Life--
Week 2/10 of Fall Quarter was tougher than expected, but it's the end of the week and I'm alive and kicking, so I'm pretty optimistic about things getting better. I haven't written anything in this week (D:) but I am diligently planning for NaNoWriMo, using something my mysterious Editor linked me to, NaNoPlanMo. I was going to do a simple rework of my 2012 NaNo, but I may be doing a complete plot-revising; as a writer, this is quite exciting! (:D)
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Alice 19th--
To add to my manga collection, I finished Alice 19th as well! Its relatively short, and is a (somewhat magical girl like) shoujo manga. Protagonist Alice Seno is singled out by the magical bunny Nyozeko as the lotis master (magic user that uses positive emotions to clear the darkness from people's inner hearts) destined to defeat the negative emotions and power that lie within people's hearts, the maram.
Although the romance kind of made me roll my eyes, the story and the struggle between darkness and light is completely worth it. And aside from the cute outfit designs and the archery involved, I really loved the focus on the power of words; each of the lotus words can have different effects, depending on the interpretation. For example, V/Bimuku, which is usually used as "Release" as in to release from constraints, is also used to summon "wings", which is a pretty neat interpretation: release of constraints, release from the earth/ gravity. Or it could be used as "feather", associating it with the air element. Alice 19th! Check it out!
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Between now and next week I hope to be able to have something short to show for next week's post (y'know, to change it up a bit from the ECA posts XD Regardless, the next ECA post (next week or later) is 6 posts! Please look forward to it!
PREVIOUS SET (50-54)
55. Separation
Celestine glanced over her shoulder. Wings.
Her clothes. Armor. Her shoes. Boots.
She stroked her bow’s wooden frame and raised it. An arrow of energy melted into existence as she drew back the bowstring.
The bow had been silver, decorated with foreign yet familiar letters.
She sent the arrow through the moving bullseye. Again. Again. As many times as the proctor wanted. Dead center accuracy.
But… did it really happen? The…transformation?
“Miss Sesium! You’ve exceeded my expectations!”
The fire had gone away, hadn’t it?
“It seems you’ve overcome your insanity and retardation.”
Or was she just delirious again?
“Congratulations.”
56. Everything for You
“Anyone else sick of studying?”
“Physically and figuratively,” Celestine fluttered the pages of her notes frustratedly. “One day Calculus is going to wake up with a removable discontinuity through its head and I’ll be the happy person who drew it there.”
Her roommates hesitated before bursting into tears of laughter.
“Was that a joke?”
Celestine flushed, returning sheepishly to her notes.
“Elysia? You plan on squeezing a theorem to death as well?”
“I like derivatives. And this is tech.”
“Again? Are you…struggling?”
“Solid 98%”
“Then…”
“Highest grade gets an Athwart 6237 Inkspool laptop. Suddenly my other subjects can wait.”
57. Slow Down
“I don’t even know why he was there! That trail wasn’t very well marked! He. Touched. Me. And then later—the energy! What’s with that? And—”
“Whoa, slow down, Arlin. What happened?”
“I’m going crazy!”
Celestine flinched at the word. “W-Who?”
“Aldis Maur, the thief, the stalker, the strange—the git!”
“Huh.” Elysia examined her friend. “Continue?”
“I don’t know! He’s…wrong! Everything about him is wrong! How can—ugh!”
Celestine trembled. “I-I’m confused…”
“Finish your sentences. Calm down. Explain.”
Arlin inhaled deeply. “I think my sense of right is wavering. Suddenly, I don’t think he’s so …. bad.”
58. Heartfelt Apology
ECA was cramming for their last finals when a knock came at the door.
“Celeste?”
Celestine’s shy features morphed and scowled. “What do you want?”
“Come with me?”
“Go study.”
“I’m done with finals. Celeste—about what I said—“
“3 weeks ago?” But she folded her arms and followed Vesper to the dorm courtyard, where sparks swirled around them and burst colorfully, spelling out the words they said.
“Pretty. That’s it?”
“I’m really sorry.” He hung his head. “I apologize for insulting you…forgive me? Please?”
A moment. She shrugged expressionlessly. “I still have math to study for. Go away.”
59. Challenged
“I present a challenge to you. Think of it as a last final.”
Celestine fidgeted. She’d just failed Calc. “O-okay.”
“Remember the scrolls I told you about the first day?”
“You said you’d lost them.”
“Right. I thought we’d try to summon them from the Room’s Subconcious.”
“Sure.”
“Do you have a spell?”
Nodding, Celestine pulled her sleeves up and picked a few large-faced clocks, good for their past summoning attempts. “I think so. If it’s possible to reclaim them….I’ll get them.”
Smiling at her pupil, Anuna crossed to the other side to lend her own energy.
60. Exhaustion
With a thump, Celestine collapsed on her bed. Another thump indicated her bag landing on the ground.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you this exhausted,” Elysia came out of the bathroom, wrapping another strand of hair around the hairdryer-rod.
“Mhrrm” came the reply. A few moments later Celestine was quietly asleep.
Elysia chuckled quietly. She finished unpacking her equipment as the door opened to reveal the third member of ECA.
“College year one—complete! School tourney in a week! So exiting!”
“Not tired?”
A weary nod and yawn answered her.
“Sleep first then. We’ll talk in the morning.”
55. Separation
Celestine does amazing on her archery final. She keeps herself calm during it by imagining the illusions that she saw when she first met Epsilona. She thinks it may have happened again during the fire attack, but isn’t sure. She’s afraid she was just imagining things again. Meanwhile, the proctor, who apparently knew her for a while, tries to congratulate her, but only manages to remind her that she’s supposed to be insane and stupid.
I actually really like this scene. The alternating of the proctor’s words and Celestine’s thought process worked out better than I had hoped, and I really like the irony of the “Congratulations” at the end. The separation is tied in with the disjointed interpretation that the proctor and Celestine see.
56. Everything for You
This was just a fun little entry, inspired by Rina in Mermaid Melody’s obsession with getting a flat-screen TV. Likewise, Elysia is obsessed about getting this particular laptop.
For clarification:
EIK: Anyone else sick of studying?
CSS: Physically and figuratively…..(removable discontinuity joke)
EIK: (Amist peals of laughter) Was that a joke?
AMY: Elysia? (Squeeze theorem joke)
EIK: I like derivatives. And this is tech.
AMY: Again? Are you struggling?
EIK: Solid 98%.
AMY: Then… (y u steel studying o_O)
EIK: Highest grade gets an Athwart 6237 Inkspool laptop. (I’ma get that laptop.)
The jokes in the post belie when I wrote this: about two years ago, when I was first taking calculus. For your amusement, I still hate calculus just as much as Celestine does.
57. Slow Down
Arlin is ranting about Aldis. She has always drawn a clear line between right and wrong but Aldis doesn’t really fit in either: he steals and he seems to stalk her. But now she knows that Aldis just steals to help Fiana and finds Arlin at her mediation spots when he’s concerned about her.
For clarification, the dialogue with the exclamation marks are Arlin. Elysia is trying to calm Arlin down and Celestine is just confused.
Basically:
Arlin: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Elysia: ノ( ゜-゜ノ)
Celestine: o_O
58. Heartfelt Apology
Vesper tries to apologize to Celestine about accidentally implying that she’s unoriginal (from part 34, Shades of Grey). Unfortunately, Celestine still has her worst subject left to cram for and is in no mood to talk to him about something that happened three weeks (or 24 posts) ago.
The idea I was trying to create with the courtyard scene is probably a bit hard to imagine. Basically, there are little multicolor sparks of floating around. As people speak, these sparks spell out the spoken words.
In the last two posts both Arlin and Celestine’s ugly sides have come out: Arlin’s morality also makes her stuck up about the line between good and bad; Celestine is timid and sensitive, but when she knows she’s been slighted she’s unforgiving. There’ll have to be some development to resolve these!
59. Challenged
Anuna challenges Celestine to summon the scrolls Anuna lost back in Lost and Found (part 27) back from the Room of Clocks. Speech alternates between Anuna and Celestine.
60. Exhaustion
After finishing finals, it is time to sleep.
Celestine’s only line is “mhrrm” before she falls asleep. Understandably, since she just finished Anuna’s challenge. Arlin’s only line is “College year one—complete!….” Everything else is Elysia. Elysia’s line “Not tired?” is directed at Arlin, who comes in super-excited about being (mostly) finished with her first year of college and with the school “tournament” coming up in a week.
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