We join our adventurous interviewers as they pull The Desk toward a large greenhouse. Or, to be more accurate, we join Electra dragging The Desk with Zippy on top of it while Aurora walks behind it, in case the rope breaks.

Electra: *gasping for breath* A hill. It had to be on a hill.

Aurora: Well, you have to admit, it does make sense having a greenhouse on a hill. It's in the sun for pretty much the entire day.

Zippy: Pretty flowers! Yea!

Electra: *rolls her eyes* Yeah, whatever. Just remember, if it has thorns or teeth, don't mess with it.

Zippy: *giggles and nods* 'Kay! *hops off The Desk and runs to the greenhouse door* Hellooo in there! Tracy?

*Through the door, a young woman in blue denim shorts and a black tank top, her long brown hair twisted up with a hair clip, can be seen with her back turned to the interviewers at the far end of the Greenhouse. She's sitting at a computer and seems too engrossed in what she's doing to hear anyone.*
*Lily suddenly appears at the door, smiling hospitably.*

Lily: Hello, you three! *widens the door* Come on in! You must be here for that interview I've been hearing about. *blinks when she sees Electra dragging The Desk* Goodness, don't you want some help with that?

Electra: Well...

*Before she can continue, a medium-sized tree appears out of nowhere. Its branches grasp The Desk, lift it as though it were a feather, then set it down with a large THUMP right behind Tracy.*

Electra: *blinks in surprise* Uh, thanks.

Tracy: *jumps in her seat and turns around* What the...? Lil, what's going on?

Lily: *rolls her eyes* The interviewers, remember? They're here.

Zippy: *ogles the vines* Oooooh, spiffarific! I bet that comes in real handy when you're moving safes and stuff.

Electra: Zippy!

Lily: *grins* You have no idea.

Tracy: *looks at the interviewers like a deer in the headlights, then snaps out of it and smiles* Oh yeah! Duh. Sure, gals, come on over here.

Electra sits down at The Desk and Aurora sits on the edge of it, while Zippy waves a pencil menacingly at a moving vine.

Zippy: *negotiating with the vine* You leave me alone, and I'll leave YOU alone.

Electra: *rolls her eyes at Zippy* Don't hurt the plants, Pest. *turns to Tracy* Would you mind if we interviewed you?

Tracy: Hang on. *turns back to the computer and clicks SAVE, then minimizes the screen before facing them again* Anyway, sure, I'd love to. Ask away.

Electra: *smiles* Thank you. Okay, first question, how did you come up with your characters?

Tracy: Bushroot has always been my favorite character on "Darkwing Duck." He obviously could be such a sweet guy if he were just given the chance, and I didn't like the way he was treated on the show. They could have been a little more sympathetic toward him, seeing as all the things that happened to him weren't his fault. He was treated like a villain even when he didn't deserve it. Don't even get me started on "It's a Wonderful Leaf."

Lily: Preach it, sister!

Tracy: *blinks* Er...right. Anyway, I started making up stories about Reggie before I even knew the term "fan fiction" existed. I was about sixteen when I came up with Lily. My best friend Elisa would come over for weekends, and we'd stay up all night while I told her stories about Bushroot and Lily. It's plain to see that poor Reggie would do his best to connect well with anyone willing to be his friend, and I thought, "Hey, why wouldn't somebody actually make an effort to reach out to him? Not everybody's as shallow as the people you see running and screaming down the streets of St. Canard every time Bushroot shows up." I imagined a sweet, caring, and vulnerable girl meeting up with Bushroot. It seemed appropriate for her to have a flower name, and I think "Lily" popped into my head right away. It's not one you hear much of these days. "Rose" is a pretty name, for instance, but it's a bit over-used, in my opinion. I made her whole name "Lilian" to make it a little more believable. As for her maiden name, Reed, I got that partly from "Days of Our Lives."

Lily: WHAT?!?!?

Zippy: *giggles*

Tracy: *laughs* Yeah, from the character Austin Reed. I just thought "Reed" was a nice last name, and it was a good plant name, too. Lily Reed. Has a pleasant ring to it, don't you think?

Aurora: *nods* Audibly pleasant and, when in text form, aesthetically pleasing as well.

Lily: All right, all right, let's not beat a dead horse. How ‘bout moving on?

Zippy: *wrinkles her nose* "Beat a dead horse"? That's gross!

Tracy: *laughs again* That's how we talk down South. I didn't think too much about Lil's background until I actually started writing "Roots of Love." I asked myself how she would have developed such a love of plants and how she might be more open to differences than other people. I spent a lot of my childhood in Tennessee and Missouri, and I remember how beautiful nature is there and how down-to-earth the country people are, so I decided to make Lil from a good common-sense country family like mine. I also got to thinking about Lily's coloration. Cream feathers and the occasional markings are good for making a character stand out a bit, but could there be something more to it? And hey, why is it only white Pekin ducks you see all the time on the show? You hear names like "Mallard" and "Muscovy," but you never see actual mallard or Muscovy ducks. In terms of birds, green faces really shouldn't be that uncommon. Why don't we ever see anymore parrots like José in "The Three Caballeros"? Or let's bring in a Canada goose or two. I mean, come ON, people.

Lily: *clears throat* Soapbox.

Tracy: *chuckles* Whoops. Sorry, that's the schoolteacher's daughter in me.

Electra: *grin* No prob.

Tracy: Anyhow, that's why I decided to make Lily half-mallard and her father whole mallard. It would certainly give her a reason to be more open-minded about people who look different, and it would also make for some pretty interesting characters farther down the line once I introduced more of her family. Personality-wise, she's changed quite a bit since I first started writing about her, but then, she's probably aged more than any of my other characters. At her initial appearance in "Roots of Love," she was still very naive to the ways of the world. You might almost call her a little ditzy.

Lily: I didn't hear that.

Tracy: See how well she takes things now? That comes from being the Greenhouse Matriarch. She takes care of everything and everyone around her, and it's taught her a good deal of wisdom in dealing with people and situations. She started out as an innocent, vulnerable girl, but she's a proper Southern lady now, quite capable of holding her own.

Lily: I believe the question was "How did you come up with your characters?" That's plural.

Tracy: Okay, okay. Well, we can't forget Maggie and Forrest. I always thought Reggie could be a great dad, so I had to give him kids. I toyed around with a few names for a girl until I finally came up with Magnolia. It's a good Southern flower name, seeing as Lily's from the South, and I thought the diminutive form, Maggie, sounded very cute, which went perfectly with Maggie's looks and personality. I gave her pink hair mostly because I figured that'd be one way Bushroot's genes would show up in her. Also, I saw Reenie on "Sailor Moon" and I thought, "Hey, why not?" As for Forrest, what better name for Bushroot's son? Since Maggie was the bold, outgoing one, Forrest turned out to be quiet and shy, but he also has an uncanny awareness of the world around him, and he's intelligent far beyond his years. Both children can communicate with and control plants, and, since they're part plant as well, they have a telepathic link with each other.

Lily: And?

Tracy: And there's Derek, Lily's brother, another hybrid. He's a big clown with a heart of gold. He and Lily are constantly bickering, but you know it's just a game to them that they both enjoy. Then you have Jan, who's partly based on my best friend, Elisa. I even stole Jan's last name, Jensen, from ‘Lis. She's the cynic in Lil's life, who didn't like Bushroot coming around her at ALL. Heh. She almost killed him once.

Electra: *wince* Ouch.

Lily: She's come around, though.

Tracy: Yep. And let's not forget Lil's parents, Clay and Violet Reed. Clay's the mallard, as I said before. He's your typical barrel-chested country man who loves his pickup and hates the city. He's full of good plain sense, and he tells it like it is. Violet may be a little stereotypical as the housewife who loves to cook and all, but hey, what's wrong with that?

Electra: *grins* Nothing, as long as she's not sickeningly sweet like Binkie Muddlefoot.

Aurora: *smile* And she doesn't seem at all like Mrs. Muddlefoot.

Tracy: *nods* She's happy with the way she is, and I think it'd be great being able to grow up with a mom like her. She's always there when you need her, and she made sure her kids had all the love and support they needed and that they knew they could always come to her and Clay with anything. I really love the life where you could go to Grandma's house and know there was always something good in the oven. I put a lot of my own memories of Tennessee into Clay and Violet. Their house and the surrounding land is actually the way I remember my grandmother's house being.

Lily: Adds that sense of reality, doesn't it?

Aurora: *nods*

Tracy: Okay, well we know that there are a couple more pretty major characters, but let's touch on that subject later.

Zippy: *curiously* Why'd you decide for Lily and Bushroot to fall in love and get married and all that?

Tracy: You don't need to watch too many Bushroot episodes to see that the guy wants a family so badly he can taste it, and obviously he becomes infatuated pretty easily. If he ever met a girl like Lily, it's a sure thing he'd start having feelings for her very quickly. As for Lily returning those feelings, well, why not? Seriously, look at Reggie. What's not to love? I personally find his looks quite charming, so I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one. And beyond his appearance, I don't think you could find a sweeter guy. Look at how he bends over backwards trying to please Posy...

Lily: That's enough. You know we don't talk about her here.

Tracy: Um...okay. What was I saying?

Aurora: *prompting* Why you decided for Lily and Bushroot to fall in love...

Tracy: Oh, yeah. Well, more than once, he's done all he could to please a potential friend or love interest. You have to love a guy who'll run out shopping for you in the middle of the night, not to mention the way he's so caring toward his plants. True, he did try to force Rho--

Lily: *raises an eyebrow.*

Tracy: ...that is, that botanist lady to marry him, but he'd just been through quite a lot then. I think he had a case of temporary insanity.

Aurora: *nods in agreement*

Tracy: He mellowed out quite a bit in later episodes. Plus, it's clear to anyone who bothers to look that Reggie does not enjoy being in the Fearsome Five.

Electra: *mutters under her breath* Why would anyone?

Tracy: If an avenue of escape from that lifestyle were offered to him, I'm sure he'd take it in a heartbeat. As sappy as it sounds, all he wants is to be loved, and Lily, being the sort of person she is, would recognize that, as well as all the loveable qualities about Bushroot. It's a perfect match. As for them getting married, I always thought it would be a given. You can't date forever. That's just not realistic. All relationships change somehow as people themselves grow and change, and in the case of couples, sooner or later you're going to have to go one way or the other. Besides, Reggie's most certainly the marrying kind, and, like myself, Lily's a firm believer in marriage and commitment and all that good fundamental stuff, so, as I said, the old ball and chain was a given with them. *grins*

Aurora: *chuckles, then continues* Now, what about Annelle and Charlotte?

Tracy: Ah, Nellie and Char! The other major characters I mentioned. *laughs* They came later, as you know, and the story behind them is pretty interesting, at least I think so. Annelle was introduced in late summer of ‘99, and I guess you could call her an experimental character.

Lily: You said that about the Queen of the Demonverse? I'm telling.

Zippy: *sing-song* Tra-cy's in tou-ble. *giggles*

Tracy: *shakes her head* It was when I met Cryptic Von Macawber at a role-play forum, and my first impression of him was summed up in, "Wow." Here was this dark, mysterious RP character with a fascinating story behind him and a real-life counterpart with the most incredible imagination. Only thing was, he had the same problem that Reggie did--loneliness. And why? Basically because he was half-demon. Another shunned hybrid.

Lily: *smirks* Fresh meat.

Tracy: Oh, hush, you. So I'm a matchmaker, so shoot me.

Lily: I'll get the Cupid Lily arrows...

Electra: *laughs*

Tracy: *rolls her eyes* I thought for a few days about introducing a potential love interest for Cryptic, and the idea a cousin of Lily's visiting from Hennessee came up almost right away. She'd be as fiery as Lily was calm, but with the same acceptance of differences which seems to be a common thread in the Reed family. I also decided to make her a full-blooded mallard, which allowed for some interesting feather and hair colorations. The name "Annelle" came from one of my favorite movies, "Steel Magnolias." I like the sound of it, and there are a lot of nicknames you can make out of it--"Nellie," "Nell," Annie," and so on. My favorite is Cryptic's name for her, "Anne." When I started drawing her, she came out looking bold and athletic, the kind of girl who wouldn't be afraid or unable to show her mettle in a fight, which was a good thing since there's a lot of that in Cryptic's fandom, but at the same time, she wouldn't lose her feminine appeal. She quickly became the outspoken one of the Greenhouse bunch. Whatever she did, she did with the most passion, and that included her growing love for Cryptic. *laughs* His poor CP. He must have thought I was crazy doing something like that without telling anyone, but he must not have minded too much. Nellie and Cryptic ended up marrying, after all, and we still role-play almost every night.

Zippy: *smiling* How sweet.

Lily: And Char?

Tracy: *nods* Right. Charlotte's another character born of role-play, specifically, my role- playing with Negaduck. She sort of made a complete threesome out of the Reed cousins--Lily being the matronly one, Annelle the hot-tempered one, and Charlotte the soft-spoken one with merits you have to dig a little deeper to discover. Like Annelle, she's a full-blooded mallard. I gave her brown hair because we already had a blonde and a redhead, so let's throw a brunette into the mix. I stole her name from an aunt of mine. *grins and waves* Sorry, Aunt Charlotte! *laughs* As I said before, she's not as experienced as Lily or as fiery as Annelle, but she's a quiet person. What she says is short and to the point, but she has her fun-loving side, too. There's not a whole lot written about her yet, but that'll change. She's really quite a woman, but Negaduck could tell you more about that.

Electra: Just curious about this but...Why did you have Negaduck reform? I don't mean the fic explaining how.

Aurora: We wondered how you came up with the idea. The thinking behind it. That sort of thing.

Tracy: I'm glad you asked! Actually, the idea of a reformed Negaduck isn't all that new. I know of at least two other people who either already have or are planning to have Negs reform in their fanfic arcs. Myself, I find the idea an interesting one. Why couldn't Negaduck change? Isn't it a little narrow-minded to say it's okay for one villain to turn onto the straight and narrow but not another? I'm not convinced that Negaduck is evil incarnate. Sure, he's worked hard on being a reasonable facsimile, but, call me a sappy optimist--

Zippy & Electra: *in unison* You're a sappy optimist.

Tracy: I believe that way, way, deep down, there could be some spark of potential for change that even he isn't aware of. I think it opens up a whole new horizon of story ideas. Think of the fascinating inner conflict issues you could get into by trying to steer someone like Negaduck from the world of the corrupt. Obviously that'd be a darned hard thing to do, but it's my belief that the more difficult something is, the more interesting it is to write about. However, truth be told, this particular idea wasn't mine. *gets up from her chair* ‘Scuse me a minute.

*The interviewers watch curiously as Tracy disappears through a doorway, then re-enters, dragging a very tall, handsome young man with short brown hair into the room with her. She plops him down in her chair and leans casually on his shoulder.*

Tracy: Everyone, this is Darrin Breault, *hugs him* my bestest best friend and the man behind the Greenhouse version of Negaduck. He's the one who introduced me to the more loveable side of the Lord of the Negaverse.
Darrin, why don't you tell them a little bit about your development of Negaduck and how he came to be a part of our happy family?

Darrin: Aurora, Electra, Zippy...you'll have to excuse Tracy's enthusiasm when it comes yours truly; it comes from a long history of being together.

Tracy: Since July 16, 1999. WOO-HOO!

Drake: *pops up out of nowhere* You'll also have to excuse Darrin's stupidity when it comes to just about everything; he was dropped on his head as a baby. I mean, for a whole day.

Darrin: Screw you.

Drake: Bite me.

Electra: *glances at Zippy, who looks bewildered, nervously* Er...

Tracy: Now, boys, what did I tell you?

Lily: Calm down, and watch your language!

Drake and Darrin: Sorry.

Darrin: He may be reformed, but as you can see, he hasn't lost his edge.

Drake: Dang straight.

Darrin: Truth be told, reformation hadn't been an issue before the Bushroot family came along.

Drake: Absolutely not. Before Lily and Co. came into my life, I didn't even know what the heck reformation was. Back then, most of my days were spent doing what I did best--making trouble.

Darrin: And the RP forums were a breeding ground for trouble. Negaduck thrived on the mean-spirited misadventures of the other villainous customers. Between André Sputterspark and Negaduck, there was plenty of evil incarnate to go around. From the very beginning, obscene language and gratuitous violence proved to be quite popular with the others, so the two capitalized on it and fed off the popularity. They made a monopoly of it.

Drake: Hey! Ease up on the scandalous stuff, huh? Charlotte might be watching.

Zippy: *obliviously cheerful* I like Monopoly. It's fun.

Darrin: Anyway...they were legends in their own right.

Drake: So naturally, we just kept doing what we loved: weird, strange, sick, twisted, eerie, godless, evil stuff that always made the papers.

Darrin: Then Lily and her family came along.

Tracy: And all Heaven broke loose! *gets weird looks from everyone and hides behind Darrin*

Drake: I didn't know what it was about the short, blonde female that grabbed me so, but it was more than enough for me to make the first move. I welcomed Mrs. Bushroot to our little menagerie personally, and we became fast friends.

Darrin: Then, for a long time, nothing happened.

Drake: What are you talking about? There's countless stories between then and now that I'm sure the public is interested in! What about the night my flower invited me to move into the Greenhouse? The day I met my adopted daughter, Annelle, for the first time? The story of how Charlotte and I fell in love?

Darrin: Covered in Negaduck's Greenhouse Profile, "Angel," and "Recipe For Romance," respectively.

Tracy: *clears her throat* Which are either not up yet or aren't finished. *sheepish smile*

Drake: Killjoy.

Darrin: Anyway...as for the actual inner workings of Drake's reformation, well...once I saw how Lily and Drake were able to interact with each other so well despite their radically different backgrounds and personalities, I figured it might be novel if this person Lily had grown so fond of didn't have to be so hideously evil.

Drake: "Novel"?! Why, you little...it turned out to be more than novel! Lily Bushroot may be my sister, my flower...but she's also kinda sorta like the mother I've never known. She taught me that there's a right as well as a wrong, and she showed me that I didn't have to whip out a chainsaw every time someone looked at me the wrong way.

Darrin: That doesn't usually stop you from making use of that chainsaw, anyway.

Drake: Shut up.

*Tracy laughs.*

Darrin: Reformation for Drake was a long, involved process that involved lots and lots of RP for yours truly. It was through many, many exchanges and adventures between Drake and the three Reed cousins that Drake learned things like love, peace...

Drake: ...and why you should never, ever be left alone with your fiancée for more than five minutes. It gives you ideas. Thankfully, Charlotte and I didn't act on those ideas till after the wedding. We haven't stopped acting, actually...

Tracy: *plugs her ears* Too much information, Drake!

Electra: *quickly shoves Zippy into one of The Desk's drawers*

Darrin: Will you please let me tell the story?

Drake: Man, you are just no fun at all.

Darrin: That's basically it, though. Thank you, Drake, for stealing my spotlight.

Drake: Hey, no problem. I never gave up hope. I wanna thank Jesus and my special lady Charlotte. WE DID IT, BABY! *whoops*

Darrin: Before I forget, though, the one thing I want to make clear is that...

Drake: *interrupting*...he thought the cop was a prostitute.

Darrin: DRAKE!!

Zippy: *muffled, from inside the drawer* Wha's 'e sayin'?

Tracy: *anime-style sweatdrop* Errrrrrrr...

Drake: What? Get a sense of humor.

Darrin: What I meant to say is that while all three Reed cousins played a group role in the reformation of Negaduck, each girl had her own special impact, which drove me to reform Drake further with every RP. For example, daughter Nellie will often insist that her father is not a murderer as a means of defusing his boiled temper. It's usually the only thing that keeps Drake from killing someone off in blind rage. Meanwhile, wife Charlotte was the one to discover and highlight Drake's sweet and sensitive side, which she still adores and encourages to this day. Sister Lil serves as Drake's grounding; she keeps him on the right path and continues to help him further realize the difference between right and wrong.

Drake: I love my girls so very much.

Darrin: Well, that's Drake's reformation story in a nutshell, people. Let's get back to the real story here.

Drake: Yeah! Back to Tracy, my flower and their story; Darrin here can't handle any more big words today.

Tracy: *chuckles* Er...right, what they said. I guess you could say that I corrupted Darrin with my sickly sweetness. *sickly sweet smile* Anyway, as you can see, just because you reform Negaduck doesn't mean you make him a harmless little lamb. He's still got that attitude, that streak of danger, and seeing him handle it without making Lil bite his head off can actually be pretty funny.

Lily: I don't keep that big ol' rolling pin for nothing. *winks at Drake, who just blinks*

Zippy: *climbing out of the drawer* Now tell the truth. *suspiciously* Negaduck has really been taken over by body-snatching aliens! *points accusingly* Hasn't he?!

Drake: What? Who've you been talkin' to?

Tracy: "Whom," not "who."

Darrin: Great, the schoollteacher's daughter resurfaces.

Electra: *head in hands, groans* Zip, do we have to have another discussion about what questions you can and can't ask?

Zippy: *protests* But I didn't ask her if she dyes her hair!

Electra: *gurg!* Conspiracy-theory questions about aliens are not acceptable!

Zippy: *pouts* Phooey. I was gonna ask about the cows next.

Tracy: *unclips her hair and examines it* Well, I did highlight it once, but it's just about grown out now...*stops and notices everyone staring at her* Oops. Never mind! *twists her hair back up and secures it with the clip*