Evageek's 5th RP/Character Synopsis

Alrighty. On the Evageeks forums we kick-started another Evangelion based forum Role Play. Hopefully my writing skills can keep up with it because this time around I have a grand total of four characters to control, which is four times as many as some other people have that can't even keep up with just their one character. Currently in my possession are two canon characters: Hikari Horaki, the sweet, yet sturdy classroom representative, and Maya Ibuki, the responsible, possibly lesbian first lieutenant, or Bridge Bunny, serving directly under Ritsuko Akagi.

The other two of my characters are original characters, one of which I created on my own, the other I saved from being another background character and have done a lot of characterization with. Ironically, the two became almost polar opposites. This blog update is dedicated to them, but without giving any spoilers at all. If you want to know what happens, you'll have to see for yourself.

The first is my darling, Katsuko Kotonoha.
Age: 14
Date of birth: June 2nd, 2001.
Ethnicity: Japanese.
Hair Color: Black.
Eye Color: Emerald Green.
Height: 5'8"
Notable Features: Round spectacles.

Katsuko is a shy, reclusive girl who avoids interactions with people for a reason, and normally meets confrontation with a slight irritation, but that does not mean she's not friendly under certain circumstances. Get her with friends and she'll be the life of the party: playful, whimsical and adventurous. Despite being shy and antisocial, she's a very independent person, living only with her father, whom works night shifts and sleeps during the day (it is very rare that they actually see each other) and is in charge of taking care of the house as if it were her own. She seems to be hiding a pain, a memory from the past that still haunts her, and she represses it as best she can. Her emotions come out selectively on paper through her artwork and poetic pieces, which are notably her only hobbies along with playing the bass guitar and browsing the internet. Her interactions with people face-to-face differ greatly than they do through a text message or an online message; when online, she's much more expressive, and often uses emoticons to set the mood in her messages. In real life, she often expresses her emotions in a different, more subtle way. Her dress style is known to be rebellious at school, often bending the uniform policy as best as she can to dress how she wishes. A few years back she used to be very close friends with Michiko Nakada and Takeru Matsuda, but for reasons the relationship between the three was severed. Takeru's return to Tokyo-3 is only going to stir things up for her. Katsuko is at a very critical point in her life right now, and depending on her interactions with others, she may go two extreme directions in life. And if her name implies anything, one of those directions should be obvious.

The other is Michiko Nakada.
Age: 14
Date of Birth: February 25th, 2001.
Ethnicity: Japanese.
Hair Color: Mahogany.
Eye Color: Coffee brown.
Height: 5'3"

Michiko is a the well known and loved "popular" girl among her peers. Known to be openly rebellious and disagreeable, Michiko seems to follow her rules only. Everything she does is usually with her best friend, Mami Sasaki, and those two watch out for each other like sisters. When Mami is killed in an accident involving the Evangelions, Michiko instantly blames Nerv for claiming none were hurt during the incident and seeks to exploit the organization, but looks in all the wrong places. She often and openly blames the pilots and anybody associated with them for the death of her friend and calls them bloodthirsty murderers. Aside from her complete hatred for anything Nerv, Michiko is the average high school girl who enjoys hanging out with friends and going to the mall. Despite seeming like the soulless, pretty-girl, Michiko does have very strong ethics and a sense of justice, even though she often bends to her own will to get her way. Her passion is what keeps her going. Up until this point, she been known to date other guys to make her feel better about herself, for undisclosed reasons. She used to be best friends with Katsuko Kotonoha and Takeru Matsuda, but certain events had severed the relationship between the three. Takeru's return to Tokyo-3 is going to have a big affect on her character throughout the course of the story. Michiko is going to be put in a very transitional phase starting from very early in the story that she won't get out of until the end, whether she makes a change depends entirely on the events of the plot and what's to come.

And that's it. Katsuko and Michiko are both very unique characters in their own ways, and I hope to bring them to life through the story as well as doing the two canon characters justice. This attempt at an RP is shaping up to be one of my personally best and most organized tries to date, as well as my writing skills being better than they have been in the past. This is looking to be a fun and exciting story, as long as every keeps up and does there part. But it should be fine, this is only the fifth try; the third try with this plot. Either way, this is going to be a lot of fun.

Here's a link to the RP, in case you're interested in reading it: 5th Evageeks RP

And until my next blog post, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope that the holidays are good for all of us! Bye!

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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Dreams & Oddities: Bootlegging on a Cold, Russian night.

The other night I had dream nearing nightmare that didn't bother trying to make any sense and even had a few classmates as characters in my midnight oddity.

I, at least, I think I was Nick Carraway-- a character from The Great Gatsby. It was based sometimes during the Prohibition era and I had earned myself as an amateur bootlegger.

It was a cold, winter's night, and I rowed alone in a small boat in the middle of the Pacific. The sky and ocean seemed like an endless abyss, and I was foating in the middle of it. The only colors other than the lifeless black was the dull, yellow light emanating from a small lantern, and the falling white snow that only showed itself when caught in the lantern's gaze.

I pulled ashore on the foreign coast nearby an abandoned train yard. Black monoliths, capped with a white hood lay dormant nearby large, cold building which offered little shelter from the snow that now seemed to glow white against the black of night. My excitement grew as I made it into the building, closing the giant door behind me. As if waiting for me, a small crate filled with bottles of distilled alcohol lay in plain sight. Capless, as if only recently placed there and yet to be buried under fallen snow.

As I picked it up, sirens went off and I heard a dozen denizens donning badges and guns pull up in their loud vehicles. "We've got you surrounded," said one that appeared to be my 10th grade History teacher, but with an old fashion police mustache, "come out with your hands up!" Just then, a few of them entered the building, rushing toward me. Both of them were classmates of mine, Alex and Ryan. Each tried to take me down, but I faked left and made a break for the right, alcohol case in hand. I heard shots being fired behind me as more cops had followed behind and had given up trying to negotiate with me.

Almost to the end of the large hall, a door opened before me. It was Ashley, and she was a Russian cop, like the rest of them. She looked almost surprised to see that I was making a break for that door; apparently she had only come to this back side to make sure no one escaped, but she hadn't really expected one such as I to be so bold as to actually try. As I made it past her, she yelled, "Stop!" and I did. "Is it really worth it?" She asked, gun gripped loosely in both hands.

I turned around, facing her. The snow coated both of our idle bodies and silence reigned through the night. "What's the point of a risk if you don't take it?" I inquired of her. Again silence. The wind blew lightly, yet with power as it stung our pale cheeks. Faintly, the blue and red lights flashed from behind the building. We both stood idle, gazing at each other, neither of us sure of the others move, yet both expecting something favorable from the other.

I slowly turned to six o'clock and marched forward toward the sea. One pull of a finger and my walking ceased. Gently my knees hit the ground and steam rose from the wound in my back. Face first into the scarlet snow I descended, never to rise again. My eyes stared blankly at the horizon, and for a moment I thought I saw a lighthouse. But the instant I realized it, it had disappeared.
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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Science Camp / Outdoor School.

This year I was able to attend my school's annual Science Camp from the 17th to the 20th trip for 6th graders as a camp counselor up in Sonora. Basically I got out of school for a week in exchange for sleeping in a cabin with about fourteen 6th graders and making sure they followed the rules in such. The perks to being a counselor included: bossing around little kids, free meals all week, a trip to the mountains and other places like Calaveras State Park and the Moaning Caverns, etc. Overall this experience was a great way to get me out of the rut I've been in, cheer me up and help me discover new things about myself.

Tuesday, November 20th: After a short, two hour drive on a cramped school bus we arrived happily at the camp grounds. We were off to a late start, when we got there we were rushed to get situated and to catch up with the other school that had apparently been there for an hour already. The first thing Sean (a fellow classmate and counselor) said when we got off the bus was "When's lunch?" For those that know Sean, this isn't a surprising question. The counselors got sent off to be assigned their dorms and lectured on what it takes to be a good counselor and role model to these students. I was thrilled to be the leader of Oak Cabin, because when I went to Science Camp in 6th grade, Oak Cabin was the dorm I was part of. Afterward we met our students and took them off to lunch, Spaghetti. I was honestly surprised. Real, actual, authentic, quality meals were being served and it was indeed delicious. This was the first of the many great meals to come. At this point I was able to meet some of my students and get to know them a little bit, but I'd be damned if I was able to remember their names by the first night. Later on we teamed up with the girls cabin and met Ben, our "Naturalist" as they call it, and we had a fun little hike. After the hike came dinner, after dinner came the camp fire meeting where the Naturalists addressed both schools as a whole and told them about the fun week we'd be having, after the camp fire came bed time.

Lemme take this time to explain the rules and rewards that were explained to me:

Superior Dorm: Granted to dorms that manage to stay completely quiet from bedtime at 9:30pm to wake up call at 7:00am. This reward is worth the most points.

Golden Broom: Granted to dorms that manage to meet all the standards for a clean dorm room every morning at 8:40am. The points for this varied.

Helping Hand: Granted to dorms that stick their necks out to help out the Naturalists with such things as cleaning up the cafeteria, etc. Worth very little points.

That night, the students made it impossible to receive the Superior Dorm reward.

Wednesday, November 18th: I awoke to the resonating sound of a dozen whispers at about 6:30am, a half hour before scheduled wake up call. But I got them in line and later we earned the Golden Broom. The day went by quite simply after that: Breakfast (PANCAKES!), hike, lunch (HOT DOGS!), hike, dinner (FISH FILLET!), and some weird dance party with a few dorms in the cafeteria with games and such. The exciting part of the day, however, was the showers. We, the counselors, were finally allowed to shower at 4:00pm and it was refreshing despite being in a locker room with other men showering (a few of which I've never met because they were from the other school), but it felt so good. To my surprise the shower went on instantly, spewing out icy cold water at several miles per hour. For about two minutes I pressed myself against the wall, out of the hose's way until it heated up to a comfortable warmth; it was then when I was able to peacefully shower. I felt bad for the 6th graders though; while us counselors had no limit to how long our showers were (as long as we were on time to pick up our kids that were currently at recess), the 6th graders all got a grand total of three minutes each. Now lets think about this. These children are probably on their first trip away from their homes and family, already freezing due to the altitude, and are expected to get nude in a room full of their peers and shower in a completely different room full of even more peers. And to top that off, they get three glorious minutes to complete this, two of which are will be freezing cold. I'm glad the showers weren't like this at the place I went to.

I'll take this time to explain this camp's "Scat" song. For I had a really big problem with it because it wasn't nearly as awesome as the one I learned.

There's went:

"It starts with an 'S' and it ends with a 'T'
It comes out of you, and it comes out of me.
I know what you're thinking, but don't call it that.
Lets be scientific and call it Scat!"

While mine went:

"Scat makes the world go 'round!
The forest can't survive if it's not on the ground.
So when you step in a lump of scat
Just jump for joy and say 'that's where I'm at!'"

Mine was clearly superior.

Later that night, my cabin came uber close to getting the Superior Dorm award, and they should have gotten it, but life sucks and so do adults.

Thursday, November 19th: This time I was actually able to sleep until the wake up call and was greeted with a wonderful hashbrown and scrambled egg breakfast. On this day we took our field trip to Calaveras State Park to learn about Sequoias and then to the Moaning Caverns.

I'll now take this time to explain the disciplinary system this school had in place for the 6th graders, a basic, three step system:

Step One: A warning and a talk with your teacher.
Step Two: A painful call to your parents explaining why you're in trouble.
Step Three: Expulsion from outdoor school and possible suspension from the regular middle school.

I bring this up now, because on this day one of my students in particular got to his Third Step, all of which I missed. Apparently before we had even left our school, he had gotten into a fist fight with another student, earning him his first step. On this Thursday he got his next two steps by repeatedly flipping off a group of students on separate occasions but for the same reason: They were teasing him for having homosexual parents and calling him, too, a homo. Typical 6th grade bullying. I felt bad for the kid, he was actually one of my better students while he was around, and it was a big bummer for him to get expelled on the day before we left. So my cabin went down from fourteen students to thirteen.

That night after dinner was the famous Night Hike, in which we take our cabins and lead them through the forest at night without flashlights or any light source and laugh at them for tripping all over themselves in the dark. It was fun, though not nearly as great the night hike I attended in 6th grade.

Friday, November 20th: Today was the last day, and my cabin had Flag Ceremony.

I'll take this time to explain such things as Flag Ceremony.

Flag Ceremony: Depending on the time of the day, the cabin either takes out the U.S. flag and the World flag and raises both on the flag pole, or they take down the flags and return them to their resting place.

Meal Time Duty: The cabin gets to the cafeteria early and helps set up the tables and prepare some of the food for the upcoming meal.

Bathroom Duty: The cabin is in charge of cleaning the dorm bathrooms and earns themselves a point for cabin inspection. The cabin simply picks up garbage off the ground and counters and makes sure everything is tidy. They don't need to scrub toilets or sinks or anything.

After Flag Ceremony was breakfast, and then the morning hike. This time, however, I volunteered to be the counselor from each group to help pack all the luggage into the U-Haul along with Alex, Sean and Ashley (I still can't believe Matt made Ashley go and handle the luggage while he enjoyed his nice hike, but Ashley says she volunteered). So we spent a good forty-five minutes separating and packing luggage in a manner that allowed it to fit into the small U-Haul we rented. It was fun, and got our blood pumping enough to warm us up in the cold and get out of taking care of 6th graders for a while. But soon afterward we caught back up with our hiking groups and continued the day. After lunch we embarked on our trip back home.

This was a great and wonderful experience. Ultimately it led me to realize more about myself, and try to become more of a leader figure with the ability to assert my power over others, which was always a fun thing. And it got my mind off all the worries the world had been shoving down my throat up until then, so it was a great stress reliever, just like with Arsenic & The Old Lace just a few weeks prior. But I must say that the play probably caused more stress than it relieved, while the Science Camp experience was pure relief, and it came when I needed it most.

Well, I shall end this monstrous wall of text now, and I should have more to say after Thanksgiving. So until then, ta-ta for now!
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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Lyric Analysis: The Memory Remains -- Metallica

The Memory Remains is a single by the acclaimed American metal band, Metallica, off their 6th studio album, ReLoad, released in 1997 and is the second track of the album. The lyrics describe an once-great but now washed up celebrity who is passed her prime and must deal with becoming something of the past and no longer the star she used to be, but is desperate to regain her stardom. The song was written by headman, James Hetfield, and drummer, Lars Ulrich. It is believed to be a reference to the 1950 movie, Sunset Boulevard, which has a character who is faded movie star whom attempts to make a triumphant return to Hollywood and the big life by using a “down-on-his-luck screenwriter” (Wikipedia). This may also be a way of expressing the musical pair's feelings on their own celebrity fatigue and the downsides of being famous.

The songs starts off with the chorus:

“Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone Insane
But the memory remains”

The first two lines probably go together in a sentence as “Fortune, fame mirror vain” and can translate to “both fortune and fame mirror what is vain.” So this basically says that fame and fortune reflect false pride, or baseless pride. That one who has those things and waves them around do so to express how proud they are, but to no avail (another definition of the word “vain”). And then it goes to the next line, “gone insane”, to express how one goes insane from their false pride of fame and fortune, or simply grows too attached to the fame and can't stand to lose it. However, they can't get over this anxiety of losing fame because “[...] the memory remains”.

The first verse goes on to say:

“Heavy rings on fingers wave
Another star denies the grave
See the nowhere crowd
Cry the nowhere cheers of honor”

This stanza describes how the faded celebrity clings onto fame, and waves to a crowd of crying fans that isn't really there, showing how this star rejects being forgotten or “denies the grave”. It describes the deteriorating mental stability of the star that will also find excuse to put herself in front of a crowd, even if that crowd isn't really there for her. That way when she hears the cries of the fans, she gets the feelings that it's for her and not for the other celebrities going down the red carpet.

The second verse continues:

“Like twisted vines that grow
Hide and swallow mansions whole
In light of an already
Faded prima donna”

“Like twisted vines that grow […]” is probably a metaphor for the growing obsession that the star has to get back into the limelight. The obsession “hide(s) and swallow(s) [...]” her whole until the only thing she has left is that obsession and her need to become great once again.

After that verse it goes into chorus again, and then to verse three:

“Heavy rings hold cigarettes
Up to lips that time forgets
While the Hollywood sun sets
Behind your back”

The “heavy rings” line relates back to the first verse as a way of showing that the verse is describing the same person. Those rings could also be a motif used to express that wearer has money and use those heavy rings as a badge of her fortune. But that badge is worn in vain to “hold cigarettes up the lips that time forgets.” The second line expresses that she was once very popular but has lost that popularity and is slowly forgotten. “While the Hollywood sun sets behind your back” pretty much says that her ride of fame is now over, Hollywood being the symbol of fame and the sun set as a symbol of the end.

The fourth and final verse goes on to say:

“And can't the band play on?
Just listen, they play my song
Ash to ash
Dust to dust
Fade to black”

The metaphor of the band is way of expressing the star's desperation, as if she's saying “Can't I just stay? Can't I still be famous? Can't you all still love me? Just let me have my chance and you all will.” The “Ash to ash, dust to dust” part explains how one starts from nothing and returns to nothing, and that all things that were once made great must return to nothing, or that what goes up must come down. “Fade to black” goes along with those two prior lines, but can also be a reference to another Metallica song from their second album, Ride The Lightning, which is about committing suicide and returning to nothing.

After that is the second chorus, but right before the solo, Hetfield adds before repeating the “Ash to ash” part:

“Drift away
Fade away
Little tin goddess”

Obviously those first two lines explain how the star is fading and will soon be forgotten. But a “little tin goddess” is a reference to the idiom “little tin god”, which is described as a “self important, dictatorial person” (Urban Dictionary) or when a person thinks their attractive exterior is all it takes for them to get ahead in life. So basically the faded star is filled with conceit and wondering why she's no longer popular, and is filled with a lot of vain. It also brings to question what got her to be so popular in the first place, which was probably her good looks. And over time her looks faded away, and people lost interest in her because she wasn't very talented otherwise.

After the solo and final chorus, it ends with: “Dance little tin goddess, dance.”

So in conclusion the song is about the tragedy of the celebrity who can no longer sustain her flashy lifestyle of fame and fortune but tries so hard to do anything to keep things the way they are, which may possibly end up destroying her, as had happened in the film, Sunset Boulevard, where at the end the faded star finally gets her wish of getting one last chance to be in the limelight, but only after shooting and killing the screenwriter who she had been using due to her obsession. "Say yes, at least say hello. Say yes, at least say hello."

Bibliography:

-Sunset Boulevard (film), Wikipedia

-Lyrics for The Memory Remains, Lyrics Freak

-Little Tin God, Urban Dictionary

-The Memory Remains, Metallica


LYRICS:

Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane
But the memory remains

Heavy rings on fingers wave
Another star denies the grave
See the nowhere crowd
Cry the nowhere cheers of honor

Like twisted vines that grow
Hide and swallow mansions whole
In light of an already
Faded prima donna

Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane...
Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane...
But the memory remains

Heavy rings hold cigarettes
Up to lips that time forgets
While the Hollywood sun sets
Behind your back

And cant the band play on
Just listen, they play my song
Ash to ash
Dust to dust
Fade to black

Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane...
Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane...
Dance little tin goddess

Nananananana nananada nananananana nanananadana
Nananananana nananada nananananana nanananadana

Drift away
Fade away
Little tin goddess

Ash to ash
Dust to dust
Fade to black

Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane...
Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane...
But the memory remains

Ash to ash
Dust to dust
Fade to black...
But the memory remains
Faded prima donna

Dance little tin goddess dance

Nananananana nananada nanananana nanananadana
Nananananana nananada nanananana nanananadana

Say yes, at least say hello
Say yes, at least say hello

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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

And the Last Curtain Falls...

Last night was the closing night for my school play, Arsenic & The Old Lace. I played the part of Mr. Gibbs, the elderly gentleman who was simply looking for a place to sleep for one night, unaware that his hosts were psychotic old women with a knack for mixing poison. The part was far minuscule in comparison to most of the other parts (actually, all of the other parts (smallest part in the play, to be honest)), but it was still a fun and exciting experience. Each performance night had a wonderful turn out, and although each show had it's own share of technical issues, the cast and crew was able to hold everything together and the show went on.

But oh am I glad that it's finally over. I won't go into too much detail, but it was quite an "eventful" experience, one that I admit one should probably go through at one point in their lives, but one that I likely won't go through again anytime soon. Not that it was a bad time for me, just that it's not quite my cup of tea, and as the young adult striving to find some identity, I'll be moving on to explore other things. In fact, I was just informed the other week that I'll be a camp counselor for my this year's Science Camp/Outdoor School and I'll be in charge of a cabin filled with 6th graders for four days. So that should be something of another life experience for me. I seem to be stumbling upon a lot of those within the last few months, whether I liked it or not...

Well that's it for tonight, until next time, Sayonara~
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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

A clearing in the dense, auburn forest.

On that Spring morning, over sixteen years ago, a dense blond forest began to stretch its roots through the plains that was my scalp. But in the deepest part of the woods, a petite clearing that was shaped roughly like a bunny's head stood out; it was pink, glowing almost, as if some mystic presence occupied that region of my head; the ground there was scarred, as if bloodied. Even when winter came and all the blond leaves fell from their root, nothing agreed to grow there. Soon the forest grew back and darker than ever, a pitch black contrasting the pink rabbit's head. The forest grew thick, and kept the pink clearing secret from the entire world. As if aged, the black lost its density and soon became an auburn color; with each season it would change in hue. As if as immortalized as the clearing, the forest still remains that color to this day. That is, until each tree came down with the flash of the blade. And now, proud as ever, that pink bunny shines brightly for the whole world to see, to get its one last joyride in life before being claimed once more by the forest of deep auburn. Even now, evidence of the wood's rebirth is apparent; the pink rabbit's sunset is close at hand, until the next time when sunlight shine upon it again.
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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Well hello tharr everybody!

This is my very first blog ever, and it's going to suck a lot. xD Basically, this will be my welcoming/opening blog post. In the future my blogs may or may not be more specific and have actual meaning to them. I'll be writing about whatever is on my mind at any given time; that could be a great number of things: an interesting day I had, an event I participated in, my emotions, or maybe just something that's sparking my interest at any particular moment (I may type random essays reviewing books, movies, shows, or even music). If you want to know more about me, I'll get around to editing my profile page sometimes soon, if not, oh well; you'll have to suffer.

So yeah, my first blog. xD And this is the end.
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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks