Remix Chapter 5: Recovery

Read first if you haven't already: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/06/remix-visions-indestructible.html

DISCLAIMER: References to features of religions or faith beliefs do not necessarily mean that the authors, Terry Wilson, Matthew Costello, and Yoshitoshi ABe (or anyone else for that matter), take them seriously. All characters featured are new; none appear in either FWL, Doom 3, or Haibane Renmei. Also, don't forget that this is a work of fiction, not prophecy. This story was written by Terry Wilson, who makes no copyright claims against the concepts of the other authors. This work will never be commercially published without the permission of the copyright holders for all three worlds.

---------------
"I wasn't planning to touch the wall when I came out here, so it's a good thing you followed me," Tatakai says.

Shinomi responds, "I'm glad we found enough string to make it all the way. We don't have the same ability to navigate like you, Tatakai."

"It can be learned," Tatakai explains, then gasps, "I can feel it already, the dose must be huge. You drive. In about an hour, I will have no sense of balance."

They mount the scooter Tatakai left at the bridge and start driving. Shinomi says, "No one has ever touched the wall before. I don't know what to do."

Tatakai responds, "I seriously doubt you're correct. I remember my own kind had trouble remembering their history very far back. It seems like the Haibane have the same problem. If no one had ever touched the wall before, It doesn't seem likely that the Temple Garden would have everything we need to treat delta radiation poisoning. I'll write up a list when we get back. Who knows the garden best?"

"Kurai," says Shinomi.

"Just as I thought," says Tatakai.

Back at the guest room, Tatakai sits in a chair at the table. Menmo tapes a pencil to her right index finger. "You are freezing cold," she gasps, "How can you stand it."

"Easily," sighs Tatakai, "the radiation has screwed up my nerves so much that I barely feel anything. It also feels like I've lost a couple of stones of weight ... like I'm being vaporized from the inside out. I remember how it messed up the extra senses I had in my previous life ... it was quite unnerving to not hear the ground any more."

Tatakai continues to write her list of herbal ingredients. "Pick them in this order," she says, "The ones that need to be fresh are at the end. If you pick them first, they will lose their medicinal value before you get back. I don't remember how this remedy works, although I'm sure I once knew. All I know is that this is it. Hurry, I might be the only person in the city who can defend it."

Shimoni drives with Kurai to the temple. Shimoni is the only person who can take a scooter around the catwalk, although this will the first time she's ever done it with a passenger.

"Menmo," Tatakai sighs, "help me to the bed." At this point Tatakai can't walk on her own. Unable to even stand, Menmo picks her off her feet and carries her to the bed.

"Tatakai," Menmo remarks gravely, "If this keeps up, you're going to start growing frost."

"It won't," Tatakai says, "In about an hour, my temperature will skyrocket so much you'll think I'll burn the place down." Uselessly feeling her own forehead, she adds, "Perhaps it will help if you get a bath started, one that is slightly cool to the touch," she gasps. "I'm scared, this is I think about four or five times the dose I got in my previous life."

The two Haibane on the scooter drive it around the catwalk at high speed. Shimoni says, "We can't slow down, or the lift of our wings will not hold us to the wall. Both are bent forward on the almost sideways moped.

Kurai responds, "You know how easily we could die right now?"

"Yeah," Shinomi squeals, "Our odds are still better than Tatakai's."

They halt at the temple, jumping off the scooter before it is even stopped. Kurai has her list out. Without waiting for permission to speak, she says to the Washi, "Tatakai has repaired the West Wood wall ... part of that light show you couldn't have missed if you were anywhere near a west facing window. She used the light of The Savior against an enemy that was attacking it from outside."

"Who flew?" the Washi asks.

Shinomi responds immediately, "No one, athough I'm sure Tatakai could fly whenever she dang well wants." (They refer to the Day of Flight for Haibane.)

The Washi gasps as Kurai starts going about, following her list. "This one," she points out a tree to Shinomi, "then that one ... second and third on the list ... I'll get the first, fourth and fifth ones over there."

The Washi says, "How do you know which herbs and what order?"

Kurai answers, "Tatakai made this list. She remembers the recipe from her previous life."

The two Haibane race through their list and have it ready in twenty minutes. The Washi notices, "How did you get the scooter here?"

"Very carefully," Shinomi points out as she takes off at high speed. The sun is just starting to rise.

They arrive at Old Home to an alarming scene. Tatakai (in her robe) is in a steaming bath with a towel over her head.

Kurai gasps, "Menmo, what the heck? A hot bath is the last thing she needs!"

Kurai says this just in time to see Menmo set an old freezer's evaporator coil in Tatakai's lap under the water. "This heat is coming from her," Menmo says, "I ran out of ice almost an hour ago." To Tatakai, she asks, "Is that helping?"

Tatakai nods. As Menmo pours some water over her head to cool the towel.

Kurai and Shinomi make haste to get the medicine prepared. "Oh, crap!" one mutters as she grinds up the herbs in a mortar.

Menmo comes in as the brew steeps, "What a stench!" she cries. She carries it into the washroom, where they hold it to Tatakai's lips. She can't lift her arms out of the water, but slinks lower into the tub to increase the angle, aggressively consuming the brew.

Once swallowed, Tatakai throws up half of it into the bath. "Ew ... the flavour's about right, I hope I got enough of it down."

Kurai then asks, "When will we know?"

Rasping, Tatakai answers, "About an hour ... either way."

Remix Visions: Indestructible

It is a song she heard as a child in her previous life, even before her flying wings had grown. Almost a hundred years before she was born, it was written by a band named Disturbed, but she doesn't remember that part.

First the sounds of an ancient battle fill her ears, ancient even by the standards she was used to as a Featherwing, although today she can't help but imagine the characteristic final cry of the creature she forgets is called an "Imp" or the discharge buzz of her super-cannon [BFG 9000] The sounds of her kind flapping through the air, and the ancient cry of an airstrike warning siren.

She walks up to the wall on the other side of the West Wood, very easily keeping her bearings this cloudless night. Even without the moon, stars, and watch, she could find her way back by a series of distinctive trees she looked at for that purpose. She was compelled to come here, knowing that she was going to return. She stares purposefully at it, then begins to sing her song.

"Another mission: the powers have called me away
Another time to carry the colors again
My motivation: An oath I've sworn to defend
To win the honor of coming back home again

"No explanation will matter after we begin
Unlock the dark destroyer that's buried within
My true vocation, and now my unfortunate friend"

She defiantly points her finger at the wall, remembering, even as those ancient forces of darkness obviously won her war. No power can stand up to The Saviour.

"You will discover a war you're unable to win"

"I'll have you know
That I've become
Indestructible"

Her wings begin to glow, starting to outshine her halo ... maybe she hasn't noticed.

"Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable
Every broken enemy will know
That their opponent had to be invincible
Take a last look around
While you're alive
I'm an indestructible
Master of War"

A straight bolt of light flies straight up out of her body into the sky for a few seconds. She starts pacing back and forth in front of the wall, either ignoring or encouraged by this light. It fades as she continues to sing.

"Another reason, another cause for me to fight
Another fuse uncovered for now for me to light
My dedication to all that I've sworn to protect
I carry on my orders with not a regret "

She reaches over and strokes her own wings while she continues to sing:

"A declaration embedded deep under my skin
A permanent reminder of how we began
No hesitation when I am commanding the strike
You need to know that you're in for the fight of your life"

The glow starts again.

"You will be shown
How I've become..."

Flashes in several directions accompany the song's title word

"Indestructible"

She starts pointing her arms and gesturing, to see how much command she has over this new light.

"Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable
Every broken enemy will know
That their opponent had to be invincible
Take a last look around
While you're alive
I'm an indestructible
Master of War"

For thirty six seconds she is silent, listening to the song in her head. She realizes that the light she now wields is combatting the darkness of the night, and the evil just on the other side of the badly deteriorated wall. She figure that it's probably been neglected because of the delta radiation seeping through it. Suddenly sensing that the evil she chants against is trying to regroup, she holds out her arms and continues to sing:

"I'm Indestructible
Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable
Every broken enemy will know
That their opponent had to be invincible
Take a last look around
While you're alive
I am indestructible, indestructible"

She reaches out and plants both hands flat on the face of the wall, singing ever more loudly, commanding her light through the wall to the other side. She has no idea what she's battling. The light swirls off her fingers, along and through the wall.

"Indestructible
Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable
Every broken enemy will know
That their opponent had to be invincible"

The light is somehow repairing the wall in front of her. She spreads her arms wide in front of the wall, commanding her light to repair the entire height in front of her.

"Take a last look around
While you're alive
I'm an indestructible
Master of War"

On the other side of the wall is a frustrated and mortally injured Hogosho, a modern evolution of the ancient Guardian, Tatakai could so easily defeat on the wing with BFGs and rocket launchers. This Hogosho had built in eyes, and was by her reckoning, entirely invulnerable to any weapon she had previously encountered. But she hadn't previously encountered this. She had been ramming herself against this part of the wall for well over a year, learning from the Toga that it was not inhabited on the other side. She thought the Haibane were harmless, especially these little girls, scared not just of the wall itself, but of the woods between it and their home. The Hogosho had been looking forward to a feathery snack, curious as to how similar they might be to the extinct Featherwing creatures that almost wiped them out at Armageddon.

She collapses, dying in front of the intact wall, twitching and groaning. She realizes as she slips out of consciousness, that there was only one power left that could have defeated her at all, let alone so easily: that of The Savior.

........

Menmo catches up to the ancient warrior first, rather surprised to see Tatakai standing there in front of the wall. Kurai is next.

"You're still here!" she cries.

Tatakai scoffs, "What? Where else would I be?"

Menmo explains, "The light we saw looked just like a Day of Flight. We thought you had left us forever. I was a little skittish because you've only been with us for two months."

Shinomi catches up, then gasps, "Oh my! They fixed it!"

Tatakai turns and asks in an almost disgusted tone, "Who's they?"

Shinomi says, "The Toga, I think."

Tatakai turns back to the wall and says, "I fixed it myself ... with help from the Savior, of course. The enemy was damaging it on the other side, so I sent some light through the wall." Then she asks Kurai, "Do you know your way around that herb garden? ... I have a nasty case of delta radiation poisoning. Something was trying to get through ... perhaps I'll never know what."

Remix: The Hogosho

Featherwing Love vs. Doom 3 vs. Haibane Remix

Opening Song: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/visions-precious-child.html
First Chapter: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/featherwing-vs-haibane-vs-doom-3-remix.html


DISCLAIMER: References to features of religions or faith beliefs do not necessarily mean that the authors, Terry Wilson, Matthew Costello, and Yoshitoshi ABe (or anyone else for that matter), take them seriously. All characters featured are new; none appear in either FWL, Doom 3, or Haibane Renmei. Also, don't forget that this is a work of fiction, not prophecy. This story was written by Terry Wilson, who makes no copyright claims against the concepts of the other authors. This work will never be commercially published without the permission of the copyright holders for all three worlds.

She flies over the nameless battlefield, Tatakai dreams, still unable to remember her old name, nor those of any of her colleagues. She took off that evening to tackle an enormous monster that was threatening a village, had cut off its evacuation route. The enemy she fights against has no qualms about wiping out whole camps of refugees. She flies. She is supporting a squad who are armed with rifles. She is armed to the claws for this one. She has a rocket launcher on each of her grey wings and in her hands is the super-cannon she remembered dying with in her cocoon dream. (BFG 9000) In this memory, she does not remember the name of the beast, but somehow winds up refering to it as "Hogosho" (Japanese for Guardian, the beast is of the type you need to defeat in Doom 3 to rescue the Soul Cube.)

There are several types of monsters on the ground, but the most dangerous to her squad, as well as being the easiest to take on the wing, are the enormous Bushi no Shito (Hellknight), which throw green fireballs capable of blowing a marine armored car to pieces. There's only eight of them, she thinks. Smaller, but far more dangerous, are the commandos with the chain guns. Watching their tracers trying to find her, she cuts loose a pair of her rockets and goes into a harsh right roll. Her team's sniper concentrates on them from a distance, switching ammo types with a big straight pull handle (this weapon does not exist in Doom 3.) She hears over the device she forgets is called a "radio" that his position has been compromized, and that he is in range of the Bushi fireballs. She comes in low over the field, able to line up four of the beasts, who are too busy dealing with her sniper friend to notice her. She empties her eight remaining rockets into the beasts, and lets loose a broadside quarter strength blast from her large cannon.

She lands in the midst of her squad, two of her colleagues nursing wounds that burn instead of bleed. She pops the bottle out of her super-cannon while slashing one of the small orange-fireball throwers (Imp) with her left alula claw. A colleague reloads her rocket launchers for her, anxious to see her back in the sky. Two others cap what basically amount to nearly harmless flying headlights, the Hogosho's Sakigake (Seeker). She taps a rifleman with a primary, telling him to spare the little creature for a few seconds while she slams home a replacement bottle in the left side of her super-cannon.


"Tora! Tora! Tora!" she screams as she runs several paces in the direction of the Hogosho. Her rifle colleague shoots the Sakigake creature, which goes dim and drops. The Hogosho calls for more as Tatakai lifts off, getting her alula claws back into her rocket launcher trigger loops. Flapping to gain altitude, she clears over sheets of fireballs emanating from the beast. The Hogosho's portal opens up as she charges her super-cannon. The Hogosho sees her way too late, rising high over its horizon in the angriest shade of flourescent green. Too late to change its mind over the portal it has opened above itself, the almost blind creature is almost totally unaware of anything other than Tatakai without its seeker. The green fireball separates from from Tatakai's super-cannon, which she then lets go of because it is too hot for her hands, letting it dangle from a lanyard she doesn't release in this flight. Six rockets pass the fireball on their way to the glowing blue portal above the Hogosho. She screams the name of a fallen friend, so silent is her voice in the dream. Tatakai the Haibane can feel the loss and rage of Tatakai the Featherwing in her mysterious dream.


The Hogosho screams as its portal is destroyed. It falls down and comes apart into flaming bits. Tatakai lands next to her sniper colleague, now deceased, his body torn apart by one of the smaller creatures. "Saviour!, we need you now!!" she cries as she surveys the human smithereens that used to be her marine squad. Without time enough to rest, hardly mourn, she raises the sniper's rifle to her shoulder and starts using it immediately, her super-cannon still too hot from the Hogosho.


Tatakai wakes from her dream in her room in the town of Glie, lying on her face, her small white wings spread from her shoulders. She has cut into her simple white gown, openings for the wings she had in her previous life. In gratitude, in mourning, or perhaps, just in case. Even she isn't so sure.


"Eight hours exactly," Kurai remarks dryly.

Tatakai, folds her new wings over her back, then sighs, Now I have time to mourn, to rest after the battle, under the altar with my friends, waiting for the Saviour's return.


She gets up, accepts Kurai's offer of hot water, which she then uses to clean her new body. As she cleans her wings, she misses a husband she can't remember, who cleaned her large grey wings for her. She misses cleaning his wings as well.


She goes up to the temple to visit the Communicator. (See Haibane Renmei Episode 3 to become familiar with the temple procedures.)


She stands there, with her bells on her wings and wrists. The old voice asks her, "You named yourself Tatakai (Battle) based on your cocoon dream? Is that correct."


Tatakai shrugs both wings. She wants to talk, ask a few questions of her own, she's really not in the mood for this silent formality that is being imposed on her.


"Really," says the old voice of the Communicator, "You need to learn to use your wings as part of your body."


Tatakai gives him a wry smile, one that says, "I'm not going to take this insult seriously." She flaps her wings once, and the bells disappear under her ventral coverts, silenced by her alula claws. Then she flaps vigorously several times, blowing leaves all around behind her. Extending both her arms, she twirls around on her feet one way, then the other, her wings making the proper movements to maneuver her if she were airborne on the wings of her previous life, a beautiful smile shines on her face, and the bells on her wrists still jingle. She pauses, facing the Communicator, flaps several times as she returns to the greeting position. With her wings fully spread, she releases the bells from her claws, bows slightly, then folds them neatly over her back in a way no other Haibane has done before.


"Impressive display," the Communicator says. Tatakai quickly extends her left wing, jiggling the bells vigorously. An emphatic "NO!" according to temple procedures.


"Explain!" he barks.


Tatakai pulls from inside her simple robe a drawing of herself in her previous life, featherwings properly deployed, in actual flight.


"You may speak," the Communicator says.


"I could really fly. I was a warrior in the last battle; killed in action. The battle must have been lost. A question please?"


The Communicator (more casual than in the Haibane Renmei series; this is not the same person), responds, "What is your question, Feather Tatakai?"


"Do you know the Saviour?" she asks, "He is why my wings are white."

Haibane Doom 3 Remix Chapter 2

This is chapter 2 (The third post) of the Featherwing Love vs. Doom 3 vs. Haibane Renmei Remix by Terry Wilson.
The Opening Song is located at http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/visions-precious-child.html
Chapter 1 is located at: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/featherwing-vs-haibane-vs-doom-3-remix.html
Next Chapter, "Hogosho": http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/remix-hogosho.html

DISCLAIMER: References to features of religions or faith beliefs do not necessarily mean that the authors, Terry Wilson, Matthew Costello, and Yoshitoshi ABe (or anyone else for that matter), take them seriously. All characters featured are new; none appear in either FWL, Doom 3, or Haibane Renmei. Also, don't forget that this is a work of fiction, not prophecy.

This story was written by Terry Wilson, who makes no copyright claims against the concepts of the other authors. This work will never be commercially published without the permission of the copyright holders for all three worlds.

She stirs. My wings? she thinks. She props herself up on her arms. They hurt. She moans.

"Tatakai?" Kurai starts to ask.

"Remembering," she says, "that I'm a Haibane now, not what I was before. What does your name mean?"

"Gloomy," her host says, "I was in a forest at night in my dream, crying. I don't remember what I was crying over." She turns to her, "Tatakai, you are one weird Haibane. No Haibane has ever slept exactly eight hours, to the second on her first night. And ... you snore like a sawmill. How would you hide from your enemies with a racket like that?"

"I don't remember if I ever slept in my enemy's presence," she sighs, "I guess they told you about me, huh?"

"Of course," Menmo says.

"You didn't sleep?" Tatakai asks.

"How could we," says Shinomi, "through all that racket? I didn't think a Haibane could be that loud on purpose."

Kurai chuckles, "You are one strange Haibane, Tatakai."

"Really?" she says, sitting up and looking around.

"Really!", Kurai says, "For starters, your wings are pure white, which is the first time ever. Haibane means ash feather, our wings have alway been gray, always. And, they've never been so big. Your first task will have to be to make your own wing covers, we don't have any that fit you. Anyway, down to business."

Kurai opens the smoking mould with Tatakai's new halo. She places it over her head with tongs. "Feather Tatakai," she says warmly, "To be a guide to your future as a Haibane, I give you this halo."

Tatakai says, "are you sure about this?"

"Of course," Kurai says, letting go of the halo. It falls like any ordinary object right on Tatakai's head.

"Ow!" she cries, throwing it away with her fingers, which she then sucks on because of the burn.

Other things drop. Kurai's lower jaw, her arms, and her tongs, in that order. The halo on the floor still glows. "Another first," she gasps, "Halos fall from the the heads of new Haibane often, but around, at the least ... I've never seen one not even try."

"Let it cool, then we try again," says Tatakai. "Any other firsts?"

Menmo says, "Until you, cocoons never hatched in winter," waving her hands for emphasis, "not even once, and also ... you hatched on a Saturday, Tatakai. That is the first time such things have ever happened. [1]"

"What? Oh, no," Tatakai gasps, "That's never supposed to happen, is it?"

Shimoni answers, "Well, I'm not sure about supposed to, only that it has never happened before."

"Tell me, where am I? You said town of Glie when we first met in the North Wing?" Tatakai begs.

"Yes," answers Menmo, "Haibane are not allowed to leave the town, or even approach its walls, only the Toga are free to come and go, and while in town, they never speak or show their faces. Only the Communicator is allowed to talk to them, and usually they sign in a secret language with their hands."

"Walls? Not allowed to leave?" Tatakai gasps, "is this a prison camp?"

Kurai answers this time. "No," she sighs. "It may seem so at times, but really it is a haven," there is evil outside the walls," she explains, "even to touch the walls could mean death, only herbs from the Haibane Temple can cure the resulting sickness."

"Sickness?" Tatakai asks, "what kind of sickness."

Shimoni explains, "Nobody knows. You'd feel cold, numb, unable to feel your wings, toes or fingers. You feel fine otherwise, but freezing cold to someone who touches or comes near you ... then you run a high fever you die from without treatment."

Tatakai gasps, "Delta radiation? Oh no!"

Kurai scoffs, "Radiation! Never heard of it."

"Tell me, Menmo," Tatakai asks, "Who rules Glie?"

Menmo looks at the other two, all three Haibane just shrug, "We answer to the Communicator in the temple."

Tatakai, increasingly distraught begs, "Is there a man ... a man with holes in his hands and in his feet, white hair, fiery eyes, a voice that sounds like a waterfall, a glowing face, words that cut like a dagger, feet that glow like bronze? Is there anyone like that, anywhere?"

Again, the Haibane Remnei shrug.

"Such flights of fancy," Kurai mutters, "You remember that much from before your past?"

Tatakai cries, "I read about him in a sacred text [2], he's supposed to be here. He saved the world! Savior!" she wails, "Why are you taking so long? [3]"

Menmo says, "You can't remember his name, can you?"

Tatakai shakes her head, "But ... I knew him, where did he go? Savior!" she puts her head in her hands and cries. "Glie is all that's left, isn't it? The rest of the world is a wasteland because the battle I died in before coming here was lost."

She notices what she's wearing, the plain white robe that she emerged from the cocoon in. "I know now," she sighs, "I just have to be patient, don't I? [4]"

At those words Kurai again picks up the fallen halo with the tongs and places it over Tatakai's head. When she lets go, it stays there.

"How many Haibane are there?" she asks.

Menmo answers, "Well, there are more in the Abandoned Factory, but here, there is just us four Elder Feathers plus ... what is it, thirteen?" she turns to Shimoni.

"Fourteen Young Feathers," Shimoni answers.

"A total of 18 Haibane in Old Home?" Tatakai asks.

They nod.

"Good!" Tatakai nearly cheers, "We can tear down that North Wing and use its pieces to build houses that will actually last and be comfortable."

Next Chapter: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/remix-hogosho.html

Author's Notes:

[1] Matthew 24:20
[2] Revelation 1:9-16
[3] Revelation 6:10
[4] Revelation 6:11

[7 June: Fixed misspellings of "Menmo"]

Visions: Precious Child

This is the first post in order of the Featherwing Love vs. Doom 3 vs. Haibane Renmai Remix

The second post is Chapter 1: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/featherwing-vs-haibane-vs-doom-3-remix.html

This is not a translation! I know enough Japanese to recognise this when I found the version with the original lyrics after I wrote this one. These words came to me to match the tune of the song located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fL5n-X37h0 "Free Bird" by Koo Ootani, for Haibane Renmei. This one, I'll call "Precious Child"

To the tune of "Free Bird" by Koo Ootani, the Haibane Renmei opening theme song.

(violin)
I created you, my precious child, with all my love and care
I love you, I love you, I love everything you are
I always want, to be with you child, show you my love and care
Think of me, think of me, think of me and I will

(band, violin melody)
Always hear you and dry all your tears
I will always be there even if it doesn't feel like I'm real
Always come back, my precious child
Everytime you feel afraid of the world
Afraid of the world

(piano melody left instrumental) ... (end of opening for Haibane episode)

(flute)
I created you, my precious child, with all my love and care
I love you, I love you, I love everything you are
(piano)
I will always be there, child
Even if you run far away
I will never leave you child, for sure

(flute)
So come to me today, I want to hold you
Just rest your cares on my lap

(left instrumental) ...

Next post: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/featherwing-vs-haibane-vs-doom-3-remix.html

I think a whole bunch of things inspired these lyrics. First, 安倍 吉俊 (Japanese for Yoshitoshi ABe , author of Haibane Renmei), and myself, both tend to create characters with depth, that we care for deeply. Apparently, it could be said, I put mine through hell, while he puts his through "merely" purgatory. Then there is my God. That's about it.

Featherwing vs. Haibane vs. Doom 3 Remix Chapter 1

This is the second post to the Featherwing vs. Doom 3 vs. Haibane Renmei Remix
The first one is the opening song: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/visions-precious-child.html
The third one is Chapter 2: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/haibane-doom-3-remix-chapter-2.html

DISCLAIMER: References to features of religions or faith beliefs do not necessarily mean that the authors, Terry Wilson, Matthew Costello, and Yoshitoshi ABe (or anyone else for that matter), take them seriously. All characters featured are new; none appear in either FWL, Doom 3, or Haibane Renmei. Also, don't forget that this is a work of fiction, not prophecy.

This story was written by Terry Wilson, who makes no copyright claims against the concepts of the other authors. This work will never be commercially published without the permission of the copyright holders for all three worlds.

Here's the Story:

She wakes up, and quickly realizes that she is in a tank of fluid, large enough that if she curled up, none of her extremities would touch the sides. Well...perhaps her long flowing blond hair. Feeling the walls, she wonders if it is a natural construct. Coming back to her senses, she realizes that she is probably in the sensory deprivation chamber of her enemies, and that they are trying to get information out of her. Instinct, however tells her she can break out of it. While she scrapes away the soft inner layer, she realizes that she is breathing the fluid, not air through a mask; the only thing she's wearing is a plain white gown with a tie closure at her back. She is confused out of her wits, it's like nothing in her mind matches up with her surroundings. The hard shell of the cocoon seems cold. Planting her feet in the soft layer behind her, she starts pounding on the shell with her fist, cracking it, she can feel the pressure dropping around her ears. I have to finish now or I'll die. Die? Didn't she die? She's thinking...she remembered dying...or at least suffering life-threatening injuries. Nonetheless, she keeps pounding on the leaking cocoon shell.

It shatters, and the rush of fluid carries her out into the room. She holds her breath until the fluid level gets low enough that she can keep her mouth and nostrils above it by resting her head on the edge of the hole she broke in the cocoon. Leaning over the edge of the cocoon facing back into it, she exhales the fluid from her lungs and draws in air, then starts coughing the rest of it up. She passes out on the cocoon's edge.

Waking up, sensing that several hours had passed, she feels very cold, alone in the room. She listens, looks around. Can I still hear well enough? she thinks, then she sees out a window in the strange, messy room that it is snowing outside. She lifts up the still damp gown until the hem is at her ribcage, then concentrates. Sharp pains stab out of her shoulders up her arms and down her back. Impossible, she gasps. Examining herself, she appears to be totally uninjured. She dusts off the top half of the body mirror leaning against the wall, the bottom half having been washed by the cocoon fluid. She opens the back of the strange robe and sees two large bruises on her shoulder blades. "Yeah, whatever," she mutters aloud and ties the robe back up. Did I lose my wings? she thinks. I'm freezing...if I can't deploy, I have to find help or insulation.

She's not surprised to find the room's one door locked. She was surprised to be able to knock it down with a single kick. Obviously the building she was in wasn't well maintained...probably totally abandoned. She isn't a prisoner after all. She calls out, "Help!" before she starts wandering down the hall in her search for insulation. She's about seventeen-ish, she thinks, but can't remember (what's the point without a calendar and any idea how long she had been in the cocoon anyway?), about five-foot-six, blonde hair extending past the welts on her back. "Help!" she cries again.

"Coming!" is the answer she hears. Another girl, younger perhaps. The lady is getting weak from the cold and a bizarre fever, so she is happy to hear an answer. The girl emerges from the stairwell door, stunned at her new guest's appearance. She's just under five feet tall with dark hair. The blonde lady gasps at her host's playful cherub features. Wings splay from her back and a glowing halo hovers over her head.

"What are you?" the guest gasps.

"Haibane," she answers simply, "Ash Feather, Ailes Grises; pick your favorite."

"Haibane?" the taller guest gasps, "Where am I?"

"North Wing, 3rd Floor, the Old Home in the town of Glie," the shorter hosts answers, taking her hand, she instructs, "we have to get you to the guest room before you freeze. Come on!"

Following her host, the young lady runs to the end of a long corridor, then briefly outside into the blizzard, across the snow into the East Wing. Her host shows her into a bed, then wraps her up in its blankets.

"Where are my wings?" she asks, "They will grow soon, be patient. I've never heard of a Haibane so eager to get her wings."

"I'm not a Haibane, I'm a-" she gasps, what am I called? Why can't I remember?? Switching threads, she said. "My wings are secret, but I'll show them to you anyway," she says, she jolts forward, cries in pain. "I can't deploy them!" she cries.

"My name is Menmo," the host says. Two more Haibane enter the room. "This is Shimoni," she says pointing out the taller red head with long hair, "and here is Kurai."

Kurai sighs, "I'm going to get her halo." She quickly retreats.

"So, tell us about your cocoon dream," Menmo says, "Haibane are named after their cocoon dreams. I dreamed about flying in the fluffy clouds like a bird, I had fluffy invisible down over my body to keep me warm...so my name Menmo means fluffy."

The guest answers, "Perhaps you were once like me."

"You can't steal her name," Shimoni laughs.

"I'm not," the guest sighs, "I just wonder if we were the same kind before we came here. Secret wings."

Shimoni explains, "I dreamed that I was climbing down a deep shaft, climbing what seemed like an endless ladder to get down to the bottom. So I am called Shimoni, for downwards."

"I'd tell you my name first, but I can't remember it. I remember such detail about my life," she cries, "it's awful, don't make me describe it now. Let me get my bearings first."

"So," Menmo asks, "what do we call you until then?"

The guest cries, "Tatakai! Tatakai (闘) will be my name in this world," she starts crying. The two Haibane gasp.

Menmo sighs, "If that fits your dream, it must be very painful."

The sounds of battle fill her thoughts, she flies over a red battlefield over her enemies, on her Featherwing wings, weilding a large silver weapon with a trapezoidal muzzle, she takes aim at a group of her enemies holding down the firing stud, who look up and see her. The weapon fires a huge green fireball, lightning like emissions come from it, one for each enemy in the group. She banks left to get clear. Her weapon's discharge creates a massive explosion. Drawing enormous amounts of firepower from other enemies below her, she gets ready for another shot as she turns back to friendly territory for more ammunition. She pops a large empty bottle out of the left side of the gun, and from her pouch puts the last of the full green bottles into it. She holds down the weapon's trigger, charging it.

She is hit. Her left wing is blown to pieces. She furls, making her right wing and the shredded root of her left wing disappear. Her left arm gnarls up, her thumb and first finger literally vanish. Right hand still on the weapon, she locks the firing stud and removes the safety interlock while falling out of the sky. She knows she can't make it. She tosses the weapon aside and lets it fall into a dense group of creatures. They throw fireballs from their hands, which burn when they hit. After taking several hits from those, her gun, still close to her in the air, explodes. All she sees is white, and all sound disappears. [The weapon is the BFG-9000 from Doom 3; the creatures are Imps]

"The battle at the end of the world!" she cries.

Menmo suddenly realizes, "your wings are about to come out," she opens the back of Tatakai's robe.

"Get away, get clear!" Tatakai cries. Shimoni and Menmo back away. Tatakai says, "Farther ... I can't control them, I don't know if I can keep them folded ... I don't want to hurt you."

Her wings emerge from her back in a bloody eruption. They are only slightly larger than the wings of a normal Haibane.

Tatakai looks around herself, "That's it?" she gasps.

Menmo, standing there timidly, mutters, "What we're you expecting? If you had wings before, you don't have the same wings in this world. May we approach now?"

Tatakai nods, "I feel awful. These wings don't feel like my own, and they hurt. Will they ever furl?" she asks.

"Furl?" Menmo asks as she starts to use a cloth to wipe the blood and bits of fat from Tatakai's feathers, "what a mess!" she exclaims.

"My old wings could...I could deploy and furl them at will, make them appear and disappear. I could use them to fly," Tatakai explains. "Oh," she realizes, "stroke the other way along the feathers, the barbs lean towards the-" she suddenly remembers these are different wings. "Uh, Menmo, which way do the barbules lean on the quills of the feathers? Do they lean towards the feather's root or away."

Menmo answers quickly, "Away, silly, like any feather..."

Tatakai lowers herself to rest on the bed. Shinomi goes around to the other side and starts washing her right wing. Menmo then says, "...except in my cocoon dream."

Tatakai gasps, "Your cocoon dream? Describe your wings, please."

Menmo remembers, "They were big, I can't remember how much they spanned, but I could not reach the tips. They didn't come out of my back like these...they came out lower, on my sides."

Tatakai sighs, "Menmo, I think we were the same kind before we came here."

"Tatakai," Shimoni asks, "with such a high fever and the pain of your new wings breaking out, you were still able to talk to us."

Tatakai responds, "I named myself 'battle', Shinomi. I was a warrior, used to pain and blood," she sighs and plonks her head on the pillow. "Is it safe to sleep?" she asks.

"Of course, Tatakai," Memno says, "We're not at war, and Shimoni and I will be right here for at least an hour to wash your wings." With that, Tatakai closes her eyes and is snoring within a few breaths.

Next Remix Post: http://featherwinglove.blogspot.com/2009/05/haibane-doom-3-remix-chapter-2.html

"Ha" Chapter Cancelled

The ハ chapter, "Let's Tell The Story" has been cancelled. What is currently on the Flickr site will remain there, however, no further work will be done on it. This is because I came to realize that the voice of the story never considered anyone else to write Featherwing Love. I am a part of that voice.

Featherwing Love is a deeply spiritual experience for me. First, I do hold a religious faith that is actually rather common in the world. My experience in this faith has evolved so to reinforce it's basic points, but it has evolved in a direction very unfamiliar to my "brethren". I hesitate to use the word because I have been shafted by every practitioner of my own faith that I have given an opportunity to [There appeared one exception after posting this], in ways very contrary to how this faith is supposed to be practiced. That is one of the reasons why I don't want to walk out on this blog and say what it is; it has a very bad reputation these days. The other reason why I don't want to say what it is, is because Featherwing Love, what it is, how it is coming to me in lucid waking visions, and how I must explore the world's principles of love to share it. The only brother of my faith that I still trust (the one who has shafted me in the least damaging ways), calls it, "walking on thin ice."

I'm not walking on thin ice...I'm flat on my face on ice too thin to stand up on. I have my wings spread along it to reduce the pressure. On Saturday, 25 April 2009, I fell through. I couldn't find my characters. I couldn't hear the voice of the story. I was devastated. I cried more and louder than I did on 1 February 2003 after learning of the Columbia's destruction (the Space Shuttle that was lost that day, which lead to After Columbia Project.) Those sounds really do not sound human. The next morning I carefully eased myself out of the freezing water at a restaurant in Chinatown called "Happy Valley."

[oops, hit "Publish" early]

I rolled onto my back to dry off, talking to my God and the character Haotoko, Juubi's little sister (I drew this, but I doubt it'll ever be shown.) I talked with her about how I didn't create her, my God did. It surprised her to find out that the wings are real in my world, just not physical. They are almost, but not quite equivalent. Also analogous is the love "flames" in Miki Falls (see Sudden Chill post and http://www.markcrilley.com/).

28 April 2009: I found out while researching human female sexuality (oh, dear...I guess I do have to put "ex" after the letter "s" every now and then after all), something I need to know a lot about in order to write the story. I read about how men see love, and how women hear it. A man goes nuts watching a woman undress, while a woman goes nuts hearing a man's voice whisper sweet nuthin's in her ear. A man will feed his monster Playboy (pretty pictures), while a woman will feed her monster Harlequin Romance (romantic dialogue). And the voice of Featherwing Love somehow combines a blood-curdling scream and a soft whisper in responding, that's why it MUST be a MANGA! I had to get up and take a walk, cry a little. The voice was a union between the screach of my instinct and the whisper of my God...always has been. Realizing this is an extraordinarily humbling and lifting moment.

On why Featherwing Love has to be a manga, rather than any other form of fiction. The two extremes would be video and novel formats. Manga is probably closer to the novel end of that scale, and the highly stylized Featherwing Love just a little closer than "normal" manga. It is intended for both genders. Men are stimulated by pictures, women by dialogue. Featherwing Love is to strike a balance to attract and communicate with both genders, while not offering so much to either as to lead members astray and become a poison for their real relationships. It is also intended to communicate to children, of both genders, with their parents' aid, who are barely old enough to realize that putting "ex" after "s" has something to do with the unique love to be found between a man and a woman. That is a lot of responsibility.

On 25 April, I went to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Exposition (http://www.calgaryexpo.com/). As good an idea as I thought this was, it was a mistake. I did not know the nature of the FWL voice going into it, and I took the wrong advice, got confused about my drawing quality and where it was coming from. There was one person who did not appreciate the manga style at all, although he didn't come out and say it. Reading between the lines later, it became obvious that he considered manga to be "amateur." The work he was doing was by multiple contributors. He boasted about how the contributors all had put at least four years of academic education into their artwork abilities. He also specifically recommended that I draw from nude models. I'm never going to crack the cover of his book again, not after my experience that evening. On the plus side, I met Hope Larson (http://www.hopelarson.com/), who used the words "underlying structure", rather than "anatomy" when telling me what I needed to know to make my characters look more authentic. That is certainly better, and less toxic, advice than what that other guy was saying. I met a few people who could see past the cruftiness of my current work to realize that for someone who has been doing this for less than three months, it's pretty good.

The impact this experience had on the FWL voice was very similar to the impact of infidelity on a marriage. I'm not talking about a full blown affair, but what would happen if a partner thought of someone else while "doing it" with his or her spouse. It severed the union between myself and God; the FWL voice suddenly went silent. After coming clean, I realized that I have to learn directly into the style of FWL, and that rather than drawing from real life anatomy (which I still have to study to learn the features and positions of those features), I have to draw from geometric analysis, like I did when drawing for After Columbia Project. Hey, geometric analysis can be a spiritually rewarding experience (lol), no really.

Terry, your humble manga-ka

Vacation on Mars

(Portions (c) Id Software 2004 as applicable; remainder (c) 2009 Terry Wilson; see author's comment(s).)

Juubi and Haifun emerge through a hazard door to be greeted by a great shaft, the bridge over which has been burned away. Bits of girder, railing and pipe still glow red hot. They each wear special custom built spacesuits specifically made for their "vacation." They are festooned with strange devices they got used to quickly called "weapons" (the FWL story has only one, and our Featherwing Lovers never even touch it.) They plan their jump across this strange chasm when suddenly a green glow erupts from the side of the corridor on the other side. A being jumps out of the nook where the glow now fades, and turns to them. Fortunately, he is human: Counsellor Elliot Swann. His face is an unspoken question.

Juubi calls across to him, "Hi, boss!"

Haifun says, "We're ready to answer those questions you asked us back at the spaceport."

Flashback: Counsellor Elliot Swann and his bodyguard Master Corporal Jack Campbell emerge from the aft ramp of a transport, "Darkstar 4409" that has just landed at Mars City, the morning of 15 November 2145.

Swann, a look of frustration on his face, mutters, "I can't believe it's come to this, I didn't want to come here."

Campbell, clearly his friend, responds, "He left you no choice."

"True," the balding lawyer acknowledges, "but this is the last time. I'm tired of running damage control every time he makes a mess."

"Right," says Campbell who's decked out in combat armor and carries an intimidating equipment case, "you're the 'control' and if that fails, I'm the 'damage'."

Swann responds, "If that's what it takes. Betruger is going to start doing things our way."

Campbell gives him a nod, "Whatever you say, Counsellor." At this, he turns back to the transport ramp, "but tell me, what are we going to do with these two?"

Juubi and Haifun emerge from the transport, giggling at each other. Haifun, with her long brown hair instantly has the eyes of not only the two powerful friends, but those of a dockworker, a marine guarding the platform, and Dr. Mark Caseon, who can't wait to get off Mars. They don't have looks of admiration at what must be the longest hair on Mars, but one of total disbelief. Elliot Swann soon reveals why.

"What the heck are you two doing here? Mars is no place for a vacation. It's dangerous here, it feels like all hell could break loose," he mutters incredulously.

"Just a vacation," Juubi says, straightening out a strand of Haifun's hair.

"Yeah, right," Campbell mutters to Swann, "UAC's highest rated marine...well, second highest rated marine...is bumped off the flight so these two to go on a casual stroll around the most expensive town in the solar system."

"And, since I can't get you to answer why you're really here," Swann says, "can you tell me, just for curiousity's sake why, as close as you two obviously are, I have never seen you two kiss."

Haifun pecks Juubi on the cheek, "See, we kiss, Counsellor."

Swann seems a little nonplussed, "I think you know what I mean."

Juubi walks by him and whispers so softly that not even Campbell can hear, "I just hope I'm not forced by circumstances to answer that."

Elliot Swann, sighs. Campbell, who knows him well, can almost hear his thoughts, He sounds almost like Malcolm Betruger.

The Present: Campbell comes out of the corridor that branches left from the main corridor the burnt bridge leads to, plainly curious as to what now has his boss so perplexed, "Wow...I guess they can look after themselves around here," he gasps.

Juubi pauses to inspect the chasm under the bridge, then looks up at Swann and smiles.

"Don't tell me you're planning to jump," Swann asks in a rhetorical tone. The gap in the bridge is about thirty feet, clearly beyond any human's ability, even in Mars' gravity.

"Not exactly," Haifun says, then looks at Juubi and says, "Careful honey, the lift in the middle could drive us into those pipes," pointing at the broken pipes above where the bridge used to be.

"And sink around the edges," Juubi complains, "will bring us down pretty smartly on the other side, since it's open grating. It is better to go long than short."

"So!" Swann calls across to them, "you said you were going to answer my questions."

"So we did," Juubi says, "Why are we on Mars? Why have you never seen us kiss."

Juubi turns to his wife and after an adoring gaze, their heads tilt and come together in the dim light on their end of the bridge. A poof-whoosh sound barely audible across the bridge over the noise of the updraft in the shaft heralds the deployment of their wings. Juubi then turns to the broken bridge and sprints at its edge, spreading his wings as he clears the railings, catching the updraft in the middle.

Campbell has never seen such a creature, but he's seen things equally strange, if much different, since his arrival on Mars. He raises his weapon and points it at Juubi.

After a flap, Juubi's wings vanish and he falls to an impact several feet past the jagged edge on the far side of the bridge. Haifun is already in the air as Juubi lands, tucking into a shoulder roll and coming back to his feet right in front of Campbell, staring at the huge trapezoidal muzzle of a BFG 9000, UAC's most advanced and powerful handheld weapon. Haifun lands a bit more skillfully and comes up beside her husband.

"Glad to see you're still human," Juubi says.

Haifun looks at Counsellor Swann, "We volunteered when our brother on the Board told us of a report radioed back by Dr. Richard Davis four months ago. If you could call the creatures we've been fighting for the last sixteen hours 'demons', Juubi and I, along with a handful of other featherwing beings secretly living as humans on Earth, are what you might call 'angels'."

Juubi adds, "We thought you might need our help," then extends his hand to Campbell, who lowers his enormous weapon and takes Juubi's in a firm hold. Both turn in response to a now familiar cry: something called an Imp.

Juubi rapidly unholsters his shotgun and pops off a round at it. It falls over onto its back, clutching at what seem to be minor wounds from the shotgun's pitiful spread pattern. The Imp was too far away for the shotgun to have done any significant damage, if it were loaded with normal ammunition. The Imp, still screaming, disintigrates into flaming fragments and soon is no more.

Campbell gasps, "I must have killed three dozen of those and I have never seen one go down so easily."

Haifun says, "We've prepared our ammunition with our own built in poison. We call it scratch. Ordinarily, it will only knock a human unconscious, and selectively erase his memories of featherwing beings. We use it to keep our existence a secret."

"But against these things," Juubi adds, "it has quite a whallup."

...to be continued(?)

Sudden Chill

(Please see author's comment(s).)

Kazu deployed his wings...he didn't have much of a choice, it was either that or freeze to death. He had noticed that the weather had a bizarre tendency to conspire with the secrets of the world around them to reveal things he might never find out otherwise. He found himself pounding on a basement suite door, as it turns out, on a basement suite that had nobody in it at that moment. The building was not well tended, but he could tell from the plume flowing off the roof that it must have had a furnace running. Featherwings have an innate sense of the weather, and so this sudden north wind came as a big surprise to him...not just to him, but to the rest of the city. The thin film of slow on the roads would soon be followed by blowing drifts, causing all sorts of traffic problems. This train of thought occupied a rather detached and objective part of his brain that somehow kept going as the survival-oriented part of his mind worked his increasingly distressed body to break down the door in front of him...

...it was the three rusty hinges that parted rather than the solid lock, the result being that the door rotated about the lock until the latch came out of its hole and it fell over. It fell over far faster than gravity would have commanded it as a gust of wind propelled both it, and the feathered being ramming it with all his weight into the room. Kazu cussed at his misfortune and now worked feverishly to get the door back in its frame before too much snow followed him into the place he had just illegally broken into. That complete, and the door held in place by a sturdy nightstand he found in the neighbouring living room, he was rather surprised to find that the living room was well endowed with an electronic entertainment suite and a rather large selection of movies and games. It had both of the major gaming consoles, sitting there happily beside each other, totally oblivious to the marketing war that rages between them outside their quaint home. He thought it should be polite to just sit down and wait for the inhabitant to return, he guessed a male bachelor, and briefly prayed for his survival in the sudden snap of cold weather. But he was tempted to put a disk in the drive and watch a movie, so much so that he actually found himself browsing the shelf of movie and game disks.

The featherwing part of Kazu's mind suddenly kicked in, realizing that he still had his secret wings out. He furls them nervously, than realizes how much dust had collected on the tops of the disk cases. It was a collection that was never watched. Featherwings keep a lot of secrets, and he suddenly recognized this classic technique...one he even uses in his own home. The living room and its expensive entertainment centre is all a distraction. If a thief were to break in, they would immediately ransack this valuable collection, failing to recognize that there might be something more valuable. He also realized that the inhabitant had sent a spirit to tempt him towards the entertainment suite. He looks for it, but it had fled. Kazu soon finds a door to what appears to be a bedroom or home office, surprised to find it unlocked, he opens it.

As the door swings open, his arms drop and his mouth opens...he is quite stunned at what he sees. Shelves line the walls of the small room, and on them are rows of the most anodyne black hardbound diaries...hundreds of them, maybe even thousands of them. There is no other type of book in the room. He sees a neat stack of them on the desk, and around the corner of one of the bookcases is a map on the wall, one of the neighbourhood. On it are hundreds of pins with strings connecting pairs of them together. There are four colors of pin, but only one color of string, but each string has a sticky flag taped to it.

He sits down and opens one of the notebooks and starts reading. He reads probably about ten of the notebooks and browses over about a hundred more when he hears the door being disturbed. Kazu has been aware of the passage of time, his exploration of this man's secret collection interrupted by a call to his cell phone from his employer saying not to bother coming in because of the weather, and by his girlfriend wondering how he's doing. The featherwing has been in this lair for almost 24 hours, patiently waiting for the return of its owner, a person he was sure at this point would probably not appreciate Kazu simply walking away.

He senses the spirit that had tempted him to the entertainment suite again. It felt sad, almost as though it was about to do something quite regretable. Realizing that its partner was probably not far behind, he gets up and moves the nightstand away from the door, holding it in place with his hand. He didn't have to wait long...the sound of snow-scrunching footsteps on the stairs descending to it just outside, the slowing as the person notices the damage to his door. Kazu decides to lift the door out of the frame.

"Hello, I'm Kazu. Sorry about the damage. I'm willing to pay for it. I got a couple hundred in cash on me. I can get more if you need it."

The first thing the unwitting host notices is that the door to his office is open. This seems to alarm him, greatly.

Kazu responds, "You have a very interesting job. I would be fascinated to know what the title of it is, and your name, if it's not too much trouble." Kazu regards him respectfully as he walks past him, glancing into the almost untouched living room, its nearly untouched appearance only adding to his unease.

"My name is Azuku," he finally says, "and I'm a Deliverer. I'm responsible for managing a limited and precious supply of love in the community of Rockystone. I work for an extensive network of Deliverers all over the world to make sure that love does not go extinct." Azuku turns to his unsurprised guest and says, "needless to say, you weren't supposed to find out about any of this." He holds his hands out flat, palms up, in front of his face, and says, "I have something to show you."

He closes his eyes, and a sphere appears and expands. A small white creature emerges from within it and jumps on Kazu's shoulder, regarding him curiously.

"You again," Kazu greets the creature almost cheerfully. "Sasha, is it?" Kazu stares at her for about twenty seconds, maybe thirty. Azuku stands by with his arms raised slightly, as though to be ready to catch Kazu should he suddenly faint. "No, no trouble at all," Kazu answers to words the spirit has communicated without sound, "and don't bother, I'll show him myself. It's more fun that way." After a pause, Kazu says, "He deserves to know, and I trust him. I know I can trust him from his writing and how he looks after the place." Kazu looks back at Azuku as Sasha jumps to the floor and onto Azuku's arm.

Azuku's jaw hangs open and his eyes gawk in stunned amazement. Finally, he says, "that did not go as I expected at all. Humans are not supposed to find out about these things...and Hold Spirits are supposed to cleanse their memories when they do." Sasha seems almost excited waiting for Kazu's response.

"I'm not human," he says like an ordinary piece of trivia. Then he deploys his wings. The gentle poof-whoosh sound gently fills the room, and the breeze blows over Azuku as he watches Kazu stretch them slowly into the room. "I'm a featherwing being."

Kazu explains many things to Azuku about featherwing beings and how the wings work.

Azuku suddenly breathes in a sigh, "Oh, so that's why Sasha's been so weird around you."

Kazu responds, "yeah, I read about that," indicating the notebooks, "I was actually surprised that you never observed the wings, given how complete your other knowledge about me is."

Azuku looks at his Hold Spirit. "Sasha, how long have you known?"

She tilts her head slightly.

"Yeah, I suppose you should keep his secrets too," Azuku says. "So that's where these extra flames of love come from?" he asks.

Kazu holds up his hands, "I didn't know before, honest. Sasha only told me just today that when Featherwings share their wings, a new flame of love is created between them, and that is the real reason why you shouldn't give me one."

Azuku then scratches his head and asks, "So, you read about yourself, and that means that you know that Haruhi, your girlfriend, is a neverfind? Doesn't that scare you?"

Kazu says, "Absolutely. It doesn't say we won't work out, but that it won't last long. But it is reassuring in a way. It tells me that she'll never lose the wings. That is what I don't want to go through." Kazu sighs, "it also means that we should hurry to marry and raise a family."

Azuku gasps, "a family?"

Kazu responds, "Now that you know all this, doesn't it make sense to you? The world needs more love, not just to preserve the love that it has, but more needs to be created. If you need featherwings to create love, then you need more featherwings, right?" He adopts an even more endearing look and says, "And also knowing, that she won't lose the wings...you realize don't you, that if the wings are lost, the new flame in the featherwing couple is also lost, and there's no way, even you as a Deliverer, can save it. Believe me, today is a happy day for me."

Azuku sighs, "What I find sad, is that this is the only conversation we can ever have about this. Deliverers must keep their secrets, and Featherwings theirs."

Kazu answers, "Have Sasha stop by every now and then. You'll have to for cover purposes anyway, so let's keep in touch that way."

The two part ways, Azuku with more than enough cash to fix his door, and Kazu with the knowledge that his worst fears about him and Haruhi can never come to pass. Both having discovered amazing new aspects of love and the world they live in (which obvously isn't the real world, but hey...)

Everytime We Touch versions play on ideas of love

At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXZ4h8GAjXE and elsewhere on Youtube, voiceless editions of Cascada's Candlelight Everytime We Touch, I posted this comment


"...we must kill our monsters, Haifun, and they only die through starvation," Juubi explains. Haifun slumps, sings "A strange kind of magic, running through my brain, think I'm in heaven, or going insane" [Reilly ver.] she breaks down bawling. "No, Haifun, that's not the song," he takes her hand. "It's 'I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me, I still feel your touch in my dreams. Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why-" Haifun joins through her tears, "without you it's hard...

This is from Chapter テ ('te') in the middle of the plot. One of Featherwing Love's essential ideas is the difference between love that is improperly directed, and love that is pure. Imagine if your boyfriend/girlfriend fantasized about you in a way you didn't like. For a more specific example, [edited out, I don't want the GLBT community to get mad at me.] I won't explain the FWL situation because that would spoil an awful lot.

Featherwing Love: "Known" chapters

I have scripted about 40 chapters for Featherwing Love, and more continue to be added as the concept map is filled. "Concepts" (and I'm coming up with and refining those still very frequently) need to be presented through "Chapters", and those in turn have to fit into the plot. some concepts don't have chapters, and some will never have chapters in Featherwing Love because I want to leave room for sequels, and possibly fan fiction. I have a few for that phase of life called "adolescence", but I actually want to avoid those for now...this is why Haifun and Juubi are in their mid-twenties, a departure for most shojo manga (where the characters...at least the main girl...are in high school.) These are the ones I can blog about:

Rescue Glide: The first chapter, where Haifun jumps from her first marriage and high-rise home into the arms of her second love, Juubi, a featherwing being in a philanthropic mood that evening.

The chaotic, nailbiting courtship which I can't blog about yet...

Honeymoon Dance: The morning after their wedding, both Haifun and Juubi have wings. After a hug and a kiss, they both take off and fly, dancing in mid air.

A couple more chapters which I can't blog about yet...

Let's Tell The Story: Well into married life, Haifun and Juubi decide that they need a permanent record of their romantic tail...uh, tale, and scrounge the world for suitable artists and authors to take on the task. They ultimately settle for the manga rookie Terry Wilson. I playfully say this is how I got my inspiration for the story, but that too, is part of the fiction.

What is not fiction is the aspect that this story doesn't quite seem to be one I've made up, but is one which has, in my mind, rather walked up to me and asked to be told...a spark of creative concepts that want to be shared, that want a fictional story built around them to be a vehicle for their telling. I believe that they contain truths about human love which we have an awful tough time learning by any way other than experience, and sharing any other way than by fiction, a proxy experience. I've decided not to put it in this blog, but I welcome you to ask...and if you explore After Columbia Project, you can find out on your own...about my religion. If you share that same religion, I'd love to discuss with you more specifically where the spark of creative concepts comes from, and why I think it came to me.

Honeymoon Dance and Let's Tell The Story are the "promotional" chapters, which I will complete first. After this, I will complete Rescue Glide, and storyboard several more chapters, which is when I will start launching proposals to publishers. Hopefully, I will reach this phase before the end of August.

Featherwing Love Intro

The Japanese is pronounced "haoto no ai" (if you can't read romaji, "hayoto no ayee" is close enough), and means most literally, "buzzing love".

Style note: Couldn't find anything with feathers, so I decided to borrow a bit from After Columbia Project, and use the Minima Black style from ACP...and yes, it's me...same person, different account. This might explain to the very few ACP regulars why "aftercolumbia" has suddenly gone away.

http://ascentroadmap.blogspot.com/
http://aftercolumbiamars.blogspot.com/

2 February 2009 (after exactly 6 years as "aftercolumbia"), I was listening to the Cascada Song, Everytime We Touch, and had a vision of what is now "Honeymoon Dance", two featherwing beings dancing with each other in midair. The wings magically deployed from their back during the first chorus line "everytime we kiss, I swear I could fly." I develop this into a 29 frame manga script.

Same day: First drawing of Haifun (I named her that day, but not with kanji.) It was impressive for the level of manga I was at (I had been drawing manga since 28 January, a whopping five days), but it sucked.

4 February 2009: I drew "Frame 11" and designed the wings. This is actually a fairly nice drawing, even from an objective perspective. This wing design has been superceded, but the span and average chord dimensions remain the same.

9 February 2009: I redrew Haifun in the same pose as I did on 2 February, a 3/4 portrait. It took me 90 minutes to do the pencil master. After I finished, I pulled back and looked at it, and sat there quite stunned at my first piece of pro-quality manga. A pen detail is online at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36560633@N04/3370747293/

I begin to develop a trace method because of a desire to protect my erasable pencil masters. I thought that this would also aid in scanning and combining different details from the same frame. This latter concept is a failure, but I still use it to preserve the pencil masters. You will see this when I complete the HD Frame 5 second edition. [This is the "portrait" image in my profiles] The primary remiges and their faces will be the same, but the wing design has been overhauled. HD-5 is the only drawing that had the old wing design in them that had any hope of being recovered after I redesigned the wings.

17 Feburary 2009: "Flying Romance", the original 29 frame dance, becomes Honeymoon Dance, the last (now third-from-last) chapter in an enormous and complex storyline. Flying Romance becomes my main project, replacing a previous manga project, and After Columbia Project.

This manga remains very modest; acts and details remain out of frame, under calf-length nighties with sleeves, under four foot long overlapping remiges, or some other method. I don't think I'll ever need to draw Haifun, or any other female character, with bared breasts. I also don't anticipate using the word "sex" during the manga, since we have come up with so many other ways to refer to the act, and I come up with another of my own (it's a spoiler, so I won't share it here.) The word "rape" is impossible to avoid if I want to avoid using the word "sex", since other methods of describing rape either use the word (sex attack, sexual assault), or ambiguous ("having his way with her"). Fortunately, pictures clean up the words (i.e.: in Ayashi no Ceres, Aya nearly gets raped three times...not counting Yuuhi...once in Vol. 6, twice in Vol. 10, and Ceres actually gets raped in a flashback in Vol. 13. This word is never found in the manga dialogue, although author/artist Yuu Watase may have used it in a sidebar...I say "may" because the translator has some latitude and my memory isn't precise either.)

Now, I must say that the story concept around Featherwing Love (at this time, "Flying Romance") orbits around Cascada's music. This time I was listening to Bad Boy this time. The vision was very, very painful and I cried. Haifun was being raped by the husband she had before Juubi, who she flies with in Honeymoon Dance. She escapes to the balcony, takes off her wedding ring, throws it against the planter, then climbs the railing as her husband emerges behind her. Crounched, she rotates over the railing, then pushes herself as far away from the building as possible. It is a high-rise condominium...she can't fly...this is her suicide. As the chorus begins, Juubi snatches her out of midair, but she is uncooperative. She doesn't want to live, and fights to escape her rescuer. Juubi can't maintain altitude. This vision wasn't going to resolve itself, and I knew Juubi needed to land. I thought about bushes, but eventually decided that it had to be an apartment window. Juubi's own wouldn't be open, so he pulls out a cell phone and calls a friend. He drops the phone as he approaches the window, which is sliding open in front of him. He flares and makes his wings disappear ("furls") just before he touches, tumbling forward across the room inside, letting go of Haifun as soon as they've stopped. Haifun shakes off the surreal feeling of the most recent two minutes of her life and suddenly realizes that they aren't the _last_ two minutes of her life. Juubi's friend is panicking, because he has seen Haifun's horrible injuries. Knowing they can't reveal the wings that carried her from her condo to his apartment, he realizes that they must face the possibility of taking the blame for those injuries. I storyboarded this almost immediately.

From 17 February to 15 March, I developed the entire story of their courtship, which ends with Juubi sharing his wings with Haifun, his new wife. It is a tremendously chaotic tale exploring how human (and featherwing) love, friendship, and lust works (Greek words, "agape", "phileos", and "eros"), and how they must agree in romance.

More later...

(Kisure's the friend who opened the window; I added his tag later)