother when he drowned in a river over summer break. During the funeral the protagonist touched his/her brother's cheek at the same time as a black furred jackal man. If this story line is chosen then Anapa the Jackal Spirit will be assured a place in "The Gift".

B) The protagonist moves out of his/her home into a poorly maintained apartment. S/he is electrocuted to death in a freak wiring accident but is brought back to life almost immediately by a humanoid Gryphon spirit. If this story line is chosen then Jack the Gryphon Spirit will be assured a place in "The Gift".

C) The protagonist and his/her friends went to Mexico during summer to celebrate their graduation. During their stay the protagonist was separated from the group and gained the attention of a humanoid jaguar spirit, who later saved him/her in a car accident that resulted in the death of all of his/her friends. If this story line is chosen then Balam the Jaguar Spirit will be assured a place in "The Gift".

D) The protagonist and two of his/her friends are going on a road trip to celebrate their graduation. At one of their last stops they sit in on a Native American celebration where the protagonist is met by a humanoid coyote spirit posing as a human performer. He reveals himself to the protagonist even though nobody else seems to notice anything out of the ordinary. If this story line is chosen then Talapus the Coyote Spirit will be assured a place in "The Gift".

P) The recent high school graduate protagonist moves to Cherry City so s/he can be close to his/her mother, who was institutionalized when the protagonist was a pre-teen. During the visit the protagonist learns that his/her mother had somehow been communicating with an ancient spirit or, more specifically, a powerful spirit who had three personalities with a different form per personality. If this story line is chosen then "The Ancient One", a nature spirit taking the forms of a western dragon man, a furry eastern dragon, and a feathered serpent will be assured a place in "The Gift".

S) The protagonist moves away from home and into a much larger town with the intent of starting his/her adult life. After a long day of work s/he is finishing off his/her chores by taking out the trash only to run into a very strange fox and shows him some kindness by giving him some leftover chicken. The fox turns out to be a fox spirit. If this story line is chosen then Kon the Fox Spirit will be assured a place in "The Gift".

Remember that the story line is the focus of the vote, as the story lines will have a specific effect on the stories as they unfold. Don't worry if a story line involving a spirit you particularly like isn't selected as there will be opportunities to include that spirit in another story line soon. So, with that out of the way, here is how voting works:

As a reader you are welcome to vote on both FA and SF; please do not use multiple accounts to vote more than you allotted number. To vote on each site you will provide two votes for the stories you'd like to have voted on the site where you vote, and another two votes on two more stories you'd like to see shown. Once all votes are tallied I will try to have all four top choices presented on both sites, but you will only be able to vote further on the stories on their respective sites.

For example, if we determine that A and B will be posted on FA while C and D are posted on SF then I will be posting all four stories on both sites, but when it comes to reader direction, only those readers with an FA account can influence stories A & B while readers with an SF account will influence C & D. If you have accounts on both sites, well, you can affect all four stories!

So, with that being said, please cast your first two votes for stories you want to actively be able to influence through SF, and then vote on two more stories you'd like to see unfold, knowing that only readers on FA can actively influence it.

Voting is open through midnight (pacific time) on Friday, January 19th!

Questions are now welcome as are comments, and, of course, votes!