EtHR related: My Dark Haven, Kaori Koga Backstory

Title: My Dark Haven, Kaori Koga Backstory
Author: SilverInk
Writing: Background brief
Word Count: 1577.

"My mom and dad fight at home. He cuts her sometimes. And then she gets mad and sends him flying across the room."

"Miss Koga, please stop telling lies about your parents. I cannot for the life of me imagine them disagreeing on anything, much less fighting. Now, does anyone have a true story to share with the class?"

"But Ms Eviteen, they do fight. And then they get mad at me when when I try to stop them. I'm not lying. I have bruises to prove it."

"That will be enough Miss Koga, see me after the meeting."

Ms Eviteen ended the meeting there and for the rest of the period the kids sat around and played cards. They were all there because they thought they could use peer discussion about their personal or social issues.

When Ms Eviteen wasn't looking, she said again, "My parents really do fight though. I just need help. I'd like somewhere to go, where I won't have to deal with my parents beating each other up and yelling at me for no reason."

"Listen," one of the card players said, folding his hand. "It isn't anywhere near Avril, so don't be pulling jokes on us, ok?"

"Technically," another said, adjusting his glasses, "It doesn't need to be the Month of Comedy for someone to be funny. I mean, "The Aidapak" is a year-long show. I raise ten."

"Well, fine. And anyways Kaori? I live right next  to you. I never hear them shouting. I never hear anyone from your house shouting."

Kaori shook her head, sending the brown-black mass that was only tied up by a few red ribbons flying into a mess. "The walls are soundproof, don't you know?"

The person with the glasses smiled, delighted he had won the round. Putting the cards away, he said, "Yes, but it doesn't seem very like either of them to quarrel with anyone or anything. And I'm sure your parents would never hurt each other. They're always very cordial and sweet."

"In public," Kaori protested, but the hour had ended and the occupants began leaving the classroom to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Kaori sighed in defeat and retied her hair more securely.

"Miss Koga, you are very convinced that your parents are violent at home."

"Yes, Ms Eviteen."

"I have sent word to your father asking to join your family for dinner. I do not think what you say is true, but if you are so insistent, then I would not mind spending a night in investigation."

"Thank you Ms Eviteen!" Kaori said. The counselor only nodded and waved her out the door. "I'll see you at dinner!"
---

"KAORI KOGA. You dare to shame your name and complain to outsiders about a family issue?"

"But mother--!"

Kaori ducked as the couch hurtled towards her. It landed a few feet away, caught between the stair rail that led up to the one-room loft and the other wall. Kaori flung out her hands and concentrated on a mental picture of her as a baby. Her mother was caught aback for but a moment though and soon a lamp shot itself at Kaori, shattering and scratching her arms and cheek. Kaori yelped and staggered backwards and was saved by the sound of the doorbell. "Go change," her mother ordered, sending the lamp shards into the trash receptacle and the couch back to its original place with a few swipes of her hand. She looked into the mirror by the door, smiled pleasantly, and opened the door, "Ms Eviteen, how kind of you to join us. Dinner is almost ready. Please, do come in." Mr. Koga appeared from his workroom and shook Ms Eviteen's hand amicably. "Yes, please. Would you care for some drink?"

Seeing Kaori still standing defiantly on the stairs, her father stepped out of view of the door and under the guise of fetching a cup, sent a few magical bolts at his daughter. Kaori jumped and the bolts only tore her dress, slightly and silently. Kaori slipped upstairs before anything else happened to her.

"Forgive me," she said, entering the dining room, where the adults were already eating. "I overslept," she lied, seeing the expressions her parents were throwing her over Ms Eviteen's head. She had not decently covered the cut on her cheeck and Ms. Eviteen noted this.

"She tripped and broke the lamp," Mrs. Koga explained politely, offering to treat the wound as she poured some soup for Kaori. "Are you sure you don't want me to look at it dear? You're sure you feel fine?"

Kaori suppressed a grimace and nodded stiffly. "Yes mother, it is perfectly fine. Although you are quite wrong about the detail. The lamp flew at me and was intentionally shattered."

Her mother put on a confused expression and Mr. Koga stepped in. "It is all my fault really," he said, setting the spoon down. "I accidentally left lamp in a bad location and when she came home, she accidentally triggered the catapult I was building, sending the badly-placed lamp at her. But enough of this. I apologize--to everyone--for my negligence. Kaori, could I make it up to you by offering you your favorite dessert tonight? Ms. Eviteen, I hope you do not mind strawberry shortcake."

"But I hat--" Kaori started but capitulated at the dagger-like look she saw on both her parent's faces. "Thank you father."

Dinner proceeded quietly for Kaori, though the adults chatted amiably on quite a range of topics. Not once did her Mr. or Mrs. Koga say a cross word or indicate any sign of disapproval with each other, their daughter or their guest.

Ms. Eviteen stayed for a few hours after dinner to continue her examination and was then offered a tour of the house by Mr. Koga, who apologized profusely for neglecting to do so until so late. With the eye of a teacher, Ms Eviteen examined the furnishings. The one-story house was very neatly decorated, with nothing that so much hinted as to damage or wear. Since both Mr. and Mrs. Koga did not rely on weaponry in their careers, there were not even the most basic weapons lying around. The kitchen knives were securely contained and showed no signs of being thrown or used as anything but a tool for chopping vegetables. Up rickety stairs in Kaori's bedroom loft was the only sign of disturbance:

Kaori's room was not messy--no, it was clean and orderly--but the color scheme was quite disturbing. The entire of the room was painted black, with a few stripes of a creamy pink here and there, showing where the black desk, the black bed, the black-framed mirror, the black closet, the black door to the black bathroom. The light from the room came from five pink lamps. Bottles of sand, both colored and not colored and corkboard-size sand-painting canvases were tucked in a corner but loomed dangerously in the room.  Kaori's main weapon, a dagger the length of her forearm, was resting conspicuously on her dresser.
---

"Kaori, don't be upset, but I think it isn't your parent's fault that you are feeling these emotions. I think your powers are occasionally slipping from your grasp, causing you to see things that aren't real. Illusion imposition is a difficult skill and power to master, so do not be deterred. I'm sure you will one day master it perfectly well."
---

Kaori Koga, fifteen, pinned her hair up neatly in two curled loops. She combed her bangs to the now-normal cute style and the two long strands at either side so that they would not bother her vision. Finally, she set a scarlet ribbon in her hair, a strikingly elegant look. Her dress was pretty, but also somewhat practical and her dagger was strung inconspicuously on the inside of the coat. She washed off any traces of blood, bandaged the cuts she could and arranged her dress so it would cover the scars. The ones on her face she cleaned quickly but throughly and then expertly applied makeup around the area to conceal it as much as possible. Only then did she dare leave the comfort of her black room.

"Good morning, Miss Koga," her teachers greeted. "Good morning," she replied.

"Such a nice little girl now," her teachers commented. "that Ms Eviteen sure knows her stuff. Why only last Fril Arg she was freaking out and telling foolish stories about her parents. And now--a mere week and a half later--it seems she has drastically improved her life. How fortunate."

The students seemed to think the same. "Hey, Kaori. I was wondering--would you go to the dance with me?"

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"We broke up."

"Oh." Kaori smiled pleasantly and locked her scarlet-hazel eyes on the boy's. Subtly, Kaori moved her hand. There was no indication that anything unusual was happening; the first sign came from the boy, who staggered backwards and howled silently

"Why'd you show me that?!" he demanded, shaking his head to keep the images that plagued him.

 Kaori laughed as if he had said a joke and then continued her way for a few steps.  Her polite little smile turned upwards in a knowing smirk and she turned back to the poor boy. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

Curses returned her words. Kaori set a comforting hand on her new victim and a channeled more images to the person, some true, some imagined, all haunting. She leaned towards him and whispered, "I know what you fear. But be comforted. Reality exists within the mind, and I have your secret locked up in my dark haven."

Artist's Note: I wrote this in 88 minutes, as a part of a quickwrite. 


The main character is one of the minor characters in my to-be NaNoWriMo 2010 project, "Edge: the Heart Reincarnation". Hopefully everything makes sense?
(Yes, I know book titles are supposed to be underlined or italicized. But since it's still in plan-form right now, I think quotation marks will do XP)


Please rate! On a scale of 1-5, how soon in the story should she die? (6 if she should not be killed at all). For any reason you'd like; for example, Lewis said one of my mean characters should not die just because it would be so ironic if the mean one lived. :)


~SilverInk


P.S. I was going to post the second and probably final (really because I just don't feel like writing it much longer) part of Tsiyone's character background, but obviously didn't XD Maybe next week?
P.P.S I have a few drawings of her! I'll submit it once I'm done scanning and editing them :) So check back on this post sometime later on! :) :)

Plans of Escape

Title: Plans of Escape
Author: SilverInk
Writing: Randomness/ Continuation/To-be-continued story
Word Count: 817
This starts at the end of the encounter described in "The Overdue Check": Adrian, one of Mariah's old boyfriends, has just settled scores with her and left. Mariah is watching him leave from her bedroom window.

I guess I'm free then, Mariah thought, taming her hair into braids. No more of them. She finished packing her duffel bag with clothes and other necessities. Finally, she opened a antique jewel case that was secured behind the mirror.

Grandfather's zeinband. The one Mother rejected. She turned to a photo of her long-gone grandparents on the dresser. Don't worry, Grandpapa...I won't disappoint you the way Mother did. I'll restore the family honor...

Mariah took a long at the dull colored stones connect by a band in their centers--like a hair band with flat, round ornaments--and examined the curved symbols in the centers. Sye-niar. I still remember your prowess in the stadium...I still remember the way Grandfather launched you two little ones into the battle and dominated the court, every single match. I still remember. And I'm going to bring you back to your former glory. 

She left them in the rosewood case, put this case back into the secret vault behind the mirror and turned towards the heavily curtained corner she had been sitting in for too long. Books were piled all over the room, covered by hastily made book covers. Mariah sighed and began neatly stacking the books and straightening the book covers that boasted titles such as "Modern Fashion," "The Housewife's Guidebook to Survival" and "101 Things You Need to Know About Marriage," only to be interrupted by a loud woman calling her name and bursting through her door.

"Mariah!" Her mother repeated, exasperatedly. "I saw that young man walk out just now, you know. You rejected him too, I bet."

"Mother, I'm 19. I don't want to get married."

"But you must! Or soon there will be no one good left!"

“Need I marry?”

Her mother broke into a rage and fished out a remote from the pocket of her large dress. She spun a dial and hit a button. Long snakelike wires that were connected to a ceiling socket in the hidden corner slunk out and chased her down, the inconspicuous tethers on her feet keeping her from moving in this situation. The first few tendrils secured around her waist, wrists and knees and the remaining sludge dumped themselves around her, draping over her back and coiled down her arms and legs. A few even slunk down the two loose braids.

“Mother!” she cried, the wires obviously uncomfortable.

“You disobeyed me. You read all these books, but you have no intention of ever marrying. Why do you do this to me?” He mother spun the dial again and hit a button. A light shock trickled through the wires, making her twitch painfully. The thirty-some year old woman continued, “You know I am getting old. We need to find you a suitable husband as soon as possible. Then you can conceive for me a grandchild. Do you hear me?”

She turned the voltage up a notch and hit the button again. “Do you understand me, Mariah? You must marry. Or if you do not, you must produce a child. Otherwise your existence is meaningless. I do not care if you like anyone or not. It is not that hard to get pregnant.”

She hit the button again and Mariah cringed, biting back a scream. “You are useless! Pointless! Stupid! Disgrace” She jabbed the button with each exclamation and finally stormed out.

Still entangled in the electrocuting wires, Mariah crept to the corner and worked her way slowly and painfully up the wall, using the windowsill and pile of books as props. Finally, with much difficulty, she hit the high, hidden  switch that retracted the wires. As they slunk back into their socket, messing up and tearing off bits of hair and skin.

She crashed on the floor and knocked over a stack of books. A few of the book covers tore or fell off and revealed the true books underneath: “History of Zeinbanding,” “The Beginning Zeinbander’s Guide” and “Zeinband Maintinence”.

I have to get away, she thought, stowing the duffel in a hidden location and crawling into the adjoining bathroom. Vision still clearing from spots, she turned on the water in the bathtub and found her secret bottle of healing lotion. She poured a small quantity into the water and started to put it away but stopped. Instead she crawled back into her room and stored this bottle, as well as a few others like it, into the duffel. She finally returned to the bathroom and relaxed in the water, letting the healing lotion take effect, scheming how to escape.

Father would help me, wouldn’t he? He did save Atesia from being sold…

When the water had cooled and Mariah felt considerably refreshed, she climbed out the tub and dressed quickly. She would need a good excuse for her mother to grant her audience with her father. Staring out the window at the city below, and thought of an idea.


Artist's Note: Hi...Yea, this was totally random because I was sick of writing character background stories. Sorry for the late update.


Terms to define in case they were confusing:
~Zeinbanding is a sport involving hair-band like objects. Mariah's grandfather's zeinband parts were called Sye and Niar, so collectively the tool is called Sye-niar.
~Atesia is Mariah's horse.


This is not supposed to be considered a character background story because it's not her entire life thus far, only a small segment. And it starts when she's 19 anyways :P 


Yea. Totally random, I don't know if I'm actually continuing it... and since I'm having trouble with Tsiyone's part right now, I don't know when the next normal character background thread will continue...and because I have SAT/ College Essay stuff to deal with too :( :( 


EDIT: I added a bit of expository information at the beginning. Yea, she kinda is a prisoner >_< @ Minsat-- :D <3
~SilverInk