Five Fighting Fictional Friends

This week, one of Mama Kat’s writing prompts invited us to list five fictional friends we wish we had in real life, and describe why they made our list. This is a prompt I just cannot pass up! I can easily begin to feel isolated from my real friends as I go day-to-day: working, cleaning, helping with homework and carting kids to appointments and after school activities. We all can feel isolated at times. Writing about friendship—real or fictional—can be reaffirming.

When I sat down to actually pick five fictional friends and write this post, however, I found myself stymied. How does one go about picking just five? What unifying qualities should my five possess? Why do they all seem to be male? Should they be like friends I actually have, or should they be a bit more outlandish? And why does it seem that all of my fictional five ideas seem to come from television these days? I’m certain that if I wanted to appear witty and smart, I should include at least one from a book. Sheesh! Turn off the TV, Sarah!

Eventually I came up with my list, although it was a long and arduous process. I even included one from a book series! I’ve decided that the unifying theme behind my selections is that these people would make an excellent zombie apocalypse team (not to belabor the topic, or anything). And you know what? I’m just going to live with the fact that they would be mostly men. I get along better with guys in real life, for the most part.

My five fighting fictional friends, in no particular order…

5. Tyrion Lannister (from the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, aka Game of Thrones):

This is a character you just love, instead of love to hate. He tells the truth. He can kick some ass, when needed, and seems to have an uncanny knack for staying alive. You can trust him, unless you’re related to him. He’s smart, and likes to read. You know you’d have interesting conversations with him; not only because he’s witty, but because he would have the wildest, most random stories to share with you about his escapades (“Did I ever tell you about the time I found myself jousting in the fighting pits of Meereen?”). He’d be able to talk us out of altercations with other groups of survivors. Finally, he would ALWAYS know the best dirty jokes, hands down.

 4. Fox Mulder (the X-Files):

First of all, he’d be the first to know of a secret government conspiracy involving zombies, don’t you think? He’d also know where the best stockpiles of supplies are, I’m betting. That man made it down to Antarctica and survived falling off a spaceship taking flight. He’s eloquent and a fast-talker (I like fast talkers, as you will see below). He studied the paranormal and psychology at Oxford and seems to have a sixth sense on things. And… I tried to leave this out of it, but I just can’t. He’s pretty. A pretty, pretty man. Now, I’m not saying that David Duchovny is pretty, mind you; I’m saying Fox Mulder was pretty. Please tell me that I’m not the only one who makes this differentiation!

 3. Lorelei Gilmore (from Gilmore Girls):

I would have added Rory to the mix on this one, if it wasn’t for the fact that she ticked me off by dating the rich jerk for the last part of the series. I hated him as Tucker Max, and I hated him as Rory’s boyfriend. I refuse to even mention his character’s name. That being said, he is not on my list, and Lorelei is. Again, she’s a fast talker and we have similar eccentricities and tastes. She named her dog Paul Anka, for goodness sake! That makes up for the fact that she might not be so good with wielding a weapon. And you just know that she’d be more than happy to talk about whatever you wanted to talk about, from pop culture to what’s going on in your life to the weird neighborhood association meeting we had last summer where people went off the deep end over trash canisters. This is the kicker, though—I know she’d have stockpiled massive quantities of pop-tarts and coffee, and I want to be close to that kind of people at the end of the world.

 2.  Daryl Dixon (from the Walking Dead):

Isn’t this obvious? Do I even have to say it? Not only does Daryl kick butt in an actual zombie apocalypse scenario, but he’s one cool character. Not much gets under his skin. He’s full of one liners and common sense, and wields a freaking cross-bow like a boss. He watches/sees almost everything, and I like people who sit back, watch, and listen. Also, he’s mysterious. You want to get to know more about him. Oh, did I mention the crossbow? The crossbow thing is cool. Falling into a ravine and fixing your own wounds and hauling your injured butt back home after climbing out the ravine? Super cool. I think my own cool factor would rise exponentially just by being in his presence. Sadly, no one would be around to take note, since it would be the zombie apocalypse and all.

 1.     Bo and Kenzi (from Lost Girl):

You really can’t have one without the other. All succubus storyline aside, these girls are fun, party all the time, have very interesting taste in hairstyles and clothing (I need all the inspiration I can get) and again, are fast talkers. Kenzi can curse you in Russian. Bo can convince just about anyone to do whatever she wants them to do. And they hang out with fairies. That could be very helpful in an end of the world scenario (which, again, they’ve fought through a couple of times now in the show)! These two kick butt, and have quite the arsenal of sharp, pointy weapons that would help stave off the zombies. Also, they’re not the type of girls who are all, “Ew. That’s gross,” or concerned with getting dirty or going to the bad part of town. I like that in a friend. We need more adventurous people!

What fictional character would you want to have as a friend? Or, more importantly, who needs to be on your zombie apocalypse survival team? 

The post written for the prompt: Share five fictional friends you'd want in real life, for Mama Kat's  Writer's Workshop.