Meet the main players on Redemption Reef.
Name: Flynn Archer
Played by author Andrea Speed
Age: 28
Physical Description: Six foot even, black hair, black eyes, slender but athletic build
Personality: He’s a mass of contradictions: outgoing but unwilling to talk about himself, quick witted but insecure about his background, he prefers honesty from people but is almost always lying. Uses humor as a weapon, and generally refers to people by sarcastic nicknames.
History: Flynn Archer is the most recent pseudonym adopted by a man named Errol Ashton. A mixed race (Japanese/Caucasian) Army brat, his parents had an acrimonious divorce when he was young and he went off to live with his mother. After her shocking murder, he went to live with his father and his new family, but their relationship remained estranged, and he ran away as a teenager. Traveling around as a street kid, he eventually fell in with shadier types, leading to his unofficial career as a lock pick and a thief, which led to him changing his identity nearly as often as he changed clothes. He made a decision to give up the criminal life after a member of a crew he was on killed a security guard during a robbery, but the past caught up with him in a mysterious photograph, sent to him anonymously, that seemed to imply that his father had something to do with his mother’s long ago murder. Eventually the truth comes out, and it’s more bizarre than Flynn could imagine: his father, through his accrual of massive gambling debts, somehow got mixed up with the Russian mob, and turned snitch on them. His ex-wife was killed as warning, and eventually all of his family was picked off one by one … except for Flynn, who managed to avoid detection through his vagabond lifestyle. Eventually he came into conflict with Henry Vale, a secret operative of the Russian mafia working as a mortician, who thought Flynn had information his now late father intended to pass to the Feds, which he didn’t. Not believing him, Vale kidnapped Aiden, the handsome schoolteacher Flynn was involved with. To save him, Flynn killed Vale by pounding a pen through his eye, but not before Vale gave him a head injury that landed him in a coma. That’s where our story starts …
Name: Aiden Parker
Played by author J.J. Levesque
Age: 27
Physical Description: Aiden stands at 5 feet 10 inches tall with hazel eyes and brown hair. His hair is slightly wavy and used to hang just below his chin. Now it’s short as he hacked it off because of the heat on Mystery Island.
Aiden is lean but muscular, a result from running every day. He has a tattoo on his left shoulder blade of a dragon, which he refers to jokingly as his guardian since it is always watching his back. He has pierced ears and usually wears small hoops. On his right arm he has scars from when he was sixteen and attempted to fit in with the other boys by jumping his bike off a ramp. It did not go well and he required stitches.
Personality: Aiden is quiet around people outside of the classroom, but he likes animals and loves to play with his dog, an Akita named Dante, named after the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. He sings off-key and loudly in the car when alone, and he likes to collect rare books.
History: Grew up in a single family home after his mother left him at the age of three. His father was close-minded and Aiden did not have a good relationship with him. He spent summers on his paternal grandparent’s farm and enjoyed riding horses and helping them out. He realized he was gay when he was fifteen but did not come out until college. After his education, he met a man named Peter whom he lived with while teaching at a private academy, but things did not go well and their relationship ended, but not on the best of terms. His second job teaching was at a public high school in a small, quiet town. When we last saw Aiden he had met a man by the name of Flynn Archer. He’d quickly come to care for the man, despite knowing he is hiding something in his past. As a result of his acquaintance with him, he was kidnapped by Henry Vale, a man set on getting to Flynn. He is freed when Flynn finds him locked in a secret room beneath the town funeral home, but a fight breaks out between Flynn and Vale, leaving one man dead and the other seriously wounded.
owned by Aiden Parker
Name: Miles Sutherland
Played by author A.B. Gayle
Age: 38
Physical Description: Red hair, turning sandy. Six foot two but stoops slightly, so he seems smaller. When he first met the other characters he was overweight and looked a bit like the wild man from Borneo thanks to his shaggy hair, beard and moustache. Now makes a conscious effort to take more care with his appearance. His eyes alternate between green and greeny-brown depending on his mood. His skin has that typical redhead fairness that burns if he’s out in the sun.
Personality: As a young man Miles believed the world could be a better place if people just loved each other. Over the years in his job as a Doctor he saw so much death happening indiscriminately to the young, beautiful, old and ugly that he has lost this belief. The death of his long time lover and husband, Darren, was the final straw. Darren had been everything Miles is not. Cheerful, happy, positive, enthusiastic for life. Since his death, Miles has become even more withdrawn and abrasive although since meeting the paramedic, Carter (Gil) Gillespie, he has started to come out of his shell. He has a cynical sense of humor which makes him one of the few people who genuinely likes Flynn.
History: Miles is Australian. The only son of loving parents who accepted his sexuality as did his sister. At school and college he was a rugby union fanatic, eventually playing first grade, however he had to keep his sexuality hidden from his teammates. He met Darren, the love of his life when their families were staying at a resort in Fiji. The young teenagers found they had two major things in common, both wanted to become Doctors and join Medecins sans Frontieres and they were gay. Even though they lived on different continents, they kept in touch over the years eventually meeting up and working together in Somalia and later Iraq and Afghanistan. While overseas, Darren contracted HIV/AIDS. Realizing he needed more care, the couple returned to Darren’s hometown Burlington, Vermont where they married in 2001. After Darren’s death, Miles tossed up returning to Australia to live but eventually decided to stay in the US as that way he felt closer to Darren. Employed as the town Doctor, a chance encounter with a small mutt who found a dismembered hand, Miles became involved in Flynn Archer’s problems. He eventually adopted the dog, he called Roofie and, with Gil, was able to keep Flynn alive after his fatal encounter with Vale.
Owned by Miles Sutherland
Name: Carter Gillespie
- Played by author Jessie Blackwood
Age: 28
Occupation: Paramedic
DOB: Born: 19 August, 1982
Physical Description: 6 foot tall, medium build, muscular but not heavily so, fairly broad through chest and shoulders. He has short brown hair which is soft and rather unruly if left to grow. His eyes are a deep dark brown, with laugh lines at the corners. He weighs in at round about 180lbs. Well educated, he has a degree in Paramedic Science from Manchester University, UK.
History: Born in Sale, Manchester, UK, of an English Father and an American Mother, Carter grew up the eldest of three children. He has a younger brother and sister, although
he is ten years his brother’s senior and 13 years older his sister, so he isn’t as close to
them as he might be. He grew up in a middle class household, his mother is a writer
and historian, his father is an architect. Always drawn to helping people, Carter was
impressed by the paramedics who attended him when he came off his bicycle and
broke his ankle when he was 14. He decided if he could, that’s what he would do with
his life. He passed his degree with flying colors and has taken every course going,
improving his skills every chance he gets. He has a thirst for knowledge and self
improvement. Carter is very driven, ambitious and motivated, but he is also a calm
and careful person, working well under pressure and methodical in his approach. He
is a gentle person, an optimist, cheerful, with a somewhat earthy sense of humor and
a pragmatic, no-nonsense approach to life. He likes to joke that his name makes him
sound like a firm of estate agents or solicitors. Most people who know him well call
him Gil, a contraction of his surname.
He had never been abroad in his life, despite holding dual nationality, before signing
up for an exchange program with US paramedics, eager to see how things were done
in America. He got more than he bargained for. At first, the small town seemed
too quiet, much slower than the frenetic inner city he was used to. Openly gay and
unashamed of it, Gil’s emotions and his self-esteem took a battering before he left
British shores. His partner of six years left him for a woman, and while Gil knew
Simon was bi, he still saw it as a betrayal. He took the opportunity to leave the UK
for a while, putting distance between him and unhappy memories. He determined
that he wasn’t looking for love, he was in no hurry to fall into the same trap again.
However, finding the community he had landed in was not only gay-friendly but
seemingly a gay enclave, he has since found plenty of potential partners. Trouble is,
two of them have begun to figure prominently in his life and he cannot decide who he
wants, a problem not made any easier by the recent turn of events.
Personality: Gil is a pragmatic and capable person who is generally unflappable under duress. He is used to coping with disaster scenarios and RTI’s (Road Traffic Incidents), applying a methodical and calm approach in the face of chaos. He is a loving and gentle person and it takes quite a lot to anger him. Gil is not shy either, he doesn’t embarrass easily and he has a strong stomach. He’s a paramedic, he’s seen sights would make some
folks’ hair curl. He also doesn’t talk much about work, preferring to leave it behind him. He has two loves outside work, riding horses and motorbikes.
Name: Lyle Ashley Tate (aka ‘Jude’)
Played by Katisha Moreish
Physical Description: Once upon a time there was a little girl. Her name is irrelevant now though, because really she was a boy and his name is Lyle Ashley Tate.
Lyle has light green eyes, short and sometimes shaggy blond hair, stands 5ft 10ins tall in his socks, has a moderate build, kissable lips, small ears, beautiful feet, strong legs and a curvaceous backside. He is pale skinned and sun-sensitive, though he could tan if he was careful about it. He has an English accent and although his voice is a little light it is also sweet and mellow.
Personality: Lyle is very bright, but quite shy; he speaks when he has something to say, rather than for the pleasure of hearing the sound of his own voice. He meets people’s eyes when he talks, but usually keeps his hands to himself and tries not to crowd folks. He’s a good listener and very well-mannered, though he does not suffer fools lightly. When pressed, Lyle is quite prepared to fight his corner, presenting as both aggressive and ballsy, and has sufficient talent as a martial artist to back up his plays.
Lyle likes being physically active, and consequently his main hobbies are martial arts, swimming and horse-riding. He also enjoys taking photographs, flying kites, doing jigsaws and solving crosswords and other puzzles.
History: Lyle was born in the UK, but moved to the states some years ago and married a co-worker, a man named Richard. Something happened though, something that resulted in Richard’s death and forced Lyle into the US witness protection system. He hasn’t disclosed what that was to any of the people he currently socialises or works with. Sometimes he misses Richard terribly, but it’s been a number of years since he was murdered, so Lyle is endeavouring to move on with his life.
Lyle has relocated and changed identity a number of times over the last eight years. It’s been only a little while since he decided to change to the gender he feels he really belongs to, though. He’s lived as a male for the requisite period, started taking hormones and working out, been attending the recommended counselling and psychotherapy, and has been trying to save enough to have the surgery he wants and needs.
Afraid of rejection, Lyle, now identifying and living as a gay male, only recently found the nerve to approach one of the men he’s attracted to, Carter ‘Gil’ Gillespie. It wasn’t easy for either of them, but once they had managed to have ‘The Conversation’ they did get around to having sex. Despite Lyle’s wishes and hopes, though, Gil ‘has his cap set’ at someone else right now.
Lyle witnessed Vale and Flynn’s first session of sabre rattling when he first started working at Henry Vale’s funeral home. For quite a while Flynn assumed Lyle was aware of Vale’s Russian Mafia connections and intimately involved in their business as well as the funeral home’s business. Eventually Flynn was proven wrong, though, and Lyle was helping to investigate Vale’s illegal activities when events overtook him and Vale ended up dead.
Everyone was wondering what to do next when Lyle’s ‘handler’, Agent Tyler, and her boss—Agent Breslaw—showed up. Everything about Vale’s death seems to have been swept under the carpet, thanks to the Agents’ involvement, except that one of Vale’s Russian compatriots fled the scene and is thought to still be at liberty and gunning for Lyle and his friends…
Name:Gideon Sterling
- Played by author Jessie Blackwood
Age: 40
Physical Description: Dark hair worn close-cropped, dark eyes, 185lbs, six foot tall.
History: After too many years doing inhuman things in the name of National Security, Gideon Sterling has ‘retired’ from active duty in the Special Boat Service and gone freelance, working for Eidolon as a security consultant. When they offered him the chance to take up the role of Security Officer on Mystery Island he agreed. It afforded him the opportunity to fly (his latest love) and he could see plenty of potential for swimming and diving the reefs and jumping off mountains (with a parachute) not to mention making a new start.
He is a reasonably good judge of men, less so of women, but really couldn’t give a toss what gender his sexual partner is (as long as they are legal, human and breathing). He isn’t a people-person though; he is not very gregarious. The only time he goes to a pub or club is with his team (for one pint, never any more) or when he’s specifically on the pull. He doesn’t mind the odd party (with the emphasis on odd) but he is a bit of a loner, used to his own company and not about to form a relationship with anyone. Gideon is a man who can respect others but that’s where it stops. True friends he can count on the fingers of one hand. Friends are liable to get damaged by association, family more so, so he keeps both very quiet and to a minimum.
Gideon’s parents died when he was young, his father in a car crash when he was six, his mother of lung cancer when he was 12. Orphaned, he was taken into care and eventually fostered to a retired Marine and his wife. He was allowed to join the Royal Naval Cadets and as soon as he could, on his 18th birthday, he signed up to join the big boys. The Navy became his family. He applied for, and passed, the rigorous and gruelling SBS training and has been with them for the last decade. Now nearly 40, he carries both internal and external scars and knows he has lost his edge as a result. He would rather retire than put anyone in danger in the field.
Gideon is still a warrior at heart; he is an accomplished marksman, an intuitive pilot and a fearless and dirty fighter. If he is at your back, expect to be protected. He doesn’t go out of his way to scare unless absolutely necessary, but he doesn’t suffer fools and he’s had enough of bleeding hearts. His instincts are as ingrained as his reflexes and both are hard to shed, but sometime they might just save his—or your—life.
Gideon is a very physical presence, assertive, pragmatic, dominant and comfortable in his own skin with an earthy sense of humour. He is unabashed if anyone sees him naked. He is calm and detached when on duty, he plays hard and works hard. He is actually a patient, attentive and good teacher, able to explain things and pass on his knowledge. He does not respond well to people who are not paying attention or those who are not as quick on the uptake as others, and does not like large classes, but with one-on-one situations with people who want to learn, he is more than capable.
He is also an accomplished swimmer, a certificated scuba diver and PADI-trained rescue diver. As he is the MISO, Mystery Island Security Officer, and speaks fluent Japanese, his team refer to him as “The Soup”. It isn’t the worst name he’s ever been called.
Secondary Characters
Ray Bullivant – Played by A.B. Gayle
Redemption Reef: Second Chances 