yochva

Happy almost-two-months-after-my-birthday to me... Eh. Would y'all believe I forgot about it? And that this is really a one time deal, I have no time in the forseeable future, other than tonight. Yeah. Happy birthday to all and sundry!

~Personality~ L'kaira, on first glance, really doesn't have a personality. She's cold even to those who are close to her, she doesn't let anyone inside her impenetrable shields, she doesn't show any emotion. However. Once she decides that someone is a friend, she will defend that person to the greatest extent of her abilities, because that person is close to her, and she considers those close to her an extention of herself. She has such a great control of her personal shields that they will respond to any shift in her mental powers instantaneously, so if she wants to send them to surround another person while remaining grounded on her, they will. Most of all about L'kaira is her efficiency. She'll take the shortest safe route from A to B, period. If that's teleportation, yes. If it's flight, yes. If it's walking for three miles then teleporting into the air and flying the rest of the way, yes. Whatever is required, she'll do. She's almost military-minded, that way. If one wants to become a friend of L'kaira, the best way is to befriend Evangeline or Rena'ah first. L'kaira trusts no one unless and until it has been proven that she can, and to this extent, the best way to prove that is to open your mind to her and let her see for herself. Remember, she has no concept of right or wrong, only the best for all involved. She doesn't care what you've done in the past, she safely assumes a certain level of standards has already been met and goes from there. That means she won't attack you the first time you approach her. All the people in the Pen have that basic level to start with, because Evangeline said it would be a good place to come to, so therefore it must be. She a bit naive that way. If she befriends someone, it's because that person meets her very high standards, so she trusts them completely. To her friends, she unwinds a little. She's still more likely to be angry than to be cheerful, but there's more gray area. There's more physical expression. She'll tell you if she likes or doesn't like something. With strangers, she's more likely to remove herself from the situation by any means necessary before revealing that much of herself.

~Physical Description~ L'kaira is purple. That's the simplest way to put it. Her hair is purple, the last shade before black, and her skin is purple, the last shade before white. As I said in her Auction intro, she often wears black, which sets the contrast very high, and highlights her eyes (which are plain dark purple, and obviously so). Below is her basic outfit and looks, described in bullet form. If she's wearing something else, I will of course describe it IC. LOOKS: Hair: Purple, actually, but for all intents and purposes, black. Stick straight. Bangs to the tops of her eyebrows. Hits just below her shoulder blades. Eyes: Purple-black, but the purple is more noticable. Skin: Looks white, but is tinged pale purple if you look closely. CLOTHES: Shirt: Two, actually, a black long-sleeved undershirt and a purple capsleeved tee-shirt over it. Pants: Thin, black, sort of silky, and falred at the ankle Skirt: Knee-length, darker purple than the tee. Denim material, four pockets (two front and two back). A four inch slit in back seam. Shoes: black ankle boots with a 1.5 inch heel

~Items~ Nothing of a magical nature or any significance. She learned the lesson long, LONG ago that anything of personal value is a potential target, and so doesn't have any. Not to stop others giving anything to her... she just doesn't have any entering the field. ^__~ She has clothes, of course! She and Evangeline are my only characters that actually have a wardrobe... L'kaira, because she can teleport her clothes from anywhere to where she is, and so has the ability to have different outfits. Heh.

~Magical Abilities~ L'kaira's magical abilities are actually not magical at all - they're mental. Before I describe them, I must explain how I differentiate between the Mage Gift and Mind Gifts. These are two totally separate sets of abilities, one uses an internal power source that directly affects the world around the mage, and the other uses the mind to do the same. They might mimic each other, but they are different, and require two totally separate sets of shields. Thus, if a mage is shielded against magic but not against telepathy, he is left open to mental attack. If a telepath is shielded against another mind but not against magic, he is left open to magical attacks, like magebolts and spells. Telepathy cannot affect the work done by magic, and magic cannot affect the work done by telepathy. Okay. Get it? Good. In L'kaira's world (that of the school), telepathic power is scaled on a range of 1 - 10, weakest to strongest. You read in the history that one of L'kaira's students created the scale, and he used L'kaira as the standard, because she was the strongest known telepath on Earth, and to her knowledge, on her homeworld as well. Therefore, L'kaira is a ten in all three categories, as will be described below. She has yet to reach the absolute limits of her powers, and has yet to find a telepath stronger than her. And she has been so long without peer and without anyone like her that she has closed off the part of herself that feels emotion, so she's not even haughty about it. It's simply... a fact of life. Telepathy - mental communication Telepathy consists of all forms of mind to mind contact, including but not limited to empathy, speech, and alteration. Broadcasting - potential strength of sending Recieving - sensitivity to mental communication Telekinesis - moving things, affecting the physical world Telekinesis can be broken down into all the familiar categories, including but not limited to pyrokinetics, telekinesis and illusion casting, of either sound or sight. More specific abilities include imitating flight by levitating herself (a form of telekinesis that goes against the Terran rules of physics. Only L'kaira and a very few of her more powerful students know how to do this), and teleportation, which is a relative of levitation, and even more limited. (As of the last time I checked in on Spiral Arm Academy's universe, only three knew how, after more than fifteen years under L'kaira's tutelage.) ~Weaknesses~ L'kaira has next to no defences against a direct magical attack. There is no magic in the SAA universe, so she's never heard that such a talent exists. She's currently considering ways to shield against this new threat, but satisfies herself with the ability to sense the menal shift before a spell is launched, and finding a solution at the time of the problem. Rena'ah has provided her with rudimentary shields, but no more. L'kaira's force of personality will be enough to protect her in the friendly confines of the Pen, she'll only have to worry if she leaves it.

~Abilities~ L'kaira's physical abilities are actually quite limited. She has no practical knowledge of physical weapons other than book knowledge, because her mental abilities are SO great that she doesn't need them. She has a basic understanding of defensive martial arts, (blocks and dodges and etc), and a precise theoretical understanding of several types of common guns (she knows how they're put together and how they work, far beyond what anyone except the maker would know), however she has never had to put this knowledge to use, as she has never been incapacitated to the point where her telepathy becomes useless. She also has complete command of her body. After living in it for so long in peak condition, there is nothing about it that is unknown to her. Thus, if she wants to intimidate, she will. If she wants to comfort (however rare that might be), she will. Her carriage of self is as much an ability to be admired as anything else. As a side note, she is also an accomplished singer. She's got a low alto, very smooth, which is rarely heard. She doesn't flaunt it; in fact, only a handful know the talent even exists. ~Weaknesses~ Lack of practical knowledge in virtually ANYTHING except telepathy. If she's ever mentally incapacitated, alone, she'd be virtually defenseless. She's too logical. She totally and completely misses the fact that other people feel emotions, because SHE doesn't feel them, and often doesn't take them into account when deciding what to do. She doesn't know 'right' and 'wrong', she weighs the facts and chooses that course which makes the most sense for her and those she must protect. More about this in the Personality page.

~History~ SHORT VERSION: Born on an alien world, to a telepathic tribe of a telepathic race. Very strong, had great shields, but her home was attacked when she was out, and she was tricked and captured, and sent to Earth to spy out the land for the "demons", as she called them. Has been on her own for years now. She looks human enough to pass, and her wierd coloring is passed off as "some quirk because she Oriental". From the year 3957 of our future. LONG VERSION: My apologies for the change in text size, it was a very rushed job. L'kaira lost track of the time, deep in the bowels of the Great Library, but many years after she was forgotten, a rebellion took place. Students rose against the administration, overthrowing the oppressive attitudes taught there. L'kair emerged to lead the students in a organized revolt, rather than a bloodbath, with her telepaths at the head of her legions. When it was all over, she left a few of her closest in charge, and left. She was no longer needed in the Academy, and her time ha come to go. She travelled across the world, finding the enclaves of telepaths that her former students had built, visiting and learning their inovations. For twenty years she travelled, never seeming to age, becoming close with only a few. One of those few was Evangeline, another was Rena'ah. The circumstances of their meetings are tales for other times than this one. When Evangeline wrote L'kaira a letter describing the place she had just come to, the Pen Keep, L'kaira decided it time and more than time to end her travels and settle in a place to claim as her own. No one recognized her in the world anymore, again she had been forgotten. Perhaps now was the time to create bonds that would last. And thus L'kaira came to the Keep, intending to stay.

~Brief Description~ L'kaira is an alien from a world whose name is forgotten, who came to Earth near the end of the second millenium, and has remained here ever since. She came to the Pen after Evangeline wrote her about it, and told her to end her journies and come here. More about that later.

"Wait, wait, wait, WAIT, I've got a hair in my eye, wait... ... did you take the picture already?"

"Hey. just 'cause his head is all the way up there does not give you the right to call me short!" And I had a flash of inspiration... "OH yeah! I've got a man on each arm... can you do better?!"

Isn't it funny how your mind picks the strangest times to indulge in a bit of reflection. As in, when the car you're in goes out of control coming out of a turn, and all you can think of is, 'Well, this is G-d's way of telling me not to get too cocky, isn't it?'. And when you're running down the road and you don't know where on earth you are, and you think, 'What if I'm lost or headed in the wrong direction?' when it could be true on so many levels. And when you're finally sitting in class and you're so shaken up and stressed and you think, 'How am I supposed to sit and pay attention to this, when I could have died?' And then all you can do, all you can ever do, is thank G-d.

Thank you!

I'm not sure I want to leave it entitled that, but anyway. New song, based on the tune of "I Am an Ancient Wall of Stone", but not exactly the same. ~~~~~~~ If life were death would you still be The person that you are And if we slept before we lived Would we still see as far But all our dreams are made of love And all the world is too So why oh why when I'm asleep I only dream of you From life to death our worlds revolve Around the other's dream I give of me you give of you And all is as it seems And all our dreams are made of love And all the the world is too And this is why when I'm asleep I only dream of you I only dream of you I only dream of you... ~~~~~~~~ Comments questions criticisms? Especially suggestions. This already is an altered version, but more are always welcome! That's why I post it here. Anyway, the first verse still doesn't seem right to me.

Evangeline stood at the back of the crowd as everyone surged to where the sign had been posted. Rena'ah had managed to get to the front, and L'kaira was still fuming on the roof of stage. Suddenly, Evangeline heard the mental echoes of Rena'ah laughing so hard that she nearly wasn't able stand up straight. //Rena'ah?// Evangeling thought. She was not telepathic herself, but after a bit of trainig from her closest companions, she had learned to exhibit shields and direct thoughts (though she had no way of knowing what or how those worked). //What's the matter?// **Oh - oh, ANGELS!** was all the girl was able to get out. Even L'kaira was caught. **WHAT, you good-for-nothing Healer? What?** Instead of replying, Rena'ah simply sent an image of the list posted on the board. Evangline blinked then felt a giggle trying to bubble its way out of her throat and just managed to supress it. "Oh - dear..." was all she murmured aloud, while L'kaira incredulous mental shout and Rena'ah's redoubled laughter echoed through her head. {{Great! What happens now?}}

Evangeline was struck with a rather important query, and tapped Patrick on the shoulder when he came backstage again. "Pardon me," she said softly, "But... how are we to know our dates when the bidding is finished?"

Thank you! I"m glad you noticed all of that stuff, it was among a number of things I was aiming for in this piece. And I'm also happy that the recording helped, it's hard for me to not see it and automatically sing it. If it works both as a song and as prose, then I'm happy! Thanks again!

I wrote this on a whim a few months ago inspired by "Lovingly, lovingly Yours" and the attendant tune. I finished it yesterday and today. I'm rather proud of it. Both tune and words are original © me, and I might get around to recording it some time. Really, with this, I'm looking more for responses than anything else. Critique is always welcome, but I want to know your personal feelings about it morethan anything else. / = line-break, new phrase, etc. and whatever. I just didn't want to break up the letter-format. ~~~~~ Dearest Mother, How are you?/ I am fine, so is Ben./ We have settled in quite well,/ the house still is empty but not for long!/ We're thinking of a farm,/ with sheep, horses and cows./ The barn is to be raised/ about some time next week./ Ben sends his love, I send mine,/ Lovingly, lovingly, Yours Dearest Mother, How are you? I am well, so is Ben. Life has gone on since last time; I have a daughter named Carabell! The farm is doing well, the sheep have had their lambs, the horse has had a foal, I think they named it Legs. Ben sends his love, I send mine, Lovingly, lovingly, Yours Mother Darling, How are you? I am well, so is Ben. We have nothing to complain, Carabell's three and one more's on the way! The farm is doing fine, the grain is growing high, our cow has had a calf – the other one had two! Ben sends his love, I send mine, Lovingly, lovingly, Yours Mother Dearest, How are you? I am well as I may. The child was a still born, Carabell's four and, thank G-d, healthy. The farm is running smooth, although the dairy failed, the horses have their foals, the sheep's wool still is white. Ben sends his love, I send mine, Lovingly, lovingly, Yours Darling Mother, How are you? I am sad, sick and grieved, Carabell fell in the stream and drowned before we heard anything. The farm is struggling, the grain was killed by frost, the stallion broke his leg - a gunshot in the night. Ben sends his love, I send mine, Lovingly, lovingly, Yours Dearest Mother, How are you? I am sick and fevered. Ben was taken by the auge, I fear that it must have been contagious. The house feels so empty, when I'm the only one. At least I still have Legs - my only confort now. Ben sends I send my love, Mother dear, Lovingly, lovingly, Yours My dear madam, Brace yourself. I have sad news for you. Your daughter has died of auge, nearly a full year ago to the day. I regret I must say the house has been ransacked. The land's been auctioned off, the money's on its way. I wish you the best in life, May it be longer than hers. ~~~~ Yes, every mark is supposed to be there. The /s are to show where the lines are, but whatever tune you come up with applies to the whole thing. Seeing as how it's a letter, I decided that the author would have written "Ben sends his love" as habit, then remembered and crossed it out, thus the strikethrough. Any questions, comments, criticisms? I look forward to all of it! Oh, and by the way, here - http://rapidshare.de/files/24957075/Letters.wav.html - is the link to my rough recording of it. It's sort of a first draft, I guess, but it'll let you know the tune. ^__~

Hee hee! That was fun to read! Thanks for posting it!

Thanks for the reference!

Does this mean it's an accepted poetic form?

Dust devil, like a whirlwind? Hmm maybe: whirl, twirl, or swirl? Yeah, a dustdevil is like a mini-whirlwind. Those were all words I thought of, but they don't have the same feeling of desertion that blow does. They're all more energetic words, more lively, which is not a feeling I want to portray. Echos: hmm, yeah that's a tough one. Maybe a metaphore could help? Or you could try to personify the echo's like "they whispher" or something along those lines. The echos could really be from any and everything - the cars passing in the street, voices from the apartments on either side, memories that have taken on lives of their own. Does that clarify why I want them to remain ambiguous? I want them to be whatever the reader percieves them to be, and I fear that if I add too much more, it'll limit the image. *** Are you following a form either traditional or self-invented? I wonder because you say that you need to keep the first line 3 words. The form I'm trying to follow is short-long-short-long-short-long-short-long. If you notice, the short lines all have three active words (leaves blow dryly, trashcan topples over, padlock is smashed) and only the last line breaks the pattern (which I"m not happy about). I want it to stay that way, because that's the link through the whole poem, as the long lines are all unique. I think. In any case, I want to leave it as close to how long it is now as possible, line-wise, because it has the beat I think I'm looking for. good coloring btw. Thank you! This is the method I devised with a friend of mine, when we beta each other.

Evangeline stood in her corner again with Rena'ah, awaiting the word on when the auction was closed. When she heard the echo of Mynx's voice, she relaxed and smiled at Rena'ah. L'kaira was nowhere to be found. "Well, that's that. Wouldst thou like to get some tea with me? While we wait for the results." Rena'ah looked nervous but nodded her agreement, and walked out the backstage door with Evangeline, arms linked at the elbow. {{Waiting apprehensively!}}

{{Unfrtunately, I don't know who they are... maybe you could do them both in one post?}}

This particular acrostic was written last year, but I was curious about it - is this an actual style, or did it just happen that way? Forever together, in heart and in soul, Reflection, remembrance, In my mind and yours, shared together, Every moment, every memory, Nothing faded, nothing forgotten, Dreams and goals, revealed to one and no one else, Safe and secure, in confidence given, Hands clasped, hearts open, Ice melting, fires burning, Perfect friends, forever together. “FRIENDSHIP” can be split down the middle at the commas (first read down the front halves of each sentence, then the back halves), and it still makes sense. Here it is reformatted, so it’s easier to do what I just explained. Forever together in heart and in soul Reflection remembrance In my mind and yours shared together Every moment every memory Nothing faded nothing forgotten Dreams and goals revealed to one and no one else Safe and secure in confidence given Hands clasped hearts open Ice melting fires burning Perfect friends forever together

Leaves blow dryly <---do leaves blow? Consider what force is moving the leaves. Typically in the passive voice you would need an adverb or clause of some sort to pull this off such as "by, in, about etc." I'm trying to get the image of leaves, as they look in a dustdevil - swirling together, brushing by each other. However, the line needs to stay three words/syllables, so we'd need to replace 'blow'. Think think think... Wind whistles through the chicken wire <--- Better, more active. A trashcan topples over Echoes rebound from the rusted benches Echos? Are you sure. Echos usually need a certain setting and power behind the orginating sound inorder to exist. So are sounds coming from the benches a repitition of the orginating sound in space or is it just the orginating sound happening several times due to the wind. There's a certain image that goes along with that, almost as if the echos are self-powered - that's the image I want. It connects to the second-to-last and last lines, as if this deserted basketball court is almost self-aware. Does that make sense? The padlock is smashed The gates creak wearily on broken hinges Hmm, watch out for weary. It's an gets overused a lot. I'm sure guilty of it. Hmmm... that's a good point. I'll have to think about that one, there are several words meandering around my head that would fit, but I can't get them to stay in one place at the moment. Thanks for the heads-up. Voices whisper on the empty air Memories live in the hearts of the past. WHeee, thanks for your input! That's exactly what I like to recieve!