Well look at who decided to show up again after vanishing for two whole weeks, eh?

Yep, me. As to why I vanished, to keep things simple, an unforeseen DUCK came between us!

Nah, I'm just kidding, that was a Neytrix reference. The duck here is a metaphor for *gets old wizard voice ready* A darned pile of very important tests at school! And the hectic whirlwinds of homework that proceded them. I've been caught up in calculating vectors and coordinates and figuring out oxidization reactions and attempting and failing to predict the paths of electrons that like zooming around in electric fields so perfect in structure that they would have made Tesla weep. A bunch of stuff anyways.

But now the tests have ended, which is why I am back again. The next week of school is going to be more laid back in atmosphere. There's going to be a bunch of activities going on, such as the choir festival and the standard sports festival where the school is going to gather everyone together to hold a massive track-and-field competition that will be lasting for three days. And which I am going to be participating in as my class's only competitor for the 3000 meter track run! Last year I joined the 1500 meter run because that was the longest track race my grade could participate in, so this time will be a completely new experience for me. In addition, I've put my name forward to join the 'campus singer' competition that will be held in one or two months' time in feverent hopes of  standing in front of my entire school, teachers and principal included, and showing them what german rock and roll sounds like. If the chance does show up, I'll be singing 'Brüder im Herzen' by Santiano. Wish me luck.

Also I've been developing Shang the whole time. So far histories and cultures of the countries Yi, Feng, and Strangia have been basically established, and my oc count has boomed as a result of this worldbuilding. I've only just finished a short sketch of one of my new ocs on Inkwell, as you should be able to see. His callsign is Dawn 1, or Shuyan(Pronounced Shoo-yen) if you prefer his actual name. For some context, he's an Avane with Nerionan identity and underwent combat training during a critical period of aerial weakness for the Federation. Back at that time the Feng Dominion had just been established and Avanes from around the planet were flocking there to have a look at the new country proclaiming itself as a nation belonging solely to Avanes. Neriona had relied on the Avanes in its airspace to deter 'shadows', which were actually a species of hostile birdlike entities who nested in the mountain ranges at the edge of Neriona territory, so once Feng was founded they suddenly found themselves defenseless against shadow attacks. Dawn 1's family became one of the only Avane presences to remain in Neriona and voluntarily accepted the responsibility to fend of the shadows. Dawn 1 was the most talented in the family and was therefore trained in secret for five years under the cover of darkness along with seven other Avanes while everyone else pitted everything they had against the attacks. Eventually Shuyan was evaluated as combat ready and was assigned to be leader of Dawn Squadron, which is where his callsign originates. He singlehandedly (or pawdedly I suppose) turned the battle in favor of Neriona, surprising everyone following the conflict. Dawn Squadron had been kept a secret up until their first mission, so the appearence of eight elite Avanes all wearing identical sun emblems rocked the entire world and managed to influence Feng enough to dispatch supporting forces to aid in Dawn's fight, helping them drive away the shadows for good.

Now I must stop now or his story is going to deserve a whole book again! I am forever cursed with too many ideas and too little time to put them down on paper. Sorry for the rambling, but I tend to turn into a perfectionist when it comes to oc design. How have things been going with you?

Argh, come on! Top!

XD I love the idea of an unforeseen duck... Good luck all the way, for the singing and for the track. May the Avanes be with you!

Don't get me started on oc counts - I don't even know how many charries I have, but last time I made a rough approximate it was more than a hundred. The question is, what exactly counts as a charrie? If a guy pops into the story for a second for the sole purpose of saying "Excuse me, can I get by" and creating atmosphere, can he be added to your list of OCs? Mysteries of life, I guess. Being a writer is a Very Serious Undertaking.

I read your post about Dawn 1 (as in, on Inkwell, not what you said here) (though I read that too, obviously :D) and I liked it! According to me, Dawn 1 is more than worthy of a book all to himself :] I get it, though, I'm also always scrambling to deal with too many story ideas...

As for me, I don't think there's much going on. The months started doing that autumn thing of vanishing much too quickly, and I'm still a bit short of time. Speaking of OCs, new ones keep popping up on me, and I'm currently trying to figure out what to do with them and what they're ultimately there for. And then I keep finding songs that fit my charries perfectly, which is always nice :) I'm also writing a ski lodge in Pudding's Place (under the psuedonym The Prince), which wanted to be written even though it's a bit hard to balance with everything else. I'm kind of falling in love with it, though :]