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Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (4/16/18)

Posted: June 12th, 2018, 9:06 pm
by MichelleCYoung
Oh, wow! I LOVE epics! Keep it coming, and don't be afraid to go deep, because the more we know about them, the more we CARE about them, and the more the really, truly, madly, deeply, EPIC drama feels amazing when it finally comes!

I mean, look at Beowulf. It could be summed up with "Guy fought a monster. Guy fought another monster. Guy won, and there was celebration, and then some more fighting, because it's never truly over, as monsters have relatives." But where's the *glory* in that story? The glory is in the emotional attachment, that's what. And you've got that going with the Academy students!

I eagerly anticipate the next one, but won't hurry you to rush through it and give a less-than-your-usual-best chapter, just to appease impatience. Because WOW.

I didn't know that Faction of the Lost Ones was the same world! I gotta read that, too!

My reading list is getting really, REALLY long, and I'm not the fast reader I used to be. Read too long and my eyes go googly. But I have my list!

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (6/24/18)

Posted: June 24th, 2018, 8:16 pm
by Livvielove
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12 ~ Love Lines

Granted, his future always felt hazy to him. All he knew is he wanted to do something that made him feel fulfilled… and so far that calling was Spirits.

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (6/24/18)

Posted: August 24th, 2018, 1:47 am
by MichelleCYoung
OMG, How did I not see this update before now?!
Spoiler:
OK, WOW! I love this so much@ Seriously, you are GOOD!

That professor - he's cool and all, but I sure wish he would explain more stuff. Maybe he explained a bunch of stuff after they sat down in his office, and we'll see it later, in flashbacks, or in "the professor mentioned that, but it still took me by surprise when it happened for real," or something?

It does seem odd that priestesses of Love and Marriage would be completely celibate, but I sort of understand where you're going with it. Sacrificing your own heart, in order to more clearly see the hearts of others, does make a kind of sense. And I also can see that the Goddess (or was it God? I forget, sorry) of Love and Marriage would not ask that on a permanent basis. I believe the priests and priestesses would probably have a term of service, before they settle down, themselves. Sort of like the Vestal Virgins in ancient Rome. Once their term of service was over, a lot of men wanted to marry them (mostly due to the prestige), and some of them chose marriage. Some of them, however, decided to extend their service because they had it SO MUCH BETTER than married women, and they knew it. When your rights are going to be so incredibly curtailed by marriage, you're only going to get married for true love. In a more egalitarian society, like in Willow Walks, marriage is much more enticing.

So, either she'll serve honorably for a term, and then leave when it's up, to find her own happiness, or else she'll give up her calling to embrace love. OR... it will be revealed that there is a third option, such as a lay-cleric who is outside the normal rules or possibly a super-cleric who is above the normal rules. Either way, we know she does find love and marriage. It's just a matter of getting an explanation at some point.

Sam is hilarious, as always. Stephan - well, I'm hoping it's NOT just based on biological need, because if it is, then he's going to be hooked on the wonder-blood, only to have some awful withdrawal when his supplier dies. Humans and vampires are problematic as mates, unless the human has some non-vampiric means of life-extension available. Is Life Fruit a thing in this world? Or youth potions? Or just a lot of miserable widows and widowers?
Anyway, I am SO STOKED to see that you're picking this one for SimNaWriMo! Awesome!

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (6/24/18)

Posted: August 24th, 2018, 12:08 pm
by Livvielove
MichelleCYoung wrote:OMG, How did I not see this update before now?!
Spoiler:
OK, WOW! I love this so much@ Seriously, you are GOOD!

That professor - he's cool and all, but I sure wish he would explain more stuff. Maybe he explained a bunch of stuff after they sat down in his office, and we'll see it later, in flashbacks, or in "the professor mentioned that, but it still took me by surprise when it happened for real," or something?

It does seem odd that priestesses of Love and Marriage would be completely celibate, but I sort of understand where you're going with it. Sacrificing your own heart, in order to more clearly see the hearts of others, does make a kind of sense. And I also can see that the Goddess (or was it God? I forget, sorry) of Love and Marriage would not ask that on a permanent basis. I believe the priests and priestesses would probably have a term of service, before they settle down, themselves. Sort of like the Vestal Virgins in ancient Rome. Once their term of service was over, a lot of men wanted to marry them (mostly due to the prestige), and some of them chose marriage. Some of them, however, decided to extend their service because they had it SO MUCH BETTER than married women, and they knew it. When your rights are going to be so incredibly curtailed by marriage, you're only going to get married for true love. In a more egalitarian society, like in Willow Walks, marriage is much more enticing.

So, either she'll serve honorably for a term, and then leave when it's up, to find her own happiness, or else she'll give up her calling to embrace love. OR... it will be revealed that there is a third option, such as a lay-cleric who is outside the normal rules or possibly a super-cleric who is above the normal rules. Either way, we know she does find love and marriage. It's just a matter of getting an explanation at some point.

Sam is hilarious, as always. Stephan - well, I'm hoping it's NOT just based on biological need, because if it is, then he's going to be hooked on the wonder-blood, only to have some awful withdrawal when his supplier dies. Humans and vampires are problematic as mates, unless the human has some non-vampiric means of life-extension available. Is Life Fruit a thing in this world? Or youth potions? Or just a lot of miserable widows and widowers?
Anyway, I am SO STOKED to see that you're picking this one for SimNaWriMo! Awesome!
Spoiler:
:blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: Thank you! That means so much to me! I'm actually almost done with the next chapter, but it'll get released on the 1st! I'm so, so excited!

Luken is... well meaning but a little overenthusiastic I feel. That'll be addressed pretty soon. He and Robert DID have a very long talk regarding spirits and what not, but a lot of it was rehashing everything we (as the audience) already knows - like what he saw when he was younger, his experiences next to the spirit spring, etc. Hilariously, Prof Luken TALKS a lot, but has yet to say something of SUPER importance, because he's mostly trying to absorb what Robert has to say.

Very astute! You're not wrong that it is odd. It's more a matter of humbleness I suppose; in Song of the Nightingale, I dabble a bit and show what the power looks like (like so). You end up with SO much information about a person - including their most likely match... only to get that you have to give up being able to see your own (as it skews your own vision as a side-effect of the magic). Carule encourages not pursuing someone while doing this because people are easily persuaded by love - easily distracted. Absolutely none of his positions that require this are permanent, in fact he and Eravaeral are the only gods (goddess for Era) that have a "fluid" priest/priestess state. For all other gods - once you're in, you're in for life, forever tied to the will of that god. Carule is the God of Love and Marriage, and Eravaeral is the Goddess of Lust and Sexuality. They work hand-in-hand. I don't get to dabble much in this portion of the lore, so I have fun when I get to show it off little by little through people like Chrys or chapter 5 of Song of the Nightingale. Also, NEVER feel bad about not remembering a god/goddess lol; I have 15 of them, technically, and they're not always the same (as gods/goddesses can die and be replaced, though it's not very common).
--An example of this is in Willow it's clearly noted that the God of Knowledge is named Lord Aadish, however if you read Faction of the Lost Ones (which takes place some... 60ish years later) you'll be introduced to the Goddess of Knowledge Irena (implying that something will happen between Willow and Factions, which I'm actually working up to as I move up the timeline). That's actually kind of why it takes me so long to update sometimes, as I have to spend a lot of time factoring in where the timelines are and how they'll meet. Willow starts in 802 of the Era of Prophecies with Robert but will carry on WAY into the next Era, while Song of the Nightingale starts at year 857 of the Era of Prophecies; The Reapers Legacy and Factions start in the late 860s early 870s - I haven't set those precisely in stone. I have but I haven't - I still need to wiggle-worm those around until they fit, and I recently had to adjust some of the years in Willow to account for some new ideas that I wanted to pursue...

Funny you should mention the Vestal Virgins, as that's precisely the setup Eravaeral (goddess of lust) has set up. It was something I drew inspiration from. The society is egalitarian only if you're a human mortal - not at all if you're of Nymphen blood (and later, if you're a spirit) or if you're a slave/of slave blood. That's not something I've had the pleasure of digging into, but will end up being a major focus of Willow as this story progresses. I'm both embarrassed and proud to say this story is just barely in the prologue still; I was really only supposed to lightly dabble with Robert's past to demonstrate who he is, but then I got stuck and fell in love. Thankfully it's all been important information, but if I had to put a number on it for this plot I'd say I've made it about 1/20th of the way through everything I want to. I'm not supposed to pick favorites when it comes to stories, but Willow is definitely my favorite because everything in it is circular. Everything mentioned comes back around in one way or another into future plots and concepts which is absolutely the best feeling ever as a writer.

Yes precisely! I care less about having a "grand reveal" and more about the journey it takes to get from point A to point B. Granted, that doesn't mean I have NO grand reveals to give, just that there are some things I can keep hush-hush and some things that I just can't due to having other stories later in the timeline in a fluid world. It kind of sucks sometimes not being able to get a nice solid WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED moment, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. One of them will be incoming in the next few chapters... which makes me just itch to write and write and write!

Sam had me absolutely dying as I wrote it; just like I mentioned that I wasn't supposed to get "stuck" here... he's definitely one of the reasons, and I'm not mad. He's made himself a nice important spot because of it. I'm so happy for that change to my very original ideas and plot.

Haha I've already made this EXTRA long and but I can't stop now! Vampires! I've spent so much time researching different vampirisms and lores to try and identify how I wanted my vampire lore to be. My vampire lore is my most fleshed out - well, minus the magic lore and spirits (I've got those down to the literal science). Vampires and ALL MAGIC are based on a slight mutation in the DNA of each cell in a person's body. It's like having an extra strand of it that details the magical portion of it. Point is, it's finicky, BUT having magic there in any sense keeps the cells from incorrectly reproducing (or mutating) which causes aging. Magic merely slows down the process, but Vampirism stops it altogether. There are several ways in Atalan to achieve immortality, but all of them involve magic. Vampires have the option of ghouling a mortal (giving the mortal THEIR blood) which will tie them to the lifespan of the Vampire.

Setting that aside for a brief moment, addressing Vampirism as a whole: Vampires with the purest strain of Vampirism actually have no hunger whatsoever. There is no urges for blood, no necessity behind it at all. The only reason to drink/consume blood is because it acts as a sort of "mana" (if you're familiar with video games/RPGs) that fuels their magic use (so if they want to use any abilities or powers whatsoever, they NEED to consume blood for that). The purer the strain of vampirism is, the fewer urges. As the strains get passed along though, there are chances of slight mutation, which has caused the vampirism to morph into something needy that requires blood for sustenance. I don't really have a character right now who demonstrates this well, because all of the Vampires that I've introduced (or WILL introduce) have a fairly pure strain of vampirism. Stefan's is actually the weakest strain introduced in all of my stories so far to a named character, but he only experiences slight urges and can usually ignore them entirely. The purpose of having a Blood-Link and that being a biological need (as Steffy puts it) is because in order for vampires of old to survive (as they were once hunted as monsters) they needed a way to use their powers to conceal themselves - aka they needed a consistent blood source who wouldn't turn on them/turn them in. That created this symbiotic relationship between a vampire and their thrall - the vampire is inclined to treat the thrall carefully and protect them at all costs - as it's their survival source, and the thrall is enamored with the Vampire and wishes to protect THEM at all costs too.

However, as you can see by my word choice/change, Stefan was mixing up a Thrall with a Blood-Link; which is where Chrys was right. Blood-Links are actually remnants of human's spirit ancestry. Spirits have no steady form (as Adam explained) they change frequently, but their personalities are fairly constant. Humans exchanged their unsteady form for a steady form, but instead have a changing personality which makes finding that "perfect other half" very difficult. Vampires and Werewolves have that specific strain of DNA that actually ties them closer to their spirit roots than any other type of magic. Vampires a lot more so than werewolves (as the "pack mentality" tends to overtake the "sole mentality" -- vampires are VERY solitary, they do not like being in the presence of other vampires, generally, so they can be more selfish that way). Anyways, because of this tie to the core of the world and their spirit roots, it pulls them to find that specific other person that "completes" them. The purer the strain of vampirism/werewolfism, the stronger the pull. Stefan feels compelled to seek out this woman not because he needs her for sustenance, but because he needs her for emotional completion. Drinking from her won't be like having a wonder-drug (though that'd be fucking hilarious if it was), but rather it'll create a mental bridge between them that'll allow them to read each other's thoughts/feelings/dreams/hopes/etc. Aka, they'll be a lot more akin to Adam/Myra or Adriel/Theran. Unfortunately my boys aren't very well versed in this, so they can only take guesses, and I merely write down what their guesses are. :lol:

(heavy breathing) GOODNESS gracious I think I got carried away :whome: :sorry: :lol: :gasp:
Thank you thank you thank you! I swear your comments make my day! :bounce: :bounce: :hug:

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (6/24/18)

Posted: August 25th, 2018, 12:25 am
by Livvielove
Posting to announce:

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Let's go, SimNaNo!

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/1/18)

Posted: September 1st, 2018, 1:12 pm
by Livvielove
Author's Note - SimNaNo has begun, and I'm off! I've got two chapters ready, one out right now and one in the queue! Trigger warning: this chapter contains slight images of violence with a knife.

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13 ~ Don't Forget to Breathe

Your existence is not secure here. Keep your head down. Don’t look up. Breathe.

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/1/18)

Posted: September 2nd, 2018, 1:24 am
by MichelleCYoung
Don't Forget to Breathe
Spoiler:
So, Robert's true love is a queen? Or a princess? Or some sort of vampire? Looked like it with the mouth, but dang, I'm not sure of anything. Except if Robert says they were helping, then they were helping.

Lukan - yeah, slow down and back off, and just TALK with the boy. Get to know him a bit. Look, Dumbledore was great, but he wasn't really "father figure," so much as "wise old man who points you in the right direction" figure and frequently did not give Harry the time and advice Harry desperately needed, when he needed it. Dumbledore was more of a "See, now what did you learn from that huge mistake you made, which you would not have made, had you talked to me about it first, and ooops, sorry I'm so inaccessible." And Robert needs a father figure, as well as a mother figure. He has the one sorted, and almost twice, now, with his teacher, as well as "Mama," but yeah, he needs actual insights and life-advice from a man who has made all the mistakes.

I do have hope that he can prove himself enough changed to get back with her. It's the romantic in me. I adore redemption stories, and true love winning, in the end. I do think that slowing down and actually mentoring Robert in LIFE, as well as in magic, would really be a big step towards that.

Oh, and I love how Luken pops from place to place.

And that meet-cute was the cutest meet-cute in the history of meet-cutes! "I ran... with my legs. I do have a name! It's a great name!" I LOVED it! So perfect! Also, it just makes me look forward to Robert's meet, someday.
I love Hesper Jane, already, just from that meet-cute. She's adorable and understanding and has a good sense of humor, and not judgemental, and I just love her. Way to characterize!

As always, your visuals are beautiful.

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/8/18)

Posted: September 8th, 2018, 3:51 pm
by Livvielove
Author's Note - This chapter is image-heavy by the end. The next chapter after this one is PURELY images. I got... creative. I hope you like it! I tried something different with this, so the style might feel a little different. I likely won't keep the style, but it worked for the chapter.
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The Snow Wars

"In wars of snow, you'll find no mercy to be had Jake."

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/10/18)

Posted: September 9th, 2018, 11:05 pm
by Livvielove
Author's Note - I'm going like mad on these chapters! This one should be right-quick though, as there's no words, only pictures - hopefully they're worth more than I could ever say. :)

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One Winter Morning

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/13/18)

Posted: September 13th, 2018, 2:58 pm
by Livvielove
Author's Note - and with this chapter I'm done with this portion of my SimNaNo! I've achieved my gold, and I'm flipping to focus on Factions for the rest of the month and hopefully get gold there too!

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Catrina Miser

She looked so different yet the same all at once.

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/13/18)

Posted: September 16th, 2018, 5:43 pm
by MichelleCYoung
Wow! Three updates!

I read them all, and can't really remember a lot of what all I wanted to say, but here goes:
Spoiler:
Snow-wars - basically what Blams said! It was so cool. And I loved the bit with Chrysanthemum feeling unworthy and uninteresting JUST as Is was walking by, giving her the eye.
The Formal! I loved it!

I loved the pictures only chapter. You really told a story, well, several stories, without words, and it was brilliant. Also, your graphics are beautiful!

Catrina is here! Hooray! I had been wondering about her. She got such a build up, early in the story, and then, nothing. Now she's here, and she's going to shake the place up. Also, I'm shipping her with Sam. Shipping Samrina So Hard.


Oh, yeah, and the chalkboard with E=mc(squared) on it made me laugh! I don't know where you found it, but I want that!

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/13/18)

Posted: September 22nd, 2018, 5:57 pm
by Livvielove
No stress about remembering, I love all your comments and appreciate anyone who simply takes the time to read my stories. Even better that you enjoy them enough to send me such lovely comments!
Sorry it's taken me so long to get onto this one, I flipped into Factions and wanted to stay in "Faction" mode. :lol:
Spoiler:
Chrys kills me a little. Secre-but-not-secret: I'm working on her story when I have spare time currently :shhh:

Thank you so much! I'm so glad people liked the pictures-only... a picture is supposedly worth 1000 words, so I was just giving it a test. Unfortunately, that didn't count for my word count on SimNo :lol: ;) Guess figurative words aren't really much the same as actual ones!

Cat is here! Cat is here! Cat is here!!! I've been waiting for SO long for this! Longest. Year. EVER. :lol: Hard to believe she's only a little less than a year younger than Rob, but boy did that year take it's sweet time to crawl by for her to arrive! Wouldn't change it for the world! Samrina :hmm: Has a nice ring to it...

Chalkboard chalkboard chaaaalkboard, let's see if I can find it. https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloa ... d/1032349/ Found it! :lol: I had to do a lot of school stuff hunting to make the academy, so I remembered around where I looked. :yes:

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ HIATUS

Posted: September 28th, 2018, 2:56 pm
by Livvielove
Hey everyone!

I'm updating all of my stories to alert people that I will be going on a 3 month hiatus. Read about it here!
In the meantime, I'd appreciate any feedback on the things brought up in my note, and will continue to update my Tumblr with teasers and hype for my strong return in 2019!
Thank you for your time and patience with me!

Lots of love,
Livvielove

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/13/18)

Posted: September 30th, 2018, 7:02 am
by MichelleCYoung
YAAAAY! Thank you!

I don't do much custom stuff, but that chalkboard was just TOOO adorable. E=m a squared? B? C!


I downloaded it. Now I just have to remember to get it properly installed. It's been ages since I've done that. I hope it works this time.

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/13/18) Red Roses

Posted: November 21st, 2018, 1:14 pm
by Livvielove
My hiatus is coming along swimmingly! I'm so excited for the next few chapters of this! I do have a small announcement that I've not been overly quiet about. As many know I've been working like hell on NaNoWriMo this year, and my story I created is actually one in Atalan (this world) that I'll eventually be trying to post all the way out once I'm finished writing it. It's been crazy fun to write (as I stand now I'm at 48k words, 2k away from finishing the big 50k required - I haven't even gotten into the MEAT of it yet I'm so windy I swear :roll: )
Anyways, the story I'm doing is Chrysanthemum's story.
Eventually I'll have my own thread for it around here and it'll get posted in its entirety. I've debated releasing the full draft once NaNo is done so people can get a taste for it, but I'm not certain I will. I don't want to scare people away from reading it later when I release it, and I intended a lot of the chapters to have images to help you see what's going on.
Anyways, Chrysanthemum had a very small chapter regarding Robert and I thought I'd share that for anyone who wants to read it/see what I've been up to.

So, enjoy!
Spoiler:
Chapter 32: The Boy with Destiny on His Heels
When fall rolled in, it was no surprise we got another influx of students in. Another Nymphen student, a boy from Roaring Heights, and finally one that strangely drew more attention than he intended.
He was just a boy from Dragon Valley, but even I could sense there was something different about him. Ever since I took that potion from Ara Jasmine, I could smell the magic on people. It made my nose tingle to be around people like Professor Clemence, and it took me nearly three weeks to get used to the strange awareness I had around Professor Luken.
This boy’s wasn’t as bad as Professor Luken’s… but he was notable. His magic was different. It made me nearly sneeze a few times.
His name was Robert.
He seemed quiet enough, but it’s like I could tell that he had destiny on his heels.
That’s a phrase I’ve heard Ara Jasmine use, though I never understood it before now. She would look at someone with a lot of magic and say they had destiny on their heels. When I asked her about it she said it’s just something you feel.
Anyone with that much magic likely had an important purpose in life.
She told me magic had a way of dragging people into important events and situations. Just by existing with so much magic, you would draw attention to yourself in one way or another - just like destiny was always in your shadow, waiting to strike.
I see it now, though, in him.
In under a month of him being here, one of the professors vanished. I’d not had any real positive feelings towards Professor May in particular. She wasn’t the most hospitable professor I’ve ever had and I imagine many students complained about her, yet she only just now was removed from the school for reasons we were not allowed to know.
Most people took it to be a sign from the gods blessing them to not deal with her rigid rules anymore, but I think I knew better.
Robert was causing a stir, whether he realized it or not.
Everywhere he stepped it was like the world stirred around him.
The strangest part was he seemed completely unaware of how much impact he had.
I was curious about him, that’s for sure, but he has been very reclusive.
I think that’s pretty normal for new students, but it was like he had a rain cloud over his head - and because of how much magic he had it permeated the surrounding Academy.
What was even more of a switch was watching him interact with the other students. He could’ve been any other normal kid at the Academy, yet he had a shadow that was the size of a mountain.
I wonder what else he’ll shake up?

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (9/13/18) Red Roses

Posted: November 22nd, 2018, 9:28 am
by Blamsart
Hehehe I love that kind of thing, where you see your main protag from someone else's POV (especially when the main protag is someone badass like Robert)

Also CONGRATULATIONS FOR NANOWRIMO :party:

With still a week to spare that's INCREDIBLY IMPRESSIVE! :fight:
:celebration:

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (1/1/19) I'm Back!

Posted: January 1st, 2019, 2:42 pm
by Livvielove
Alright, it's the first of the year, and I'm BACK!

I have a note to update everyone on my status (it's the same for all of my stories). Here's looking forward to 2019!

Willow's first chapter will release next Friday, the 11th. :heart:

Thanks for all your patience with me!

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (1/11/19)

Posted: January 11th, 2019, 7:15 pm
by Livvielove
Little late tonight, got carried away after class ended today and totally lost track of time. Sorry! :shifty:

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An Uneasy Feeling

"Those monsters snatched Emelia right out of her bed... I could kill them for that! They claim to be vampires but act like they have no self-control!"

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (1/11/19)

Posted: January 11th, 2019, 7:51 pm
by Blamsart
Heeeeeeee WILLOW UPDATE

Re: Where the Willow Walks ~ (2/11/19)

Posted: February 11th, 2019, 1:17 pm
by Livvielove
Author's Note - Sorry for the few days behind on the linking... it's easiest to say I was out of town and unable to. All my chapters ALWAYS release on Friday's at 6, and you can find them using the "older posts/newer posts" at the bottom of each last linked chapter, should I ever fail to link to threads on time.
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The God of Knowledge

He figured that Professor Luken had worked for the God of Knowledge, but he never would’ve imagined it would’ve looked like this.