Friday 16 March 2007, Luna Nova
"Things are going marvellously well and smoothly as the days go by, my relationship with Croix is getting alot better, we rehearse my performances every day, thinking about what to show on stage, I'm really excited,I'm really happy and excited, for the first time in many months, since I started dating Croix, things weregetting better and what was good could get better, since the spring holidays were coming up, it would be aweek without classes and we already knew where we were going to spend it, but we all got together forDaniella's first act of rebellion, so she could stand up for herself and we could go out in Ireland and spend afun week with friends instead of her just spending a dull week."
Classes are over and I feel a bit of a relief, finally I'll be free to enjoy the time, a week off from everything, I just want to have fun, I've already finished packing and from the looks of things Parker's going out too, poor thing, she'll have to spend time with her family, but she doesn't have much choice, there are important appointments she'll have to make.
"Are they packed?" Parker asks.
'Well, it's a shame you won't be able to go with us to Mrs McLaren's house" said Becca.
"And who says I'm not going? I'm packing just for that" I'm shocked, what do you mean? That would be risky.
"But Daniella and her parents?" I ask her and she shrugs her shoulders.
"Fuck them, they'll be sucking their thumbs, then I'll give them a very shallow excuse as to why I didn't want to come back, when I finish the year, anyway I've already got some nice money saved up here, if they want to cancel my tuition I'll continue to pay for it on my own from the various allowances I've earned from being the right little girl and apart from the surplus I've had from Chariot's career, that'll be enough, I'll be 18 when third year starts, I won't have to depend on them anymore, I'll be able to live on my own, I'll be free and that'll be my first step towards freedom" said the confident Parker.
"I hope this doesn't end up in a scolding or something worse, I don't know if you're still doing this for me or something else..." I say, feeling guilty.
"This has nothing to do with you Chariot, this has more to do with my freedom, I want to conquer her, just like your mum did, you've told me a lot about her story and it's similar to me, with the difference that I'm bisexual and she's a lesbian, as well as her mum being extremely cruel and narcissistic, I also want to run away and maybe one day come back bringing change to the Parker family, but unfortunately my parents are more in charge than it seems..." I'm worried, it might not be that easy.
"Anyway, we're going to have a good time, it's not as if Daniella's parents know that Chariot has an Irish mum and that we're going to spend the day in Dublin" So that'll be even quieter.
Excited we finish packing our bags, with almost everything ready, we hold hands and lift them up, hearing the knock on the door we open it and see that it is Croix who waves his hands, I kiss my girlfriend as usual when we see each other and with that we get on our brooms, taking the fastest journey, with Ley's lines we stop in Dublin in a very short time.
Looking around at the slightly cloudy weather, we flew around and soon landed at home, when we got there we saw that everyone was inside the house, when I got there I opened the door and everyone was in the living room watching television, even my mum Bernadette had come here, I was so happy to see her at home.
"We're home!" I say, announcing that we're home.
"Oh, so that's why you didn't want to tell us to go and pick you up by car, you would have arranged to come by broom, you got here quite quickly, but you could have come with me" said my mum Laura.
"It wouldn't fit in the car, love, unless I stayed here, then it might work" said my mum Bernadette.
"I'd rather not, if I went out there I'd have to get into the family car and drive to Cardiff, I'd rather do it this way, we'd be hidden without anyone noticing and the chauffeur would have to wait, because the warning has already been given, I'm going to spend the spring week with my friends, I want to be able to be myself for once, before they lock me up in that place" said the confident Daniella.
"Oh I had a similar story girl, if you want to hear the advice of someone who has been through a similar situation come with me, I'll tell you more, when I ran away from home I was even younger than you and I
came running to this same place you are, it was the best decision I could have made in my life" I think Parker will like to listen a little.
"So what's on today?" I'll ask my mum in a minute.
"It's cloudy today, we're going to the market to buy a few things, but tomorrow we're travelling, it may not be summer, but early spring in Dalystown is also fun at the farmhouse, I'm sure Parker will enjoy meeting you there, you too, it may not be the same crowded house as it was in 2006, but it will be fun with you there, by the way the game was released today, do you want to take a look?" I shake my head in anticipation.
"I'd really like to have a look at my game" I sit down on the sofa and the other girls settle in.
The MagicStation 2 is being switched on, I've barely played this one, they say it's very similar to SphereGame, it just has a very peculiar controller, but at the same time it's fun, the start screens are appearing, the publishers, the production of Saoirse Games, which is Mum and Aunt April's company, it's always a little screen like that, which leads to the game's presentation screen.
The glows on the screen, making the shape of Claiomh Solais as he appears all modelled and then me showing up with my theme song and wow, that's my 3D model, I've done very well with these features, everything is very polished, the effects all around too.
"The models were made by me and some help from the girls, I made sure to use the best of Cel Shading to give the best possible look, all to be at the level of the great anime games, but here with Shiny Chariot, I wanted stylised graphics that resemble anime and that's what I got out of it" I didn't understand any of the beginnings or the terms, but I looked great with the anime look, it was wonderful, the whole atmosphere, it's very unique.
"The music is also courtesy of Mrs McLaren, she laid the soundtrack and all the effects" said Croix.
"I also took care of the models, I did a bit of work on this game after all, even if from afar I made some good additions, but I didn't put my name to it, as it's always B.C Stewart, so no one has any idea that a Cavendish got her hands on the project, I'm really just waiting to see how this game turns out, Witchtale at the time was a huge success, I imagine this one could be just as big" I hope so too.
The screen of the scene before the game started flashes by and the sound effects of the menu come on and my eyes light up at a start screen like that, which I already hear in my voice "Press Start to believe in magic!" That was beautiful, I didn't remember everything sounding like that in the mix, surely Croix improved it more than it was perfect, I press start and one more line from me "All right, let's go believing heart" That's too beautiful, I'm jumping up and down with animation and after the new game starts a menu opens and wow, me there in the corner with speech bubbles showing everything that's going to appear "Hey it's me Shiny Chariot, which mode are we going to start today?" Ahhhhh this is so marvellous, I'm so happy to see how well it's done "This is where we go to the adventures of the believing heart world, let's go with me and i'll be your guide" Ahhhh I'm loving this so much.
"Wow, I made those lines myself, but seeing them well edited and in the game makes me emotional, even more than playing the game, just imagine for a fan seeing that, it's like Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi with Goku speaking in the menus" I say happily.
"It's not just you speaking in English, we also dubbed the same things in French, remember?" I remember it very clearly, I even went to the options.
But of course I want to hear every different line I say describing the different game modes and look at these drawings, this living menu is the most Shiny Chariot thing I could imagine, this game has love and affection put into it, I'm loving listening to every voice that's being spoken, I also see that mum Bernadette even though she's a bit pale and sick has gone out with Daniella, the two of them must have gone to talk about this Parker situation.
I open the options menu and when I enter it I remember that I also recorded what each thing does and it's marvellous how different I look, they've drawn me in mechanic's clothes, I'm wearing gears and holding a spanner in my hand, that's attention to detail "Welcome to the options world, here you can do the adjustments which will fit better for your believing heart gameplay" That's very good, I make each line of mine and I go on browsing until I reach the language menu and there I notice, you can change the language of the text and the voiceover "Here you can change how you could read the text", I speak in everything, marvellous, I don't shut up either, "And Here is where you can change the way I speak and even if I speak at all, but please don't make me shut up, we can talk a lot while playing" Ahh how cute I remember recording this and I see that in each language the balloon appears above me, one with the flag of the United Kingdom
and the other with the flag of France and in the silent mode I get bandaids over my mouth, poor thing, I switch to French just to have a look and I'm glad it came out right.
"It's fun to hear myself so alive and full of colour, I don't know why it's so good, even in French, but I'm going to put it back in English just because none of you can understand me speaking my native language" I say scratching the back of my head.
"I said that all the care would be put into this game, we simply planned everything, we created a universe based on everything around magic as you wanted, Bernadette took care of writing the script for this game and we went on adapting it and making a new world, I even put the words here, but they don't have the meaning, which will be one more thing to add" Does that mean they're all in this game? Interesting.
"Up to the seventh word? Do you know the seventh word?" I ask my mum, shocked.
"Yes, I know all the words, remember I even told you the sixth one before I left, play along and you'll get to the seventh one, but I guarantee it's not a sign that you'll unlock it in real life, after all I only left the word loose, it's also in one of the most difficult quests to do in this game" Ah that's more boring than I imagined.
"It's like an RPG, only more interactive, here you get the words and also equip the Chariot with magical landforms, as you go along, you also defeat some evil creatures, trying to save Believing heart land, this is going to be fun to watch, the game is fun for children, but we've made a point of leaving it complicated in the parts where it matters" I wonder where they are.
"The real ending is more difficult to achieve and it also brings a lot of messages, the characters you talk to, you can also play sometimes with two controls where the second player controls Chariot's familiar, in this case Arcor who in this game takes on various forms and can help you along the way in many ways, well now it's up to you girl, go play and have fun" I certainly will and a lot.
They've made lots of fun modes, there's a creature duel, there's an arena mode, a broom race, minigames, there's a story mode, this game should be fun for both one and two players, well, let's go to the story mode, which opens another menu and in it I could see a beautiful screen with the environment in the background all beautiful, the menus on this thing are beautiful "Welcome to the Believing heart mode, this is where our adventure in Believing heart land begins" I love talking to myself here, I'm sure I won't shut up in many dialogues, I remember spending hours talking about this game, I start it up and the loading screen opens and it's me with an arrow hitting dragons, I can even move where the arrow is aiming and press the buttons to go towards the dragons, it's wonderful.
"Wow, this is all beautiful, thank you for this love letter to the Shiny Chariot fans" I say in admiration as I play.
"It was the best surprise we could keep, which isn't so much a surprise since you also worked on the game" I did, but I don't remember almost anything from all the recording I did.
"We wanted you to play without knowing anything just to be surprised" And look, they're succeeding, I'm going to play this a lot today.
"I loved every part of it, even for those who don't like the Shiny Chariot this is going to be a blast" I say that with all my happiness when I see the story mode starting.
It's marvellous, me waking up from bed like every other RPG game, I don't even know how to play games like this, but it must be fun anyway, I'm woken up by the sounds of music, I get out of bed, I spin around and from my pyjamas I get into my Shiny Chariot outfit which I climb out of the window and dance with everyone in that little village, it's very cute, there are lots of cute animals around, wow it's very much the vibe I wanted to pass on to my shows, I see the banners celebrating my victory over some evil character, that's so the kind of thing children like, I love it too.
"Wow, I feel like a kid again, thanks guys, it's perfect here, look at the marvellous atmosphere, I'm sure I'll see the evil villain appear now won't I" I say as I look at the screen.
"Of course and we've done it all well, even the villain reminds me of someone, I'm sure Diana will watch it and she'll love it, I'm sure, even more when she finds out about it" I'm even imagining it.
The evil villain appears, it's a witch, you can hear the laughter, that voice is familiar, it's Mum's, when she used to imitate her aunt, I recognise it from afar, I heard it a lot as a child, when the villain appears it's an evil witch with Aunt Daryl's face, there's no way it's not her, the only difference is the colour of her hair, her black
eyes with a red tint and some scratches on her pale skin that look like cracks, it's definitelyAunt Daryl, she's very similar, I'm sure Diana will laugh a lot when she finds out.
"That's Aunt Daryl, you've made it very clear that she's the villain of the game" I laugh.
"Daryl no, that's Lydaria the evil witch who wants to conquer Believing heart land, you have to defeat her, but at the beginning of the game you'll get a great taste of what it's like to be totally powerful, as you'll sweep away everything in your path with enormous ease using the Shiny Rod and the various forms it can take" That's interesting, it'll be like those games where I lose everything afterwards.
Well, even though it's an RPG, this game has a lot of action at the same time, it's not like I have to go around attacking each monster as if it were an action game, it's a bit like Devil May Cry, except that I move the camera around and even do some combos, without a doubt the transformation into a sword is the most useful here, which even confuses me, as this staff in real life never became a sword even though it's called the sword of light, it's bizarre, does the seventh word do that? Well I'll never know to be honest.
[...]
I've played it a lot, this game is marvellous, the beginning gives you everything and then the villain takes it away and you have to go on a journey to recover the power and save Believing Heart Land, I'm still at the beginning, but I love it, you can spend a good few hours just in this mode having fun, It's like there's no end to it, it's really cool that I can play the different modes of the game that are on the menu here in the story mode too, this game has really thought of everything, I made a mini fishing game and that was fun because I competed, as you can see the detail even in that.
"What do you think of the game?" Asks my mum.
"I love it, it just makes me want to stay here and play, there's so much to do, you've really dubbed even the simplest characters and everything comes alive" I say excitedly.
"It's also thanks toApril's help and her versatile voice, this girl can even pull off a male voice, without us needing a voice actor, just by training her voice to make a tremendous change like that, even before she took hormones her voice wasn't like that, nor was Croix's, Croix's voice was always very soft too, I don't know how April manages to thicken it even after going through everything" And that helped a lot with the immersion of the game.
"That's why most of the characters are usually female, there were only women making this game" said Croix.
"And this is very good, I had fun in a fishing minigame in this game, it's just a side quest, but it's so much fun" I say as I walk round the map.
"Ah so Chariot, we have more to say about that, many of these minigames are unlocked for the multiplayer mode, where you can choose the main ones and compete with up to four players to see who can get the most points in these little games, we really brought out the most that the MagicStation 2 can do in just over a year, We kind of already had an idea for a game with this whole map and elements, what we did was just adapt it to the Shiny Chariot universe, April had programmed everything and I modelled a lot of the map, so the project was way ahead of its time" that's why it came out so well.
"Hey girls, let's eat, it's time for dinner, you've been playing this thing for hours" said my grandmother.
I even pause the game and wow, the screen is really good for pausing, so I go into the kitchen with everyone else, which I can already see has a lot of good things for dinner, Grandma has prepared a delicious onion soup, I was really looking forward to having one of these, also with some bread rolls that are very good mixed with the soup.
I'm starting to enjoy myself and it looks like these spring holidays are going to be very good, I know I'm going to enjoy every day here, I know that very well, I'm looking forward to tomorrow too.
[...]
We're in the car, arriving at the country house, yesterday I played until a good few hours before Croix put me to bed, I got so addicted to the game that I didn't stop, there's so much to explore and do, I really wanted to do everything, it's fun, I look out the car window and I get all excited, I came with my sisters in this car while Croix went with Aunt April in another with the girls, we basically talked a lot the whole journey.
"We're almost there" said Mum Bernadette.
"I'd like to play all day, but I'll leave that for the evening, or when it's raining a lot or really cold" I say as I look out of the window.
"So you're going to stay indoors all day, because the way the days are going it's just cold and rainy, it doesn't even seem like spring has started, I'm kind of used to all this, but well, there's still plenty we can do to have fun even in the rain" said Mum Laura.
"Just being able to come here makes me happy, I'm scared of what's been happening, I've been to several doctors and they say I've been getting worse, but I'm here walking, even with a few coughs, well I know I'll get better, it's just a scare Daryl gave me" I'm worried about Mum.
"This doesn't look like a mere scare Bernadette, it's been almost four months and you haven't got any better, you've even become paler than me, seriously love, we have to find a cure for this or else the worst could happen, I'm sure Daryl did this so that you would die and it would look like a disease, but I can't swallow it, if you die the damn thing will see me" I don't want to know about this, it's horrible.
"Mum! Don't say something like that, she's not going to die, the girls are listening to this" I say to both of them.
"I'm fine, if it was a plan Daryl is doing a lot of harm, I stopped taking the medication a few days ago and I noticed a huge improvement, it was certainly the medication I was being given that made me worse" Mum Bernadette said and I'm worried.
I even decide to look in the window and at the children, poor things, they're so small and have no idea how serious all this is, if Hellene is almost four, she must already understand a lot, I just hope the worst doesn't happen, I want to hope it's just a scare and look, we're really coming.
Everything was as quiet as ever, the gates were opened using magic by Mum who aimed her hand at the gate itself and managed to open it, I love how she simply refuses to use a wand at all costs, like a good McLaren.
We get onto the road to the house, we arrive and the car stops, so I go to open the door and jump up and down with excitement, I look around and it's not so bad, it's just cloudy and a bit cold, so the girls get out of the car too and I jump in for a kiss with Croix.
"We can have a bit of fun today, even in this cold weather" said my mum Laura.
"I missed you, love" said Meridies.
"Me too, love, the whole journey I kept thinking about you and us seeing each other again" I say with my face pressed together.
"Pigeons, let's get your bags and take them to your rooms, then you can think about having sex, you'll have a whole week free for that" said my mum, mocking us.
We shrugged and went to get our things from the boot of the car, I went to join Croix and we left everything in the room we shared in the summer of last year, now here in the spring so we can make the most of it, I arrive with the suitcases in the room and then I throw myself on the bed, going to give Croix a hug, which is below, where we continue with a good kiss.
"I love you very much, Croix" I say with my face close to his.
"Me too Chariot, now let's go downstairs, the girls should be waiting for us, later we'll think about having some fun together" I nodded.
But even so, I can't get away with a little kiss like that with me on top, which I make a point of doing, and then I get up and head downstairs, seeing that they're packing up, and soon I'm catching up with the girls, who are looking at each other anxiously to see what we can do, plus there's Megan to join us.
"So what can we do? This place looks immense, what do you usually do here?" Well, it's still winter, so the lake is out of the question.
"We do a bit of everything, in the summer even the lake is included, but you can also play on the lawn, you can play football, volleyball, whatever we can do to make the most of the time, well there are some board games in here too, we get creative" I say with a shrug.
"Wow, I thought it was wrong to do all this, it wasn't my custom at home, I want to do a bit of everything, show me, apart from the water part, I don't want to go in the freezing water, but otherwise show me, I want to experience temporary freedom as much as I can" said Parker anxiously.
"I liked the brunette, she's more fun than boring Phoebe, she's interested in doing things, I thought she'd be the biggest slob, but she's not" Megan says and I laugh.
"She's got a starched face and she was at first, but nothing like a good friendship and her opening her eyes has brought more to this girl, she deserves a world where she's more appreciated, this one isn't like Phoebe, you can be sure, she won't be afraid to get dirty" I say hugging Parker.
"Get me dirty? What do you mean, you're going to throw yourselves in the mud? That's disgusting" she has no idea.
"That girl really has no idea, does she? Heh, it'll be fun to try out the new girl and the one with the short hair, you can tell she's just like us, she can't fool anyone with that way" said Jordan.
"This is a normal day at home, I don't mind getting dirty, what do you say we play volleyball for a while, we could even get some more people to play with us" I agree very much.
"How do you play it?" We'll get the net and set it up.
We've already gone outside to where we've stored the playing things, set up the net and then the ball too and I can already see Daniella's look of confusion, this is really going to be fun, she has no idea how to play, so let's split into two to show her in a quick game.
"Isn't that wrong? The ball is too big and the net is too high, this volley looks like a strange tennis shoe, how does this thing play?" Oh, she knows how to play something.
"Girl, this isn't tennis, we don't play these starched things, only at Ree's, it's something else, this is volleyball, Chariot, show her how to do it, I'll go with my little sister, we'll kick your arse" The girl is the size of Mum Laura and she stays at it.
"Oh Becca, can you play?" I ask her and she nods.
"Of course, let's show Parker how much fun she's having here, she'll understand, I just think it's a bit unfair that this little girl is with Croix, a nerd and a small-town girl, it's not balanced that way" said Leyland.
"Don't underestimate these two Becca, you have no idea how well Megan plays, she's only nine years old but she's a match for Croix, she just looks like a nerd, but when it comes to volleyball it's something else" I say, picking up the ball and heading for the serve.
I'm sure Parker's going to have a lot of fun, I make the first serve and it's Megan who catches it with everything, this girl doesn't even have size and she can intercept quickly, she passes it to Croix who throws it high and with one jump she's gone with everything Becca can catch throwing it and I'm already preparing for her to throw it back and it's going to be very intense, I liked it.
"The spring holidays were really good fun, I was also able to enjoy the new Shiny Chariot game that you mayhave already enjoyed a lot, the coincidences were very strong, but anyway, those were the last times I sawMum Bernadette before she left, after the spring holidays she was very bedridden, it was like a suddenworsening that I never expected to happen, we were even trusting that she was fine, but it was the opposite,she was dying and trying to keep up... Unfortunately I regret it, during the spring holidays I wish I could haveenjoyed the time more and had more fun with Mum Bernadette, who I've always been very fond of."
"I suspected that the voice of that villain was terribly familiar, I knew it was my mum, deep down I knew it washer doing the voice of that witch and I knew it sounded a lot like my aunt, so it was all real... I'm sorry aboutall this Chariot, that you had to go through these things... I can only imagine how painful it must have been toknow that those were the last times with Mum."
See you, spring break witches...