Please read this Author's Note:
SUMMARY IS THE SECOND LINE FROM THE BOTTOM
This is my complete rewrite of Lost in Translation. At the moment of me putting this in the Doc Manager, I'm on Chapter 8 of the story, so like the original story, I'm going to write this as I go. It's easier on me that way, so please remember that when it takes me along time to get this finished.
I had a lot of trouble continuing You call this normal? (Iron Man 3 FanFic) The story I had envisioned in my head had evolved faster than the one I published had, so I decided that it would be a good idea to rewrite it the way I wanted it to be.
Another problem was my characterization of Alex. Alex wasn't the original OC for this story. I went through many different ideas who she could be, each time changing the personality a lot, and that lead to her being all over the place. Once I finally realized what her personality was going to be, I was 2/3 of the way through You call this normal? and I realized that I had no inspiration for the story anymore.
The past year has been pretty rough as well. My grandma died of cancer, I switched to Private School, my parents are expecting more than I can deliver from everything from chores to grades, I wasn't prepared for private school, and I've barely been in contact with any of my old friends (Except for Carmen, the one who I addressed repeatedly in my author's notes).
I'm planning on continuing this series all the way through Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. One thing I would like help with is the titles of these stories.
Lost in Translation: The Avengers (Standing title no matter what)
Taken From Translation: The New Normal of Alex Harbor (Standing title no matter what)
You call this Normal? (Help me think of a new title, I hate this one)
Oh, and due to a review asking questions on my original story whenever I stated her IQ of 193. This time I made it a little clearer what I meant. In case you just want to know the story behind it, I'll go ahead and tell you:
Alex knows herself that she most likely doesn't have an IQ of 193, but has a Photographic and Eidetic Memory, and can remember almost everything from 1-current because of how good her memory is. Mostly she uses her memory to help her study and learn how to do new stuff and that lead to her school thinking that she cheated at everything and they paid for private testing.
I put Alex (and what I planned for her) though several Mary Sue tests. One of the briefest ones was:
Alexandra Harbor is nothing like you. She isn't really very cool: she blends into crowds, she hangs out on the fringes at parties, and wearing shades after dark makes her run into things. She may have sometimes thought that she was special, or destined for greater things, but probably dismissed the idea as a fantasy. She's come in for her share of hurt, but gotten off with minor damage. And she's gotten no slack from you.
In general, you care deeply about Alexandra Harbor, but you're smart enough to let her stand on her own, without burdening her with your personal fantasies or propping her up with idealization and over-dramatization. Alexandra Harbor is a healthy character with a promising career ahead of her.
By the way, since I was 11 when I wrote this and 13 when I posted it, I named 2 of my characters after Shake it up characters. Then I realized how stupid that was. Now you'll see Dina still, because that's supposed to be short for Regina in my story, and Deuce turned into Robert, because that was his full name in my story. I thought it was stupid that I kept the names, but I didn't know how to go back and change them without making her just randomly start calling him something differently.
Summary (As I promised):
Alexandra 'Alex' Harbor is a kid who's lived a hard life. Her life, though it has been far from ideal or normal, is getting better for her. She thinks that she's got the hang of everything, despite being an 11 year old living by herself in an apartment. Then summer comes, all of her friends leave out of family obligations, and she's stuck in her apartment in the rain. Sometime during the storm, she realizes that something's wrong but has no idea what it is. Once the storm ends, on her way to see a movie, she finds out that nothing she knows is right anymore. As she goes through the motions, trying to learn her way around the new world and the new life she leads, she realizes how screwed up everything really is, and that's the world's not about to go easy on her.
Please go back and read the author's note if you didn't, it explains a lot.
EDIT: Sorry, forgot to put the disclaimer. I don't know if it really matters, but I'll do it anyway. Keep in mind this is the disclaimer for the entire story.
Disclaimer: I don't own MARVEL. Or The Avengers. I don't own most of the characters. I own Alex, her family, and her friends (Not really, most of her friends are based off my friends/named after my friends because I'm not good with names and I didn't plan on them playing a big part in this story). I wish I owned MARVEL. Because Alex would be a character, and then I could make sure everything happened exactly how I wanted it to.
2nd EDIT: This is more for myself than for you guys. I need to put this in a place where I'll remember.
Alex is 4 years younger than Robert and 3 years younger than Dina.
So in Lost in Translation the ages are:
Alex: 11
Dina: 14
Robert: 15
If I do that correctly, by the time I get up to date in the timeline, in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the ages should be:
Alex: 14/15
Dina: 17/18
Robert: 18/19
(Sorry about that, I just knew I'd forget if I didn't put it here, because I switch documents when I make another story)
May 7th, 2012
2:45 pm
Sitting in my living room while watching Doctor Who
Status: Bored out of my mind, lonely, and ready to flush my stupid Parrot down the toilet
Dear Stupid Journal my cousin's girlfriend gave me,
Does anybody want to take a Parrot named Martha who's dumber than a brick off my hands? The pet store won't take her back and I don't know what to do with her.
This kind of thing is odd. I mean I've never had a journal before; I never wanted to have a journal. Then Dina noticed that I had a lot of pent up anger and told me that I needed to vent my emotions. Considering the fact that she told me it was either a therapist or the journal, I chose the journal. I don't need to make another therapist go crazy.
Dina think's that I need the journal more than she does, and basically forced it on me the last time she came to visit me. When I say forced, I mean she threw it into my room as she was leaving then sprinted down the hall; everybody I know is kind of crazy. I don't know where Dina gets her ideas, or why she refuses to listen to a single thing I say.
I kind of get her reasoning; I can't open up to people. I've tried to open up to my friends, my family, and even to Dina; but I just can't do it. There's too much and I don't even know where to start. All trying to open up did was give me more and more anxiety. Ok, getting a text from Dina right now. It says, Alex you better use that journal or you'll be sorry. Sometimes she scares me.
I'm going to start at the original source of my anxiety; My Father. I don't talk to my Father a lot; he lives in a different house. He lives in a different country 99% of the time. His name is Mackenzie 'Mad Man' James Harbor; the con man and runner up for Worst Dad in History. The person who wins that title is his brother Trent Harbor, who is also winning Worst Uncle in History. He hates children, life, and basically anything that breathes. It's surprising that he's had 3 kids, only 2 of which are living (Extremely long and complicated story that I can't explain at the moment and I would rather not explain).
I can't really complain about Daddy issues, since I don't have to live with mine. I feel bad for my cousins because they have to deal with him on a day to day basis. I mean, my Dad still sends me stuff and sends me money, but I really just want to see him more often. I see him maybe every 6 months and that is usually the best day of my life because he tries to make up for everything he missed as quickly as he can.
Most of my cousins, and there are a lot of them, live with their Moms. I don't really know where my Mom is, so I spend most of my days with my cousins and their Moms during any vacation. I don't mind that much, since I never got to know her and my aunts are really nice. Sometimes I wonder why they married into the sleazebag Harbor family.
Ok, this is all over the place, but I actually feel better.
When I was 7, my Dad had to go away on business. He told me not to tell anybody and to stay in my apartment the entire time unless it involved getting food or going to school. He told me it was only going to be a few days; a few days later I got a call saying that he was sorry and that I couldn't contact him, but to let him contact me. A few days turned into a week, a week turned into several, several turned into months.
Eventually the landlady found out and called Child Services. That's when my Dad FINALLY showed up and they went away without any trouble. Then he and the landlady had a little chat. He told me that he wasn't going to be able to live with me anymore, that he was putting me in danger. He said that I was to tell nobody except for the landlady that I was living by myself, that I was to invite nobody to my apartment, that I wasn't allowed to participate in anything outside of school, and that I was only allowed to contact family to find out where he was.
My family is made up of Con Men and crazy people. I can name any person in my family and tell you what position they do and what job they have. My family formed what they call The Seven Swords. 6 of those people are my Father and Uncles, the other is Don Rio Garcia; who just happens to be Dina's Father and honestly one of the nicest people I know.
I forgot to mention my name. I'm Alexandra Grace Harbor; I go by Alex or Alexandra the Great when I do something stupid in front of my friends. I've gone by Alex since I was 9, since 'The Incident' (Not as bad as it sounds, just strange and hard to explain). I might tell you what 'The Incident' is later on. I apparently have an IQ of 193, but I highly doubt that it's that much. But I do have a Photographic and Eidetic Memory.
Here's the thing about my IQ. I highly doubt that its 193. I have a photographic memory, eidetic memory, and I have a very logical mind. I think that's why I did so well on those tests. Whatever I see, I remember it, and I remember every little detail about it. I can tell you exactly what my Dad's room looks like off the top of my head, and I haven't even been in there since I was 7. I can tell you how many problems were on my 2nd grade spelling tests. I can tell you what the words were on my second grade spelling test.
Studying and school has always come naturally to me, my crazy screwed up memory made it to where I just had to flip through the book and do some practice problems and I'd know exactly how to do it. Hacking basically came as second nature once I realized what I needed to do and how to get my hands on what I needed. After that point, once I had and knew how to use the equipment, I knew exactly how to hack a firewall.
It's not that I don't have to try in school, I still do, but I don't have to try as hard as everybody else. People think I cheat because I do good in all of my subjects. I've had my schools test me for everything. My school even paid for private IQ testing because it freaked them out how well I could remember stuff and retain information.
I live with a dog I found when I was 7, when he followed me home from school; 2 cats my Aunt got me for my 11th birthday, and a Parrot I want to murder. My dog's name is Buster, and he's my best friend. My cats are named Little Girl and WALL-E, thanks to my friend Carmen's little sister. My Parrot's name is Martha because I let my friend name it before I had watched Doctor Who.
Speaking of Doctor Who; it, and Marvel are my life. I really don't have a life, and I'm pretending that I'm ok with that. At first, my friends were obsessed with Doctor Who, now I'm obsessed with Doctor Who at a level that they have yet to reach.
My Parrot, thank you Morgan and Jacob, only says 3 phrases. Those phrases, usually in this order, are 'Fuck me', 'Screw You', and 'Damn Bird'. Those are the very reasons that I hate her; well, that and the fact that she's extremely hostile and aggressive. I tried several times, and the pet store refuses to take her back.
Ok, so its summer and I just got out of school a week ago. I don't know why our summer starts earlier, but for some reason it does. When I got out of school, I found out that all of my friends were going on vacation and I was going to be alone all summer long. My cousin Robert gets to go to Mexico to visit family with his Mother and sister Jamie; his Mom's Hispanic. Dina gets to go visit her Father. My friend Morgan gets to go to Israel to visit family. My friends Carmen, Kaiann, and Dani get to go to the same summer camp. My friends Abby and Mary get to go to the same different summer camp. Maddie and Gabby are god knows where. Katie's visiting family somewhere. Tyler's with his family in Vegas. Brendan's somewhere in Chicago at the moment.
Almost the very minute I got out of school, it started to drizzle. Then once I got home, it started to rain. Then, once everybody was gone, it started to pour. Now, I'm trapped in my building in the middle of the pouring rain. FOR A WEEK; it's been raining all week, nobody can go outside and all I've done is play on my laptop and fight a parrot. Now, there are scratch marks all over my kitchen, my cabinets, my arms, and she somehow managed to get all of the stuffing out of a couch cushion.
I looked outside, in the pouring rain, and found out that I can't even focus on the New York skyline. It looks fuzzy and I keep having to wipe like 20 layers of fog off my windows. The rain is starting to creep me out a bit. It won't stop raining and I can't get my TV to work right anymore. Oh, great now the internet's going out too. And I now the lights are flickering; just great.
I need to go, my power is starting to go out. And now the power's out. I'll write again later, maybe something interesting will happen this summer. Now I need to go check the fuse box since the landlady can't work a light switch let alone a fuse box.
- Alexandra Grace Harbor
Please go and read the author's note at the top if you didn't.
Please review and let me know how you like the rewrite. And please tell me which one you like better, original story or new story (At the moment).
Keep in mind, since it is government agents and adults interacting with an 11 year old, characterization might be a little off because and part of which will be intentional as in they don't know how to react to Alex's personality or intelligence (most likely the first one because she's an 11 year old who acts like a teenager purposefully).
