[Eri's Scrapbook] The Loony Bin :)

[Montaine]

No worries Eri, good luck on the internship and don't work too hard!

[Eridanus]

I'll be off to a camp for the next 5 days. I will have irregular access to the internet through my phone, so I'm still contactable through AIM if I'm somehow required. I will answer PMs, but bear with my super short replies as phones aren't good at typing long replies unlike my big nice keyboard on my computer

[Cascade]

From Eri

in addition, my computer decided that it no longer wants to work. Ill be available in PMs as usual, but posting will have to wait until i either figure out how to repair my comp or until i get a new one

[Eridanus]

I'm back and my computer is up and running Time to clear backlog wooo~

[Eridanus]

This is amazing... I've just been filled back to back with stuff. Fortunately, I've this little time before I sleep, so I'll try my best to fulfil my duties as well as post for my PC. Apologies to those that I've kept waiting longer than normal, but you should see your replies before I sleep!

EDIT: On another note, Goss I totally love Architectrix. I had this idea about a "Soul of a House" (that is no doubt influenced by a generation of old-school horror novels and short stories), but until now it could not be properly expressed in Miz terms haha

[Eridanus]

I woke with tears in my eyes, and I tried my best to express the dream I had in writing. I swear it is much more epic and emotionally involving in my dream, but as I am merely an amateur writer this is the best I could do.

There was once a man who loved flying. Since young, he dreamt of soaring through the clouds, defying gravity and going where no man had ever set foot. He dreamt of harmony within the kingdom of birds. He dreamt of great things, things which his contemporaries would laugh at him for even daring to think about, for they were all considered impossible. Not for him, for he was my mentor. I am Arcus Ranjest, a time traveler from the so-called Age of Wisdom. My people sought to learn from the past, and to garner inspiration from the strong-willed spirits of people from the past. My target was this man, and I have watched him since young, always silently helping and observing from the shadows, waiting until the moment where he would display his brilliance. Oh yes, they mocked him. When he was a child, he often spoke of flying. His words were dismissed as childish. When he was a teenager, his words were being dismissed as idealistic. When he was an adult, people called him a fool. Yet, he kept trying. He worked tirelessly, spending the day working to continue sustaining himself and his hobby, while indulging his curiosity during the nights. I have never seen anyone with the level of fervor in his eyes as he worked, that maniacal grin that could only be found as he tinkered with his projects. People talked about him while he was in their presence, not caring about his feelings, for he had already been dismissed as unimportant. Sure, he began to make a few discoveries here and there. A few inventions here and there. He was mentioned and referenced in a few of those scientific journals that people of their time liked to use. Something they called “peer reviewing”. It was around that time that I joined him, presenting myself as a scruffy lad willing to apprentice at minimal pay in order to gain experience. I was there in person as he made several potential inventions, but he disregarded most of them, for they did not help him to fly. It was refreshing to watch from such a perspective, and I happily provided my labor and assistance, content to watch such genius, if unappreciated, at work. He never complained about recognition or understanding. He merely wanted to fly. Over the years, I slowly became attached to this eccentric man. I wanted him to succeed, but more importantly, I wanted him to be happy, to enjoy life. Yes, I claimed that he looked happy when he was doing his job, but gradually I began to notice the loneliness in his smiles and the forced crinkle in his eyes. Age slowly crept up with him, even as he continued his pursuit of flight. Others around him advised him to abandon this fruitless endeavor, recommending him to ‘give up and grow up’. Yet, despite his age he was a child at heart, and deep inside he was that same child who claimed to his mother that he wanted to fly. On a certain day where we had an unusual amount of failures, I engaged in an introspective and philosophical discussion with him, which resulted in the following exchange. “Why do you continue in this venture? Should you decide to expand on one of your many unpublished inventions you would gain recognition and fame instead of… this.” He had paused slightly, then replied simply, “But I wanted to fly.” “But science has proven it to be impossible. We are men, and our domain is the land. The skies are the domain of the heavens, and it is not our part to intrude on it.” And he began to tell me of his dreams. He was a great storyteller, and he spoke of dreams where he was gliding through the clouds effortlessly. Feeling the mist in the air as men and horses and cities blazed by below. He spoke of reaching for the stars, going higher and higher until entire countries were a mere speck on the ground. He spoke of touching the moon, and rising unfettered. He spoke of freedom. It was then that I asked him for his age, and told him about the turn of the second millennium. The Age of Information, and that age that he would never live to see. It was then, that I broke down. For he would never find peace in his life, always searching for that holy grail. For he would never enjoy the luxuries in life that people in that age do. Clean sanitation, superior travel in the form of automobiles, and even the unthinkable concept of a global database where everyone can contribute and access. In that age, we had modern plumbing. We had cars. We had the internet. We had the fulfillment of his dreams, but it was one that he would never get to experience, for planes were already prominent in long travels then. More importantly, we had freedom. Cultural, social and political vibrancy, where one is judged merely by their own worth. Where one’s ambition is measured by one’s dream. Where the impossible is encouraged instead of dissuaded. A world where a random child could voice his dream of being the president of the greatest nation in the planet in an country half a world away. A world where that child actually did it. I broke down, not only because of the cruelty of fate, not because my mentor would never see his dreams bear fruit. I cried because I already knew it, that it was ultimately a doomed venture. I cried because he could never find true happiness, and even as he was put to the ground he never got to mingle with the heavens. But I could not disrupt the streams of fate and destiny, and there was nothing I could do but watch. For I am simply a time traveler, from the Age of Wisdom, and observation is my only role.

[Cascade]

That's beautiful, Eri!

[Eridanus]

Oh my I have been waiting for this day to come. Finally have a little pocket of time to clear my replies. Full steam ahead ahhhh!

[Nira'lia]

Whee! Happy birthday!

[Lessira]

Happy bday Eri! I got something just for you

It sparkles so I thought of you