No, I'm not dead, just lazy...

---



Myssa bolted awake, almost choking on her own breath as she did so. Adrenaline roared through her system, making her heart thunder in her chest. Danger! All around!

Her hand was already clenched tight on the hilt of her sword, but for a moment she found that she couldn't move. She could feel it, that sensation of danger, of primal fear, of horrific calamity waiting to fall upon her head. But there was also something else, something inside her that was eager and electrified. Her blood was boiling at the mere thought of facing... anything. She was eager to fight, to battle, to strive, to achieve, to triumph, to kill.

It took long moments of carefully controlled breathing to bring herself back under control. Control, control was the key. Mindless fear of danger and heady exhilaration of battle were emotions she could experience, but only through the lens of complete control. The emotions belonged to her, she did not belong to the emotions. Enjoy them, Bardiel had taught her, but only after you mastered them.

Now, she could think. Fear and glee swam through her veins, but she focused instead on important matters: what brought these feelings about? Wiping away the last of sleep from her vision she checked around her. The small crevice she had wedged herself into for shelter appeared to still be safe. The foul smelling sap she's smeared on nearby rocks still filled her nostrils, effectively hiding her own scent from the predators. Nothing appeared to have come close to her temporary refuge. She was, as far as it was ever possible, as safe as she could be by herself in the Northern Wastes.

And then she heard it: screams. Howls. The cries of bloodlust. Myssa found herself out of her hidey-hole almost before she realized it. She stood up in the night air, the breeze playing across her hot skin, her sword clenched tightly in her hand.

The screams were not near, but there was enough that it seemed to be coming from everywhere. There was fighting throughout the Wastes. Whatever had ripped her from her sleep had also disturbed the Wastes' denizens, and now drove them wild. The Wastes had always been a place of death, but now the killing was happening with wild abandon.

And a part of her desperately longed to prove to this world that she was its apex predator.

"What's going on? What's happening to me?"

Something had changed. She wasn't certain how she knew, just that she knew. Something had changed in the Northern Wastes. And it promised a glorious future. It promised a terrible one.

Swiftly, she returned to her bolt hole and repacked her meager belongings. Traveling at night would be reckless, and doing it while the beasts of the Wastes were driven to a blood frenzy even more so. But Myssa could feel the torrents of sand running through the hourglass. There could be no more delays: she had to get back to Neriak, had to talk to lady Armisael. Had to explain her failure, explain why she didn't kill the Wind Chosen. And if she was still alive after that, maybe talk to her Lady about the future.

It might be their only hope. If it wasn't already too late.


=======================================================================

CHOSEN

An Evangelion inspired fantasy elsewhere story
Based on characters created by and copyright GAINAX

Co-written and Directed by Alain Gravel and Darren Demaine

Proof-reader and Gaffer: Jeremy Mullin
Muse and Costume Designer: Myssa Elaine Santos Rei

CHAPTER 19 - Darkness Rising

=======================================================================


Pain! So much pain!

Arael tumbled gracelessly to the floor as he emerged from his teleportation portal. Even though he had escaped from Lilith's light, like acid it continued its destructive work, tearing his body apart!

"Master!" The call echoed from multiple throats as Arael's servants rushed to his aid. Mentally linked to the master vampire, his pain resonated through their skulls with the strength of a warhammer. "What is wrong, Master?!"

Arael's response was pure instinct. Words were meaningless, chattering noises that washed over him without meaning. Only one thing mattered: blood! With strength born of pure desperation he lunged for his nearest minion and dragged her to the floor, his fangs plunging into her neck. She thrashed for a moment before the limited supply of stolen blood within her was sucked beyond the amount needed to maintain her in undeath. The other servitor vampires backed away in fear of their unlife.

Slowly, so very slowly, the haze of pain pulled back from Arael's mind, a sliver of rationality replacing the primal blood thirst that still clawed at him. "Blood," he croaked at his minions. "More... blood..."

"Understood, Master." Though fearing they might become Arael's next meal, the vampires hurried to obey his command. One of them picked him up as carefully as possible, and quickly they rushed to the slave cells. Gently, they placed him down in one cell, surrounded by a dozen chained humans. Then they swiftly retreated.

It was fortunate they did. With a growl, Arael threw himself upon the screaming humans and tore them to shreds, feeding on the torrents of blood in an animalistic frenzy. There was none of his normal finicky feeding habits, no snobbery in his choice of who would be his feast for the night; no, there was nothing but the base vampiric desire for blood and murder. He drank blood of women, he crammed the meat of children into his mouth... he even consumed the flesh of men! ...anything to feed his ravenous need. Once the bodies were dry he was on the ground, his tongue furiously licking blood off the cold flagstones. It was only a long, long time after everything in the cell was dead that Arael's bestial fury abated, to the relief of his terrified minions.

Panting, Arael laid on his back as he felt the mass quantity of blood he had ingested start to take effect. He was still in pain, but it no longer was overwhelming. He could feel Lilith's holy power being extinguished beneath the taint of undead filth as the fresh blood rejuvenated his powers, and his body slowly start to mend. The damage had been extensive, and he was still weak, but the important thing was that he was healing. Had he been younger, weaker, he probably wouldn't have survived.

With as much dignity as he could manage, the master vampire pulled himself to his knees, adjusting the tattered remains of his once fashionable clothes around him. Distasteful... wasting slaves like this... Peasants were easily replaced, but it took time to abduct and bring food to his lair. It was possible there might have been a noble or two in the mix. Now those were harder to replenish. Even worse, his minions had seen him act in such a barbaric manner. He might have to kill them all, lest they think him nothing more than a common bloodsucker!

His frown of displeasure turned into a scowl as he saw tuffs of reddish-blond hair amongst the carnage. Oh now there was a loss; that boy-child had been special. Such an angelic face and a voice like a chorus of sweet birds. While he himself had no interest in males, he had picked up the boy as a future gift for Asuka. Surely, once properly molded, his future queen would appreciate the symphonies of the boy's screams...

ASUKA!

Arael howled in naked fury, the anger in the sound sending his minions fleeing. He had left the Fire Chosen behind! He had left his property to the mercies of her friends and companions! That was unthinkable! Quickly, he tried to pick up her thoughts, to know what had happened to her. But that place in his mind where he held her chains he found nothing! Their link was severed! It had to be Lilith's light again!

Seething with rage, Arael's body trembled as he got up. So much hard work, wasted in an instant! Damn that elf! He should never have agreed to help him!

That elf would die, him and that King Kozo! Yes! It was his fault as well! He had been the one who had unleashed Lilith's light! He was the one responsible! He had to pay for this! They would all pay!

But Kozo was dead. That accursed artifact of Lilith would consume his body and end his life. How dare the coward kill himself like that and rob Arael of his just and rightful revenge! Such selfishness!

Damn him!

Painfully, he left the cell and made his ways towards his chambers, his brood making sure to get out of his way. Good, he wasn't in the mood to deal with them right now.

It had been a long time since Arael had been reminded of the fear of death; real death. He hadn't been so close since his last real conflict with Armisael, so many years ago now. She had been younger then, fresh into adulthood, a fresh dark flower in full bloom, too enticing to ignore. The girl turned out to be much more of a challenge than Arael had expected and had managed, of all things, to cast a blood curse on him, almost ending his life there and then.

But that was different; it had been part of the hunt. He had chosen the girl because she had been powerful and dangerous, a worthy challenge. While Arael certainly didn't want to die, there was no shame in being almost killed by her. But... him! It wasn't the Chosen in Tokyo who had almost killed him, nor the famed White Knight, nor the heartless High Mage, nor its -- not so quite -- holy High Priestess. It was the King! A feeble old man with probably one foot already in the grave! Such shame!

Entering his sleeping quarters, Arael ignored his oversized colorful bed and instead crossed the room to reach a door on the other side. Pressing a palm on the door, magical runes briefly appeared before the seals locking the door faded and the door opened. Behind it was revealed a small cavern and in the middle of it, a single stone coffin.

It had been ages since Arael had been forced to sleep in his coffin to regenerate. This very fact just added to his rage. There had to be a way of making the old man pay! But how? He had had the impertinence to die! Arael had no skill in the necromantic arts, so bringing his soul back from the dead wasn't an option. Certainly, Armisael would have been able to do it, but to ask for a favor would be humiliating enough, having to explain to her WHY he wanted to revive the old man would be humiliation he had no intention to bear.

A smile crept on his face as a way to make Kozo pay came to mind. Of course! The man had mentioned something about a daughter...

- - -

Armisael staggered down the cold stone corridor of her citadel in a daze. Her mind refused to process what Bardiel had told her. It just couldn't be true. It couldn't be!

Her army... her people... annihilated. First they were betrayed by the Kagenoshi, the soldier of Adam who became the repository of their dreams. The weapon that promised them victory and a new life instead turned Judas on them. It crushed the best they had, those brave souls who had gladly marched into battle to secure a home for their people.

And those who had somehow survived the carnage of betrayal had faced something new from the humans. Some kind of weapon had been unleashed just before Bardiel had managed to flee with those few he could find. She had no idea how many had been left behind, or what horrors they faced.

Unseeing, she stumbled into a pillar, mocking elven grace and bruising her shoulder. She didn't care.

The reward for her soldiers' valiant sacrifice had been betrayal and death.

And she had sent them. She had approved the plan, she had given the order.

Everything she had worked for, everything her father had entrusted to her was now so much ash. Bringing the disparate clans together had been her doing, ending the strife that had plagued the dark elf people and caused them to waste their strength in useless feuds. She had bound them to one fate, one future. They could be strong, could present a unified front to the world, they could achieve through unity what had been denied to them. For the first time in centuries, she had seen the light of true hope in the eyes of her people.

And she had repaid that hope... with death.

"No..." she moaned, a sick tremble in her voice. Drunkenly, she pushed herself away from the pillar and staggered to her chambers. Blindly she groped for the handle and almost fell into her room.

Inside, slumping uncomfortably in one of her chairs, was Tabris. His pale skin was bone white, the flesh on his right arm heaving and seething in a most unnatural fashion. A terrible grimace washed over his features and he looked barely able to breathe.

She didn't care. Where there had only been horrified disbelief, blinding rage now roared forth. "YOU!"

Her hands clenched into fists so tight her bones creaked. "You bastard! You light-skinned elven bastard! My people are dead! Dead! Your Kagenoshi betrayed me! I followed you and this is what I have to show for it! Nothing but death!" Magic seethed and boiled beneath her skin and warped the very air around her, but she didn't cast. She was so angry she couldn't think straight, couldn't focus. Her vision was a sea of red and her thoughts nothing but violence. No, she wouldn't rot his insides out with a spell, she wouldn't carve his cold heart out with her swords, she'd beat him to death with her fists!

Tears poured down her cheeks as she advanced on him, grabbing a fistful of his tunic and hauling him partway out of the chair. Her other fist was drawn back and ready to pulp that gorgeous face into bloody ruin. "Give me back my people you son of a bitch!"

"Okay."

Armisael blinked. That one word had cut through the crimson that had consumed her thoughts. It had been like ice water to her fury. Her breathing was still ragged, her fist clenched so tight it hurt. But...

She pulled his face so close she could have kissed him... or bit through his lips. "What. Are. You. Saying?"

Tabris shifted his weight, grimacing as he did so. Cradling his right arm – which seethed and shifted grotesquely — he looked into her eyes. His voice had a strange double-echo to it, but only very softly, as if it was very weak. "What happened is a tragedy. This is a fact that can't be changed. Lilith's influence corrupted our control over the Kagenoshi-"

"I don't give a damn about why it happened! What did you mean?!"

"You can still save your people. And I can help."

Armisael almost hit him. Almost cracked his skull open, almost tore those glowing eyes out of his head, ripped his spine out and stabbed him with his own tailbone. But there was something in his voice, something that spoke to her. To her need to do something, to bring her father's dream back to life...

"Not all your people went on the invasion, correct?" he asked, his voice weak but supremely rational. She hated it. How could he not be like her, overrun with furious emotion at what had become of the dark elf people? But he was offering her something, something she hadn't had scant seconds ago. "You kept your young here in case something happened. So your children remain, and the breeding stock to serve as a slave race. So despite it all you have the seeds from which your people can rise again."

"How?" she demanded bitterly. "The army is gone! Crushed by your betrayal! We won't survive a year here in the Wastes. We won't survive a month! My people are dead!"

"I'm sure a few may have survived that final attack the humans launched." He gestured to his arm, which suddenly ballooned and seemed almost ready to explode. He grimaced and the arm returned to a more normal shape. "It was a... vile weapon, but I'm sure it didn't kill... everyone."

There was an odd tilt to his voice but she ignored it, instead clinging to what he had said. "So some of my troops may still be alive?"

"Quite so. However, they are now in the hands of humans. And you know what that means."

"I will get them out! I will free them-!" Tabris shook his head sadly, making her stop.

"Really, do you think that possible? Do you think that even if you somehow free those few who remain, it will change anything?" He leaned even closer to her, capturing her eyes with his. His breath was on her cheek. "It is as you said, without a real army the Northern Wastes will kill your people. Shisshars, dune worms, goblin tribes, gnoll packs, plague beasts or just an inability to defend what little farmland you have: which will have the honor of slaying your people?"

She shook as she acknowledged the truth of his words. The weak did not survive the Wastes. "So what can we do?"

"Well, you can ask the humans for help."

"What?!"

He shrugged, which set his right shoulder heaving as if a thousand bees lived under the skin there. "It's always an option. You can approach them, cap in hand, and ask them for help. You can get down on your knees and say 'oh, sorry about that whole invasion thing, and the fact we would have enslaved any of you who survived, but since it didn't work out could you release those who were trying to kill you a little while ago? And maybe, if it's not too much of a bother, maybe spare a bit of food?'" He glared at his shoulder until the flesh there quieted down.

"But... but, if I offer myself-"

"Oh course, you'll have to parley with their new Queen, since I'm pretty sure King Kozo died in the invasion. You know, because we were trying to decapitate the humans' leaders and all." He turned a smirk towards her. "So all you'll have to do is negotiate from a position of weakness with someone who probably wasn't even born the last time you had a menstrual flow. I'm confident the new Queen won't be the type to hold a grudge and think you responsible for her father's death. After all, a human be vengeful and filled with a desire for revenge? Surely not."

She wanted to scream, wanted to destroy something. She was powerless and his words drove that point home with horrible finality. Her people... she could do nothing for them.

"Or... we could simply kill all the humans."

His words caught her attention like a vice. "What?! How?!"

"Wake Adam."

She gazed at him, heart pounded in her chest. "Can it be done?"

He leaned back, his face scowling. "Yes. With Zeruel's well deserved destruction I have gathered all the necessary shards here in my arm. But as you can see," he gestured to his arm which responded by twisting like a snake, "my flesh cannot hold the power. It will slowly kill me." He smirked. "Well, maybe not so slowly."

"But how will Adam help us? Zeruel betrayed us, how can you be sure Adam won't do the same?"

"My dear, Zeruel was corrupted; Adam cannot be. Adam is a god, in that he is pure. There is no way for him to be anything less than all that he is. Return him to life, and humans and regular elves everywhere will die. They will die and your people can just walk out of the Wastes and claim the lands once denied them."

"And what do you get out of Adam's revival?"

Tabris grimaced. "What I always wanted: revenge. And now, something else as well." His arm contorted monstrously between them. "A place to transfer this terrible power to. Adam's revival must work, must be successful, or else I die. In this endeavor, the lives of your race and myself are linked. Besides... doubt me if you must, but why doubt Adam? After all, isn't he the All-Father of your people?"

Armisael glared at him, her mind running furiously. What else was there? She had no army, no allies. Her people didn't have the luxury of time; either the ones awaiting death in the Wastes, nor those survivors who were surely to be executed by the humans. What other options were available? What would her father have done?

Her mind was a jumble. She couldn't think of anything else. Again and again her mind returned to his words. 'Wake Adam.' What else could she do for her people? 'Wake Adam.' To negotiate from weakness against their mortal foes would be disastrous. 'Wake Adam.' But... she could bring a god into battle on their side. 'Wake Adam.' Strike down the humans, because there was no other way. 'Wake Adam.' Replay the Black Wars, only this time with the trump card in their hands. 'Wake Adam.' She would free her people, because that was the only thing that mattered. 'Wake Adam.' And the only way to do that would be to...

Slowly, Armisael released her hold on his tunic, easing him back down into the chair. "... What must be done?"

Tabris sagged into the seat. "Fortunately, most of the materials, reagents, and components required for the ritual are already here in Neriak. But there is one thing that is required from outside. And in my current state, that is where your help will be required." With his good hand, Tabris offered her a ring, which Armisael's experienced magical senses recognized as a teleportation device. "But no worries... I'm certain you will enjoy this little task."

To be continued soon on FF.net...

Merry Christmas to all!

Now, with holiday wishes done, the bad news.

As some already guessed, 2009 won't be the year which will see the ending of Chosen. I had the motivation to give it a try, but fell victim to the deaded blinking cursor syndrome. Several times now, I've been trying to tackle a certain scene but for the life or me, I can't get it right, let alone write more than two or three lines at a time. Each tentative to get that scene done has resulted in frustration and annoyance.

Of course, I could skip to another scene, or I could just ask Darren to write it after telling him how I want it to go. But considering the chain of events we need to follow, I really want to write this as much in sequence as possible, and I feel that it's an hurdle I must conquer myself. If I start delegating each scene I get stuck on, I might as well just let Darren finish the story on his own.

I have confidence I'll manage. It's been a bit of time and I had time to mull it in my head, so maybe next attempt will flow better. It just means that the idea, how remotely unlikely it was, that we would finish Chosen for New Years is now pretty much impossible. Not with the quantity of work left.

Writer's block aside, I'll also admit (again not surprisingly) that I also got distracted by other things. First, well, there is the whole holidays thing. Setting decorations, cleaning the house, gifts hunting (sounds easier than it was) and helping with the family cooking did take a bit of time.

Then, there is the matter of the early Christmas gift I got myself. Indeed, I decided that it was finally time and so, got myself a new HD TV. After careful consideration and look at what I had available here, I went with the Sharp AQUOS 52E77U, as well as a new Sony Blu-Ray player. It had solid web ratings (over the 90% satisfaction mark) and an aggressive quality/price ration. Plus, with its 4ms response time, it was perfect for the Xbox360.

I've had it for about three weeks now and without even optimized calibration, it displays gorgeous images. Quite certainly, my previous 36" Sony Trinitron got blown way by this little beauty. On the Xbox360, Brütal Legend, Left 4 Dead 2 and SoulCalibur IV looked awesome. Just as did Star Trek in Blu-Ray. Even regular DVDs, such as Transformers 2 really come out looking great. Recent anime series also really look great on it, as they make full use of the TV's full screen resolution (unlike Hollywood movies, which, while widescreen, still have small black bars on top and bottom).



And since I had to change my TV stand (as the old one was made specifically for the old Sony Trinitron), I ended up having to rewire everything. So I took the opportunity, as well as the fact that the new TV had a lot more available input entries, to buy new cable for the Xbox360 and the Wii. So the consoles got switched from RCA to HDMI and component respectively, while the Xbox also got plugged on my home theater system via optical cable (I discovered while unhooking everything that I actually had two 5.1 optical entries, something I hadn't noticed 6 years ago when I got it). So not only is the Xbox in HD, but also it runs on 5.1 Dolby Surround sound.

Let's just say that guns in Left 4 Dead 2 are really loud when I play. And the old Rock/Metal of Brütal Legend really comes out sweet.

So, as you've probably guessed, the new TV really got a good test run through Blu-Ray/DVD watching and Xbox360 playing.

Another big distraction I'Ve had of late is Facebook, but more accurately the Zinga game apps. I've really gotten into FarmVille, a little app where you make your own little farm. Yeah, it sounds silly, I know, but that stuff is addictive. I also play Mafia Wars and Vampire Wars on a daily basis as well. Now, it doesn't look like it, but farming your crops, collecting your trees and animals and helping your neighbors... that does take a bit of time. If I go through all the apps I use on a regular basis, I can sometimes be on Facebook up to an hour at a time.

In fact... I could actually use a few extra neighbors on FarmVille. So if any of you is already addicted to it, you can always add me as neighbor: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=1632409662. Do note that my account is set as Friend Only and that I'm somewhat paranoid when it comes to friend invites. Random invites that I don't know where they come are usually ignored. So if some of you actually invite me, do add a comment in the invite or it'll get ignored. (ex: "Hey, I think you should get working on Chosen already! So be my friend and get to work! Oh and send me FarmVille gifts and help me on my farm!")

Well, on that, family just showed up for game of cards, gifts exchange and dinner later, so I'm off.

Again, Merry Christmas to all!

Well, looks like it went faster than I expected. Chapter 18 is now concluded!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/285515/24/Chosen

Enjoy!

For those wondering, the pre-reading process for Chosen 18 part 3 is currently in progress. I've actually received the corrections from my pre-reader Jeremy a week ago, but I've been away on vacation on the last few days, and actually found myself too busy to really stay in front for longer than checking my Hotmail and Gmail accounts.

Which is a good thing, of course. After all, if you're to go somewhere on vacation, usually it's not to be bored enough to use your computer and do some fanfiction work.

Certainly, it was good to see my friends Carol and Julie again after a year. Their daughter, now two, certainly grew a lot (though she could still remind me at times that there are some positives points in being single). It was a good occasion for us to do some gaming (now I need to get a copy of "Army of Two" so that I can finish the game) some movie watching (as I sort of suspected, we discovered that "Babylon A.D." was a fairly terrible movie... though not as bad as the Blu-Ray French dub which was horrendous) and go to Quebec City do some shopping.

While in Quebec City, I was able to get a couple manga volumes I was missing, mainly "Ah! My Goddess", but also a couple "Claymore" and "Yakitate Japan". But I also came around some interesting finds. "Ashman" by Kishiro Yukito (the author of "Gunnm", or "Battle Angel Alita", for those with the English version) and the first volume of "Highschool of the Dead". The latter took me by surprise, as it wasn't really a title I expected to see here. I certainly ain't complaining though. I was also able to get a couple DVDs boxset I was interested in, like several volumes of Family Guy at half price. Though my best find was this:



Awesome, isn't it? Can't you feel the uberness he generates. I certainly did when I saw him. And now he stand proudly on my computer desk, to hopefully power me up the next time I need inspiration.



Of course, being as great as Boota is, he's obviously surrounded by anime girls in his new home. Not that it could be any different. After all, chicks dig chibi mole-pigs. (I know at the very least that Deina might actually be jealous of my find if she actually sees it).

In any case, I'm back home now and I'll be working on finalizing Chosen 18.3 starting tonight. After all, I'd like it to come out before I have to go out of town next week for business, which leaves very little time left for me and Darren to wrap it up.

But before I finish this journal entry, here's three little links:

http://www.onemanga.com/Super-Dreadnought_Girl_4946/

Normally, I try to avoid doing promotion of scanlations, as nowadays, more and more people have forgotten the great principle that used to govern fan translations a decade ago: "This is a fan translation for fans. Please support the original work when it gets released in your area." With the advent of high speed internet, we see more and more people who feel that they are actually entitled to get anime for free and don't give shit about the local release. Which I think is sad, as well as counter productive.

Well, anyway....

I was looking for updates for the handful of scanlations I follow on a semi regular basis (One Piece, Naruto, Claymore, Rosario+Vampire, KenIchi... which I all actually buy when released here btw) when I noticed that peculiar new title. "Super-Dreadnought Girl 4946". Okay. That sounded odd. Yet, for a reason I can't quite explained, I felt compelled to check what it was about. And quickly got interested into what I was reading. The story was classic enough: Boy meets weird girl, boy is nice to girl, girl falls in love with boy, weird adventures occurs. But the story had it's own unique flavor, so it was fine. Yet... Something else was bothering me. The art style seemed so familiar... A couple of Google search later, and I realized what it was. The art style WAS familiar. As it should be for some of you. After all, if the name of the author, Takeshi Azuma, isn't quite familiar, perhaps you may know his doujinshi alias: Kimimaru AKA Studio Kimigabuchi.

Re-Take. Ring a bell? It should, after all, most of you must be Evangelion fans. So if you haven't read Re-Take...

Google it.

Find it.

Read it.

NOW.

So, that said, Super-Dreadnought Girl 4946 is Takeshi Azuma second professional work, and personally, since I liked what I read so far, if I get the chance, I intend to support it. I invite you all to do the same. In the mean time, maybe you should check those scanlations and see if you like it.

The second link I want to share might be familiar to you if you fool around Youtube a bit :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNyg1ftMIU

This is a video done by The Guild, an online web series about members of an unnamed MMO guild, which I also suggest that you watch. The complete first season and half of the second season are available on Youtube, while the third season has begun to air on Xbox Live (and will eventually find it's way on Youtube). This is really a great, funny video (doubly so if you actually play some MMO).... and Felicia Day looks really hot.

The third link might also be familiar to some of you : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

This is a video done by a previously little known Canadian group called Sons of Maxwell. To sum up the story, the group took an United Airlines flight and had one of their guitars damaged by irresponsible handling. For months, the singer and song composer Dave Carroll tried to get compensation for the damaged guitar, but United Airlines declined all responsibility and after being led on a wild goose chase, Dave decided to do the only thing he could do, as well as what he did best: write a song (the first of a trilogy) about the ordeal. He then made a video and posted it on Youtube... and ever since, it has been a hit for him, and a public image nightmare for United Airlines. I really like this video because, not only is the song catchy, but also, I like the story behind it. How one can actually use his creativity to channel the power of the Internet and be able to show big companies that even they can be accountable for their actions and attitude.

Which I think is important to remember, in this day and age, where the mighty dollar rules everything.

Still new news from my pre-readers, but we've decided that you've waited long enough. Therefore, Part 2 is now available on FF.net!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/285515/23/Chosen

Enjoy!

Previously, I've mentioned looking for a new web host, since Geocities is soon shutting down. I've finally settled on Angelfire.

The new link: http://rakna.angelfire.com/

Though I suppose the publicity is slightly annoying (fortunately, Google Chrome and Firefox will eat up pop up windows) I know that Angelfire has hosted in the past anime and fanfiction related webpages, so I figured there wouldn't be any issues regarding content if I didn't put anything NC-17, which was my intention anyway. For the more sensitive stories, I might eventually look into creating an Adultfanction.net account, since it does offer a more "secure" location. Not that I really think that their verification system would really keep a kid out if he really wants to get in, but at least it has a basic verification system. In the mean time, I know that integral copies of "I Used to Know Her" can be found on Darkscribes and Lemontastica, so people can always look there. So that just leaves my little Noir story floating in limbo. Very few should complain about that.

One thing those who've visited my webpages might notice right away is that the new page has been trimmed down drastically. The NGE fanfiction archive, the Non-NGE archive and the SEELE review page are now gone. The links section has also been cut down to the more useful and relevant links. Also, the HTML versions of my stories, most noticeably "The one I love Is..." are also absent. There's really two reasons for that. First, my Angelfire account has an 20 Mb size limitation. With the current version of the page, which only includes text files and the related fanart, I'm already up to 8.5 Mb. So I have to keep that in mind. Secondly, many of those pages hadn't been updated in years (if not almost a decade). So I see little point in keeping them. It's true I suppose that the archive did host some stories that have otherwise disappeared from the web, but really, if their authors never made the effort to put them somewhere, there's a certain limit to the responsibility I have to keep them available. So if you feel the need to save some of those stories, I strongly suggest you visit my Geocities page (http://www.geocities.com/rakna01/).

I might look into eventually restoring the HTML version of the "The one I love Is..." story, but I still have a certain number of little updates I need to make first before I consider it (like updating all links on my text files).

For those wondering about Chosen, I'm still waiting on come corrections from my pre-readers for Part 2. Hopefully, I'll get it soon and will be able to post it on August 8th.

Chapter 18 - Part 1 is now live on FF.net! Yay!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/285515/22/Chosen

Now to wait on the pre-readers for Part 2...

Here's another teaser for Chosen 18. Pre-reading for Part 1 is almost finish, so expect it to appear on FF.net within a week!

( Read Teaser #2 )

Here's a little teaser for Chosen 18. More to come soon!

( Read teaser #1 )

As I'm writing this, I'm currently returning home from what I guess I could call my third annual trip to the United-States. I decided to go by car again, since gas remains cheaper than plane tickets, even if the prices went up again this summer. The drive was fairly long (once I'm back, it should make an average of 28 hours total) but rather uneventful. The weather this year seems set on making scientists look like they are lying, with temperatures very much lower than last year, which I was fine with, since it was more friendly for my sun hating dispositions. Aside from a slight neck itching, I didn't really have any bad reaction to the sun this year, which is a good thing.

Though I had plenty of time to take it easy, I still had a fulfilling trip. I was able to get to my friends places for the 4th of July, where we had a BBQ, that served also to inaugurate my friend's Lydar's new house and grill. It got pretty packed with over twenty people at one time.

The rest of 4th of July weekend was spent chilling out, alternating between a couple hours of EverQuest (51% XP bonus weekend), a couple quick Guild Wars quests to get this year's Dragon Festival mask (pretty cool design this year) and a couple games of Left 4 Dead. We were a bit rusty after a few weeks not playing it and we were unlucky with our random 4th player (public lobby) being stupid kids (a.k.a. zombie bait since they wouldn't follow group strategy), so it wasn't quite a pretty sight. Was still fun though.

On the following Monday, we went to watch Transformer 2: Revenge of the Fallen, since my friend Lydar hadn't seen it yet and I wanted to watch it in English. Optimus Prime just sounds better with the original voice actor. I basically went following some advice I had seen on the web ("leave your brain at the door") and indeed, I enjoyed the movie immensely. In retrospect, I could probably complain about the plot or a couple things that made me go "WTF?" during the movie, but in the end, I went in wanting to see a robots action flick and I think I got well served. And Prime really kicked some serious metal ass!

On Wednesday, me and my friends Lydar, Bom and Dan went to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now, I'll admit, I'm not much of a sport fan, but I found it to be a very cool visit. There is a LOT of information there and really, I think we could have spent the entire day there carefully watching all the displays and still not be done. It sure showed that baseball is the US national sport. Unfortunately, the rechargeable battery of my new Kodak camera chose to die out early on, which really pissed me off. I hadn't used it all that much, so the battery capacity disappointed me. At least, it was mostly paid by a gift card, so it only really cost me 20$. And it does take real nice pictures when it actually works.

Friday, we took a road trip to Darien Lake, where Nickelback was starting its 2009 tour. Originally, my friend Krav had bought tickets for two of her recently married friends and her husband, but the latter wasn't able to free himself from work, so she invited me to go since I was in the area that weekend. Learning that I was going, my friend Lydar and his fiancée also went, so both groups met there. There was about four other groups playing before Nickelback, but we missed the first two as the parking organization at Darien Lake turned out to be rather deficient. But I suppose that there's only so much you can do when you have only two roads leading to a location where over 21000 people are gathering.

I can't really say I got to enjoy the warm up groups, as people didn't really pay attention to them all around. Even if I had focused to listen, most of it would have been lost to people noise all around. That changed with Nickelback when on stage. Suddenly, 21000 people all cheered and were listening to the great performance the group offered. The most people I had seen before at a live concert was maybe one to two thousand, so to me, that was pretty impressive.

Unfortunately, having twenty-one thousand people at a show also means that twenty-one thousand are trying to leave once its done, so the parking organization problems reared their ugly heads again. Add the stupidity of high/drunk/plain dumb people and... well... you can guess. Fortunately, we were loaded with chairs, cookies, brownies and a deck of Uno card, so we didn't even bother trying to escape Darien Lake. We would have ended up burning fuel for nothing anyway, as the cops had to clear a couple accidents before people finally begun to start moving out an hour later. In the end, I ended up to bed around 4am, but the show was great, so what little sleep I got that night (or rather day) was well worth it.

The following day, after some coffee and complaints from my acid sensitive stomach (remember kids, soda will RUIN your inwards!), we had the visit from our friend Fan who couldn't make it the previous weekend. So we had a new, smaller BBQ, while we waited for the night's firework show. Indeed, the neighborhood I was in didn't want to compete with the surrounding ones, so they decided to have their firework show the next weekend after 4th of July. My friend Lydar's house was actually pretty close to the fireworks, so they were directly over our heads, which was pretty awesome. Heck, we could even SMELL it.

On Sunday, the entire gang headed out on another trip, but this time for the 33rd Renaissance Festival. In between the Armored Joust show, the Falconry show, the Sword Swallowing show and a couple other entertainers, I had a really good time. And the Steak on a Stick really was delicious! Unfortunately, my budget was getting a bit tighter at that point, so I didn't get anything fancy. A cloak would have been awesome, but $170 US was also expensive. Especially since I didn't have that much in my wallet at that point.

And now, after stopping at some other friend's place on the way, I'm slowly making my way back home. Overall, my little vacation was a great time!