ECA 31-35

Hello! As promised, another post this week! I'm posting ECA today, but I think next week's post will not be directly continuous of the story, if at all related.

I should start prepping for school, which starts in about 3 weeks. XD
As always, comments are adored :)

PREVIOUS SET (26-30)

31. Colours

“Well,” Vesper said when Celestine had been quiet for a while. “my favorite color’s green. How about you?”

Celestine glanced up and blinked in confusion for a moment before returning to unlacing her skates. “I-um-I don’t really know.” She thought aloud: “Elysia likes dark colors. Especially black. I think. Arlin likes light colors. White.” 

“And you?” 

“I-I don’t really know. I’m…in between. Somewhat.” She stared down at the periwinkle laces of her black and white skates. “Blue, I guess. I’m blue.” She stowed her skates away. “There’s really only one color.”

He eyed her questioningly.

“Gray.”

32. Exploration

Arlin found the sun remarkably easy to talk to. 

“Summoning and magic class.” Arlin climbed towards Murantagh, who clicked at her impatiently. “Some healing. I wonder if I should’ve been healing class.”

“I always thought the shadows were bad. But I ended up loving them anyways.” She paused. “Like that boy you mentioned. The thief.”

“Except I don’t love him.”

“Except you don’t love him.” In the uneven light under a frond Ivarine’s image flickered. Yet… 

They paused to break. “I’ve a habit of exploring my new homes.”

“I explored much too. It’s nice to…”--a chuckle—“Know your turf.”

33. Seeing Red

Sye’niar hissed through the air in a precise arch. It parried, stabbed, swung, seemingly on it’s own. Finally, when dawn touched the sky and the Queen of Shadows again became the Spirit of the Sun did the sword halt, twirling again until it hung vertically in the air. 

Sye’niar’s new master faded into sight as sunlight touched her. Wisps of hair had formed horns and the deep-navy garment—the same colour as the sword—faded back into Elysia’s usual clothes as she sheathed Sye’niar. She stared and almost shuddered; remembering the streaks of crimson running through the blade interior.

34. Shades of Grey

“Everything’s just a shade of gray.” Shade of gray. Gray.

She was in the blue multi-shade dress again, sitting in the endless fog.   

“Everything. Not just colors.” Colors. Colors.

She touched her lips and found them closed; what was going on? Who was talking in her voice, stealing her words?

“Everything happens in nuances. Shades of meaning.” Shades of meaning. Meaning.

Vesper had raised an eyebrow. “Well. That’s extraordinarily profound. Where did you find that?”

“W-what? I thought of—I mean, the Pixies! I mean—” she ran. He thought her stupid or insane!

“No!” She flinched. No! No!  

35. Forgotten

Celestine was soaking in the bathtub when the lock clicked and the door opened. She sat up with a splash. “Hello?”

“It’s friend Intana,” 

“Intana?” she asked the voices. She remembered they referred to each other by middle name. “Elysia?”

“Here! Arlin’s here too.”

“Hi Celestine! We missed you!” 

She dressed quickly and hurried out. Elysia and Arlin were unpacking again but Arlin looked up and swept her into a hug. “Celeste! I missed you! What have you been doing?”

“Eh-I’m just hanging about. Studying, talking to mysel-to Anuna and Vesper.”

Elysia blinked. “Whom?”

“Anuna and Vespe-oh.”

Comment Blurbs

31. Colours

So when you have an awkward moment of silence, what do you do? 

“So….the weather’s been nice….” Or “How about them Lakers?” or in Vesper’s case, “My favorite color’s green. What’s yours?”

I think it’s funny that Elysia’s hair is black, Arlin’s is white, and lol and behold, Celestine’s is blue. Legitly though, all three of them would say blue is their favorite color. Just different shades of blue. 

And of course I had to throw in the idea that everything is just a tinted gradation of gray. Which I’m now questioning, but I like this post and the ones that connect to it later. 

32. Exploration

This was really easy to write, but I took forever editing the little bits of it. Yet, it was all worth it in the end, I think. I decently like this post in the scope of things. (Yes, I had to use the word yet.) Ivarine could be implying that Arlin doesn’t like Aldis yet, or despite Arlin not liking Aldis, she could still learn to appreciate what he does. Something like that.

This entire 100 words was written so I could write “Arlin found the sun remarkably easy to talk to” and “Know your turf”. XD

33. Seeing Red

Having gained the blessing of the past users of Sye’niar, Elysia starts practicing with her new blade. Whenever she uses it, the sword transforms her usual clothes and hair into a different set of armor. Not that this particularly matters, because as long as she is in the shadows while holding the sword, she is rendered completely invisible. At the end of one training session, Elysia is a little shaken to see that, though she had not actually struck anything, the inside of the blade runs with little streaks of what looks like blood. Just in case nothing else indicated it, this is no ordinary sword.

34. Shades of Grey

I still don’t understand what the deal is between grey/ gray, but the theme prompt says grey but I always spell the color gray. 

So after the conversation in Colors, Vesper questioned the originality of Celestine’s insight. I got this off of when I wrote a cute little snippet of randomness and posted it as a status. Someone thought it was a quote from a book and asked what it was from. 

Vesper isn’t supposed to be trying to be a jerk in this. He’s just not very good at wording stuff and Celestine just gets easily flustered. And all that has brought her back to the land of echoing fog. Which will be described in greater detail in her River Windrose segment :) 

35. Forgotten

This is a horrible response to the prompt. I originally wanted to express how being forgotten is one of the worst feelings ever, but I also realized that winter break was taking a little too long and wanted to bring them back. So it ended up being just Celestine forgetting about Elysia and Vesper’s mysterious little rivalry. In another sense I guess you can think of it as how quickly forgotten and how easily cast aside Epsilona must feel whenever Celestine rejects her existence.

NEXT SET (36-44)

ECA 26-30

Hello!
It's been a while since I posted, but I finally have the next five episodes of ECA ready! :)
I've been extraordinarily lazy. I have been playing League and ipad games all day and nothing productive has come of that (except I finally have enough Influence Points (IP; the non-real-money League currency) to buy Diana! :D)

To make up for the lack of a post last weekend and the sporadic posting date of this one, there WILL be another post this weekend (Labor Day weekend). And if I finish an art piece in time (which I certainly hope I will, because it's been taking all summer :P) then there'll be two updates next week as well! :) For now though, please enjoy these 5 posts of ECA! As always, all the parts are linked to in the Index if you need a refresher after my horrible posting schedule XD.

PREVIOUS SET (21-25)

26. Forever and a Day

“With the right spells…you can see eternity in these clocks…”

“Really?”

“I remember one…You like Wisteria, right?” Before Celestine could protest Anuna had cast the spell and they were watching Celestine and Vesper talk in a classroom. 

“But-but that was just yesterday!”

“Eternity. Anything. Whether it’s for ever or just a day..that’s uncertain. Hm…” The clock glowed milky white before young Elysia and Vesper appeared, glaring at each other. 

Anuna waited a beat before summoning another. The new image quickly cleared, but not before Celestine caught a glimpse of Elysia, Arlin and herself fighting to kill. 

27. Lost and Found

“I call it the Room of Clocks,” Anuna was saying, spinning lightly. Celestine gazed around them in amazement and wonder.

“Room of clocks…” Celestine breathed, meeting Anuna’s pink eyes. “How did you find this place?”

“Professor Nox showed me once.”

Celestine’s eyes widened, perhaps mostly at how casually she mentioned the senior magic professor. Anuna shrugged. “You lose stuff here though. I lost an entire set of scrolls…, And Professor Nox swears he lost lifetime’s worth of keys in here.”

“Could you find them again though?”

Another shrug. “I’m sure you could. With enough power, and with the right spells….”

28. Light

Her parents were still sleeping when Arlin finished breakfast and realized how much Elysia’s early habits had rubbed off on her; hopefully that habit wouldn’t leave her over winter break. 

With draconic Murantagh curled around her neck, Arlin wandered outside, boots crunching the snow underfoot on the path to the now-frozen pond as she had been taking every day since she returned. She breathed in morning dew. and watched a single ray of Callias’s sunshine touch the icy surface.

Today though, the light grew until she found herself staring at the visage of the spirit of Ivarine Callias herself.

29. Dark

Elysia paused her work in the temple fields and gazed over the ocean of wheat of her hometown. Lady Callias donned her mask of shadows, covering the horizon with color briefly before sinking into impenetrable night. Darkness swept over the land in a majestic sigh. 

Now was the time. In darkness, when no one could see, was truth.

Leaving her sisters in their shared room, Elysia brought her prized sword to the Sanctum of the Passed for the Blessing. “Spirits of times before, this was your sword. Grant me now the power and right to wield it as my own.”

30. Faith

“If… Elysia is back at her hometown for temple work, why… aren’t you?” 

Vesper paused his potion-making.. “Because I’m doing my service here.” 

“…Why can’t she?”

A shrug. He resumed working. 

His companion leapt, twirled and landed on silent blades before skating in front of him. “You… were both raised by the Holy House?

 A nod, another pause. 

“Arlin…she volunteers for a bunch of community service projects but she doesn’t call it temple work….. I… don’t see a difference though.”

“…Faith’s everywhere, Celeste. It doesn’t matter where we are, how we practice it, or what we call it.

Comment Blurbs
26. Forever and a Day

Just to clarify, there is only Anuna and Celestine in this segment. Anuna has the first line of dialogue, and they alternate. Anuna also demonstrates three spells on the clocks in the room: one that shows Celestine and Vesper talking in a classroom (recent past), one that shows the beginning of Elysia and Vesper’s rivalry (far past), and ECA fighting desperately (future). 

Anuna Erkygon was one of those characters that I had developed mostly in profile to a point that I needed to put her in an actual story in order to “experience” her and find out what about her personality actually worked and what didn’t. She started out as a name-filler, then became a roleplay character, and is finally debuting in ECA.  

27. Lost and Found

This episode reveals that the one before actually took place before this one, as the last line of this one, “With the right spells…” is the first line of Forever and a Day. 

This was originally the first time Professor Vesper Aurigae Nox was introduced, but I edited “Excuses” to introduce him then. 

There’s seemingly a very big problem with this one that I’m going to lampshade here: Anuna mentions losing scrolls and losing keys, but nothing seems to be really be found. Nothing is explicitly mentioned to be found anyways. I’ve gotten over this myself, but it’ll probably be a while before my reasoning is explained. XD

28. Light

Just in case this doesn’t ring a bell from the Eternity comment blurb,  the people of this planet call their sun “Callias”. This is because in their world, the sun is much like another spirit or aspect of a seraph (which is based on the Major Arcana of the tarot). 

I actually remember this came to me randomly while I was writing. AHAha. It’s really weird, but for some reason I liked it enough to keep it.  

29. Dark

This was not random/ inspired. This was eeked out word by word until I found something that seemed half decent.

So in Ivarine’s original story she had a power over light/ reflections and ice but then became the dark emperor’s bride and became the Lady of Shadows and gained abilities in darkness as well. I made her, in this world, the spirit of The Sun for the light, but also because no light is often connected with shadows/ darkness. That’s how that first part works. Note that Ivarine doesn’t become the moon. She becomes the darkness. :)

Elysia’s “sisters” are other girls that work/ have devoted their lives to the temple . (Honestly I don’t know why I call it a temple. I just mean it as a place of religious practice.) The Sanctum of the Passed can be also known as where the dead people are. Elysia feels that before she is allowed to use this shiny blade she found on campus (the one she found in Dead Wrong and talks to in My Inspiration) she has to get the blessing of the people who used it before her. 

Going back a little, that center line, (“In darkness, when no one could see, was truth.”) Is probably one of my favorite lines ever. There’s a lot connecting light with truth, such as the truth coming “into light”, and there’s a lot connecting shadows with deceit. I get this, but I was also thinking, it matters a little less what people do in the light where everyone’s watching and more what people do when no one’s watching. Sure, people can do deceitful things in the darkness and that would be their “true” self. But I trust good things can happen in the darkness too. :)

(I used this concept to get over a slight fear of the darkness, teehee.)

30. Faith

Ummmmm this one always bothered me. But I don’t feel much like changing it. Vesper’s point is supposed to be that there’s no point to differentiate between people who do things for a religious purpose and those who do it just to be nice people. Mmmmm no further comments for now.

NEXT SET (31-35)

A 247 word short XD

Hiya!

One day at work I randomly thought of this scene. I was going to expand it to two parts, but for now there is just this. It's short, but I hope you like it!

“You are a hideous person.” I want to laugh as I say it, to scoff and maybe sound cool, but it comes out as a sob, a quiet, miserable realization. 

“You are a horrible person!” I scream, trying to redeem myself of that pathetic attempt. But it comes out strangled, a desperate cry pleading for forgiveness. 

Why can’t I do this? I have the words right, but why can’t I say them right? Why can’t I put on a smirk as I utter these insults? Am I even so pitiful?

“You’re terrible,” I try again. It comes out as a whisper, a tearful affirmation. 

Finally I look up from my own well of self-pity and at the girl I was belittling. She meets my eyes. We reach our hands out to comfort each other. Our fingers meet but we touch only cold glass. We sob together, pressing our cheeks together against the pale surface until our tears fall as one. Yet we can’t feel each other’s warmth: just the flat, unforgiving chill that keeps us both alone.

Eventually I pull away from the barrier and withdraw into myself, hugging my knees as though the world was about to tear apart from within me. I become a three-headed horror: bloated, dripping eyes and a runny nose stuck on the head between two knees. 

The girl on  the other side of the mirror does the same. I see her mouth open, but I only hear myself scream.

The unofficial title of this is supposed to be "Mirror Image" but I feel like that gives away the ending so I didn't use it as the post title. Um...yea. I was going to post the next five posts of ECA, but I haven't finished the comment blurbs...and I'm still stuck finding an epic synonym for "event"/ "simulation"

'nywhays, hope you enjoy!

Short Report, Fruits Basket

Hiya!

So a few things to report:

• I managed to work out a few story kinks in ECA this week, but unfortunately haven't finished a post yet (so still stuck on #76 T_T)
• I had a random burst of inspiration yesterday and ended up writing a little over 2,000 words for a way-way distant scene in Sun Dagger that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. 
• My random idea from early in the week is about half finished, but I got off topic a little so I've been editing a bit to see what I want to keep. Please look forward to it next week or in a few weeks though. 
• Still no artistic work, sorry. 
• I think it's a bad idea to get notebooks/ sketchbooks for a particular purpose because it ends up with the first few pages complete and the rest empty. I much prefer my "put anything in this, it's here for your amusement and convenience" books
• I have a part-time job grading papers and doing whatever needs to be done at a tutoring center I used to go to. So...I'm busy XD
• I read Fruits Basket! 

Let me digress to fangirl about this for a bit. I had read the first few pages about 6-7 years ago in Spanish and didn't understand anything (lol) so didn't continue, but picked it up last weekend in a burst of inspiration. Loved it.

---(Spoilers follow)---
The title is derived from a game, in which (according to the manga) players are assigned a fruit name. When their fruit is called they can join the circle. The protagonist, Honda Tohru, is assigned as "riceball" when she is young. Obviously, a riceball isn't a fruit, and will never join the fruits basket. Although the game isn't mentioned ever again in the manga, it is a constant allusion to a theme in the manga: loneliness is a source of evil.  Many of the character's backstories show how not being accepted or wanted deteriorates their confidence, their happiness and ultimately their view on life. It's a beautiful exploration on the human psyche with a focus more on loneliness and acceptance than on just love in general.

I enjoyed Tohru's perpetual kindness and her simple acceptation of others and of situations. She mirrors Kinomoto Sakura (CardCaptor Sakura) and Sakura's perpetual optimism and faith in the good of people in this aspect. Both mangas focus on a "very important emotion", with Fruits Basket emphasizing the healing ability of love on loneliness, and CardCaptor Sakura emphasizing the beneficial radiance of optimism on trying situations. Neither has a clear cut antagonist by the conclusion, which resonates very well with me. I'm reminded of Lillian Hellman's quote "Nothing, of course, begins when you think it did." Which really is: to every story there is a dozen backstories, which have backstories of their own, and events that led up to those as well. But as these mangas do very well to show, it does no good to get lost searching into the endless past: we have to do what we can now to move forward, accepting those that oppose us, and understanding that they too have their story and reasons.
--(end rant)--

So I really like it! It definitely makes it up there in my favorites list, though how high up I'm still deciding.

I'll have a story/writing post up this weekend as well. Sorry for being late!

ECA 21-25

I need to stop playing League and start writing and finishing my art pieces. BUT I FINALLY GOT QUINN!!

Celestine: She keeps...neglecting us.
Elysia: *adjusts sunglasses* to LoL.
Arlin: I'm sure she'll get her act together soon and post up that sketchdump she's been working on! ^.^
Celestine: ....hopefully.
Elysia: ...eh. Maybe.
Arlin: *chides Elysia and Celestine* Be optimistic! ^.^ Now onto this week's story! ^.^!!

PREVIOUS SET (16-20)

21. Never Again

“Magic and weapons major? Both?” His expression was incredulous or amused. Celestine thought for an instant she understood why Elysia was always so annoyed with him.

“Yes. I can’t…um…decide.”

Vesper laughed. Celestine stared hard at the elemental gate floating between her hands.

“Have you tried going without one?” His voice was sympathetic and she remembered why she still talked to him. 

She nodded. 

“And?”

“No.”

“No?”

“I’ll not go without either. It’s…well,…it’s…”

His gaze said he understood. “You know Fiana? She majoring in healing and summoning but takes weaponry classes…. You’re fine. It’s not that crazy.”

22. Online 

Elysia had about three minutes before her roommates returned.

“Can’t you go any faster?” She glowered at the computer. “An Athwart 6237 Inkspool laptop wouldn’t need another speed-chip.” 

“Finally. Sye’niar…sword?…here?….” 

She closed the browser just as the door opened. 

“….during winter break. Oh, Elysia’s already back!” Arlin danced on a invisible line towards her. “Angelic…you already got an 100% on the project….”

“On the historical events, but I’d like to read The Lady Archangel’s chronology as well. Know where I could get a copy? Online maybe?”

Arlin frowned, suspicious. “Temple archives….An attendant should know that.”

23. Failure

Celestine stared at her grade. Shock. Horror. Puzzlement. Disappointment. Failure.

She pushed her feelings aside as best she could…for now.

“Something’s wrong.” Arlin was at her desk once the bell rang. “The lesson was…. easy?”

“I-I’m not so sure anymore….” Hesitantly, Celestine explained. Elysia might see her as a failure…but Arlin wouldn’t….right?

“…It’ll be fine! You’ll see!”

“Hi…bad grade?” Elysia guessed instantly.

“How—?” Arlin exclaimed. 

Celestine nodded miserably. “Any advice?”

“Just get every question right?” Frowns and raised eyebrows answered her. “Not joking.” Sigh. “Want to study together?”

“Right! We’ll A.C.E. this test!”

24. Rebirth

All Celestine remembered of the fortnight remainder of Fall Semester was cramming for calculus every waking moment. Finals came and went. Grades were delivered. B-. It would have to do. She had survived. Next quarter would start anew.

The dreamscape was different that night. A black haired queen lay poisoned, surrounded by mages weaving strange magics. The King entered. 

“How is she?”

“Worse, sire. She won’t be able to attend the Ceremony of Rebirth at this rate.” 

The King was quiet, worry and sadness layered in his face. “Lady Auiya cannot be left to wait. We must find another ancilla.”

25. Breaking Away

Elysia and Arlin were away for winter break; it was just Celestine.

Her and any voices in her head. 

Celestine glanced around the cafeteria from her room’s corner. The unnerving quiet wasn’t just because her roommates weren't arguing amicably. 

That was it. White-haired yellowed-eyed Fiana Tallwater and crimson-haired, pink-eyed Anuna Ekrygon were seated at their usual spot, both of their pretty noses buried in spellbooks. Rhys Vesper, daughter of Chancellor Vesper, scoffed. 

“You guys are freaks..” 

“What—?” Fiana’s eyes teared up.

“I”m moving out.” Rhys stopped, stared at Celestine and laughed. “Find yourself another freak.”

Comment Blurbs

21. Never Again

Yes, I note that Celestine is using an elemental gate in this post, when I stated last batch that she focuses on non-elemental magic. Please think of this as a bit of general ed for magic majors. XD But I don’t really think anyone’s following this anyways lolol

I couldn’t really think of a way to answer the theme “Never Again” and having Celestine actually say “Never again” in response just seemed a bit weird so it’s more implied. No more than having a flat “No,” now that I think about it, haha. 

According to Vesper, magic and weaponry are about as linked as being a math and literature major. :P He’s just too conventional lol.

22. Online

Umm I don’t actually like this very much either… the idea is building just showing Arlin’s mild suspicion of Elysia being too obsessed over her (former) history project. 

Elysia’s preoccupation with getting a Athwart 6237 Inkspool laptop is actually a joke referencing to Rina from the anime “Mermaid Melody”. For most of the first seasons, Rina is preoccupied with getting a flat-screen TV. I thought it was so hilarious I had to incorporate this into ECA, which was my active project then. (This just goes to show how darned long ECA has taken…as is still not done…)

23. Failure

Celestine’s bad math grades are probably inspired from my own lack of math skills as well.

The inspiration of this post is from Mr. Crowe, my Pre-Calculus and Statistics teacher. I would ask something like,“How do I get an A/ good grade in [any class]?” 

The reply was always the same and completely not sarcastic: “It’s easy. Just get every question right.”

And in a frustrating way, that makes a lot of sense. 

24. Rebirth

Alright, back to weird stuff. I was debating between how low Celestine’s calculus grade would be and finally left it at B-. 

Ancilla actually means “maidservant” in archaic english (derived from latin I think). It can also mean an accessory or other auxiliary object/person. In the context of my stories, it is the maidservant of the Lady Auiya, the seraphic patron of the Land of Dreams. The mortal queen is her Ancilla Suprema—literally Chief of Maids—and is a necessary part of the Land of Dreams’s Ceremony of Rebirth, which restores vitality to the dreaming world. 

Some old trivia: Originally I had all the characters who became ancilla add an A to the beginning of their name. (For example, Kerra—> Akerra.) This didn’t help the already glut of characters whose name started with A that weren’t ancilla. XD

Um yea. I’m weird XD

25. Breaking Away

I think everyone saw this coming. Rhys, a little too weirded out by her roommates Fiana and Anuna, moves out of their room.  I had been looking for what Rhys would say upon leaving and one person suggested “Stop living under false pretenses, you delusional old hags. The reality you perceive is fake; you would never have anything nearly as interesting in your mundane lives. Perhaps you should think of different alternatives to your lifestyle.” It’s really mean, but I think it’s worded kinda funny. XD I ended up just using the more concise version. 

I’m not going to defend Rhys.

NEXT SET (26-30)