ECA 75-78

Hello there!

Bird and Bunny. 

On the right is just something cute I found while cleaning out some files. I think this is from around this time last year XD

Life has been fine this week. Relaxing, if anything. I need to get in shape and get back to work on my creative projects!

After my experience with writing a story given a script (Spring Ball Trouble story) and reading Bakuman, I've decided to work on little "names" (aka storyboards) for stories in the future. I intend to figure out how to do this for prose by the end of winter break XD. If successful, it will contribute to the next story posted here on The River Windrose.

I hope everyone on winter break is having a relaxing time! I'll be back again next week with my comments on Bastion and Bakuman and the next four parts of ECA!

PREVIOUS SET (71-74)

75. Shadows

Rhys had stolen the scrolls to Somnia. They’d have to steal them back while Vesper distracted Rhys.

“You don’t have any… special gear?” Arlin disapproved of Murantagh’s idea. “Disguise?”

Aldis shrugged. “Don’t need’em. People don’t see a trace o’me ‘nyways.”

Under his guidance, they were three shadows that blended into the late afternoon.

Tagh dampened the door lock. They were in. They split up and searched the room with gloved hands. Aldis picked the chest lock. Scrolls found. Everything replaced. Then swiftly gone.

“T’was fun….G’night then.”

Arlin turned away, but her heart was racing. Being a shadow….was new.

76. Summer Haze

Vesper Universtiy was known for the month-long “excursion” at the end of the school year: Typically, the first fortnight was based on survival and the second on a disturber of the peace event. 

ECA split up to collect their sets of equipment and collect information from their clubs. 

Before meeting up, Celestine hid the pocketwatch under her field uniform. Arlin had been right; between finals and the excursion, there hadn’t been time to sink into the lazy haze of summer. She was glad they’d continued rigorous practice; they weren’t going to just be facing the school event this month.

77. Memories

Arlin was first at the meeting spot. While waiting, she imagined the girl from the visions on the other side of the gate. Memories? 

“But it’s not like that.” She reached her hand out and imagined the other girl mirroring her. “It’s like…you’re me.”

She could picture the two Murantagh’s mimicking each other. Not quite a mirror, but a resemblance.

“You’re… who I used to be.”

The same techniques, just different elements. 

“Not a past life…”

Both girls were still Arlin. Identity was unbreakable.

“Just another time.”

She accepted it. And as she did, the memories cleared within her, 

78. Change in the Weather

Three hours after the excursion commencement, Elysia, Celestine, Arlin, Anuna, Vesper, and Aldis met at the gate to pool supplies and information. Their alliance was special: they were using the open nature of the excursion to investigate the Somnia-university rift situation

 As the wind turned, leading them into the valley between the three campuses—elementary, intermediate and college levels—of Vesper Institute, Elysia thought her school seemed suddenly so foreign and vast. This was now not her academic refuge, but an arena of war against the stuff of dreams. She clasped her hands. “Signs… help me weather this change.”

Comment Blurbs

75. Shadows

While Vesper distracts Rhys offscreen, Arlin and Aldis set out to steal back the scrolls that contain Anuna’s portal back to Somnia. Going with Aldis was Tagh’s idea, but Arlin is going along. They search Rhys’s room, find the scrolls and leave.

It was really fun writing this concept of Arlin thieving after getting all upset at Aldis about it the entire story. It was hard to get everything into 100 words though, and I’m considering expanding this scene out into a microfiction at some point. Probably not anytime soon though, because I’m just so relieved at finally finishing ECA XD

76. Summer Haze

So for the last 15 posts the students of Vesper have technically been on a week-long summer haze where they’ve just been hanging out and relaxing. ECA has been keeping up with a few sparring matches, but they too have been relaxed. Now it is time for Vesper University’s famous “excursion” at the end of the school year. As their group splits up to collect equipment and information, Celestine takes a moment to be thankful she had friends that didn’t let her get lazy over that week, especially because they wouldn’t just be facing the excursion but also the crisis in Somnia. 

Ad Nauseum into the Excursion:

The Excursion is a month-long event held on the (very spacious) campus of Vesper Insititute. It is a two-part event, with the first half based on survival and the second on an event. 

The methods to survival are usually pretty clear-cut: most students stick to the three “cities” of the institute: the elementary, intermediate and college campuses. There they find a job and shelter of some sort, using their abilities as best they can. Others stake out on their own in the vast wild-lands that the Vesper family controls, seeking shelter with the bucolic folk or on their own in little shelters they design themselves. Some students always end up banding together to form little groups.

The second part of the month, once everyone’s method of sustainment is more or less established, is centered around an event of some sort. This may involve a very powerful monster harassing the valley or a dearth of some natural resource or a magical “plague” (people would not really die, but be suspended in a coma-state for the remainder of the month). One year a group of rogue students that had unintentionally dabbled too far into dark magic was the unplanned disturber of the peace. 

Every student is given a standard set of equipment at the beginning of the month: a complete field uniform (shirt, shorts, windbreaker, socks, shoes), a few rations, two bottles of water, a bar of soap, and a bracelet ID tag. There is also space in the pack for a blanket/bedroll, a weapon, and a few personal items.

Good grades over the past two semesters are rewarded with extra little things such as mana crystals, extra rations or bonus clothes, parts, weapons. Resumes are drafted ahead of the event and apply as it normally would in helping the students get these month-long jobs. Extra volunteer hours, club activities, and temple work are honored with extra information of events going on, resources or books/ knowledge of useful spells and skills; that is, alongside the relationships/ contacts established.

Poor grades or disciplinary records may lead to additional rules on the student or less starting material. For example, they may be missing a jacket or have no new shoes, no soap, or are banned from a city/ area because they had a poor behavioral record. Severe cases are punishable by spending the first few days (up to the entire first week) in a “prison” status.

The bracelet-tag attached to each student at the beginning monitors the student’s vitals. It displays health and energy bars to help gauge each student’s limits and enforces an invulnerability+ lockdown to prevent over-exertion. It also monitors the students locations, and keeps them in the campus vicinity. In case of an emergency, there is a teleport provided that links them directly back to the main campus control area. Students are not recommended to activate it (unless in an emergency) and abuse of it is punishable.

Academic competitions are held 6 times over the four weeks to allow for students to gain more resources using pure academic ability. 

Students are given free reign as to how they live during the month, providing they survive and in some way interact with the disturber of peace. There is a ranking compiled at the end as to who accumulated the most money/ other resource or had the greatest impact on the event, but there is no official “grade” given; the event is meant to be a learning experience :)

77. Memories

As Arlin waits for the rest of her friends to get to the meeting spot, she comes to terms with the girl in her visions being a past version of herself. 

This scene was fun to write too. I’ve always wanted to write a scene where Arliquen meets Arlinia. They’re quite different, but I was firm about keeping them the same character and now actually have a weird reason of sorts for it. But that’s a different story. 

78. Change in the Weather

As the group (consisting of ECA, Anuna, Vesper and Aldis) sets off into the valley, Elysia looks back. Although she’s been in the Vesper Institute system since elementary school, Elysia suddenly feels like the campus looks very foreign. She murmurs a prayer as the Excursion begins.

NEXT SET (79-82)