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The Variables: Solo write!
The chief scientist of East Gate Institute for Research of the Mentally Ill was having a terrible day, and he looked like it. He had just returned from a day of salvaging operations and had absolutely nothing to show for it, apart from a highly possible fashion the world was going to end.
“Well, Chief?” The blue hologram floating across from him asked without much hope. “What are the results?”
The chief scientist stared blankly out of the window of his office into the dark night of the outside world. The only source of illumination in the room was the dim yellow glow of his desktop lamp that dragged shadows all around the furniture like petals of a black flower with a golden center. He found himself sorely wishing for the comforting feel of a good meal under his belt, which he hadn’t had for the entirety of the day. “Do I even need to say?”
“If not for me, at least for the record, chief.” The hologram said.
The chief scientist sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. “Disaster." He began reluctantly. “The entire escort… gone. Vaporized, you could say. Their trail simply vanished. If it wasn’t for the charred trees around the path we might have thought that they had taken another route. No sign of the core.”
The hologram was silent for a few moments. “What about Eclipse? Vulcan?” It asked, finally. “They can’t have vanished without putting up a fight.”
The chief scientist shook his head slowly, his eyes still closed. “Not a trace.”
“Our last C-classes lost, then.” The hologram sounded defeated, the last spark of hope dying in its voice. “This can’t be true. This was everyone’s last chance. Something-Someone must be messing with this.”
“We might have lost the battle, but we haven’t lost the war yet. You know what this failed mission means, don’t you?” The chief scientist asked in a low voice, suddenly sitting up and fixing the hologram with an intent gaze. “How long do we have left to prepare for plan B?”
“Two years and a half.” The hologram murmured after a moment of hesitation, averting its eyes to the floor. “The Barrier completely decays in one and a half, but if the Royals listen to the Ministry and keep patching it up, we could buy another one, at most. There will be hostile leaks though, and they’ll only grow in number.”
“I’ll put that at three years for us to prepare.” The chief scientist said, a determined glint sparking in his eyes. “Worry not about the leaks, we still have enough staff to keep them under control. What I want to see is a reliable training program on my desk tomorrow, understand?”
The hologram raised its head in incredulity. “A program? Chief, we don’t even have enough people-”
“I have new recruits on the way right now.” The chief scientist said firmly, planting a fist on his desk. He was a completely different person from the fatigued figure slumped in the chair a few moments before. The topic at hand had reanimated his vigor. “I applied for their relocation from the Ministry this morning. They’re all talented, the best of the best, quick to learn and eager to practice.”
“Chief, this is a gamble.” The hologram worried. “If we start from scratch, we’ll never be prepared in time for Cloudburst no matter what training program I devise. And what about our plans for the future? The Institute does not wield its former power in the Union anymore. We’re weaker. A new unit won’t make much difference.”
“We were never starting from scratch.” The chief scientist said, flourishing two documents from the depths of a drawer. He pushed them over to the hologram. “Have a look and see if we're fighting alone.”
“Well, if that’s how it is…” The hologram began after it had read both papers twice to be sure it wasn't dreaming, a small smile appearing at the corners of its lips.
“Assured?”
The hologram nodded briskly. “I’ll have that program planned out before six in the morning.” Then it shook its head with a weak laugh, realizing how fantastical its words sounded. “Three years to build a force to save the world, Chief. Only now do I understand why you once said that you had a plan for everything.”
“It’s hard to tell which one of us is mentally ill.” The chief scientist said, carefully replacing the documents into the drawer of his desk. It was the unofficial motto of the Institute. “All geniuses were half-crazed beforehand. If we can’t be geniuses, then at least we can be crazed.”
Without warning, the door to the office burst open. The chief scientist’s secretary stumbled in, glanced at the hologram, then at the chief scientist. “The new recruits have arrived, chief. What should we do?”
“I’ll see to them.” He said, rising instantly. To the hologram, “Come along as well. I’ll brief you on the way.”
-------Welcome to my first solo write, everyone! I'm really exited to start this thread. Due to the length of this introduction, character submission forms will be posted after the thread comes up. Feel free to join using your CB name instead of charries. (I shall not be taking AE's or Captchas, sorry) The first four characters submitted will be elected to be leads, while latecomers may have to be side characters. Rest assured that I shall try to give each character their time in the spotlight though! Also, one person per charrie please. (Side characters may take a long time to appear, but they surely will. Please be patient, and have confidence in the knowledge that Zealatom will not forget their existence, ever.)
In addition, I'd like to introduce something new: some NPC-characters in this solo write can be customized by filling out special forms I'll be calling Identity Cards* that shall be posted sporadically as the solo write progresses. For now, there are three up for grabs: The Chief Scientist, The Hologram/Administrator, and The Secretary. (Hence why I wasn't too descriptive in the intro.) They shall all be disclosed along with the normal character forms in the follow-up post.
*Identity Cards can be filled out as soon as they appear, even if character submission is closed. Also, just as a small reminder, try not to hoard all the Identity Cards for yourself <3 Lastly, thank you all for joining The Variables! Everything shall be explained in due time.
submitted by Zealatom, age Solowrite!, The Watchtower
(April 14, 2024 - 9:38 am)
(April 14, 2024 - 9:38 am)
I love the story so much. Its rlly captivating and funny :)
(May 3, 2024 - 5:24 pm)
Finally had time to read his and I love it so far! The imagery and characters are so good!
(May 4, 2024 - 12:43 pm)
Periwinkle Ivy is a terrifying mentor! I really like each part's titles.
(May 5, 2024 - 1:28 pm)
Because that post was too long, I'll put my thoughts in this post.
1. Why is Periwinkle's last name Ivy? Apparently the internet says that there's a plant called periwinkle that grows like creepers, i.e. using vine-like stems, so I just added it for fun.
2. This isn't my best writing I know, but I'm currently not in the right mindset to turn out high quality. My apologies. (Due to stuff in real life, I have to pick up my german again and now there isn't enough energy for english... so works my mind)
3. If you have any questions, feel free to pose them in case I didn't make things clear in info drops.
That's all! If your characters seem flat, it means that there's going to be a long development arc ahead! Thanks for all your support!
(May 3, 2024 - 9:43 am)
This is so great I love Periwinkle ahh!!!!
(May 3, 2024 - 11:35 pm)
this is so awesome!
(May 4, 2024 - 1:48 pm)
if it's not a problem, here's a refined version of the powers list. added some and tweaked others.
name: mizuki ariadne
pronouns: she/her
personality: infp-t - "the mediator" - creative, thoughtful, loyal, imaginative - for me personally it's that i will talk to only people i know super well, but i'll be super extroverted with them, for strangers i have crippling social anxiety. i'm very artistic and abstract and i don't like to think in concrete ways (it's very annoying) - i'm a lover of writing and can sometimes appear to be closed off. i'm a super big people pleaser and i mostly admit my problems through writing.
appearance/dressing style: again, scarlet from i'm the grim reaper but a little different so here it is: i retain her like cropped white hoodie with the red x ; her black cloak that's like ur stereotypical protagonist cape [edna is not happy with this choice] ; her pants and her boots - my hairstyle is her in the early chapters, black hair with a red underside. my eyes are red too bc why not
power: so basically
1] if i kill someone, i instantly heal all and any injuries. no exceptions - except the person who i killed has to be dead dead, and they have to have committed some egregiously bad crime - the mechanism basically is like the souls in... i forgot the name of the game... but basically i use the souls to heal, and i can carry a maximum of 3 at all times (i start with 3 souls every month)
2] i can summon scythes at will (yay!)
3] i have increased like resistance to death in general but obviously if you like cut me in half i'll die - just like the average wound to a non-fatal area is 99% of the time not going to kill me
4] basically in the webtoon scarlet has a demon stuck inside her so that's kind of what's going on here - i'm either the sweetest child ever who refuses to hurt a single fly or the demon kinda just... pows and there is nothing i can do about it. [so scarlet early chapters lol] - if someone hurts someone i REALLY like / care about deeply, demon ... pows and i go on a killing rampage. only a reminder of "humanity" in some abstract form can stop me.
5] "the writing's on the wall" - i can read different languages. like... i'm just more proficient... in more languages.. idk how to put it? it's like an auto translater
6] mediation - this is like a return from #4 ; activated by some mechanism you can decide by yourself. during this period, it's basically like healing! everyone within a mile radius is full of peace for about 20 seconds :3 (giving me ample time to run away hahaha)
weapon of choice: scythe
shipping: sure
other: n/a
(May 5, 2024 - 2:38 pm)
This is me just now catching up with everything, and I got to say, this is AMAZING!!! I just love love your writing, you so have skillz Zealatom!!! I love how you wrote me, and I was like ahhh I'm driving already XD but yes! You did me perfectly! You are just so amazing I can't get over the amazingness! It's like a real, actual book I'm holding in my hands and I just want to finish it already :DDD
(May 8, 2024 - 2:42 pm)
Part 4, The worth of training and spagetti
The glaring sun dazzled high above the world, banishing all clouds that dared to come near. Under the powerful shine, the white buildings of the institute appeared much more majestic than usual.
Though one of the older members of the Anomaly Control Union, the institute was in comparison to other organizations somewhat rough around the edges. Take the world-renowned Cantura Scholar’s League in the highlands for instance. Now that was a famous organization, keen on upholding their centuries-long history and traditions with dignity. Each location there had its own unique name. The dorms were
called The Repose Halls, the library was called The Compass, because it was supposed to point people in the direction of knowledge, the canteen was called the Great Harvest in honor of their founder who relieved a terrible famine, etc. Terribly elegant, in Moon’s opinion.
Now on the other side, the institute had never really bothered to name things. They were just called as they were. The training grounds were the training grounds. The huge black watchtower at the edge was, simply, The Watchtower. And those were the normal ones. Some unpopular names were used only when called for, mostly for the faraway corners of the grounds. For instance there were ‘This is Lake’ Lake,
the hills ‘Steep’ and ‘Craggy’ and the famous steep cliffs to the south called ‘Arghhh’ and “Wahhh”.
Other names were not mentioned because of the ‘taboo’. These were the nicknames that the apprentices came up with in the dozen, mostly for their mentors and their accommodations.
Out of which Periwinkle had the most.
Preferring the peace and quiet, she had chosen a discreet little hut hidden in a grove of pines as her lodging. A jovial stream ran beside it, gurgling merrily through the woods until it widened and became part of the river that flowed through the
institute.
Emerald Grove was the name Periwinkle had come up with. Poetic and fitting for the picturesque corner of the grounds.
All the apprentices secretly called it…
Emerald Grave.
Moon chuckled to herself. A good name, that. Quite the tribute to Periwinkle’s gloomy temper.
“Moon, what are you laughing at this time?” Peregrine’s voice barged into her wandering thoughts. “Pull yourself together! Miss Periwinkle’s probably already waiting for you at the training grounds.”
“Alright, alright.” Moon said, forking another piece of her breakfast pancake. “I was worrying about whether her magic is functioning normally today. It would be a disaster if she decided to interrogate me again, wouldn’t it?”
Peregrine rubbed her temple and looked at Moon’s genuinely worried expression over her hard boiled eggs. “If you insult her again I’ll be there to pull your tongue out, don’t you worry.”
“No thank you!” Moon waved her hands in surrender. “I appreciate your offer but if that happens I think I’ll do it myself.”
-
“Attack me.” Periwinkle said simply, tossing Moon her favorite weapon, a mockup of a Morgenstern dagger. In her hand she held a wooden short sword.
Moon caught it midair and looked at her mentor warily, unsure of what to expect.
“I said attack me.” Periwinkle commanded, her ever-calm voice easily audible above the clamor of weapons clashing around them on the training grounds. “I shall be your
opponent since Peregrine and Hawkstar both have tasks at hand.”
Moon nodded and sighed. Such were the disadvantages of studying under a mentor that had only decided to choose three apprentices to teach. She adjusted her stance and
mopped some sweat out of her eyes, feeling the familiar weighting of the blade in her hand. Then she shot out at Periwinkle in a lavender blur.
One could instantly tell that she had a talent for daggers by the way she handled her weapon. The Morgenstern was in particular a devil to master. As a dagger in the usual sense it might be terrible in terms of design, for was awkwardly weighted with the center of gravity completely centered at the pommel. But the sophisticated system of combat its creator the ancient weapon master Ci had devised along for it had made it one of the deadliest weapons one could face in
the realm of melee. Having self-taught herself from The Book of Ci- Morgenstern, Moon Wolf was already a formidable
fighter with it. She could maneuver the dagger like an extension of her arm, and it was something she took pride in.
Moon decided to begin with a feint, just to trick Periwinkle into losing her balance and to expose a chink in her defenses. As expected, she moved to block the stab and stepped to the side, leaving her stomach exposed. Moon changed direction in the blink of an eye, ducked under the practice sword and with her remaining momentum slashed towards her mentor’s abdomen.
The expected contact did not occur. Instead Moon yelped as she felt the sword come crashing down on her arm, knocking the dagger out of her grip.
“Your movements were too weak. A turtle could realize that you were going to feint.” Periwinkle said simply, tossing the dagger back to Moon who was clutching her aching arm.
“Try that again.”
As the hot morning crawled by and the training grounds emptied of people, all driven out by the increasing temperature, Moon continued her fruitless attacks. Periwinkle had barely moved three steps since they had started, but on the other hand Moon had already received a series of strikes that she wasn’t going to forget for a week. A spot on her back was sore from where Periwinkle had stabbed it, hard, and both her arms were red in various places from where the wooden blade had struck. She was coming to grips with the fact that Periwinkle just wanted an excuse to beat her up.
“Enough of this.” Periwinkle said after arresting a midway stab to her neck (she had eventually given up on using the sword). “You’re tired and irritated. Your attacks aren’t coordinated anymore.”
“Maybe I am.” Moon said with eyes narrowed. She tried to pull her wrist loose but failed. Periwinkle was keeping an iron grip on it. “Can I take a break now?” She added in a less aggressive and more hopeful tone.
“No. It’s only ten.” Periwinkle said pitilessly, shattering Moon’s dreams. “Show me what you can do against a dummy, and once you decide to drag yourself back into shape we’ll
continue.”
Moon whined and tried to negotiate, but all she was greeted with was a cuff on the back of her head.
-
As night fell, Moon lay on her bed like a limp fish, whimpering sadly. Though she had already been to the nurse, her entire body was sore and hurting. She could barely move to turn on her bed, let alone get up. Sniffling and with a pair of big watery eyes, she gave the impression of a bullied puppy that had just made its way back to the den.
Her only condolence was Hawkstar, who had had the kindness to bring her a takeout from the canteen. She was sitting beside Moon, looking over the state of her wounds.
“How do you feel? Still can’t sit up? Oh dear oh dear, Miss Periwinkle didn’t hold back, did she?”
Moon nodded, burying her head into her pillow. “It still hurts. But I feel better now that you’re here.”
“Aw.” Hawkstar murmured, combing through Moon’s black hair with her fingers, the only comfort she could give her in this state. “I’m really, really sorry, I should have told you about the service and everything while we were on our way back, but you looked like you wanted to sleep so I let it pass. You know, Eclipse was Periwinkle’s best friend while he was still here. She must be really steamed up because you missed the service.”
Moon looked up at Hawkstar’s caring face and nodded docilely. Hawkstar had been Periwinkle’s apprentice for the longest, and as was her fashion in socializing, she knew Periwinkle
well.
“I’d try healing you if I could, but I’m not familiar enough with the spells yet.” Hawkstar said truthfully, patting Moon’s head. “Until I am, are you going to pay attention in class?”
“Yes!” Moon said. “I swear on Zeus’s thunderbolts!”
“The last time I heard you swear on that, he still owes you a dozen strikes.” Hawkstar joked, setting the takeout from the canteen on the bedside cabinet. “Now if you feel good enough, I’ll help you up. You need to get some actual food down, girl.
Especially if Periwinkle decides to call for you sometime soon. I grabbed your favorite spaghetti.”
Moon blinked up at Hawkstar’s shining brown eyes and felt the stress of the day melt like frost in the morning sun, being replaced by a warm flow of happiness and saturation. If Periwinkle wasn’t going to be nice to her, at least there was someone who was.
------
And so part four is at an end! These info drops were just rendering the world into detail- also a challenge to write, because I am terrible at naming things...
Also, @Periwinkle, what would you like to name wour weapon? I think it best you decide for yourself, and since it'll be a while until it appears again, you'll have ample time to choose.
(May 9, 2024 - 9:42 am)
I love it sm! The descriptions, the dialogue...you're an amazing writer <3
(May 9, 2024 - 5:38 pm)
This was amazingggg I love your writing and the characters and the dialogue and you really get a good sense of who everyone is and their relationships with each other and ofc love all your chapter titles but yeah wow :DDDD
(May 9, 2024 - 6:57 pm)
Really loving this so far! I'm not quite sure what I want to name my weapon yet, but I'll get back to you soon!
(May 9, 2024 - 7:44 pm)
Haha I like the "emerald grave" :D
(May 10, 2024 - 9:33 am)
(May 9, 2024 - 9:43 am)
This is, of course, super amazing!! I just can't express how much I love your writing! You are absolutely perfect with me as well, and just wow. Loved this part!
(May 10, 2024 - 8:14 am)