Wow, I've waited far too long to do this. Acknowledgments, disclaimers,
thank-yous, and all the stuff in-between.
First of all, I want to thank EVERYONE who read and reviewed this story, whether a flame (I don't think I got any of those . . . yet) or a glowing evaluation, because it encouraged me to write and keep up with this story. I'm grateful to those who only reviewed once with a simple 'good' or even with constructive criticism, which I find hard to take, because it meant that someone took the time to read this and made my time worthwhile. By Dumbledore, nothing made me happier than the day I came home and found my first chapter had fourteen reviews. Fourteen! In one chapter! It scared the bejeezers outta me, because that never happened before. And 58 reviews (as of July fourth, 2003) is like . . . being gifted Barnes and Noble. My greatest thanks goes out to those extremely kind folks who reviewed EVERY SINGLE chapter, or nearly:
Cherry6124
Bianka-chan (my always loyal fan ^^ thank you so much!!)
Josh
Keiry
Hiasha
Angelprinczess29
Thank you guys so much, from the bottom of my heart! You really helped me a lot!
Second, on characters. Squall turned out a bit too Squallish for the first couple of chapters, but he got better later on - way better, and that was sorta odd. I apologize for any OOCness, but sometimes I just gotta make him smile! Anyway, in the last chapter in Esthar, he DID have his pants on. No odd activity occurred that night whatsoever. Just wanted to clear that up, for my piece of mind. And yes, Squall is smart enough to remove his chain whilst sleeping, which I made sure to emphasize each time he woke up. I don't know why . . . maybe to say that he's not stupid? Heh, he's smarter than he looks, people. The whole bit with the T-Rexaur in the beginning was just an excuse for me to have Squall in bed and have someone take care of him. Am I alone, or is it some female emotion that loves to see their favorite character hurt, sweating, and totally helpless?
Rinoa was a bit too angsty throughout the whole thing, and was quite, QUITE OOC in the last chapter, something else I apologize for. However, I thought she went over well altogether, despite the sudden angst bursts every once in a while. SeeDy Rinoa is a very odd thing, considering she's a Sorceress. And despite everything, she didn't really use her magic that often, save the last chapter.
Seifer, I thought, was very in-character. If I'm proud of one thing in this story, it's Seifer. Mocking, sneering, slightly changed Seifer was a joy to write because he can be one way and then snap back and be another. And, as always, he had Hyperion and his Knight-crossed trench coat, as well as his short, blonde haircut. Towards the end, he calls Quistis 'Quisty', a mocking term of endearment that didn't turn out quite as foul as he intended. Although I didn't end up expanding his relationship with Quistis as I wanted to, because Seiftis is a favorite pairing of mine, I just wanted to get it across that there was a sort of mutual dislike in the beginning, and how they ended up working together in the end . . . add to their relationship as you see fit, please ^^
"Aww, you wanna wreak some havoc too?" Is what he asked Squall during the SeeD exam in Dollet, and, although he didn't get a chance to wreak any havoc in {Exile}, he still got to mess up Quistis' karma ^^
Which brings me to Quisty, the Ice Queen. I don't know how she got that title, but I've seen it strewn around FF.net, and so I decided to hop on the bandwagon and use it. If somebody out there reading this invented it, and is offended, I apologize; I've seen several people use it, so please, PLEASE don't sue me. I'm quite broke as of right now. Quistis was . . . OOC when it came to her hair. The reason Squall wanted her hair down was because after his dream, he was momentarily afraid of losing his grasp on what was real, and he wasn't sure if Quistis letting her hair down was real or not. So telling her to keep it that way, and having her agree, although reluctantly, sort of secured his mind that he wasn't crazy. Hope that makes some sort of sense.
Okay, these three are all together, because they only had minor parts in this tale. Selphie was, as always, Mrs. Mary Sunshine, getting nuts about the four-poster and, as always, calling Laguna 'Sir Laguna.' I'm quite proud of myself that I remembered that, actually. I am I giving myself too much self-praise here? Hope not. But anyway, Irvine as well. Those two got married because they loved each other, no matter how grudging they were to admit it. *points to chalkboard at a large diagram of Irvine and a crowd of women* See, I made a point that he never looked at another woman again after he got married. Oh, no! Irvine OOCness! Well, there was the kiss with Rinoa, but that was his friend, and it was friendly affection. *shifty eyes* Zell, as always, was Hotdog King, and he showed it. Not much else to say besides him; a bit daft at times, but otherwise Zell.
Quick blog on Xu: the only reasons she had a very large part was A) 'Cause she has such a cool name, and when I write out the chapters I love making capital 'X's' (don't ask) and B) Because she's a Garden official, and the headache scene required three people, just because I felt like people would think it was a Squistis if Squall and Quistis were alone together.
Laguna and Ellone. For some reason, I seem to be good at keeping Sir Laguna relatively in-character. Probably because of the slightly humorous, slightly angsty Feathers, in which I got to explore on the man with the machine gun. Oh, Laguna's so fun to write, so that's why they had a mission in Esthar, appose to any other place in the world. As well, I sort of made Squall's relationship with him a little unbelievable, that he would be rude to Rinoa so as not to ruin his father's meeting. Well . . . they're my favorite characters, so I needed them to work harmoniously together. OOC relationship! Ellone didn't have a big part, but I needed to mention her every once and a while because she's so darn groovy.
Oh, and I apologize for the OC; I needed an apathetic messenger to deliver Rinoa's note to Squall, and since there isn't really any apathetic characters 'sides Squall (and I wouldn't go so far as to call him apathetic, really; just anti-social), and Rain sort of serves as my all- around character for everything - and has a million aliases. This was her true form, and I just shoved her in there randomly, and proved a point that she was really a nobody, hence Squall asking "Who's that?" when Xu suggests he brings her for the mission. Just wanted to clear that up. (You can also find her in one of her many aliases in a few of my Kingdom Hearts fanfictions as Nair, although her personality's a bit better in those.)
Just a sidelong note: in this story, the ballroom was REALLY significant. I don't know why, but it sort of harbored every aspect of their relationship, from the first time she pointed out a shooting star to him to when he left her crying in Seifer's embrace. I just always loved the ballroom, and I wanted to put as many scenes in there as possible.
Okay, giant disclaimer time! I had fun with huge disclaimers at the end of {Midsummer's Eve}, a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, and now I'll do my best to acknowledge everything I used that wasn't mine. (I would go on the internet and actually find out, but, alas, my internet is currently down.)
The quote in one of the last chapters, 'They say the rhythm of the earth is interrupted by the out of the ordinary. But how can you interrupt, with something that was meant to be?' was found on vartanho.com on a Sydney and Vaughn wallpaper. (Sydney and Vaughn are two of the main characters in my favorite TV show of all time, Alias.) You can find the wallpaper in Rambaldi's Studio, a link on the menu along the left-hand side. So, for now, the quote is © Vartanho. If anyone knows who wrote it, feel free to contact me, and I will re-upload this page with the correct credentials in order.
The song 'Walk On', possibly my favorite song of all time, is © U2. The title is also included in a quote said by Squall to Rinoa, when he tells her to 'walk on' no matter what. That song is entirely copyright U2, and I did not want to use it for profit in any way, shape, or form. As well, I believe that it's Rinoa and Squall's theme song, because it just fits them so well. Excuse the over-amount of off-topic goodness.
Okay, this has nearly nothing to do with it, but the chapter title 'Cry for Me' happens to be the title of one of the chapters for Dark Raion's 'Executioner.' By Dumbledore himself, I did NOT steal that! I was going to attempt to read 'Executioner' after falling in love with 'Reign of Shadows' and 'Infatuation of the Rose', but the chapter title immediately stopped me. This was around Chapter Nine that I noticed this, and I didn't want to change my chapter title, so I don't know which was updated first, my 'Cry for Me' or Dark Raion's. So, please, don't kill me!
Why do I continue rambling and torturing you poor people? Well, anyway, this story was spawned from a single first-line that blossomed while I was getting a Chocobo in Trabia:
It would be a typical Trabian winter.
That's it. Nothing really earth-shattering, just getting a stupid Chocobo in Trabia. Oh, what is the world coming to?
Inspiration! My inspiration, and the wonderful, awesome authors who grace this site and their works:
{Crimson Lies}, first and foremost. What chapter-story's acknowledgements don't include Ashbear's heart-wrenching, jaw-dropping feature {Crimson Lies}? That story was the pinnacle for me, because that is what made me want to read all of the other terrific Final Fantasy VIII fics out there. I could not have started writing FFVIII if not for her and her marvelous contribution to Fanfiction.net. End of story, really. She's such an awesome author, and I'm anxiously awaiting Chapter Five of {Dancing in Time} and {Somewhere in Between}, which she does with Wayward Tempest, whom I will get to in a minute.
{Griever} by Larathia is recommended and required reading for any true, dedicated Final Fantasy VIII fan. I loved everything about it, especially the fact that Squall has to be taken care of a lot, and we all know that I love sick-fics (if you don't know this by now, I'm exceedingly surprised). Not to mention an awesome plot, great in-character-ness (a word?), and a completely demonic villain that makes you hate every inch of both Odine and Alicia.
Whilst writing {Exile}, I was reading {The Promise of Nightmares}, an interesting, twisted fanfiction by XmagicalX. Yet again a vile, unlikable but truly remarkable villain, with an odd little puppet dude with a power resembling Ellone's. Squall's nightmares were absolutely terrific, and vivid, and Seifer was - I cringe to say it - extremely likable. As well, it was a sort of sick-fic, and Laguna was a truly awesome part of the story. Ellone was also extremely brave, something I'd never seen done before quite like that.
Wayward Tempest has too many awesome fanfictions for me to name here, but among my favorites are {Tides of Fate} and {Sorted Laundry}, of course. {Tides of Fate} was beautiful, and, if you hadn't guessed already, a form of a sick-fic. I keep begging in my mind for it to continue, and I hope that one day it will. I also love Zell in that story, as he demonstrates how far friendship can go. And Rinoa, no matter how much I hate her (which is quite surprising, given the stories I write), was truly great to Squall, and what she did for him.
*big breath* And, as if to wrap up everything I just said:
Thank you, once again, to everyone who stayed with this story and didn't give up, especially if you reviewed. Especially to the six awesome people that I mentioned up there, and, as always, my favorite person on Fanfiction.net, BIANKA-CHAN! *glomps her*
Well, thas it. Hope to see you around, and looking forward to reading everyone's fanfictions; I've got lotsa time this summer. *hearty sigh*
With all due respect,
Ellyrianna
Laguna's Fangirl
Squall's obsessive
Ujournal fanatic
. . . Author?
First of all, I want to thank EVERYONE who read and reviewed this story, whether a flame (I don't think I got any of those . . . yet) or a glowing evaluation, because it encouraged me to write and keep up with this story. I'm grateful to those who only reviewed once with a simple 'good' or even with constructive criticism, which I find hard to take, because it meant that someone took the time to read this and made my time worthwhile. By Dumbledore, nothing made me happier than the day I came home and found my first chapter had fourteen reviews. Fourteen! In one chapter! It scared the bejeezers outta me, because that never happened before. And 58 reviews (as of July fourth, 2003) is like . . . being gifted Barnes and Noble. My greatest thanks goes out to those extremely kind folks who reviewed EVERY SINGLE chapter, or nearly:
Cherry6124
Bianka-chan (my always loyal fan ^^ thank you so much!!)
Josh
Keiry
Hiasha
Angelprinczess29
Thank you guys so much, from the bottom of my heart! You really helped me a lot!
Second, on characters. Squall turned out a bit too Squallish for the first couple of chapters, but he got better later on - way better, and that was sorta odd. I apologize for any OOCness, but sometimes I just gotta make him smile! Anyway, in the last chapter in Esthar, he DID have his pants on. No odd activity occurred that night whatsoever. Just wanted to clear that up, for my piece of mind. And yes, Squall is smart enough to remove his chain whilst sleeping, which I made sure to emphasize each time he woke up. I don't know why . . . maybe to say that he's not stupid? Heh, he's smarter than he looks, people. The whole bit with the T-Rexaur in the beginning was just an excuse for me to have Squall in bed and have someone take care of him. Am I alone, or is it some female emotion that loves to see their favorite character hurt, sweating, and totally helpless?
Rinoa was a bit too angsty throughout the whole thing, and was quite, QUITE OOC in the last chapter, something else I apologize for. However, I thought she went over well altogether, despite the sudden angst bursts every once in a while. SeeDy Rinoa is a very odd thing, considering she's a Sorceress. And despite everything, she didn't really use her magic that often, save the last chapter.
Seifer, I thought, was very in-character. If I'm proud of one thing in this story, it's Seifer. Mocking, sneering, slightly changed Seifer was a joy to write because he can be one way and then snap back and be another. And, as always, he had Hyperion and his Knight-crossed trench coat, as well as his short, blonde haircut. Towards the end, he calls Quistis 'Quisty', a mocking term of endearment that didn't turn out quite as foul as he intended. Although I didn't end up expanding his relationship with Quistis as I wanted to, because Seiftis is a favorite pairing of mine, I just wanted to get it across that there was a sort of mutual dislike in the beginning, and how they ended up working together in the end . . . add to their relationship as you see fit, please ^^
"Aww, you wanna wreak some havoc too?" Is what he asked Squall during the SeeD exam in Dollet, and, although he didn't get a chance to wreak any havoc in {Exile}, he still got to mess up Quistis' karma ^^
Which brings me to Quisty, the Ice Queen. I don't know how she got that title, but I've seen it strewn around FF.net, and so I decided to hop on the bandwagon and use it. If somebody out there reading this invented it, and is offended, I apologize; I've seen several people use it, so please, PLEASE don't sue me. I'm quite broke as of right now. Quistis was . . . OOC when it came to her hair. The reason Squall wanted her hair down was because after his dream, he was momentarily afraid of losing his grasp on what was real, and he wasn't sure if Quistis letting her hair down was real or not. So telling her to keep it that way, and having her agree, although reluctantly, sort of secured his mind that he wasn't crazy. Hope that makes some sort of sense.
Okay, these three are all together, because they only had minor parts in this tale. Selphie was, as always, Mrs. Mary Sunshine, getting nuts about the four-poster and, as always, calling Laguna 'Sir Laguna.' I'm quite proud of myself that I remembered that, actually. I am I giving myself too much self-praise here? Hope not. But anyway, Irvine as well. Those two got married because they loved each other, no matter how grudging they were to admit it. *points to chalkboard at a large diagram of Irvine and a crowd of women* See, I made a point that he never looked at another woman again after he got married. Oh, no! Irvine OOCness! Well, there was the kiss with Rinoa, but that was his friend, and it was friendly affection. *shifty eyes* Zell, as always, was Hotdog King, and he showed it. Not much else to say besides him; a bit daft at times, but otherwise Zell.
Quick blog on Xu: the only reasons she had a very large part was A) 'Cause she has such a cool name, and when I write out the chapters I love making capital 'X's' (don't ask) and B) Because she's a Garden official, and the headache scene required three people, just because I felt like people would think it was a Squistis if Squall and Quistis were alone together.
Laguna and Ellone. For some reason, I seem to be good at keeping Sir Laguna relatively in-character. Probably because of the slightly humorous, slightly angsty Feathers, in which I got to explore on the man with the machine gun. Oh, Laguna's so fun to write, so that's why they had a mission in Esthar, appose to any other place in the world. As well, I sort of made Squall's relationship with him a little unbelievable, that he would be rude to Rinoa so as not to ruin his father's meeting. Well . . . they're my favorite characters, so I needed them to work harmoniously together. OOC relationship! Ellone didn't have a big part, but I needed to mention her every once and a while because she's so darn groovy.
Oh, and I apologize for the OC; I needed an apathetic messenger to deliver Rinoa's note to Squall, and since there isn't really any apathetic characters 'sides Squall (and I wouldn't go so far as to call him apathetic, really; just anti-social), and Rain sort of serves as my all- around character for everything - and has a million aliases. This was her true form, and I just shoved her in there randomly, and proved a point that she was really a nobody, hence Squall asking "Who's that?" when Xu suggests he brings her for the mission. Just wanted to clear that up. (You can also find her in one of her many aliases in a few of my Kingdom Hearts fanfictions as Nair, although her personality's a bit better in those.)
Just a sidelong note: in this story, the ballroom was REALLY significant. I don't know why, but it sort of harbored every aspect of their relationship, from the first time she pointed out a shooting star to him to when he left her crying in Seifer's embrace. I just always loved the ballroom, and I wanted to put as many scenes in there as possible.
Okay, giant disclaimer time! I had fun with huge disclaimers at the end of {Midsummer's Eve}, a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, and now I'll do my best to acknowledge everything I used that wasn't mine. (I would go on the internet and actually find out, but, alas, my internet is currently down.)
The quote in one of the last chapters, 'They say the rhythm of the earth is interrupted by the out of the ordinary. But how can you interrupt, with something that was meant to be?' was found on vartanho.com on a Sydney and Vaughn wallpaper. (Sydney and Vaughn are two of the main characters in my favorite TV show of all time, Alias.) You can find the wallpaper in Rambaldi's Studio, a link on the menu along the left-hand side. So, for now, the quote is © Vartanho. If anyone knows who wrote it, feel free to contact me, and I will re-upload this page with the correct credentials in order.
The song 'Walk On', possibly my favorite song of all time, is © U2. The title is also included in a quote said by Squall to Rinoa, when he tells her to 'walk on' no matter what. That song is entirely copyright U2, and I did not want to use it for profit in any way, shape, or form. As well, I believe that it's Rinoa and Squall's theme song, because it just fits them so well. Excuse the over-amount of off-topic goodness.
Okay, this has nearly nothing to do with it, but the chapter title 'Cry for Me' happens to be the title of one of the chapters for Dark Raion's 'Executioner.' By Dumbledore himself, I did NOT steal that! I was going to attempt to read 'Executioner' after falling in love with 'Reign of Shadows' and 'Infatuation of the Rose', but the chapter title immediately stopped me. This was around Chapter Nine that I noticed this, and I didn't want to change my chapter title, so I don't know which was updated first, my 'Cry for Me' or Dark Raion's. So, please, don't kill me!
Why do I continue rambling and torturing you poor people? Well, anyway, this story was spawned from a single first-line that blossomed while I was getting a Chocobo in Trabia:
It would be a typical Trabian winter.
That's it. Nothing really earth-shattering, just getting a stupid Chocobo in Trabia. Oh, what is the world coming to?
Inspiration! My inspiration, and the wonderful, awesome authors who grace this site and their works:
{Crimson Lies}, first and foremost. What chapter-story's acknowledgements don't include Ashbear's heart-wrenching, jaw-dropping feature {Crimson Lies}? That story was the pinnacle for me, because that is what made me want to read all of the other terrific Final Fantasy VIII fics out there. I could not have started writing FFVIII if not for her and her marvelous contribution to Fanfiction.net. End of story, really. She's such an awesome author, and I'm anxiously awaiting Chapter Five of {Dancing in Time} and {Somewhere in Between}, which she does with Wayward Tempest, whom I will get to in a minute.
{Griever} by Larathia is recommended and required reading for any true, dedicated Final Fantasy VIII fan. I loved everything about it, especially the fact that Squall has to be taken care of a lot, and we all know that I love sick-fics (if you don't know this by now, I'm exceedingly surprised). Not to mention an awesome plot, great in-character-ness (a word?), and a completely demonic villain that makes you hate every inch of both Odine and Alicia.
Whilst writing {Exile}, I was reading {The Promise of Nightmares}, an interesting, twisted fanfiction by XmagicalX. Yet again a vile, unlikable but truly remarkable villain, with an odd little puppet dude with a power resembling Ellone's. Squall's nightmares were absolutely terrific, and vivid, and Seifer was - I cringe to say it - extremely likable. As well, it was a sort of sick-fic, and Laguna was a truly awesome part of the story. Ellone was also extremely brave, something I'd never seen done before quite like that.
Wayward Tempest has too many awesome fanfictions for me to name here, but among my favorites are {Tides of Fate} and {Sorted Laundry}, of course. {Tides of Fate} was beautiful, and, if you hadn't guessed already, a form of a sick-fic. I keep begging in my mind for it to continue, and I hope that one day it will. I also love Zell in that story, as he demonstrates how far friendship can go. And Rinoa, no matter how much I hate her (which is quite surprising, given the stories I write), was truly great to Squall, and what she did for him.
*big breath* And, as if to wrap up everything I just said:
Thank you, once again, to everyone who stayed with this story and didn't give up, especially if you reviewed. Especially to the six awesome people that I mentioned up there, and, as always, my favorite person on Fanfiction.net, BIANKA-CHAN! *glomps her*
Well, thas it. Hope to see you around, and looking forward to reading everyone's fanfictions; I've got lotsa time this summer. *hearty sigh*
With all due respect,
Ellyrianna
Laguna's Fangirl
Squall's obsessive
Ujournal fanatic
. . . Author?
