True Colors

[Silence Sei]

(Solo)

"What the hell are you two nitwits doing?" The condescending voice belonged to Andrew Octane, resident smart ass of the Ixian Knights. The two 'nitwits' he was referring to were none other than the leader of the Knights, Sei Orlouge, and his older, more intimidating brother Steppenwolf. In the larger Mystic's hands was a bottle of goo that released a foul odor when squeezed. The contents of the bottle were being poured directly onto the younger Orlouge's head.

"We're changing up Sei's image," Steppenwolf plainly stated, squirting more of the liquid onto his sibling, "After that disaster with Remi, I figured it would be best if we gave him a darker, edgier look. After all, nobody expects someone like Sei Orlouge to be all apples and ponies after decapitating a beautiful woman."

The sound of the bottle losing the last bit of gunk sounded similar to a person inhaling with a runny nose. The disgusting sound made Octane shudder. "Okay, I don't know what's more disturbing. The fact that you think Sei needs his image changed, the fact you described a good mood as 'apples and ponies', or the fact that you actually thought Remi was hot. The girl is....excuse me, was, a psychopath."

Sei's piercing blue eyes caused Octane to momentarily freeze. The youth was one of the few people privy to the fact that Cassandra Remi not only still lived, but carried out her missions in the underground tunnels below Ixian Castle. Right under the flocks noses resided the wolf.

Steppenwolf's massive hands began to shift into Sei's orange hair; something the older brother had insisted looked absolutely ridiculous. The strong palms of the older Orlouge had gentleness to them, like massaging the head of his relative too hard would result in something not far from the popping of a zit. He dug his fingernails just over the skin, making sure that the slimy substance situated in all strands of Sei's scalp.

"So," Octane closed the door behind him, nearly mesmerized with what was going on, and losing his train of thought. Steppenwolf next placed a towel over the younger Mystic's head, looking at an invisible watch and tapping his foot incessantly. After a couple of minutes, the larger man unwrapped the towel to reveal...

...The same normal orange hair that had always been there. Rather, the blue dye that Steppenwolf had applied was now smeared all over the white linen towel he had previously wrapped around his sibling. Sighing, the inventor threw the towel over a coat rack. The sound of the rack rocking back and forth disguised the noise Kyla Orlouge made as she walked in the room.

Her blue eyes met with the wobbling coat rack, looking at all the white towels splotched over with purple, red, yellow, and every other color of the rainbow. "Nice towels," the girl said with a blink, looking back to her uncles.

Octane grinned and crossed his arms. "Seems that his hair repels all other colors. An image change for Sei Orlouge is going to take some work...”

[Play Back]

The next day, Sei found himself in the office of, of all people, Play Back. The enigmatic youth found himself confused as to why the leader of the Ixian Knights had decided to visit him, the trauma counselor of the group. Suddenly, it began to dawn on the teen.

Play Back and Sei had met in Lavinya. The younger warrior found the strategist to be off-putting, and placing himself higher than anyone else. The sheer aura that the Mystic gave off was oozing with unjustified confidence. The boy disliked Sei, but valued the mute's contributions to society. Perhaps, it was more of a jealousy thing? Maybe that was why Play Back took this job, helping stressed out soldiers cope with their fears of death, and getting them to understand that sometimes taking a life is needed for the greater good.

"So from what I understand, you're looking for a change to your image," Play Back stated, moving up one of the metallic balls at his unearned desk and releasing it, watching the chain reaction as the metallic orbs slammed into one another and transferred their kinetic energy. "You're not entirely sure what you want, but you know that you don't want to be the same person who issued the death of Cassandra Remi. That about right?"

Sei's response was a solemn nod, a gesture returned in Play Back. Soon, the whole room was echoing with the sound of metal constantly knocking against metal. Both warriors looked at the device that Steppenwolf had created to pass the time before meeting with one another’s gaze once more. It had been quite some time since Play Back had taken his black mask off, the boy finding he could control his power better at this point.

"It's all a mental thing, I think. What I would suggest is for you to go out in the public. Get to know the people again, Sei. Be the best there is at what you do once more. I'm sure if you just watch the day to day activities of the average man, you'll find what you need." Play Back finished by reaching towards the mug on the opposite end of the desk, pulling out two peppermints, and tossing one to the strategist. Sei caught in and they both unwrapped the candies, popping them in their mouths and savoring the sweet flavor, extra saliva coating the junk food while they sucked on it.

Sei once again nodded, turning around and leaving the room with an unintentional slamming of Play Back's door. The boy winced as the thud was made, the sheer vibration of it stopping the toy on his work area dead in its tracks. He sighed as he leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head.

"This job takes all kinds..."

[Chibimon Blue]

The youth known as Hsa was busy skimming through his notes, enveloped in what he had written down about Chibimon. Thus far, the child had only managed to obtain two Chibimon, the MysLight that he started with, and the ZomBee he had acquired while taking part on a mission with Sei Orlouge and Play Back in Lavinya.

From the best he could tell, the newly acquired ZomBee was an insect and undead type Chibimon. This meant that he would be most useful against telekinetic and vegetation types. As such, he had begun to write down several names of Chibimon that belonged to either type ZomBee would be proficient against.

In his narrow train of thought, he never even realized he was coming across the path of Sei until he had bumped directly into the man. The child looked up at the taller warrior, a smile forming on his features as he wrapped his arms around his friend.

"Sei, it's good to see you! I heard about that stuff with your Knights. Guess we never really know who we have working for us until its too late, huh?" The smell of the wet forest permeated all around them, and the fact that the two fighters were now standing still just helped the soft dirt below start to envelop their feet. Hsa raised his shoes from the muck and let go of Sei, patting the mute on the back.

"Well if there's one thing I know, it’s that these people can trust you. You got most of us out of Lavinya alive, and I even managed to get my ZomBee because of you. I don't care what anybody else says, Sei Orlouge, you're a hero through and through. You just got to lighten up a little. The people will understand if you didn't realize you had an evil villainess in your clutches, I'm sure. Just greet everybody with a smiling face, and you'll be fine. My mom always told me happiness was the best medicine, okay?"

After Hsa finished his rant, Sei blinked and nodded, a bit taken aback that a child could be so long winded. Hsa opened his mouth, prepared for another long string of sentences, when his eyes got something. What appeared to be an obese rodent waddled behind Sei into the darkness of the forest, Hsa smiled with excitement as he ran after it.

"Sorry Sei, just seen a Ratso, the chubby mouse Chibimon! You'll be fine, just remember to smile to your people, we all love you after all..." Hsa continued talking, but his words were lost in the length of the forest, the boy’s body disappearing into the shades of the trees, leaving Sei to continue his journey into town.

Only now, the mute’s lips were pursed up in a grin.

[The Trap Master]

John had been in town, gathering up supplies for his lunch. In his left arm, the man had a bag with a few red apples, a couple celery stalks, three packs of hot dog buns and a pack of marshmallows. While the items as stand alone food products did not seem too tempting, the man had plenty to eat once he had gathered the complimentary food to accommodate. Apples for snacks, the celery to go with some hot wings, the hot dog buns for hot dogs, and the marshmallows.

Okay, the marshmallows were just a guilty pleasure of the psychopath.

While strolling through the streets of the Radasanth food bazaar, however, John began to hear several gasps. Looking over to his left, the man began to ignore the smell of freshly cooked stew to witness a crowd parting way for somebody grand. The Trap Master looked on and smiled when he had seen none other than Sei Orlouge looking around the market, unguarded and from sheer appearances, completely oblivious that half this town was still mad at him.

The whole thing with Cassandra Remi had turned Radasanth against its self proclaimed hero. Even after the Mystic had taken Cassandra's life by taking her head, a lot of the town suspected that the mute knew all along whom she truly had been. After all, he was a telepath, how could he not know?

"He's perfect for the next lesson, John," a small whisper came from the man's coat pocket. Looking into his pocket, he had found the strange looking doll he had purchased months earlier at the bazaar, the one who had drove him to become the Trap Master. Of course, John was the only person who could hear the toy, a side effect of the man's growing psychosis, so he had gathered several strange looks by his fellow shoppers when he began talking to the inside of his coat.

"Are you crazy? How do propose I kidnap Sei Orlouge? It's not like he's just going to walk up and---" John's one way conversation was interrupted by the cough of one of the townsfolk. John looked from the inside of his coat and took a heavy gulp, looking at the orange haired Mystic as he stood just three feet from him. How much had Sei heard? Was he chalking John Shelby up to be a crazy man? He had to improvise some quick interaction with the mute, or risk blowing his cover.

John grabbed the Mystic's hand and shook it up and down feverishly. "Sei Orlouge, sir what a pleasure to meet you! You may not remember me, but my name is J...James Shelly. A couple of years ago you helped me find my daughter, who was kidnapped by an N'Jalian cult?"

Dripping parts of truth to the story caused Sei to vaguely remember, the mute nodding as he quirked an eyebrow at this person. Obviously, the false name was not yet sliding with the telepath. "We were too late when we had found her, sacrificed to that dark whore, but you were the only person to help me even search for her. I don't care what all of these other people say, you may be a vigilante, but you have more fortitude than anyone on Althanas!"

Sei gave his thanks and condolences with a hug to the man, John being felt with strange warmth from the Mystic's touch. He patted the breast pocket of his coat to hush his doll from telling him to 'do it.' over and over again. After the embrace, Sei stepped aside, allowing John to walk past him. The man did so, going his separate way from the hero as the Ixian leader began to enter a bar with loud music coming from inside.

"You didn't mean a word of that and you know it, John."

"You're right. Sei Orlouge did try to help me get to my little girl, but if he had went through the official channels to begin with, we would have found her post haste. Instead, I had to stay behind and fill out paperwork on working with a vigilante. Then, because Sei was involved, my fellow officers made it an open and closed case. Lorenor never paid for what he had done to her, not until he came across the Trap Master..."

"And one day, you'll make Sei pay like you made that N'Jalian ass pay."

"Yes, yes that does have a nice ring to it. The Trap Master; The Man Who Killed Sei Orlouge..."

[Satanfoot Blocker]

"Say you want to stay, you want me to
Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me
I want to know I belong to you
Say you'll haunt me"

The words coming from the rather small man sent the crowd swooning over his lyrical genius. The chubby little guy winked at several girls as he sung, the majority of them fainting. While Satanfoot Blocker was not the best looking of people, he was the King of Karaoke, the Liaison of Lyrics, and an overall great singer.

As the song finished, the short man tossed the mic to the next person, his gaze happening to catch the man in gray karate gi walk in. Satanfoot had met this man once before, the telepath possessing to real singing ability, but seemingly very protective of his daughter. The mute had even gone as far as to pull Letho Ravenheart’s gunblade out in public to prove his point to a would-be suitor. At the very least, Satanfoot could respect the man's love for his child.

Jumping off of the table he had been belting the lyrics on, the chubby cheeky child size singer approached the relative stranger. He pointed both of his hands at him, shaping his thumbs and index fingers to resemble guns. "Let me guess, you're here to try and take my title from me?"

The man shook his head, looking up at the drunken pair of girls trying their best to sing a song, albeit incorrectly. Satanfoot lifted an eyebrow at the response. "You're here to get wasted and try your hand at sloshes karaoke?"

Once again, a head shake, this time, the telepath did not even have the decency to look down at the miniscule man. Satanfoot crossed his arms and thought long and hard about this. What other reason could someone had come to a bar?

"...You're here to find yourself?"

This got a response from the other person, this man turning his head towards Satanfoot and nodding. The little guy laughed as he waddled over to the bar, ordering to glasses of milk. The other man followed, sitting beside him and taking the second glass that Satanfoot offered to him.

"You're not going to find yourself in here. There's very few people who do that," Satanfoot's nose slowly began to turn red, which would normally indicate drunkardness. In the midget’s case, however, it was the threshold of his milk allergy taking root. While Satanfoot didn't have the problems of other lactose intolerant people, drinking milk or any other dairy products made the little guy feel buzzed. It was an odd effect, but Satanfoot was an odd man.

"The best way to find yourself is to explore. Go out and find yourself a dragon to slay, a kid to take care of, something that might help you find out who you really are." The mute man continued to smile as he took a drink of milk. "Also, stop it with the dumb grin; nobody is falling for the ruse you're putting on. Seriously, we can see through you like you were made of this milk glass."

Satanfoot raised the glass, which had become caked in milk, and thus unclear. The little person had not even realized his mistake; too busy being focused on the troubled hero. "You think a guy like Sei Orlouge mopes around in his castle all day, regretting hiring Cassandra Remi, and hiding in that ivory tower of his?!" Satanfoot slung his milk glass back and forth, causing the cream to spill onto the bar here and there.

"No! He goes out and makes something of himself! He doesn't try to be something he's not! He's an adventurer! A warrior! A hero!" The man nodded as he finished his milk, placing his glass down. Satanfoot smiled as the man began to turn around. "That's the spirit! If you need to go find yourself, stop trying to look in the slums! That's -my- home! Go out there and get yourself a piece of life experience!"

The man nodded and flashed Satanfoot a genuine smile this time, obviously thankful for the advice. He walked out of the bar as quickly as he came in, leaving Satanfoot with the bartender, who simply turned to the dairy drunk and spoke.

"You know that was Sei Orlouge, right?"

"You know your mom is a mama, right?" Satanfoot said in a whiny little voice, the best mocking voice he could make of his drink slinger.

[Sapphire Eyes]

He had to bring his hand over his eyes to block the violent sun from burning them. Stumbling through the Concordia forest was a man who was lost. At one point, he had a wealthy father, a girlfriend waiting for him, and a life many would have envied. Now, he was fatherless, the illness took that away from him, sent him off to go handle the family's finances and affairs.

When he returned, Kyla Orlouge had been mislead by a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The enigmatic immortal Jensen Ambrose had seduced the girl, made her his, and now Jaxx Stone was without his girl as well. His life had been torn to shambles. In engaging Jensen Ambrose in battle, Jaxx had come to realize just how much rage he had welled up within him. He did not deserve to be with Kyla, he did not deserve to be with anyone.

A lone figure trudged through the forest with something on his mind, Jaxx saw this figure, and stumbled towards him, the bottle of alcohol still in his left hand. He fell into the orange haired man, stubble scrapping his shoulder as he did so. Dirty black strands of hair flashed about in a tidal wave of oily non-cleanliness.

The stranger caught the falling Jaxx, following up the motion by waving his hand in front of his face. Apparently the smell of his liquor was the heaviest on his breath. Glimmers of sun once again invaded his privacy, shining their beams on the face of the savior before him. With wide eyes, Jaxx began to speak.

"Sei Orlouge..." he whispered, following up with a hiccup. He dropped his head down in shame. He should not have been around Kyla's family, he had not earned the right to that. Without saying a word, Sei set Jaxx back upright and patted his shoulders, making sure the man was alright. "You don't understand, I lost her, I lost everything! It was just one day, but it was the best day of my life!"

Jaxx turned around, throwing his bottle against a tree, allowing it to shower and indulge something else into an inebriated state. He turned back to Sei, stumbling once more and catching the warrior’s shoulders before he almost met with ground once more.

"Promise me something, Sei. No matter what, promise me you'll put your family first. Screw the people, the people are idiots! You need to do what’s best for Kyla, for the rest opf your family! Don't you unberstand?!" The more passionate Jaxx got, the more slurred his speech seemed to be.

Sei lightly nudged the man aside, smiling gently to him and adhering to the promise with a nod. "Thank you," was all Jaxx could get out before Sei had disappeared.

The Hero of Radasanth was giving him a second chance.....perhaps Kyla could too...

[Gran-Gran]

"This is ridiculous," the voice of that nice William Arcus spoke. The man that most people called a 'dependant' was one of the few Ixian Knights who would come help me when I needed something moved around the day care. It was just tragic, what had happened to that man. I could only assume that one day those third degree burns he suffered from saving that orphanage full of infants and puppies would heal. It seemed so odd that nobody would invite such a hero to one of their family game nights, so I had taken it upon myself to do such a thing.

After all, my lazy grandson would not have.

Now, he was complaining about the difficulty of assembling 'Rodent Contraption', a game that was ten times harder to set up then it was to play. Yet, watching the frustrated man balance the cage at the end of the machine made of plastic caused me to smile. He may have sounded bitter about it, but I honestly believe that Mister Arcus was about to have a very enjoyable time.

The kids were down for a nap, so William's horribly burnt appearance would not frighten them awake. Aimer, a young man Sei had hired to assist me in taking care of the Ixian children, had gone on his lunch break. It was just me and William Arcus alone, rolling dice and moving our respective rodents (I was a bunny and he was a capybara, for the record) across the board. Soon, a door opened and I turned my head to see Sei, and not Aimer, enter my 'domain'.

"Sei!" I whispered frustratingly at my grand child, "How many times do I have to tell you not to come in here so loudly?!" Sei's eyes shifted over to his friend, and in response I stomped my foot. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

The blue eyes of my grand kids face met back with me, "I swear, you're supposedly this hero, but you'll never match up to Ciato. He always was quiet when his kids were taking naps. Why can't you be a nice warrior and father like Ciato? Instead, you ship Ella off on me so you can go play with your friends and pretend like you're working."

Sei opened his mouth.

"Don't interrupt," I said plainly, rolling the dice and moving my piece without my focus leaving my relative, "I think you should really think about what you mean to Ella. You can't just repeatedly leave that little girl with me while you go off and try to get yourself killed with your idiot pals. I'm too old to be taking care of another baby, and I already had to raise you."

Sei once again opened his mouth.

"I said don't interrupt! Honestly Sei, if you can't see that being a good 'hero'," I moved my fingers in quotations next to the word to illustrate my point, “means being a good parent, you just need to leave right now."

Sei blinked in confusion for a moment, but quickly nodded to me and gently closed the door. "AND FOR THAYNE'S SAKE, SPEAK TO YOUR ELDERS WHEN THEY'RE TALKING TO YOU!"

My voice was followed by the sounds of several now awake, crying babies. That useless child of my child had managed to wake several kids up with his loud closing of the door. I turned to Mister Arcus with a frown. "Maybe another day, you poor man."

[Aimer Haine Rogers]

I walked out of the Ixian Knights cafeteria with a bowl of the famous Ixian Soup. Honestly, I did not know how Mister Orlouge managed to hire such a world renowned chef such as Mister T.S.N., but I would not complain. He always served me delicious soups in times when he would refuse to give anybody anything. Was it due to the fact that I kept to myself a lot of the time? Probably.

Mom always said that was one of her biggest pet peeves about me.

I walked the halls of Ixian Castle, completely content to go back to my own little nape of the forest, when who should I see but Mister Orlouge himself walking out of the day care facilities. I felt a few beads of sweat begin to trickle down my forehead, and I did not know if it was just my nerves, or the steamy bowl of Ixian Soup finally catching up to me. Truth be told, I had never actually seen Mister Orlouge in person before, and suffice it to say, he appeared to be everything the legends made him out to be. The orange, fire-like hair that sent chills down criminal’s spines, the long white cloth that is typically the last thing a bad guy sees before getting knocked out, and the gently glowing Gemini Blades giving a soft hum behind his back. Everyone had heard of Sei Orlouge, but to see him in person was a thing of out right magnificence.

He began to walk my way and I could feel a lump forming in my throat. His blue orbs saw my form and it felt like he was looking into my very soul. What could I say to one so brave, one who had save Radasanth, Corone, even Alerar, countless times? There was nothing to say.

No, I thought to myself, You can't be so reserved, Aimer! Speak your mind to the man who hired you!.

"Mister Orlouge?" I spoke with a higher pitched voice that did not sound like my own, "M-My name is Aimer Rogers. You hired me to help your grandmother with the children?" He nodded, but I did not know if he had even taken the time to remember my name. "I-I-I just wanted to say that you're everything I wish I could be. You're the greatest hero this land has ever seen. Not only do you show brilliance on the battlefield, but you have such a warm heart to trust an absolute stranger into your house to, of all things, watch over your men's children. I just wan-wanted you to know that I don't think you should ever change."

His response was a gentle smile, white teeth shimmering like the pinnacle of good hygiene Sei Orlouge seemed to be. He also placed a hand on my shoulder and nodded. After that, he gently brushed by me, the soft fur of his white cloth grazing my thigh barely. I was so immersed with the shining image of heroism; I completely drowned out the sound of screaming children from my ears. It was not until I heard Ms. Orlouge's voice that my mind regained its train of thought, and I made my way back into the daycare. The second I entered, the children swarmed me, all gazing at the steamy white bowl I still held in my hands.

"Who wants soup?" I asked with a sigh, knowing that one of the cons to being a daycare worker is never getting a hot meal for ones self.

[Silence Sei]

Sei had heard from all avenues on what a hero should be. From what he had gathered, he needed to be a family man, a good parent, have more fortitude than any one else, get more life experience, take on a grittier image, greet everyone with a smiling face, and listen to the people. It was not until today that Sei had even second guess the fact that he had done all of these things. Nobody truly helped him at all.

Feeling the sense of flailing failing, Sei retired to his chambers for the night. His face looked down at the giant butterfly carpet that stood in the middle of his floor. His eyes shifted around to the various books and strategies strewn about his bed and his dressers. Once he had been sure nobody else was around, the mute made a fist with his right hand, slamming it behind him into the granite stone that most of Ixian Castle was constructed from. He could feel each individual grain grinding against his flesh, slowly cutting him open in its own way. When he removed his hand, he shifted his eyes to the splatter of blue blood that was slowly pouring down the wall.

How could this day have been a failure?

It was at this point, the mute heard a knocking on the door. The sun was starting to set, so most of the guards were changing shifts. Furthermore, most of his Generals usually took this time to go about their assigned missions. Who could be at the door at this time of day?

"Are you done beating yourself up like I'm sure you have been all day?"

Just great, Sei thought, Andrew Octane.

Without getting an answer, the youth walked in and looked at Sei. He then proceeded to the Lords bed, upon which he sat down and looked around. Octane had been in this room before, and the fact that he was eyeing it as if he were to inherit it made Sei feel uneasy. The mute crossed his arms and try to maintain his calm demeanor, though the presumptuous Octane was the last thing the Mystic needed today.

"Did you find what you wanted?" Octane asked, settling his green eyes back down on Sei. The mute replied by a shake of his head. "I didn't think you would. Do you know why?"

Before Sei could even answer, Octane stood up and began to speak once more.

"It's because you shouldn't be listening to everybody else. Steppenwolf, your granny, that gob-job Aimer. I mean, you're Sei freaking Orlouge. You've performed countless miracles the likes of which have never been done on Althanas. You saved Alerar, you defeated the yellow lilies, and you herald in a new age to your own freaking race, Sei! The reason you didn't find anything is because everybody else views you in a different way than you view yourself!" Octane threw his arms out in a most dramatic way to drive his point home. He then pointed straight towards the Mystic.

"The only one whose opinion on you matters is your own. It's not a matter of what everybody else wants from you; it’s a matter of what you want. Sei, what do you want?"

Though it was a simple question, it took the telepath a minute to answer. He scratched his head, thought for a few more moments, and then did something he had not done all day. Sei Orlouge finally spoke.

"I just want to bring everything back to normal again." Sei said, plainly, as if he did not truly believe such a feat was possible.

"Then you know what the catalyst to this whole stupid adventure is. You know what to do to make everything normal."

Sei nodded to Octane, a smile now upon his face.

"Thank you Andrew, for making me see things I could not earlier. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a letter to write." Octane nodded and brushed past Sei, a cool breeze following his trail. The mute smiled as he walked over to a plain desk, gripped a feather pen and felt the ruffles as if it were his first time doing so. Sei Orlouge -did- know what had to be done.

And the first step, was writing this letter...

[Silence Sei]

It was around the time of night that she would come around for her assignment. Sneaking into the night with her custom made suit of silence, the Gisela Reaper casually walked out of the mouth of Sei's Tomb. Cassandra Remi would go to a lone, misplaced grave, where a music box sat at the front. The assassin knelt down and opened the box with an amused smile, wondering what little task the holographic Sei would ask her to do this time. As she opened the music box, she found not the usual telepathic hologram that the mute set up to issue assignments, but a piece of paper folded up as much as possible. The woman could easily see the writing on the inside of the paper as she picked it up, eyebrows raised with curiosity. She unfolded the paper and began to read the note.

"[i]Dear Cassandra,

I wanted to let you know that you have been a major influence on the Ixian Knights up until this point. The missions your team has performed have been nothing short of miraculous. I feel that your wetworks team is quite essential to my plans to protect Radasanth. You even protected my family and my race during their darkest hour. I can not thank you enough for these tasks.

That being said, I feel that you're being here, even in secret, is taking a toll on my army. Those who know of your existence are always close to speaking the truth, and the thought of what you could potentially do in my absence absolutely frightens me. You have manipulated your way into almost every nook and crevice in this castle. You have used women, children, even my own daughters to further your own goals. I do still believe that everyone is redeemable, and I have not given up on the hope that there may be some good in your heart left.

But I am not strong enough to carry out the burden of seeing you through to the path of righteousness. The tasks I assign you just make you slip further and further into the darkness, and I can no longer see where you will come out, or what you will be when you do. The prophecy says I have to have nine people in my ranks to help. Well, the prophecy has changed itself up numerous times, so it’s about time I force it to change by making some adjustments of my own. The first step to that will be making sure you are out of Ixian Castle forever.

If I ever see you again, it will be too soon, Cassandra Remi. Pack your bags and get the hell out of my army.

Sincerely,
'Silence' Sei Orlouge, High Commander of the Ixian Knights"

From a distance, Sei watched as the woman crumpled up the paper, the rage in her eyes would have been apparent. She was free to go about her own way again, but the mute was almost certain that the Phantom of Fallien wanted to do it on her own terms. The fact that somebody had essentially dumped her sent waves of discomfort and anger through her body, and as she turned around and stomped off, Sei closed his eyes.

He stayed on the same tree branch from where he watched Cassandra Remi read his letter for several hours. The heavy winds that blew did not brush him off, the sounds of hungry night time animals did not scare him away, not even the uncomfortable jutting pieces of the wood bothered him. None of these things had an effect on Sei because for the first time in a long time, he had finally been granted a peaceful night of sleep.

Sei Orlouge would forever be the white heroic light that everybody needed him to be, but he would illuminate their lives and souls by staying faithful to his own true colors.

[Amen]

Hey Sei! I'm sure you've seen this already. Sorry for sort of talking around you while I was learning. Let me know if you've got any questions about my judgment or whatever.


Silence Sei’s “True Colors”

Plot Construction 15/30

Story 6/10 - This was a slice-of-life character development story with a clear-cut problem (Sei’s apparent guilt) that you introduce early and elucidate upon. The conclusion, likewise, was brilliantly done and I think had a lot of kick to it – it felt poignant. It’s the middle stuff that could use some work here, which is admittedly hard with the framework you’ve adopted. If I had to pick what felt like the climax of the story, it would be the second-to-last post when Andrew Octane finally confronts Sei with a useful piece of advice. This had a lot of space to be as poignant as the conclusion, but there were two issues I had with it. First, the reader isn’t given a sense of emotional buildup in Sei (his frustration came as a surprise to me – it makes sense, but isn’t hinted at in the meat of the story…this is a complicated problem, see what I wrote in Characterization). Second, we’re never really given a lot of insight into what, exactly, is bothering Sei, and the climax would be a great place to go into that. I mean, I know roughly that it has to do with some ugly stuff that went down with Cassandra, but we discover she’s still alive. What, exactly, is bothering our mute hero about his resident psychopath? I get the sense that it’s a complex emotional problem, but it’s only hinted at, and I think that softens the effect of the climax. It’s not a BAD climax by any stretch, but I think it would have benefitted greatly by being longer and more illuminating. As it stands, it just feels like another character giving advice, and the only thing that sets it apart is that this character directly elicits a response from Sei, and then the conclusion flows from that.

I’ll sum it up this way: this story runs at an even keel, and then blasts me with an affecting conclusion at the end (which I enjoyed). A better story would have had some rising tension (perhaps a stronger hint to Sei’s growing frustration or sadness), an explosive encounter between Octane and Sei in which his private troubles are revealed, and then a colder, quieter, and I think even more poignant conclusion where Sei can finally sleep.

Strategy 6/10 – Sei’s skills and abilities didn’t really have room to come into play here, which is…refreshing. I liked that his trademark hair can’t be meddled with, it’s an interesting facet, and (whether intentional or not) symbolic of the conclusion the story reaches. Still, Sei is just wandering through the story and none of his skills or abilities or background or his personality drive that action. Again, if I never get a peek inside his head or a hint of his hidden emotional struggle, he just comes across as an unvoiced robot wandering into the scene head-hung and hands-in-pocket and then out again with a kindly smile. Thankfully, there’s a vast cast of characters here imparting their fair share of personality, which DOES serve to drive the story in amusing ways. Each character’s distinct personality influences the kind of advice they give to Sei. Now, you would have scored higher here if the reader was given some idea what Sei thought about that advice, and perhaps how each piece failed to satisfy or contributed to the mute’s frustration/misery/guilt/whatever. Essentially, if you had more obviously used Sei’s trademark silence to further the story.

As a side note, I understand that part of Sei’s personality is that he’s a mute, which naturally means he’s going to keep to himself and we don’t necessarily know what he’s thinking. And that makes the cast that surrounds him imperative because their often over-the-top externality is a foil to Sei’s silence. But I still have to judge this as a story, and I think this story would have been served by some (especially nonverbal) hints to Sei’s changing (or unchanging) emotional state.

Setting 3/10 – I need more! I need a lot more! I have this thing, which shows up in particular when I’m reading something very character-driven, as “True Colors” is. Basically, your characters appear in my head on a dark stage lit by spotlights. Ideally as the post goes on the lights will come up and I’ll start to see the background and the various props, and in the best stories I’ll cease to envision the characters on a stage at all: they’ll be real people standing in real places. For the most part, Sei and company remained on the stage, and in some cases remained in the dark. Worst of all, I was apparently seated in the boonies because I couldn’t make out what anybody looked like. I basically caught Sei’s orange hair and his eyes from time to time.

I know the important part is the two characters interacting, but in the interest of immersion I need to know what’s going on around them, especially when the environment is going to come into play even briefly. For example, in Chibimon Blue’s post, the two characters literally run into each other and have a whole conversation, and then are abruptly in a forest (but only because a critter showed up to distract Hsa). It’s jarring when the setting is introduced suddenly after a fair bit of interaction has already taken place, especially if the setting unexpectedly becomes important.

Characterization 14/30

Continuity 5/10 – Again, you took a hit here because I didn’t get a sense of how things were progressing with Sei emotionally as the story went on. It absolutely makes sense that Sei is frustrated by the end of the story, but the reader isn’t given a sense of that frustration – he leaves at least half the encounters smiling, and only one of the characters suggests that his contentment isn’t genuine (which isn’t confirmed until the very end). I gave you some credit because you’re clearly running in-line with the wider happenings of the Ixian Knights, but I would have liked more elucidation. I’m not privy to what’s going on in the Knights, so more detail about what happened between Cassandra and Sei would have been useful to me. Something that did jump out at me, though (and I’m nitpicking here): in Gran-Gran’s post, William Arcus is playing Rat Trap and something is described as being plastic. A medieval fantasy world with plastic is jarring to me! I understand you were going for humor (and god, it worked), but I felt like I should point it out just on principle.

Interaction 5/10 – This one was difficult for me to score. By nature, Sei is…well, silent. Still, if the last two posts are any indication, Sei DOES have the ability to communicate, and there are certainly venues of nonverbal interaction. I wasn’t always given a real strong sense of how Sei was reacting or behaving while all the other characters were imparting their wisdoms. I like the humorous effect of all these extroverted characters essentially grabbing Sei and holding him captive while they assault him with their advice, but more of his (even silent) reaction would have been a good thing. When I did get his reactions, they were usually hilarious (again, Gran-Gran comes to mind…small wonder the poor guy is silent).

Character 4/10 – I’ve already beaten this horse thoroughly. One more time: I would have LOVED more of a peek inside Sei’s head, or more description of his body language to give me hints at his hidden mental state. I’m giving you a slight boost because your characters were usually distinct: Hsa reads like a completely different person from Octane, but I will say that there wasn’t enough written to strongly distinguish Octane from Play Back or Steppenwolf. Gran-Gran and Satanfoot are obviously very distinct characters and were written consistently, but they’re caricatures. Still, I feel like Sei is still the star of this show, and yet I don’t feel like I know him all that well. I would like to read more of your writing with Sei, because I think part of the problem here is that this thread was particularly short. I just wasn’t given sufficient time to really get to know any of these guys.

Writing Style 23/30

Creativity 6/10 – The thematic creativity was high here. I’ve already pointed out Sei’s unchanging hair mirroring or symbolizing the thread’s conclusion. I don’t know if that was intentional but I’m going to pretend like it was, because the story did wrap up nicely in most other ways. I didn’t see an incredible amount of mechanical creativity, but that’s something every writer has to be careful with anyway. I suggest you play with more literary techniques than I saw here, for sure, but don’t feel like I’m penalizing you and telling you that you suck if you don’t use more metaphors – it’s distracting when you force it.

Mechanics 7/10 – Now, this thread was absolutely readable and at no point was I confused as to what you were trying to tell me. Still, I did manage to find small mechanical errors in maybe every other post. Most of your trouble seems to come from missing/misplaced apostrophes (examples off the top of my head: “the flocks noses” in the first post, “I feel like you’re being here” in the last). There were also a few minor issues with quotes and punctuation. Honest mistakes, not a lack of knowledge. There were a number of small formatting mistakes as well (most glaringly, you didn’t finish the code for making the letter to Cassandra italicized), which I feel should have jumped out in a cursory read-through.

Clarity 10/10 – Your writing is very clear, and I always felt I knew what was going on. I did not need to reread anything, and I couldn’t even specifically pick out anything awkward enough to comment on with a second read-through.

Wildcard 9/10 – I enjoyed this. I’m intrigued by this. This thread was great because it gave me a plethora of appealing characters, and my main criticism is that I didn’t get enough of them which is, in fact, a good problem to have. I would love to read more about these guys, but especially Sei. You specifically asked what you can do to make these guys INTERESTING, but I think that’s the wrong question. They’re already interesting characters. The trick is going to be finding out what makes them unique (especially characters like Steppenwolf and Octane, who seemed similar based on what I have here) and finding a situation you can put them in to have them shine in a way that is personal to each character.

Total: 61

Silence Sei gains 440 EXP and 175 GP.
Play Back gains 70 EXP and 50 GP.
Chibimon Blue gains 70 EXP and 50 GP.
The Trap Master gains 73 EXP and 50 GP.
Satanfoot Blocker gains 85 EXP and 75 GP.
Sapphire Eyes gains 70 EXP and 50 GP.
Gran-Gran gains 85 EXP and 75 GP.
Aimer Haine Rogers gains 70 EXP and 50 GP.


...Dave gains carpal tunnel syndrome and a sense of accomplishment.

[Yari Rafanas]

EXP and GP added