Title: Bouquet, Autumn Leaves and Overcast Skies
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: G
Genre: Friendship/Light Romance
Characters: Pent/Louise
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: I used to frequent a particular site for my Victorian flower meanings, but it no longer seems to exist. Therefore, I've switched to this site. From what I could tell after a cursory glance, some meanings may be different, and other flowers from the first list don't appear in this one.
Note the Second: This is the companion story to 'Like Petals in the Summer Breeze.'
Summary: "I want to get to know you." Louise follows Pent on a tour through his old academy.

Title: Bouquet, Like Petals in the Summer Breeze
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: G
Genre: Friendship/Family/Light Romance
Characters: Pent/Louise
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: I used to frequent a particular site for my Victorian flower meanings, but it no longer seems to exist. Therefore, I've switched to this site. From what I could tell after a cursory glance, some meanings may be different, and other flowers from the first list don't appear in this one.
Note the Second: Originally there were supposed to be two stories, but out of consideration for LJ's maximum character allowance I've elected to post them separately. The companion story will hopefully be posted within the next two weeks.
Summary: "I want to get to know you." Pent watches Louise compete at Alloway County's annual Festival d'Armements.


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BRB, need to go fail my Public Law exam so I can have a legitimate reason to drop the class! :D That leaves me with more time for jobhunting, after all! (I hate the world.)

Title: Bouquet, Flowers in Disarray
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: G
Genre: General
Characters: Pent/Louise
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: For this I used Victorian flower language instead of hanakotoba because the one site I know that has an extensive list of hanakotoba meanings is in Japanese. This is the site I used for my titles.
Summary: The one thing more difficult than to be the father of the soon-to-be bride may be the steward of the 'orphan lord' groom, particularly in prenuptial negotiation.


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Sorry, no junkfic this time (not until mid-December at best), and I'm keeping mum on my NaNo this time around. I'm just a little nervous because it seems like a couple cities in north Orange County is on fire and, uh, I live in North County too. The worst part is that houses are being burned down all over the place and the Santa Ana winds are pretty bad, so they won't be contained for at least a few days. My mom mentioned seeing an increased police presence around, so they must be preparing for it to come down here.

Someone cheer me up, please?

(There are other fires up north in Santa Barbara and Sylmar, both active for over a day and also merrily burning down houses as well. Not a great week to be in Southern California.)

ETA 1:45 PM: Smoke has completely blotted out the sky; the color inside my room is that of sunset and my apartment stinks of smoke. Far, far worse is the news I just heard from someone that one of the fires is threatening a major power source in LA.

A little rushed for time these days. I was dead-set on writing a Gerik + Tethys first meeting fic, but I can't seem to feel that much 'fun!' as of late. Maybe after the primaries on the 4th? This story, on the other hand, is...well, I have no clue what I was thinking.

Title: Bouquet, Frozen Flowers
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: PG
Genre: Family/Romance
Characters: Canas/Lily, Hugh
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: For this I used Victorian flower language instead of hanakotoba because the one site I know that has an extensive list of hanakotoba meanings is in Japanese. This is the site I used for my titles.
Note the Second: Takes place about a year before Canas' game epilogue fate.
Note the Third: As for the title, Canas' name references the cannas, or canna lily.
Summary: Even in the quiet darkness of Ilian winters, there is always a light on at home.

I'd planned to have this done yesterday, but I was out too much this weekend. I've changed my mind on what the next story will be, just because I'd like to write something heavier in tone and theme. I almost split this part because of length, then I decided against it; according to the preview it still fits!

Title: Bouquet, The Budding Garden, part 2
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: G
Genre: General/Drama/Romance
Characters: Pent, Louise
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: For this I used Victorian flower language instead of hanakotoba because the one site I know that has an extensive list of hanakotoba meanings is in Japanese. This is the site I used for my titles.
Note the Second: This story is dedicated to Houyoku (rabidgirlbecki), whose story Lady of Violets not only introduced me to the complexities of the Pent/Louise pairing but is still what I consider to be the story about them. Though I don't know if you'll ever read this, I hope that, if you do, you'll find it to be every bit as enjoyable as I found your story to be. 
Summary: Even the most steadfast, solid love is gained through risk.

I mentioned in a comment to vestrwald that I had an idea of what junk fic will be coming up: Another Pent/Louise, then Gerik/Tethys, and I've come up with another Kent/Fiora that seemed like a lovely idea. What I didn't expect was that the Pent/Louise story would be so long. I've split it into two parts, with the second part coming in a few days--I've got Valentine's Day to celebrate first! (Haha, not really) Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Title: Bouquet, The Budding Garden, part 1
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: G
Genre: General/Drama
Characters: Pent, Louise
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: For this I used Victorian flower language instead of hanakotoba because the one site I know that has an extensive list of hanakotoba meanings is in Japanese. This is the site I used for my titles.
Note the Second: This story is dedicated to Houyoku (rabidgirlbecki), whose story Lady of Violets not only introduced me to the complexities of the Pent/Louise pairing but is still what I consider to be the story about them. Though I don't know if you'll ever read this, I hope that, if you do, you'll find it to be every bit as enjoyable as I found your story to be. 
Summary: Even the most steadfast, solid love is gained through risk.

Political ETA: Oh my God.

There will be no new LoH chapter this week. Thursday is Chinese New Year, and we're preparing in a desultory way for it at my house. You'd think we'd be better about it, seeing as it's the Year of the Rat and both my mom and myself are Rats, but my mom's doing jury duty this week and I'm edgy about the results of today's primaries and it just doesn't feel very festive here. Instead, here's more junk fic.

Title: Bouquet, Sprig and Sapling
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: G
Genre: Drama/Family
Characters: Louise, Pent
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: For this I used Victorian flower language instead of hanakotoba because the one site I know that has an extensive list of hanakotoba meanings is in Japanese. This is the site I used for my titles.
Note the Second: Normal stories. Not proofread, sorry.
Summary: There was a time when Louise and Pent had no idea the other existed. Only one of them is joking when they refer to it as the Dark Ages.

Thursday I went to the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood with a friend to see the rallies--the final debate for the Democratic candidates before Super/Amazing/Tsunami/enter-superlative-here Tuesday next week. I'd already voted thanks to the acceptance of absentee ballots in California, but my friend was undecided. The rallies were interesting; lots of impromptu chants (my favorite is 'Hill-a-ry will set us free!' and the retort from an Obama supporter, 'I'm already free!'), finding out that Snoopy supports Obama (now who does Mickey Mouse support, I wonder?), and talking to a CNN security director who seemed more amused than anything else by the crowd surrounding the area blocked off for CNN's broadcast. Then we were led to an inner courtyard within the theater, where we watched the debate between Obama and Clinton. It was a good debate that really showcased their policies; Clinton seemed to be doing slightly better (though the way she answered the immigration question might have cost her California, especially in light of the various endorsements Obama is now receiving) right until the Iraq portion happened. I've never seen someone flounder and fail so hard as she did, trying to explain why she voted for the war when Obama was against it from the very beginning. Whenever there was a commercial break the Obama train of signholders and chanters would start going around. Some of the Clinton supporters near me were really rude and talked whenever Obama was talking. Overall, it was interesting and my friend seems to have found which candidate he likes, so it was well worth the trip.

For those who are further interested in the primaries, this is an excellent blog I've been reading as of late. It's more skewed towards the Democratic side, but I'm from California so what do I care about Republicans? XD It's updated multiple times a day and oddly prescient as well as full of solid analysis.

In fic news, LoH will be next week. I'd talked about having some junk fic up to help me get back into writing, but it seems that I needed to think about what I intended to do more than write. Here's a junk fic to make up for the wait, though. The paths are not meant to be read together; they are not part one and part two, but rather two distinct branches. So, please read with that in mind--separately.

Title: Bouquet, Branch I and II
Series: Fire Emblem 7: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword
Rating: (Path I) G; (Path II) PG
Genre: Drama/Romance
Characters: Kent/Fiora
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note the First: For this I used Victorian flower language instead of hanakotoba because the one site I know that has an extensive list of hanakotoba meanings is in Japanese. This is the site I used for my titles.
Note the Second: I know it's weird to go from present to past tense from the intro to the separate parts. I laugh in the face of correct grammatical constructs!
Note the Third: Arrgh, romance.
Summary: The blink of an eye, the touch of a hand...the end might remain the same, but the events leading up to it may differ drastically. (Between B/A support)


This is how it begins: a man and a woman, together. Night surrounds them in its oppressive embrace, but it is buffeted by the light of a half-moon and the nearby fire. The ambiance is lost on the both of them, if only because these two are Kent of the Lycian canton Caelin and Fiora of Edessa province, Ilia--two knights who have taken it upon themselves to ensure that no one else may enjoy what they have now, an increasingly intimate encounter with a person of the opposite sex. Right now they are proper, principled commanders sharing ideas on a matter that has troubled the both of them, that any two people could get so carried away in each other that they forget their duty and lose everything. It is a favorite word of theirs, duty: a noun, a virtue, an honor, and they use it often and with complete sincerity.

This is not the first night they have spent on their new idea, because they both have so much to share with the other. How should we clarify this? Would this be too harsh? In Caelin, the proper punishment would be this, but how would they do it in Ilia? Like this, you see, because any harsher might store up resentment. That's true, we wouldn't want to go so far; as a new commander I've found a direct, but lenient approach to be best. I'm surprised to hear it's only been a year for you, considering what Florina has said. Your sister has been working harder than the native knights; seeing you in battle, I realize her work ethic must come from the example you have set. I thank you for the compliment, but after seeing the improvement in her skill I should be the one thanking you. Well, I'm honored by your kind words. Ah, anyway, as you were saying here...

Well, maybe they have been affected, just a little, not that either of them are able--or willing--to recognize it.

Until tonight. Together, night after night, they have worked, conversed, and expressed surprise when one or the other realized just how much of the night had trickled by, so naturally they have had to promise to meet again the next night. And again. And yet again, until all there was in their days was battle and each other.

Until tonight.

Tonight is a night like any other, they think, but this is not true. They have been around each other for too many battles, too many nights, for that to be true. It is there in the way her breath catches when he leans over her shoulder to see something she has written--she feels that she might be breathing too loud and that will annoy him, but no, the only thing louder than the crackle of the fire is the staccato beats of her heart. It's there in the way his eyes linger on the curve of her wrist as she tucks a loose lock of hair behind one small, unadorned ear--Lady Lyndis has pierced lobes from which her mother's gold earrings dangle and he does find that detail very endearing, but he finds that there is something perfectly right that the woman beside him now would eschew something as frivolously simple as jewelry. The sound of his accented, precise Elibean as it slides into her ear and reverberates in time with her heartbeat, the scatter of teal-blue hair over her ear and trickling down her shoulder as she lowers her hand--these are the things they notice, these are the things they lock within their hearts, these are the things upon which they don't react.

Then it happens. Entirely by accident their fingers nudge together in that space between them that both knights had unconsciously left barren, a borderline of propriety. Both are surprised by the breach, surprised enough that they glance at each other, apologies fattened by their unconscious guilt already reaching their lips.

Their eyes meet, and then--

Subtitle: Somewhat Jumbled Thoughts of a NaNoWriMo Entrant After It's All Said and Done.



In other news: I'll be returning to Legion of Honor in mid-December, after my finals. I'm thinking either the 12th or the 19th. I can't make any promises on finishing In the Case of Alicia before the end of the year, unfortunately. There's also something I've been wanting to write for the last year, year and a half or so, but I'm a little embarrassed even to put it up on my writing journal. If it happens it happens, right?

NaNoWriMo '07, baby! ;-)

As this year's novel is an original fiction, I won't talk about it much--other than the requisite "What was I thinking?!" exclamations I'll be making to friends, of course. Despite all the work and ongoing stress, I'm seeing NaNoWriMo as a good thing; it's a stress-reliever in a way that I haven't been getting from things like video games and the new season of Avatar, not to mention a start to what I hope will become my first published novel. Haha, that's kind of embarrassing to admit. But um, I'm really happy. I hope everyone else, whether they're participating in NaNoWriMo or not, is feeling equally optimistic. Since I've had this idea for the better part of the year (and have been worldbuilding for more novels for over a year), it feels like a relief to be talking about it, even in vague terms. The tentative title is The Ferryman, and I guess the best way to put it is that it's both a fantasy and a romance (married) with strong metaphysical leanings. The general themes are acceptance, communication, the effects of socio-cultural values in how we see others, death, and a celebration of life and love.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo projects, a couple days ago I took a look at the one I did last year and, after some more editing, I think I might go back to it at a later date and see if I can't finish it off and eventually post it up on FFN. If I end up doing that, it will most likely be my final completed fanfic, after Legion of Honor and In the Case of Alicia. Wow, that feels kind of nice to say.

In other news, things are looking up here. Little fires have been starting, but the big ones are getting cleared out. The winds seem to be better, which has really helped the firefighters. I guess you could say that's contributed to my positive outlook in general. :D

Normally I wouldn't post about something happening in my personal life since this is just a fanfic journal, but the recent fires have even me wanting to reach out and make a few comments about it. I live in northern Orange County, in easy driving distance to everything from the sea to the desert, LA to San Diego, and until yesterday I never thought of that as more than just a matter of convenience. But with the Santa Anas, a dry, heavy wind that comes from the east and has a tendency of creating some of our worse fires in recent history, all the fires burning now are fueled to rage through Malibu to Arrowhead Lake to San Diego. Governor Schwarzenegger declared the entire area under a State of Emergency, though I can't remember if that was earlier today or yesterday. The air is gray with ash; the sun a deep reddish-orange through the smoke. Although the first fire, in Malibu, was created solely by accident--malfunctioning transformer, I believe--the Irvine (a city in central Orange County and some miles south from me) fire is suspected to be caused by an arsonist. That fire, as well as some of the San Diego ones, have been labeled firestorms and aren't expected to be contained until Thursday if the winds continue to be as bad as they've been. Mandatory and recommended evacuations have been blaring everywhere; I've heard an estimated 250,000 people have been evacuated so far. Houses are burning everywhere, and entire neighborhoods have been lost all around the various areas. There's a fire down south, I think it's the Poway one, that's expected to burn to the coast. With the roads and freeways that have been closed, I can't even imagine how the I-5 and 405 look right now, especially from San Diego up. Urban areas are the safest places to be right now, and consequently I can imagine just how many people are going to be getting drunk tonight. It's not like school or work is going to matter tomorrow; I'm waiting to hear if UCSD is going to be evacuated tonight, and how much worse the Irvine fire is going to get before the same happens to UCI (though at least UCI is more of a commuter school). There are even sporadic reports of looting.

As far as I know, it's relatively safe in my area other than the stench and unhealthy air. I'm not too worried about my apartment going up in flames since thankfully I'm too poor to live up in the hills, where fires thrive with the dry brush. But with new fires popping up every few hours, more than a few the cause of stupid fuckers lighting up the brush for whatever reason, who's to say what's going to happen next? All I know is that this entire area that I am a native of is going up in flames and all I can do is watch. And babble, I guess.

It smells like smoke in my apartment. If it's true what I'm hearing, about the fires growing even worse tonight, I'll be staying at home tomorrow and be damned grateful that I even still have a home.

It's going to be a long night.

God, this is starting to feel like more than simple repentance for missing my deadline. To do this all in one day...fun, yet very exhausting. (ETA 6/18: Placing official character titles from the NTSC/PAL version where applicable.)

Onward! [ETA 6/18: Added the official character titles from the NTSC/PAL version of the game. Ones that are the same as my translation are left alone.)

Random Thoughts: Today's utterly incomprehensible FE pairing is Canas x Sonia. Crack pairings are one thing, but they never even talk...

Full speed ahead; if I'm lucky, the translation of the FE7 charas will be easy enough that I can finish all the profiles today!

Random Thoughts: From what I hear, there are mixed reactions to the PSP port of FFT in Japan; lag is the main issue. I also hear that among the added stuff in the port, there is something called 'full voice' in cutscenes--voice acting? The cutscenes have very pretty pictures too; I saw one of the scene in Ch. 4, I believe, where Delita and Ramza meet inside a church. It may also be getting a revamped translation, which makes me so jealous.

Beyond that, LoH's next chapter comes out on 6.21, simply because I haven't finished it yet. I did start it, at least! So, as a sort of apology, I'll start posting my newest translation project, the entire 118 character profiles from the FE 6+7 artbook. I'm splitting them into 4 parts, in the order they appear in the book (which is the order the characters appear in the game), which means that FE6 goes first. I'll see about having the second part done by tonight. Oh, and take the translations of the titles and social statuses with a bit of salt; sometimes odd kanji is used, and, much like my English, prepositions and I don't get along well. Sorry if some of it reads a bit stilted, as I'm still a student of Japanese.

Title: Path of the Sword
Series: Fire Emblem 6: Fuuin no Tsurugi/Sword of Seals
Rating: G
Genre: Gen/Romance
Characters: Noah/Fir
(C) Intelligent Systems and Nintendo
Note: I've been wanting to write something with these two for a while. It still doesn't do them justice, but it hit something inside me so it had to be written.
Summary: This is the path they walked.

Currently, LoH and I are at an impasse. We've been snarling insults at each other for the last few days, and it's just been really unpleasant. Finally I figured out the problem: I forgot what Khathelet looks like, so now I need to replay Lyn's Story to get to the Khathelet map. Fun times, really.

On the other hand, I've been having a great time working on The White Lady, which is the first part of the mini-serial about the Ilian part of the Human-Dragon War. The entire story is called Warriors of Ice and Snow: The Ilian Eight, and although I only plan for it to be about 3 or 4 parts, I'm caught up in all the small details about the Ilia of that time and I love it. It feels like I'm cheating on LoH. ^^;; In an ideal world I'd have The White Lady posted here tomorrow or Sunday, LoH's first chapter on the upcoming Thursday, and the last part of ICA on the 31st, so let's see how that goes. In the meanwhile, here's the general character summaries for the Ilian Eight.

As someone who today has suffered through a two-hour final for my Logic course, I just have this to say: fuck syllogisms. >_< (Forgive me, it was just...very tiring.)

I wanted to post this weekend; there's just too much that I want to write up, both stories and general thoughts. I'll be posting more after tomorrow, I hope; LoH is priority for me, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make the scheduled restart on Thursday. As eager as I am, the last few days or so have been rough. I've been spending time playing through FE6, which usually drains me even more. Damned need to do research... ::shakes fist::

Instead, here are a few things I intend to post in the following weeks. I'd love some direction to start out with, so please pick the order you'd like to see the stories in, or which ones you'd like to see at all. With LoH and ICA, I hope to finish off this list by mid-July.


FE6 Death Roster (current up to Ch. 9): Dorothy (murdered by a lancer as reinforcements rushed to try to take back Castle Tania [I think] in Ch. 6), Treck (died after valiantly defending his position from four lancemen; a javelin thrown by a coward ended his life).

This was supposed to be finished last weekend, but...yeah. No excuses. I'll probably never write FFXII fic again, so I might as well do what I can now, right? Plus, after two months of waiting, I've finally received my Street Fighter Ultimate Collection by Udon, so all's right with the world.

Title: Kids Run Through the City Corner
Series: Final Fantasy XII
Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Characters: Penelo, Basch
(C) Square Enix
Notes: Dedicated to toastyann. Four years and two (or three) fandoms, isn't that correct? I wouldn't be half as good as I am now without your help. :) Also, the title is from the town theme of FFVI. And yes, this has a non-ending like whoa. It's like half of a story, I'm so sorry to say.
Summary: To judge the strength of a country, look to its children.