Diamond Grade-- Clock Chamber

Greetings!
I'm posting "Too Long; Don't Read" summaries at the beginning of my rants/ explanations. (Or "Too Long; Didn't Read" if at the end!) XD They'll be in the blog's consistent purple for easy identification.

TL;DR: Project Plans page up. The Drive By concept has been renamed "Diamond Grade". This snippet is part of an art-based writing challenge. 

Title of story and prompt credit to Forsaken. Art credit to Andrew Ferez, 25kartiok on deviantART. 

Art credit to Andrew Ferez, 25kartiok on deviantArt.

Blog observation: To keep track of what I'm working/ thinking of there is a Project Plans page now. It only tracks current projects/ plans or things in hiatus (abandoned projects are unmentioned). The Index remains as a quick way to find all the published work.

The story today: By now we should probably all stop believing Mini when she says she's going to write something or not write something. I was working on Psychic when I realized it was going to be a lot longer than I had initially thought. And I really want something completed to show for the summer. That was when I realized the Drive By concept would do perfectly; I was having trouble with the context of every scene, but like this I can just write the snippets I feel like.

Today, Forsaken issued a challenge to a group of us writers that involved taking the pictured scene and writing 500 words of narrative. I know this comes as in the middle of everything, but I hope it's still comprehensible. I focused a little more on what was happening in terms of the story and was thus a little less faithful to an actual interpretation of the image, but the scene was definitely an inspiration for the scene.

The first glimpse (and a very unrepresentative one) of the elusive "Drive By" I've mentioned in so many posts-- Please enjoy!


WC: 498

        Dr. Syis’s office was covered in light wood. It exuded comfort and intellectualness. Nate or Nathaniel or whoever he was now looked around, taking in the decor as he awaited his new father’s arrival.  

        He found the clock against the wall curious. The main clock face told the time well enough, but there were also two other small clocks that told different times. Nate  recognized the one on the left as reading the time in Avis Fior, where the Syis had come from. The small right-hand clock moved slower than the others—a timer? Or just dysfunctional? And then there was the body of the clock: taller than even Nate and ornately decorated. Through the hole in the body of the clock were books. 

        Nate peered closer at the latch against the side. It looked like the cabinet opened outwards to allow access to the books. Hidden slightly behind this latch though, was a small crack. It was small and thin enough to pass as a flaw in design or material, but Nate knew a lock when he saw one. His curiosity was piqued.  

        He pulled on the door, pressing the hidden release latch. The door opened smoothly, revealing a passageway. The walls of the path were covered in books. Only two to three feet above his head was a arched roof.  

       A chill ran down his spine. It wasn’t whatever he might find that scared him; it was that the secret passage had been left unlocked. It was like Dr. Syis was inviting him. But why? He was a newly adopted son. Why trust him? 

        He snatched the lantern from its nook and stepped in, squashing his uncertainty. He ran his fingers along the spines of the books he passed. Like the ones in the disguised display cabinet, their titles suggested matters of science. Along the curved passage, a few journals of history and magic lore joined their titles. This was expected: Dr. Syis, after all, worked to define the line between nature and magic. 

        Around the corner was a replica of the door he’d come through, without the disguise of a book cabinet. It was left wide open, another silent invitation.  

        The passage opened into a chamber. The walls and even the floor was made of differently sized and patterned stones and decorated with candles and alchemical equipment. The master of the chamber and house sat meditatively a few yards from the door. Between the wooden door ledge and Dr. Syis was a single burning book.  

        Nate knelt down, fixated on the book—a journal, judging by the handwriting. 

        “I’m returning it.” Dr. Syis’s eyes remained closed.  

        “By burning it?” Nate reached forward, but daren’t touch it as it burned, charring over lines describing a battle of gods without hurting his hands. 

        “Its owner is a seraph. Now that I am finished with it, this fire will return it to its next owner.” Nate’s adoptive father stood up. “I understand your interest in alchemy. Welcome.”

Next week: I'll have started school by this time next week, so it will be the final Summer Reading post!

Intro to Psychic

Greetings!

Firstly, thank you for still reading this. I know I'm horrible with my posting schedule, and sometimes I don't even post every week. I know what I write isn't the most terribly fascinating thing you could read, and I know I write entirely too much nonsense every time. Nonetheless, thank you for reading. <3

Unfortunately, there is no actual writing post today; I am simply talking about the project I've been working on. 

In terms of blog updates, the look has again been updated. I'm also working on a separate page to house current project and plans since I seem to keep changing them anyways. I figured no one wants to read an entire post on my ever-changing plans every month, so I'll just keep a separate page in roughly the style of this last plan-sheet.

TL;DR: Psychic is a shoujo/ drama story of indeterminate length that I've been having trouble with. I'm revamping some characters and will post content once I have enough of an idea where the story is going.

The premise
The reason why I haven't been posting these last two weeks is because I've been working on a project called Psychic. It's intended to be a shoujo/ drama story centered around a few high-school/ college age students with psychic abilities in the combat-based society of Yuen.

I was going for shoujo because I have read a lot of shoujo manga (see anything tagged "reading" XD). I had written a bit of it with Spring Ball Trouble and this time I wanted to add in more drama. With a setting like Yuen University you would think I'd be writing some school life into this, but I tried writing a few scenes and decided I didn't really like it, for this story at least. (Anyways, I'll get plenty of school life exploration once I start Ink Academy XD; more on that later.)

I was originally thinking of doing the story in short snippets and episodes, but my "snippets" have been turning into 500-1500 word scenes >.<" Also, the scope of the original story has drastically expanded, so I'm thinking of expanding this out to a longer story, something on the level of Spring Ball Trouble or ECA.

Status
I had a bit of trouble creating characters that were original but fit the shoujo stereotype. Despite having a general setup for what I want to achieve, I also don't have a very clear plot outline in mind outside of a few incidences.

I have a few thousand words written and posted on a private google doc, but it was, upon review, entirely too close to Forsaken's story. (Honestly was a very embarrassed and disappointed in myself for not catching these parallels until she pointed them out >.<) I talked over the story with another friend today and think I have ideas for a revamp but until stuff is more or less decided, I don't want to post anything. Pardon for the delay!

Next week: Nothign big planned. If not another River Windrose scene on a character never seen before, then maybe a character list for Psychic.

Search Function

Hello!
I fell a bit behind this week and next week is summer school finals, so today's bit is unedited and kinda all over the place.

Basically, the first line, "He's 5'2", blonde, blue eyes and hates soccer," was something I randomly heard off the street. I had no context, and lost the speaker almost right after. I added "Find him" to the line and this assortment of scenes was born.

WC: 629

“He’s 5’2”, blonde, blue eyes and hates soccer. Find him.”

She collapsed into the chair and pressed her fingers against her forehead. He couldn’t have gotten far yet. 

“He was wearing a brown collared shirt and jeans. He likes traveling. He fences, yes. He’s got trophies in his room. Me? I’m his fiancee. He proposed to me about an hour ago.” 

5’2”…blonde…blue eyes…. That could change, she knew. Hates soccer—she couldn’t confirm that. It was flat out untrue, really. He used to love soccer. But for all she knew, he apparently hated it.  

Find him. Well, therein laid the problem. Cisternae wouldn’t—couldn’t—be found unless he wanted to be. He was a master of disguises and a manipulator of illusions. If he wanted to hide, it would be the easiest thing in the world for him. But she needed something for the police to search for. So that was what they could work with. And anyways.  

*** 

5’2”, 120lbs,  blonde, blue eyes. Those were the measurements the police and butlers would know and search for first. For now at least.  

Cisternae stopped in the back of the mansion, a duffel pack slung over his shoulder and dressed in travel garb. 

There was only one thing that gave him a sense of security: They had a deal. Qualia would get her life as a princess, and he would get his change at adventure. It was just a matter of escaping now.  

He threw himself over a wall and dyed his hair and eyes as he walked, setting a brisk pace for the rendezvous point.  

 ***

Once, Qualia was almost afraid they’d caught onto his trail. It was hard, feigning excitement and concern for finding him when she knew he had run off intentionally. 

Luckily, they’d agreed not to tell each other anything, only that they’d do their best in their role.  

*** 

He always knew the odds would be against him. Even with Qualia’s cooperation, her role would be that of the concerned and heartbroken fiancee. She would try desperately to search for him, employing any means necessary. He would be by himself, with the help of a few preparations he’d made beforehand.  

He didn’t hesitate as he caught a cab first to the airport to throw off any pursuers, then walked to his friend and confidant’s apartment. Cristae had a car waiting for him, as well as the other provisions they’d secretly gathered.  

“Qualia’s got the airport and train depots crawling with searchers,” Cristae told him as they stuffed his duffel in the back seat. “However did you get out of there uncaught?” He’d just had lunch, but there was no telling when he’d next have a proper meal. He wasn’t going to pass up hot food if he could get his hands on it. Once they’d crammed as much provisions as they could into the unsuspecting car without weighing it down, Cristae drove him to the border. They swapped clothes out here and shook hands.  

“Good luck,” Cristae told him.  

“Thank you, you too.” Cisternae paused. “Thanks for getting involved too. I wish you could come with me.” 

“I’ll do my best. Qualia’s a better actress though.” 

They knew. They also knew that the plot that let Cisternae get his adventure and Qualia get her fairy-tale would probably end poorly for Cristae, involving anywhere from alienation from Cisternae’s family—the ruling family of the City-State of Isoleucine— to jail time under charges he didn’t commit.  

Cisternae knew Cristae and Qualia were close friends—closer than anyone but Cisternae knew. But they both expected Qualia would sacrifice that for her act. The guys had devised a plan so that sacrifice might not need to happen. Now, all that waited was to see how to execute it.

Nothing much to say yet. If I do expand upon this, it will probably be greatly changed. Interested? Not? Confused (where?) or rolling your eyes? Tell me what you think! I'll jot it down so that I keep it in mind when (and if) I expand this.

Next week: With luck, I'll have a JULIET-related scene/ episode part up next week. Summer ends in a few weeks so I'll have a end-of-summer reading post as well as revised writing plans (because I change my mind a lot XD)