ZEN - Part Two [COMPLETED] [#WATTYS2017]

After-Word

After-Word

First, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you for sticking with this story through so many chapters.

Hopefully, the journey wasn't entirely boring or confusing, and that you've gotten as much fun out of the read as I did dreaming up the tale.

I personally enjoyed messing around with all the characters, randomly assigning traits and back-stories that would help to flesh-out their existences. Even to the point where minor characters captured my imagination, at times.

For the main core, though, each of them were an absolute joy to feature.

Zen being all business while 'on the job', ruthless while plotting, and yet so playful when relaxed. She was certainly the person I most enjoyed using for a sense of comedic timing, to break up a tense situation, or to just keep the people around her guessing whether she was a certified genius, or simply certifiably insane. I still don't know for sure, myself.

Jessie provided a good sense of balance and growth through the bulk of the story. She was driven to prove herself, both because she felt inadequate, and because her parents simply looked down on the efforts that she always put in. I love her slight sense of greed, as displayed by a penchant for looting things of value. But it was probably her big-sister demeanor that played such a crucial role as the voice of reason in some situations.

Joanne was multi-faceted, though admittedly a rather rough diamond. Since she spent most of her life looking out for herself, she needed to have an unbreakable personality. Staunch, driven, and utterly ruthless to those who attempted to hurt her or her friends. She was definitely the most blood-thirsty of the Founders, and I always believed it to have been fostered by people she'd encountered in the decade before she'd met Zen. It was a rather harsh world they lived in, after all.

Mishone transitioned quickly from a terrified girl to a capable warrior in almost no time at all. Literally, within a half-dozen chapters, she goes from trying to keep up her social graces towards a noble-woman, to scorching a hundred bandits with barely missing a stride. But it was her reluctant acceptance of Jessie's amourous advances where she displayed the most growth, and after the Zeitstad arc, it was clear that she'd transitioned to the point where her human was her entire world.

For the side-characters, especially the ones that were featured most, it was necessary to get a good blend going, both of the different races, but also their various talents and traits.

The traits were easier. Quirks are always fun to weave in.

For Clara, I truly enjoyed her stoicism, even when she was nearly overwhelmed with emotion. Everything she said came out as a monotoned grumble, but like her portion with Rhea, she was utterly filled to the brim with concern over her adoptive Sisters.

Elsa was just hilarious to write about. A Shepard who always glared, un-blinking, even while her tail was furiously wagging. Her sheer love of armour borne of being beaten was a tough idea to conjure, but I think the lighter side of that desire helped to heal some of her trauma.

Uma. Yeah. If you've ever seen a squirrel acting all crazy, then you'll understand where her personality comes from. She's definitely a person who thinks and talks a mile-a-minute, and the whole sweets-obsession was just a natural fit. Flushing her system with water. Hilarious.

Sara and Skyler... they were simply a good fit. Lanky Sare being forced to take care of the sly Fox. If ever there was a person who could match Sky, it'd certainly be the prodigy, Sarah... didn't hurt that the human girl had a thing for Beastkin, and that Skyler had the second-best tail in all of the Sisterhood.

Anna and Aria, the blooded sisters, didn't get too much notice, only because trying to differentiate them would have given me a headache. Thus, their appearances were limited, even if they were alluded to quite often.

The Raccoons in Daisy and Violet were much in the same, even if their paths took very different routes. Violet was the non-combatant, as she didn't have much in the way of viable talents inside of a Dungeon, but her cousin Daisy was the be-all-end-all. Capable in all elements, an amazing healer, and proficient in thrown weapons and dodging blows. She really should have been featured more prominantly, but the direction just never allowed for it.

Charlie, the Chipmunk, was a bit of a throw-away, as her character was overshadowed by the sugar-addicted Squirrel. As in life, so it is in art.

The other minor characters who came after all provided some good filler, and their various personalities certainly helped to flesh out the things happening around them.

Even if they didn't get to appear frequently, it's still fun to imagine the interactions they would have with each-other, as well as the types of trouble that they'd get themselves into.

The one good thing about being the author is tossing in pieces of a larger puzzle into the mix, and seeing what happens because of it.

Alyssa, the business-savante, Kolt, the enchanter, and Rolfe the smith all had good roles, and their utility in a few situations was certainly needed to drive the story along. Besides, in the grand scheme of things, they were utterly indespensible.

So, again, thank you for spending a portion of your finite existence with the words and ideas I set down. I can only hope that it either helps to drive your own ambitions, or at least gets you to see the world around you in a new light.

Sore ja. Mata neh.

-DJE