It is not June yet, okay? I'm still ahead of the deadline. This is going to be a lame post, but it's a post and it counts, okay? I also might have to go to work in forty minutes and have to eat, do my hair, brush my teeth, and finish getting my snack together. Short post.
Long story short, I'm in Alaska (again), I'm working 1-8pm, five days a week, our internet is not in our house yet, and I've been reading a lot of books.
Yeah. That's about it. It's been a busy few months of travel. Once again.
My writing scribbles have meandered all over story ideas, but I liked this scrawl best that I did over this last week. Hopefully you guys do too.
Original storyline, just by the way. Since it's so confusing with the four some different storylines and I get turned around every once in a while as well.
Sarris found herself wide awake despite not having slept in almost two days. The starliner thrummed around her, as soothing and constant as the sleepy warmth pressed to her front.
It felt like events had not stopped slipping past faster than she could almost comprehend. Two days ago she had been returning home to an empty apartment and an aching pain in the wake of visiting Tara—again.
Now she glanced down and wondered that the past forty-eight hours weren’t anything more than a dream. That she would wake up in an empty bed, reaching for the only constant in her life, only to find him gone.
Downy blond curls were stark against the gray of Sarris’ uniform jacket, softening the military edge in a way no smile could. Quiet breaths left the child in her arms as she slumbered.
At six months old, Ruusan was just beginning to take an interest in the world, and was sleeping through the night on a somewhat regular basis. Not that it would’ve made a difference.
The Warrior had been struck by the vivid blue of her eyes from that first moment on the side of the road after dragging the crying child from the burning wreck of her parents’ streamer.
Letting her head settle back, Sarris stared at the illume casting faint light over the rows of seats, the low setting telling that their destination, Sinjaro Kahn, was in the late hours of night. Sleeping now would be in the passengers’ best interest.
She hadn’t commed Novarr any details beyond asking him to meet her at home tomorrow, or the earliest he could get away from his current job.
This wasn’t something she would be able to talk about, could make a decision about, without being able to see him, to grip his hands with hers and see the truth of his own choice in his eyes.
Ruusan could and would change everything. Already had. Even if they didn’t keep her, even if they committed her as a ward of the bureau on Norsha’ac, Sarris knew there would be no going back now. Not after memorizing the weight of the child in her arms, the pitch of her cry, the gentle scent that clung to her hair and skin after a bath.
It was burned into her mind as deep as Gogam, as her time with the Force, as the people who meant everything to her.
No, there was no return from here. And Sarris didn’t care, as she laced her fingers together over Ruusan’s back, her eyes closing. She knew that she wouldn’t get much rest, but it was worth it to at least try. There was no telling when Ruusan would awaken. Or what the next few days would hold, for that matter. She would need every moment of respite she could manage.
//
Sarris knew that the only thing Novarr would read on her face and in her eyes would be strain, so she grabbed his hands, hoping the contact would help him understand.
“You’re really starting to freak me out here, Sar,” his voice was strained, brows at an odd angle as he attempted to keep at least a hint of a smile on his features. His fingers were tight around hers with rising tension.
The words stuck in her throat, as easy as they should’ve been, but she didn’t know what to say anymore.
Staring into the concern in his gaze, the Warrior struggled. She didn’t do well conversing even within normal parameters, let alone when it came to an issue of this magnitude.
“Her name is Ruusan,” Sarris murmured at last. Her name almost got stuck, came out as a whisper. “She’s six months old, Norsha’acite, and her parents are both dead. Killed in a streamer accident.”
Novarr was uncomprehending, a frown crowding out his failing attempt at a smile, and he rubbed agitated circles around her knuckles with his thumbs. “What about her, Sar? I need details here, babe.”
“Next of kin waived their claim, she was going straight to a bureau-operated home, Novarr.” Sarris was unfamiliar with the desperation crawling beneath her skin. It was wishful, devastating, craving, unthinkable, nothing like she’d ever known.
Her hunter, her Novarr, waited, knowing to give her time, to allow her to work past her barriers and speak, perhaps already thinking he knew where this was going.
“I—“ Sarris paused, closed her eyes. “She’s here. I brought her home with me. She’s asleep in our bed right now.”
It might have been amusing in any other situation, with any other circumstances. Novarr stopped functioning, frozen, staring at Sarris.
She let him process, her attention on their conversation, but every sense tuned to the small noises of their apartment. Waiting for that familiar cry to come.
It would be weeks before her usual sleeping schedule returned. Before her senses dulled again from razor sharp awareness, at a level she hadn’t seen in years.
Since her first years off Gogam, struggling with the blood that had soaked her.
“We… have a baby?” Novarr’s dawning comprehension made warmth spread through Sarris’ fingertips.
Drawing in a breath, she explained in low tones, “If that’s what we want. I have temporary custody because of my dual status as a Warrior that’s acknowledged by both Kahn and Uhric. It allows some space to maneuver legally.” Away from the emotion of the situation, her tongue loosened, thoughts flowing with more ease.
Not that it made a difference what she said now. Novarr wasn’t attending again, just smiling, a goofy expression she didn’t see on him often. His good humor was usually more focused, not an uncontrolled reaction like now.
“Her name is Ruusan?” He checked, squeezing her hands at odd intervals.
Sarris blinked at him. Nodded once. “Yes. Ruusan Armstrong.”
“And her family doesn’t want her?”
“No.” That was the part of this she couldn’t understand. How Ruusan’s grandparents had walked into that security station where Sarris had waited with their granddaughter, and had turned their backs on her. Had signed all the forms to give up their rights without looking at her twice.
It had made her burn with anger. That they were so willing, so eager, to be rid of Ruusan. Of her blue eyes and golden curls, her sweet giggles and priceless babbling.
Short but sweet, I hope. Unfinished, as with all my projects. But it hit me during church last week and I ran with it. This is a phase of their lives I never really got around to writing out, just put a mental marker in with an idea of events and moved on to bigger fish.
Baby Ruu is so. adorable. Just so you know. One of those babies that makes you think, "I wouldn't mind having kids after all" because she's just precious and a sweetheart and. Yeah.
I've gotta run now.
Thoughts?
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
Showing posts with label Novarr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Novarr. Show all posts
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Writing: Sarris (military!au)
Well, it's not Valentine's Day, which is probably a good thing, after rereading this blurb.
It's not quite in the festive spirit, let's put it that way. ::cough::
Inspiration source: a rewatch of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and the beginning sequence of him joining the military and subsequently being badly injured in a helicopter crash, landing him in Walter Reed Hospital for rehab.
I'm not sure what it was about it, but the combo made me want to write Sarris in a similar situation, although my focus is on the emotional journey for her as she struggles through rehab, and not on the "life after" portion. Not yet, anyways.
Mild content warning for the scrawl in general. There's not a lot of details, but Sarris was injured in a tangle with a bomber while deployed overseas, and is not handling the end of her career as a soldier very well. It's overall darker than I tend to write and there is some talk of PTSD. Just as a head's up.
Also, I was terribly lazy in the research department and just threw in details that may or may not be accurate to how the process actually works.
(Kudos to those who can guess who the "her" is that Sarris thinks about.)
It happens nine months into her seventh deployment.
Afterwards, they tell her about her own bravery, about the lives she saved in one blind moment of reaction. It’s on the news, on the lips of her nurses, her doctor, the members of her squadron who are allowed to make the flight to see her—everywhere she looks.
All Sarris remembers is the split instant where she’d recognized the telltale signs of a bomber on that man and her body had moved itself on instinct. The instincts that had kept her alive and uninjured through every tour she’d asked for until that point.
When she wakes up in the NATO hospital in Kandahar a week later, after days of passing in and out of agonized consciousness, red hazes of pain, they tell her about the people she’d saved before they tell her the price of those actions.
She’s never going to be able to walk the same way again. Her hearing is shot on her right side, and the shrapnel she’d taken all down her back limits mobility in her right arm and means when she first regains consciousness, she can’t feel anything past her hips.
They say she’ll be getting a medal—medals, in fact—and she couldn’t have cared less. She’s not going back to the front lines, where she has lived for the past eight years of her life. Where she belongs. The only place where the innocent blood on her hands weighs a little less.
Only her CO seems to get it, somewhere in the subtext, when he comes three weeks later, right before she’s scheduled to head to Maryland and Walter Reed to undergo multiple surgeries, heal, and then start rehabilitation.
“You’re getting an honorable discharge. The doc said there’s no way you’ll be back in the field, even if you do well in rehab. You’re done, Nadir.”
“I know.”
“You did well. You had a good run and we’re going to miss you out there. I know you’ve never been much of a people person, but you should know we trusted you to watch our backs, Master-Sergeant.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ll be alright. Get through rehab. Everything else will fall in place.”
She’d had no answer for that.
Ten years of her life she’d devoted to the United States Army, with no intentions beyond giving everything she had left of herself for others. Because of those two lives she had taken, had never been convicted of. That gang—the Shedek—would always be with her, inked as deeply in her skin as they were in her soul, but that doesn't mean she will ever stop trying to erase the damage they, and by extension, her, had wrought.
And now even that had been ripped from her.
//
The flight stateside was one of the longest she’s ever endured. Even longer than three years ago, when her squad had returned home less two members.
She starts refusing the pain meds the day before she’s scheduled to ship out back to the U.S., and not even the jarring motion of takeoff and the subsequent hours of turbulence bring her to submission. It doesn't mean her three attending nurses don't offer at least half a dozen times to hit her with a shot of morphine.
The doctor that meets her two days later in another white, sterile room doesn't have much more to say than the one in Afghanistan. They’ll operate, repair as much of the damage as they can, then she's going to rehab for at least a year.
Days passes in a blur of time, beginning and ending with a blinding veil of pain. It wakes her up in the middle of the night without fail, which she never admits, even when the doctor who comes in at oh-eight-hundred on the dime every morning asks her several pointed questions about it.
It’s late summer in Maryland, which means oppressive humidity outside if there’s not another sporadic bout of heavy rain. After her surgeries are done, all three of them, Sarris goes outdoors as often as her caretakers will both take her and let her. Which isn’t often, but she needs the change of scenery if she’s not going to lose her mind.
Television has never interested her—she knows all she needs to about the state of the world (she prefers newspapers anyways) and there’s no point to watching the countless television shows that are prolific on cable—and it’s hard to find a delivery address for Amazon if she wants to order books.
The nurses are too friendly—always asking about her family, if she’s sure there’s no one she wants to call, and what a unique set of tattoos she has, what’s the story? The doctors are too repetitive—always the same information, over and over.
Sarris considers trying to get in touch with her, but knows better than to even contemplate it. Their parting hadn’t been on good terms. Even though Sarris has recognized that missing piece in her life, she knows there is a very slim chance that she’s been forgiven of the things said that day.
(“He will be the death of you.”)
And there’s nothing that she can do anyways. It’s over and all that’s left is to pick up the pieces.
A month after her final surgery and some preliminary rehabilitation, the hospital staff moves her from her too-white room to an alternate ward in a different building altogether. She isn't mobile enough to take care of herself off-site and with no family being produced, the military becomes her primary guardian. Unless she improves in leaps and bounds, enough to navigate Baltimore unaided, the hospital will remain her prison until they deem her fit for release.
As she has with everything else life has bombarded her with, Sarris bears through the torment that every waking moment is with silent neutrality.
It is not the worst storm she's ever weathered.
It may be the second most devastating, but at least it is only her that bleeds this time. No one else. Just her.
(Murderer. Killer. You deserve this. This is punishment for your crimes.)
Sarris shuts her eyes to blank out the smiling nurse and the bag of fluids she carries and wishes the disembodied voices in her head could be blocked out just as easily.
//
“Hey, Nadir!”
Silence.
“Nadir?”
Nothing.
“Oh, come on, at least it isn’t your first name.”
Continued quiet.
“Alright, fine, Master-Sergeant Nadir, would you please stop and lend me a moment of your apparently precious time?”
"What do you want, Doctor Schaefe?" She doesn't lose focus on the task at hand—one foot in front of the other, one step at a time—hating the burn in her body over something so simple as walking. The two parallel bars are warming beneath her lingering grip.
Over-friendly, incessantly inquisitive. Warm brown eyes and genuine compassion for his patients. (She fights not to see it as weakness.) He plants himself in her path, too close for comfort and there’s nowhere to go besides backwards, which sounds two times as complex as moving forward at this point. "First, you've been going for twenty minutes and need to sit down."
She looks up, meets that knowing expression, that easy-going but not to be ignored persona that's been hounding her since day one in this personal Hell, and is aware that he's correct. Her body is shaking from the effort that every step takes, perspiration beading her forehead.
That doesn’t mean she’s going to let him know it, though. Tightening her fingers around the bars keeping her upright, Sarris stares him down, unflinching.
Schaefe narrows his eyes at her, pensive, but continues speaking after a short delay. “Second, the nurse said you left even the Ibuprofen untouched this morning. Want to tell me what that's all about?”
It surprises her that this hasn't come up sooner. They all want to talk about her chronic refusal of any pharmaceuticals before long.
“No.” Sarris glances over her shoulder, where she knows her watch dog nurse is on standby, waiting for the slightest hint that her assistance is needed.
The woman comes to guide her to a nearby seat, the doctor backs off without further prying, and the soldier—the soldier wishes that was what she still were.
//
Nights are the hardest. The longest.
When the doctors are gone and the nurses settle in for the night shift. There is only beeping in the halls from computers and monitors—they sound like an IED and Sarris has to tell herself to breathe.
Darkness blankets everything, because the rest of the patients are sleeping, and the lights have been flicked off for the night.
Sarris sits upright in her bed, fingers flexing, wanting of some sort of safeguard against possible attack.
PTSD, the psychologist says when three weeks pass and her nurses grow tired of her ceaseless vigils, calling in reinforcements to deal with what they see as a problem.
Sarris doesn't disagree with him.
He's right. She spent almost eight years over there—she knows the signs, from others and in herself.
But it’s also saved her life and for Sarris, it isn’t a problem; she knows how to run on four hours of restless sleep for weeks, even months, if that’s how long it takes to disconnect her mind from the belief that she’s still on the frontlines.
And she knows how to stop herself dead in less than a heartbeat to keep from killing someone when they approach without warning.
By this time, there is no solution to it for her. There is no recovery, no treatment, there is no coming back. There is just Sarris Nadir, once gangbanger turned soldier.
You don’t want to see me on drugs; is her only explanation, skipping his prognosis of ”you have severe post-traumatic stress and need to start getting help” altogether, and knows the psychologist’s mind is racing behind his neutral expression as she gets up to leave.
//
The weather starts to turn.
Sarris watches the leave start to bronze from her glass box on the sixth floor up.
The air is too moist still, too heavy with water for her comfort. She is used to scorched earth and deserts. Lips peeling, skin cracking, nose bleeding. Air so dry it sucks the life out of everything it comes in contact with.
Humidity sets her on edge, her senses telling her something is wrong, even when she slips into brief unconsciousness.
Fall begins to bear down on them and Sarris gets quiet. Says less. Withdraws further.
She hates the crutches, hates the wheelchair, and does not pass a day without wishing that that d--n bomber had done his job as well as she’d done hers.
Bleeding out in the sand would’ve been a less cruel fate than this.
The voices in her head have no sympathy. They pleasure in the black swallowing her, the helplessness killing her.
Sarris wakes up and aches to move. She wishes for death if only to escape the weakness of the body she has relied on for so many years to be strong. There is no strength in her legs, her arm will not respond when she needs it to, and the loss of hearing in her right ear has given way to an incessant ringing in her left.
Each morning is a reminder that she is never going to run again, is never going to be able to tackle an obstacle course, fire a rifle, swing a punch, or carry a comrade like she once did.
She is a soldier to her very marrow.
And living through every day in rehabilitation is a steady stab to her soul that tells her she can no longer be.
//
Cliffhanger!Siani strikes again and I am so sorry. Inspiration cuts in and out on a regular basis for me.
But, personally, I like this scrawl. I tried to get snips of a different writing style in there, focusing more on the abstract and letting reality drift in now and then, which... sort of worked. Maybe. You can decide.
It is kind of depressing, which I apologize for. But Sarris is a person of motion, of action, and, as we catch glimpses of in this au, repaying for a crime she committed years ago. And her method of payment has been ripped away from her in one fell swoop, depriving her of drive and purpose for life. It'll take a while for her to find a new way to keep pushing forward.
Her story actually parallels quite nicely with the original storyline, although, between the different galaxy version and the here on Earth version of Sarris' story, here on Earth has quite a few less extremes.
And yes, Novarr is a rehab doctor. Don't ask me. He's one of those stupidly talented people who can do whatever they want, more or less, if they put their mind to it. I think the doctor gig was a mid-life crisis escapade. Unusual, considering most guys might buy a car, but he's an unusual sort of chap.
Is love in the air?
Hard to say. He's the bane of Sarris' existence at the moment, but he's started that way in all the other 'verses too. We'll have to see.
As always, I welcome comments, critiques, or whatever ambly, rambly thought passes through your head. Let me know, yeah?
Thank you for reading. ^_^
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulty.
It's not quite in the festive spirit, let's put it that way. ::cough::
Inspiration source: a rewatch of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and the beginning sequence of him joining the military and subsequently being badly injured in a helicopter crash, landing him in Walter Reed Hospital for rehab.
I'm not sure what it was about it, but the combo made me want to write Sarris in a similar situation, although my focus is on the emotional journey for her as she struggles through rehab, and not on the "life after" portion. Not yet, anyways.
Mild content warning for the scrawl in general. There's not a lot of details, but Sarris was injured in a tangle with a bomber while deployed overseas, and is not handling the end of her career as a soldier very well. It's overall darker than I tend to write and there is some talk of PTSD. Just as a head's up.
Also, I was terribly lazy in the research department and just threw in details that may or may not be accurate to how the process actually works.
(Kudos to those who can guess who the "her" is that Sarris thinks about.)
It happens nine months into her seventh deployment.
Afterwards, they tell her about her own bravery, about the lives she saved in one blind moment of reaction. It’s on the news, on the lips of her nurses, her doctor, the members of her squadron who are allowed to make the flight to see her—everywhere she looks.
All Sarris remembers is the split instant where she’d recognized the telltale signs of a bomber on that man and her body had moved itself on instinct. The instincts that had kept her alive and uninjured through every tour she’d asked for until that point.
When she wakes up in the NATO hospital in Kandahar a week later, after days of passing in and out of agonized consciousness, red hazes of pain, they tell her about the people she’d saved before they tell her the price of those actions.
She’s never going to be able to walk the same way again. Her hearing is shot on her right side, and the shrapnel she’d taken all down her back limits mobility in her right arm and means when she first regains consciousness, she can’t feel anything past her hips.
They say she’ll be getting a medal—medals, in fact—and she couldn’t have cared less. She’s not going back to the front lines, where she has lived for the past eight years of her life. Where she belongs. The only place where the innocent blood on her hands weighs a little less.
Only her CO seems to get it, somewhere in the subtext, when he comes three weeks later, right before she’s scheduled to head to Maryland and Walter Reed to undergo multiple surgeries, heal, and then start rehabilitation.
“You’re getting an honorable discharge. The doc said there’s no way you’ll be back in the field, even if you do well in rehab. You’re done, Nadir.”
“I know.”
“You did well. You had a good run and we’re going to miss you out there. I know you’ve never been much of a people person, but you should know we trusted you to watch our backs, Master-Sergeant.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ll be alright. Get through rehab. Everything else will fall in place.”
She’d had no answer for that.
Ten years of her life she’d devoted to the United States Army, with no intentions beyond giving everything she had left of herself for others. Because of those two lives she had taken, had never been convicted of. That gang—the Shedek—would always be with her, inked as deeply in her skin as they were in her soul, but that doesn't mean she will ever stop trying to erase the damage they, and by extension, her, had wrought.
And now even that had been ripped from her.
//
The flight stateside was one of the longest she’s ever endured. Even longer than three years ago, when her squad had returned home less two members.
She starts refusing the pain meds the day before she’s scheduled to ship out back to the U.S., and not even the jarring motion of takeoff and the subsequent hours of turbulence bring her to submission. It doesn't mean her three attending nurses don't offer at least half a dozen times to hit her with a shot of morphine.
The doctor that meets her two days later in another white, sterile room doesn't have much more to say than the one in Afghanistan. They’ll operate, repair as much of the damage as they can, then she's going to rehab for at least a year.
Days passes in a blur of time, beginning and ending with a blinding veil of pain. It wakes her up in the middle of the night without fail, which she never admits, even when the doctor who comes in at oh-eight-hundred on the dime every morning asks her several pointed questions about it.
It’s late summer in Maryland, which means oppressive humidity outside if there’s not another sporadic bout of heavy rain. After her surgeries are done, all three of them, Sarris goes outdoors as often as her caretakers will both take her and let her. Which isn’t often, but she needs the change of scenery if she’s not going to lose her mind.
Television has never interested her—she knows all she needs to about the state of the world (she prefers newspapers anyways) and there’s no point to watching the countless television shows that are prolific on cable—and it’s hard to find a delivery address for Amazon if she wants to order books.
The nurses are too friendly—always asking about her family, if she’s sure there’s no one she wants to call, and what a unique set of tattoos she has, what’s the story? The doctors are too repetitive—always the same information, over and over.
Sarris considers trying to get in touch with her, but knows better than to even contemplate it. Their parting hadn’t been on good terms. Even though Sarris has recognized that missing piece in her life, she knows there is a very slim chance that she’s been forgiven of the things said that day.
(“He will be the death of you.”)
And there’s nothing that she can do anyways. It’s over and all that’s left is to pick up the pieces.
A month after her final surgery and some preliminary rehabilitation, the hospital staff moves her from her too-white room to an alternate ward in a different building altogether. She isn't mobile enough to take care of herself off-site and with no family being produced, the military becomes her primary guardian. Unless she improves in leaps and bounds, enough to navigate Baltimore unaided, the hospital will remain her prison until they deem her fit for release.
As she has with everything else life has bombarded her with, Sarris bears through the torment that every waking moment is with silent neutrality.
It is not the worst storm she's ever weathered.
It may be the second most devastating, but at least it is only her that bleeds this time. No one else. Just her.
(Murderer. Killer. You deserve this. This is punishment for your crimes.)
Sarris shuts her eyes to blank out the smiling nurse and the bag of fluids she carries and wishes the disembodied voices in her head could be blocked out just as easily.
//
“Hey, Nadir!”
Silence.
“Nadir?”
Nothing.
“Oh, come on, at least it isn’t your first name.”
Continued quiet.
“Alright, fine, Master-Sergeant Nadir, would you please stop and lend me a moment of your apparently precious time?”
"What do you want, Doctor Schaefe?" She doesn't lose focus on the task at hand—one foot in front of the other, one step at a time—hating the burn in her body over something so simple as walking. The two parallel bars are warming beneath her lingering grip.
Over-friendly, incessantly inquisitive. Warm brown eyes and genuine compassion for his patients. (She fights not to see it as weakness.) He plants himself in her path, too close for comfort and there’s nowhere to go besides backwards, which sounds two times as complex as moving forward at this point. "First, you've been going for twenty minutes and need to sit down."
She looks up, meets that knowing expression, that easy-going but not to be ignored persona that's been hounding her since day one in this personal Hell, and is aware that he's correct. Her body is shaking from the effort that every step takes, perspiration beading her forehead.
That doesn’t mean she’s going to let him know it, though. Tightening her fingers around the bars keeping her upright, Sarris stares him down, unflinching.
Schaefe narrows his eyes at her, pensive, but continues speaking after a short delay. “Second, the nurse said you left even the Ibuprofen untouched this morning. Want to tell me what that's all about?”
It surprises her that this hasn't come up sooner. They all want to talk about her chronic refusal of any pharmaceuticals before long.
“No.” Sarris glances over her shoulder, where she knows her watch dog nurse is on standby, waiting for the slightest hint that her assistance is needed.
The woman comes to guide her to a nearby seat, the doctor backs off without further prying, and the soldier—the soldier wishes that was what she still were.
//
Nights are the hardest. The longest.
When the doctors are gone and the nurses settle in for the night shift. There is only beeping in the halls from computers and monitors—they sound like an IED and Sarris has to tell herself to breathe.
Darkness blankets everything, because the rest of the patients are sleeping, and the lights have been flicked off for the night.
Sarris sits upright in her bed, fingers flexing, wanting of some sort of safeguard against possible attack.
PTSD, the psychologist says when three weeks pass and her nurses grow tired of her ceaseless vigils, calling in reinforcements to deal with what they see as a problem.
Sarris doesn't disagree with him.
He's right. She spent almost eight years over there—she knows the signs, from others and in herself.
But it’s also saved her life and for Sarris, it isn’t a problem; she knows how to run on four hours of restless sleep for weeks, even months, if that’s how long it takes to disconnect her mind from the belief that she’s still on the frontlines.
And she knows how to stop herself dead in less than a heartbeat to keep from killing someone when they approach without warning.
By this time, there is no solution to it for her. There is no recovery, no treatment, there is no coming back. There is just Sarris Nadir, once gangbanger turned soldier.
You don’t want to see me on drugs; is her only explanation, skipping his prognosis of ”you have severe post-traumatic stress and need to start getting help” altogether, and knows the psychologist’s mind is racing behind his neutral expression as she gets up to leave.
//
The weather starts to turn.
Sarris watches the leave start to bronze from her glass box on the sixth floor up.
The air is too moist still, too heavy with water for her comfort. She is used to scorched earth and deserts. Lips peeling, skin cracking, nose bleeding. Air so dry it sucks the life out of everything it comes in contact with.
Humidity sets her on edge, her senses telling her something is wrong, even when she slips into brief unconsciousness.
Fall begins to bear down on them and Sarris gets quiet. Says less. Withdraws further.
She hates the crutches, hates the wheelchair, and does not pass a day without wishing that that d--n bomber had done his job as well as she’d done hers.
Bleeding out in the sand would’ve been a less cruel fate than this.
The voices in her head have no sympathy. They pleasure in the black swallowing her, the helplessness killing her.
Sarris wakes up and aches to move. She wishes for death if only to escape the weakness of the body she has relied on for so many years to be strong. There is no strength in her legs, her arm will not respond when she needs it to, and the loss of hearing in her right ear has given way to an incessant ringing in her left.
Each morning is a reminder that she is never going to run again, is never going to be able to tackle an obstacle course, fire a rifle, swing a punch, or carry a comrade like she once did.
She is a soldier to her very marrow.
And living through every day in rehabilitation is a steady stab to her soul that tells her she can no longer be.
//
Cliffhanger!Siani strikes again and I am so sorry. Inspiration cuts in and out on a regular basis for me.
But, personally, I like this scrawl. I tried to get snips of a different writing style in there, focusing more on the abstract and letting reality drift in now and then, which... sort of worked. Maybe. You can decide.
It is kind of depressing, which I apologize for. But Sarris is a person of motion, of action, and, as we catch glimpses of in this au, repaying for a crime she committed years ago. And her method of payment has been ripped away from her in one fell swoop, depriving her of drive and purpose for life. It'll take a while for her to find a new way to keep pushing forward.
Her story actually parallels quite nicely with the original storyline, although, between the different galaxy version and the here on Earth version of Sarris' story, here on Earth has quite a few less extremes.
And yes, Novarr is a rehab doctor. Don't ask me. He's one of those stupidly talented people who can do whatever they want, more or less, if they put their mind to it. I think the doctor gig was a mid-life crisis escapade. Unusual, considering most guys might buy a car, but he's an unusual sort of chap.
Is love in the air?
Hard to say. He's the bane of Sarris' existence at the moment, but he's started that way in all the other 'verses too. We'll have to see.
As always, I welcome comments, critiques, or whatever ambly, rambly thought passes through your head. Let me know, yeah?
Thank you for reading. ^_^
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulty.
Friday, March 22, 2013
A Writer on Pinterest
You know that awful moment when it's a Saturday morning and you're expecting to sleep in after a really long, really emotional day yesterday that had you in tears as you crawl into bed, and then it's 7:30 in the morning and you never wake up this early, let alone on a Saturday, but you're awake now and it's just... Sigh.
So, yes, it's 7:45 and while my headache from last night is gone, I really had wanted to sleep longer. Oh well.
For the focus of this post, Pinterest.
I believe that the majority of you already follow me on Pinterest, but I'm going to put this together for those who don't.
As any good writer on Pinterest does, I have a variety of story and character related boards to which I pin a good deal of pictures pertaining to the board's title.
I will provide a link to each board and a brief summary about what's entailed below. Please don't hesitate to follow through, even if you don't have Pinterest. (Though if you don't have Pinterest, you might consider it.)
Story Inspiration
I have three boards that all begin with "story". Story Inspiration is a collection of pins that provide me with inspiration for something to include in a story. That could be anything from a bunch of dragon pictures to a short quote that makes me go "Ooh, that'd be a fascinating line to spin a story off of."
Story Setting
As the title might suggest, Story Setting is all about the world in which a story might take place. The locations range from an artwork of an oriental palace in mountains to a digital rendering of a sci-fi style hotel room. Take your pick.
Story Style
This would be for those looking to outfit their heroes in anything from silver wire masquerade masks to a black bustle skirt from the Victorian era. This board is still a bit new and my eye is not particularly drawn to things of the accessory/clothing genre, so filling it is a work in progress.
Faces to Remember
When you're on Pinterest and going through people's story boards, you'll find that they have a penchant to save pictures of people who they find inspiring, and this is my take on that. All the faces to be found in this board are ones that I think would be interesting in a story, but have not yet found a home for. Ages range from adorable little Asian girls to an older woman with gray hair who has all the qualities of a mentor in her face.
Now, for the more personal boards, involving the characters I already have.
Characters
This is a stashing spot for the pictures I find that remind me of my characters. It doesn't always have to be spot on. Maybe it's his hair, or her expression, but it's a little conglomerate of things that make up the people inside my head. (Hint: If you wanted to have an idea of what Vivian looks like, here's your chance.)
Hints of Character
This board is very similar to Characters, but it's in words, songs, and poses instead. This song lyrics remind me of those two characters at this given time; that Mustang is one that I could see my character's brother fixing and then the character driving. Little things that make up the characters on the inside, instead of on the outside.
Profile: Sarris and Novarr Schaefe
This is a specialized board for my characters, Sarris and Novarr. It's a big mish-mash of Characters and Hints of Characters, just for the two of them. I also enjoy doing MBTI for my characters, so Novarr has a fair deal of ENTP pins. Sarris, on the other hand, shares her type with several other of my characters, and I have stuffed them all in another board that I'll share at the end. (Warning: Sarris has had a tough background, and a couple of the pins in this board reflect that. One is of bloody hands, the other uses the word "h*ll", so if you're not comfortable with either, consider skipping this board.)
Profile: Ruusan and Jaydn Schaefe
Technically, Ruusan has been both an Armstrong and a Vhander, but calling her a Schaefe was easiest, so I went with that. Like Sarris and Novarr's board, this is just a collection of pictures and quotes that remind me of these two sisters, although now it's extended to encompass the Deviant, so if something doesn't make sense, see if it has a "Deviant Ruu/Jade" note attached. If not, it may have a "Kidnapped Ruu" note, and that means the same as the deviant.
Profile: Ianthe and the Tribes
I believe I already shared this board when I posted about Ianthe a while back, but I'll share it again for any newcomers or happen-byers. This board is a bit more expansive than the last world, extended to include Ianthe's world and all the people and places in it. So there'll be pictures that remind me of characters or images of real life Arabian palaces, all in an attempt to capture the feel of that world.
Profile: Jasmine "Jaz" O'Haire
Not one of my largest boards ever, but this is a smattering of things that make me think of Jaz, who I've posted a couple of scrawls about. The majority of this board's contents are her MBTI type, which is ESTJ, but there are a handful of others things included as well.
MBTI Personality
And last but not least, my MBTI Personality board. This has a mix of various types that either hold meaning to me via friends or characters, or just interested me enough to repin them. If they are connected to a character, there will be a note at the bottom saying who it is. For instance, there are several ISTJ pins that are marked with Sarris, Jaydn, and Cameron, and more still of ISFP, which is a new character of mine, Leo Argon.
And with that, I think I've covered all my story-related boards on Pinterest. If you feel like delving into the bottomless pit that is the rest of my Pinterest, feel free, but don't expect to escape for some time.
Hopefully, you all found this quite interesting, or some such. Thanks for your time and I pray you all will be sleeping on Saturday morning, not writing blog posts, as I am.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
So, yes, it's 7:45 and while my headache from last night is gone, I really had wanted to sleep longer. Oh well.
For the focus of this post, Pinterest.
I believe that the majority of you already follow me on Pinterest, but I'm going to put this together for those who don't.
As any good writer on Pinterest does, I have a variety of story and character related boards to which I pin a good deal of pictures pertaining to the board's title.
I will provide a link to each board and a brief summary about what's entailed below. Please don't hesitate to follow through, even if you don't have Pinterest. (Though if you don't have Pinterest, you might consider it.)
Story Inspiration
I have three boards that all begin with "story". Story Inspiration is a collection of pins that provide me with inspiration for something to include in a story. That could be anything from a bunch of dragon pictures to a short quote that makes me go "Ooh, that'd be a fascinating line to spin a story off of."
Story Setting
As the title might suggest, Story Setting is all about the world in which a story might take place. The locations range from an artwork of an oriental palace in mountains to a digital rendering of a sci-fi style hotel room. Take your pick.
Story Style
This would be for those looking to outfit their heroes in anything from silver wire masquerade masks to a black bustle skirt from the Victorian era. This board is still a bit new and my eye is not particularly drawn to things of the accessory/clothing genre, so filling it is a work in progress.
Faces to Remember
When you're on Pinterest and going through people's story boards, you'll find that they have a penchant to save pictures of people who they find inspiring, and this is my take on that. All the faces to be found in this board are ones that I think would be interesting in a story, but have not yet found a home for. Ages range from adorable little Asian girls to an older woman with gray hair who has all the qualities of a mentor in her face.
Now, for the more personal boards, involving the characters I already have.
Characters
This is a stashing spot for the pictures I find that remind me of my characters. It doesn't always have to be spot on. Maybe it's his hair, or her expression, but it's a little conglomerate of things that make up the people inside my head. (Hint: If you wanted to have an idea of what Vivian looks like, here's your chance.)
Hints of Character
This board is very similar to Characters, but it's in words, songs, and poses instead. This song lyrics remind me of those two characters at this given time; that Mustang is one that I could see my character's brother fixing and then the character driving. Little things that make up the characters on the inside, instead of on the outside.
Profile: Sarris and Novarr Schaefe
This is a specialized board for my characters, Sarris and Novarr. It's a big mish-mash of Characters and Hints of Characters, just for the two of them. I also enjoy doing MBTI for my characters, so Novarr has a fair deal of ENTP pins. Sarris, on the other hand, shares her type with several other of my characters, and I have stuffed them all in another board that I'll share at the end. (Warning: Sarris has had a tough background, and a couple of the pins in this board reflect that. One is of bloody hands, the other uses the word "h*ll", so if you're not comfortable with either, consider skipping this board.)
Profile: Ruusan and Jaydn Schaefe
Technically, Ruusan has been both an Armstrong and a Vhander, but calling her a Schaefe was easiest, so I went with that. Like Sarris and Novarr's board, this is just a collection of pictures and quotes that remind me of these two sisters, although now it's extended to encompass the Deviant, so if something doesn't make sense, see if it has a "Deviant Ruu/Jade" note attached. If not, it may have a "Kidnapped Ruu" note, and that means the same as the deviant.
Profile: Ianthe and the Tribes
I believe I already shared this board when I posted about Ianthe a while back, but I'll share it again for any newcomers or happen-byers. This board is a bit more expansive than the last world, extended to include Ianthe's world and all the people and places in it. So there'll be pictures that remind me of characters or images of real life Arabian palaces, all in an attempt to capture the feel of that world.
Profile: Jasmine "Jaz" O'Haire
Not one of my largest boards ever, but this is a smattering of things that make me think of Jaz, who I've posted a couple of scrawls about. The majority of this board's contents are her MBTI type, which is ESTJ, but there are a handful of others things included as well.
MBTI Personality
And last but not least, my MBTI Personality board. This has a mix of various types that either hold meaning to me via friends or characters, or just interested me enough to repin them. If they are connected to a character, there will be a note at the bottom saying who it is. For instance, there are several ISTJ pins that are marked with Sarris, Jaydn, and Cameron, and more still of ISFP, which is a new character of mine, Leo Argon.
And with that, I think I've covered all my story-related boards on Pinterest. If you feel like delving into the bottomless pit that is the rest of my Pinterest, feel free, but don't expect to escape for some time.
Hopefully, you all found this quite interesting, or some such. Thanks for your time and I pray you all will be sleeping on Saturday morning, not writing blog posts, as I am.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Writing: Steampunk -- Ruusan and Novarr
To start off a hopefully lengthy smattering of Original/Deviant/Steampunk Storyline scrawls and bits of writing, this scribble is of Ruusan and Novarr in the Steampunk.
I can't remember if I mentioned it in my summary, but Sarris and Novarr never found each other in the Steampunk. Actually, Sarris died at some point, with just a random write-off because she wasn't convenient to the storyline any longer.
(I know, writers are cruel and heartless.)
The repercussions of her sudden death weren't too large, but of the three versions of Novarr I've worked with, the Steampunk is the one that breaks my heart. I don't know if you guys will be able to pick up on it, but it's almost like he knows Sarris isn't out there anymore. It's heart-wrenching, if a bit hard to see.
At any rate, he still adopted Ruusan and brought her up, and she met Cameron in the hospital where she worked as a nurse, as you will soon read. Also, please note there isn't any set time during which this occurs in relation to the rest of the storyline. I won't keep you any longer.
The child waits by the window, her blue eyes bright with excitement, because Daddy’s coming home. Her caretaker works in the background, cleaning the sitting room and not missing a speck of dust.
She hears when the door open, and her socked feet are on the wooden floorboards a moment later as she races to greet him.
He always looks older when he comes back, so grim and tired and it makes her want to cry because all she wants is for Daddy to be happy.
And he is; for her.
Ruu knows this because when she runs to him and he lifts her up in his arms, planting a kiss on her forehead, he smiles both on his mouth and in his eyes.
That’s all Ruu could’ve asked for as she buries her face in Novarr’s shoulder, saying how much she’d missed him and can you stay a really long time now?
The hunter tucks her close, wandering down the hall to their room, the hole in his heart filling now that he’s with her again. He assures her that he’ll stay as long as he can, and wishes silently that he could give her more than he does.
But his time is barely his own. The rent is almost more than he can handle and he pays the establishment’s owner to watch over Ruusan while he’s away. Then she never stops growing it seems, always looking as if she’s gained a few centimeters of height while he’s away working.
Novarr sits in the chair that’s in their room, playing with Ruu’s curls as she chatters to him about what she did that day. He slowly unwinds as she talks, muscles relaxing for the first time since he left.
Hunger is present in the back of his mind, but he’s unwilling to move. As Ruu says every time he comes back to her, she misses him. And this is the least he can do for her if he has to be away working all the time.
“Ah, Daddy, you’re back!”
Thirteen years old now, and Novarr has to ask himself where the years went as he enters into their small, hole-in-the-wall home. He is greeted with the smell of something cooking and Ruusan who hurries towards him with a bright smile on her face.
“You missed Missus Tasha’s visit,” she informs him, arms going around his waist. Her blue eyes have never lost that bright shine they’ve had since she was a baby.
“Is that so?” Nov murmurs, bending to kiss the top of her head.
“Yes, and Jade said she has something work-related to talk to you about,” Ruu continues cheerily, pulling him along the short hallway by the hand, her destination the closet of a kitchen.
He allows himself to be dragged to the alluring smells that have been lingering in the air since he walked in. “Well, they can wait, because I need to spend some time with my gorgeous girl.”
Ruu laughs, dragging one of the two chairs out. “You always say that when you come home,” she says, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind once he’s seated.
“Because it’s true,” Novarr insists, reaching back to ruffle her hair.
She giggles again, then plants a kiss on his cheek and goes to the stove. The hunter watches her, heart aching that she has to be doing these things so young and with no technical mentor to teach her.
But she’s never complained, not even in her eyes, about the work. And when he asks her about it, she says that it’s her part to do and she enjoys it.
“I need you to take me out for groceries tomorrow, Daddy,” Ruu says as she sets a bowl of something steaming that smells like heaven before him.
He nods distractedly, pulling open a nearby drawer to retrieve two spoons. His daughter settles across from him, tugging up the sleeves of her dress to remove them from her way, and the two spend the rest of the evening in quiet, but content, conversation.
When she’s eighteen, Ruusan tells him she wants to be a nurse someday.
It takes them years to save enough money to put her through school, but her dream comes true four years later.
Novarr thinks it was a mistake at first, as he’s suddenly the one taking care of her as she comes home day after day nearly dead on her feet.
But slowly, she adjusts. She learns how to balance both her work in the hospital and at home. Tasha warns him at one point to make sure she doesn’t burn herself out, and he takes her advice to heart.
He catches Ruusan before she passes out in bed one evening, and the two work out a schedule for shopping, cooking, and cleaning.
Novarr sleeps better that night, feeling safer in the knowledge that he’s taking care of his little girl.
And then comes Cameron and he’s thrown for a loop again. First, because he’s never imagined that he’d have to give Ruu away to someone else. Second, because even if he does put Ruu’s happiness in Cameron’s hands, it will return to his possession soon.
Cameron is sick.
It’s himself and the Vance’s at the small wedding two months later, and Novarr tries to push away the feeling that it won’t be long before those tears of joy in her eyes are tears of pain.
The three of them live in the same small home that Ruu spent much of her childhood in. It’s a tight fit, but no one complains.
Ruusan still works at the hospital; Novarr is busy with his hunting. And it all functions much more smoothly then they’d expected.
Ruu says she’s pregnant after only a few months, and Nov watches as she and Cameron laugh... then cry.
Cameron passes on and Vivian is small and delicate at two weeks old, but her mother is the fragile one, the one who needs to be held and comforted. And Novarr is there for both of them, rocking the cradle with his foot in the midst of the night while Ruusan cries herself into an exhausted sleep in the circle of his arms.
His heart feels like it’s breaking, and he can’t imagine the magnitude of pain that his little girl has to be going through right now.
Novarr asks Tasha to come and watch over his daughter and granddaughter when he has to go work. Ruu doesn’t make a sound as he collects his gear, kisses her forehead, and says he will be back soon.
Leaving the house that morning was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
It's rather short, I know. It looks like more on a Microsoft Word document.
I'm going to continue poking through my documents involving the Schaefes and Vhanders and see what I come up with. There's been a lot of aimless scribbles over the past couple of years, some better than others, so we'll see how it goes.
I hope that you all enjoyed this piece of work, even though it is a bit sad at the end there. Alright, a lot sad, but at least it's better than when I killed Jade, yes?
Please feel free to leave feedback! I adore hearing from you amazing people.
And one last thing: Thank you so very much to everyone who follows my blog. I woke up this morning to see a new follower and despite the blasted early hour, it made me grin like an idiot, as I have done with every person who has pressed the follow button for my blog. So, this is my huge kamsa-hamnida, aregato, danke-sehn, gracias, thank you, to Penny, Trinity, Hannah, Joy, Charissa, Mercia, and Ashley, who so kindly lit up my morning. I hope you all have an amazing day. <3
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
I can't remember if I mentioned it in my summary, but Sarris and Novarr never found each other in the Steampunk. Actually, Sarris died at some point, with just a random write-off because she wasn't convenient to the storyline any longer.
(I know, writers are cruel and heartless.)
The repercussions of her sudden death weren't too large, but of the three versions of Novarr I've worked with, the Steampunk is the one that breaks my heart. I don't know if you guys will be able to pick up on it, but it's almost like he knows Sarris isn't out there anymore. It's heart-wrenching, if a bit hard to see.
At any rate, he still adopted Ruusan and brought her up, and she met Cameron in the hospital where she worked as a nurse, as you will soon read. Also, please note there isn't any set time during which this occurs in relation to the rest of the storyline. I won't keep you any longer.
The child waits by the window, her blue eyes bright with excitement, because Daddy’s coming home. Her caretaker works in the background, cleaning the sitting room and not missing a speck of dust.
She hears when the door open, and her socked feet are on the wooden floorboards a moment later as she races to greet him.
He always looks older when he comes back, so grim and tired and it makes her want to cry because all she wants is for Daddy to be happy.
And he is; for her.
Ruu knows this because when she runs to him and he lifts her up in his arms, planting a kiss on her forehead, he smiles both on his mouth and in his eyes.
That’s all Ruu could’ve asked for as she buries her face in Novarr’s shoulder, saying how much she’d missed him and can you stay a really long time now?
The hunter tucks her close, wandering down the hall to their room, the hole in his heart filling now that he’s with her again. He assures her that he’ll stay as long as he can, and wishes silently that he could give her more than he does.
But his time is barely his own. The rent is almost more than he can handle and he pays the establishment’s owner to watch over Ruusan while he’s away. Then she never stops growing it seems, always looking as if she’s gained a few centimeters of height while he’s away working.
Novarr sits in the chair that’s in their room, playing with Ruu’s curls as she chatters to him about what she did that day. He slowly unwinds as she talks, muscles relaxing for the first time since he left.
Hunger is present in the back of his mind, but he’s unwilling to move. As Ruu says every time he comes back to her, she misses him. And this is the least he can do for her if he has to be away working all the time.
~~*~~
“Ah, Daddy, you’re back!”
Thirteen years old now, and Novarr has to ask himself where the years went as he enters into their small, hole-in-the-wall home. He is greeted with the smell of something cooking and Ruusan who hurries towards him with a bright smile on her face.
“You missed Missus Tasha’s visit,” she informs him, arms going around his waist. Her blue eyes have never lost that bright shine they’ve had since she was a baby.
“Is that so?” Nov murmurs, bending to kiss the top of her head.
“Yes, and Jade said she has something work-related to talk to you about,” Ruu continues cheerily, pulling him along the short hallway by the hand, her destination the closet of a kitchen.
He allows himself to be dragged to the alluring smells that have been lingering in the air since he walked in. “Well, they can wait, because I need to spend some time with my gorgeous girl.”
Ruu laughs, dragging one of the two chairs out. “You always say that when you come home,” she says, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind once he’s seated.
“Because it’s true,” Novarr insists, reaching back to ruffle her hair.
She giggles again, then plants a kiss on his cheek and goes to the stove. The hunter watches her, heart aching that she has to be doing these things so young and with no technical mentor to teach her.
But she’s never complained, not even in her eyes, about the work. And when he asks her about it, she says that it’s her part to do and she enjoys it.
“I need you to take me out for groceries tomorrow, Daddy,” Ruu says as she sets a bowl of something steaming that smells like heaven before him.
He nods distractedly, pulling open a nearby drawer to retrieve two spoons. His daughter settles across from him, tugging up the sleeves of her dress to remove them from her way, and the two spend the rest of the evening in quiet, but content, conversation.
~~*~~
When she’s eighteen, Ruusan tells him she wants to be a nurse someday.
It takes them years to save enough money to put her through school, but her dream comes true four years later.
Novarr thinks it was a mistake at first, as he’s suddenly the one taking care of her as she comes home day after day nearly dead on her feet.
But slowly, she adjusts. She learns how to balance both her work in the hospital and at home. Tasha warns him at one point to make sure she doesn’t burn herself out, and he takes her advice to heart.
He catches Ruusan before she passes out in bed one evening, and the two work out a schedule for shopping, cooking, and cleaning.
Novarr sleeps better that night, feeling safer in the knowledge that he’s taking care of his little girl.
And then comes Cameron and he’s thrown for a loop again. First, because he’s never imagined that he’d have to give Ruu away to someone else. Second, because even if he does put Ruu’s happiness in Cameron’s hands, it will return to his possession soon.
Cameron is sick.
It’s himself and the Vance’s at the small wedding two months later, and Novarr tries to push away the feeling that it won’t be long before those tears of joy in her eyes are tears of pain.
The three of them live in the same small home that Ruu spent much of her childhood in. It’s a tight fit, but no one complains.
Ruusan still works at the hospital; Novarr is busy with his hunting. And it all functions much more smoothly then they’d expected.
Ruu says she’s pregnant after only a few months, and Nov watches as she and Cameron laugh... then cry.
Cameron passes on and Vivian is small and delicate at two weeks old, but her mother is the fragile one, the one who needs to be held and comforted. And Novarr is there for both of them, rocking the cradle with his foot in the midst of the night while Ruusan cries herself into an exhausted sleep in the circle of his arms.
His heart feels like it’s breaking, and he can’t imagine the magnitude of pain that his little girl has to be going through right now.
Novarr asks Tasha to come and watch over his daughter and granddaughter when he has to go work. Ruu doesn’t make a sound as he collects his gear, kisses her forehead, and says he will be back soon.
Leaving the house that morning was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
It's rather short, I know. It looks like more on a Microsoft Word document.
I'm going to continue poking through my documents involving the Schaefes and Vhanders and see what I come up with. There's been a lot of aimless scribbles over the past couple of years, some better than others, so we'll see how it goes.
I hope that you all enjoyed this piece of work, even though it is a bit sad at the end there. Alright, a lot sad, but at least it's better than when I killed Jade, yes?
Please feel free to leave feedback! I adore hearing from you amazing people.
And one last thing: Thank you so very much to everyone who follows my blog. I woke up this morning to see a new follower and despite the blasted early hour, it made me grin like an idiot, as I have done with every person who has pressed the follow button for my blog. So, this is my huge kamsa-hamnida, aregato, danke-sehn, gracias, thank you, to Penny, Trinity, Hannah, Joy, Charissa, Mercia, and Ashley, who so kindly lit up my morning. I hope you all have an amazing day. <3
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
A Summary of Storylines
This post is going to be entirely dedicated to the explaining of three storylines that myself and my best friend, Penny Kearney, have developed over the past six years of our lives. Well, one of them is six years old; the other two are under one.
There is the Original Storyline, the Steampunk Storyline, and the most recent Deviant Storyline. I've give brief intros to how they each began before each summary.
Also, there is a great chance these will be really confusing to you guys and I'm incredibly sorry for it, but there were just a million things that went on during all that time, so please just leave a comment if you need clarification on something and I'll get back to you with something more understandable as soon as possible.
...And let me warn you that my "summaries", as you will soon see, might as well be novels. I am no good at summarizing, although, in my defense, I am summarizing 20+ years worth of multiple character's lives. At least for the Original Storyline.
One more thing to note: both the Original and Deviant storylines take place in the Zephron Galaxy, which includes several planets, among them Sinjaro Kahn, Uhric, Norsha'ac, Gogam, Karon, Tigersoon, Tiloon, and Klowdarr.
Original Storyline:
Began: Oh, heavens, years ago. Penny and I started talk-gaming (character developing? What do regular writers call that?) with a taciturn Uhrician Elite Force Warrior and a green-eyed intruder who are about as night and day as Penny and I are. I think Sarris and Tara are kind of a testament to our own friendship, in how highly unlikely it is and yet it still happened.
General Summary: Sarris Nadir (Gogamian, UEF Warrior) and Tara Benson (Norsha'acite, bounty hunter) met under rather unlikely circumstances and became dysfunctional friends, though Sarris didn't admit to it for years. Literally, years.
Tara met Nuridarr Vhander during a brief, accidental stint on Gogam, which he helped her get through alive and in one piece and then they both were rescued from the planet by Tara's brother, Luke Benson (bounty hunter as well). Immediately after, Tara, Nuridarr, and Luke took a sudden leave of absence from the galaxy for two years, during which time Sarris an acquaintance through Tara by the name of Novarr Schaefe. (My apologies for similarities between Novarr and Nuridarr's names. Mostly accidental, and you never get them mixed up once you know them.)
After that, Tara and Luke find three of their younger siblings. Their entire family has been missing for several years, and they do find them somewhere between finding Ron, Andro, and Mara and Luke 'dying'. Except he didn't actually die. (Don't ask me, not my characters, and I can't recall anyways.) Following Luke's death by a couple of months, Tara married Nuridarr. Sarris and Novarr are just... living during this time. Not a lot is going on for them.
Tara and Nur's first daughter, Raina, was born a handful of months later, followed closely by Sarris and Novarr's adopted, newborn daughter, Ruusan. And Jhidek/Jay (Tara and Nur's son) came along a bit after that. (Don't worry, that was the end of the baby boom for seven years.) Sarris, a Ronin in the Uhrician Elite Force's ranking system, went into "the reserves", in a way, during all this that way she could be at home to look after Ruusan.
There was another kind of blank seven years, where life just went on and the Vhanders and Schaefe's raised their respective children/child. Jaydn and Merri were adopted/born about the same time. Jaydn was five when Novarr whisked her away from an inevitably bad situation after her parents died/were killed. (The details are still kind of sketchy at that part.) In the following eight years, there were a passel more Vhander children, while the Schaefe household remained safely at two. The two families are far from strangers, to the point where the parents are all "aunties" and "uncles" to each other's offspring.
Jaydn follows in Novarr's footsteps, taking up bounty hunting and eventually turning into something of a loner, which is her downfall in the end. Ruusan, after being lost for a time, decides to become an Emergency Response Transport Paramedic, which means that she's in the ambulance, at the scene of the crash. She attends medical school and takes up a job as an ERTP on Sinjaro Kahn, where her parents live. It's in the hospital that she meets Cameron Armstrong, a fairly average guy who is dying from a non-contagious, but uncurable, disease. When he asks her to marry him, she does.
Cameron's death ten months later coincides with the birth of their daughter, Vivian. Two months pass, and Sarris works with Tara and Nuridarr to find an apartment near the Vhander home on Norsha'ac for Ruusan and Vivian. Staying on Kahn is only a constant reminder of Cameron for Ruu, and the vote is unaninmous that she needs some time away.
Over the course of two years and through a series of author-caused events to cause a little heart-pounding anxiety and to strengthen bonds, Ruusan falls in love with childhood friend and never-before-romantic-interest, Jhidek. And he falls in love with Vivi, and Ruu too. (What? Vivian's an angel. Anybody would fall in love with her first.)
So they get married, and Ellora, the first Ruu/Jay bundle of adorableness, is born fifteen months later. Jaydn dies from her injuries after her ship is shot down by space pirates, much to the trauma of her family.
Here, I shall end. (Though there is a lot of unaccounted drama, let me assure you.)
Steampunk Storyline:
Began: Sometime in early 2012, Penny and I had been curious as to how Jaydn and Nuridarr would get along, as they've both got the same blood running through their veins and all. We couldn't come up with plausible trouble for them to get into in the original storyline, so we picked them up and moved them to Penny's steampunk world (a city named Sanbourne) which she has with a friend of hers, Katana. It really only served to show Jade's true colors.
General Summary: Nuridarr, now Nathaniel, and Jaydn, shortened to Jade, meet when she's ten-ish and he's eighteen-ish and she's an orphan and he's thrown himself out of his Gogamian crime....syndicate/gang/tribe/thing. Ten years later, and the two of them have, quite successfully, made their living on bounty hunting. Life is good, Jade is happy, and I kind of want her radio that she's got.
Insert Natasha Bennet, a rather fiery woman they nab, who ends up biting Nathan ("Shikhan, should you take something for rabies?" "I've had worse.") before they take her to meet the person who hired them to find her. It turns out to be a Gogamian that Nathaniel knew back when he was still with them. Also a man that Nathan isn't going to hand Tasha over to, so he sends Jade and Tasha off while he faces their client and his goons.
To summarize the rest, because this was an incredibly difficult storyline to write and it's hard to capture everything that happens, Nathaniel falls in love with Tasha, and it doesn't go over well with Jade. She moves out, starts working on her own, and goes to great pains to avoid seeing Tasha.
A lot of things occur in the next year or two.
Jade locates Tasha's missing family with the help of her contact, Charles, and an ex-assassin-turned-bounty-hunter named Jase Drouais gets mixed up in everything through a former connection to the kidnapper and the disappearance of his brother, Markham. Unfortunately, Jade gets laid up with an injured leg and is out of commission for the actual rescue.
Later, there is the appearance of a government official bent on killing all lowlifes. He's sees them as a taint upon the clean-blooded people of higher society in Sanbourne. Jade, Nathan, and his daughter with Tasha, are on the hit-list due to their heritage. After a really close call which Jase, the ex-assassin who she now works with, saves her from, they go to make sure that Nathan, Tasha, and Raina are safe and the three of them end up leaving town. Jade, Jase, and Tasha's brother, Lucas (Luke, originally) work together to try and locate, then bring down, the government official, Horace Scott. It is thought for a time that Nathan, Tasha, and Raina perish in a train wreck, which makes life difficult, to say the least.
After that, Penny and I never actually finished talk-gaming it. And I know it sounds like Jade's perfectly balanced through all those events, but she really isn't, and after it turns out that Nathan, Tasha, and Raina are alive, she skips town for four years, staying away as long as she needs to so she can screw her head on straight again. A lot happens to her while she's gone, including a couple of near-death experiences, a semi-relationship with a guy named Sato, and a friendship with a woman named Kensey during her last year
who ends up dying from sickness. After that, she goes back to Sanbourne to see if she'll be welcomed back after practically abandoning the people there that cared about her. And while things were far from what they'd been years prior, Nathan and Tara were willing to let her back into their lives to start rebuilding what she'd crumbled.
Deviant Storyline:
Began: Back in August or thereabouts of 2012, with Penny's curiosity over what would've happened if Luke had been unable to locate Tara on Gogam and save her, and by extension, Nuridarr, from the planet. Initially, I was a spectator, interested in the idea for itself and the effect it would have on Sarris. I didn't really become involved until the characters got their revenge for Penny and I wondering if Jaydn might've been an antagonist all along that we'd been trying to make into a protagonist. The question came up of how Jade might've turned out different had she been raised up with good, strong morals while still on Gogam. If that hard setting that she was born for was where she needed to be in order to be instilled with a good heart. The idea caught on quickly, and thus it began.
General Summary:
Tara's transponder is damaged during her initial days on Gogam, so instead of being rescued by Luke, she and Nuridarr are forced to remain on the planet, living on the run from his tribe who've branded him a traitor. She has gives up hope of ever getting off Gogam quickly and they just survive for a year or so. They're negotiating for supplies with an tribe that's an enemy with Nuridarr's old tribe when the tribe is attacked. In the chaos, Tara rescues a three-year-old baby girl named Jaydn after her motherr is killed. (Please don't feel bad, her parents were a far cry from what parents should be.)
For a small amount of time, the plan is to drop her off with another tribe, but Tara falls in love pretty quickly and while Nur was initially opposed to the idea of keeping her, he gets attached as well and they adopt Jaydn as their own.
Over the course of the following six years which are spent constantly moving, fighting to survive against both the planet and other Gogamians, Jade is brought up included in every process, being given her own duties and responsibilities, and she's taught that they all protect each other. Not every man for himself, as the rest of Gogam does.
While Tara gave up on leaving, Jaydn's addition to their family gave Nuridarr a newfound motivation to get Tara and Jade off of Gogam and to a better life out in the rest of Zephron. And he does, joining a pirate gang in order to get them passage on a ship headed off Gogam.
Jade is nine years old when the time to leave comes, and they realize that Tara is pregnant either while on the ship, or shortly after they escape into the rest of the galaxy.
While all this has been happening on Gogam, Sarris has spent the six years searching the galaxy for Tara, not even having a place to start, but refusing to quit until she finds Tara, living or dead. Novarr, only an acquaintance at this point, keeps in touch with her and does some of his own searching, while Luke, unable to get to Tara on Gogam, breaks off his efforts early on to continue looking for their missing family.
After this point, events get fairly fuzzy, as Penny and I haven't even talk-gamed their leaving. But Raina and Jhidek are both born within a couple of years of their getting of Gogam and Jade settles into her role as Imo's (Daddy's) wing mate and big sister with
ease, much to our relief.
Merri follows seven years after Jhidek, when Jade is seventeen, Raina eight, and Jay seven.
In the deviant, their focus as hunters is trained much more on the Gogamians who leave their home planet to terrorize the rest of Zephron and either turning them back or finishing them off. The effect on them as a family is a much more trained, orderly, and possibly an even tighter and closer dynamic than the original. They protect each other and carry out their missions together once Raina and Jhidek get older. (Not sure how they worked the Merri angle when she showed up later.)
Meanwhile, Sarris and Novarr slowly drifted toward each other, Tara's return to their worlds drawing them back together. He's there to help support Sarris as she deals with the guilt she feels over not finding Tara sooner, but eventually it turns to something more.
Ruusan does not go forgotten either. Sarris helped rescue her from a hostage situation on Sinjaro Kahn when Ruusan was ten and on her way back to Norsha'ac following a failed adoption attempt. Always a decisive thinker, Sarris decided that she didn't want to let Ruu go back to the orphanage and worked with the social service system on Kahn to legally adopt her. I'm not sure what her relationship status was with Novarr at the time, but they might've been on the edge of getting married when Sarris picked up Ruu and that was the turning point.
For a few years, the Vhander and Schaefe households would get together, so Ruusan wasn't strangers with Raina, Jhidek, and Merri, but when they got older, the visits dropped off some, possibly because the Vhanders, now with the kids of a safer age to aid in the fight, got busier with missions. Not positive on that account either.
Ruusan headed to med-school on Sinjaro Kahn from Uhric at eighteen, taking a more intensive course and finishing in four and a half years to return to Uhric where her parents and Jensen lived.
(Sarris became a Grandmaster while Tara was gone, which equates to a general or some such, and Jensen is a Ronin [equivalent = colonel] who works as her aide and was with her when she helped to rescue Ruusan. He started as a trusted aide and friend and was basically adopted into the family after a couple of years. Ruu sees him as an older brother and close confidante.)
The unintended silence between the two families came to a rather abrupt end when Jhidek, injured in an explosion while he and Raina were on a mission, dropped in, quite literally, to Ruusan's apartment. Things were touch-and-go, but she saved his life and
things just take off from there. I won't bore you with those details, but suffice it to say, after a couple of spontaneous visits, a close encounter with the bad sort of Gogamian for Ruu, a few months of silence to protect her on Jay's part, a tought fight that ended with a "missing, perhaps dead" news report on the Vhanders, and a conniving Tara, Ruusan and Jhidek worked out what they both wanted. Not without a bit of drama, of course, but they were married just under a month later.
And the rest of the story, as they say, has yet to be told.
And that's all of it! For the moment, at least. The only really "finished" storyline is the Steampunk storyline. The other two kind of go through stop-again-go-again expanding. Currently, Penny and I are caught up in the Deviant again, although we're at the tail end,
instead of the beginning.
To clarify that, we're talk-gaming at two points in the storyline. The first point is with Nuridarr, Tara, and Jaydn on Gogam and Jade is currently seven. The second point is twenty-five-some years down the road, with Ruusan and Jhidek, although I don't think we
truly intended to pick it up as agressively as we have. (It's only mostly my fault; I was curious if Ruu and Jay would work out in the Deviant as they did in the Original.)
Once again, please feel entirely free to either leave a comment here with questions or on my OYAN profile, where I can be found as PenWielder62. These storylines are ones that Penny and I have invested a lot of time and thought into, and they're actually quite
important to me, so I would greatly enjoy helping you clear up whatever it is that I've confused you with.
And thank you so much, as always, for reading. Knowing that there are people who actually enjoy what I write means a great deal to me.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
There is the Original Storyline, the Steampunk Storyline, and the most recent Deviant Storyline. I've give brief intros to how they each began before each summary.
Also, there is a great chance these will be really confusing to you guys and I'm incredibly sorry for it, but there were just a million things that went on during all that time, so please just leave a comment if you need clarification on something and I'll get back to you with something more understandable as soon as possible.
...And let me warn you that my "summaries", as you will soon see, might as well be novels. I am no good at summarizing, although, in my defense, I am summarizing 20+ years worth of multiple character's lives. At least for the Original Storyline.
One more thing to note: both the Original and Deviant storylines take place in the Zephron Galaxy, which includes several planets, among them Sinjaro Kahn, Uhric, Norsha'ac, Gogam, Karon, Tigersoon, Tiloon, and Klowdarr.
Original Storyline:
Began: Oh, heavens, years ago. Penny and I started talk-gaming (character developing? What do regular writers call that?) with a taciturn Uhrician Elite Force Warrior and a green-eyed intruder who are about as night and day as Penny and I are. I think Sarris and Tara are kind of a testament to our own friendship, in how highly unlikely it is and yet it still happened.
General Summary: Sarris Nadir (Gogamian, UEF Warrior) and Tara Benson (Norsha'acite, bounty hunter) met under rather unlikely circumstances and became dysfunctional friends, though Sarris didn't admit to it for years. Literally, years.
Tara met Nuridarr Vhander during a brief, accidental stint on Gogam, which he helped her get through alive and in one piece and then they both were rescued from the planet by Tara's brother, Luke Benson (bounty hunter as well). Immediately after, Tara, Nuridarr, and Luke took a sudden leave of absence from the galaxy for two years, during which time Sarris an acquaintance through Tara by the name of Novarr Schaefe. (My apologies for similarities between Novarr and Nuridarr's names. Mostly accidental, and you never get them mixed up once you know them.)
After that, Tara and Luke find three of their younger siblings. Their entire family has been missing for several years, and they do find them somewhere between finding Ron, Andro, and Mara and Luke 'dying'. Except he didn't actually die. (Don't ask me, not my characters, and I can't recall anyways.) Following Luke's death by a couple of months, Tara married Nuridarr. Sarris and Novarr are just... living during this time. Not a lot is going on for them.
Tara and Nur's first daughter, Raina, was born a handful of months later, followed closely by Sarris and Novarr's adopted, newborn daughter, Ruusan. And Jhidek/Jay (Tara and Nur's son) came along a bit after that. (Don't worry, that was the end of the baby boom for seven years.) Sarris, a Ronin in the Uhrician Elite Force's ranking system, went into "the reserves", in a way, during all this that way she could be at home to look after Ruusan.
There was another kind of blank seven years, where life just went on and the Vhanders and Schaefe's raised their respective children/child. Jaydn and Merri were adopted/born about the same time. Jaydn was five when Novarr whisked her away from an inevitably bad situation after her parents died/were killed. (The details are still kind of sketchy at that part.) In the following eight years, there were a passel more Vhander children, while the Schaefe household remained safely at two. The two families are far from strangers, to the point where the parents are all "aunties" and "uncles" to each other's offspring.
Jaydn follows in Novarr's footsteps, taking up bounty hunting and eventually turning into something of a loner, which is her downfall in the end. Ruusan, after being lost for a time, decides to become an Emergency Response Transport Paramedic, which means that she's in the ambulance, at the scene of the crash. She attends medical school and takes up a job as an ERTP on Sinjaro Kahn, where her parents live. It's in the hospital that she meets Cameron Armstrong, a fairly average guy who is dying from a non-contagious, but uncurable, disease. When he asks her to marry him, she does.
Cameron's death ten months later coincides with the birth of their daughter, Vivian. Two months pass, and Sarris works with Tara and Nuridarr to find an apartment near the Vhander home on Norsha'ac for Ruusan and Vivian. Staying on Kahn is only a constant reminder of Cameron for Ruu, and the vote is unaninmous that she needs some time away.
Over the course of two years and through a series of author-caused events to cause a little heart-pounding anxiety and to strengthen bonds, Ruusan falls in love with childhood friend and never-before-romantic-interest, Jhidek. And he falls in love with Vivi, and Ruu too. (What? Vivian's an angel. Anybody would fall in love with her first.)
So they get married, and Ellora, the first Ruu/Jay bundle of adorableness, is born fifteen months later. Jaydn dies from her injuries after her ship is shot down by space pirates, much to the trauma of her family.
Here, I shall end. (Though there is a lot of unaccounted drama, let me assure you.)
Steampunk Storyline:
Began: Sometime in early 2012, Penny and I had been curious as to how Jaydn and Nuridarr would get along, as they've both got the same blood running through their veins and all. We couldn't come up with plausible trouble for them to get into in the original storyline, so we picked them up and moved them to Penny's steampunk world (a city named Sanbourne) which she has with a friend of hers, Katana. It really only served to show Jade's true colors.
General Summary: Nuridarr, now Nathaniel, and Jaydn, shortened to Jade, meet when she's ten-ish and he's eighteen-ish and she's an orphan and he's thrown himself out of his Gogamian crime....syndicate/gang/tribe/thing. Ten years later, and the two of them have, quite successfully, made their living on bounty hunting. Life is good, Jade is happy, and I kind of want her radio that she's got.
Insert Natasha Bennet, a rather fiery woman they nab, who ends up biting Nathan ("Shikhan, should you take something for rabies?" "I've had worse.") before they take her to meet the person who hired them to find her. It turns out to be a Gogamian that Nathaniel knew back when he was still with them. Also a man that Nathan isn't going to hand Tasha over to, so he sends Jade and Tasha off while he faces their client and his goons.
To summarize the rest, because this was an incredibly difficult storyline to write and it's hard to capture everything that happens, Nathaniel falls in love with Tasha, and it doesn't go over well with Jade. She moves out, starts working on her own, and goes to great pains to avoid seeing Tasha.
A lot of things occur in the next year or two.
Jade locates Tasha's missing family with the help of her contact, Charles, and an ex-assassin-turned-bounty-hunter named Jase Drouais gets mixed up in everything through a former connection to the kidnapper and the disappearance of his brother, Markham. Unfortunately, Jade gets laid up with an injured leg and is out of commission for the actual rescue.
Later, there is the appearance of a government official bent on killing all lowlifes. He's sees them as a taint upon the clean-blooded people of higher society in Sanbourne. Jade, Nathan, and his daughter with Tasha, are on the hit-list due to their heritage. After a really close call which Jase, the ex-assassin who she now works with, saves her from, they go to make sure that Nathan, Tasha, and Raina are safe and the three of them end up leaving town. Jade, Jase, and Tasha's brother, Lucas (Luke, originally) work together to try and locate, then bring down, the government official, Horace Scott. It is thought for a time that Nathan, Tasha, and Raina perish in a train wreck, which makes life difficult, to say the least.
After that, Penny and I never actually finished talk-gaming it. And I know it sounds like Jade's perfectly balanced through all those events, but she really isn't, and after it turns out that Nathan, Tasha, and Raina are alive, she skips town for four years, staying away as long as she needs to so she can screw her head on straight again. A lot happens to her while she's gone, including a couple of near-death experiences, a semi-relationship with a guy named Sato, and a friendship with a woman named Kensey during her last year
who ends up dying from sickness. After that, she goes back to Sanbourne to see if she'll be welcomed back after practically abandoning the people there that cared about her. And while things were far from what they'd been years prior, Nathan and Tara were willing to let her back into their lives to start rebuilding what she'd crumbled.
Deviant Storyline:
Began: Back in August or thereabouts of 2012, with Penny's curiosity over what would've happened if Luke had been unable to locate Tara on Gogam and save her, and by extension, Nuridarr, from the planet. Initially, I was a spectator, interested in the idea for itself and the effect it would have on Sarris. I didn't really become involved until the characters got their revenge for Penny and I wondering if Jaydn might've been an antagonist all along that we'd been trying to make into a protagonist. The question came up of how Jade might've turned out different had she been raised up with good, strong morals while still on Gogam. If that hard setting that she was born for was where she needed to be in order to be instilled with a good heart. The idea caught on quickly, and thus it began.
General Summary:
Tara's transponder is damaged during her initial days on Gogam, so instead of being rescued by Luke, she and Nuridarr are forced to remain on the planet, living on the run from his tribe who've branded him a traitor. She has gives up hope of ever getting off Gogam quickly and they just survive for a year or so. They're negotiating for supplies with an tribe that's an enemy with Nuridarr's old tribe when the tribe is attacked. In the chaos, Tara rescues a three-year-old baby girl named Jaydn after her motherr is killed. (Please don't feel bad, her parents were a far cry from what parents should be.)
For a small amount of time, the plan is to drop her off with another tribe, but Tara falls in love pretty quickly and while Nur was initially opposed to the idea of keeping her, he gets attached as well and they adopt Jaydn as their own.
Over the course of the following six years which are spent constantly moving, fighting to survive against both the planet and other Gogamians, Jade is brought up included in every process, being given her own duties and responsibilities, and she's taught that they all protect each other. Not every man for himself, as the rest of Gogam does.
While Tara gave up on leaving, Jaydn's addition to their family gave Nuridarr a newfound motivation to get Tara and Jade off of Gogam and to a better life out in the rest of Zephron. And he does, joining a pirate gang in order to get them passage on a ship headed off Gogam.
Jade is nine years old when the time to leave comes, and they realize that Tara is pregnant either while on the ship, or shortly after they escape into the rest of the galaxy.
While all this has been happening on Gogam, Sarris has spent the six years searching the galaxy for Tara, not even having a place to start, but refusing to quit until she finds Tara, living or dead. Novarr, only an acquaintance at this point, keeps in touch with her and does some of his own searching, while Luke, unable to get to Tara on Gogam, breaks off his efforts early on to continue looking for their missing family.
After this point, events get fairly fuzzy, as Penny and I haven't even talk-gamed their leaving. But Raina and Jhidek are both born within a couple of years of their getting of Gogam and Jade settles into her role as Imo's (Daddy's) wing mate and big sister with
ease, much to our relief.
Merri follows seven years after Jhidek, when Jade is seventeen, Raina eight, and Jay seven.
In the deviant, their focus as hunters is trained much more on the Gogamians who leave their home planet to terrorize the rest of Zephron and either turning them back or finishing them off. The effect on them as a family is a much more trained, orderly, and possibly an even tighter and closer dynamic than the original. They protect each other and carry out their missions together once Raina and Jhidek get older. (Not sure how they worked the Merri angle when she showed up later.)
Meanwhile, Sarris and Novarr slowly drifted toward each other, Tara's return to their worlds drawing them back together. He's there to help support Sarris as she deals with the guilt she feels over not finding Tara sooner, but eventually it turns to something more.
Ruusan does not go forgotten either. Sarris helped rescue her from a hostage situation on Sinjaro Kahn when Ruusan was ten and on her way back to Norsha'ac following a failed adoption attempt. Always a decisive thinker, Sarris decided that she didn't want to let Ruu go back to the orphanage and worked with the social service system on Kahn to legally adopt her. I'm not sure what her relationship status was with Novarr at the time, but they might've been on the edge of getting married when Sarris picked up Ruu and that was the turning point.
For a few years, the Vhander and Schaefe households would get together, so Ruusan wasn't strangers with Raina, Jhidek, and Merri, but when they got older, the visits dropped off some, possibly because the Vhanders, now with the kids of a safer age to aid in the fight, got busier with missions. Not positive on that account either.
Ruusan headed to med-school on Sinjaro Kahn from Uhric at eighteen, taking a more intensive course and finishing in four and a half years to return to Uhric where her parents and Jensen lived.
(Sarris became a Grandmaster while Tara was gone, which equates to a general or some such, and Jensen is a Ronin [equivalent = colonel] who works as her aide and was with her when she helped to rescue Ruusan. He started as a trusted aide and friend and was basically adopted into the family after a couple of years. Ruu sees him as an older brother and close confidante.)
The unintended silence between the two families came to a rather abrupt end when Jhidek, injured in an explosion while he and Raina were on a mission, dropped in, quite literally, to Ruusan's apartment. Things were touch-and-go, but she saved his life and
things just take off from there. I won't bore you with those details, but suffice it to say, after a couple of spontaneous visits, a close encounter with the bad sort of Gogamian for Ruu, a few months of silence to protect her on Jay's part, a tought fight that ended with a "missing, perhaps dead" news report on the Vhanders, and a conniving Tara, Ruusan and Jhidek worked out what they both wanted. Not without a bit of drama, of course, but they were married just under a month later.
And the rest of the story, as they say, has yet to be told.
And that's all of it! For the moment, at least. The only really "finished" storyline is the Steampunk storyline. The other two kind of go through stop-again-go-again expanding. Currently, Penny and I are caught up in the Deviant again, although we're at the tail end,
instead of the beginning.
To clarify that, we're talk-gaming at two points in the storyline. The first point is with Nuridarr, Tara, and Jaydn on Gogam and Jade is currently seven. The second point is twenty-five-some years down the road, with Ruusan and Jhidek, although I don't think we
truly intended to pick it up as agressively as we have. (It's only mostly my fault; I was curious if Ruu and Jay would work out in the Deviant as they did in the Original.)
Once again, please feel entirely free to either leave a comment here with questions or on my OYAN profile, where I can be found as PenWielder62. These storylines are ones that Penny and I have invested a lot of time and thought into, and they're actually quite
important to me, so I would greatly enjoy helping you clear up whatever it is that I've confused you with.
And thank you so much, as always, for reading. Knowing that there are people who actually enjoy what I write means a great deal to me.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Writing: Aftermath
...to Jaydn's death.
I'm making up for my lack of posting, see? Two posts. Maybe three, if I can hang onto consciousness long enough to work on the next thing I've got in mind.
These are just my scrawls for the aftermath of Jade's death. Truth be told, while I didn't shed a tear writing the actual death scene, I cried writing these. (I suppose the time at which I wrote it might've been part of that. It was either really later, or really early. One of the two. Somewhere between 12 AM and 2 AM, how about that?)
Other notes to keep in mind:
-- Charro ki sotan -- Gogamian, an apology.
-- Charro shik -- Gogamian, I love you.
Jay equates to Jhidek Vhander, Ruu's (epic) hubby who she loves to bits.
Charles is Jade's contact who is amazing and originally from the steampunk alternate reality.
Novarr held Sarris by the shoulders, his voice shaking as he told her, “Don’t blame yourself for this, Sar. You can’t blame yourself for this.”
She shook her head, grabbing his forearms, but the Warrior couldn’t force his hands away. She drew in shuddering breaths as she continued to shake her head, over and over and over, unable to stop, because this could not be happening.
Dear God, don’t do this to me, Sarris begged silently as Novarr pulled her close, dropping his head to her shoulder.
Ruu’s grip tightened on the comm. and her voice was so very quiet. “You’re lying to me.”
“I’m sorry, Ruu. I’m sorry. I wish I were, but I’m not.” Novarr said to her, sounding as unstable as her heart was beginning to feel.
“No, Dad, you have to be lying to me. Jade can’t be—be—“ She couldn’t finish, couldn’t think of her little sister – her precious little sister – and imagine never being able to see her brown eyes again. “Please, Daddy, don’t tell me this,” Ruu pleaded, her voice catching in her throat as the first tear slid down her cheek. “Please, Daddy.”
“I’m sorry, Ruu. I’m sorry.”
She crossed her free arm over her stomach, a sob breaking from her throat. “How, Daddy? Who took her away from us?”
It took a moment for him to answer, voice rough as well and Ruusan tried to remember if she’d ever seen her father cry. “Her ship was shot down by space pirates, Ruu. Charles tracked her down a couple of days ago.”
“Was anyone there? Please tell me she wasn’t alone, at the very least, Daddy.” Where was Jay?
“She wasn’t. A local found her before she— before she was gone,” the Hunter explained to his remaining daughter, fighting the urge to breakdown again. “He said... he said that she had things she wanted to tell us through him.”
Ruu clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs, desperate for someone to hold her, but Jay had gone to his parents for a bit to talk with Raina and his dad.
“She said she loved us, Ruu. All of us. And that—“ he halted to try and regain his composure. “Charro ki sotan and charro shik. He said those were her last words to us, Ruu.”
The woman nodded, unable to speak, unable to get the words from her closed throat, because Jaydn was gone. Jaydn was dead.
Neither Sarris nor Novarr slept that night. Her grief came in the tears that traced her face, not a noise passing from her lips, but Novarr’s chest heaved for air as he cried for his lost daughter.
The apartment was so black that night, so empty and lonely and Novarr clung to Sarris, clung to his wife, because he didn’t know how to handle this.
He couldn’t handle this. His Jaydn, his baby girl who held his hand so very tightly that first day even though she hadn’t known a lick of Galactic. So he clung to Sarris and tried not to think, tried not to realize she was gone forever.
And since that all looks like such a puny amount, I'm going to go find my initial scrawl for when Novarr brought Jaydn home in the very beginning, when she's five and Ruu is seven, I believe.
Additional notes:
-- Ey, Ji -- Gogamian, yes and no.
Galactic equates to English.
And Novarr is a bounty hunter. Have I mentioned that before?
“Sar, you around?” Novarr called, leading Jaydn into the apartment by the hand.
The five-year old studied her new surroundings with quiet interest, and looked up at him with a bit of question in her gaze.
“Hang on a sec,” he said, ruffling her hair and heading farther into the space.
Jaydn trailed along at his heels as Sarris appeared with a basket of clothes on her hip and Ruusan hanging onto her arm, in the midst of asking something.
His wife and daughter both paused at his small shadow.
“Say, Sar, how much of your Gogamian can you recall?” Novarr asked with a congenial grin.
“...Why?” She said, setting her basket on the ground, gray eyes on Jaydn.
“Because this little lady doesn’t seem to speak a lick of Galactic,” the man explained, guiding the child forward with a hand on her head. “It was a very quiet trip home, to say the least.”
Sarris crouched down to Jaydn’s level, meeting the girl’s brown gaze with a calculating look. It was a moment before she spoke, and Novarr didn’t understand a word of what she said.
But Jaydn seemed to perk up and she replied to whatever Sarris had said with a simple, “Ji.”
Sar glanced up at him. “Where are her parents?”
“Dead.” He said, settling down on the floor as well. “Gogamian pirate ship, and she was the only one left after all was said and done. I wasn’t sure what they were going to do with her, so I decided to take responsibility.”
His wife nodded and returned her attention to Jaydn. The five-year-old voiced what seemed to be a question.
Sarris glanced over her shoulder at Ruusan, whose blue eyes portrayed her confusion with the situation.
Novarr smiled at his daughter and held out an arm for her while Sarris answered Jaydn’s inquiry.
“What’s she saying?” Ruu asked, hugging his waist.
“She wants to know if you’re our daughter, because your eyes are so bright and your hair is so curly,” Sarris said, without looking away from Jaydn.
Novarr reached out to tap the child on the shoulder, bringing her gaze around. He pointed to his chest and said, “Novarr.”
Accustomed to this game, Jaydn pointed to herself and dutifully repeated, “Jaydn.”
He tapped Ruu’s nose. “Ruusan.”
Jaydn blinked. “Ruusan?”
“Ey,” Sarris broke in, then continued with a sentence that included Ruusan’s name and her own.
“Sar, you need to ask her if she wants to be part of our family,” Novarr murmured after a few minutes of interchange in Gogamian between Sarris and Jaydn.
Gray eyes flicked to him, and he caught the hopeful light in her eyes as she nodded.
Jaydn waited patiently for them to finish talking, looking around the apartment with now-undisguised curiosity.
...You have no idea how many little red lines I've got in this bit, as Sar, Novarr, Ruusan, and Jaydn, are all not included in the dictionary and thus get marked as spelled wrong.
At any rate, that shall be all for this post.
I hope you maybe enjoyed it, despite the initial depressing stuff and then the subsequent heavy-weighting of Jaydn's death, and thank you, as always, for reading. You have no idea how much it means to me to know that somebody actually enjoys reading the little scribbles I come up with.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
I'm making up for my lack of posting, see? Two posts. Maybe three, if I can hang onto consciousness long enough to work on the next thing I've got in mind.
These are just my scrawls for the aftermath of Jade's death. Truth be told, while I didn't shed a tear writing the actual death scene, I cried writing these. (I suppose the time at which I wrote it might've been part of that. It was either really later, or really early. One of the two. Somewhere between 12 AM and 2 AM, how about that?)
Other notes to keep in mind:
-- Charro ki sotan -- Gogamian, an apology.
-- Charro shik -- Gogamian, I love you.
Jay equates to Jhidek Vhander, Ruu's (epic) hubby who she loves to bits.
Charles is Jade's contact who is amazing and originally from the steampunk alternate reality.
Novarr held Sarris by the shoulders, his voice shaking as he told her, “Don’t blame yourself for this, Sar. You can’t blame yourself for this.”
She shook her head, grabbing his forearms, but the Warrior couldn’t force his hands away. She drew in shuddering breaths as she continued to shake her head, over and over and over, unable to stop, because this could not be happening.
Dear God, don’t do this to me, Sarris begged silently as Novarr pulled her close, dropping his head to her shoulder.
Ruu’s grip tightened on the comm. and her voice was so very quiet. “You’re lying to me.”
“I’m sorry, Ruu. I’m sorry. I wish I were, but I’m not.” Novarr said to her, sounding as unstable as her heart was beginning to feel.
“No, Dad, you have to be lying to me. Jade can’t be—be—“ She couldn’t finish, couldn’t think of her little sister – her precious little sister – and imagine never being able to see her brown eyes again. “Please, Daddy, don’t tell me this,” Ruu pleaded, her voice catching in her throat as the first tear slid down her cheek. “Please, Daddy.”
“I’m sorry, Ruu. I’m sorry.”
She crossed her free arm over her stomach, a sob breaking from her throat. “How, Daddy? Who took her away from us?”
It took a moment for him to answer, voice rough as well and Ruusan tried to remember if she’d ever seen her father cry. “Her ship was shot down by space pirates, Ruu. Charles tracked her down a couple of days ago.”
“Was anyone there? Please tell me she wasn’t alone, at the very least, Daddy.” Where was Jay?
“She wasn’t. A local found her before she— before she was gone,” the Hunter explained to his remaining daughter, fighting the urge to breakdown again. “He said... he said that she had things she wanted to tell us through him.”
Ruu clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs, desperate for someone to hold her, but Jay had gone to his parents for a bit to talk with Raina and his dad.
“She said she loved us, Ruu. All of us. And that—“ he halted to try and regain his composure. “Charro ki sotan and charro shik. He said those were her last words to us, Ruu.”
The woman nodded, unable to speak, unable to get the words from her closed throat, because Jaydn was gone. Jaydn was dead.
Neither Sarris nor Novarr slept that night. Her grief came in the tears that traced her face, not a noise passing from her lips, but Novarr’s chest heaved for air as he cried for his lost daughter.
The apartment was so black that night, so empty and lonely and Novarr clung to Sarris, clung to his wife, because he didn’t know how to handle this.
He couldn’t handle this. His Jaydn, his baby girl who held his hand so very tightly that first day even though she hadn’t known a lick of Galactic. So he clung to Sarris and tried not to think, tried not to realize she was gone forever.
And since that all looks like such a puny amount, I'm going to go find my initial scrawl for when Novarr brought Jaydn home in the very beginning, when she's five and Ruu is seven, I believe.
Additional notes:
-- Ey, Ji -- Gogamian, yes and no.
Galactic equates to English.
And Novarr is a bounty hunter. Have I mentioned that before?
“Sar, you around?” Novarr called, leading Jaydn into the apartment by the hand.
The five-year old studied her new surroundings with quiet interest, and looked up at him with a bit of question in her gaze.
“Hang on a sec,” he said, ruffling her hair and heading farther into the space.
Jaydn trailed along at his heels as Sarris appeared with a basket of clothes on her hip and Ruusan hanging onto her arm, in the midst of asking something.
His wife and daughter both paused at his small shadow.
“Say, Sar, how much of your Gogamian can you recall?” Novarr asked with a congenial grin.
“...Why?” She said, setting her basket on the ground, gray eyes on Jaydn.
“Because this little lady doesn’t seem to speak a lick of Galactic,” the man explained, guiding the child forward with a hand on her head. “It was a very quiet trip home, to say the least.”
Sarris crouched down to Jaydn’s level, meeting the girl’s brown gaze with a calculating look. It was a moment before she spoke, and Novarr didn’t understand a word of what she said.
But Jaydn seemed to perk up and she replied to whatever Sarris had said with a simple, “Ji.”
Sar glanced up at him. “Where are her parents?”
“Dead.” He said, settling down on the floor as well. “Gogamian pirate ship, and she was the only one left after all was said and done. I wasn’t sure what they were going to do with her, so I decided to take responsibility.”
His wife nodded and returned her attention to Jaydn. The five-year-old voiced what seemed to be a question.
Sarris glanced over her shoulder at Ruusan, whose blue eyes portrayed her confusion with the situation.
Novarr smiled at his daughter and held out an arm for her while Sarris answered Jaydn’s inquiry.
“What’s she saying?” Ruu asked, hugging his waist.
“She wants to know if you’re our daughter, because your eyes are so bright and your hair is so curly,” Sarris said, without looking away from Jaydn.
Novarr reached out to tap the child on the shoulder, bringing her gaze around. He pointed to his chest and said, “Novarr.”
Accustomed to this game, Jaydn pointed to herself and dutifully repeated, “Jaydn.”
He tapped Ruu’s nose. “Ruusan.”
Jaydn blinked. “Ruusan?”
“Ey,” Sarris broke in, then continued with a sentence that included Ruusan’s name and her own.
“Sar, you need to ask her if she wants to be part of our family,” Novarr murmured after a few minutes of interchange in Gogamian between Sarris and Jaydn.
Gray eyes flicked to him, and he caught the hopeful light in her eyes as she nodded.
Jaydn waited patiently for them to finish talking, looking around the apartment with now-undisguised curiosity.
...You have no idea how many little red lines I've got in this bit, as Sar, Novarr, Ruusan, and Jaydn, are all not included in the dictionary and thus get marked as spelled wrong.
At any rate, that shall be all for this post.
I hope you maybe enjoyed it, despite the initial depressing stuff and then the subsequent heavy-weighting of Jaydn's death, and thank you, as always, for reading. You have no idea how much it means to me to know that somebody actually enjoys reading the little scribbles I come up with.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
Writing: "The End" (Jaydn's Death)
Man, its been a while, again. Which I apologize for, profusely.
Life has been life, I have been me, and writing had been predominantly with my bestie, Penny. We've been working on that deviant storyline I mentioned... a long time ago. If I've mentioned it at all. I can't actually remember right now.
In light of that, I've decided to post a bit I wrote for Jaydn, Ruusan's sister and my most troubling character, in the original storyline, where she is... not who I wish she'd turned out to be.
Things may be a bit jumbled, as I haven't posted anything with Jaydn prior to now, but, to be blunt, this scrawl is the one I wrote the night I decided that Jade would die. I know that it's kind of heartless to put it that way, but it wasn't looking like Jade was ever going to change her way. While her actions weren't exactly bad, they still hurt, both herself and her family.
(After this, I think I'm going to write out a summary-ish something for the three different storylines involving Penny and I's characters, to help you keep them straight as I inevitably post a some stuff that I've had tucked into my back pocket.)
Jaydn is Gogamian, which is the language that she speaks throughout the scrawl. I shall provide a translation, so you can understand her last words:
-- Shak -- A curse, which she shouldn't be saying, but does anyways.
-- Charro ki sotan -- A very sincere apology
-- Charro shik -- I love you.
(There's a reason they both start with charro, but I'm too lazy to go look up the document explaining it all.)
Alright, I won't keep you any longer.
“I’ll be back sometime soon,” Jaydn promised, on the doorstep of Ruusan and Jhidek’s apartment, bag over her shoulder.
Vivian clung to her legs stubbornly, but Ruu smiled, Ellora in the sling on her front.
“You’d better be back, Jade, or you will be in serious trouble,” her elder sister warned, dragging her into a hug.
“Yes, Ruu,” she said obediently, embracing her sister in return.
“I love you, Jaydn. Be safe, alright? I want to see you back in one piece.” Ruu’s voice was serious next to her ear, but it drew a partial smile from Jaydn.
“Love you too, sis,” she murmured, drawing away and ruffling her niece’s hair in parting.
~~*~~
Jaydn leaned back in the seat, holding the comm. to her ear as she watched stars slip by out the viewport. “Don’t worry, Dad, I’m going to be back in town by next week, then we can do something. Dinner, maybe.”
“You know I worry about you?” Novarr questioned over the link.
An amused smile tugged at her mouth. “Yes, but you really don’t need to. I’m fine, truly.”
His sigh was lengthy. “You said that the day you nearly died, Jaydn.”
Jade’s good humor fled in a heartbeat, and she didn’t say anything in reply, struggling with the pain that rose up in her chest.
“We want to see you in a week, Jade, and no later or I’ll have your mother send out all her little minions to find you and so we can bring you back.”
“Mom doesn’t have minions, Dad,” Jaydn reminded quietly, pushing her fingers into her pant pockets.
“You know what I mean.”
If she could have seen him, she knew he would’ve been shrugging in that offhand way he always did.
“I love you, Jade. You my favorite Jaydn in the whole galaxy.”
“I’m the only Jaydn you’ve got, so I hope I’m your favorite,” Jade said, unable to resist the urge to poke some halfhearted humor back at him.
“Exactly,” Novarr murmured. “The only one I’ve got, so be careful and give your mom a call. She worries a lot about you.”
“I’ve got it, Dad.”
It was only after he bid her farewell and she closed the link between them that she realized she’d forgotten to tell him I love you in return. Well, she could do it when she got home. Filing that memo away, she keyed in Charles' comm. number to find out where they were meeting the next day.
~~*~~
The only thing Jaydn could process when she regained consciousness was that pain was burning, tearing, and ripping its way through her. It was like fire in her veins and she couldn’t keep from screaming. Over and over, until she had no breath left in her lungs to continue crying out.
Heat surrounded her, but when Jade tried to open her eyes to see why, she couldn’t, and she couldn’t move either.
It took one experimental twitch of her legs to realize why, and to make agony take over her mind again. She couldn’t feel her toes, but not because her legs were numb, but because there was nothing to feel from her knees downward.
Jaydn drew in a ragged breath, reaching out, scrabbling for something to try and pull herself upright. Pain was overwhelming her to the point of being unable to function though and she collapsed back onto the metal floor beneath her.
Coherency drifted and Jade didn’t see the way blood pooled beneath her body from her severed legs, its edges spreading by the moment.
“—otta wake up!!” A voice yelled above her.
Jaydn cracked her eyes open, almost unable to do so because of a stinging sensation that she couldn’t pinpoint the reason for. Why am I so cold?
A hazy, blurry face hovered overhead, with a shock of blond hair and blue eyes that made her think of Ruu.
I’m not seeing her again, am I?
“My dad’s coming,” the boy said, his words too loud for her taste. “He’ll know what to do. You’re gonna be okay.”
Shak, I forget to tell Dad I loved him when we talked...and I never called Mom like I said I would...
“Hey, are you awake? You need to try and stay conscious, okay?”
Charles is going to be waiting at the rendezvous point...
“Oi, don’t close your eyes,” he said urgently, and Jaydn felt a light touch on her forehead.
“I need...” she started but her voice wouldn’t come out.
Jade blinked her eyes open again, staring upwards, at the gray roof above her, swallowing to try and make the words come out. The boy was there, a frown on his fair face.
“I need...” and she heard the cracking words sound this time, and nearly closed her eyes again, in relief this time. “I need...”
“Hey, you shouldn’t talk. Everything’s gonna be okay, I promise.”
The woman would’ve shaken her head if it didn’t hurt so much. The coldness was spreading; she could feel it in her chest now, creeping closer and closer to her heart.
“You have to tell them...” Jaydn managed, every sound that left her tongue burning her throat. “You tell them that I love them.”
“Who?” He asked before he could stop himself. “Wait, no, you’re going to tell them yourself. You’re gonna be okay.”
A ghost of a smile pulled at her lips. Jade wondered if the moist feeling on them was blood. “I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” Blue eyes were fierce with determination. “You’re gonna go home to your family and you’re gonna be okay.”
“I’m bleeding out, buddy,” Jaydn said faintly, vision blurring again from the extended effort to focus. “I just want you... to tell them... that I love them.”
There was a long silence from above her, then an uneven voice said, “Okay. I’ll tell them, but only if you can’t.”
Sadness tugged at her consciousness and Jade lifted one arm, fingers outspread. At least, she thought they were. The coldness had long since penetrated her hands. “Hold my hand?” She requested, closing her eyes.
A hand wrapped around her, warm and rough and alive. “You’ve gotta be okay.”
Jaydn shook her head absently, holding tight to him, to that last bit of life. Pain had all but faded now. Physical pain, that was. Not the pain in her heart.
“Tell Ruu that I love her...” she whispered. “Tell Momma that I love her... Tell Daddy that...I love him...”
The words were coming out quieter, but Jade refused to let them fail her now.
“Charro ki sotan. Tell them... charro ki sotan... and... charro shik...”
The hand around hers tightened. “I’ve got it. I’ll tell them. I promise you, I will tell them. I won’t forget.”
“Thank you,” Jaydn said, and drew in a last breath, then the coldness reached her heart...
And made it stop beating.
With that pleasant note, let me inform you that, after Cameron dies, Ruu moves to Norsha'acite to get away from the memories and ends up falling in love with Jhidek Vhander a couple of years later. Ellora is their first daughter. And Charles is an awesome side character who works with Jaydn occasionally as her contact. He originated in the alternate Steampunk storyline that Penny and I did, but I love him so much that I drag him along to other realities.
Also, I'm going to double-check this, but if there are any glaring errors, please blame it on the fact that I wrote this out while sitting in a moving van on a highway in Korea. Tends to do funny things to your spelling quality.
I feel like I'm a roll, so don't be too surprised if there is a post or two stacked on top of this. I have some aftermath that I wrote that I'll probably put up.
Thank you so much for reading and putting up with my highly erratic posting schedule! And sorry for putting up this up right after Valentine's Day.
Actually, how was your Valentine's? Hopefully, it went really well and maybe you even got some chocolate. I got a bothersome stitch out of my mouth, a freebie flower at the commissary, and then went to the airport to meet our cousins' grandparents who had a layover here in Seoul.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
Life has been life, I have been me, and writing had been predominantly with my bestie, Penny. We've been working on that deviant storyline I mentioned... a long time ago. If I've mentioned it at all. I can't actually remember right now.
In light of that, I've decided to post a bit I wrote for Jaydn, Ruusan's sister and my most troubling character, in the original storyline, where she is... not who I wish she'd turned out to be.
Things may be a bit jumbled, as I haven't posted anything with Jaydn prior to now, but, to be blunt, this scrawl is the one I wrote the night I decided that Jade would die. I know that it's kind of heartless to put it that way, but it wasn't looking like Jade was ever going to change her way. While her actions weren't exactly bad, they still hurt, both herself and her family.
(After this, I think I'm going to write out a summary-ish something for the three different storylines involving Penny and I's characters, to help you keep them straight as I inevitably post a some stuff that I've had tucked into my back pocket.)
Jaydn is Gogamian, which is the language that she speaks throughout the scrawl. I shall provide a translation, so you can understand her last words:
-- Shak -- A curse, which she shouldn't be saying, but does anyways.
-- Charro ki sotan -- A very sincere apology
-- Charro shik -- I love you.
(There's a reason they both start with charro, but I'm too lazy to go look up the document explaining it all.)
Alright, I won't keep you any longer.
“I’ll be back sometime soon,” Jaydn promised, on the doorstep of Ruusan and Jhidek’s apartment, bag over her shoulder.
Vivian clung to her legs stubbornly, but Ruu smiled, Ellora in the sling on her front.
“You’d better be back, Jade, or you will be in serious trouble,” her elder sister warned, dragging her into a hug.
“Yes, Ruu,” she said obediently, embracing her sister in return.
“I love you, Jaydn. Be safe, alright? I want to see you back in one piece.” Ruu’s voice was serious next to her ear, but it drew a partial smile from Jaydn.
“Love you too, sis,” she murmured, drawing away and ruffling her niece’s hair in parting.
~~*~~
Jaydn leaned back in the seat, holding the comm. to her ear as she watched stars slip by out the viewport. “Don’t worry, Dad, I’m going to be back in town by next week, then we can do something. Dinner, maybe.”
“You know I worry about you?” Novarr questioned over the link.
An amused smile tugged at her mouth. “Yes, but you really don’t need to. I’m fine, truly.”
His sigh was lengthy. “You said that the day you nearly died, Jaydn.”
Jade’s good humor fled in a heartbeat, and she didn’t say anything in reply, struggling with the pain that rose up in her chest.
“We want to see you in a week, Jade, and no later or I’ll have your mother send out all her little minions to find you and so we can bring you back.”
“Mom doesn’t have minions, Dad,” Jaydn reminded quietly, pushing her fingers into her pant pockets.
“You know what I mean.”
If she could have seen him, she knew he would’ve been shrugging in that offhand way he always did.
“I love you, Jade. You my favorite Jaydn in the whole galaxy.”
“I’m the only Jaydn you’ve got, so I hope I’m your favorite,” Jade said, unable to resist the urge to poke some halfhearted humor back at him.
“Exactly,” Novarr murmured. “The only one I’ve got, so be careful and give your mom a call. She worries a lot about you.”
“I’ve got it, Dad.”
It was only after he bid her farewell and she closed the link between them that she realized she’d forgotten to tell him I love you in return. Well, she could do it when she got home. Filing that memo away, she keyed in Charles' comm. number to find out where they were meeting the next day.
~~*~~
The only thing Jaydn could process when she regained consciousness was that pain was burning, tearing, and ripping its way through her. It was like fire in her veins and she couldn’t keep from screaming. Over and over, until she had no breath left in her lungs to continue crying out.
Heat surrounded her, but when Jade tried to open her eyes to see why, she couldn’t, and she couldn’t move either.
It took one experimental twitch of her legs to realize why, and to make agony take over her mind again. She couldn’t feel her toes, but not because her legs were numb, but because there was nothing to feel from her knees downward.
Jaydn drew in a ragged breath, reaching out, scrabbling for something to try and pull herself upright. Pain was overwhelming her to the point of being unable to function though and she collapsed back onto the metal floor beneath her.
Coherency drifted and Jade didn’t see the way blood pooled beneath her body from her severed legs, its edges spreading by the moment.
“—otta wake up!!” A voice yelled above her.
Jaydn cracked her eyes open, almost unable to do so because of a stinging sensation that she couldn’t pinpoint the reason for. Why am I so cold?
A hazy, blurry face hovered overhead, with a shock of blond hair and blue eyes that made her think of Ruu.
I’m not seeing her again, am I?
“My dad’s coming,” the boy said, his words too loud for her taste. “He’ll know what to do. You’re gonna be okay.”
Shak, I forget to tell Dad I loved him when we talked...and I never called Mom like I said I would...
“Hey, are you awake? You need to try and stay conscious, okay?”
Charles is going to be waiting at the rendezvous point...
“Oi, don’t close your eyes,” he said urgently, and Jaydn felt a light touch on her forehead.
“I need...” she started but her voice wouldn’t come out.
Jade blinked her eyes open again, staring upwards, at the gray roof above her, swallowing to try and make the words come out. The boy was there, a frown on his fair face.
“I need...” and she heard the cracking words sound this time, and nearly closed her eyes again, in relief this time. “I need...”
“Hey, you shouldn’t talk. Everything’s gonna be okay, I promise.”
The woman would’ve shaken her head if it didn’t hurt so much. The coldness was spreading; she could feel it in her chest now, creeping closer and closer to her heart.
“You have to tell them...” Jaydn managed, every sound that left her tongue burning her throat. “You tell them that I love them.”
“Who?” He asked before he could stop himself. “Wait, no, you’re going to tell them yourself. You’re gonna be okay.”
A ghost of a smile pulled at her lips. Jade wondered if the moist feeling on them was blood. “I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” Blue eyes were fierce with determination. “You’re gonna go home to your family and you’re gonna be okay.”
“I’m bleeding out, buddy,” Jaydn said faintly, vision blurring again from the extended effort to focus. “I just want you... to tell them... that I love them.”
There was a long silence from above her, then an uneven voice said, “Okay. I’ll tell them, but only if you can’t.”
Sadness tugged at her consciousness and Jade lifted one arm, fingers outspread. At least, she thought they were. The coldness had long since penetrated her hands. “Hold my hand?” She requested, closing her eyes.
A hand wrapped around her, warm and rough and alive. “You’ve gotta be okay.”
Jaydn shook her head absently, holding tight to him, to that last bit of life. Pain had all but faded now. Physical pain, that was. Not the pain in her heart.
“Tell Ruu that I love her...” she whispered. “Tell Momma that I love her... Tell Daddy that...I love him...”
The words were coming out quieter, but Jade refused to let them fail her now.
“Charro ki sotan. Tell them... charro ki sotan... and... charro shik...”
The hand around hers tightened. “I’ve got it. I’ll tell them. I promise you, I will tell them. I won’t forget.”
“Thank you,” Jaydn said, and drew in a last breath, then the coldness reached her heart...
And made it stop beating.
With that pleasant note, let me inform you that, after Cameron dies, Ruu moves to Norsha'acite to get away from the memories and ends up falling in love with Jhidek Vhander a couple of years later. Ellora is their first daughter. And Charles is an awesome side character who works with Jaydn occasionally as her contact. He originated in the alternate Steampunk storyline that Penny and I did, but I love him so much that I drag him along to other realities.
Also, I'm going to double-check this, but if there are any glaring errors, please blame it on the fact that I wrote this out while sitting in a moving van on a highway in Korea. Tends to do funny things to your spelling quality.
I feel like I'm a roll, so don't be too surprised if there is a post or two stacked on top of this. I have some aftermath that I wrote that I'll probably put up.
Thank you so much for reading and putting up with my highly erratic posting schedule! And sorry for putting up this up right after Valentine's Day.
Actually, how was your Valentine's? Hopefully, it went really well and maybe you even got some chocolate. I got a bothersome stitch out of my mouth, a freebie flower at the commissary, and then went to the airport to meet our cousins' grandparents who had a layover here in Seoul.
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
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