TRW: Elysia Kieran

Finishing up the ECA River Windrose scenes with this part! Elysia was an interesting nut to get into. Sorry this post is so long but hope you enjoy it!

In terms of ECA Chronology, this scene starts with #29: Dark and ends the same way as #33: Seeing Red, where Elysia first starts considering the sword Sye'niar as hers and practicing with it. NOTE: This scene starts outside the river windrose, in the "real" world, and then turns into the River scene.

WC: 934

“Spirits of times before, this was your sword. Grant me now the power and right to wield it as my own.” 

In the darkness of the Room of the Passed where the dead lay and the spirits of their bodies rested, Elysia awaited a signal that the former masters of Sye’niar had accepted her as the new master. There was a cruel minute until the blade itself lit up with internal light and deathly cold flooded through her skin. In the pale reflection of the blade, she watched her appearance change: her black hair, tightly braided, swept up, joining what seemed like smoke to form a helmet of bull-horns. Her usual blue-collared polo-and-jeans combo outfit warped transforming into a navy-blue gown belted over a sleeveless black suit that seemed to make her partially invisible. 

She only saw her reflection for a moment before Sye’niar’s silver crystal faded until it was a deep indigo blade. It felt slightly heavier in her hand, but also tremendously more powerful. Elysia took that as the former master’s acceptance: the sword had revealed its true power and form. She bowed. “Thank you, Spirit of the Master of Sye’niar. I will wield its power to my best ability as its new master.” The blade hummed in satisfaction. 

Back in the meditation hall, Elysia turned her mind inward, to the river of the mental landscape. In her mind, Sye’niar—gleaming in all its glory— hummed in her hand, awaiting its new masters direction. She raised her new sword to the heavens and bowed. She took a ready stance, fist by her waist and sword resting against the crook of her elbow. Immediately she felt the blade calm, and the gear it had bestowed upon her earlier in the Room of the Passed reappeared in her mental landscape. As she let her breath out, she drew the sword into her right hand and swung an imaginary opponent. Practice began. 

In the mental landscape, she stood and practiced on a flat surface halfway up a mountain. To her back and two sides, stone protected her. On her left, a river trickled, flowing calmly until it fell off the cliff, pooling from small waterfall. The river did this twice from its mysterious source at the top of the mountain: it cascaded down to a small pool next to where Elysia usually practiced or contemplated, and flowed through the crack of rock to fall down the rest of the mountain.  

In the lake the river formed at the foot of the mountain floated a small shrine. It was a single open-air room with a pointed bamboo roof. She made journeys down to this shrine-in-her-mind before, when she desperately needed guidance. Inside were twelve small painted idols, homage to the Twelve Signs. Behind the statue of Taurus she had left all the remnants of information she had on her birthparents. When she had received her Sister’s ring from the Sanctum, she had placed a collection of colored pebbles in the center of the shire-hut. In retrospect, she realized that every time something particularly poignant in her life happened, she would make some change to this shrine-in-her-mind. 

Although the shrine seemed to stay approximately the same size and distance from shore, the lake itself definitely expanded as she aged and grew—hopefully—wiser. She wasn’t worried about it flooding the mental landscape though. The rest of the land around the lake was endlessly vast. From her usual mountain-spot, the lake below was still no more than a fist-size.   

The vast surrounding land was dotted by the silhouettes of sparsely grown trees and shrubbery. It was this rest of the land that she would sometimes explore on her mind-meditation-trips, and in this land that she would occasionally find items like the multicolored rocks. The sky above these lands was a perpetual twilight, shrouded in a loose covering of clouds. Usually, these clouds floated lazily about their own business. Sometimes though, they would turn dark, and the sky would break open in a shower.  

From Elysia’s vantage point on the mountain though, the sky was cloudless and dark, lit up in a deep violet light. It changed to reflect the time she had spent in meditation, so she could always keep track of the time in the world outside her mind. 

As she slashed her sword through her usual practice forms and sparred invisible opponents, Elysia felt something—a passing spirit, perhaps?—appraising her  form and skill with the blade. She parried, and stepped back, but misstepped and slipped. The weapon briefly left her hand, but not before she snatched it up and resumed her imaginary battle. Let them judge her. She was not afraid of other people. Only the Signs and herself could pass true judgement on her character.  

At last, light touched the sky of the mental landscape. It was time to rise from meditation and attend to the demands of the day. She paused her battle with her invisible opponent, stepping back and bowing. Sye’niar and its gear vanished from her self-projection. 

Alone in her mind now—for the legendary sword itself seemed to be a presence in its own—she shuddered.  Elysia only practiced with imaginary opponents. All of their moves were a calculation of what she thought, with some help from mental magic beyond her understanding. Her opponents were immaterial. They didn’t have blood to them. Yet as she practiced, Elysia couldn’t help but notice that the inside of the dark blade was streaked with crimson.

Finally, a few things to note about the TRW and about ECA in general.

The writing of this snippet: I wrote most of this a few times over, trying to get a grasp for not only the scene, but also Elysia's interaction with it and how to set the scene in a context. One day while out and about I turned a piece of scratch paper over and started writing it out. I liked it and thought of it as a final version, but when I went to type it out, I started adding in more and more in terms of descriptions of Elysia and her interaction with Sye'niar.  This expanded it to nearly a thousand words, but I liked the amount of detail it offered into Elysia's character. I had also written a blurb on Elysia's opinion on the Sanctum (the church/ temple/ joined religious group power in their world) but cut it out, deciding that it was a little too far removed from the TRW premise.

Elysia's River Windrose evidently shows a lot more of her interaction with it than the previous three have: Elias just sits and thinks in his; Celestine does skate (and unmentioned, but practice archery) in hers, but doesn't seem to interact with anything; Arlin eats and climbs trees and plays with Tagh, but not much beyond the tree and talking walks along the river banks. Meanwhile, Elysia mentions that she practices swordplay, goes on hikes to the shine-in-her-mind, and explores the land beyond the lake.

I wanted to reflect Elysia's terse method of communication in her TRW, but that didn't happen. T_T.

The story behind Sye'niar: So when I was first thinking of this concept, I couldn't decide whether I liked the spelling/ pronunciation "Sye'niar", "Syen'iar" or "Syeniar" best. So Sye' became a sword, Syen' became a game object (like a ball) and Syeniar was dropped....until ECA, where it was adopted as Celestine's middle name. The sword and name form are both mentioned in ECA.

The gear that Elysia gets when she uses the sword slightly changes her appearance and makes her partially invisible. This is alluded to in parts of ECA (I'm not making it up!)

Ashmac suggested I one day write out ECA as a prose story, since the current 100-posts-of-100-words is admittedly very confusing. Very. After writing this, I think it's actually possible that might one day happen.

TRW: Arlin

So after Elias and Celestine's River Windrose descriptor scenes, I'm getting back into this exercise. This time is Arlin's turn to shine!

The River Windrose (TRW) exercises are little writing pieces for me to practice my description of scenes while getting into a character's head and heart. Hope these aren't too boring for you! (Tell me if you want to see a particular character featured! (Either via comment or, if I know you IRL, however you feel comfortable :) ) ).

In terms of ECA Chronology, this scene would happen the evening after #64: Frost, and #65: A Moment in Time, where Arlin first realizes what the visions are and is linked to the events in #66: Dangerous Territory, where Celestine teaches Arlin to skate. (Link to all three of the mentioned posts.)

WC: 652

“Arliquen.” 

So that was her name before.  

The evening after the battle, Arlin returned to her new meditation spot by the cliffscape. She closed her eyes and turned her mind inward, to the serene mental landscape that she retreated to in times of desperation. She had based it on the mystical mental river that guided travelers in the Land of Dreams. 

Arlin’s river was a perpetual sunrise. The light flittered through the trees, casting a light glow over the snow-covered ground on either bank. The river bubbled cheerily before her, stemming from the point where the sun kissed the mountaintops. The river calmed as it passed the island she was on, so that behind her it was calm and glass-like. Through the transparent water her draconic summon, Murantagh, played. The light reflected off his silver scales as he swam, snake-like, through the roots of the tree that grew on the island. 

She thought of it as an island, but the small plot of land was dominated by a great tree. The roots of the tree even poked out in places, drinking water from the river. Built into the branches of the tree was a cozy treehouse. In the middle of the room was a keyboard that would sometimes play by itself. Gusts of winds changed the sheet music, organizing them in a bunch of little piles around the keyboard. Food and drinks would appear randomly in the treehouse, seemingly whenever she thought about it.  Aside from an open space where her wand hung, both the inside and outside walls were covered with posters of friends, events going on in her life, goal statements and inspirational quotes. The posters would sometimes vanish, revealing clean wood beneath it, but would quickly be covered by some other volunteering opportunity Arlin had found, a portrait of a friend she was thinking of, a cute drawing she’d seen—anything. 

 Arlin herself perched on the branch next to the treehouse, watching the wind spell her thoughts out in the water and snow. Absent-minded, she snacked on the dumplings that had appeared on the snowflake-patterned rug inside when she arrived. With a splash, Tagh flew out of the water and flew up, curling up in her her lap. He purred, kitten like, as she hummed to the piano tune. It wasn’t familiar, but she hummed to it as though she knew the notes by heart.  

She sighed, and shivered. Despite the snow, the river landscape was always a mild, breezy temperature. No, it wasn’t cold air that had caused her to shiver. It was finally understanding the snow and frost that covered her entire river scene. She wasn’t always called Arlinia Yves. She was a figure of the past, warped through time when she was young to the current era. Back then, she was called Arliquen. Her memories, until then, had been recently recovered, and with them, snippets of her ability to control ice as she had then. It wouldn’t do to deny them any longer.  

The plate vanished into the wind as she picked up the last dumpling, and Arlin poked her head in, wondering if there was any water or juice to wash it down with. Instead, under the empty wall area where her wand hung was now a bow made of unmelting ice. It was unfamiliar, just like the tune, yet somehow she knew exactly it was.  

This had been Arliquen’s bow—her bow, now returned to her. After a moment of hesitation, Arlin put her hand on it. She’d resolved not to reject the visions—the memories—and her previous identity. It was time to see if she could recover her old abilities and hone them to good use.  

“I am Arlinia Murantagh Yves, formerly Arliquen. I came from a time far before the one I live in now, but that doesn’t stop me from being who I am.”

The River Windrose image I had for Arlin changed quite a few times as I wrote it, with varying degrees of detail put into the various aspects (consistency of river, temperature, what is on the island if anything, etc). I haven't figured out if there is any correlation between personality and these aspects, or even if I want there to be a connection. XD

Next week: Elysia's river windrose.

Writing Plans

Hello! I'm still alive to post, but because I slacked off a lot this week, there's not an actual writing part. Arlin's TRW will be done for next week though.

Despite the busy times, I am trying to refocus my writing and creative project side. This is a list of the projects that I want to work on, generally in the order I plan on going about them:

1. Island Prophecy Fanfiction-- For AshMac's unpublished novel Island Prophecy. I have an idea now, even if I don't know how to finish it, and I really want to write it.
   
2. Sorcerer--Once I get my fanfiction written, my focus will be back to the collaboration that Forsaken and I are working on. We have a much clearer idea of where the story is going, and now it's just the actually crunching out of scenes to do. (That was very poor wording in terms of the actual process, but such an interesting phrasing I just had to use it)
   
3. Trinity Tales--  Maybe. This is the collab story I was part of back when I was on Gaia. I managed to copy most of the roleplay/ story as it was written back then and have been meaning to finish it for the sake of tying up the story. I don't know what I would do with it though, as I don't really have communication with any of the other authors.
   
4. Zephyr-- NaNoWriMo 2014. The tale of Alina Zephyr, one of my oldest roleplay characters, hopefully to be more fleshed out in the upcoming months.
   
5. Sun Dagger-- I work on this very sporadically and currently don't have a solid plotline to follow. I'm considering just building it bit by bit and posting those bits anachronously up here, much like how Spirit Reach (I keep calling this Rhine and Kien in my head XD) is being written.
   
6. Forgetting How-- working title. It's probably going to part of a bigger work if I actually get around to it, but this part called Forgetting How is about a girl who loses some of her memory and is rebuilding her life afterwards (I should probably look up the actual psychology behind this before writing it XD)
   
7. <Text Adventure>-- Using my new java skills, I want to try to write a text adventure! :D I don't have a plot or really anywhere I want to start yet though, so until I get some more progress on the above, I'll keep this one at the back of my head.
   
8. Ink Academy--An Alternate Universe setting with all my characters. When I get around to writing it, this one will be worked on and posted in "episodes". I'm thinking like a TV show, but in writing segments instead of videos.
   
9. Edge--I'm still going to write Sonora's adventures, but instead of trying to write it again and just getting frustrated with the result, I'm going to just let it simmer in my head for awhile.

Nightmares: Ghost

Hello!

Life: Week 1 of Summer School part 2 has been mostly review of psychology concepts I'd encountered before, but will definitely need to review. I'm excited for both of my classes (Cognitive Psychology and Philosophy of the Mind) even if both of them look like a lot of reading. I'm also struggling to log in research hours. Basically my life can be summed up in the following to do list:

1. Need to make better use of the time I have. 
2. Need more time. 
3. Need to have less things to do. 
4. Need to wake up and stay up when the alarm rings. 

Albeit, #3 will probably not be a problem if #2 were possible, and #2 would be much less of an issue if I could just resolve #1. And that might be possible if I could actually do #4. So basically: 

1. Need to make better use of the time I have. 
2. Need more time. 
3. Need to have less things to do. 
4. Need to wake up and stay up when the alarm rings. 

The basic idea of summer session-part 2 XD

This next writing part is about nightmares, fortunately not the sleeping-kind though.

Nightmares: Ghost
Another microfiction this time, written for the 100 Themes Microfictions group for the theme Nightmares. I took it a little differently, as a personal nightmare--a feeling that I hate feeling and am quite afraid of feeling.

Ghost
WC: 230 

It’s back.  

An all-encompassing fear and darkness roots itself in my chest and the hollow in my gut pulls and wretches me into an abyss of feeling.  

I surround myself with friends and acquaintances, making sure I’m never alone, even if I’m just walking to class. Yet the fear pervades: a darkness pure and pitch that makes me lonely, even if I’m always next to someone. I feel like if I’m by myself too long though, that I’ll be forgotten by—or I’ll forget—the people around me. And then I’ll cease to exist in their minds, so much that I’ll no longer be seen. I’ll just vanish. I’ll be a ghost—living yet unseen.  

 I explain in a small whimper that the feeling comes from a baleful root that’s anchored at the pit of my stomach and wrapped all the way around my heart. It’s the same substance that makes me not hungry, even if I haven’t eaten. After all, ghosts don’t need to eat.  

The whole feeling makes me very friendly, very desperate to be remembered. Desperate to be someone in someone’s memory. But the root curls around my heart, paralyzing any force I try to exert. I am shape without form, shade without color, gesture without motion. I am from dead land, from cactus land. I am a ghost, consumed by loneliness in a crowd.

This was written based off an inkfeather* that I wrote during one of those times that I just felt lonely. I'm actually quite happy with it, considering it didn't honestly take that long to re-write. Also, it references my favorite poem: The Hollow Men, by T.S. Eliot. "Shape without form, shade without color/ Paralysed force, gesture without motion" and "This is the dead land/ This is cactus land" are the direct quotes used in the last paragraph. 

*(Inkfeathers are what I call random little bits of writing that I do while out and about. Just little things that I write in my commonplace book to capture my emotions or whatever's going on. My idea was that eventually I could piece a bunch of "feathers" into a story-bird. XD Ink is a motif in my life--I call everything  after "inks")

Process

My process took the original inkfeather and rewrote/ expanded it. This turned out to be more than the 250 word limit for the group's microfiction, so I revised it and then cut it to less than 250. The only difference between the final revision and the cut is a small part before the current last paragraph. So after "After all, ghosts don't need to eat," would be this: 

...After all, ghosts don't need to eat. People don’t believe it though. 

“You’re not like me,” I protest weakly.  

“Can you be any more selfish?” And I realize what the acidic burn on the rim of the loneliness is: selfishness. It’s not just a lonely feeling, but an egotistical one that sours the air if the darkness. I try to laugh it off, but the sound stings. ....

This is another part of the emotion I felt, but not directly connected to the feeling of "becoming a ghost" that the microfic scene focused on.

I also just noticed that while I refer, to myself, this emotion as "the little cold feeling in my heart", I never mentioned in the microfic that it's cold. And actually, if I look back, the original inkfeather didn't mention the cold either.

Luckily, whenever the emotion comes up now, I usually just attach to my friends for a few mopey days and throw myself into schoolwork and writing. By the time I come up with a good few pieces of writing, I'm back to my usual cheery self :)

Next week: I'll post my writing plans next time; let's see if I can also stay on track enough to post a River Windrose descriptor scene. :)

More Manga

Today will be another update on what I've been reading and found worthy of featuring.
I actually started Game of Thrones, but a friend said he wanted to watch it with me. I paused to let him catch up but we haven't actually gotten together to watch so :P This happened with New Girl too. :P

As usual, some SPOILERS AWAIT.

Gakuen Alice: This is a super-cute shoujo that follows Mikan Sakura and her adventures at Alice Academy. Here, children from elementary to high school with powers called "alices" are torn from their families and secluded on the campus. When Mikan's best frient Hotaru is taken there, Mikan goes on an expedition to contact her and ends up trapped at the academy too. Despite this, she makes the best of it and cheerfully befriends her class, even the loner Hyuuga Natsume and his friend Nogi Ruka.

I really loved all the characters, and I like that although there are clear antagonists, they have their own motives and backstories that are given enough page time.

(SPOILERS HERE):
I was a little miffed that Yuka (Mikan's mom) and Persona switched sides as a part of their redemption. Nonetheless, I was really touched by the love-heals-all-wounds theme. I'm not usually a fan of this, but Gakuen Alice does it really well.

Also, Natsume and Mikan...are the cutest couple ever. They're like Sakura x Syaoran level cuteness, although Natsume is more perverted.

Roommates: Lighthearted college dating sim game I found on the iPhone (although I think there's a computer version too. There are two playable characters, Max and Anne, and four date options for each of them, of both genders. There's also a stat-raising side, with a schedule (that I adopted into my own schedule-making plans XD) It's free until the Halloween part, about a fourth to a third of the way of the entire game.

Although I've played a ton of dating sims (I like romance stories >.<"....and I can't get a date), I'm talking about this one because I got so into it that I was willing to pay to unlock the full version for Anne's story. I played as Anne and went straight for the route that paired her with Max. (Dominic irritated me with his strictness sometimes :P)

Death Note:  Since Bakuman is my favorite manga ever, I decided to read Death Note, an earlier work by the same authors. The Death Note is a notebook owned by the spirits of death and anyone who's name is written in it dies. It's incredible drama and mystery and I was perpetually being baffled by Yagami Light and L's deductive ability. The moral issues that make the story were definitely interesting (and head-hurting) to contemplate, and the moral ambiguity of most of the characters was great.

(Spoilers):
I didn't actually like how it ended though. I'd known that in the end Yagami Light would have to get caught or kill off everyone (and I didn't see how the story would be with this second ending). But I was really disappointed that he went insane before he died. He was such a calm and collected actor and schemer throughout the thing that I thought for sure that he would somehow prevail.

Ongoing manga/ Anime:
No Game, No Life: A world where games decide everything....I watched the first few episodes of this and am really looking forward to more. Sora and Shiro (so cuuuuttteee!) are amazingly brilliant and I'm really looking forward to watching more of their antics.

Suki tte li na yo (Say I love you): I hate the way this one starts, with the guy basically taking advantage of the girl, but I really like how the story progresses. Honestly I don't like some of the side characters, but the story doesn't focus so much on them to get annoying. Looking forward to updates.

Akuma To Love Song (A Devil and her Love Story): A little dark and dramatic, with a nice touch of romance. The protagonist is a very perceptive girl and a great singer, and I actually quite like her (sometimes....she annoys me other times :X) I like it enough and am looking forward to updates. :)

I am currently keeping up with everything on this list and previous lists that are still updating. If I had to vote though, in terms of the reader-polls from Bakuman, this would be my list: (in my order of excitement):
1. Watashi ni xx Shinasai--The story is going weird placed, but I actually really like it. While most protagonists seem to get weaker, I'd actually say Yukina becomes a stronger person--and writer--because of her relationship with Shigure. A little. She's become terribly weak at the thought of him leaving her though.
2. Skip Beat --Still waiting on these monthly updates..... D: I really wish there were more frequent updates. But Ren and Kyouko's relationship is getting somewhere! :D :D I'm super excited! If only there were more updates....
3. Fairy Tail --The best manga in terms of updates, in my opinion. As always I love the characters and their dynamics and their feelings for each other. Also, Juvia finally got her moment to really shine (because really, we haven't seen her Phantom-power side for a while).
4. Witch Hunter--Following with a close fourth is Witch Hunter. This one is updating more now, to my delight. I'm interested where this arc is going. East and Ryuwhan are amazing. And the outfits are gorgeous.
5. Hirunaka no Ryuusei (Daytime Shooting Star)--Sensei needs to grow up. Mamura, you need to hold onto Yosano before that smoking excuse of a teacher tricks her again.

oK! That's it for now; I'll probably have another one of these reading posts before the end of the summer. Summer classes part two starts next week (read: 2 days) and fieldwork starts the week after. I'm excited to be observing the classroom again, but also worried how I'm going to put in my research hours. Those are going to be my priorities, but I will hopefully have something small to post every week nonetheless.

Meanwhile, everyone go read and catch up with Rhine and Kien because Rhine and Kien are about to kick some kingly butt. (Or rather, Rhine is about to discover something no doubt very insightful about spellcasting and Kien is going to get an assist. (And then he can ask her out at the end? Please? I ship them too much >.<")) I love the spellcasting design though. (I'd be an aircaster! With a touch of viewing and maybe imagecasting to back it up). Ahhh! Just go read. Now. Pls.