Days of Exile: Chapter 17

It has been a while since I wrote chapter notes on my blog :D

So thanks to one of you, I had a sudden paranoia that you guys may note even understand what I'm writing all this time, so here's a quick story recap. If you guys need THIS to understand what just happened in the last 16 chapters, it's high time I do something. If you guys still don't know what it is about, then I should retire into seclusion...

Since the destruction of Zirconiade...

1. The exiled Turks are living on their own... until President Shinra was assassinated by Sephiroth. Veld called the the Turks to ask for their help to support Shinra (without their knowledge because only Veld will be in contact with Tseng). In addition, they had to remove of the Jade WEAPON, who are after them because they destroyed Zirconiade.

2. Meia is in Shinra as lookout and intelligence, under the disguise of Professor Hojo’s assistance.

3. Sephiroth seemed to be alive and running around. Cloud’s party and the Shinra Turks are chasing him across the Planet (by the way, THAT is the storyline of FF7... at least at this point).

4. What is the purpose of Sephiroth? No one knows… not yet.

There. I hope it was clear enough this time around. Please tell me if the story is not coherent at any part of the story. You see, having played/read every installment, it's pretty hard to write for readers who have no FF7 background. If you spot any incoherence, let me know so I can rectify. Of course, certain incoherences are present... because it is meant to be so :P

------------------------------

Tseng’s POV was indeed adapted (if not retold) by the FF7 novellas: Case of Shinra. Also, I know some of you talked about Elena. I love how indeed she is so out of the loop even though she’s a Turk. Eventually she’ll know everything, though how I’ve not figured! In the coming chapters, I'll be using "Case of Shinra" heavily to bring across the Turks' perspective.

Also, December is ending. So please take note, chapter updates will resume to once every two weeks again! The next chapter release is 12 Jan 2012.

------------------------------

Time for my replies to your reviews!

Takara: Haha, no need to be so angsty there :) Elena being surprised is completely normal. Don't be jealous just because Tseng asked her for dinner ;)

TWA: hurray! doomsday has granted us more time! Reeve is going to be a character I'll try to divulge and analyse more. Hope I'm able to write him in his fullness by the end of this story (Yes, I'm hinting that he'll appear more often in the story).

Rachel: Great that you enjoyed Don Corneo's scene! I loved writing that too, though I had to rewatch the scene to fully capture that moment again. So seeing Reno flip his hair countless of times can be considered as irritating XD

Dontgotaclue88: Yeah, Reno is quite the poor chap, although the game didn't perceive him so. Really tough trying to fit a humane side of him in the story, but so far so good, huh?

rnn21: Yeah, the story is quite fast paced, I admit. I wrote it with the assumption that everyone has played FF7 (because I forget how young all of you are). It is next to impossible to write this story with half the portion retelling the game. It will not do this story justice because I don't have the stamina and the standard WILL be diluted. 

Days of Exile is no where near 25% of completion. If I had wrote more of FF7, this story will never end and truth be told, as much as I love this story, I am eager to finish this so that I can focus on new projects too. I know you don't need me to retell everything, so I'm doing my utmost best by selecting the scenes in FF7 most relevant to Meia and the Turks. If I'm not retelling, I've most likely explained what had happened through reports and narration. So I will take a risk by telling you to read it without thinking how it ties in with FF7 (it will... very very soon). I'm not sure if you've played the game, but basically most of the time Cloud and gang are just chasing Sephy all over the place. Haha!

Jefri: It was never specified how much Reeve controlled Cait Sith, so here's my own answer. Cait Sith has its own mind and intelligence, but Reeve has the ability to control its will. Reeve is able to command Cait Sith to tell a fortune, but neither Reeve nor Cait Sith has control over the results of the fortune. :)

Kadajclone100 (longest for the last!!):

First up, thank you for constantly trying to bring me back to focus. I admit, there are many MANY underlying themes/POVs/overlapping arcs in this mega story and it’s really hard to juggle them all. I’ve noted your questions about the grey area of morality and have been trying to, bit by bit, fit them into the story.

Regarding the BC Turks, not everyone joined Shinra with a vengeful intention. Over the course of the two stories, I’ve mentioned some Turks’ backstories. Cissnei, KK, Masons’ were explained sufficiently and everyone else’s were hinted at here and there… except Cassie (I’m currently writing it!). Not to worry, it has been my intention to eventually write about every single BC Turk and you’ll see that most of them joined Shinra because they ran out of luck in their own trouble and saw no better alternative. These people didn’t hate Shinra at all, they merely see the company as an escape route.

Indeed if Shinra had not turned on them they would continue to be a Turk. As for looking down on Heidegger and Scarlet, it’s pretty human for people to do the ‘pot-calling-the-kettle-black’ thing. Since they’re all equally guilty, it didn’t matter. Then again, you’ll see that in this story, no one can call on distinguishing the line clearly. It had been pretty evident from the beginning that everyone thinks they knew what they are doing… but they don’t. So if I don’t clear up the mess myself, that might be what’s going to happen, haha!

Morality is one of the hardest themes in this story, but it’s thanks to people like you that I can recalibrate my bearings so that I can write with more focus. In the future chapters you’ll see this theme being unfolded more so hold on to your horses. I intend to end this mess by the end of the FF7 timeline so that we can focus on ‘the future of Midgar’!

I certainly hope that I have appeased your question. Do let me know if I have been giving satisfactory answers so far. It’s so hard to give a straightforward answer without spoiling. Feel free to ask more if you’re not sure.

Yeah, plain irritating about the Don Corneo part (let’s not spoil the surprise… in case I intend to continue writing X_x) Have you read “The Kids Are Alright”? Where did you get the material?  Been trying to find the translation in vain.

------------------------------

Whew! What a long post! I have tons of things I wanna share, but I'm simply too tired to write. I'm starting work again this Wednesday and I've not prepared for the new year! Let's hope that God is merciful enough to give me time to write always!

Have a happy new year lovely people and see you in two weeks' time!

Reviewing too much has made me arrogant?

As many of you remember, I try to review every story that I read. So, one of my biggest fears when I review is that the authors might be offended. I'm not an expert in tactfulness and thus in my efforts to sound tactful, I send long messages to the unsuspecting author. Not that I've ever received any hate responses because of my reviews, but there are many times that authors would reply and ask me to elaborate on my review.

So that's where the problem lies. My opinions are not the gospel, so who am I to force my writing beliefs on others? If the author thinks that writing in caps lock is trendy, I can't do anything much about it.

Then, I'm also worried that authors would go to MY fanfiction profile to look at my stories. Whenever i give a critical review of a story, half my mind replays the scene of the offended author going to my profile. She will read 'Days of Exile' and go 'Ha! She doesn't even practise what she preach!' or 'She isn't that great anyway. Who is she to criticise me?'

Yeah, I'm paranoid like that. Maybe that's why nobody writes reviews deeper than 'great! upload soon!' Am i wrong to do that? I only wanted to share how I feel towards the story but if the author is offended by my review then i suppose someday i'll fall back to 'cool story, i love it!'

That aside, thank goodness the world didn't end on the 21st huh? Can't wait to celebrate Christmas and welcome in the new year, 2013! Hope Days of Exile will also continue to prosper and be successfully completed in 2013 :)

Days of Exile: Chapter 13, 14

And I'm back with random authors' notes.

5th December was my birthday, what better way than to upload chapters and get an ego boost with reviews? WAHAHA! Amazingly, Chapter 13 was also the chapter where the Turks celebrated Meia's birthday, which was definitely not planned for. All the more, I need to upload that chapter.

The week has been really hectic due to all the different celebrations, but I'm glad that I still found time to upload and write more... maybe except today. I'm really tired out from a week of celebrations and I need some rest, for sure.

Alright, back to the story!

Chapter 13:

I particularly liked the scene with Reno and Rude. When I first decided to retell this scene, it was because I was writing in "I Want To Be A Turk!" how Rude found himself liking Tifa. Well, I'm just finding a big joy to finally be able to write scenes that I had planned a long time ago. Although... it is a huge reminder that my story (both parts) has passed the halfway mark and is reaching the ending ever so slowly.

As of Chapter 13, I assure you the story is nowhere near ending yet. I can't even give a prediction which chapter is the last chapter.

Chapter 14:

This chapter had another title initially, called "Home". In the end I decided that "Confession" would be much more suitable. Oh well.

Yes, Meia met Kunsel again, but their interactions will not be recorded anymore. Basically there are many more scenes parallel with the canon that are -more important- than scenes with Kunsel. So... sorry Kunsel-fans, not Kunsel scenes for you.

So you've noticed that I let loose my fangirling a little when Meia was thinking of Reno. My apologies. I haven't been making their feelings any explicit, right? I better start on it before it looks too weird to see them together :P 

That being said, I totally giggled when I wrote that, I sounded like some lovesick highschool girl. I don't really have lots of experience describing sexiness, and no experience in sexy scenes. Let's just say I've tried my best. Though... I found it very funny to explore how Meia can be so knowledgeable and naive at the same time. Yes, she knew about the birds and the bees, but always viewed them in an objective manner. Having Rod and Cassie in the same room at night definitely triggered some suspicion and embarrassing thoughts in her head. 

What KK said about 'leaving us girls, Rod included' is an intentional jab at Rod, in case you didn't notice that :P

While editing this chapter, I came across some plotholes. Not that they'll affect the story, it's just a conflict on how old Rod was when he joined the Turks. I guess that one can never do too much research, huh? I can't do much about it, because it's too much trouble! X__x

Same goes for Chapter 13, when my friend pointed out that because the Enemy Skill Materia doesn't gain AP, there isn't such a thing as mastered Enemy Skill Materia. Opps.

Okay, enough about that. I'm going to answer some of your review replies now :D These replies will cover from Chapter 12, by the way :)

Regarding seawater: Haven't got a chance to find out why the sea is blue. I doubt I will find out soon, I want my rest today!

TWA: Hi TWA, I fangirl when I see Reno. Period. So it's perfectly fine to fangirl about Reno!

Rachel: Yup! I didn't manage to explain that Tseng pushed her hair away not out of affection, but just a instinctive response. He is always trying to correct Reno's attire, after all! Poor Elena, to have fallen for something so small. But we'll see how things turn out for her *wink*

Kadajclone100: I perceive that you have played ff7 and all its installments, that's awesome! I was worried that nobody actually played ff7 :P Your observation of Hojo is rather spot on. I also agree that there are many unrealistic plot points in FF7. Honey Bee Inn and crossdressing were just some of the madness in the game, so maybe deciding not to kill Hojo in Costa del Sol was not so crazy as it may sound. I too also wonder why they didn't just kill him there and then. But I guess you don't wanna scare those bikini girls away, huh?

IceQueen69: I love how Reno changed his mind too, he looks so adorable! To answer your question, Shalua Rui was mentioned once in "I Want To Be A Turk!" Chapter 57. Sadly, she will not appear anymore. Full stop. I have no intentions of bringing her into "Days of Exile", for various reasons. But like what Lenny Kravitz sang, "it ain't over till it's over", I may change my mind in the future! (gosh, did I just reveal my age?)

Takara: Yup, mutual romance! I'm sorry if it's worded so funnily. Reno and Meia likes each other, woohoo! :D And yeah, as you've seen in Chapter 14, he did regret it!

Dontgotaclue88: Hope you got your answer! Thanks for your review!

Jefri: Ha, you mean that their feelings were not expressed clear enough? Go read again! Besides, the romance will be gone if they explicitly said, "I like you!" And of course Meia wouldn't ask Reno so outrightly! That's the fun (on my part, that is). Thanks for letting me know about Enemy Skill not gaining AP, but Alana does have other Materia so she can still battle ^^

Alrighty people, see you next Saturday for Chapter 15. It's a very interesting chapter, so don't miss it!

Days of Exile: Chapter 12

I had almost forgotten to upload the chapter this week! Thank goodness I somehow remembered...

Chapter 12 was a product that was created out of the need to expand my story to include more details of FF7. Those scenes were not canon, yet I felt that I should spend some time working on some leisurely scenes instead of always zooming along the storyline. Both the Elena and Aerith scenes were created specially for a reason.

Elena's scene being a follow up of her conversation with Alana in Chapter 11. There are many POVs that I would play with throughout the story, and I thought I would like to use Elena more. But honestly, I doubt I will. So perhaps this scene would be the last Elena POV scene, but we'll never know :)

Aerith's scene in Costa del Sol is also a follow up, but to something much further back. It happened when I first wrote Chapter 44 in "I Want To Be a Turk!". If you remember, Meia met an old friend, Aerith the flower girl, in Midgar. They've discussed the possibilities of traveling outside Midgar and Aerith had said that she wanted to go look at the sea. That scene then was actually to justify the reason why in the Before Crisis canon, Aerith was seen running away from home to travel the world. However, after writing my scene, I made a note to myself that I need to follow up with what happened when Aerith REALLY saw the sea this time. Hence, I was pretty happy with this portion.

As for Legend and Mason, the decision to make them friends was never planned. I created it out of a whim and I thought it shouldn't be too bad. I didn't highlight their relationship in particular during "I Want To Be a Turk!" so there's no major loopholes there.

Just so you know, I'm equally confused as to why the water in the sea is blue when the water we drink has no colour :P

100th post! + Poem (1): Tactfulness

*pops party cracker*

It's my 100th post! Too bad I couldn't post it on my birthday, just a few days short. It's not like it's gonna be some mind-breaking post anyway.

I saw a particular friend of mine today, she reads A LOT. Like basically everything that's a book, she probably read it. So we spent the better part of the gathering debating and complaining about Eragon and gushing about Hunger Games (Book 1 only). It's really a joy to talk to someone about books, I. Am. Such. A. Nerd.

Then we talked about Fifty Shades of Grey, of which my friend said 'Fifty Shackles of Grey'. He sent us all into fits of laughter. He had no idea then how close he was to basically summarising the entire trilogy :P Anyway, we all tried to understand why it is so good (or so bad). Seeing how everyone is all giving their two cents worth without even reading the book, I've made up my mind.

I shall read Fifty Shades of Grey.

Honestly? (No one cares!) *ahem* I was saying, honestly, I still feel quite apprehensive about the book. But I figured that I'm done speculating and guessing. If I want to know the book so badly? I guess I just have to find out myself. I'm going to start... next year. The end of the year is simply too exciting for me to sit down and read... that.

One thing's for sure... I won't buy the book just to read it :P There are too many friends with the trilogy. I could always borrow.

I leave you with a random poem I came up with:

(Poem has been removed)

(1/12/12)

Okay, so it's not random like I came up with it on the spot, but I had the intention to create it just now, so out it goes. Hope you guys like it.