ECA 6-10

Hello!

I'm very sorry about not posting Thursday and being late for Friday's post; something came up literally at the last minute and I was unable to post. I am however, making up for that: I just posted a new little snippet on Drawn in Words, titled Arrival and as the title indicates, am also posting the next 5 entries of Project ECA!

I've edited the part 1-5 ECA post to include the comment blurbs! Unfortunately, I haven't been told or asked anything, but I'll try my best! If you think like you get it, ! It'd be wonderful to get feedback from people both with and without these additional comments.

Hopefully Project ECA hasn't been too terribly confusing thus far, and my little observations are of nice entertainment value! I know this is a terribly long for a blog post, so thank you very very much for reading this much! You're awesome! :D

This marks the end of Spring Break for me! I've already got homework to see to for next quarter, which promises to be extraordinarily hectic, but I'll do my best to keep posting consistently. As always, thanks for reading! ^_^

~Minerva Wu

EDIT: My comment blurbs have been added at the end! Parts 11-15 await here!

6. Obsession

“Celestine, it’s useless…she’s gone.!”

“I have to know!” Celestine chased after her mother, her hair a blue whirlwind behind her. “Mother!”

“You came back?” her mother asked questioningly, though she neither stopped nor turned.

“You have something I need!”

“Do I?”

“Syeniar. My middle name.”

She stopped. “Come. Come with me…and I’ll tell you which you were named for.”

“…No…I’m…I’m going with dad.”

A shrug, and the woman moved onwards. “Then you’ll never know.”

“You can’t do this!”

“Watch me.” Then without looking back, Celestine’s mother walked out of her life.

“I’ll find out…without you.”

7. Eternity

In the beginning of the second week, Elysia found Arlin crying in their room, a crumpled letter in her hand. The temple sister waited calmly until Arlin spilled out the tale. Her great-uncle was gone.

“He-he left me nothing but a poem,” she sniffed. At the end of the letter, calligraphy in the dead man’s own hand, was the old poem and prophecy supposedly written by the spirit of the sun:

“Three will answer the clocks of fate

Travel the trails to find the gate.

Redeem the princess of false schemes,

Restore to life the land of dreams.”

8. Gateway

The other students would all be at dinner now, Arlin supposed, stroking her dragon animus. She sat with her right shoulder against the cool metal and her eyes gazed beyond the weavings of the gate. Her white hair was tied up, albeit in an odd way; her clothes were clean and crisp as always; and her school bag was ever by her side.

For a moment the air was still and the earth silent. Fire and water danced patiently within her, at peace and at rest in their constant motion. She liked it here. Between two worlds. Between all worlds.

9. Death

“I don’t really know who my parents are. It doesn’t matter,” Elysia shrugged, “What about you? You don’t seem to care for your mother too much.”

“I wouldn’t want her dead though!”

“I never said that, did I?”

“Well then, I don’t know.,” To herself Celestine said, “She has to exist. She still owes me information.”

“Hi!”

“Greetings, Arlin. Gates again?” Elysia asked.

“Yup.”

“Epiphany?”

“About my great-uncle.” Arlin touched the white ribbon in her hair that day. A pause. Silence.

“I’m sorry,” Celestine whispered.

Arline smiled grimly and looked to Elysia, nodding in agreement. “Death…leads to reincarnation.”

10. Opportunities

They seemed to walk in a line, with Arlin skipping ahead, Elysia strolling ambivalently behind, and Celestine nervously behind them, as if she wasn’t sure whether she was supposed follow or not.

“You’re moping behind again?” Elysia waited.

“Sorry!” Celestine hurried to catch up. Also as usual. By the time they reached the bulletin outside the dorm, Arlin had summarized the board and chattered about it on the rest of the walk.

“….and there’s this campus beautification project which sounds fun! We should sign up!”

“No thanks,” Elysia unlocked the room.

“But…”

Elysia sighed. “Celestine?”

“Well, It’s an opportunity, right?”

Comment Blurbs

6. Obsession
For clarification: Celestine's dad says the first line, and the rest of it is a dialogue between Celestine and her mother.

So Celestine has this obsession with finding out what her middle name means. Or more specifically, "which" Syeniar she was named for. Here's where her confusion comes from: In their world, there is a prized sword called "Sye'niar". However, there is also a prized zeinband (think of it as a basketball/ other object used in a sport) called "Syen'iar". Both these objects are spelt (and pronounced) similarly. Celestine's full name is Celestine Syeniar Sesium, without an apostrophe at all. (yea, all three of these girls have long names, haha). She doesn't know which one she's named after and wants to find out from her mother, who was the one who originally came up with her middle name for her.

Unfortunately for Celeste, her mother doesn't really want to tell her. But beyond this, it's uncertain why she stuck with her dad and has such a hostile relationship with her mom.

7. Eternity
Insert dramatic prophecy-poem!
Basically, Arlin's great-uncle just died, and left her a handwritten copy of a poem that was supposedly written by the spirit of the sun, Ivarine Callias. (Yes, this Ivarine. I just reused her name in another world.) Why her great-uncle? The story goes, I was messing around with all my characters and re-drawing their family trees and editing their background stories and such. At the time I was revising/ writing this part, her great-uncle was supposed to be someone somehow significant. Now that I've finished placing most of the Sixteen though, Arlin's great-uncle is nonexistent/ not named.

This is actually an edited version of the this prompt-theme. I'll post the scraped scenes in a later, bonus post ^_^

8. Gateway
So here we see the usually animated Arlin, completely quiet and mellow, sitting by the school gate with her animus, the dragon Murantagh. Arlin's just taking her daily meditation moment by the gates, which is currently the most peaceful place she can find.

Alright, I admit I mussed up here. Universities wouldn't really have school gates or fences. Originally this was going to be a high school though, and before that it was intended to be a fanfiction. And Alatus Institute has a gate. Beyond all of those...I invoke artistic license?


9. Death
I think the only confusing thing in this entry would be the white ribbon that Arlin references. In asian cultures, white is the color for mourning; wearing white in the hair means a death in the family.

10. Opportunities
The order they walk in is Arlin---Elysia-------Celestine, just in case it was a little confusing. This entry also introduces the Campus Beautification Project...which was just some random club thing I thought to stick into the mix. It comes up again though.

Parts 11-15 await here!

Trevain sketch

Warning: computer cameras are not good scanners.

This was actually drawn and scanned a few months ago, but has been sitting on my computer ever since. I thought I'd hurry up and clear out the "incomplete" folder of my "art" folder so I dug it up. The "scan" wasn't really good so I cleaned it up a bit. I'm not sure if I want to color it yet. :x

Trevain's a summoner, specializing in air and wind sprits. I actually haven't used him in anything, story or roleplay (which I'm hardly doing now anyways) but I still like this drawing.

Well, kinda. I was thinking of writing a story with a superhero, and Trevain would have been the sidekick/ potential significant other. It wasn't exactly determined before other projects clamored for attention and I basically left that idea alone, indefinitely postponed at best.

This is also on deviantART here, if you like dA more. :)

I wanted to wait a bit before posting stuff from ECA, but didn't have much else due to a very unproductive day, so I ended up just cleaning this up.

Thanks for viewing! I know it's a short and lame post, but I'm running late....with nothing..... sorry! >.<

~Minerva Wu

ECA 1-5

Hello!

Today's post material might be a little odd, so let me explain first. Last summer I started a 100 themes project using the themes listed by deviantART group "100 Theme Writers" here. The goal was to write a story using each of the hundred prompts. I changed the rules up a bit for myself: I aimed to write a continuous story using the prompts, but limit myself to 100 words for each theme. The purpose of this was to force myself to write more concisely and still get the point (or some point) across.

However, the main purpose of this project being on this blog instead of Drawn in Words, is so that I can comment and explain as well as share my work. As it would seem, this 100 word per theme limit would result in either really short, simple scenes, or very dense ones. Hopefully I have achieved the latter without being exceedingly confusing. As I wrote, I've discovered that to save words, I would do funky stuff, like omit speaker names, hoping that the reader (you! ^_^) would be able to tell who was speaking by the word choice and context.

Anyways, I'll be happy to dispel any questions or confusions. I'll give more descriptive explanations for what happened as well as my thoughts in the post after (so you get a chance to struggle mull over it ^.^(I would never want a reader to struggle to read something >.<)) As always, please PLEASE tell me if I'm just being WAY to confusing. 

Hope you enjoy!

~Minerva Wu

EDIT: My comment blurbs have been added at the end! Parts 6-10 await here!

1. Introduction

“Who’re you?” Her black hair was braided with a sapphire ring on the end; she stood with one hand on the doorframe and the other on her hip.

“Arlinia Murantagh Yves” the newcomer replied, setting her luggage down. “I go by Arlin. Nice to meet you.”

“Elyshley Intana Kieran. Call me Elysia.” They shook hands.

“I’m so excited to finally be at Vesper University!”

“I’ve been in the system since elementary.” Another knock at the door. “Who’re you?”

“Oh! Um…This is my new dorm…”

“Huh. That’s Arlin. I’m Elysia.”

“Hi!” Arlin piped, “What’s your name?”

“Oh…Celestine…Celestine Sesium”

2. Complicated

“Who’s that to?”

“My parents,” Arlin replied without looking up.

“Oh? Who’re they?”

Arlin looked up, sighing. “Well, mum’s Ionia Hazun, seamstress. Dad’s Nevin Yves, teacher. We live pretty far from here.”

“What about you?”

“Oh….I live with my dad,” Celestine murmured indistinctly behind a sketchbook and textbook..

“And you?” Arlin asked after a pause. Elysia blinked.

“I don’t have parents.” She shrugged. “I was named and raised by the temple. Taurus is my patron and the Holy House is my family. That’s all I need.”

She paused, judging Celestine’s aghast expression and Arlin’s sympathetic touch. “Not that complicated.”

3. Making History

History was not her forte, she supposed lamely, staring at the text with and back up at the teacher in a mixture of awe and loss. Finally the professor finished.

“Your assignments and partners are posted here. Class dismissed.”

Celestine glanced at her partner. Elysia had been leaned back in her seat, as if sleeping, but had sprung lightly to her feet, wide awake..

“First opening of the Angelic Gate,” Celestine answered the silent question.

“Know anything about it?”

“No?”

“Make something up.”

“What?!”

“That’s what history is.” Elysia stated. “Half fluff, half memory, victors’ opinions….”

“…”

“…Bah. The library then.”

4. Rivalry

Celestine followed nervously, unsure of what would come of this expedition to the library. She gazed in awe at the grand space, from the high ceiling to the plush seats and endless labyrinth of books.

Elysia strolled in and soon started pulling down books.

“Oh. Hello Elysia.”

“Hello Vesper.”

“History project?”

“Yes. You?”

“The same.”

“Topic?”

“Rift Wars.”

“Angelic Gate.”

“Well, good luck.”

“You too.” 

The entire exchange was over in ten seconds and the black haired boy walked off, chin raised like Elysia’s. 

“What—” Celestine started, questioning her roommate.

“Who,” Elysia corrected. She handed her a book. “Start reading.”

5. Unbreakable

White hair tied in two braids and clothed in a pale blue dress with a dark blue ribbon, she sat on her windowsill. Behind her she heard her family waking, and before her she saw the village waking.

“Arlinia?”

She whirled at her cousin’s voice. She nodded before returning to watching the sunrise. Blue spread over the sky, stemming from a single glowing dot.

“Dawn brings change. Some good, some bad. Don’t worry. Relax.”

Arlin picked up the bracelet with the single topaz charm. Even change was consistent. Some things though, would never change. In her heart, they were unbreakable.

Comment blurbs

1. Introduction

I kinda lied. A few friends had read this first 100 words and mentioned that it was important to pay attention to the names, otherwise they would get confused with who was saying what. This is probably unnecessary, but just in case: There are nine lines of dialogue, so just to clarify, the speakers are in each paragraph:

1. Elysia

2. Arlin (introduces herself)

3. Elysia (introduces herself)

4. Arlin

5. Elysia (also asks the second "Who're you?")

6. Celestine

7. Elysia (indicated by "That's Arlin, I'm Elysia")

8. Arlin (explicitly stated)

9. Celestine (introduces herself)

I'll be honest, this not-explicitly-stating-who-says-what does come up at other times in future episodes, as 3 and 4 clearly indicate. But more on that later.

The opening words were actually taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the opening line is "Who's there?" According to my AP English Lit teacher, this line was not simply Bernardo asking Francisco who he is. Instead, it is also Shakespeare's subtle way of asking the audience who they are; how's that for subtle identity-challenging messages? I mainly stole the line from him because I liked the profound reasoning (Thank you Mrs. Gala!!).

This first segment also unveils the meaning very mysterious and obviously drafty working title: "Project ECA" ECA is simply the first initials of the three protagonists. I'm very sorry for throwing in full names, but I do love names. If it helps any, the characters are referred to mainly as their "nicknames". :)

2. Complicated

"Complicated" actually is "not that complicated". ECA is just talking about their families. For clarification, Elysia also starts off the questioning in this segment. And since she brought it up, Elysia is born on May 2nd, which makes her a Taurus. Basically, she was raised in an orphanage.

Celestine's parents are separated or divorced in some way and she lives with her dad now.

Working up the number of parental figures, Arlin has both of her parents. 

3. Making History

This segment only barely connects to the "theme", I think. The idea was brought up a while ago in AP U.S. History: something about how history is actually pretty biased, as usually the victors of wars get to write the "history". For example, I'm pretty sure that Russian students aren't taught that communism is a horrible ideology and that capitalism is the way to go. I didn't want to have anyone actually "make history" in the usual sense by preforming some spectacular act, so I used the idea of "making up history" instead.

This segment also introduces the history project, which will come up again. The event Celestine and Elysia are researching is basically the events of my failed NaNo idea "Angelic". I'm not going to mention anything about it now as I'm not so sure how much I'm actually going to be using from that...but the characters do talk about it quite a bit. We'll see how it works out ^_^

4. Rivalry

I'm guessing you can tell where the rivalry is. The student Vesper Jinan Wisteria is mentioned in today's post on DiW as well!

The dialogue is just between the two of them, alternating. Vesper initiates the conversation and is the one to guess that she is there for the history project. Elysia asks what his topic is.

A funny caveat: the name "Vesper", meaning "Star" is seriously abused in this story. Thus far, the school itself is called Vesper, as well as a random student. There are two more "Vesper"s in the story, most almost all completely unrelated; I simply decided to stick every character I had ever associated with the name in there, just for the humor. >.<

5. Unbreakable

This is where I can introduce the inspiration for the entire project: Hans Tseng's Alatus Academy in Directions of Destiny. The project initially started as a fanfiction, but about 25 entries in I decided I didn't really have sufficient information on the school, classes, and the legacy and lore of the place and characters to write a decent fanfiction that would be consistent with the story, be it before or after the events of the webcomic itself. So I kinda branched out from it, adding a few classes and changing the plan so I could have full control of the world. It was not until around segment 25 that I stopped even trying to tailor things to the comic though, and some of the comic-influenced things remain.

There is not only the major history-project event with different topics for each pair, but now also the concept of summoning an "anima" from a vessel by focusing on a certain emotion. This is the case with Arlin in this segment: this is her before her first time summoning her anima and the emotion she has chosen to focus on is the sense of consistency she gets from her bracelet: the unbreakability of some things in life.

This segment also introduces the anachronisms in this stories. I try to make most things chronological--the story is confusing enough even without the timeline getting mussed up--but there are a few flashbacks and a few things that take place at the same time or before something that came in an earlier segment. I'll be sure to point those out when they come up.

Parts 6-10 await here!

Wen's Plush

Greetings!

I'm on spring break right now, so to encourage myself to do more and post more, I'm going to be posting every day on this blog :). I don't know if it's going to be writing or pictures or what not but I promise a post every day from today until Friday! :) I can't guarantee when they'll be posted, but it'll be before 23:59:59 each day ^_^

Manga

At Macia's suggestion, I read Zettai Heiwa DaisakusenAll in a single sitting, basically, which just goes to show how I spent a rainy Sunday. Similar to Reimei no Arcana, Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen is about Princess Euda, hailed as a holy maiden in the south and Prince Johanne, hailed as a war hero in the north. To bring peace to their countries, the two faked being in love and got engaged, even though their relationship was actually antagonistic away from the cameras. It seems to end after the first few chapters, but trust me, once the r

eal plot picks up, it's spellbindingly sweet and impossible to not finish. (Yes! It's a completed series! =D!)

The other recommendation, Kaichou wa Maid-sama (Class President is a Maid), I'm only on chapter 13 of, but I really like it thus far! The idea is that Misaki Ayuzawa, the Class President of Seiko High School, puts on an aggressive and dominating persona towards the 80% male population at school, but after school she works at a maid cafe, where she is very sweet to the "masters" (patrons of the cafe). In order to keep her reputation at school, she can't let anyone know about her part-time job. There are some plot twists I was able to predict, but then again I'm not even half-way finished ^.^

I'm a sucker for romance, anyone can tell. >.<

Wen's Plush

As promised, a post-worthy post a day!

This is also on deviantART here.

This is actually drawn a long time ago, but I only just got around to coloring it. The story goes, I was fishing around in my many many files of character profiles and roleplay profiles when I stumbled upon this line: "Notes: He likes fast planes and cute plush dolls? (Not that he'd ever admit to the latter.)"

Me: O_O< WELL! THAT was a surprise.

I liked it enough to not change it though, and doodled this. I remember that when I wrote the list on the side that it was supposed to resemble Wen's handwriting...I don't know about that, but sure! Why not.

Just in case: Wen is from a few of my stories on Drawn in Words. In order of appearance (and chronology):

~The Pilot

~Introducing Love

~The Start of the Journey to the Heart of All Realms (WenRant1)

~Trading Places (WenRant2)

~Wen Interview (WenRant3)

Hope you liked! (Or are at least mildly amused.) Until next time tomorrow then!

~Minerva Wu

P.S. lolol 23:59:29! I'm not late!

P.P.S. I don't know why the timestamp says 9:38....guess blogger doesn't have daylight savings time?

Homework and War

Hi!

That's actually a pretty ironic description of the post today given that I wouldn't mind waging war on homework. Of course I'm so lazy that I'd probably save more glucose doing the homework than complaining so much about it >_<. I'll get to it once I get to class, which will be right after I post this thing.

Pretty news today! "Prologue" is finally up on Drawn in Words! Comment please!

As for this blog, I have another surprise: poetry! erm...my lame attempt at it at least. I'm not usually a poet, but I was helping my brother with homework and have some stuff to show for it.

This first one is entirely me. A bit of a play on words/ word, I wrote it while procrastinating (that's not very informative as I'm always procrastinating something or another). I don't know what kind of poem it would be, and I remember getting criticized that this form of writing "isn't even a fawking poem" (yes, they spelt it like that). Something about not using poetic devices? I'm so confused now. Anyways. Poetry of batch of words arranged funny, here is "Homework":

Homework

Is lame

It chases me

Until I finish it.

It stalks my every thought

It butchers and buffers my grade

Alas! It encroaches upon my

Dwindling time. If only

Homework was

Lame.

This next one actually isn't mine, but my brother's for his school project with a few touches I added. I'll say a few more things after, but I think it's best to see for yourself the "Legion of War":

To war!

Quarrel and quarrel and quarrel

lead fatefully to battle.

The legion stands in form,

Blood in its fingers,

Death in its vessels.

By dawn there is frenzied battle,

By dusk there is pointless massacre

Both legions are reaped by the same blade

Into Death’s benevolent embrace.

The victors live to see:

No one has really won.

And in the knights that follow

they die a thousand times,

Haunted by deaths and quarrels.

Most of that free-verse was written by Mr. Dungeon Phone/ Matthew Yo (both aliases. Personally I think the former is more creative.) Structure, content, most of the word choices actually. I did add in a few points in though :

• The word quarrel. Everywhere you see it. He had something like "conflicts lead endlessly to battle" but we changed it to a different word. He came up with the word and I came up with how to use it.
• "by dawn...by dusk" in favor of "in the start...in the end".
• That line "into Death's benevolent embrace"
• This isn't really an edit/ contribution, but I actually changed "knights" to "nights" thinking it was a typo. However, in the end I changed it back to "knights" because I liked the pun. You know, in the people that follow.
• The last line, "Haunted by deaths and quarrels" but everything else about the ending is exactly how he wrote it.

Does it surprise anyone that I was thinking about Hunger Games the entire time? I don't think my brother was though. Just me. I think it fits though: knights= tributes, quarrel= Dark Days, legion= Capitol.

Anyways, I have to rush to class now or I'll be late. Hope you enjoyed the poems/ attempt at poetry. Please comment, subscribe and I'll see you in the next post!

~Minerva Wu

P.S. Does that last sentence make me sound like a YouTube video poster person?

Reading: Hunger Games, Reimei no Arcana

Greetings!

Sorry for the utter lack of updates. I planned to start posting my ECA project, but I haven't actually gotten anywhere in it :(.

Aside from the usual stresses of school, I've been reading this quarter! I finally finished (and loved) The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Look it up! Read it! I'm no good with summaries, but basically: A dystopia has replaced the ruins of North America. The people of the surrounding 12 Districts are each forced to sacrifice one boy and one girl as Tributes to fight in the annual Hunger Games: a televised survival challenge from which only one can return alive. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to replace her younger sister, Primrose, in the 74th Hunger Games.

Anyways, I've been moaning about it because my roommate recommended it to me and then I finished the trilogy before she did and thus cannot talk about it, lest I give spoilers. The point is, READ.

Yesterday I also found a wonderful manga called Dawn of the Arcana,, or in japanese, Reimei no Arcana by Rei Toma. I read the first two volumes at the school bookstore and found up to chapter 27 online (see link above!). The first few pages on the link are pictures of the characters as tarot cards, but the comic is after that. Princess Nakaba of Senan has been married to Prince Caesar of Belquat, rivaling kingdoms in a routine symbol of peace, but historically this peace never lasts. A red-haired princess where black is traditionally the royal hair color, she and her servant ajin/demihuman/subhuman (half animal half human) Loki are insulted in the hostile palace.

Humorous and well-written, Reimei no Arcana is full of page-turning political and romantic drama. Again: READ!!

Hopefully it won't be that long before my next post, where I plan to submit my long-overdue-for-posting story. Originally a prologue for my NaNoWriMo 2011, the very originally titled "Prologue" is about how Princess Anuna Erkygon of the dream land Ashrieka acquired her familiar. It should be able to stand alone. I'm still debating whether it will go on Drawn in Words or here, but you can reach DiW from the sidebar link so it doesn't really matter either way ^_^

If I get any work done for ECA, that will be coming up as well, along with any character exercises I care to do.

Best of luck to everyone until then though! :) :)

~Minerva