The Kingdom of Glass
Okay, I found the time to write this somewhere in between writing two newsletters and working on the reviewer special and what I hope will be a hilarious Christmas Special. Wee! That's why I took a two week holiday.
Oh yeah, who thought Yuki was actually going to win? He's under trained, hurt, and his trainer doubts his strength, if he won, the plot would be screwed.
Thanks to:
Katt: You beat 'em! Finally. No, they don't have to start over (sheesh, they'd never get the special that way). Haha, the reason you're the one they have to beat is because you get to read the Saturnalia festival either way.
Yamashira de'Ryu: I'm not mad, I've been an idiot online too. Anyway, I figured it out. Perhaps if a half ling were born in the real world (say the mother was a trainer who returned home pregnant), and the child grew up among humans, which would destroy most of his Bishonen scent, he wouldn't be able to get his own link to the world, but perhaps use his mother's link. Obviously, the mother would need to have been a trainer in good standing or the link would have been severed completely. Anyway, only those with a strong sense of smell would be able to tell, even then it may be passed off as imagination. The half ling would probably not know his heritage but hey, they can know they're a half ling.
How does that sound? I racked my brain and this is the most reasonable I could come up with, it even follows Songwind's ideas (sorta).
PeaceLoveOcelot: Glad you think so. I'm open to anime songs, if you have one you love. They are definitely going to sing "For Fruits Basket" in Japanese (that's the opening song), and they'll be caroling around Christmas, but any other suggestions would be useful.
Also, regarding your characters, Lily has a brief appearance in here with vague mentions of her Bishonen, she'll come back in a few chapters when I can better write the characters. I have seen all of Fruits Basket and the first two episodes of Trigun. From what I can tell, you have indeed chosen a squad of monkeys for your Bishonen. If I have the correct Vash (blonde, spiky hair, ditzy personality). He was the only one I was unsure of as far as comical addition. Hilarious choices! I can't wait to find out more about the other two!
Anyway. Anyone who wants to learn more about the web comic Saturnalia can check out Space Coyote at If you like science fiction, humor, and a touch of adventure and romance, you'll love Saturnalia. I love V, personally. She's a chick with two husbands who spends her days shopping, I mean, she's awesome!
Enough blab, I'll explain exactly what a Saturnalia is a little later.
This chapter is dedicated to everyone out there with a passion for history. I love political intrigue and this chapter was written just for y'all!
Ladies and Gentleman (right now, the audience contains one) I now present to you… THE PLOT!
Chapter Seven: A History of Change
"I'm so bored!" Amanda Trent, sixteen year old trainer of three days, bounced back on the mattress of one of the large queen size beds in the inn room shared with the other female members of her party with a sigh. "I didn't think I could ever be this bored."
"So do something." Her companion, Phoenix Laylas, turned the page of her book without looking up at the other girl.
The trainer twined her long black hair around her finger with a sigh. "Like what?"
The half ling shrugged, "The orientation and learning center holds some interesting seminars for a small fee, I think the one they're currently doing is a History course, but you might also find cooking and cleaning, maybe something about homebuilding. I think a famous author here is promoting her book on grooming your Bishonen, but I might be wrong."
Amanda glanced over at her, "How in the world do you know all this?"
"Here." Phoenix tossed a small, thin book to Amanda who caught it with ease, bringing it close to her face to read. "It's a sector guide, they list town activities for the entire sector, like a dex book. Your dex should also list information, if you checked it every once in a while."
She frowned at the younger girl's sarcasm but looked inside anyway. "For fifty gold I can take a course in Bishonen History, a five day required course to hold a position other than trainer in this world. Does that mean you and Micheal have taken it?"
"In schooling, it's required to be taken in the San stage. Your lucky, Bishonen history is really dull." Phoenix turned another page.
"Oh, maybe I won't take it."
"That's not a smart idea."
"Why not?"
"Because if you plan to become a gym leader or a journeyman, you'll need to have taken it. Better now while we're stuck here than later when we'll be moving around often." The younger girl shrugged. "Of course, being a regular trainer isn't that bad, if you're good enough, you might actually be able to afford an apartment in the city when you're older."
"Ugh. You make it sound like I'll never be anything if I don't take this course."
"Do the words, 'Minimum Wage' have any significance in your world?"
Amanda rolled off the bed, grabbing her dex and belt from the dresser. "Fine, point taken. I'll go take the class." She pulled on her sneakers and headed out the door, brushing past Micheal as she left.
When she'd gone, Micheal turned to Phoenix in disapproval, "Why'd you lie to Amanda?"
Phoenix shrugged again. "Because she was driving me insane and it'll do her some good to learn about our history. Besides, it was only a little lie, History is a required course for any other job besides wanderer."
The older man simply shook his head, turning around. "You and Linla are far to much alike." He muttered. "Such wonderful, manipulative people."
'Okay, the center is holding the class in fifteen minutes, which means I should hurry up and get there. Man, this is expensive, I only have 68 gold.' Amanda turned another corner, trying to read the map her dex had given her. 'Leave it to machinery to make things ultra complicated.'
She wasn't exactly sure why she was wandering around town right then, seeing as she hated being lost as much as she hated new places. So she was dealing with both. 'Ah, there. Finally! Next time buy a map and ignore the dex.'
"Destination reached." On cue the little black palm-pilot like computer beeped, shutting down.
"Thank you Mr. Obvious." The trainer grumbled, pushing open the door to the Orientation center which looked pretty much like the one in the other town. Inside was a typical reception and lobby area, a few newbies were waiting for the next class to begin. She gave them a small wave and headed toward the desk. "Excuse me, I'd like to sign up for the next history seminar." She told the receptionist.
"All right then, there's one about to begin and we have a few seats left. It'll be fifty gold." She exchanged the money with the receptionist, listened to her dex beep her lose of the gold, was restrained from murdering said dex because she was in public, and finally followed the woman's directions up to seminar room four on the second floor. It was easy to find, the loud yelling and shouting within was a dead give away, though she wondered why a lecture would generate that much noise.
Then again, she had gone to a public school and knew how loud it could get before class.
Amanda pushed open the classroom style door and entered the chaos of what could have been her homeroom back in the human world. A typical schoolroom, meant for about thirty students and almost to it's limit, a chalkboard void of any green from the scribbled notes and doodles. Paper airplanes, other teen-to-young-adult humans lounging around on desks and chatting.
As far as she could tell, the only open seat in the room was between a blonde haired girl with tanned skin, her head resting on her hand as she stared out the class window and another girl, about the same age as herself, nose buried in a book, her shoulder length red hair tied up in a high pony tail.
Well, if the other girl liked books and was around her age, Amanda may have found herself a new, possibly less annoying, friend. That was all the incentive she needed to head toward the back of the room. "Excuse me." She asked the reading girl, "But is this spot taken?"
The other teen glanced up, "No, it's all right." Her eyes were the oddest shade of gray Amanda had ever seen, hidden behind small, oval rimmed glasses.
"Okay, thanks. I'm Amanda, by the way." She introduced, trying to be polite.
The other girl was quiet. "Lily."
"Oh, so, how long have you been a trainer?"
Another pause, "About three years, I guess. How about you?"
"Three days." Amanda laughed, thinking about it, the girl was probably miles ahead and didn't want to talk with someone who barely even understood a basic conversation."
"That's always the hardest time, right at the beginning, but it does get easier." Lily smiled encouraging, closing her book and turning her full attention on the younger girl.
The blonde took some interest in the conversation, shifting positions so that she could see the other two. "I'll say, I've been a trainer five years and every year just gets easier. Though I'm surprised a newbies like yourself would be in a class instead of out exploring. How'd you get the money to take this?"
Amanda blushed, "Oh, I fought the gym leader and got some gold. Even though my Bishonen lost… badly."
"I think I read about that on my dex this morning, was your Bishonen a Yuki?" Asked the red-head.
"Yeah, he was sick in the first place and I told him not to fight, but everyone said to just let him fight and he ended up unconscious."
"Oh, that's so sad! I hope he gets better soon, I mean, I couldn't stand it if one of my Bishonen got hurt like that. I rarely engage in battle, all my Bishonen were caught through surprise tactics."
The blonde laughed. "That's a neat trick. So what do you do if you don't battle?"
"I'm a scholar journeyman. I travel the world gathering knowledge. This will be my second history course. What about you, uh,"
"Kiki. I'm a gym leader's apprentice to Kalli Town in the South Sector. I like to battle, my three Bishonen have competed at the sector level. I decided I'm getting to old to journey the world and I should settle down, find a male trainer, have kids. Do as the Romans do, my friend."
"How old are you?" To Amanda, the other teen didn't appear that old, more like she was fourteen, fifteen.
"Nineteen. Ugh, the age, I can feel my bones cracking as we speak. My Bishonen tease me that I'm on my last leg, the deathbed is nigh." Kiki grinned crookedly. "But enough about boring old me, I want to know why a trainer of three days is taking a class typically only taken in the fourth or fifth year."
"Ahh, my companions are both Trueborns." Amanda replied, feeling it was best to leave out the part about Phoenix being half Bishonen. "They thought since we were stuck in town, a course in history would be a good thing to have."
"Sensible friends." Agreed Lily. "The last time I took history was last year and there were some things that didn't make sense. With the threat of a third war on the horizon, we scholars are trying to find a way to stop it by reviewing the past. After this I'm heading to East Sector for a conference. I really don't want more bloodshed."
Kiki nodded, "Yes, unfortunately the guardians are keeping it all hush-hush, still, word of mouth claims it has to do with a black market scandal. Of course, the black market exists anyway, mostly those damn half lings run 'em, but it's not like it's anything more than petty thievery, nothing for the Bishonen to get upset about."
Amanda wasn't to sure she liked Kiki's view on half lings, but if her past experience was any indication, this was what a half ling was typically thought of as. "You make it sound as though the Bishonen are incredibly temperamental."
Kiki nodded vigorously. "Yeah. They have every right to be, once you understand Bishonen history, you'll see why something as small as a black market can set them off."
The quiet one interjected then, "There are few who remember the war, as it happened nearly fifty years ago. Many of the human soldiers became scholars in the hope that the tragedy that it human flaw never reoccurs."
"It looks like it's about to," Kiki turned suddenly, catching a paper airplane in mid flight. Unfolding it, she read aloud, "A note from Lin to the hot blonde in the back: I think you're sexy, want to have dinner?"
Amanda couldn't help but snicker at Kiki's pure disgust as she scribbled a reply, sending it back in the direction of the front. "Looks like Kiki found her future husband."
"Shut it, losers are for other losers. I am for the best man only." She proclaimed proudly.
The room quieted suddenly. Kiki winced and turned around, thinking it might have been because of her note, but the instructor had entered. He was an elder man, older than Micheal, possibly older than Linla, from what Amanda gathered, with a salt and pepper brown hair and a knowledged look to his weathered face. He held the airplane in his hand.
"You young people and your classroom behavior." He grinned, "I'll never understand. Back in my day…" The class groaned. "Okay, I'll spare you the details. I am Professor Tatikar. I specialize in the prehuman era of the Bishonen world, but I have also studied human history in the Bishonen world and that will be the focus of this class. Before I begin, I would like everyone to get into groups of two or three and compile a list of everything you know about the history of the Bishonen world."
"I wonder if it's considered cheating for a scholar to participate in this activity." Lily mused, pulling out a notebook and some paper.
"Nah, c'mon kid, I could use some brains to help me out." The eldest of the girls grinned.
"Hmm, what do I know… absolutely nothing. Except that there was wars and those wars caused the earth to begin dieing."
"That's more than most newbies know." The redhead replied, writing it down on the list. "There were a total of two wars all taking place in the first twenty-two years. That was before the Bishonen Catcher technology was created. The victors of the first war were the humans, who then took control of the world, plunging it into a dark period. So the Bishonen are pretty much enslaved and after a few years rebel. The second war starts and out of the darkness emerges two humans with a plan to make things better."
Kiki picked up from there. "That's right. They drafted the laws and created the Secret Cities. No one's sure how they did it but now they're the guardians of the world, ultimately the protectors of the earth, and partially what lives within the earth. The Gaia, if you will."
"They ushered in the Peace Era, which is what we live in today. A tentative relationship that can barely be called harmony."
This made little sense to Amanda. "But if being a good trainer is about your relationship and understanding with your Bishonen, is that still tentative?"
"Excellent point, Amanda. Think of it this way, you and your family live together out in the open, a nice quiet life. Your older brother is of the curious sort and goes out wandering. One day he doesn't return home. You never see him again. That's just how it goes. Your mother tells you that he'll be okay because in the past there wasn't the treaty, humans could take you and your family away and hurt them. You know that your brother will not be hurt by who ever took him and if he really needed to return home, the treaty would ensure that he does." Kiki explained patiently. "But you can't help but dislike whoever took your brother, even knowing he's fine."
They turned in their paper to the front as the professor once again took the stand. "I see most of you know a thing or two, though there seem to be some real scholars in the back of the class there." He nodded to the girls. "Well, it seems the basic knowledge comes down to this; the Bishonen world is as old as dirt, there was a war, how many is completely confused, ranging from one to fourteen, and there were two guardians responsible for ending at least one of said wars." There was an air of sarcasm that caused most the class to grin at the remark, some in embarrassment.
"Well, that's not bad, I've dealt with worse, but what I'm hear to teach you is not street knowledge or you would have used the extra gold to buy a hat or a pair of snazzy sunglasses. This is about a race of people who had their lives and their very way of living destroyed by us normal people when we found the path between worlds. People who were stolen from their homes and forced into bondage. A people who retaliated and in the end took on a new way of life. This is a history of change unlike any other. A history of blood and war, of lost peace and compromises. I think you will all come to realize just what you are dealing with as a trainer."
He had them completely entranced. For the next four hours, Amanda worked with Lily and Kiki in the group activities which ranged from role playing to presenting. She had to admit, Kiki's sarcasm and Lily's open honesty and friendship made the afternoon very enjoyable, she couldn't wait to return for the next class. But she had to wonder…
That night, she headed back to the hotel as the others went out to eat. She volunteered to stay behind with Yuki. When they left, Amanda sat down next to her Bishonen, brushed aside strands of gray hair, and thought.
She remembered her first day, when she had saved him. That night being invited in to really get a close look at what would be her first Bishonen. He laid there in silence, staring out the window with eyes half closed, the bruise beneath his eye glowing against the beautiful, unearthly pale skin.
Her heart cried. That night, she truly felt hurt, she didn't know him, had never spoken to him, but her heart cried out in pain for the broken doll before her. She wanted to stay by him forever, until he never felt anymore pain. She never wanted to see him take a hit and fall. Never.
'Before the treaty, the Bishonen lived everyday in the nightmare Phoenix and I rescued Yuki from. What a horrible way to live. What if things hadn't changed? Then the Bishonen wouldn't be here. I'll never tell another soul but coming here, to this fantastic world and learning about the Bishonen, is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Meeting Yuki was like a dream come true. A dream I didn't even know I had.'
She sighed and leaned down to kiss the forehead of the Bishonen she was quickly coming to love. 'I will do what ever it takes to guard the past, so no Bishonen must ever suffer as my Yuki has, again."
Dragons were rare, the Princess had never seen one herself, but the threat of them constantly loomed on the horizon, about to be revealed.
Oh yeah, a little bit of fluff, some history, new characters. 2:30 am is an ungodly hour to be awake but hey, that's life.
Kiki: Based on someone I know from my current school. A very outgoing trainer with three mecha-based Bishonen. Not much to say about her as she may not even come back in again after the classes.
Lily: PeaceLoveOcelot's character. Will come in again. The shy, soft spoken Lily is a scholar, she makes her living by attending conferences and acting as a historical consult wherever she goes. She has four very outgoing Bishonen. Vash, Ritsu, Rain, and Yohiji. Though Lockea only knows Ritsu, I've read the summaries for the others and hazard to say they are quite out there. And PeaceLoveOcelot claims Edgar is a handful.
Broken Doll: This analogy is very powerful to me, of course I'm sure there's people out there thinking "A headless Barbie doll?" Uh, no. A porcelain doll shattered under rough hands. I've always felt a much deeper care towards broken things than perfection. And I wanted to emphasize Yuki's broken state with the analogy.
I'm going to try and write a Christmas Special for The Kingdom of Glass, and I was thinking of "A Bishonen Nativity" but I don't want to alienate readers. It'd be fun, we'd have the three wise crackers (and you better believe Duo will be one), a couple clutzy angels and an alien's look on the nativity (or, Tiffany Ross's interpretation. Hilarious little comic. She should redraw it). Who shall be the baby but a Chibi of course! I still need characters. Yay, Nay, and help me out.
Next time: Celes here. Edgar and I are from the same game but we barely know each other. Link, however, is the most important person in my life. Micheal's a good trainer but sometimes I wonder what it might have been like to grow up in the wild. Then Link challenges me to a dual and I always forget those feelings. While Amanda is away, this is the way we tell Micheal's story… You won't believe the drama (not really, unless you count the time I threw Link into the lake and locked Edgar in the storage closet for several hours).
"You did well today, I'm glad to see you using strategy in battle, now if only I could get Link to do the same.""Don't hold your breath, berserkers are the most dangerous of all foes." Said Bishonen ambled over to them with a cocky grin.
"Yes, and I'm sure Celes was quaking in fear the day she threw you in the lake." Micheal replied dryly, leaving the two to finish business with Seairra and the other trainer.
Mull over that until next time and don't forget, there's a jaw dropping secret to be revealed!
So,
Phoenix, Amanda, Linla, Micheal, Kiki. Which character do you think alludes to me? Which is most like you? (answer next time. Remember, more points mean more specials).
Lockea