Identity (Shade's NaNo Thread)

[Shadaras]

The title of this thread sums up the two ideas I'm using for NaNo quite well.

..and yes, I'm serious about doing two stories. xD ...again, I'm going for overkill and seeing if I can do 100k, preferably in the same amount of time as last year. So an average of 5k a day, split between two stories. Will that end up being what happens? I don't know.

I'll add more stuff as November approaches, of course. But for now, I'll just give you the rough ideas of what I'm doing. ^_^

Story I -- Maestro Part II (The Elavir Conundrum)
The title for this before I split Maestro into two parts was Elavir/Identity. ^_^ ...deals with what happens when you get changed into an elavir, what exactly Ciel is, and who Maestro is. Oh, and how to reorganise the Magistrate without anyone truly important dying. Fun story.

Story II -- Trust/Who You Are
Christopher is a perfectly average teen, right? Not tall, not short, not thin or fat – average. No glasses, brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin – average. Doesn’t seem that smart, but he’s always gotten As and Bs. Too quiet for people to take much notice of him, a lot of the time.

Until the weird kid moves in and takes a liking to him, that is.

Cyrus is black, wears bright colors, somehow manages to die his hair into rainbow shades, talks more than anyone else, and knows a thing or two about Christopher that he shouldn’t. To begin with, he knows that Christopher’s first name is Seth. More importantly, however, Cyrus can see Christopher’s wings.

You see, Christopher isn’t a perfectly average teen. He’s a devil come to earth in an angel’s disguise.

Just to make it all worse, Christopher knows perfectly well that Cyrus isn’t really human either.

Cyrus is a dragon.

((I do have a rough plot for this written out, but this summary-thing gives you the idea of where I'm going with it, I think. And yes, all this spawned off of the title. ^_^ ...why I got the idea to write a story like this, I don't know. It should be fun, though.))

[WiP]

Woah. The second story sound so freaking awesome, Shade!

[Kathleen]

I admit to being completely in the dark about the first idea (cool names, though? =D), but the second one definitely sounds awesome. xD I like Christopher already.

[Shadaras]

See, if I had a summary of Maestro, I'd post it, but I don't. xD ...I wrote 70k words of it over the summer and still have a fair amount to write. Therefore, I'm writing it for NaNo. To give you some idea of why I like this setting/story, have the prologue. If you feel like trawling through my diary-thread, you might be able to find more info on it, but I really can't remember. xD

SPOILER: Click to show

She slips through the shadows, a breath of night stolen from the sky itself. Her skin does not give her away, though it shines like the moon above. As she moves through the forest, her feet breeze over the leaves without any sound; it is as if she is floating, yet she is not. Her feet leave impressions upon the ground, much like those of fox or wolves. Each breath she takes blends into the wind, and she slips through the night like a shadow on the wind, a spectre given form, a ghost.

Her clothes simply add to the illusion; they cling close to her body, but flare out into wisps of thread when they reach her elbows and knees. Her head is cloaked in the shadow of her hair, and eyes that shine green-gold even in moonlight peer out at the world, taking in the nuance of every leaf’s movement, the deeper darkness marking animals hiding in shadow, the pin-prick stars peeking out from behind the trees. As she runs, weaving through trees, she has a smile on her face. It is slight, but it is there.

The trees are nothing to her, thick as they are. Even the hunters from the village within the trees cannot travel them as well as she can. The predator animals are her equals, not her betters, in their ability to terrorize the people. She knows this. She uses it to her advantage in her dealings with them. She dresses like the monsters they fear when hunting, and chooses more moderate clothing while choosing her target. They never suspect her, though she rarely takes pains to hide her true self from them.

Much of the time, they remember her as a male, as Hunter. She calls herself that, and none question her, assuming she hunts animals, not the people she prefers. Not the souls that she needs, that her allies require. Her pace increases, and now her footsteps are audible, though only as much as those of a bird. The wind is at her back as she runs, and her hands brush against trees as she guides herself to the village. She is close now. She can feel the warmth of their souls each time she inhales. It calls to her. She is starved for souls, and, paradoxically, her energy increases with the need.

She can see the lights of the village now. She marked her target two nights ago, when she was merely Hunter, not the Hunter of Souls she is called in their stories. They know her, when she preys upon one village more often than once or twice a year. But there are so many villages within Maestro’s rule that the stories rarely return, unless she chooses to remind them.

She does not like reminding them. They bring the inquisitors, the hunters searching for voleru to kill. She avoids them well, but Maestro and his friends cannot avoid them so easily, when they are the first ones searched out when one is said to be in the area. As she slips into the village, she remembers the last time that happened. They had all starved themselves for a full month before the inquisitor left. It had been hardest on her. She had been the one forbidden to hunt, after all, and for one whose life was based around the hunt, everything was so much duller to the senses and mind.

But as she enters the village, all thoughts of anything but avoiding detection fled her mind. She is focused on the feeling of life within bodies, the warmth of a soul. The old ones are the weakest, but easiest to steal from. She finds the one closest to death and enters her house without any need for caution. Nobody within the house is awake or aware, two related but different things. What acts as a lock on the door is nothing to her; she has broken into mansions before.

Within the house, all is dark. She does not care. The sounds and the feel of wood beneath her feet are enough to keep her from running into walls, and her need for souls and their touch on her mind guide her to the old one. She enters the old one’s room silently, making her way to the edge of the old one’s bed. She kneels, resting a hand on the old man’s chest and feeling her way to his neck, to his face. She knows all the stories told about soul-suckers; she has been the reason for the creation of some of them.

She lowers her mouth to the old man’s, taking in his faltering breath. He smiles as her lips touch his, and she kisses him, pulling out all the life left in his body. She knows he feels only pleasure as death draws near. It was the same with her, so long ago, when life fled her body, though not to another’s. She enhances the old man’s pleasure; if she must steal his life to survive, it is one final gift she can give to them before they leave for a new body, a new place in this world.

The final gasp of air enters her lungs; she lingers a moment more, almost feeling the old man’s soul leaving for the guiding light, before she rises. This life will sustain her for another few days, but she needs more life, more young life, for herself, Maestro, and his friends.

She turns and leaves, returning to the night and the hunt.

On Trust/Who You Are:
Yay, people like the idea. ^_^

SPOILER: Click to show

Christopher’s basically gathering intelligence for the Underworld, figuring out what it is you’d need to do to turn teens bad. He’s a senior in high-school, one of the oldest students, when Cyrus moves in. Cyrus is his opposite in so many ways, but they say they’re the same age, they’re in almost all the same classes, and they both recognize the other for what they really are.

They both hate each other on general principle at first, which leads to Christopher being noticed by his classmates for once, since they all love Cyrus and his outlandish personality. When Christopher starts joining them for parties (egged on by Cyrus’s friends), he and Cyrus get to know each other a bit better, and start finding too many commonalities for either to be truly comfortable.

Oh, and then Christopher’s boss finds out about the dragon and tells Christopher to kill it. Christopher doesn’t, in the end, and then things get interesting, as his boss sends out a trio of devils to kill Christopher and the dragon. While they’re in high school. Without any of the humans suspecting anything.

Yeah. Right. Of course some people are going to find out. Like the girl who wants Christopher to be her boyfriend, or the guys who hang out with Cyrus during lunch. Or their Religious Studies teacher, who’s a priest and, once he starts seeing devils, starts trying to figure everything out.

The climax? Christopher saving Cyrus, Cyrus saving Christopher, and the priest damning them all to hell as he gets assaulted by one of the devils. Christopher then kills the devil and says “I was born in hell.”

SPOILER: Click to show

Devils are different from demons. How? Demons are pure evil. Devils are their scoundrel children with fallen angels. So devils tend to blur the line between good and evil, angel and demon. In appearance, they’re your standard ruddy-skinned bony dude with horns. And black-feathered wings. Lucifer has a lot of devil children, since Lucifer is a fallen angel, not a demon like most of his followers.

Seth (Christopher) isn’t one of Lucifer’s kids, though. Seth’s dad was just a run-off-the-mill angel who got seduced by a succubus while on earth. Seth’s dad fell shortly thereafter, but Seth has all the powers of an angel in his blood, since his conception brought down his dad.

So Seth can transform himself. Not as much as a true angel, but better than any demon and most devils. And he’s more human in appearance to begin with, due to that pure angel blood. He’s got the black-feathered wings, too, but like an angel in disguise, he can hide them at will.

Dragons, now. Dragons are almost myth to the Host. Dragons were around at the beginning of time, the first-born of the world. So many kinds of dragon, and very few of them are friendly. Cyrus happens to be a serpent-dragon, an Asian dragon who likes people. And who happens to be fascinated with the Host. Cyrus’s powers include shape-shifting, weather control, and breathing underwater.

Weaknesses... Well, devils can’t abide churches, just like their demonic cousins. Yet, just like his father, Seth is drawn to symbols of faith, for all that it hurts. Yes, he’s a bit of a masochist. Seth also feeds on emotions, though not exclusively. He prefers using ambient emotions, but the stronger the emotion, the better. It doesn’t get rid of the person’s emotions; he just draws strength from it.

Cyrus, on the other hand, absolutely needs water to survive. If he can’t be utterly immersed in water a few times a day, he starts getting irritable and liable to hurt people. Even with his relatively weak human form, Cyrus is still strong. Um. Cyrus also can’t stand being around people who’re in a bad mood. He’s an empath. Seth isn’t. Seth is just drawn to strong emotions. Cyrus is too, but only the nice ones. Well. The negative ones too, but that’s so that he can diffuse them.

And everything is subject to change. ^_^ ...but hey, this is what I have right now. May as well let you see it.

[Rikku]

Oohshiny. =D *can barely wait* Maestro's neat, of course, but the second idea piques my fancy even more. Fun-sounding concepts.

... But man. xD; Two stories at once? I admire your bravery.

[Trilly (18426 words)]

I am so looking forward to seeing what you do with this! ^__^

The second one just snapped up my attention.

[Shadaras]

Two stories because I'm crazy, yes. ^_^ ...and I am going to fail at something when I write these, due to actually having school now, but it'll be awesome fun. I figure I aim for the same insane goal as last year and then just hope. And, I mean, if I do all my homework quickly and wake up early enough, I should be able to writ 2,500 words in the morning and 2,500 words in the afternoon/evenings.

...yes, I thought this out. Though really, the reason I'm doing two stories is because otherwise I'll never finish Maestro and if I just do Maestro I'll get sick of it again. ^_^ ...and, I mean, I know something of what I'm getting myself into.

And yes, the second idea makes me glee more, too. Cyrus is just too cool for me not to love him, despite Christopher being technically the main character. ^_^ ...even if I have little to no idea of what point of view I'll be using for that story (anything I think of, I can complain about in some way or other) and I seriously have no idea what's going to happen with the setting and all. It is glee and sprung out of the title. ((And the line 'What you are doesn't matter. Who you are, now, that's a different matter.'))

And yeah. xD ...I can ramble, but I don't want to yet.

[Tam]

...Once more you have created story concepts that I will be dying to read, that I will probably put off for months or years before doing so, as usual. D:

These sound brilliant so far -- I love the modern-day twist genre, so your second one promises to be a lot of fun. =D Good luck!

[Shadaras]

Oct 1, 2009 21:14:17 GMT -5 Tam said:

...Once more you have created story concepts that I will be dying to read, that I will probably put off for months or years before doing so, as usual. D:

These sound brilliant so far -- I love the modern-day twist genre, so your second one promises to be a lot of fun. =D Good luck!

xD ...I want to make Trust into a publishable thing someday. Maestro too, but that one might take longer to get right. So yay for thinking the concepts awesome. ^_^

I think that the modern-day one is weird, but that's because (A) I've never gone to high school, so that'll be interesting to write, and (B) I don't usualy like modern-day-with-a-twist stories. But then, I make exceptions for stuff like the Dresden Files and other such supernatural-earth stories, so...

Anyway. This is what happens when I get bored and have NaNo on my mind.

And thanks for the luck. I suspect I'll need it. xD

[Zylaa]

=D Awesome picture, and awesome plots! I can't wait to see what you do with these-- and I continue to bow in awe that you can manage two NaNos.

[Shadaras]

I never said I'd succeed at managing two NaNos. xD ...but I'm going to try.

And as the NaNo site itself has been updated, I've added basic summaries of these two stories to my profile there. ^_^ ...and it makes me rather sad to see all the 0 wordcount bars. I've been so used to seeing all the various purple and green ones that this seems rather weid. And, I admit, I miss my 100,164 word bar. xD ...I think that's right, anyway. But still.

[Shadaras]

By the way, this is what is known as plotting:

Situation at the beginning of The Elavir Conundrum:
Killian just came back as an elavir.
Ciel’s unconscious due to Light overdose.
Maestro just wants to know who he is.
Kass and Tera are confused.
Zelle wants Ciel to wake up.
Javed wants Tera to be safe.
The other Magisters have felt the outburst of power Ciel and Killian released.

Plot-ish Thing:
Maestro sends Kass to keep the other voleru away from Killian, especially Ciel. He and Elavir (name/personality TBD) fight for a while.
Javed runs into Zelle.
Ciel ends up near Elavir.
Stuff happens.
The desired end is for Zu to be dead, Matthias to be a High Magister again, and Killian to be dead for real. Not due to voleru, though. Due to himself. So! We’ll see what happens.


*wrote that stuff a few weeks ago* ...and I see no reason to change it. xD ...and I should also be plotting Trust out. I really should be. But I keep forgetting to.

[Shadaras]

I'll just ramble here, because if I ramble here I'll have an obligation to keep going.

School schedules for Cyrus and Christopher. ((Also - Why is Seth so adamant about being called Christopher? Why not Chris? Or even Seth? But no, it must be Christopher.)) Cyrus, due to his dragon-self, is a swimmer. And that will take up much time, but that's extra. Christopher, despite being incredibly smart, hates showing off and doesn't really care about what happens after high school, since then he'll get pulled into some other scheme. So Christopher's taking math (trig or calculus or something. *is actually kinda fail at math right now*) and history (world) and english and biology/chemistry (someone who actually knows which is more likely tell me which. xD) and psychology and religion.

Cyrus, on the other hand, enjoys showing off and has way too much fun taking hard courses and acing them without much trouble. However, he doesn't know some things that most people consider basic knowledge, due to having been asleep for ages. So. He's taking english and religion and history (US) and math (physics) and theatre and government. So Chistopher and Cyrus have two classes together. And that's it. And yet, Cyrus still manages to find Christopher and annoy him to death about life, the universe, and everything.

It's weird. They get along really well, but due to how dragons are viewed by God's children (aka, angels and demons and devils), Christopher hates Cyrus on general principles. Cyrus doesn't care what he thinks; he like Christopher and is fascinated by what he is. Demons and angels hadn't ever mingled in his time, so devils are something new to him, especially ones who are more like fallen than anything else. Like Christopher.

Also, Christopher's last name is Drake. Cyrus, when he finds this out, starts calling him that. Christopher hates this but can't retaliate; after all, what would he call Cyrus? The dragon's last name is relatively hard to make fun of. Jordan. It just isn't any fun to call Cyrus Jordan. Cyrus just ignores the name, whereas Christopher can't help but react to Drake. Or, once Cyrus finds out what the demons named him, Seth.

Calling Cyrus Sieroche, on the other hand, serves to get the dragon (technically a waterhorse, though Cyrus won't explain why his kind has that name) riled up. Christopher doesn't dare use the name around too many people, however, just like Cyrus only calls him Seth when nobody else is around.

And they both think that it's hilarious that Christopher's 'dad' (his demon boss) took the name Damon. Christopher never teases him about it, because the reprecussions wouldn't be nice at all, but he thinks it all the time. And. Yeah. xD ...I think I've rambled enough for now.

[Shadaras]

Let the random posts of scrap-writing begin. xD ..which, for now, will be stuff about Cyrus and Christopher before Trust starts, most likely. Scraps that come from amusing ideas or from stuff on the NaNo forums that catches my interest. Like the challenge of writing something with NaNo characters and having it be under 200 words. *could've made this so much longer* ..anyway.


“You’re going.”

Seth crossed his arms, glaring at the demon in front of him. “You can’t make me go.” He sounded like a child, he knew, but the demon likely wouldn’t notice. “I—”

“Have more power than most children, yes.” A melodic voice flowed over Seth, and the devil gaped, spinning and falling to his knees. Lord Lucifer looked at him, scarred face somehow still beautiful. “You will go, Setheremus Vaelle D’Horune.”

Seth bowed his head, folding his white-feathered wings. “Yes, my lord,” he whispered. His voice, normally beautiful to all the ears it touched, seemed as raspy and ruined as a demon’s now, with the Fallen’s voice to compare to. “Who is to accompany me, my lord?”

Lucifer laughed, but the bell-like tones faded without an answer, leaving only the scent of roses and rain behind. Seth looked up, hardly daring to meet the demon’s eyes. “You’re going, aren’t you?” Seth shook his head, amused. Athsceriel D’Moriane, while one of the most human-like demons in appearance, would never survive the human world.

Athsceriel nodded once, extending his bat-wings. “Come on, pretty boy,” he said, voice smoke-clogged. “The Lord has spoken, and so it shall be. We’re leaving now.”

Seth groaned, coming to his feet and spreading his wings. He followed Athsceriel into the fiery sky, flying to towards the human world.

[Shadaras]

SPOILER: Click to show

I ran my hand along the smooth wood, feeling the contours and ridges. I’d touched the wood many times before, and I knew each slight irregularity before I reached it. At the end of the armrest, the wood spooled up into twin coils before dropping down to form the armrests. I closed my hand around that knob, letting the ridges bite into my palm. The pain was a blessing, drawing my attention away from my thoughts and into the world around me.

I heard his footsteps in front of me. The sound would have been sharp, if it weren’t for the rugs that covered the floor. I couldn’t bring myself to look away from those multi-colored rugs. On the edge of my vision, I could see his black slippers. They seemed darker than usual, compared to the bright colors of the rugs. I tightened my grip on the wood. “Zelle, I told you my decision. You can’t change my mind.”

“Cat...” The desperation in his voice forced me to look at him. I met his eyes, trying not to lose myself in their gold-tinged depths. I looked away before he had a chance to catch me with those eyes, looking over his shoulder instead. A painting hung there, showing the two of us and Zu. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Zu, even if it was only a painting of him. Zelle followed my gaze with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair, and the blue-black strands stuck up, even more disordered than usual. “You could make him give back everything you lost.”

I laughed. I didn’t want to, but it was hard not to notice that Zelle didn’t believe his own words. “Zu, repent?” I shook my head. The red-haired plainsman had at least as much pride as I did, and he rarely admitted he was wrong. He stood between us in the painting, bright as fire compared to the night-dark pair we made. Our blue-black hair and pale skin made us look like brothers, and then there he was, the outlier, the outsider. His hands rested on our shoulders, as if he was claiming us, though we had more power than he in the hierarchy we’d agreed upon.

Zelle placed a hand on the painting, covering Zu. “For you, he would.” Zelle turned, letting his hand falling to his side. “Melakh...”

“I wouldn’t ask Melakh to,” I said sharply. “He’s always been Zu’s pet.”

Zelle spun, hitting the wall hard enough to make the old stones crack. I stopped, looking at him silently. Stone dust drifted down to the floor, a few silvery specks settling on Zelle’s rose-red jacket. He looked at me, and I saw blood on his knuckles and fear in his face. “Cat, you don’t get it. He—”

“He tortured me,” I said quietly, hiding the pain of the memories. I stepped closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. I didn’t let the slight shock his height gave me show on my face. Zelle never seemed shorter than me unless we were touching, and then the few inches of difference was more obvious than I liked. Zelle turned his face away, dropping his eyes. I sighed, resting my head against his. “He almost killed me, Zelle. The Light—”

“Raven take the Light,” Zelle snapped. The curse shocked me more than the tone of his voice. I couldn’t quite tell when he had moved, but he faced me now. He grabbed my jacket, slender fingers wrapping around the dark cloth. He shook me, and each time his fist impacted my chest I took a step back. He followed, keeping our faces bare inches apart. “Cat, do you want to leave me alone with them?”

Zelle’s breath was warm on my face and neck, a reminder of what we used to be. I reached back blindly, finding the wall. The rough stones we’d made it from were cold beneath my hands, hard behind my shoulders. “Is it a matter of want?”

“Isn’t it always?”

“No.” I couldn’t believe that Zu’s torture had been a mere matter of want and need. The fire, the tight bindings that had rubbed my skin raw, the irons... I pushed aside the images, trying to ground myself in reality. “No.”

Zelle’s grip loosened, and he smoothed my jacket, fingers lingering on my chest. “Cat, I don’t want you to leave.”

“I know.” I leaned back, closing my eyes as my head touched the stones. “Zelle, I don’t want to leave. I need to. It’s not safe here anymore.”

“The inquisitors will find you if you leave.” One cool finger touched my throat, drawing a line down to my collarbones.

“You control them,” I said bitterly, pushing him away before he could do anything more than just touch me. The stones behind me felt all the colder for the ghost of his warmth. “Make them leave me alone.”

“I am not the only high magister.”

“True.” I smiled, opening my eyes to look at the shadowed ceiling. “I’m one too.”

“Only if you stay.”

I nodded, looking back at Zelle. “Keep Zu from hunting me. Please.”

He turned around, walking over to the mantle. I watched the subtle play of muscles in his back, muffled and hidden by the layers of clothing, but still there, still a temptation. I clutched at the rocks of the wall, clenching my teeth to remind myself that I wasn’t bound to him. Seemingly oblivious, he picked up one of the statuettes on the mantle. I knew the statuette well; it was shaped like an eagle, wings spread to rise into the air. The eagle held a snake in its talons, but the snake’s fangs were in the eagle’s neck.

I’d made it for him years ago, when we first created the magistrate. It was a reminder of how life and death bound us together, and there would never be an escape. Zelle glanced at me, a half-smile on his face as he rubbed the smooth lines of the eagle. “Where would you go, Cat? You have no home anymore.”

I dropped my gaze again, looking at the rugs. I traced the knotted patterns, red on gold. Zu’s colors. My throat tightened. “I have yours.”

I heard Zelle slam the statuette back against the mantle. Something cracked. I didn’t want to know what. Zelle’s anger was palatable, and I could hear his breath coming quick and harsh. “You are not—”

“You gave me your name when I came here, Uccello.” The words came out more coldly than I’d intended, but I couldn’t stop now. I met his gaze, continuing before the cold rage that fueled my speech could die, drowned in the power of Zelle’s wrath. “You gave up your birthright so that I might have a home again. It’s in the records. You cannot change that now.”

Zelle moved quickly, when he wanted to. I stepped forward to meet him, expecting a punch. Instead, he grabbed my head and pulled me down into a kiss. I felt his pull on me as he breathed in, claiming my air for his, my life for his.

I ripped my mouth away from his, ignoring the parts of me that wanted nothing more than to let him claim me. “I am not your toy, Zelle.” I was holding his shoulders hard enough to leave a bruise, but I didn’t dare loosen my grip. “Just because Zu wanted me to be his playtoy—” my grip tightened “—doesn’t mean I’m yours now.”

“Very well, Uccello.” Zelle’s voice, normally deep, was now a low rumble, a growl. I knew that tone. I rarely heard it, but when I did, it meant trouble. His shoulders were trembling. I couldn’t tell if it was from rage or hidden tears. “Run away to Aberon. The inquisitors will come for you if you give them reason.”

I nodded. “Goodbye, Magister.” I pushed him away, but I didn’t turn my back on him as I stepped towards the door.

He stood by the chair just as I had: one hand grasping the carefully carved back, the other behind his back. His face was a mask of calm, but I could see the tension in his body. His knuckles were white, and his arm was trembling. I raise one hand in a salute, and, before I realized what I was doing, blew him a kiss. As I exited, I heard a strangled moan. I shut the door behind myself and ran, paying no heed to the tears threatening to overflow my eyes.

So, that's what happens when I'm given the assignment to 'Please write a dialogue between two characters of your choosing. 2 pages. Ground the piece with a setting, using objects and sensory detail. The setting will relate to the conversation between the characters. Let something be at stake.'

Any two characters. xD ...and this is five pages, spaced out for class. Two pages, with my tiny font. But yeah. Maestro and Zelle. <3 ...they're fun. And I do know what Zu did to Maestro. Rather horrible. But fascinating nonetheless. Not a scene I ever want to write, though. But this... this sets the stage for the story. The there's also when Maestro and Ciel meet, which I really should write eventually. But yeah. Anyway. I like my characters.