Disclaimer: What Really Counts and all of its characters are mine, the setting, time periods and world they live in are Jacques. We each own what we own, and if you don't like that, you can... You can... Er... Right.
A/N: This is going to be an explanatory author's note, as well as some scenes that never made it...
I know I've been on an excruciatingly long hiatus on What Really Counts in order to avoid ending it, but I do have my reasons (oh yes, scream, I know...). Firstly, What Really Counts is a very visual/mental thing. Every scene I've written has been played in my head for at least an hour, going through continuous pre and post production mental notes, and sometimes scenes can take from half and hour to half a year to properly produced. Yes, half a year, such as the Rapieratce leaving scene in chapters 23 and 24, for example, were considered a long time before actually being put down in paper. Others, such as chapters 30 to 40, were only briefly taken note of. Each mental overlook was done before writing, and my characters talked to me (yes, I'm half scitzophrenic) very often.
The reasons for such painstaking effort may or may not be evident in the product, I hope sincerely that it is: personal character development, making the most of an underdeveloped plot (Yes, both TYATO and WRC have very simple plot lines, if one looks at them closely. There are no unnecessary sub-plots at all.) and basically giving as much depth as I can get.
For the character traits, I worked basically a lot on Daleria within the first half year of production (2001 onwards), basing her on myself largely, as change was an evident factor during my life at that point in time. After a while, the need to develop Dale dropped completely as she became, more or less, an alter ego of myself, resulting in a rather interesting mix of what I am and what I wanted to be and something that basically belongs completely to Dale. She became, in essence, something that I only needed to tap on to produce. Her development went on without me (2002 mid period).
My interest shifted in the earlier period of 2002 (about February) towards Rapieratce as the eminent D/A shift came closer (Yes, all you D/A shippers, this was planned, contrary to my viewpoints, it was on my mind for quite a while before chapter 34, and was half developed by then. All I needed was a little push off the edge.). What resulted was a need to create a free-form character: Rapieratce. He was not based on anybody, any expectation or realization. Rapieratce worked his way in manually, coming from pure inspiration. He now sits proudly as one of the best developed characters on set as well as my muse for the fic. It was not, admittedly, hard to get him to work, it just clicked.
The remaining supporting cast was not easy to develop: Consellariel for example. She was based on a friend to begin with, a kind soul, but as the story progresses you can see changes, and eventually callousness in her as the war begins to eat away at her. You see me never touching on her consciences the entire time, and barely any development besides her main scenes. That is going to appear as a spin off sequel, and her development will come in much later.
Glamoren, Longrunn, Galde, Remora and Clandestine, were, admittedly, latecomers, emerging only in late 2002 (Glamoren, for example, only caught my interest in December/November period of 2002, very late for such a developed character. Longrunn too, came at that time period. I will not say anything less of Remora, but Clandestine and Galde are being developed for D/A, so I am keeping my mouth shut about her for some reason...) Glamoren took my interest the most out of the five major supporting characters here. He started out as merely being 'Atce's partner and excuse and reason as to why Rapieratce was not present in TYATO as I had no wish to state the fact that 'Atce wasn't created yet back then, before progressing to his best friend and in the end a very useful character to use in many areas. His attitude was something I loved to write. Remora was a comfort orientated soothsayer, in accordance with Taremin. Longrunn was the typical Sage and wise one, being much older than the lot of them save Galde. Galde's temperament only began development in the Annals, contrary to what I should have done to him in TYATO (I was 10! Don't blame me! I had never written before!).
Salamandastron, is, admittedly, the only link to Redwall in the entire fic: WRC is a very world-inside-a-world story, existing perfectly well without the Redwall setting. WRC fitted in because of two things: Time-periods in WRC for the D/A plot, and the fact that this being animal personification led to nobody caring about looks. WRC was an entirely conscience/personality orientated fictional story: I wanted people to love the characters for what they were, not how they looked, especially in the D/A (for what is to come, anyway. The D/A story line will only bloom in mid 2003, at this rate.).
The plot-line. The plotline for WRC was developed as I went; when the fic first started it was something like this: Revenge, War, Happy Ending. Really. No development or after-thought. It followed how I was feeling on each day I wrote, and tracked my life from late 2001 to now, which explains its personal sentimental value to me. It will continue to trace my life in its sequels and spin-offs: I have more than enough ideas to keep WRC going for a long time...
Enough rambling, this chapter's purpose, besides to outline the life span of WRC, is to introduce hidden scenes, without any relation to plot, or any plot for that matter. These scenes are created to show depth of character and some fun, so enjoy...
*
EXCEPT ONE
*Set after the final War...*
Daleria tried not to sigh. And tried not to jump off the mountain. It was one of those days, when you just felt so down and blue that you just wanted to die right there and then. Nothing seemed to bring comfort, and the mundane world in all its greys and blacks and whites was not helping either. Everything was so monotonous and drably plain and unchanging. Daleria chided herself. She hated change. But at the same time, what would she do without it? Another one of those contradictory questions that never seem to have an answer. The azure blue sky seemed to shimmer in the heat as a glaze seemed to rise off the very sands down below her balcony. The sea churned unendlessly in its personal waves and splashes and the wind seemed to be off visiting its great grand aunt somewhere far away from here. It seemed too... quiet. There was little one could to to escape the very heat of things, but Daleria just had to live with it. Trainings' had to be cancelled due to the sudden heat stroke, and more than one hare landed in the infirmary with a temperature a bit too high for comfort.
The hare captain sighed again and left the balcony to the tormenting rays of the scorching sun that sought to burn every single piece of exposed area into a crisp, and entered the slightly cooler embrace of her room. The same room, the same old room she had been in all these seasons. The same map on the wall, the same pile of disregarded paperwork and the same barely sufficient ink bottle and a few broken nibs that had suffered under her will to write. The same bed, the same table the same door. Mayhap she was being slightly unrealistic, but Daleria was just downright bored. And what made the matter even worse was that there was nothing she could do to stop it. The unrelenting temperature had seemed to drive everybeast and thing to a grounding halt like some narcoleptic fool who had decided it would be fun to drop dead sleeping in the middle of lunch. Time had practically frozen itself and sought not to move no matter how hard one pushed. It was making her cynical, for some odd reason, but the mood just stuck.
Daleria moved out of her dorm, trotting aimlessly down to the massive stone library, which was down below somewhere in the cellars deep inside the mountain where even the heat could not penetrate that easily. Solace. The cool stuck to her skin like a welcome shower, and Daleria pushed open the wooden door to the library. For some odd reason, she was not surprised to see Rapieratce there as well. Thinking about it, if the colonel was not up to some diplomatic issue or whatnot or attending to some pressing matter of paperwork and meetings, he was usually reading. Rapieratce looked up briefly from his book, a rather nonchalant and uncaring face on his features, and nodded to Daleria. Daleria gave him a sarcastic smile. Why? The heat. There was not further explanation needed. The colonel said nothing, merely returning to his book. The captain then proceeded to scan the infinite shelves for some reading material that might catch her attention for more than ten seconds. She decided on the annals of Mariel of Redwall. It was nice to know that somewhere in history there was another whip tongued female that would gladly kick somebeast up merely for the thrill of it besides herself. She dropped down on the chair next to Rapieratce.
Flip. Scratch. Flip. Turn. Scratch. Flip.
Nearly an hour passed in that continuous line, the sound of the flipping and scratching of pages being turned. For some unknown reason only debatable by the people that make these mad coincidence happen, the two hares looked up at the same time. Their eye of sight travelled to a, as always, readily set chess board that was set up to amuse any two hares that had a tendency to settle matters over the chessboard and not the battle field. In a matter of seconds, the books were both abandoned, and a match proceeded to unfold. Pawns literally flew over from both sides, with vicious bishops, alarmingly daredevil rooks and two bloodthirsty queens going at each others necks. Nobeast seemed to win, and after a further hour of wordless battle, it turned out with the same turnout on both sides, with no more pawns yet no other losses.
The two were only broken up by the entrance of Longrunn and Glamoren, who both evidently had also come for the reasons that Daleria and Rapieratce did. They settled themselves in position to watch the ongoing battle. The impasse was only broken when Daleria slipped up and lost her knight to Rapieratce, who quickly took advantage of her lack of concentration and went on to devour her bishop in the process. His rook soon fell to her queen, but his knight soon cornered her king. In the end, her queen ate his knight, which ate her bishop, which in turn ate his other rook. They were on a roll, and they only deciding factor was who would lose all their pieces first. In the end, it seemed as if the chessboard was in cahoots with the weather, and by some miraculous reason that nobeast would dare to fathom, it turned out a king to a king after another half hour of non-verbal debate. And it is known that no matter how you try, you just cannot kill each other in such a cat and mouse game of you-chase-my-king-and-I-chase-yours. What usually happens is two pieces of ivory tapping across a chess board in unending circles without a proper radius. In the end, the two of them gave up and passed the board on to Glamoren and Longrunn, of whom hopefully would have a better chess match, and day, then them. Scratch. Flip. Scratch. Turn. Flip. The books, it seemed, were the new things in fashion. Hot, boring days are never interesting...
*
EXCERPT TWO
*D/A shippers will be glad to know that this is a sneak preview of the D/A plot about to unfold*
Glamoren bent over Rapieratce's desk as the two of them discussed the weapons for the exchange, his paw running over various diagrams. Rapieratce shook his head as he tried to concentrate on what the major was saying, rubbing a temple with his free paw as the other automatically flew across parchment, noting and penning everything down. The colonel in reality, however, barely realized what he was actually applying down. He had a horrible headache that did not seem to want to go away, and his paperwork was piling up all over again, most of which he had to finish before he left the next day. Rapieratce barely even percepted the droning of his partner in the background, for all he really felt was the incessant pounding at the back of his head, steadily driving him crazy. After a few more minutes of arduous, almost one-sided conversation, Glamoren stopped talking and tilted his head slightly, looking intently at his friend with a paw still poised over yet another figure. Rapieratce stared blankly at the paper, his paw stilling as his brain found nothing to record down. The major sighed, propping himself up on the table.
''Atce!'
The colonel suddenly snapped up, looking at his partner with a slightly confused expression before everything was overtaken once again by his composure, slightly lagging that day. Usually this would have set off any otherbeast who did not come into close contact with Rapieratce all too often, but Glamoren had been Rapieratce's closest friend since the day both of them were born, and barely anything got past the cool major.
'Nice try, 'Atce.'
The major plucked the quill out of Rapieratce's paw, set it straight back into its holder and capped the ink well, clearing the sheets of papers away slightly. Rapieratce merely settled back down in his chair. Glamoren glared at him from his position.
'You're exhausted, 'Atce. Look at yourself.'
'I'm perfectly fine, 'Moren.'
'I know you better than that, 'Atce. You're tired out, I can see it in your eyes.'
Indeed, the usually bright and attentive green globes looked slightly distant and dazed, if one had the chance to look closely enough. Rapieratce sighed raggedly, drooping his shoulders and looking helplessly at Glamoren.
'What am I supposed to say, 'Moren. I'm swamped, and there is scarce I can do about it. Of course I'm tired.'
'This has to stop, you know. Either Consellariel or you are going to break sooner or later, and personally, at the rate you are going, I should think that you'd be the first.'
'Is there anything I can do about it?'
Glamoren looked impassively at his partner. Rapieratce shrugged, folding his papers up properly. The major shook his head.
'Ever stubborn.'
*
EXCERPT THREE
*This is also, like the first excerpt, set after the Final War. This is a rather amusing ficlet, and goes into the friendship and closeness between Glamoren and 'Atce.*
Rapieratce sat in his usual seat in the library, novel in paw. It was in the golden afternoon, deep in the icy clutches of winter. White and gold intertwined to create a silvery mist that cast itself about the mountain. Salamandastron had been gifted with slightly cool weather for almost half of the year, save for the spring and summer months; when all would be weltering and hot. The colonel had long removed his official jacket which he usually wore, opting for a long sleeved white tunic that he so loved to wear. The jacket in question was hanging, as de rigueur with Rapieratce, neatly folded on the armrest of his chair. Green eyes focussed intently on the parchment and text in front of him, Rapieratce barely noticed the time starting to slowly slip by. He did, however, notice when Glamoren tried to slip into the library unnoticed.
'Moren?'
The major's head turned to face Rapieratce, a look of long suffering imprinted on it. Rapieratce raised an eyebrow and glanced at his partner, then shrugged it off with an amused smile on his features.
'You could never get past me.'
Glamoren glowered at him for a moment before shaking his head and chuckling, throwing himself into one of the larger couches in the area. Rapieratce continued with his book, and the two sat in companionable silence. There was no speech; the two knew each other far too well. After a while, Glamoren pushed himself up, pluckling irritably at his black sleeve, long as always, dusting off a speck of dust that had never been there. The major started to set the chess board on the movable chess table, pushing it towards Rapieratce before dragging his own chair forward. Rapieratce set down his book, then looked up.
'You take white.'
*
Daleria was walking down the silent corridor, talking in hushed tones with Longrunn, a slight smile printed on her face. The two managed to run into Remora halfway down the corridor, and the three sighed. They were missing, again, just as they always did at that time of the year. Remora drummed her fingers against the rock wall.
'The Twins have done it again, haven't they?'
Longrunn smiled indulgently, nodding his head. Remora grinned. Daleria, knowing the Twins, was ready to bet that they had clean forgotten the date altogether, and rolled her eyes.
'Anybeast checked the library?'
The three friends quickly set off.
*
Clack. Clackclack.
Rapieratce made a quick gambit, catching Glamoren by surprise. The major desperately struggled to get his bishop to salvage the disastrous situation that he had landed his king in, but Rapieratce was too skilled to let his advantage slip. Five minutes later, a soft echo of muttered curses was heard as Glamoren lost his queen to a pawn, while Rapieratce just let the corners of his mouth twitch upwards, betraying his amusement over his partner's situation and response. The two were just about to continue on with the match when the two main doors of the library opened up and three hares strode in. Rapieratce and Glamoren simultaneously looked up, identical brows raised. Daleria smirked.
'There they are, the twins.'
This evoked an indignant response from the both of them.
'We are not twins!'
Remora looked at them with her own raised eyebrow.
'Really? The way you act would suggest otherwise.'
Glamoren retorted at the same instant as Rapieratce.
'We aren't even brothers!'
The two glared at each other.
'Stop repeating what I say!'
Another glare. Longrunn grinned and chuckled. Twin heads shot towards him.
'What?'
Daleria let a smidgen of laughter escape her lips as the two looked irately at each other.
'Are you really that different, the two of you? You're practically brothers in all but blood. You even look alike.'
The two heads shifted to her, Rapieratce speaking for them both.
'Look alike? The two of us could not look more different.'
Remora laughed.
'Is that so? What is so different of looks betwixt the two of you? Besides Glamoren having grey eyes and you having green, 'Atce, there isn't really much besides the way you hold yourselves. And the way you dress is alike, the only opposition in colour, which, I might add, is complete in complementation of the other. Long sleeves, black and white. The two of you reek identicalism. Both of you are of the same height and build, even, and, unless the two of you have forgotten again, share the same birthday.'
The pawn that had been lying in Rapieratce's paw clattered to the board, knocking some other pieces about as the colonel and major shot each other panicked looks. They had remembered! This was definitely not going in their direction. The two stood in unison as the three advanced forward.
'You know...'
'We really don't....'
'Like celebrations...'
'And anything in that...'
'Genre... It's...'
'Getting late and we...'
'Had better get...'
'Going.'
But Daleria and company had already pounced. Remora latched onto Glamoren's side, while Longrunn took Rapieratce's side. Daleria smoothly slotted herself neatly between the two of them, guiding them away from the library. Rapieratce and Glamoren sent despairing looks to each other over her head as they were led helplessly from their solace in the book filled room. The last time they had let themselves fall into the trap, there was more than enough noise around the mountain to set them off birthdays for life. They were steered into the black hole of the mess hall... Only Mossflower knew if they were going to come out clean....
*
A/N: The real chapters of the story will come in later.
(Interesting facts here, since I like shiny things but am not superstitious:
Glamoren and 'Atce, as stated here, are both born on the 5th of December, making their birthstone Turquoise (a blue stone) or Blue Topaz or Zircon (blue), Lapis Lazuli (blue) as well as Onyx (silverish) or Ruby (red) and are thus Sagittarius, making their starstones Sapphire (blue), Topaz (Various), Amethyst or Turqoise, also Pearl and Beryl.
Dale, sharing the same birthdate as me, on the 5th of September, making her birthstone Sapphire (blue) or Moonstone (mixish of pastel blue), Agate (mix), Diamond (clear) or Lapis Lazuli (blue) and being a virgo has Sapphire, Jade, Jasper or Carnelian, Zircon, Opal, Sardonyx as well as Citrine.
Remora is born on the 15th of August, making her birthstone the Peridot (green), Sardonyx, Sapphire, Diamond or Jade, and being a Leo, Tourmaline (red) , Sardonyx, Onyx, Rock Crystal, Amber (yellow) and Diamond.
Longrunn is born on the 20th of April, making his birthstone Diamond, Opal (black/green/yellow/blue mix), White Sapphire (blue/violet) and Quartz. A Taurus, Sapphire, Turquoise, Amber, Blood Coral (red), Emerald, Aventurine (ranges of blue), Diamond and Garnet (red).
Consellariel, sharing the birthdate of her real life counterpart, 10th of May, Emerald, Sapphire, Agate, Chysoprase (green) and Beryl. Also a Taurus, she shares the same stones as Longrunn.
Clandestine, born on the 2nd of November: Yellow Topaz, Citrine, Diamond, Pearl and Topaz. A scorpio: Aquamarine (blue), Topaz, Garnet, Ruby and Beryl.
Galde, born on the 27th of January: Garnet, Emerald and Rose Quartz, and a Aquarius, Garnet, Moss Agate, Opal, Amethyst, Turquoise, Hyacinth and Jasper.
My adopted gem for the story, not involved with any month or year: Iolite. Shinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny!
Shinnnnnnnnnnnny!)