Tea & Immigration
Apr. 19th, 2014 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breezeshadowFirst, health update: my knee is better. Today I may have accidentally undone a lot of the healing by trying to do too much at once, but once my laundry is dry in about thirty minutes I'll be forcing myself to flop my ass permanently at my computer or on the couch.
Second, for those of you considering publishing work or just having fail organizational skills, I highly recommend Scrivener. This neat little program allows you to keep all of your writing for projects in one place. It comes with a full trial for 30 NONCONSECUTIVE (!) days. It took me over a year to get through the trial and I couldn't imagine going back to using just WordPad, so I got it for the $40 license. Now when I write AG, I can have previous revision chapters right alongside what I'm working on, or the previous chapters, etc, without having four or five WordPad documents open. Overall a win-win.
And now, writing excerpt:
“An illegal immigrant?” Nur tilted her head at Rose May, lightly swirling the small cup of blood she held. “I don’t blame him. I was stuck in immigration prison for months before they let me in.”
“They didn’t let you leave?” Rose May sipped at her tea.
“If only they did. Even after this—” Nur gestured to the gruesome burn scars on half of her face. “— I was almost willing to go back just to see something other than a drab building.”
They rested on the sofa in their small apartment, facing the tiny fireplace that Rose May suspected was mostly for show, considering it filled the apartment with a smoky haze whenever they used it. A pot of tea rested on a cast-iron trivet on the old coffee table in front of them. Nur’s cup was empty and untouched; Rose May was struggling to save some tea for her friend. Yet the soothing aroma of chamomile helped keep her worries at bay, giving her more clarity than she could hope for otherwise.
Nur at least did not seem to mind — she was savoring the blood in her cup the way Rose May clutched at her tea. Perhaps different types of blood were like different kinds of tea. Rose May did not plan to find out.
“Was that what made him freak out, though?” Nur sounded doubtful, frowning thoughtfully. “His mind was much more pain and grief. I don’t associate that with Welt shit.”
“That is a horrible phrase.” Welt was an insulting term towards Welen and its citizens, one that Rose May was used to Nur using for anything and everything related to the Empire. Combining it with a slur made it even nastier than usual.
“It’s true, though.” Nur grinned as Rose May rolled her eyes. “So, what was it?”
Duff had asked her that same question — and in many ways, Rose May was no more certain about what had occurred hours later than she was when still at work. The entire session had turned into a windstorm in more ways than one, and any thoughts or conclusions she had drawn during it seemed lost, strewn about her mind like her papers. After all, the question she had asked had seemed so innocent and routine.
“I asked him why he had come to Welen.” Rose May stared into the empty fireplace; it offered no more answers than it would have with a flame.
“I see.” Nur sounded a touch remorseful, but at her friend’s concerned look, she smiled. “Think about it. Who really wants to emigrate to Welen? Does it have anything worthwhile compared to other countries?”
“It must, if people come here.”
“It’s not for freedom that people come here, though. Or the wonderful culture.” For once, Nur said the words without sarcasm; instead, she seemed sad, lost in her memories, and Rose May realized with a start what she was referring to.
“He came here to escape.”
Nur nodded. “If someone had asked me why I had come to Welen, when I was sitting waiting around for those damn papers? I think I may have broken down too.” The vampire absentmindedly poured a cup of tea, her telepathy keeping the flying droplets from missing her cup. “I hope he wasn’t running away from populicide. But it sounds like he was running from something. You should probably find out what before the trial.”
Hopefully more writing today, but I've been addicted to Sims again so we'll see.
Tschuess.
Second, for those of you considering publishing work or just having fail organizational skills, I highly recommend Scrivener. This neat little program allows you to keep all of your writing for projects in one place. It comes with a full trial for 30 NONCONSECUTIVE (!) days. It took me over a year to get through the trial and I couldn't imagine going back to using just WordPad, so I got it for the $40 license. Now when I write AG, I can have previous revision chapters right alongside what I'm working on, or the previous chapters, etc, without having four or five WordPad documents open. Overall a win-win.
And now, writing excerpt:
“An illegal immigrant?” Nur tilted her head at Rose May, lightly swirling the small cup of blood she held. “I don’t blame him. I was stuck in immigration prison for months before they let me in.”
“They didn’t let you leave?” Rose May sipped at her tea.
“If only they did. Even after this—” Nur gestured to the gruesome burn scars on half of her face. “— I was almost willing to go back just to see something other than a drab building.”
They rested on the sofa in their small apartment, facing the tiny fireplace that Rose May suspected was mostly for show, considering it filled the apartment with a smoky haze whenever they used it. A pot of tea rested on a cast-iron trivet on the old coffee table in front of them. Nur’s cup was empty and untouched; Rose May was struggling to save some tea for her friend. Yet the soothing aroma of chamomile helped keep her worries at bay, giving her more clarity than she could hope for otherwise.
Nur at least did not seem to mind — she was savoring the blood in her cup the way Rose May clutched at her tea. Perhaps different types of blood were like different kinds of tea. Rose May did not plan to find out.
“Was that what made him freak out, though?” Nur sounded doubtful, frowning thoughtfully. “His mind was much more pain and grief. I don’t associate that with Welt shit.”
“That is a horrible phrase.” Welt was an insulting term towards Welen and its citizens, one that Rose May was used to Nur using for anything and everything related to the Empire. Combining it with a slur made it even nastier than usual.
“It’s true, though.” Nur grinned as Rose May rolled her eyes. “So, what was it?”
Duff had asked her that same question — and in many ways, Rose May was no more certain about what had occurred hours later than she was when still at work. The entire session had turned into a windstorm in more ways than one, and any thoughts or conclusions she had drawn during it seemed lost, strewn about her mind like her papers. After all, the question she had asked had seemed so innocent and routine.
“I asked him why he had come to Welen.” Rose May stared into the empty fireplace; it offered no more answers than it would have with a flame.
“I see.” Nur sounded a touch remorseful, but at her friend’s concerned look, she smiled. “Think about it. Who really wants to emigrate to Welen? Does it have anything worthwhile compared to other countries?”
“It must, if people come here.”
“It’s not for freedom that people come here, though. Or the wonderful culture.” For once, Nur said the words without sarcasm; instead, she seemed sad, lost in her memories, and Rose May realized with a start what she was referring to.
“He came here to escape.”
Nur nodded. “If someone had asked me why I had come to Welen, when I was sitting waiting around for those damn papers? I think I may have broken down too.” The vampire absentmindedly poured a cup of tea, her telepathy keeping the flying droplets from missing her cup. “I hope he wasn’t running away from populicide. But it sounds like he was running from something. You should probably find out what before the trial.”
Hopefully more writing today, but I've been addicted to Sims again so we'll see.
Tschuess.
