Full Name: Oja Sanfono Diamond
Birthday: January 9, 1990
Method of Creation: I'm actually not sure on this one... I'm going to go with #3 and say he started as a situation, by being Lesko's brother, but he sort of came out of nowhere like he was meant to be...
I love drawing Oja as if her were Jadali... Yup, he's a lefty all right!
Creation Story:
Here's a classic example of a relatively minor character who, after some experience I had, was suddenly expanded upon like crazy! Oja's existence started when I was writing the name list for the Diamond Family. I don't know why, but it became decided that Lesko had a twin brother whose name also was derived from a last name. His name comes from a very unusual source:
Basically, I had this keyboarding teacher in the first or second grade that was one of those old ladies that you know just HATE their job and are not afraid to show it. Man, she was mean, pissy, snapped at the drop of a hat, and had this very characteristic voice. I can still hear her yelling, "Tap tab ONCE means press it one time. Tab tab TWICE means press it two times. Tap tab THRICE means press it THREE TIMES!!!" or the other infamous, "STOP BEEPING!!" We had a program that tried to teach us home-row typing (which I never mastered by the way) and it made this annoying "beerp" sound when we pressed a wrong key. Needless to say, the class period was full of those dreaded beerps and it really pissed off our keyboarding teacher. Her name? Mrs. Oja. Coincidentally, she left/was fired/quit/exploded after winter break and was replaced by the nicer Mrs. Hulslander.
So, I took her last name and made a first name out of it. Is Oja a pissed-off crabby butt? Not in the slightest. In fact, I sort of knew what he was like from the start. I pictured this quiet kid with big, deep, dark brown eyes hidden behind thick black eyebrows and skater-long jet black hair. He was very dark and quiet and never spoke, just pondered. This came into play as I expanded on him.
Oja, the Ponderer
I began adding a little blurb about every family member in my name lists after I wrote down the Kribana Family. You know, like a Christmas card kid update. It included their age and grade and what they liked to do or what they were currently doing. Sometimes it included blurbs about their personality too. As I wrote the Diamond Family one I already knew a lot about Lesko (just not looks). I don't remember why but I had written down that Oja played the clarinet and that he hung out with his best friend Ryan all the time. Oh, and of course that he was Lesko's twin brother, the younger one.
That was all I really had about Oja until two things happened that suddenly brought him to the front. It was sort of implied that Oja and Lesko "hated" each other. I don't really mean hated as in they couldn't stand each other but you know the kind where two siblings don't really get along or get involved in each others' lives? This was them. They basically just lived together. They never really talked to each other, cared what each other was doing, etc. That changed the day Lesko had an immediate medical emergency that involved him cutting his left forehead open and knocked out on the floor.
Here's where MANY insights about Oja came. As it is written Oja was upstairs in his room when he heard a loud thud. Without even thinking, he was racing down the steps, the image that would await him was already blazing in his mind. This here meant that Oja had the power of foresight. He then found his brother in a bloody heap on the floor and so on and so forth. As Lesko was getting stitches in the hospital Oja sat in the waiting room and realized that he would have to watch over his brother and that he could be gone at any moment. He began to cry and promised that day to be a huge part of his life. He went in to see Lesko, who was just fine (except for the stitches) and told him that he was the one who saved him. The bond was made and from that day on they became best friends. Not only that, but Oja became a prominent character.
Oja the Dark!
The other thing that happened was not that long later, like probably a month or two later. This is an example of something that happens in my life and inspires me to bring it to V. Richlin's world. If you don't know, I am a musician. I'm a music major and play the *Bass Trombone*. Anyway, our city has a youth orchestra for peeps that are high school-aged and I made it my senior year! I love orchestra more than any other ensemble so I enjoyed every minute of it. Anyways, I don't know how familiar you may be with orchestral literature but we were playing a piece called New World Symphony by Dvorak. I have a great friend who I gave the nickname Magellan (As in Magellan Masili, who you'll hear plenty about) after this experience happened also. Anyway, in the fourth movement there is a gorgeous clarinet solo. This day, we were all on the floor instead of on risers and I could see "Magellan" playing his clarinet, and was suddenly aware of this BEAUTIFUL solo. My heart skipped a beat as I watched him play and the clarinet became my favorite instrument right there.
Oja, the Outgoing
Now how did this change Oja? Well, in V. Richlin's world, I was in the same group along with many others such as Gary Charles on french horn, Lleyton Charles on percussion, Harrison Kye on flute, Mustafa Kribana on piccolo, Avicile Mohaili, Bug Tabb, and Marcellus Kribana on clarinet, and, of course, Augustus Kye, Harper Kye, and Lesko Diamond on trumpet. Usually, Augustus would drive Lesko and Harper to rehearsal because he had a VW Bus (nicknamed the ILEN van) and then take them home but for what ever reason Oja had to pick up Lesko and take him home. As the story goes the clarinet soloist on this piece was Bug Tabb (I know, weird name...) and Oja stood in the doorway because he had arrived early and wanted to listen in on what his brother was doing. As he heard the clarinet solo, something amazing happened. When I wrote it down I described it as "Oja's Big Epiphany." I'll paste the first one and a half paragraphs here for you, with some added brackets to have it make a little more sense to everyone else:Oja's Big Epiphany
"On January 10, 2007, something amazing happened to Oja Diamond. He was at the KSB Office (the building that the orchestra rehearsed in- stands for Kennywood Symphonic Band) waiting to pick up Lesko, and he walked inside [the room] to listen better. It could not have been at a better time, because at that moment, Bug Tabb was playing a clarinet solo. As the beauty reached Oja's ears, he was suddenly thrown forward in time. He saw, from Bug's spot, himself sitting with a clarinet- Marcellus and some unidentifiable people to his right. He was laughing at then suddenly [another vision came to him and] he was playing a beautiful solo with the strings playing. He then saw this same scene in third person. Almost as quickly and distinctly as he saw that, he heard a voice that whispered, Oja, you know this is exactly what you want to do. You are very good. Now is the time to use your talents to the best you can. He thought suddenly of the pile of money he had been saving under his mattress. He had always been saving it for "something special" but he couldn't figure out what it was for. Now he knew exactly. It was for a brand new instrument, reeds, everything.
He finally realized that he was still standing in the rehearsal room and that [the orchestra] had finished playing. As he drove Lesko home, he thought with amazement and excitement at what he was about to do..."
Oja, the Osanokai
From then on, everything about Oja changed. He went from one of those kids that just does band for fun and doesn't really care that much about what is going on to a total band geek who practiced every day and had a ton of raw talent. His attitude went from "some quiet kid" to outgoing, funny, and always wanting to be in on everything. He and Lesko quickly changed to being best friends and do everything together. What's really funny and ironic, and a total coincidence, is that Lesko is very "light" and Oja is very "dark". I mean, Lesko's face just glows like the sun and Oja's face is very dark, serious, and pondering, like the night.
Over time, Oja and Lesko were given some similar characteristics. Both have the same nose (their dad's) and the same trademark smile (that is impossible to draw right!!!) and, after meeting a pair of brothers like this, have the same voice. That's about all they have in common. The rest of them is complete opposite, like the "I-Didn't-Know-You-Were-Twins" opposite. Oja is short compared to Lesko, at about 5'7''. For comparison Lesko is 6'2''. The only other thing they have in common is that they are both left-handed.
Just for added cultural stuff or whatever, Oja has something very rare- a gift that is very useful. In the world history, one will learn that the earliest people had a lot of power such as sorcery and magic and the like. Some of these specific special powers have remained and are given to very few, not unlike in the real world how we have genius artists, musicians, prodigies, etc. We already know that Oja has the power of foresight. He also has something called the Gift of Osai. I'll explain Osai later but basically he was a man who gave a special power to his guards. This power has stayed and only 26 people in the world today have it: Oja does not need sleep. For him, and others with this power, a full night's sleep can be achieved in three hours maximum and it is not uncommon for Oja to go many days without sleeping, only taking 20-minute naps whenever he feels the need to. Also, people with this power are unusually strong and heal very quickly. Oja can lift many things that only people with twice his muscles can do, and with relative ease. Oja broke his right femur in half in the first week of April 2008 (he's a klutz- that's another story) and he was all better and walking without any help at the beginning of May. This was after getting a rod hammered into his bone to set it and having it removed. He heals that fast.
Anyway, as I've pretty much described his bio, I will leave you with five facts about him. Enjoy!
1. He is a lefty!
2. He plays the clarinet.
3. He is a ponderer.
4. He has one brother that looks exactly like him (Toby).
5. He is a HUGE klutz, always getting into random and funny accidents.
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