Days of Exile: Chapter 40

And.... I'm on time!

Today, I'm going to skip the nonsense talk and jump straight into review reply. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was embarrassed that I did not check the ffnet website to see if I got any reviews. I've been relying on email notifications too much. Gee. That might mean that all alerts and faves are not sent to me too!

Anyway, because there have been many reviews, I've decided to reply them all here (because it's not nice to waste space on ff.net, right? :P)

Jefri: Gee, I hadn't realised that you've asked so many questions! Why don't you just ask me whenever you see me? XD Anyway, here we go with all the answers! Human and Cetra give birth to half-Cetra naturally (Aerith is half Cetra half human, isn't she? :)) Vincent didn't kill Hojo, AVALANCHE did. You won't see much of Vincent because it's a Meia story! Hahah! He is not a main character, sadly. But I will see how I can include more of him (no guarantee, though). The exiled Turks fought Jade WEAPON, but otherwise played no part in the FF7 storyline. Thus, we shall just assume that AVALANCHE fought (or ignored) the other WEAPONs.

And that should answer most of your questions, Jef. Thank you for being so faithful to my story. You've even got yourself an account!! *clap clap*

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Takara: Hello faithful reader! Thank you for reviewing every single time! From your reviews I can feel your emotions towards the story and it makes me happy. It feels awesome to know that my readers are feeling strongly towards the characters. Hope you will stay with me till the end!

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Guest of Chapter 36: thank you for leaving me a review! Haha, I've got telepathic powers!! *wriggle fingers* and yeah, I never will figure out the WEAPON conundrum. The people on Gaia just never refer to them by a specific name. Weird. I know for a fact that humans love to give names. :P Anddd I guess by Chapter 37 you realised that yes, I did write about Yuffie's ultimate weapon in the Sunken ship. Hurray for details!

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koryandrs: Yes I'm back! Thank you for leaving a comment! Hope to see you around more often! By the way, you have a really cute name. Am I supposed to pronounce it like the plant 'coriander'? :P

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Occupational Haz/kadajclone10: Hehe, sorry for disappearing like that. I hope I don't do it anymore. I love it whenever you leave a review. It's almost like reading a thesis. You always give such great insight, and I treasure it a lot (mainly because you seem to have read/played/watched most if not all of FF7 compilation, credible knowledge you possess, oh great one!) I know you have been harping on the topic of the ambiguity of the Turk. Sorry that I haven't been jumping into that at all. I'm still brewing the story and pushing our characters into a certain direction. I do have an end goal in mind, but I'm not too sure if that would be good enough. Till then, do forgive the lack of explanation and tolerate any frustration from what may be signs of loopholes and contradiction.

Yes, I really love working with Meia, despite the fact that I've dropped some of her earlier characteristics. I also try my best to flesh out the 'villains'. Indeed, everyone has a grey and questionable area and it's simply a joy to argue in my head all day long, justifying one over another. Hurhur, sad is my life. I believe Tseng was referring to Ifalna, which means holy crap, I hope I didn't make a loophole anywhere! That was definitely a part that I overlooked, and now I'm nervous as to whether I made any mistakes in the previous chapters.

Anyway, I didn't mean for my review reply to drag on too, but a long and insightful review deserves an equally enthusiastic and appreciative reply :D

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Luckcharm/TWA: Why is everyone getting new names or changing their names? Haha! I feel so bad that I haven't been replying the reviews, I mean, I really did not get any of the notifications! *glare at ffnet* Okay, time to reply you!

I know, Tifa and Cloud are simply heartbreaking. I also go "aww" whenever I'm typing their scenes. It's funny actually, I'm a Cloti fan :P Don't worry, perhaps better days are ahead? Second, I had to do the scene of Leia and Haato because in hindsight, I was annoyed with myself for being so nice to Meia's Turk life. There's no way Meia could breeze through her Turk years like that. No one is dumb, neither am I. I definitely am not going to dwiddle my thumbs and wait for readers to bash me for making Meia a Mary Sue (the type that are immune to bad omens and incidents). Hahaha, Reno and Rude DEFINITELY have bromance! *dance in virtual confetti* I'm so proud of Tihan's name that I want to name my future child so! Just that... I can't because it totally sounds funny when you pronounce it with the family name (No, I'm not married, just.. fantasising like an idiot).

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Now, this is for all of you, whoever that is still reading. Yes, the story feels like it's at its end, but I still have many things in my head. Namely, whether I should even continue the story after Meteorfall. I'll discuss this with the rest of you in detail next time. Besides, I've got another few more months to decide... Who knows.

That's all for this week! I look forward to reading your lovely reviews! Have an awesome weekend!

What an embarrassment...

Hello readers.

Remember a few posts ago, I was all emo about why my readers are not active anymore? Here's what happened. After Chapter 35 or 36, I no longer received any more reviews to my email address. That was a shocker, because I could name a few readers that have been absolutely faithful. Nevertheless, I kept to my faith and uploaded Chapter 37... then 38... By the time I was at Chapter 39 I was bewildered. Why hasn't there been a single review?

Needless to say, I was devastated. I could not understand why no one was reviewing my story for the last one month. That, I admit, did make me less motivated to write. What's the point, if no one is there to enjoy it?

Long story short, I found out that FF.net has not been giving me email notifications about anything. Great. So here I was, all wallowed up in my own sorrow when all the time, everyone has been reviewing like normal. Even when I didn't respond to any of your reviews (because I didn't even know that they existed!), you reviewed faithfully.

I feel so stupid.

I'm sorry, guys. Really.

Thanks for never giving up on me. You give me courage to continue writing.

Well, at least until the end of Meteorfall, hehe.

Cool! Tags!

Name a fandom you know I know and I’ll tell you

1. The first character I first fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don’t
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I used to love but don’t any longer
6. The character I would totally smooch
7. The character I’d want to be like
8. The character I’d slap
9. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise

Okay, I guess I'm off to a start here (since you know... I've ABSOLUTELY nothing to do while waiting for my hair to dry... -_-) 

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Funnily, this game never made an impact to me when I first played the game... It was with replaying that I had better understanding. And it was when I was researching on FF7 for "I Want to Be a Turk!" that I really fell in love with some characters. Namely Zack Fair and Reno. Everyone else are like... alright.

1. First character that I first fell in love with. Gee. I really don't remember with FF7. If I dare say, the first character that made me fall in love is probably Reno. And that's YEARS after I've started playing.

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now. Once again, Reno. I didn't think much of the character... until I saw amazing HD hotness that was Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Heheh. Every Reno fan tells the same story.

The runner ups would be Rude and Cid Highwind. Their presence in the story is a quiet yet ass-kicking one.

3. Character that everyone loves that I don't. Sephiroth. He's so darn cool, but I seriously think he is cuckoo up there. Generally, I dislike villains. Except the Turks, they're cool.

4. Character that I love but everyone hates. No one. I think everyone hates Hojo, but I dislike him too.

5. There aren't any characters that I used to love but don’t any longer. Like I said, FF7 did not have that kind of fangirl thing on me.

6. Character that I would totally smooch? Reno. Hands down, Reno. 

7. The character I’d want to be like: Zack Fair. Sunny, strong, loyal. A close second would be Aerith Gainsborough.

8. The character I’d slap is either Cloud or Genesis. Cloud for the reason of not doing something to save Zack Fair. Genesis because seriously bro, what are you in the story for? The plot involving him was my least favourite part in Crisis Core, which is actually, the main storyline but well...


9. A pairing that I love: Zack and Aerith. I really think they were the most epic "What If?" pairing. 

I came to this conclusion when I was pondering about life's hardest decision between CloudxTifa and CloudxAerith. Both pairings would've been beautiful, but if I really had to choose, I'll choose CloudxTifa for the sheer reason that ZackxAerith is perfect.


10. A pairing that I despise: Vincent Valentine and Yuffie. I saw no chemistry in any of the FF7 games. Another one would be Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. I mean, seriously???

There you go. Now I better make my time worthwhile by doing something productive.

Maybe do one more tag with the entire Final Fantasy fandom. Muahahaha.

One month already?

As my surprised title suggests, it has been more than a month since I uploaded Days of Exile. I guess I'm done beating myself up for the lack of responsibility (though it's not that I'm denying responsibility!) Work had to take a bigger priority in this busy time of the year.

I was worried that my desire to write will disappear. Yes, in moments of my days where all I did after my work was to eat and sleep, I wondered if that was going to be the end of my writing journey. Then today, as I was listening to "Moves Like Jagger", I was reminded of my fanfic with the same name. That song never fails to remind me of how much fun I had listening to one of my favourite songs while writing. One thing is for sure, I can't wait to go back to write after this madness is over.

Okay, two more things. So I've been playing Final Fantasy 5 most of last week. The game has been good to me so far, still appealing and enchanting despite the 'age'. That reminds me, have I ever mentioned how I came across this awesome thing that is Final Fantasy? Some day, I will explain.

Also, I will be travelling from end November to end December. So much for writing, huh? But I will get a chapter or two uploaded before I fly off... *fingers crossed*

Recent Happenings

Hello people.

Yes. Days Of Exile seems to be on standby.

Please give me some time to settle my life out. It's a very busy time of the year. It's basically work, which goes to show how terrible adult life is. I'm still writing on the side, but rarely.

When my life is not as busy anymore, I will love to continue what I've left off. Days of Exile, a possible new story, book reviews and etc. Then again, I'm not too sure if there are people who are still reading my stories, or my blog (yes Jeff, I know you are still reading my blog. Thank you!). But otherwise, I guess I'm back to being alone on my writing journey.

I admit. I am a little affected by the sudden disappearance of my readers. I can't blame them. I've disappeared from reading other fanfictions too, and I'm feeling darn guilty about it. Laziness kicks in and well, my readers won't miss a chapter or two missing off the usual uploading schedule right?

Right?

Days of Exile: Chapter 37

Hmm, I thought it was Chapter 27 that I'm uploading. How quickly time flies! Wasn't it just a while back that I first released Days of Exile? I had this impression that I only started Days of Exile in July 2013. Nooo, Days of Exile has been ongoing for more than a year already! Anyway, here are my author's notes for this chapter. 

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Did you like the new "Previously on Days of Exile.." section? I snitched it from Marvel. I have been reading "The New Avengers" and "Superior Superman". The first page is dedicated to explaining the events happening in the previous issue, or the events happening between the previous issue to 'now'. 

Sidenote: It's just darn annoying that they can't maintain some sort of coherence. For people who are just reading "The New Avengers", how would I know what the heck happened in the other titles (they are all connected, the superheroes of Marvel)? 

It was because many events happen at the same time, that Marvel had to do a recap page for readers. And I thought it'll be cool if I could that for my readers. One, they do not need to reread the previous chapter to recall the details. Secondly... if they did not understand the previous chapter, the recap will do a better job at explaining. That's how I solve my problems whenever I read an issue in The New Avengers that I wasn't too sure about.

So, what do you think? Do you like it or not? Seriously, I don't hear much from you people anymore. I don't even know if I'm doing this right. Moving on...

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So I did a research on pronouncing Heidegger’s name. I’ve always pronounced it as “Hedge-dagger”, but goodness that’s simply adding too many phonetic sounds into the letter. So finally, I got it. It’s “Hai-dagger”, or is it “Hai-der-ger”? At least it’s not “hedge” anymore, is it?

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We've reached the thirteenth of January. Brace yourselves, people. This day is one of the most eventful days in the FF7 timeline. Dozen of things will happen on this day, in both the canon and my story. The day might span across five to six chapters, depending on how good I am at cutting down content. I’ll take note to only put in canon content that is necessary for the story, but then again most of you readers have not had the pleasure of experiencing FF7, so why the fuss?

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No one will know this, but the script simply has too many ellipses for my liking. I know we were supposed to pause and make Cloud look like he was trailing off and thinking with emotion. But it just made Cloud darn annoying, as if he wasn’t already. I’m still not happy that he made Zack Fair die. So I made modifications to the script... by removing the "..." as much as I could. It's now easier to read, at least for me.

Alright, that's all for this week, and a long one too! I hope everyone has been fine. Don't let life eat you up... because it is totally consuming me now *sigh*

Read and review!

Opps! Slight delay!

Folks, I apologise once again that my chapter is delayed. I haven't had the chance to proofread and check my chapter. I've been up to my nose with busy-ness for the last 7 days. I won't be free to look at my chapter till Wednesday, actually.

Dum, dum, dum!!!!

Most likely I'll get Chapter 35 up and running by Monday (GMT +8), but well, just in case I fail to keep my promise, the official chapter upload will be on Wednesday, 11 September.

In case you are wondering what I've been doing. It's simple - Work. But on top of that, I've been reading comics. Not manga though (I'm so behind schedule for that one too!), I've been reading American comics. So finally I've jumped onto the Marvel bandwagon and I'm reading The Superior Spiderman and The New Avengers. Remind me to talk about them someday, but it's highly unlikely that I will write a fanfic on it. Stan Lee and his team will laugh at me >_<